San Joaquin Delta College is part of the California Community College education system, the largest system of higher education in the world. An award-winning technological innovation leader in the California education community, Delta was one of a group of institutions commissioned by the Foundation for California Community Colleges to evaluate enterprise resource planning systems to determine which might best meet their needs. After extensive research and assessment, the group determined that there was no single application that addressed their spectrum of needs, especially those needs specific to higher education.

Believing that there was an answer to their dilemma, President Raul Rodriguez of Delta continued looking for a solution that would meet his institution’s needs.

Higher Education Means Higher Standards

Dr. Rodriguez was initially drawn to Kuali because it offers institutional control, as opposed to ERP vendor control. “As a community college,” Dr. Rodriguez explains, “we must comply with significant regulations, often more so than a university. Our experience has been that while vendors would like, in theory, to accommodate our needs, we often are not a priority and we do not have a significant voice in the application development. With Kuali, we not only have a voice, but we also are designers and architects. We work with leading institutions, not as partners in name only but as full partners in development.”

Mr. Lee Belarmino, vice president of information technology, sees this point as foundational to the value proposition of Kuali: “When you purchase a ‘canned package,’ you must accept that to a large degree, the decisions around what will be available in that package will be made by the vendor, not by you the buyer. In contrast, Kuali is built on a framework that is inherently user-centric. The community that builds the product is the same community that will use the product. Therefore, institutions that participate in development necessarily have more control over their own destiny.”

“Unlike vended solutions, Kuali’s core functions are designed by individuals who understand the very specific needs of higher education, because they deal with these needs every single day.” Ms. Claire Tyson, director of finance, further explains why she considers the design process for Kuali to be one of the most vital and unique aspects of the solution: “When design decisions are made by individuals who do not function centrally within a higher education institution, incorrect assumptions are often made. Kuali is built by functional individuals with a functional perspective specific to higher education, and for that reason, it provides an excellent fit to our institution’s needs.”

Dr. Jon Stephens, vice president of business services, considers Kuali to be Delta’s best option because of its flexibility. “An institution of higher learning, by its nature, is never static, and the best system for keeping an institution on the move and optimally functional cannot be static. Kuali is fully scalable, so it is as beneficial to a campus of 8,000 as it is to a campus of 80,000. Further, the module model of Kuali offers incomparable flexibility by allowing an institution to select the pieces it needs, when it needs them. Over time, the institution’s needs will change and so can the solution. Using Kuali, Delta has the opportunity to tailor its technology like never before.”

The complexities of change within an institution can be overwhelming. In his role leading system development at Delta, Mr. Coombs knows the road is never easy. “The tasks involved in a system migration raise concerns and issues that are universal throughout the higher education community, regardless of how big or small the institution. The skills needed to implement a system may never be needed again, and developing those skill sets within the institution places additional burdens on the in-house IT group that is often already overburdened.” But as Mr. Coombs further explains, rSmart alleviates many of the pains of change: “rSmart allows the in-house staff to tend house and power through major implementations by ensuring the integrity of the data and providing the ability to process reports essential to the institution’s on-going operations. rSmart’s expertise, understanding of the higher education community, and commitment to their work provides comfort in the time of change, as well as perspective for the value of the change. With rSmart, Delta has access to a knowledge base that educates us and takes us to the next level.”

Dr. Stephens explains: “An institution is not naturally introspective. A group like rSmart is able to much more effectively facilitate an evaluation, identify redundancies, eliminate unnecessary steps, and guide effective implementation.” Mr. Belarmino adds, “rSmart doesn’t own the processes being evaluated, so rSmart is able to offer us an objectivity that would have been difficult to find ourselves. Ultimately, I consider rSmart’s ability to evaluate as valuable as the actual implementation work that rSmart is doing for us.”

Fully Scalble to Benefit the Needs of Any Campus Size

Mr. Matt Coombs, director of system development, sees Kuali as an efficient, cost-effective means for tackling Delta’s administrative technology needs: “Everyone is being asked to do more with less. With Kuali, as opposed to a vendor solution, the investment we make in software is an investment in our own people. The individuals at our institution become the subject matter experts regarding the design and functionality of the software. Through this, we find that we are nimble and better able to react efficiently and effectively to the rapid evolution of technology.” At the beginning of any software implementation, there is a need to assess the scope of impact on existing business processes. Delta enlisted the help of rSmart, a company dedicated to open source software support and services in higher education. With rSmart’s assistance, Delta completed an evaluation of its existing finance and reporting processes. Often, such processes have evolved over many, many years, and it can be difficult for the functional process owners to step back and assume an objective perspective.

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