Story Author: Indiana University Media Relations
Publish Date: March 25, 2005
Source Publication: IUB

BLOOMINGTON, INDIANA (22 March 2005) The Kuali Project (www.kualiproject.org) announces an award of $2.5M from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to advance its development of a new open source Financial System for colleges and universities. 

Four new partners, Cornell University, San Joaquin Delta College, Michigan State University, and the University of Arizona, have also joined as core investors with Kuali Project Founders Indiana University, the University of Hawaii, the National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO), and the r-smart group to develop the modular financial software.

"We are deeply grateful to the Mellon Foundation for their transformative investments in higher education," said Michael A. McRobbie, Vice President for Research and Information Technology at Indiana University.  "The Kuali Project will do for financial systems what Internet2 and National Lambda Rail are doing for networking.  It demonstrates the substantial leverage in higher education when we work together."  

Brad Wheeler, Chairman of the Kuali Project Board and Associate VP for IT at Indiana University added, "The new core partners and grant are a major vote of confidence in the expanded $7.2M Kuali Project and the Community Source model.  Like the Sakai Project, Kuali is aggregating institutional resources to develop and sustain open source software together as we all work to 'do more with less.'" 

David Lyons, NACUBO Senior Fellow and former university financial officer, added that "The Kuali project will provide colleges and universities the option of a cost effective state of the art financial system developed by the higher education community. The Kuali design embodies best business practices and is designed to be scalable over a wide range of institutions from community colleges and liberal arts colleges to research universities."  Lyons has served in a number of roles for the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA).  He is working closely with the Kuali Functional Requirements Team.

Cornell University, Michigan State University, San Joaquin Delta College, and the University of Arizona decided to invest in the Kuali Project after carefully considering their local needs. "The Kuali Project is significant to San Joaquin Delta College and all community colleges because it provides a viable option for community colleges that are seeking a financial system for the future and an open source alternative to proprietary software.  It was an easy decision for Delta College," said Dr. Raul Rodriguez, Superintendent/President, San Joaquin Delta College.

University of Arizona Finance Director and Treasurer Charles Ingram stated that "Kuali is one of the most exciting projects we have seen for administrative services in years.  Kuali provides the business side of the house additional tools to address the complex accounting and reporting required by granting and governmental agencies.  These tools are important for the University of Arizona to remain a recognized leader among Research I institutions."   Sally Jackson, University of Arizona Chief Information Officer, added that "Arizona joined this effort because we believe the product will fit our business better than anything developed outside the university context. More important for us, though, is the possibility of using the software over a very long period of time to support refined business processes with a growing network of collaborating institutions."

The Kuali Financial System is based on the proven financial system design that has been used at Indiana University (IU) for over 10 years.  Its modular design includes a base system of Chart of Accounts, General Ledger, Transactions, Reporting, and Workflow.  Additional modules will include

*       Accounts Receivable

*       Budgeting

*       Capital Assets Management

*       Endowment

*       Enhanced Decision Support/Reporting

*       Labor Distribution

*       Purchasing/Accounts Payable

*       Pre- and Post-Award Research Administration

Barry Walsh, Sr. Director of e-Business Services at IU, observed, "Kuali represents a third option for colleges and universities beyond 'Build' or 'Buy'.   Its design is of, by, and for the unique financial management needs in higher education, and IU has already integrated some early parts of Kuali with our recently implemented PeopleSoft Student and HR systems."  Kuali is being built using J2EE and a services-oriented architecture to facilitate blending Kuali modules with home grown and commercial software.

The base Kuali modules are expected to be released in early 2006.  Other modules will follow as the 2.5 year project completes its work in summer 2007.  The Kuali Project will also release a Fiscal Officer Training Series and Financial Policy Templates to accompany the software. 

All software and materials will be available under the Educational Community License and can be adopted by colleges and universities without licensing fees.  The open licensing approach provides opportunities for support and implementation assistance from commercial providers.  For example, IBM recently formed a partnership with the r-smart group, positioning them to provide offerings, service and support for higher education open source projects such as Kuali.  Wheeler anticipates a partner's organization similar to the Sakai Educational Partners Program and a Commercial Affiliates organization as the Kuali Project matures.

Media Contacts:

*       Dr. Brad Wheeler, Kuali Project Chairman of the Board, Assoc VP and Dean of IT, Indiana University, bwheeler@indiana.edu 812.855.3478

*       Bruce Alexander, Assoc Director of Information Services, Michigan State University, alexan24@msu.edu

*       Lee Belarmino, Assoc VP for IT, San Joaquin Delta College, lbelarmino@deltacollege.edu

*       Joanne DeStefano, VP for Financial Affairs, Cornell University, jmd11@cornell.edu

*       Charles Ingram, Financial Officer & Treasurer, University of Arizona, cingram@arizona.edu

*       Dr. David Lassner, CIO, University of Hawaii, david@hawaii.edu

*       David Lyons, NACUBO Senior Fellow, djlyons@msn.com

*       Michael A. McRobbie, VP for Research & IT, vpit@indiana.edu

*       James Morley, President, NACUBO, james.morley@nacubo.org

*       Barry Walsh, Sr. Director of e-Business Services, Indiana University, walsh@indiana.edu

Garland C. Elmore, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Informatics and Communication
Associate Vice President and Dean

I N D I A N A  U N I V E R S I T Y
Office of the Vice President for Information Technology and CIO
535 West Michigan Street, IT500, IUPUI Campus
Indianapolis, Indiana 46202-5157   P:317.274.4507  F:317.274.4513
606 E. Kirkwood Avenue, Franklin 116, IUB Campus
Bloomington, Indiana 47405-1223    P:812.856.5181  F:812.855.3310