University of Dundee’s Business Transformation is an ambitious programme that will enable the university to meet its strategic aims. It will provide responsive transparent processes to facilitate the smooth operation of the University’s diverse functions.
The programme itself has been designed to follow a number of principles:
• Standard consistent tools and processes
• Unified, consistent ways of working
• Optimising processes as well as the tools we use
• Continuously improving
• A single source of truth
• Replacing paper based approvals with digital workflow
• Moving from prevention/lockdown to enablement/exception
The programme is controlled by the Programme Management Office, with a Programme Director and Manager, but there are also three levels of governance, to ensure that the programme is adhering to its terms of reference.
The overall authority is the Programme Steering Committee. This consists of senior members of the University Executive who ensure that programme decisions align with the overall business case and the workstreams remain on track.
The main level of solution governance is the Senior Stakeholders Group. They are charged with looking at whether the proposed solution will work in the university and whether it meets the needs of the business. This is absolutely critical.
Prior to the Senior Stakeholders Group, the proposed solution is put before the Design Authority. The members are also senior members of the university who check that the proposed solution has followed the principles set out by the programme, e.g. they obtain data from a single source of truth and the process is consistent throughout the university.
Each workstream has a project team that consists of a Project Manager, Business Analyst, Subject Matter Expert (seconded from the university) and a Technical Lead who has IT skills. There may be a project coordinator to keep all the administration current and at build time there will be a dedicated IT resource provided by TechnologyOne (our supplier).
Firstly, in workshops with staff, the workstream team build up a concise picture of the workflow processes.
Once the information has been collated, the solution design document that maps the processes against best practice in the OneUniversity solution is created. When it has been agreed by the project team, it goes before the Design Authority to check that it meets the design principles.
This can take some time as a great deal of analysis is required. Once it has been agreed, which may be after a number of iterations, it will be passed to the Senior Stakeholders Group who will check that it meets the design principles and the needs of the university. Once that requirement has been satisfied, the steering committee will have final approval before it is timetabled for implementation.
Currently, both the Finance & Procurement and Research & Projects workstreams have been endorsed by the Design Authority and the Senior Stakeholder Group. The next solution to be considered will be HR & Payroll, and over the next year they will start to consider the Student workstream. The bodies will receive monthly updates on how the design is being tested as we approach implementation, so that they can verify the design stays appropriate for our needs.
As you can see, the University is making considerable effort to ensure that the individual workstreams and overall programme is consistent and the programme delivers a strong, flexible framework of processes that will underpin the progress of the University’s strategic plan.