Finance improvement project

The project vision

The University uses timely, easily accessible, and rich information to develop insights based on in-depth analysis, trends and scenario planning in its decision-making whilst maintaining regulatory compliance.

This is enabled by an intuitive finance system, built around industry best practice, which is fit for the purposes of a global research-intensive university into the next decade. The system incorporates integrated financial planning, efficient transactional processing, research project costing and monitoring and flexible reporting capabilities.

Greater cross-departmental collaboration, automated compliance with university regulations and reduced administrative burden on our academic and professional services colleagues enables and supports the University's strategy of being a world-class teaching and research institution.

We are going to deliver high-quality, data-driven, strategic and day-to-day financial management processes, supported by a modern and intuitive finance system (Oracle Fusion) that will meet our needs as a global research-intensive university now and into the next decade. A leading pre-award solution (Worktribe) will also be implemented to improve the experience of our research community and support our purpose as a leading research-intensive university

The new system will enable faster access to accurate and insightful data and financial information to support our user communities. It will deliver increased staff satisfaction through simplified processes that are aligned to leading practice. We will have a more consistent and efficient procurement process that supports our social and environmental strategic objectives. This will all allow more time to focus on value–add activities for our user communities due to reduced transactional work
The new system will bring about an improved user experience generally resulting from more intuitive processes, quicker set-up, and a reduction in technical issues requiring ITS support.

Buyers will benefit from a simplified purchasing process with defined rules, quicker vendor set up and compliance with University policy.

Managers and Heads of Schools and Units will benefit from improved management information for decision-making (better information, quicker); financial processes which require less time from school and unit administrators; and improved financial advice and support processes.

The research community will have a new cloud-based platform for pre-award (Worktribe) which is accessible anytime, anywhere. Worktribe is a user-friendly and tried and tested product in the HE sector which offers system-generated costings utilising standard templates and built-in validations to enable greater consistency and clarity. Workflows, approval paths, notifications, and chat functions result in more efficient collaboration throughout the application process. Worktribe provides transparency throughout the application process with in-system updates, audit trail, chat functions and reporting dashboards. This new system will be the 'single source of truth', with permission-based access and the ability to securely store files associated with applications.

Finance and Procurement will see improvements across their financial reporting processes thanks to a reduction in manual activities and processes, automation of reconciliations, reduction in integrations, improved VAT processes and fewer spreadsheets. This will enable a more efficient production of statutory returns. Improved accounts payable processes will come as a result of error and mismatch reduction. Real-time and integrated forecasting, planning and financial modelling will become a reality, as will improved traceability and auditability. As a result, the University will see improved compliance with financial regulation along with a step-up in value-add collaborative work with Schools and Units.
For more information, please contact the project manager for the project:
- Graeme Rew: gsr5@st-andrews.ac.uk

Finance improvement project

What will be delivered

What this means for you

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