Asked by Erie County lawmakers how much it would cost to implement a new enterprise resource planning system in 2017, SUNY Erie Community College officials said the new system, called WorkDay, would help in college to save $3.7 million in subscription fees over the next 10 years.
Instead, WorkDay was a failure that cost ECC more than $12 million over the past five years, said ECC President David Balkin. Balkin discovered the losses by inheriting the problem when he came on board earlier this year.
Balkin has been working all summer on a solution that means putting more money into a proven system, rather than putting more money into WorkDay.
On Tuesday, the ECC Board of Directors approved spending $5.2 million to migrate to the Banner scheduling system used by 48 of the state’s 64 SUNY campuses.
Balkin will meet with the Legislature’s Community Engagement Committee on September 15 to request $3 million in capital funding from Erie County to help cover the cost of contracts with two vendors to implement Banner .
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If the county approves the funding, Balkin said ECC could request an additional $3 million in state matching funds for the project. ECC directors unanimously approved resolutions to pursue five-year contracts with Banner owner Ellucian and IT consultant Stratus Information Group (SIG) for $2.3 million and $2. $8 million, respectively.
Balkin said GIS is an existing SUNY vendor that has worked with SUNY IT support organizations, SUNY Buffalo State College’s Information Technology Clearinghouse (ITEC), and Information and Communication Systems. administration (SICAS) of SUNY Oneonta.
He said migrating to Banner as soon as possible will allow ECC to access the same forms, formats and data used by other SUNY campuses, rather than duplicating work already done by other schools.
WorkDay’s failure was news to county lawmakers when Balkin told them during the county’s budget process in June. Several said they trust Balkin’s take on the patch, but will keep a close eye on the process.
“The county legislature and executive are well aware of the critical nature of this implementation,” Balkin told ECC administrators on Tuesday.
“Part of the reason we’re pushing for this to happen sooner rather than later is so we can be on the Banner system and our people will be trained by that time next year,” he said. he adds. “If we don’t, we would be forced to stay on WorkDay for another year.
He said the $180 per hour “pay as you go” cost to continue with WorkDay is unaffordable, especially since it does not meet the college’s student services and administrative planning needs. ECC is the only SUNY campus to have subscribed to WorkDay, a business planning tool newly adapted at the time for higher education.
