UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — As of July 1, the Enterprise Project Management Office (EPMO) and Enterprise Applications will combine into one unit, Enterprise Systems & Services (ESS), under Penn State IT.
EPMO, under the leadership of Michael Büsges, senior director of Enterprise Projects, has been responsible for implementing and managing core administrative operations for the University — LionPATH for student information, WorkLion for human resources and payroll, and SIMBA for financial operations.
EPMO was initially housed under Finance & Business (F&B) with a dotted line to the Office of the Executive Vice President and Provost to ensure that the large-scale transition of business systems and processes required for LionPATH, WorkLion and SIMBA would have strong functional input and guidance from the provost and the senior vice president for F&B, as well as other business leadership at the University. Now that all three systems have been deployed and are firmly part of the Penn State landscape, it is time to integrate the management of these systems with the University’s other enterprise applications.
“All three are now in the maintenance phase, so the timing makes sense to align them with other enterprise-wide systems as we execute on the University IT strategic plan and support the strategic initiatives of One Penn State 2025,” said Don Welch, vice president for Information Technology and chief information officer.
ESS is being led by Jen Stedelin, associate vice president of Enterprise Systems & Services, formerly associate vice president of Enterprise Applications. Enterprise Applications was established in fall 2018 under interim leadership and was comprised of Software Engineering and a newly established group to operationally manage Penn State’s Office365 suite. Stedelin was hired to lead the group in October 2019. In addition to LionPATH, WorkLion and SIMBA, the ESS portfolio includes enterprise solutions such as Canvas, Office 365, Document Management and Central Person Registry (CPR).
“Over the past year I’ve learned about the breadth of knowledge and experience throughout the EPMO teams, which will be a great complement to the talented team already assembled in EA,” Stedelin said. “I’m looking forward to working with this exceptional, expanded team under Enterprise Services & Systems.”
The EPMO leadership team, helmed by Büsges, has received executive sponsorship from Executive Vice President and Provost Nick Jones and Senior Vice President for Finance and Business Sara Thorndike (previously, Senior Vice President David Gray). Following the transition to ESS, Jones, Thorndike and Büsges will remain involved with the governance of LionPATH, WorkLion and SIMBA. Büsges will transition to a new role as senior adviser to the provost.
“I would like to recognize the considerable effort and perseverance it’s taken over the past eight years to launch the systems that now power the University’s business operations, and I am tremendously proud of the people I have worked with who made this a reality,” Büsges said. “I look forward to continuing to support this team as I also take on new responsibilities for Penn State.”
“This is a positive move for all of us,” said Welch. “It puts us on a path for greater synergies and allows us to maximize our efficiencies. Best of all, IT is gaining excellent colleagues, well-versed in these modern and robust enterprise systems that will support Penn State’s strategic vision for years to come.”