Overview

Background

Following the Simitive Workload Allocation Management System (WAMS) implementation (HSS022) and to support wider adoption of the system across CAHSS,  the College is completing this business embedding project . It also aims to address the issues that have emerged during the initial implementation project, which broadly follow the deliverable themes detailed below.  

Without this embedding phase, the College will be failing to properly realise the benefits the system drives for the College that were established in the original business case and in the system procurement.  

 A revised governance structure led by a senior academic is being implemented, including a new project board with appropriate representation from across the College to influence and drive academic involvement with the culture, system and processes of WAM. The project board will report to College Staffing Management Committee. 

The primary purpose is not a technology or systems project, rather a business process and change project that is facilitated and enabled by the IT system we have procured and adopted (Simitive). 

The project will take until end of March 2020 to deliver, followed by a 3 month period to ensure sustainment in the use of WAM. If adopted the College will be planning academic workload using the new business process for the 2020 – 2021 session.

It is estimated to take 85 days effort from Information Services and at the least, where workload planning is performed in schools, an equivalent collective amount of time from DoPS teams and HoSA’s.

In addition, the project will investigate the introduction of an Application Programming Interface (API) or HR information to Simitive to improve the frequency and efficiency of updating this information in Simitive.

Scope

As outlined in the Objectives and Deliverables, this project has the following in scope:

1. Embedding adoption of WAMs - This is essential to deliver the benefits of consistency, transparency and fairness

2. Data management - improving efficiency of data feeds to WAM; managing cutover to new Core System

3. Embedding Business-As-Usual governance for sustained use and future improvements

Objectives & Deliverables

Out of Scope

Automation of data feeds (APIs) other than HR, eg EUCLID

Forward Scenario planning of school/college work

Benefits

Academic staff time is the College's most important resource. The purpose of workload management is to ensure adequate, appropriate and equitable resourcing of the College's strategic plans. 

By the end of this project the College is expected to be able to realise the following benefits:  

• Academic staff will be able to engage with their own workload information at any time in a modern, online, secure and self-service manner
• The end to end process of workload allocation will be streamlined through the use of a workflow in the system avoiding the use of email or shared files
• A significant increase in consistency, transparency and perceived fairness of workload allocation across the College
• Workload allocation process should enable improved conversations with staff about their balance of work across various academic activities, as well as their work/life balance and wellbeing
• Heads of College, School and Subject Area and DoPs are able to perform academic workload forecasting, modelling, planning and prediction
• A reduction in the cost and effort associated with academic workload planning, staff development and succession planning
• Enable analysis and understanding of cross-College workload (and if the system is adopted more widely as expected, cross-University)
• A fully allocated cross-College WAM will support development of a course costing model with accurate academic staff costs 

Success Criteria

• WAMs in use across CAHSS for academic workload planning for 2020/21 session

• Measurable increase in usage of Simitive (with baseline being taken on approval of Project Brief)

• Increased consistency in WAM implemented across College through deployment of a revised approved CAHSS WAM

• Established and active WAM co-ordinators forum

• Governance change control process to ensure WAMs use is sustained and continuously improved in a consistent manner across the College

• No unplanned interruption to service with cutover to revised College WAM model
• No data loss with cutover to revised College WAM model
• No unplanned interruption to service with cutover to new Core System
• No data loss with cutover to new Core System

Project Milestones

The Board acknowledge that these milestones are based on the assumption that the analysis will not surface large gaps between current College WAM and those in operation in Schools. On completion of the WAM analysis a review of the milestones should be undertaken to test whether they remain achievable.