Overview

Background

The KPMG Financial Systems Provision Review that was undertaken in 2012 recommended that work be undertaken to establish the long term requirements for the University's financial systems.  The KPMG report advised that there is a strong need for positive change in financial processes from all areas across the University, from central functions down through Schools and Colleges, as the vast majority of users have expressed concerns across all finance systems and processes.

The review reported that evidence was found from all areas that staff are not as supported as they could be by these processes and systems in carrying out their roles. This ultimately is affecting not only the working lives of individuals, but the success of the organisation as a whole.

This project will analyse the current financial systems and procedures along with the likely future user requirements, to produce a gap analysis between the current provision and what is required in the short-term and also to support the University in the longer term.

The project will identify areas for improvement and recommend possible solutions.

The outputs of this project will feed into the Financel Transformation programme, which is looking at the long-term strategy for financial systems for the University

Scope

• Organise, facilitate and document workshops with key user groups to examine the fitness for purpose of existing systems & processes
• Analysis of workshop outputs to identify action plans for quick wins
• Analysis of workshop outputs to produce a gap analysis to feed into the FinanceTransformation Programme
• Development and implementation of a number of small application enhancements to deliver quick wins identified in action plans

Objectives

• To map out the key functionalities that the Finance Community across the University need from our systems and applications in order to do their jobs effectively.
• Review the current Finance Systems and Applications against the agreed functionality to establish gaps.
• Establish why gaps exist (categorisation)
• Agree actions needed to close functionality gaps completely or to achieve significant improvement

Deliverables

• 2 pilot workshops with user groups from the central finance departments to establish the workshop process
• Up to 10 further workshops with Key User Groups, including central finance department teams, College and Support Group Accounting Depts and Selected School Accounting Depts
• Action plans for each Functional Group to close functionality gaps completely or achieve significant improvement.
• Gap analysis document to feed into the Finance Tranformation Programme
• A number of small to medium application enhancements (as prioritised by the Project Sponsor within the available budget and resources)

Benefits

• Clearer understanding of who uses the current Finance systems and why /how they use them.
• Improved visibility of the key issues and risks related to lack of system functionality
• Clearer understanding of functionality gaps enabling better, quicker decisions on how best to improve the current position
• Clearer understanding of functionality gaps, which will inform the strategic decision making for the longterm financial system provision for the University (as part of the Finance Transformation Programme)
• Improvements in current working practices via the implementation of quick wins identified via the workshops

Success Criteria

• Completion of at least 10 workshops with key user groups
• Completion of documentation and analysis of outputs from workshops
• Delivery of a number of quick wins to address issues highlighted in the workshops (limited by available resource and budget)
• Completion of a gap analysis report