About FinPOST
The Finance Project for Operations and Services Transformation (FinPOST) has the objective of Transforming Finance in UCD.
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Overview
The Finance Project for Operations and Services Transformation (FinPOST) has the objective of Transforming Finance in UCD. We know that there are gaps and shortfalls in the provision of finance services in the University. FinPOST aims to close the gaps and address the shortfalls in its programme of delivery. FinPOST will create a better experience for the whole UCD Community via the transformation of finance services, systems and operations.
In short, FinPOST will help us ‘get out of our own way’ to do things better.
Aims and Benefits
Whether you are involved in providing or using finance services in UCD, FinPOST intends to improve the experience for everyone.
The FinPOST programme will:
- Deliver valued finance services that meet the evolving needs of our community
- Enable adoption of best practice ways of working, creating consistency in how we do things
- Remove obstacles for our staff, allowing us to perform our roles more effectively
- Enable impact through insight, making it easier to access information for analysis and decision making
The FinPOST programme aims to deliver a number of key outcomes for the university. Examples of those outcomes and related outputs are listed below.
| Outcomes | Examples |
|---|---|
| Accurate and Timely accounts | Cost statements for research projects. |
| Easy to use finance transactional services | Expense receipts can easily be captured 'on the go', system support in coding expenditure and in complying with policy. |
| Finance services available via modern channels | Expenses and approvals can be access using mobile app, other services will be available via a browser without special requirements or VPN. |
| Accounts produced in a sustainable manner | Daily bank reconciliations and monthly key balance sheet account reconciliations to give year-round confidence in data. |
| Doing the right things in the modern way, delivering quality and compliance | All finance information will reside on the finance system, providing a single source of truth. Self-service interactive planning tools will be available. |
| Empowering the Finance Team | The finance system is fit for purpose and enables the team rather than being a barrier |
| Greater actionable insights into business and finance | High quality reporting will be available to all who need it, in the formats (graphical, tabular, ratios, indicators etc.) desired. Dashboards will be designed to clearly provide key information at a glance. |
Programme Activity
In order to understand what improvements are needed in Finance services in UCD, requirements gathering workshops were held in March and April 2023 with stakeholder groups across UCD providing input. Current processes have been documented and analysed across the breadth of finance activity in UCD.
Workday
A key part of the finance transformation is the identification of a best in class finance tool that can help us do our jobs more effectively. To this end, we went to tender for a new finance system in Summer 23’. In September, Workday was chosen as the preferred supplier of our new Finance System. Workday is a user-friendly, cloud based technology and is used in other highly ranked, research-intensive universities. Workday demonstrated a very strong match against UCD requirements.
Workstreams
The work in FinPOST is organised into workstreams that cover particular business processes. View the links below to find out more.
Who's Involved?
Sponsorship and Steering Committee
The Programme is sponsored by UCD’s Bursar, David Kelly, and the Steering Committee is chaired by the Programme Owner, Eamonn O’Neill.
Programme Team
The FinPOST programme launched in January 2023, the team has been established with dedicated expertise from within and outside of UCD.
To find out more use the links below.
Timeline
The high level timeline for the programme is listed below.
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January 2023
Programme launch
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March 2023
Workshops for requirements gathering
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May 2023
Begin finance system tender process
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Sep – Dec 2023
Select the system & partner
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Dec 2023
GA approve Business Case
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Jan – Mar 2024
Design
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Mar - July 2024
Build
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Jul - Dec 2024
Testing and refinement
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2025
Programme completion