The final sprint is here: the transition to SUMMA is approaching, and your Learning Journey is now more important than ever! With the SUMMA go-live on 1 January, many of you will be working in SUMMA: financial initiating agents and verifying agents, authorising officers, and accounting correspondents. If you haven't yet been trained, let's get started - there's no time to lose!
Dear colleagues, while most of us were enjoying our well-deserved holidays and watching the Olympic Games, the marathon work on SUMMA continued in full swing and with Olympic enthusiasm. Throughout the summer, teams from BUDG and many other DGs have been putting the finishing touches to the SUMMA programme to open the door to a new era of financial management that is about to begin: On 1 January 2025, SUMMA will go live for the whole Commission and all executive agencies!
The countdown to the SUMMA roll-out is on as the finishing touches are put to the new system. What is the current status of SUMMA - are we on the launch pad yet? We asked Vincenzo Curiale, Lead Programme Manager of SUMMA and Head of the Corporate Financial and Accounting Systems Unit in DG BUDG, and Christophe Thierry, Deputy Head of Unit and Business Programme Manager, to give us an insight into the state of play, the preparations for the SUMMA go-live in January 2025, and the impact on European Commission users.
Looking back, the User Acceptance Testing (UAT) phase was one of the most interactive and participatory chapters of the SUMMA preparation. UAT is indispensable, but it put a lot of pressure on the team, from the tight deadlines to the extensive scenarios that needed to be tested. With the last major release in July, the SUMMA system is now stable and the UAT execution is largely complete. All standard processes with more than 92 unique scenarios and 261 test cases have been tested by more than 600 key users from across the whole Commission. While some more specific testing is still on the way, it is time for a glimpse into the intricacies of UAT.
Challenge yourself with the SUMMA crossword puzzle! Follow the clues and try to fill in all the puzzle’s squares. But be careful: Sometimes you may be looking for more than one word - enter them without spaces. Can you guess all the SUMMA words?
SUMMA marks a new era in financial management, changing the way financial operations are performed. Transactions will not only look different in the new system, they may also require different steps. This can be a huge challenge for users - but Change Management is here to prepare well for the big SUMMA go-live and ensure a smooth transition. To this end, promoting awareness and rapid adoption by stakeholders and anticipating risks and surprises are the main objectives of the core change activities listed in the so-called Change Readiness Checklist.
As we move towards the new system, the aim of the SUMMA Reporting cluster is to progressively provide a set of dashboards and financial tools and reports as to ensure business continuity across the Commission.
You all have been waiting for it, and it is finally coming. For us, at CINEA, it is like an old memory. We remember its arrival with mixed feelings of excitement and anxiety. The first payment in SUMMA on the 3 January 2024, for a staff reimbursement of 2.50 EUR, gave us a warm feeling!
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The monthly RUF (Réseau des Unités Financières) meetings are an important SUMMA forum to present the latest SUMMA developments. With go-live fast approaching, the focus is on the ongoing preparations for the SUMMA transition on 1 January 2025: training, hypercare and cutover plan. Recent RUDF meetings have also provided key updates on business partner registration, reporting roadmap and SUMMA in eGrants were provided in the recent RUF meetings.
As part of the preparations for a smooth transition to SUMMA, Change Coordinators meet for monthly Touchpoints to share their DGs' and Agencies' progress on the Change Readiness Roadmap, including testing, training, technology and communications. The touchpoints provide a space to express reflections and insights on the adoption of change activities and ensure alignment.
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