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ETSU trustees briefed on Voyager (Oracle) rollout; go‑live targeted for July with mandatory payroll tests
Summary
University staff told trustees the Voyager (Oracle) enterprise resource planning project completed its conference room pilot and is entering system integration testing; parallel payroll tests must match before a July go‑live and leaders said they will not proceed if payroll cannot be run accurately.
University staff updated the East Tennessee State University Board of Trustees on progress and risks for the Voyager enterprise resource planning (ERP) rollout, a multi‑phase Oracle installation scheduled for implementation this summer.
Dr. Karen King and project staff said the team completed its second conference room pilot using ETSU data and met exit criteria (95% of tests completed satisfactorily). "We finished our conference room pilot 2...we did reach that 95%," King reported. The rollout timeline includes five weeks of systems integration testing, end‑to‑end testing, pilot training and user acceptance testing before a final cutover targeted for July.
Project staff described a sequence of test environments and repeated conversions, integrations and data loads designed to rehearse cutover multiple times. Integrations to be tested include parking and banking connections, state agency interfaces (for example, Edison Health/State systems) and supplier registration workflows. Staff emphasized a redesigned chart of accounts, out‑of‑the‑box dashboards from Oracle, mobile web‑clock and leave‑request tools, and an auto‑provisioning security approach that will assign system access by role.
Payroll testing was a focal point. Staff said they have completed an initial parallel payroll test with roughly 85% success and that a larger parallel payroll run is scheduled; they reported that all identified errors from the first test had been cataloged and were being addressed. "But to be clear, we will not go live if we can't pay people," one project presenter said. Staff stressed the availability of a fallback (running Banner) if immediate payroll problems occurred at go‑live but said they aim for high confidence before switching operational systems.
Training deliverables are slated to be complete by April with pilot training in May and early June and end‑user training through August; staff plan continuous training support into the fall semester. The project team also highlighted Oracle’s guided learning tools for task‑level, in‑system help and a supplier self‑registration portal to improve vendor onboarding.
Trustees asked about worst‑case scenarios and contingency plans; presenters reiterated the payroll prerequisite, repeated cutover rehearsals and the added staffing resource allocated to payroll work. No board vote was taken; the update was informational.
