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Announcing Finance Catalyst: Transforming ºÚÁÏÕýÄÜÁ¿'s Financial Systems and Processes

We are excited to formally announce the launch of a major initiative to transform the university’s financial systems and processes—Finance Catalyst: Insight at the Speed of Discovery! 

Financial systems are like a brain: they are where business and financial data connects, information flows, and insight drives action all across the university. While our current Oracle Financials system has served us well, demands on it have tripled since it was implemented, and it is time to begin moving towards our financial system of the future.

We chose the name Finance Catalyst because this project will do exactly that—act as a catalyst. By unifying our financial processes through an integrated, scalable, and intelligent Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) platform, we will transform finance into the invisible advantage behind every breakthrough at ºÚÁÏÕýÄÜÁ¿.

Sponsored by leadership in the Finance Division and Computing Services, a core project team has been tasked with leading the charge to select and implement a modern financial Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) platform to centralize and organize data, automate workflows, provide real-time insights, and streamline financial operations across all ºÚÁÏÕýÄÜÁ¿ campuses. 

To ensure its success, discovery work is already underway. The team is collaborating closely with key campus stakeholders to map out our current financial environment and document the business, system, data, and reporting requirements needed to build a comprehensive Request for Proposal (RFP). 

As we prepare to launch the RFP process for both an ERP system vendor and a software implementation partner later this month, it is the perfect time to introduce you to Finance Catalyst and launch the project website and a dedicated communication channel (financecatalyst@andrew.cmu.edu). Both are designed to keep you – our amazing financial community – informed every step of the way on this journey we are embarking on together.

What to Expect Moving Forward

We are currently moving steadily through Phase 1 (Discovery), which will run through December 2026. While the actual implementation of a new ERP system won’t occur until 2028-2031, there is plenty of work to be done between now and then! Here is what is on the immediate horizon:

• Communication Channels: Future project updates, including a mini newsletter, The Finance Catalyst Chronicle, will come directly from our new project email address, financecatalyst@andrew.cmu.edu. Please keep an eye out for more from us and don’t hesitate to use the email to reach out to the project team with any questions! 
• Explore the Website: We invite you to explore our new website to review the project phases, timeline, and resources. This is a great place to become familiar with what this project will mean for you and the rest of the ºÚÁÏÕýÄÜÁ¿ community. As we move through the project, we’ll also post periodic updates and resources to the website.
• Vendor Evaluations (September – October): A core group of campus stakeholders will be invited to review potential vendor proposals, attend software demonstrations and presentations, and provide feedback to help inform what platform and implementation partner the university ultimately selects.

Thank you for your continued partnership, collaboration, and expertise. Together, we are activating a modern financial ecosystem that will truly empower ºÚÁÏÕýÄÜÁ¿ to deliver insight when it matters most.

If you have any questions or ideas related to the Finance Catalyst project, please don't hesitate to reach out to the project team at our new inbox (financecatalyst@andrew.cmu.edu).