UT System says DASH/Oracle rollout requires continued remediation; core implementation cost about $62 million
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Summary
System staff reported post–go‑live deficiencies in the DASH/Oracle ERP implementation driven by higher‑education‑specific gaps, misconfigurations and legacy processes; leaders said most issues are being tracked and expect steady state by late next spring as Oracle and vendors deliver fixes.
The University of Tennessee System presented a detailed update on the DASH enterprise resource planning implementation on Oct. 23, saying the system requires continued remediation but that most modules are functioning and a plan is in place to resolve remaining deficiencies.
"Go live is a point in time... we begin the full implementation at go live," a senior system staff member who led the presentation said. He told trustees the core causes of post‑go‑live problems include technology gaps specific to higher education (notably for sponsored projects), misconfigurations that left workflows broken, carryover of legacy business processes that did not adopt best practices, and predictable change‑management strains.
The presenter said the implementation covered 31 business process areas: 22 are "functioning largely as designed," while nine remain under significant repair. Sponsored projects and reporting were singled out as especially problematic; the presenter said Oracle is accelerating product work for sponsored‑projects functionality and that the system has relied on manual workarounds while fixes are developed.
On progress tracking, system leadership reported 27 user‑requested changes completed and six in progress on their priority resolution dashboard, and said they expected to be substantially improved by the second half of the next calendar year. The presentation noted that user‑acceptance testing can miss issues that only surface in production when the full range of live data and workflows are exercised.
The presenter described vendor and consulting costs: the Accenture implementation contract began at $29.3 million and was expanded by about $14.4 million as new Oracle functionality was purchased; an extension added $10.5 million in expense (with Accenture sharing roughly $9 million). Huron, retained for grants administration expertise and remediation work, was cited at two figures in the presentation (an earlier contract figure of $5.9 million and continuing remediation work of about $7.8 million to date). Oracle day‑2 support services were also procured. "All in all, we've spent about $62,000,000 on the core implementation," the presenter said. He added the State of Tennessee contributed $50,000,000 to the project and that roughly $8.7 million had been spent since go‑live.
The presenter described operational successes amid challenges: 29 monthly and biweekly payroll cycles have run since go‑live; many transactional approvals and tasks "work better" in Oracle than in the legacy system for users who have completed adoption. He also said the implementation team is changing its approach for future Oracle modules, choosing implementation partners with deeper product experience and involving early adopters to shape new functionality.
Trustees asked how scorecards had failed to show post‑go‑live issues; staff explained that sample‑based user acceptance testing and production transfer challenges made some defects visible only after full operation. Leadership reported daily work with state auditors on rolling closings of 113 financial elements and expected to provide substantial deliverables to the state audit team within days.
Ending: Committee members expressed continued support for remediation work and prioritized completing auditor deliverables; leadership said additional reporting on the resolution dashboard and remediation timetable will continue to be provided to the committee.
