Overviews of Projects/Initiatives

Project Description  

MIT’s current enterprise resource planning (ERP) system uses SAP as the core system for many administrative processes across the Institute, including HR, finance, and facilities. Implemented in the 1990s and created to be compatible with administrative business processes dating back to the 1950s, MIT’s highly customized ERP landscape is cumbersome and costly to maintain. This dated system puts a strain on our community and lacks agility to support the evolving business needs of the Institute.
 
Our goal is to eliminate existing functional and technical constraints and move from outdated user experiences, fragmented data and computing deployment, and legacy business processes to friction-free modern user experiences, access to integrated data and consistent and streamlined processes. The new system will feature integrated access to data to rapidly inform institutional decision making and provide opportunities for automation to free up time and resources to focus on what is important for MIT. 

Guiding Principles

Our focus is to support MIT’s mission of advancing knowledge, educating students and conducting research to bring knowledge to bear on the world’s greatest challenges. So that units across MIT can have access to a single source of reliable data, effectively manage operations, inform sound decision-making, and consistently meet business objectives, MIT will:

• Strive to adapt to new ways of working in order to ensure that the chosen solution is leveraged to realize expected benefits;
• Provide a comprehensive set of shared tools and processes that will make it easier to access information, manage operations, and eliminate the need for shadow systems;
• Standardize administrative processes where possible to create a foundation for operational consistency across MIT
• Avoid customization of configurable workflows within the chosen system unless required to support a differentiating or regulatory requirement in order to maintain a lightweight and flexible environment that can accommodate current and future needs; and
• Only consider technical solutions with an intuitive, adaptive interface that delivers an experience aligned to end-user functional needs.

Current Status 

The ERP project is still in its early stages, with preparations under way to ensure that the project launches successfully. Renaud Fournier was appointed Chief Officer of Digital Strategy and Transformation in September 2023. Reporting directly to the Executive Vice President and Treasurer, this new position focuses on identifying key opportunities for improving business processes and streamlining complex processes, defining and evolving digital strategy, and building and leading a team to work with academic, research, and administrative areas.
 
Additionally, the team continues to conduct readiness activities to prepare for the project launch, such as identifying and prioritizing meaningful business process changes and identifying impactful cross-cutting initiatives across the organization.

Initial Planning Phase (Complete)

• Engaged a consulting company to guide us through the request for information (RFI) process with ERP vendors, and to help MIT identify institutional opportunities, pain points, cost and resource needs based on the current state environment.
• Explored a range of possible vendor solutions and cloud platform options available in today’s broader ERP market.
• Set the foundation for an ERP modernization that will provide a world-class experience, sustain enhancement and innovation with MIT’s broader ecosystem, and provide the data to rapidly inform institutional decision making.

Key Deliverables 

• Strategic Principles and Guiding Principles
• Business Capability Maturity Assessment
• Request for Information (RFI) to vendors
• Organizational Readiness Assessment
• ERP Solutions Assessment Report
• Target State Architecture
• ERP Modernization Roadmap
• Final report and readout

Steering Committee 

Robin Elices, Executive Director, Office of the EVPT (Committee Lead)
Ramona Allen, Vice President for Human Resources
Katie Hammer, Vice President for Finance
Ron Hasseltine, Assistant Provost for Research Administration
Joe Higgins, Vice President for Campus Services and Stewardship
Colleen Leslie, Assistant Provost for Research Administration
Mark Silis, Vice President for Information Systems and Technology
Heather Williams, Assistant Provost for Strategic Projects

Discovery Project Leads

Lizz McManus, Senior Project Manager, Office of the EVPT (Project Team Lead)
Eamon Kearns, Associate Vice President, IS&T 
Karon McCollin, Manager of Financial Systems, Office of the Vice President for Finance
Wayne Turner, Director, HR Operations, Human Resources
Susan Wolfson, Director, Finance & Administration, Campus Services & Stewardship
Carol Wood, Director, Research Administration Systems Support
Gartner, Discovery Consultants

Business Process Leads / Subject Matter Experts 

Various subject matter experts and users from across the Institute (as needed)

Questions

Contact Senior Project Manager Lizz McManus if you have questions about the ERP project.
 

Initiative Description 

Fast Forward: MIT’s Climate Action Plan for the Decade, announced in May 2021, calls on MIT to “mobilize its strengths” to address the climate crisis. In addition to focusing on new research and applied technologies to support global goals, the plan calls for immediate action on campus to reach the goal of eliminating MIT’s direct emissions by 2050 with a near-term goal of achieving net-zero emissions by 2026.
 
MIT has established a set of campus climate commitments, which fall under three broad categories:
Mitigation efforts center on developing a full assessment of direct and indirect emissions resulting from the diverse operations of the Institute and the undertaking of strategic measures to continually reduce and ultimately eliminate these emissions.
 
Resiliency is the work needed to support and build an MIT that continues to fulfill its mission in the face of the impacts of climate change that include flooding from more frequent and extreme rains, storm surges, and rising sea-levels as well as extreme heat events.
 
Climate leadership focuses on setting new goals and empowering the MIT community to develop ideas, strategies, and metrics to reach those goals – using our campus as a “test bed for change.”
 
Campus climate commitments range from employing strategies to reduce on-campus energy consumption, to converting to zero-emission campus shuttle buses, to increasing the capacity of renewable energy installations on campus. See the complete list of commitments on the MIT Office of Sustainability (MITOS) website.

Initiative Timeline

The commitments will deliver incremental outcomes advancing the Institute toward its 2050 goal of eliminating direct campus emissions.

Initiative Sponsors 

Glen Shor, Executive Vice President and Treasurer
Katie Hammer, Vice President for Finance
Joe Higgins, Vice President for Campus Services and Stewardship

Contact

For more information, email zeroby2050@mit.edu.

Project Description

CRICO, the insurance program for Harvard medical institutions and their affiliates, awarded MIT Medical a four-year grant to establish an ambulatory safety net program. An ambulatory safety net (ASN) is an innovative organizational intervention that addresses patient safety related to missed and delayed diagnoses of abnormal test results. An ASN consists of a set of tools, reports, registries, and associated workflows to create a high-reliability system for abnormal test result management.

In the first year of the grant, MIT Medical will developed two ASN interventions: one for routine colorectal cancer screenings and surveillance colonoscopies for high risk patients as well as an ASN for universal depression screening and suicide prevention within the Adult Primary Care, OB/Gyn, and Student Mental Health and Counseling Services.

We have identified cancer as a major area of expansion for future ASN interventions. In the remaining years of the grant, MIT Medical plans to add additional ASN interventions in breast, prostate, and lung cancer. In many cases, missed or delayed cancer diagnoses can be attributed to failures in communication and breakdowns in the loop-closure process — a patient receives an abnormal test result, but the necessary follow-up is not completed, and a potential cancer diagnosis is missed. ASN interventions can provide a safeguard against these errors by providing a backup system for following up on abnormal test results when the standard follow-up process fails.

Timeline

2022–2026

Working Committee

Michele David, M.D., Chief of Quality and Patient Safety
Stephanie Shapiro, M.D., Chief of Medical Informatics and Population Health
Janis L. Puibello, F.N.P., Associate Chief of Nursing, Clinical Quality and Nursing Administration
Lior Givon, M.D., Clinical Director, Primary Care Behavioral Health
Regina Harvey, D.N.P-R.N. Associate Director of Nursing, Clinical Operations

 
Questions

Please email medical@mit.edu with any questions about the Ambulatory Safety Net Program.

Project Description

MIT Medical is enhancing and upgrading our second and third floor patient care areas, including expanding and enhancing our waiting areas and treatment spaces in Primary Care, Specialty Care, and Student Mental Health and Counseling services.
 
The project will consist of:

• Newly renovated waiting and reception areas
• Expanded number of exam rooms
• Expanded space for Student Mental Health and Counseling service
• New exam space for Primary Care Behavioral Health program (for faculty and staff)
• New internal support spaces (clean and soiled utility rooms, medication room)
• New group room, staff space, and provider spaces
• New security doors to separate public and clinical spaces

 
Architect renderings
 
2nd floor lobby

 

3rd floor reception

Timeline

2022–2024

Working Committee

Robert Bright, Director of MIT Medical Facilities
Marcela Cardoso, Project Manager
David Forristall, Manager, Technology Systems
Rosie Huntress, Director of Project Management and Strategic Planning
Michael MacDonald, Facilities Manager
Brian Schuetz, Executive Director
Cecilia Stuopis, Medical Director

Questions

Please email medical@mit.edu with questions about renovations to MIT Medical patient care areas.

Project Mission

The Office of the Vice President for Finance is developing the Purchase with Purpose campaign to respond to President Reif’s July 2020 charge for MIT to increase purchasing with Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC)-owned businesses and in support of Fast Forward: MIT’s Climate Action Plan for the Decade. This work is a collaboration among VPF Strategic Sourcing and Contracts and its Small and Diverse Business program, VPF Financial Operations, and the Business Intelligence team within the Controllership.
 
The cornerstone of this effort will be two new online resources:

• Supplier Search, a vastly improved tool for the MIT community to search for suppliers for goods and services, and view demographic information to help inform their buying decisions;
• The Procurement Services website, a new web presence to help the community to source and contract for goods and services, make purchases and payments, monitor orders, book travel, and know how to create travel expense reports.

Project Description  

The Supplier Search tool is being developed to address two key issues with the use of suppliers on campus: frequent redundant requests to add new suppliers to MIT’s roster of established suppliers, and lack of insight into businesses that are small, diverse, or sustainable. Historically this information was difficult to provide due to the limitations in the way VPF collected, organized, and disseminated supplier data. This project coincided with a major reworking of these processes and is built on top of a new supplier database. 

Through the development of the new Supplier Search tool, it became clear VPF needed to provide updated and improved information on sourcing, contracting, and purchasing on its website and highlight MIT’s purchasing priorities around small, diverse, and sustainable businesses. The current VPF website— a task-based site developed before a number of VPF’s directorates were created, is limited in its ability to highlight the expertise and guidance provided by various teams that assist with procurement.
 
The new Procurement Services website will address these key concerns through a modern, dynamic design that highlights the function and expertise of the Strategic Sourcing, Contracts, Travel and Card Services, Procurement Operations, and Accounts Payable teams. It will also serve as a home for the procurement tools and platforms VPF provides to the community, including Supplier Search, Buy-to-Pay (B2P), and Concur.
 
In addition to these tools and resources, the new site will allow VPF to highlight MIT’s purchasing priorities with small, diverse, and sustainable businesses. These priorities will be articulated through Purchase with Purpose, a campaign to inspire buyers to align their purchases with President Reif’s charge and the Fast Forward Climate Action Plan. The campaign will consist of a year-long series of monthly purchasing challenges for the MIT community, participation prizes, on-line and in-person events, and opportunities for campus purchasers to share their Purchase with Purpose activities and stories.

Scope – Discovery, Design, Develop, User Test, and Launch

Both projects went through a robust discovery process over the past two years, with significant feedback from VPF and campus users. Design for both was completed by the same firm to ensure continuity of visuals while ensuring a unique “brand” for the separate tools.
 
The development phase of Supplier Search required significant cooperation between the consultant and VPF teams due to the nature of supplier information and its organization and structure. Currently, development is complete for the tool and final user testing is underway. Both Supplier Search and the Procurement Services website have been designed for accessibility by all users.

Development for Supplier Search and the Procurement Services website is expected to be complete in 2023. Both projects and the Purchase with Purpose campaign are slated to launch in 2023.

Project Team

Sponsors:

Lillian M. DeWitt, Director of Strategic Sourcing and Contracts
Kathleen McGrath, Director of Financial Operations
 
Project Leads:

Emma Homstad, Small and Diverse Business Program Lead Administrator
Minerva Tirado, Senior Strategic Sourcing Analyst
 
Team:

Laurie Everett, Senior Communications Manager
Ann Julian, Manager of Procurement Operations
Ashley Kennedy, Communications Officer
Gilles Simler, Manager of Business Intelligence Systems
Cecilia Talamantes, Senior Analyst

Questions

Contact Project Lead Emma Homstad with questions about these projects.

Project Description

MIT is committed to providing people of all abilities, cultures, gender identities, and gender expressions a safe and comfortable restroom environment.

The Institute Community and Equity Office and the Office of Campus Planning are sponsoring a Campus Inclusive Restroom Study to outline an inclusive approach to MIT’s nearly 700 public, non-residential restrooms, which occupy more than 200,000 square feet of space across the Cambridge campus. The study engages many stakeholders across the Institute, including diversity, equity, and inclusion staff, facilities staff, the All-Gender Restrooms Working Group, the Disability Employee Resource Group, Student Disability Services, and the Office of Religious, Spiritual and Ethical Life. 

The results of the study will include a framework for restroom distribution that considers the mix of men’s, women’s, and all-gender restrooms across MIT’s main campus. The study will also benchmark peer institution precedents and best practices, define a campus-wide restroom program, and prepare restroom design guidelines for minor retrofit, renovation, and new construction.

Timeline

The research and analysis phase of the study took place between May and December 2022. This information-gathering phase included engagement with students, faculty, and staff. The study team is currently developing a restroom distribution framework, as well as an inclusive restroom program and design guidelines. A final report will be issued in 2023. 

Current Resources

The pilot digital restroom directory, created by the Facility Information Systems (FIS) team within the Office of Campus Planning, includes a map of designated all-gender restrooms on MIT’s main campus and links to PDFs of restroom locations (all-gender, as well as men’s and women’s). In addition, find campus accessibility information on this map.

Questions

For more information, contact inclusive-restrooms@mit.edu.