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Cornell University

Expense Review Project

Cornell's unified expense review tool

Project Status as of 2-17-2025

Below is the status information shared with the advisory committee on 2/17/2025
Advisory Committee,
I hope this finds you well. Below is a brief project update and a request for your feedback on our initial designs.
Project Status at a Glance
✅ On Track for core deliverables but facing resource constraints
⚠️ Pilot Launch May Be Delayed (April → May) due to data engineering delays
🔹 Low-priority features may be cut or postponed
Key Updates
    • Data Engineering Delays – Shortages have pushed start of data extract work back 10 weeks, may lead to cutting lower priority data in the details panels.
    • Web Development Unaffected – Using placeholder data until data load implementation is complete. Other core features (notes, ask a question, mark reviewed) will progress as planned.
    • Product & Change Management Delays – Updates and outreach efforts have been impacted. The fact this update email is late is an example of this impact.
    • Pilot – Pilot will be delivered with the expense review report. Other core functionality will roll out incrementally after pilot launch.
    • Impact of External Factors – Planned hire of data engineer was delayed by campus IT reorganization. We have now secured approval and the hiring process has begun. In addition, the impact assessment associated with the new presidential administration has increased the need for data engineering. This situation is unpredictable and may lead to further delays. In the interim both data engineering and product management resources have been unexpectedly limited.
Recent Milestones
✅ Conducted 13 user interviews of both faculty and financial administrators
✅ Finalized wireframes after testing with faculty and financial administrators
✅ Advisory Committee formed and initial meeting held
✅ Drafted and incorporated user feedback into web designs
✅ Secured approvals and began implementation
✅ Presented project to 200+ financial administrators in the OSP Roundtable and SFS Dialogs
Next Steps
    • Continue implementation of web application
    • Implement and test data extract
    • Hire a data engineer (in progress)
    • Launch pilot in May
    • Gather user feedback during pilot
    • Develop rollout plan
    • Schedule Advisory Committee meeting to discuss rollout
Your Input Needed
We’d love your early impressions on the designs (see page 15). You can also watch my walkthrough at timestamp 27:30 in this video. Even if we can’t act on feedback immediately, your input now will help guide future improvements.
I think advisory committee input is most useful early in the planning. We received a lot of guidance during and following our initial meeting. If we haven’t addressed your input, or if I misunderstood your advice, I would like to hear about it. I’m also interested in any concerns or suggestions of any sort you have to share.
📅 Please share any thoughts at your earliest convenience.
Next month we’ll start early planning for the pilot and rollout and these topics will be the focus of our next meeting. To get your juices flowing, I’ll ask the following question: In your time at Cornell and elsewhere you’ve undoubtedly seen many new processes and applications. Of those, which would you say had the best executed rollout? What about it made it exemplary? I’d welcome your input via email or at our next meeting.
For more details, visit our project website.
Thank you for your time and support!
Warmest Regards,
Paul DavisProduct Manager, Data Products
Research&Innovation
Cornell University
607-254-5068
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