Tag: training

OneUniversity training environment now live

The new training environment portal.

The OneUniversity Finance training environment has been updated and is now live. Based on feedback we’ve received at our training sessions, we’ve added transactional and budget data to reflect the information which will be available once the system is live. This means that the training environment will be as similar to the live system as possible.

Stuart Moorhouse, Business Transformation project manager, said: “It’s a major milestone for the Programme and for our teams in the Schools and Directorates which is reflective of the hard work and effort which has gone into it. The new training environment provides a great opportunity for staff to find out how the system works and get hands-on experience using real data”.

Why have we launched a training environment?
The main benefit of having the training system available before the live system is launched is the opportunity for staff to practice their day-to-day activities in a safe and secure environment. This means staff can ‘hit the ground running’ on tasks when OneUniversity Finance is live.

What data / configuration is available?
All user profiles and roles as well as transactional data for the 2017/2018 financial year plus periods 1-5 for the 2018/2019 financial year. A selection of reports, workflows, processes, budgets, forecasting and year-end balances will all be available.

Where to access the system and get support
Our Knowledge Base has a comprehensive list of Q&As. We also have training materials on Blackboard and in the all-staff folder in Box. Further training on the new system will be scheduled and communicated through our usual channels including the Business Transformation website.

What’s next?
We’ll continue to keep you updated on any issues or news relating to the training environment and our business-readiness activities as we move forward with the Programme. We’d welcome any feedback, suggestions or queries you may have. Please email the BT team.

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.

Change Champion Chats: Letty Gibson

Our change champions are an integral part of our change programme. In this blog we speak to Letty Gibson, Research School Services Manager, School of Life Sciences, about her role as a change champion.

Please tell us about your role.

I have been employed by the University of Dundee in Life Sciences since 1997 and my role has changed several times during this time as the School has expanded. I am now the Research Technical Lead in Life Sciences within the senior management team. I’m also a member of various management committees across the university. Part of my role includes responsibility for the delivery of the Laboratory Management Support Service which includes a team of lab managers and junior lab technicians. Our work includes dealing with procurement, budget management, health and safety and compliance with legal requirements and adherence to UoD policy in all aspects. We focus on these areas so researchers can focus on their research activities.

What made you want to be a change champion?  

It’s very important to me, in fact, I’ve been involved in initial design workshops, user acceptance testing and training since before I became a change champion.  From day one I’ve contributed to shaping and influencing the way Business Transformation will work. Procurement in Life Sciences is highly complex due to volume, range of funding bodies and types of spend. I’ve been fully involved to make sure the system can meet the procurement needs of Life Sciences regarding what we buy and where we buy it.  But I carry out this work as part of a team, with lab managers and other key Life Science staff, who join me in workshops so we can get the best of their knowledge and expertise.

From the beginning it was critical to me that our School should have a strong voice in the development stages of the Business Management System in order to influence. I’ve been involved in the introduction of new business systems in the School of Life Sciences before, namely in the development and launch of PECOS. Seeing the challenges that change brought, that’s where I learnt where potential obstacles can arise, what critical issues need to be addressed and what can be put in place to make change as seamless as possible.

The key to success is preparation, planning and strong communication. That’s my role as liaison between the BT programme team and the staff within Life Sciences who will be affected by the change.  Understanding and pre-empting what we will and won’t have is critical. I highlight our needs and identify if system solutions are in place and what will be available at go live. The smooth running of our labs during the cutover period is paramount and we do all we can not to compromise service delivery to staff.

What benefits do you see OneUniversity bringing?

I’m very excited about the undertaking to improve business management processes. Currently we spend time looking for information and aren’t always able to access the data required, often duplicating our efforts and not being 100% sure that the information we have is current and accurate. I have been at many sessions where the data provided in the new system is described as a ‘single source of truth’. I’m really looking forward to this and it’ll be fantastic when managers can go and access the data they want instantly.

I know that the grant holders are very excited when given an insight into the type of budget reporting that will be available and accessible using any device, anywhere. When the research model goes live it will have a huge impact on Life Sciences when researchers can trace a single pathway from idea to award. In HR too, to run my team of 25 people, it will be so useful to have a single source of information that’s easy, quick and efficient to access. Having simple access to complex data is going to help me do my job.

