Why Oracle Cloud HCM and ERP were the right fit for Boise State University (and could be for you too!)

Making the move to any cloud platform can be daunting. Successfully positioning your company for this move means defining your goals and timelines, understanding platform needs and of course your ideal results. Once those discussions occur, choosing the right cloud platform to help you achieve your goals is essential for any organization. Oracle HCM unifies global processes for HR, both talent and workforce management, payroll and employee experience. Importantly, it is one of the pillars of a seamless cloud platform that unifies HR, Finance, accounting and Supply Chain. Managing these critical back-office processes on a consistent cloud platform yields tremendous results.

Boise State University, a public research university, was looking to modernize their ways and resolve manual processes which lead them to both Oracle HCM and ERP. Jason Fairman, Project Manager at Boise State, recently sat down with Jeff Haynes, Director in Baker Tilly’s Oracle practice, to discuss their journey and advice for organizations looking for similar results.

In the beginning: Implementing ERP and HCM

Q: Tell us about Boise State’s decision to move to a cloud platform and what challenges you wanted to address in the process?

A: Boise State was a PeopleSoft user but historically not focused on upgrades. As a result, we were boxed in and out-of-date.

Q: Why did you select Oracle and then chose to do your road map of implementing ERP and then HCM?

A: We knew we needed to move to the cloud. Since 1999, we had been on PeopleSoft and were happy with our technology vendor, so it was a no-brainer for us to work with Oracle. As part of our long-term strategy, we had selected HCM at the start, so we always knew we were headed in that direction. Unfortunately, our financials were in a worse position than HR so that was our priority. After our go live, we let the ERP system stabilize for 12 to 18 months before starting our HCM implementation.

Q: What do you think was harder? HCM or ERP implementation?

A: