Change / post-go-live
UMass — PeopleSoft
University of Massachusetts · Senior Project Leader → Senior Manager & Director, Change Services (2007–2015)
One-line result
Led a ~$14MM PeopleSoft HR upgrade across payroll, benefits, and training — recognized as Project of the Year — then stayed on the change and operate side so cutover wasn’t the finish line.
Context / seat
At UMass I led large ERP and platform transitions across a multi-campus system, first as senior project leader on the HR upgrade, then owning change, training, communications, and service levels for Finance and Student Administration moves.
Problem
University ERP programs are famous for burning budget at go-live and losing discipline afterward. The needle isn’t a ribbon-cutting. It’s whether payroll, benefits, and campus operations still work — and improve — after the project team thins out.
What I did
- Led the PeopleSoft HR upgrade (7.6 → 9.0) across payroll, base benefits, and training on a ~$14MM program.
- Automated time & labor and employee/manager self-service; reduced paper-based payroll artifacts; strengthened high-availability infrastructure.
- Implemented Oracle Identity Access Management for SSO and authorization controls.
- Later led change, training, communications, and service-level management for PeopleSoft Finance and Student Administration transitions.
- Built business continuity / DR discipline for the division, including off-site testing and application prioritization.
Results
- ~$14MM PeopleSoft HR program delivered and recognized as Project of the Year.
- Self-service and time & labor automation that cut paper-heavy payroll work.
- Change and operate ownership after cutover — not a clean handoff into someone else’s mess.
- Continuity/DR practices that treated ERP as production infrastructure, not a project souvenir.
What a board or COO should take from this
Large ERP is only a credential if you owned the aftermath. This chapter is implement and operate: a flagship upgrade with an award on the wall, and the change discipline that kept the system real for campuses afterward.