(Original article published Aug. 28, 2023.)
Stanford’s University Budget Office (UBO), in partnership with University IT (UIT), Financial Management Services (FMS), and university stakeholders, is undertaking a multi-year initiative to enhance the foundation of financial management. The initiative features the development of the new Cardinal Planning & Budgeting (CPB) system, which replaced Tidemark Budgeting on Oct. 1, 2024, and the design of new processes to support effective and efficient budget management. CPB is launching in a phased rollout approach to align with Stanford’s budget cycle and accommodate the needs of various schools/units, whose input via workgroups directly inform the design of CPB functionality. Learn more about the project goals or see below for current project progress.
What's Next?
See the timeline graphic or text below to know at a glance when specific CPB functionality and training will be available in Phase 1B.
UBO budget deliverables
Aligning with Stanford’s annual budget cycle, finance staff will prepare these deliverables in CPB: FY26 Budget Plan (starts March 11, due April 11; see Budget Plan Deadlines), FY26 Booked Budget (starts June 2, due Aug. 15), and FY25 Year-End Variance (starts Sept. 24, due Oct. 15).
CPB system design and development
- Functionality currently being built, designed, and tested by CPB workgroups:
- Booked Budget: Compensation planning, revenue and expenses budgeting, and reporting.
- Revenue & Expenses launching June 2025
- Booked Budget Transfers launches shortly after
- Continual forecasting and transfers functionality (Transfer Administration System (TAS) replacement): Scheduled to go live in Phase 2 in FY26.
- Booked Budget: Compensation planning, revenue and expenses budgeting, and reporting.
- Testing: All CPB workgroup members will be invited to participate in core functionality testing for Booked Budget in late April and May 2025.
Training
Once each module has been finalized, training courses will be offered to finance staff. Exact dates will be posted on the training and open lab schedule below.
To ensure all users feel ready to use the new system, timely and comprehensive training and support aligned with annual budgeting activities will be provided before, during, and after go-live. Budget officers and their delegates, designated as CPB Change Leaders, will also communicate with their units about additional CPB resources customized to their specific needs.
Live instructor-led trainings (via STARS)
Budget Plan training has concluded. Stay tuned for the next CPB functionality training; recordings will be available for those who cannot attend live. See the CPB System page > How To section for all videos.
Open labs
No registration required; drop into optional office hours for help from the CPB project team (via Zoom; password: 123456).
Training and Open Labs Schedule (all times in PT)
Upcoming weekly open labs (via Zoom) on Tuesdays:
- Tuesday, April 15, 1-2 p.m.
- Tuesday, April 22, 1-2 p.m.
- Tuesday, April 29, 1-2 p.m.
Support
For questions or support after attending training and open labs or using CPB's In-Application Training Hub, please see these resources.
- CPB system page > How Tos: Helpful user guides and demonstration videos.
- FAQ: Frequently asked questions in getting started with CPB.
- Known system issues: Currently known system bugs/issues and estimated resolution times.
- Support request: Get help on any CPB system-related issue. Your support request will be tracked and sent directly to the CPB Project Team to assist you.