Fun fact about Letty

I love driving but have never mastered reverse parking!

A word on training

Change and Communications manager Angela Hamilton hosting one of the training sessions.

Change and Communications manager Angela Hamilton explains why training is such an important feature of the Business Transformation programme …

You may not be aware of this, but training is a large part of what we do in the Change and Communications team.

An effective training programme will help us get ready for the changes to the way we work that will come as a result of OneUniversity.

One of the benefits of the revised date is that it allows us to train more people, making sure that when we do go live, University business won’t suffer and we’ll be able to get on with our jobs.

When we consider how an organisation changes its behaviours or its ways of working as a result of something as big as the Transformation Programme, we’re really looking to do this on two levels; individual and organisational.

Our approach to this involves identifying, amongst other things, the benefits of the change at an individual level; and working with Schools and Directorates to identify suitable and appropriate change, communications and training plans to help move teams through the process and out the other side as smoothly as possible.

Hands on training won’t be available to everyone so the focus at the moment is on making sure that there are a variety of training and educational tools and resources available for use before, during and after go live.

So, what about the training?

The majority of this will take place in the three weeks running up to go live, which ensures that the knowledge is fresh in people’s minds. A revised training plan has been agreed and this will be communicated to School Managers and Directors who will nominate appropriate staff to take part in the various sessions.

In addition to this, we’ll schedule a number of drop-in surgeries and demos on a variety of topics including expenses and requisitioning.

Further information on these sessions, including dates, will be published on this blog so keep checking back regularly.

Angela

Training for OneUniversity

Our approach to training

Training for OneUniversity Finance and Procurement workstream began this week, with a number of sessions around our financial ledgers and the new coding string.

We emailed all School and Directorate managers recently asking for 4 or 5 nominations from each area to take part in a number of ‘core’ training sessions.

The sessions are:
– An introduction to One University (navigation and the basics including expenses)
– Requisitioning
– Invoice to cash
– Chart of accounts and new coding string

The idea is that these people, we’re calling them ‘key specialists’, will then cascade the training down to their teams.

By doing it this way, we’re focusing on the activity that needs to continue regardless of the system being used – predominantly requisitioning and associated tasks around that – whilst giving Schools and Professional services control over when this is rolled out in each area.
In addition to this training, in the weeks after go live, we’re planning to run regular ‘drop in surgeries’ for expenses where you can bring along an expense claims and we’ll help you complete and submit it.

Sessions on Financial Management, Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Stores Management, Research Finance and other topics will be scheduled shortly and we’ll share the dates of these with you.

If you have any questions about training, speak to your change champion, or drop us an email at business-transformation@dundee.ac.uk

Finance and procurement training starts!

We have now completed our first training session on the OneUniversity Finance & Procurement solution, which kicked off on 29 August with two days of ‘General Navigation’ training.

We asked School Managers and Directors to nominate two members of their team to take part in Key User Training (KUT) and User Acceptance Testing (UAT). These sessions are taking place between 29 August and 2nd October.

What’s Key User Training and User Acceptance Testing?

Key User training is given to nominated staff who have good knowledge of the current system and will be using certain aspects of the new solution, whilst User Acceptance Testing is carried out to make sure that the system functionality actually meets the University’s requirements and is fit for purpose.

Those nominated will take part in one day of classroom based training which will be followed by a second day of testing. They’ll use the knowledge gained during the training, along with information provided by the Programme team, to carry out testing based on real-life university scenarios.

How are we going to roll-out training?

We need to make sure that everyone who needs to use OneUniversity to do their jobs has the required knowledge and understanding from day one! Some people will need very specific training whilst others may just need an understanding of how to do a particular activity such as submitting an expense claim.

Our challenge is to make sure that everyone receives the appropriate training. We’ll do this through a mix of classroom-based training plus a range of support from videos and “how to” guides to drop-in surgeries.

Interested? We want to hear from you!

Do you have an interest in training or do you currently have responsibility for training others? If so, then we’d love to hear from you. Please get in touch.

More information about training will be posted soon so please check back soon!