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Univ. looks to curb HopkinsOne spending
Issue date: 10/4/07
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Although recent spending trends have indicated that the HopkinsOne program has been operating at a level significantly over budget, University officials have insisted that they are taking steps to ensure that the multi-million dollar program does not go over budget.
"If we continue to spend at the current rate, then we would go over, but we are taking actions to not overspend," said James McGill, senior vice president for Finance and Administration.
HopkinsOne is a recent University initiative for the replacement of business and administrative systems at Hopkins as well the Johns Hopkins Health System (JHHS), Johns Hopkins Medicine (JHM) and their affiliates. According to the program's Web site, "the scope of the project includes finance, human resources, payroll, purchasing, accounts payable, materials management, and pre- and post-award research administration activities."
"It's a five to six year budget. As of last June, HopkinsOne actually underexpended," McGill said.
Last June, the program was in its earliest stages. HopkinsOne only became high-impact in September when it implemented a change in its software.
"The issue that we're facing is twofold. First of all we are not overspending. But we need to trim costs and the current rate of expenditure to avoid going over the budget," McGill said.
Director of Johns Hopkins Business Systems John Tikka agreed, saying, "The HopkinsOne project is not over budget. We projected a budget overage for fiscal year 2008 that is due mainly to the increased level of support needed.?We have plans in place to keep the budget within the approved parameters."
A major objective of the HopkinsOne project is the simplification and standardization of the software and tools used by Hopkins, JHHS and JHM, which were a conglomeration of many different tools used over the years by the institutions to do different tasks.
"We bought software from SAP, spent money on consulting services and training all of our own people, and on filling positions that needed to be filled," McGill said, "and these are all typical expenditures for putting in a system like this."
"If we continue to spend at the current rate, then we would go over, but we are taking actions to not overspend," said James McGill, senior vice president for Finance and Administration.
HopkinsOne is a recent University initiative for the replacement of business and administrative systems at Hopkins as well the Johns Hopkins Health System (JHHS), Johns Hopkins Medicine (JHM) and their affiliates. According to the program's Web site, "the scope of the project includes finance, human resources, payroll, purchasing, accounts payable, materials management, and pre- and post-award research administration activities."
"It's a five to six year budget. As of last June, HopkinsOne actually underexpended," McGill said.
Last June, the program was in its earliest stages. HopkinsOne only became high-impact in September when it implemented a change in its software.
"The issue that we're facing is twofold. First of all we are not overspending. But we need to trim costs and the current rate of expenditure to avoid going over the budget," McGill said.
Director of Johns Hopkins Business Systems John Tikka agreed, saying, "The HopkinsOne project is not over budget. We projected a budget overage for fiscal year 2008 that is due mainly to the increased level of support needed.?We have plans in place to keep the budget within the approved parameters."
A major objective of the HopkinsOne project is the simplification and standardization of the software and tools used by Hopkins, JHHS and JHM, which were a conglomeration of many different tools used over the years by the institutions to do different tasks.
"We bought software from SAP, spent money on consulting services and training all of our own people, and on filling positions that needed to be filled," McGill said, "and these are all typical expenditures for putting in a system like this."
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