Brandon University has been using the same administration system for decades. When I say decades I don’t mean 1999, I mean more like 1970’s. I mean that the university has been fighting, fidgeting and building upon an old system that is finally getting a replacement. Not just a new quick fix, not just a few more tweaks that we’ve all had for years, but a full on new system. YOU ALL HAVE THE CHANCE TO BE APART OF THIS PROCESS AND OFFER YOUR ADVICE. The university is looking for ways to make students lives easier and for that they need student input.
When will this change take place? Well not over night and in reality we will be lucky to have it in about 7 years, however it is still of the utmost importance that people take the time to share their opinions about this. The Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) project is underway as the university met with members from CampusWorks. CampusWorks is a highly skilled team of people who work hard to help all sorts of businesses and institutions design new processes and develop new software. These guys are kind of the “Bar Rescue” or “Extreme Makeover,” teams which help switch things around for the poor people who are stuck in a difficult situation.
The university has not taken this challenge lightly and you may have noticed some of the handwork they’re putting in! You may see throughout campus, different sections of the university shut down for meetings and suggestion periods as the different staff members across campus gather to try and change up their system.
CampusWorks provides something of a trouble shooting at the beginning of the process as they start looking for the difficulties and asking about some of the hardships faced by the different services around campus. Some issues from the First Look Presentation include: Too many manual, undocumented and non-standard processes; lack of data collection, access to dat and duplicate records; Dependency on paper within processes and resultant duplicated efforts; and, communications are non-targeted and feel overwhelming.
The university isn't just looking at all the things which are going wrong but also all the new possibilities that will come along with committing to this new project. They see opportunities in adapting to a new ERP, to improve work quality of students, staff and faculty as well as think that the faster the transition management takes place the happier everyone will be.
As the university moves into phase II of the ERP project, CampusWorks will conduct a Process Reimagine and Redesign (PRR) of all staff and student processes pertaining to the ERP system. These PRR sessions are focused on creating a better and more well rounded system with members who better understand the process and progress that needs to be made.
All students need to take part in this. This is one of the things that you actually can have a say in. You frustrated the university won’t let you access your financial balance and see how much left you have to pay on your tuition? Say something at some of these meeting and workshops that the university has organized for the next coming months and years! The times are changing and if you don't want someone to go through the same struggles you went through, speak up, voice your opinion and play your role in the development of your university!