June 6, 2018
Dear Colleagues,
Today, we are officially kicking off the Benchmarking and Data Gathering process for the University of Washington’s Finance Transformation (UWFT) program. The UWFT Program, including our sponsor leadership (comprised of representatives from various University units and locations, including UW Medicine) have agreed that the benchmarking and data gathering efforts will take place from now through July 31, 2018. It is important that all units complete this work no later than July 31 as it is critical to follow-on activities.
Your thoughtful partnership during this foundational effort is essential to shaping this transformation and how smooth the road will be between now and the launch of the new system. With your help in making sure the raw data is right, the University gains:
- Baseline data for measuring productivity
- Measurements to compare the UW against peer institutions
- Valuable input into the future state foundation data model (e.g. chart of accounts)
- Understanding of key reporting that needs to be in place when UWFT goes live
- A thorough understanding of how each unit operates (workflows and side-systems)
- Ability to identify areas for transformation that shift focus to higher and more strategic work
You are receiving this message because you have been identified by your unit as an expert and/or administrative lead, and we need your help. The data you provide via this formal survey process will help create an initial profile of each unit, inform the future state operating model and our change management strategy.
The UWFT program team will be collecting data around five key areas, in the following priority order:
- Benchmarking – Gather baseline data on how much time and effort (current cost and number of FTE) it takes in our current environment to complete the financial, procurement, supply chain and post-award grants management transactions, analysis and reporting
- Systems – Identify what systems your unit is currently using and the annual associated costs. The costing information will be an input into the benchmarking study
- Reports – Identify what key reports your unit is generating
- Process Maps/Inventory – Identify the end-to-end finance processes utilized in your unit and provide existing documentation of those processes
- Integrations – Identify what systems integrate or rely on the data for the current financial systems
As participants, you will fall into one or more of the following roles:
- Unit Administrator – The person responsible for the coordination of the benchmarking and data gathering across all areas for your specific unit. This is the lead person is the main point of contact the UWFT team will reach out to if the status for the unit is incomplete (chief wrangler).
- Technical Expert – Has knowledge of the systems and integrations in your unit. This is the person responsible for completing the systems, reports, and integrations surveys.
- Functional Expert – Has knowledge of the finance processes and reports in your unit. This is the person responsible for completing the reports survey (if not assigned to a technical contact) and uploading any existing process maps.
To begin the benchmarking and data gathering survey work, you can navigate to the new UWFT Change Network site where you will find instructions and other supporting materials: https://uwnetid.sharepoint.com/sites/UWFTChangeNetwork
To support units in this process, the UWFT team held four in-person training sessions this week for Unit Administrators. In the coming weeks, we will also be holding in-person sessions to help orient the technical and functional experts to the SharePoint site and the surveys. We will also be deploying Mobile Support Units (MSUs) across the University during this period to provide hands-on support. Details about these sessions and MSUs will be provided in a separate communication.
To reiterate a message sent to campus leadership last month from Jerry Baldasty and Jeff Scott: We realize that this is a very busy time of year for you, and the University leadership truly appreciates your participation.
If you have any questions about this process, please use the UWFTAsk@uw.edu email address.
Sincerely,
Brian McCartan, Vice President, Finance
Ann Anderson, Associate Vice President for UW Finance, Enterprise Services
UWFT Program Team