Ripple Effects of UCPath

From a recent email:

UCLA officially kicked off its Financial System Replacement Initiative in Spring 2018 following a period of planning and analysis. Thanks to the hard work of so many across campus, we developed a project plan that leverages the new cloud-based financial application, called Ascend. However, through conversations with campus stakeholders over the course of the past month, we have determined that changes to our financial systems and business processes will be more successful under an extended implementation process. We now expect that our transition to Ascend will extend beyond the previously stated target of July 2021.

Over the past year, the financial challenges facing UC and UCLA have increased greatly and we face a sobering budget forecast in the years ahead. We are also sensitive to the potential for change fatigue if we implement a new system too soon, particularly while the campus community is still adjusting to UCPath. We believe that a new timetable for Ascend will ultimately help ensure its success.

This change in our implementation timeline will allow for the continued stabilization of UCPath, create a window to implement the new budget model, and allow our academic and administrative units the opportunity for a more manageable process that should also result in project savings. A subsequent communication anticipated by early February will provide more details on the revised implementation plan for Ascend. This plan will include system components that will be ready for deployment in July 2021, while others will be ready to deploy in future years...