Leading The Way for Financials Modernization

The current University financial system Kuali, deployed back in October 2011, is planned for replacement on July 1, 2024. The new and more modern, financial system will provide increased financial clarity and expanded Chart of Accounts capabilities will streamline business processes.

Many financial system constituents may not fully comprehend the extent of the impact this financial system change will deliver. Financial data is highly intertwined with outputs supporting critical processes in other University core systems. For example, UAccess Student provisions finance data for Bursar accounts, meal plans, textbook/instructional resources and additional course fees.

The size of such a project brought many stakeholders and constituents together in 2021 for an RFP process to the select a new product.

Each college and division within the University selected a liaison who was engaged in the project this past year. Throughout the multi-year implementation, they will assist with various areas of engagement, building readiness and awareness across Campus.

One of the primary drivers for selecting the new system is its enhanced functionality for managing multi-year Sponsored projects and grant awards that support the research mission of the University.

The project planning phase included discovery and documentation of central processes. At the University of Arizona, there are many decentralized processes, varying by unit, that may not be documented. Developing a repository of this information required a review of each process to evaluate ways to better optimize, leverage, and integrate those ahead of the new financial system going live. This work involved people coming together in a collaborative effort to understand risks and build a better understanding for successful adaptation to the new financial system.

The role of the liaisons will ensure and sustain this engagement through the many staff hours devoted to learn the new system.

CIO Division’s Administrative Technologies is continuing to partner with the Financial Services Office to ensure the success of future project phases culminating in a University-wide implementation in 2024. Their ongoing collaborative efforts have been monumental in working with many campus stakeholders to successfully transition to a new financials system.

Learn more at finmod.arizona.edu

Supporting Research in an Ever-Changing Regulatory Landscape

Administrative Technologies partnered with Research, Innovation & Impact (RII) to launch three regulatory supporting services this year.

Researchers formerly submitted Conflict of Interest (COI) disclosures and Conflict of Commitment (COC) forms through a custom, locally built system. When UAccess Research was due for an upgrade, these two features were also replaced with eDisclosure.

The resulting benefit to our research partners is an application that specializes in tools like a progressive smart form that adapts to answers, along with the ability to view the progress of a disclosure as it makes its way through the review process.

Also in FY22, the Institutional Review Board (IRB) system was replaced with a new, cloud hosted eIRB for researchers to submit and manage their human subject protocols. This new system increases productivity and provides researchers with a greater level of transparency during IRB reviews.

Another tool implemented in FY22 was a new Contract Management service for University business professionals. This service provides increased efficiency, transparency, and access to pertinent data through a campus-wide contract management and storage system. The contract workflow includes the end-to-end process of getting the document from inception through to signature and execution. It also syncs with other enterprise systems, such as UAccess Research and UAccess Analytics. Providing transparency to University contract information, University Analytics & Institutional Research coordinated with the Administrative Technologies team to integrate contract management system information into an Analytics dashboard.