Good afternoon

From: Ed MacKay
Date: Tuesday, April 24, 2001 2:32 PM

Subject: Project FRESH Meeting Summary

Good afternoon,

On behalf of the Executive Steering Committee (ESC) I want to recap key points from the Project FRESH meeting yesterday for the benefit of anyone who was unable to attend or participate via PictureTel. For those of you who did attend, thank you for taking time out of your very busy schedules.

A important purpose of the meeting was to congratulate Diane Cotter, the Team Leaders, the Business Process Group Chairs, and each of you on the great progress to date and to let you know that the ESC appreciates your devotion to this project and to the USNH.

The project is now at a critical juncture. We are entering the home stretch and as is often the case with these types of efforts, the pace accelerates and the need for decisive action is crucial. At the same time, we know our resources are stretched very thin and priorities are getting more difficult to contrast and sort out. Each team is doing great work to ensure that their piece of the project is done on time and up to the high standards of the USNH. However, more than anything, the project now needs integration, timely decision-making and communication both between and among the teams and throughout the project.

The ESC is fully aware that the project requires, and deserves, more direct involvement by our members during this period. We explored different options to accomplish this and are pleased to announce an approach that will ensure a high level of senior management support and guidance. Effective April 30th Bob Cape and Ken Cody will assume leadership responsibility for the Project. As Co-executives they will partner to direct the project, each devoting at least 50% of their time to FRESH and establishing a presence in Nesmith.

Bob and Ken have the complete and unconditional support and confidence of the ESC. They have the skills, experience and "clout" to secure the needed resources and provide the needed integration, timely decision-making and communication. For the project to be successful, they will also need your complete and unconditional support. Diane Cotter will continue to play an active and important role as the project administrator for Bob and Ken.

We now need to focus on a single project and the interdependencies between the various functional and technical areas. We need to ensure that everyone's goals, roles and responsibilities are aligned. Just as Ken and Bob will work together and each of us on the ESC collectively works together, we know each of you will pledge to work together toward our common purpose. We are literally all in this together, and the only successful project will be one that addresses the needs from all of the finance, human resources, sponsored program, management reporting, training, and information technology perspectives.

The first task Bob and Ken have on their plates is to quickly get up to speed with project details and they'll need your help to get there. They don't want to start from scratch; they don't want to throw any of your excellent work away or do anything over. They want to learn about your plans for completing the respective portions of the project. There are no specific agendas or plans for change.

The first input they ask is that this week each of you send email to both Ken and Bob giving your three (3) suggestions for things that all of us must do to complete the project successfully. Feel free to give some background or discussion for each of the suggestions. Be sure to include the word "IDEA" in the subject line of your email. In addition - if you wish to provide input anonymously, please mail it to Kathy Gilpatrick, Bob's Administrative Assistant, Thompson Hall, UNH Durham. These inputs will help Ken and Bob get off to a more informed start.

Beginning Monday, April 30, Bob and Ken will set up individual meetings with the team leaders and others to gather further input. Helping them during their period of intense learning will be Steve Stofanak and Liz Bourbeau. Steve is a consultant who has been helpful in earlier planning and work with the project leadership team, and Liz has extensive experience with interviewing and listening carefully to objectively record observations, comments and suggestions. We are depending on all of you to be fully engaged and involved in helping quickly build Bob and Ken's detailed knowledge base.

We want to develop one unified plan that builds on the excellent work already completed. Our desire is to more clearly understand and articulate task interdependencies and risk factors. Bob and Ken, together with your help, will identify critical paths and key milestones, not just within each team, but across the teams. This will give Ken and Bob the understanding they need to identify what decisions are needed by what date. It will often be fine to approach the ensuing tasks in a different manner within the teams, but on occasion the unified plan will require a common approach and some change is inevitable. Together, we will find the most effective ways to work together to complete the project successfully.

The result of Ken and Bob's work over the next 3 to 4 weeks will be a report that serves to promote understanding and integration across functional boundaries. This will help us all agree on common goals, roles and methods. It will also serve to solidify scope, identify any barriers to success and resources needed, and form the foundation for a communications plan. They are committed to discovering what barriers exist that may be preventing you from doing your work, and then removing them.

Ken and Bob will try not to get in your way while they work quickly to get up to speed and construct a unified plan. While they are learning and planning, they'd like you to continue your diligent work on present tasks. Please do not slow down! We all recognize that resources are very stretched, so the last thing they want to do is add significant work or take you off task at this time. In fact, we think there may be a need for more "hands on" resources, so part of the learning phase will be determining where, and what, resources are needed.

There is a need for a comprehensive communication plan. It appears that we have had good communication within each of the teams, but very limited communication between teams, between the ESC and project operations, and across some key user groups. Bob and Ken will work hard to refine communications up and down and across the USNH.

To summarize, the ESC is unified in its support of this very important project and in its leadership under Bob and Ken. We need to gain quick assurance that the project is fully integrated, that resources are adequate and properly aligned, that goals and objectives are clearly communicated and fully understood by all, and that decision-making happens in a timely and coordinated manner. I know I speak for Bob and Ken in saying that they are committed to working together, and that they will encourage adoption of the same spirit of collaboration amongst all the members of the project.

Again, we appreciate all of your hard work and many contributions to date. Terrific progress has been made in each of the respective areas, and we simply need to pull together to ensure we have a truly successful project for the many constituencies that are depending upon us. Thank You and Keep Up the Great Work!