CSU Turns to Unisys

A new agreement with Unisys will help the California State University (CSU) system streamline administrative support services for its 370,000 students and provide cost-effective financial and human resources support for more than 41,500 faculty and staff on all 23 campuses.

CSU and the Blue Bell, Penn.-based e-business solutions provider have signed a five-year, approximately $60 million agreement, with an option for a three-year extension and the purchase of additional services. Unisys will handle server hosting and the operations support of the software applications for CSU’s Common Management Systems (CMS) suite of PeopleSoft integrated software.

CMS is a system-wide effort to improve administrative services by replacing and standardizing CSU’s financial human resources and student data systems. By working together as a university system, the CSU campuses will be able to replace systems more efficiently.

“Unisys provided a PeopleSoft technical solution that meshed perfectly with our requirements,” says CSU Chancellor Charles B. Reed. “Our schedule for campus implementation of this software system was a challenge, but Unisys demonstrated an understanding of providing outsourced operations support that was consistent with our ambitious plans.”

Production readiness for CSU will begin in July 2001 from Unisys Salt Lake City Service Center. The entire CSU system is expected to be on line by the end of 2006.

“This is a wonderful opportunity to leverage our PeopleSoft skills in the dynamic world of higher education,” says Bob Evans, president, Unisys Global Outsourcing. “It was evident from the beginning that the Unisys people, the CSU technical community and the Office of the Chancellor all were on the same page regarding their goals for growth and applying technology in a way that made sense for them.”

Unisys Solutions for e-business are based on its expertise in vertical industry solutions, network services, outsourcing, systems integration and multi-vendor support, coupled with enterprise-class server and related technologies. The primary vertical markets Unisys serves worldwide include financial services, transportation, communications, publishing and commercial sectors, as well as the public sector, including federal government customers.