Author: Joanna Stephens

Join our team

The job

We’re looking for a Business Process Change Manager with proven experience in Student and Curriculum management to join the Student workstream of our Transformation Programme. This is an opportunity to be part of a multinational team tasked with transforming our University through new technologies, new processes and new ways of working.

Us

The Programme is wide reaching and will have an impact across our Schools and Professional Services, covering Finance, HR and Payroll, Research, and the Student journey (note that this role is in relation to the Student workstream).

You

If you have a passion for driving change and love a challenge, we’d love to hear from you.

Interested? For further details of role, criteria and salary, please read the job description and/or contact Alison Slater btpmo@dundee.ac.uk.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Related links:

Watch John Rowan, our VP for Research and Knowledge Exchange discuss the opportunities for the OneUniversity Research solution.

Watch our Director of Finance Carol Prokopyszn talk about OneUniversity.

Six weeks to go – the countdown is on

With just six weeks until 1 August we are officially in our cutover period!

What is cutover?

This is the length of time we’ve estimated it will take to carry out all the activities needed to get the University up and running and ready for 1 August. We’ve created a day-by-day, detailed plan that covers all the technical and functional activities over the next six weeks, as well as all the communications, engagement and training that will take place.

During cutover we’ll share regular updates about the progress we’re making and outline key activities and dates people need to be aware of for things like the availability of some of our services, system closure dates and deadlines.

How will we share this information? 

Our website

Our website will be our key communications platform and will be updated regularly so check out our Finance pages for the latest news.

Our change champions

Our change champions are a local point of contact in the run up to go live. We’ll try not to overload people with too much information, so we’ll use our network of champions and our School and Directorate Managers to cascade information across the University, making sure it gets to the right people at the right time.

Our staff newsletter

We’ll publish a brief outline of key activity in each staff newsletter in the run up to 1 August.

For more information, email us at bt-finance@dundee.ac.uk.

Start your TRAIN-ing today

The newly refreshed training environment  now contains the latest configuration and data for users to practise with, making it as similar to the live system as possible. The business is using the TRAIN environment to carry out its end-to-end testing and you can use it too as we get ready for go live.  Find out what TRAIN is, what’s in it and how to use it in the TRAIN factsheet.

Johanna Smith – BT’s new Programme Manager  

Where were you before coming to Dundee?

I was the Project Manager for the University of Exeter’s Future Finance Transformation Project. We redeveloped the operating model for Finance and Research services implementing TechnologyOne products.

Previously, I was head of Business Information at Falmouth University for 10 years where I implemented a range of systems for finance, customer-relationship management, student timetabling, online payments and more. With an MBA and a long background in software and business implementation, I’ve also worked in support development and sales and have a lot of experience in higher education.

What brought you to UoD Business Transformation?

The successes of Exeter made me want to come here to work on the transformation programme. It’s ambitious in scope and has a team with great experience across the piece. I really believe the change we can achieve working with the teams across the University will get the best out of our processes and enable a step change in how the University uses its business systems. Having worked at Exeter with TechnologyOne, the vendor of the OneUniversity solution, I’ve also been able to bring my strong relationship with the company and its consultants forward into my new role.

I’m excited to have the chance to deliver support towards the strategic growth which drives Dundee’s objective of becoming Scotland’s best University.

Data is fun-damental!

                                                                    It’s fundamental to our decision making, and the flow of data through the University, across systems, locations and people, fuels informed decisions with real impact on the lives of our students and colleagues.

As an organisation, we all have a responsibility to make sure that the data we use and share is the best available, that we safeguard it, and that privacy and ethical standards guide the way we gather and use it. In support of this objective, we’re working on a range of initiatives to improve the availability, accessibility and quality of the data we use. One of the first tangible outcomes is the adoption of an Information Charter:

For further information about the Information Charter please contact Doug Melville: d.x.melville@dundee.ac.uk.

