Update from POST Programme Director - January 2023
Last Updated 30th January 2023
Dear colleagues,
I am delighted to be bringing you an update on the Programme for Operations and Service Transformation (POST) - how we have been getting this ambitious programme up and running since the communication at the end of summer 2022. POST is focused on the services and supports that faculty, students and staff use in taking part in the education, scholarship and research at the heart of our University.
Key to POST’s people-centred approach are the four Service Leads and how they will go about working with the UCD community to identify and support the changes we need. I would like to introduce you to them and give you a sense of how they will go about this - check their short intro videos below.
To introduce myself - I was appointed Programme Director for UCD POST in November 2022 and am excited to take this lead role in ensuring the success of the programme. My personal motivation, from my days in Registry, is to ‘make success easier’. For POST, this is the win / win of better supports and services more easily delivered.
POST is people-centred: service is all about the people who use and provide the services of the University. POST is a digital transformation: how best to use new and emerging technologies. And POST is about transforming operations: how we go about using all our services and processes to support faculty, students and staff (e.g. service focused approach).
What’s been happening since summer 2022?
A flavour of what we have been working on since summer 2022:
- Onboarding the four Service Leads at the heart of the programme, and developing their service-focused approach
- Developing the detailed design of this multi year programme which will run to 2027
- Getting governance up and running under the UMT Service Group
- Working with a number of existing and early projects and developing the roadmap of activity
- You can read more about these projects here
- POST will transform how we surface and prioritise projects and initiatives. What is there now reflects how we used to surface and prioritise.
What you can expect in the next few months
- The Service Leads will engage with people to start to capture opportunities:
- This will map onto the annual process of Integrated Business Planning - specifically the IT planning element
- We will also surface opportunities that are not IT-dependent and look to get inputs from Colleges and Schools in a new way
- Putting the POST into operation:
- Putting supports in place for those doing transformations and improvements
- Deciding on new technology to support the integration of services, process enhancement and a better user experience (e.g. a service integration and workflow system)
- Putting the programme structure in place that will help shape and ensure the coherence of transformations and enhancements
- Making sure that change management is central to how we work
- Connecting with the UCD community:
- Through the Service Focus Segments (SFS)
- Each segment has a Service Lead who will drive activity at the programme level, providing oversight and support at the project level
With this mail we are moving away from ‘all staff’ emails to a focus on the UCD POST website and the staff eZine for general comms on the programme. We will be back to you in February through the eZine with more news.
If you would like to get in touch with me then please do at (opens in a new window)michael.sinnott@ucd.ie or we can set up a Zoom, Google Chat or Teams.
The Service Leads are also a great way of connecting and learning more. If you would like to engage with one of our Service Leads, you can do so at (opens in a new window)serviceleads@ucd.ie.
Regards,
Michael