New software system to go live on January 1
Expense and vacation hours deadlines moved up
Door Giulia Fabrizi
By Giulia Fabrizi
The system will replace the current software used for human resource matters, payroll, finances, and projects used across the university, bringing everything together in a single system. The change will go into effect on January 1. This means that new hires, mutations, vacation hours, and invoices have to be handed in earlier than usual.
Outdated systems
‘The main reason for the change is that the current systems are so outdated that even our suppliers said they couldn’t help us anymore’, says Erwin Boelens, the programme manager who has been overseeing the two-year, 10.6 million-euro project that started this year.
Boelens says upgrading to the latest versions of the current systems would cost too much money. ‘Besides, people are increasingly working in the cloud, and we want to do the same. It’s so much simpler. If everything is stored locally, you have to update all the systems manually. Both small and large updates manage themselves in the cloud, which saves time and work.’
Data centralisation
Boelens explains that it’s even more important to centralise the important systems and information streams. ‘By switching from four systems to just one, we’ll be able to print out, say, visitation reports with just one push of a button. Now we still have to gather all the information ourselves and go through all these different departments. It’s a difficult process.’
The new system will also mean the entire university will have the same workflow. ‘Right now, the various faculties and departments all have their own way of working with the systems. But with the new system, 80 percent of all the processes will be the same for everyone. The other 20 percent leaves room for flexibility, but it’ll be the exception to the rule’, says Boelens.
Changes for staff
The switch to Best Practice 2020 will mean changes for a lot of people. ‘Scientific staff will have to submit invoices and expenses through a different portal’, Boelens says. ‘But the professionals at human resources and the financial departments will also be faced with a change in processes.’
Boelens says that hundreds of staff members will have to take training courses so they’ll be able to work with the new software next year. ‘We’re scheduling all the courses and informing our staff of them as fast as we can.’
Open office hour
If any staff members have questions about the new system or the switching process before the training courses start, they can ask them at the weekly open office hours on Mondays.
In the city centre, people are welcome between ten and eleven in the morning in the Jitta room at the University library. At Zernike, the open office hours are between noon and one in room 5161.0105 at the Bernoulliborg.
People can also e-mail their questions to bestpractice@rug.nl.
Translation by Sarah van Steenderen