Attachment 1 Background.docx

Attachment 1 – Background

State of South Carolina Clemson University

Competitive Negotiations Attachment 1 Background

RFP Solicitation No. 5400023659

INTRODUCTION

The Clemson University (Clemson) is a selective, public, research university in a college-town setting. Clemson is a land-grant institution that conducts research for the betterment of the community. Clemson offers a wide array of high-quality baccalaureate programs built around a distinctive core curriculum. Graduate, continuing education, doctoral and research programs contribute to the state of knowledge and to the economic future of the state, nation, and world. Clemson provides bachelors, masters and doctoral degrees in more than 100 majors through seven academic colleges: the College of Agriculture, Forestry and Life Sciences; the College of Architecture, Arts and Humanities; the College of Behavioral, Social and Health Sciences; the College of Business; the College of Engineering, Computing and Applied Sciences; the College of Education; and the College of Science.

In addition to the baccalaureate, graduate, continuing education, doctoral and research programs described above, the Clemson Enterprise includes both Clemson University as well as its related organizations. Related organizations are established as separate 501(C)3 entities and include, but are not limited to, the Clemson University Foundation (CUF), Clemson University Land Stewardship Foundation (CULSF), and IPTAY. Currently, Clemson has ten related organizations, three of which are discretely presented on the face of the Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (ACFR). Clemson University systems and business processes are leveraged by Clemson related organizations where permissible. Currently, all related organizations use Peoplesoft Finance and Peoplesoft HR. Related organizations are in-scope for this implementation. Together, by incorporating related organizations and Clemson University together, a more holistic opportunity is presented.

These related organizations work together to support the mission of Clemson. Clemson has approximately 4,450 University administrative staff, 2,000 faculty members, 5,700 Student Employees, 25,000 students, and 1,500 contractors all providing services within the Clemson organization.

BACKGROUND

Clemson is embarking on a large-scale administrative modernization effort to advance the University’s ability to execute core business capabilities in more innovative, agile, and responsive ways; provide robust analytics and reporting, establish a single source of truth for data, enhance security measures; and increase operational efficiency so more time and resources can be directed back into the research, teaching, and service missions of the University. Clemson is issuing this solicitation to solicit proposals for the implementation of an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution that will satisfy the University’s strategic objectives and needs, including, but not limited to, realizing the Business Drivers defined below:

· Data Driven Decision Making: providing users with ease of access to trusted, accurate, reliable, and timely data, and analytical outputs to influence decision making at all levels;

· Empowered People: fostering employee autonomy and accountability by delivering accurate, consistent data against industry benchmarks and through integrated applications;

· Operational Excellence: achieving optimal alignment between services provided and the resources and technologies used to deliver those services;

· Organizational Agility: adapting to new ways of operating, using agile principles, and putting desired end-to-end process outcomes at the forefront of strategy;

· Culture of Collaboration: incentivizing communication and teamwork across a diverse array of stakeholders by maximizing value-added opportunities presented by new and evolving technologies; and,

· Proactive Risk Management: implementing best practices to support early identification and mitigation of enterprise risk, manage cybersecurity threats, and build ERP ecosystem resiliency.

Given the complexity of Clemson, reporting and access needs of stakeholders from all entities, and multi-employer relationships, the vision is to align stakeholders around a single, integrated platform.

It is expected this procurement will provide insight into innovations for achieving efficiencies and simplifying the user experience with capabilities found in state-of-the-art technologies that are not available in current, disparate solutions. Ultimately, Clemson’s desire is that the proposed System will meet today’s needs and is scalable and sustainable to take Clemson into the future.