Getting students in place

The University has procured a new student placement management solution called In Place by Quantum IT. This will give all areas in the University the means to record and manage student placements in a single solution.

The software allows different academic areas to specify criteria for placement requirements and hold this in a single piece of software, which will talk to our existing student systems, like SITS, and One University. This will provide:

  • a consistent approach to recording and managing placements,
  • better recording, communication and  data accuracy,
  • enhanced partner relationship management and processing.

Following a procurement process that involved academic and professional services staff from across the University, the Digital Strategy Committee has agreed that we will roll out this functionality to all areas of the University.

The first students to be placed using the solution will be from the School of Nursing and Health Sciences, swiftly followed by the other Schools with professional requirements, namely Dentistry, Social Work and Medicine.

Streamlined invoice matching

OneUniversity is adding a new automated solution for capturing invoice data. This means that Schools and Directorates will see their invoices paid sooner when the solution replaces the current manual data entry for invoice matching.

When over 80,000 invoices a year are matched in OneUniversity instead of by hand, our Accounts Payable (AP) staff will be free to investigate and resolve any mismatch cases. By saving so much time the new functionality will benefit:

  • University purchasers who’ll have invoice mismatches resolved more quickly
  • Suppliers who’ll make fewer queries and get paid within the 30-day term
  • Accounts Payable staff who’ll concentrate on value-adding tasks

You can find out more about how the data-capturing solution for invoice matching works .

We have a winner!

We’re pleased to announce that the winner of the Digital Dexterity competition is Amy Pass from the Development and Alumni Relations Office (DARO).

Amy made an expense claim on her mobile phone in just over a minute – 01:04 to be precise. Her flexible fingers beat off stiff competition from her own colleagues at DARO and External Relations who took nine out of the 10 top spots on our leader board. There must be something in their water cooler.

Amy was delighted to win a £30 Amazon voucher.

From the go-live date on 1 November everyone will be responsible for completing their own expenses in OneUniversity. If you haven’t used the system yet, come along to one of our Expenses drop-in surgeries between 6 September and 18 October. You can view the sessions on the Business Transformation website.

You can try out claiming an expense on OneUniversity right now on a computer, tablet or mobile in our Train environment. Have a look at our self-service training materials and give it a go.

Testing, testing

Why are we testing?

We use testing to ensure that all the components of the new OneUniversity solution for Finance and Procurement function as we expect them to. The University supplies a list of requirements called acceptance criteria and we test against these standards.

Who’s involved in testing?

There’s a wide variety of people involved in testing – business process change managers, business analysts, professional support staff, change champions and Finance subject matter experts (SMEs). Finance project manager, Stuart Moorhouse, said: “We’ve conducted a very thorough programme of testing with different groups of people across the Business. This is vital to the success of delivering the Finance and Procurement function of the OneUniversity solution”.

When will Finance go live?

This is a question we’re often asked when out and about, and the simple answer is, only when we’ve completed testing and the system meets the requirements of the business.

Key-user and end-user training

The Business Transformation training team has been supporting the Finance and Procurement workstream to deliver key-user and end-user training. We’ve been offering hands-on workshops and drop-in sessions underpinned by a suite of online training materials.

Who are key users?

Key users are subject matter experts working on the Programme at a workstream level, or those closely involved in the shaping and delivery of the OneUniversity solution.

How do we support the workstreams?

  • Identify staff who need training
  • Develop the end-user training programme
  • Develop training manuals and videos
  • Organise end-user training

We’re all end users

All University staff and students will use OneUniversity so we’re all end users. The Change and Communications team will deliver end-user training and any other activity associated with helping to prepare our people for the transformation OneUniversity will bring.

How we’re going to manage change arising from OneUniversity

Our objectives are to equip people with the knowledge, skills and abilities to do their jobs from day one and support them as they transition to using new, shared processes and databases.

Dedicated training team

We now have a dedicated training officer, Chris Reid, and administrator, Emma McDade, who you’ll meet when you attend a session. You can contact the training team on 388081.