347 

 ^n institution Q 



Major Issues Facing the Smithsonian Institution 



Technology 



The Smithsonian Institution is committed to improving financial and program management 

 and is implementing a new financial management system in pursuit of that goal. Through 

 real time access to financial data housed in one database, the Smithsonian Institution's 

 decisionmaking capabilities will be strengthened, program and financial managers will be 

 enabled to more effectively carry out the Smithsonian Institution's missions, and 

 management will be able to accurately report the results of operations to the public. The 

 Smithsonian Institution will replace the aging Smithsonian Financial System in fiscal year 

 2002 by implementing the general ledger, accounts payable, and purchasing modules of the 

 PeopleSoft ERP system (Phase I). The accounts receivable, assets, grants, and projects 

 modules will be implemented in fiscal year 2003 as Phase II. Finally, the human resources 

 modules, including the payroll interface, will be implemented in fiscal years 2003 and 2004. 



As with most systems implementation efforts of this magnitude, the migration from the 

 legacy accounting system to the PeopleSoft ERP system will pose significant challenges, 

 including: 



• Redesigning the current chart of accounts structure and populating the accounts to be in 

 compliance with the Treasury SGL and OMB's A-l 1 requirements, 



• Transferring account balances accurately from the SFS to the PeopleSoft system and 

 reconciling any differences, thereby ensuring that account balances reflected in SFS are 

 established in the PeopleSoft general ledger, 



• Properly planning and implementing the submodules to achieve the potential benefits of 

 a fully integrated administrative management system, 



• Minimizing customization to the core software by reengineering Smithsonian Institution 

 financial business processes to use PeopleSoft-inherent business processes, 



• Developing and documenting new policies and procedures based on the reengineered 

 business processes, 



• Defining the financial reporting requirements of a complex nonprofit organization, 



• Educating staff on the new business processes, policies, and procedures in advance of 

 system implementation, and 



• Minimizing the time spent by staff in learning how to operate the new system. 



Capital Projects 



The Smithsonian Institution is the world's largest museum complex including 1 6 museums 

 and galleries with the overall operation consisting of more than 400 buildings, over 142 

 million objects, and extensive research and outreach capabilities. Some of the Smithsonian 

 Institution's buildings are more than a century old. And in many cases, due to the age of 

 these buildings and the heavy visitation to the museums and galleries, the buildings and 



