At the repeated prodding of Michael P. I've begun
research for an article on PeopleSoft, the
administrative software firm. Seems the company's
software system might be solely responsible for the
bankruptch of Cleveland State University. I think this
group may be interested in a few of the quotes below,
especially how the role of the people who are supposed
to run the systems was apparently entirely
ignored--not unlike most every other assumption of our
policy makers. Just gotta love that "those people are
retiring" comment...
**
Auditors have warned Cleveland State University
trustees that they are threatening the solvency of the
school by continuing to spend down the institution's
reserve fund. John J. Boyle III, CSU's interim vice
president of finance, told trustees yesterday they
must hold the line on spending and find ways to
replenish the reserves. Boyle suggested a hiring
freeze � To brace trustees for the news, he sent a
memo earlier in the week in which he said auditors
warned that "the university is depleting its reserves
at a rate that threatens solvency." The school had $18
million in reserves only two years ago, but by summer,
the number is expected to dwindle to $5 million� The
admonition is the latest throb from the school's
PeopleSoft hangover. Most of the money pulled from the
reserve fund has gone to correct the disastrous
problems caused by that computer software. CSU's
financial woes have escalated as the computer mess
with PeopleSoft Inc. has played out. What was
estimated to be a $4.2 million project to update the
computer system will shoot past $15 million.
The Plain Dealer is suing Cleveland State University
to obtain a plan from a company on how to fix problems
in the computer-software programs that the company
sold to the university� Cleveland State refused to
release the plan to the newspaper at the request of
the company, PeopleSoft Inc. of Pleasanton, Calif.
PeopleSoft does not want the information released
because it contains trade secrets, Steve Swasey, the
company's director of public relations, said
yesterday. "What we bring to the customer is between
us and the customer,'' he said� The Cleveland State
plan, including staffing and training, would help that
university manage its software. The university's Board
of Trustees rejected the plan a week ago as
inadequate. The company has said that the software
works and that it has fulfilled its obligation to the
university.
**
�Denver has spent $23.4 million on the city's new
financial services computer system - 67 percent over
budget. Most of that -- more than $18 million -- went
to consultants who trained city employees how to work
the system. Just $2 million was spent on software and
$1.3 million on computers.�
***
In Boston��Chief Accountant Paul J. Roman � said
employee complaints are "a matter of not picking up
all the little nuances that they have to pick up."
"There are some people who can't accept change,"
Lasher said. "We have people out there in the
departments who are still keeping written sets of
books in addition to the computer. . . . Slowly, those
people are retiring."
**
� San Francisco's school district has spent more than
$ 5 million on a system that initially cost less than
$ 300,000. Five years later, it still isn't working
right.
**
Consultants hired by W.L. Gore & Associates, the
closely held maker of Gore-Tex fabric, entered Mickey
Mouse and Donald Duck into the company's PeopleSoft
payroll system as a demonstration and couldn't get
them out again before the paychecks started rolling.
=====
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