Financials Upgrade Project 

Samad Aidane, Project Manager, ICT 
Debbi Browning, Assistant Director, AFR

Background 
PeopleSoft Financials system supports all Port of Seattle
accounting, budget management, procurement, and financial
reporting functions 
Business Functions include: general ledger, commitment control,
purchasing, accounts payable, project costing, accounts receivable,
billing, asset management 
PSFS supports: (2012 CAFR) 
$6.6 billion in assets, including $5.5 billion in land, facility and
equipment 
$730 million in Port operating/non-operating revenues & capital
contributions 
$750 million in Port operating/non-operating & capital
expenditures

Key Project Objectives 
Upgrade PeopleSoft Financials  latest version 
Eliminate customizations  use delivered functionality
wherever possible 
Implement new functionality  improve business processes 
Upgrade underlying technical infrastructure  improve
system reliability, availability, performance

Project 
Total Project Budget: $5 Million 
Completion Estimate: $4.4 Million 
Timeline: 
October 2012: Project Kick-off with vendor 
September 2013: cut-over to production 
Over 120 project team members 
Core project team members included Accounting & Financial
Reporting, Information & Communications Technology,
Central Procurement Office, and Finance and Budget 
Project was planned to minimize impact on annual budgeting
and year-end closing processes

Project Benefits 
Improve overall performance and end user experience 
Nightly batch processes reduced from 12 hours to 1 hour 
Eliminated downtime for regular system maintenance that required
24 to 30 hours per week 
Streamline processes and reporting 
Real time update of project budget data to commitment control 
Chartfield editing 
Integrated reporting application with more secure, real-time
reporting solution 
Enhanced tracking of certification for small or minority/woman-
owned firms 
Implement Workflow increasing efficiency and saving time 
On-line requisitions 
Approvals for requisitions, journal entries, and vendor files

Project Benefits 
Eliminate manual processes increasing accuracy and
saving time 
Automated batch upload process for vendors, vouchers, and
cash flow data 
Automated payment matching and transfers 
Automated bulk invoice creation 
Automated loading of asset data for timely reporting
Automated year-end Purchase Order roll-over process, which
will reduce overall processing by 94% saving over 200 hours

Q&A QErA