| Category | Question | Answer |
| Data migration | How much data will be retained from Tidemark to CPB? Will we lose any budgeting history? | CPB will provide six years of data (FY19 to present). We will not lose any budgeting history because it is being stored at the University Data Lake (UDL). Besides the FY19-FY25 data, all previous years of data are also available in OBI, and future years' data will also be available via UDL. FY25 Booked Budget data will be available in October 2024. |
| Access / Authority | How can I get access to the CPB system, and what type of authority levels are available? | Cardinal Planning & Budgeting authority is granted to budget officers, who then grant authority to individual users via Authority Manager, based on budgeting responsibilities. If you need access to CPB, email your supervisor or budget officer directly. Learn more about access and levels of authority in CPB. |
| Set up | Is there anything I need to set up before I start using CPB? | If you would like to use Smart View, an add-in for Microsoft Excel that allows you to connect to the CPB system, please refer to the CPB Setup User Guide for Smart View installation instructions for both PC and Mac users. |
| Functionality / Smart View | What is Smart View? | Smart View basic functionality allows users to open up any form or report available in CPB through Excel using the Smart View add-in. Users can read and write, while staying connected to the database, without changing the integrity of the form. |
| Functionality / OBI drill-through / Troubleshooting | Why did my drill-through to OBI not work? | You likely have an authority mismatch between the two systems (CPB and OB); check Authority Manager and email your supervisor or budget officers directly to attain the appropriate authority level. Additionally, training prerequisites might need to be completed to see financial data. |
| Data / OBI vs. CPB / Troubleshooting | Why does my data in CPB not match the data in OBI? | There are several possible reasons your data in CPB and OBI does not match:
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| Training | What is the time commitment for CPB system training? | We anticipate each live training course to be approximately 1.5 to 2 hours long with additional open lab hours available. |
| Functionality | Is there a glossary for the Point of View (POV) so that we know that we're using the right terminology? | This is a work in progress and will be available soon. For the moment, examples of valid selections that should render data in the dimensions are: To search, use the magnifier that comes up when you click on any of the POV dimensions. Or, you can go to "All Members" to find lists of valid members. Please refer to the Reporting User Guide and the recorded trainings (especially "Accessing and Running Reports" for details on how to work with the Point of View (POV). |
| Functionality | What tips can you offer for how to optimize CPB system performance? | Here are a few tips to optimize performance: 1. Set your preview POV. |
Starting in October 2023 and continuing through the next two fiscal years, CPB implementation workgroups engaged budget officers and other staff who are involved in budget activities to provide input and test system functionality. Led by implementation vendor Performance Architects and working with CPB project team members, workgroup participants will help ensure that both the needs of their schools/units and the end-user experience are factored into the requirements and design of key features and functionality.
Workgroups have been formed for the project phases and the participants have been notified. Note: Date ranges for workgroups may be adjusted; workgroup participants should refer to their CPB workgroups microsite (only authorized participants are granted access).
Workgroup Components
Participating in a workgroup includes the following components (design, build, test) and corresponding time commitments. Most workgroups typically involve a comfortably paced commitment of 15-17 hours spread across a timeframe of two to three months.
| Workgroup component | Time commitment |
|---|---|
| Kickoff meeting | One to two hours, Oct. 12 |
| Design: Requirement/Design sessions | Two 2-hour sessions; come prepared with thoughts or examples, including workflow and authority |
| Build: Iterative build review sessions | Two 90-minute sessions |
| Test: User acceptance testing (UAT) | Two 2-hour sessions; test build, workflow, and authority |
| Test: Usability testing | One 2-hour session; ensuring user experience is considered |
| Test: Core functionality testing | One to two hours; invited to return for core functionality testing before go-live |
Workgroup details and timeline: Early input and Phase 1A
Early Input (November 2023 to January 2024)
Participate in a group session to help design overall system navigation (90 minutes) and/or an individual online exercise to help evaluate the intuitiveness of the overall navigation design (30 minutes).
1. Pooled PTA Mapping (November 2023 to April 2024)
Ability to pool multiple PTAs to roll up to a summary level Pool PTA that supports managerial review. For example, pooling all faculty gift awards into one Pool PTA for budgeting and reporting purposes.
2. Transfers 1 (late November 2023 to June 2024 - Merged into Phase 1B: Transfers 2)
a) Replacement of the Transfer Administration System (TAS) that supports tracking funding commitments within and across budget units, and
b) Calculated intrafund appropriations, i.e., the provision of funding for a task when the task is owned by one organization but the award is owned by a different organization.
3. SoM Only: Clin Ops (February to June 2024)
Led by SoM Dean's office; updating the Clin Ops reporting process.
4. CPB/OBI Reporting (April to June 2024)
Covers all aspects of CPB budget reporting, including review of short-listed Tidemark reports that will be available in CPB, reports used to research variances in the YE variance process, and drill-through functionality for transaction-level detail to OBI.
