As the Administrative Transformation Program prepares for Phase 1 activities in July 2021, ATP’s leadership team is meeting with Systemwide stakeholders to set the stage for improving administrative services at the University of Wisconsin. ATP kickstarted this effort in mid-February with a series of vision workshops, or working sessions, with UW System leaders.
ATP’s goal is to modernize and improve Human Resources, Finance, and Research Administration operations across the University of Wisconsin. While that includes the launch of a new enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, ATP is also focused on streamlining and simplifying core policies and business processes.
“The investment in a more functional ERP is exciting, but new technology will only get us so far,” says ATP Executive Steve Kish. “Meaningful transformation is only possible if we also evolve our business processes.”
About the Workshops
The vision workshops are the first step in ATP’s work to redesign business processes, which will be implemented with the new ERP in the future. A business process involves a series of tasks or activities that result in the delivery of an essential service to UW’s faculty, staff, or students.
With the vision workshops in their early stages, participants have begun the business process transformation effort by conducting high-level conversations intended to orient the program for the work to come. Discussions involve defining what ATP’s success will look like to faculty, students, and staff. The groups will also explore industry best practices and how we can achieve them at the UW.
“The workshops are a unique way to ‘imagine the possible,” says ATP Director Nick Tincher. “By setting our transformation intentions early, we can design business processes with the big picture in mind.”
“[We are] making big decisions that start moving the ball forward and opening new boundaries of possibility for us,” said Laurent Heller, UW–Madison Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration and ATP Executive Sponsor, during a February 15 workshop. “We are moving out of the PowerPoint deck … and doing real things on the ground.”
The workshop series began with two sessions on February 15 and 17 devoted to setting the strategic vision for ATP. They will be followed by individual sessions for the HR, Finance, and Research Administration functional areas; a session for reporting and analytics will take place in June 2021. Planning workshops and design sessions that delve deeper into end-to-end business processes and functions will come next.
What’s Next
Transformation Planning Workshops
Work groups will discuss end-to-end business processes and business functions, identifying areas for opportunity and gathering key design elements.
Transformation Definition and Prioritization
During guided and facilitated decision-making sessions, work groups will define each end-to-end business process’ transformational value and prioritize them against the vision and objectives determined in the first vision workshops.
Business Process Design Sessions
Work groups, led by ATP Strategy Leads, will create future end-to-end business processes and ERP configuration options.
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