Valparaiso University has received a $5 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc.
The funding is through the competitive Phase 3 of Lilly Endowment’s initiative, Charting the Future of Indiana’s Colleges and Universities. The grant will support a partnership between Valparaiso University, the University of Evansville, Drake University in Iowa and North Central College in Illinois to implement a shared, cloud-based Enterprise Resource Planning system.
Valparaiso University is one of 16 Indiana colleges and universities that will be supported by funding in the final phase of Charting the Future, an initiative designed to help colleges and universities in Indiana assess and prioritize the most significant challenges and opportunities they face as higher education institutions and develop strategies to address them.
“I'm deeply grateful to Lilly Endowment for this grant that will help Valpo and three partner colleges and universities,” said José D. Padilla, president, Valparaiso University. “Lilly Endowment's Charting the Future initiative has been so instrumental in helping Indiana colleges and universities develop innovative strategies to expand and better serve our students and is a testament to their philosophy of embracing traditions while engaging new ideas.”
The collaborating institutions will now begin assessing ERP options with a goal of incorporating best-in-class technology innovations, digital solutions and advanced data analytics and business intelligence to reduce non-academic costs and improve services.
It is expected that the conversion process from current, independent campus-based ERP systems to a single cloud-based system will take several years and significant effort on each of the campuses.
The four institutions have formed an independent, nonprofit organization called the College and University Sustainability Project to house the collaborative effort toward providing efficient and effective non-academic services.