5. Endowment (June to August 2024)
Planning for additions to/withdrawals from endowment principal with resulting endowment payout calculations for use in forecast and budget scenarios.
Workgroup details and timeline: Phase 1B
6. Compensation Planning (November 2024 to February 2025)
Ability to forecast, budget and track actual salaries by person and by PTA, or to do the same at higher-level detail such as expenditure type.
7. Revenue & Expense Budgeting (Budget Plan/Booked Budget) (November to December 2024)
Ability to efficiently build general revenue and non-salary forecasts and budgets using various seeding methods, calculations, and direct entry.
8. Transfers 2 (December 2024 to March 2025)
a) Creation, budgeting, and tracking of funding allocations - commitments typically made by Dean/VP offices to support budgets of departments and programs, and
b) Forecasting, budgeting, and tracking fund transfers internal to a given organization, such as the transfer of restricted funds to support the Operating Budget.
9. SoM Only: SoM Budget Template (February to March 2025)
Led by SoM Dean's office; transitioning SoM Excel budget templates into Excel-based Smart View workbooks that are directly connected to EPM, enabling efficiencies and linked reporting capabilities.
10. Continual Forecasting (April 2025 to September 2025)
Ability to track and update current-year forecasts each month as actuals become available.
Reporting 2 (YE Variance/Dashboards) - Will be absorbed into other workgroups. Participants who signed up will be notified with the option to join another workgroup.
The vision for the future
Stanford’s current budgeting system, Tidemark, no longer meets the university's needs. As a result, UBO and its partners collaborated to identify a future-state solution for planning and budgeting at Stanford that supports the long-term success and mission of the institution. The team identified four priorities to guide the initiative:
- Streamline budget and planning practices to reduce manual processes, shadow systems, workarounds, and other external and burdensome steps.
- Seamlessly integrate with key systems, such as Oracle Financials and OBI Financial Reporting, as well as tools such as Microsoft Office to support flexible reporting, importing, and exporting of data.
- Create a user-friendly interface and experience that is clear, intuitive, and provides real-time visualizations.
- Support long-term planning capabilities so that users will have a tool to support strategic decision-making efforts.
Project overview: A multi-phase approach
- Fiscal Year 2023
- Discovery: UBO, alongside partners which included FMS, UIT, and five large budget units, established an understanding of high-level requirements and which tools might be the best fit to support the university’s complex needs.
- Vendor Selection and Proof of Concept: Upon deciding on Oracle’s Enterprise Performance Management suite (EPM) as the top finalist in a rigorous Request for Proposal (RFP) process, the project team selected implementation partner Performance Architects (PA) to test key functionality in a “proof of concept” process, given their previous experience with implementing EPM for several other higher education institutions. In summer 2023, they completed the proof of concept and a contract was finalized for EPM as the vendor for the new system, which was named Cardinal Planning & Budgeting (CPB).
- Fiscal Year 2024
- Led by PA and UBO, implementation workgroups comprising staff from 20 schools/units across Stanford were formed in October 2023 to give direct input to the system design/build and test base functionality.
- Phase 1A of implementation: This phase focused on implementing base reporting functionality and launching new, critical processes and features. Transformation activities include collaborative process design, system requirements finalization, user engagement, and change management planning. This phase will complete by the end of summer 2024 with the initial launch of Endowment Planning and Reporting modules in October 2024, including Clinical Operations and Year-End Variance Reporting.
- Phase 1B of implementation begins summer 2024 and carries into FY25.
- Fiscal Year 2025 will include Phase 1B of implementation, completing the necessary functionality to launch the FY26 Budget Plan and FY26 Booked Budget in CPB, including the new functionality of continual forecasting (which will go live by autumn 2025, in time for FY26).
- Future: Includes Phase 2 of implementation, with planned functionality to include Budget Proposals and Long-Range Planning.
