The Client:
Whitehead Institute is a biomedical research firm employing over 1100 people in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Since 1982, they have fielded an internationally renowned path finding research program involving cancer and HIV, structural biology, genetics and infectious diseases. The institute is a nonprofit and educational research institution and shares a close affiliation with Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Challenges:
In November of 2002, Paradigm Business Solutions was contracted by Whitehead to implement Lawson 8.0.3 Human Resources and Payroll Systems and to upgrade Lawson 7.2.1 Financial and Purchasing modules. The scope of the project included project management, application, implementation and technical consulting services.

Nonprofit - Whitehead Institute is a not-for-profit research organization that relies heavily on grant tracking through activities management. At the time of the upgrade, their financial system had been highly modified to fill these and other unique requirements. Part of the upgrade process involved reviewing the existing modifications to determine if they were included in the upgraded applications. Gap documentation and specifications were composed for each existing modification.

Grant Requirements: The same grant requirements that impacted the financial upgrade added complexity to the Human Resources and Payroll implementation. Activities distribution and encumbrances needed to be tracked for each Whitehead employee and affiliate. In addition to the design, set up and testing, the project team needed to identify this gap and design and program a modification to meet this requirement.

International Staffing: Having employees around the globe brought another variable to the project. Payroll and benefits must take into account a large number of international staff, multi-currency and varying statuses. Some employees receive W-2’s and some 1099’s.

New Server Installation: Concurrent with the implementation and upgrade, Whitehead is installing a new server. The switch from and HP Server to Sun has added additional planning steps in terms of software needed from vendors as well as product availability and system testing plans.

In addition, Whitehead plans to utilize several Lawson features; Employee and Self-Service, Process Flow, Microsoft Add-Ins and Enterprise Reporting. The project team must also design, test and implement these additional features.

The Solution:
The Whitehead effort is moving ahead as planned with a dedicated Paradigm Project Manager and a team of experienced Paradigm consultants and internal staff. Although their have been some glitches along the way, a successful implementation is the ultimate goal.

(Paradigm Business Solutions was acquired by ISH, Inc. in 2007)