IRP Student Transition to Operations

What is Transition to Operations (TOPs)?

The Transition to Operations (TOPS) refers to the plan and process of transferring accountability for the Workday Student application and point solutions from the project teams to the Integrated Service Centre (ISC) and other support teams – from the initial stabilization stage (Hypercare) through to day-to-day operations. The purpose of TOPS is to successfully transition all IRP Student systems (Workday, Point Solutions, BPMS, and Ecosystem Applications) into the ISC and/or appropriate support units by November 2024, while minimizing disruption to staff and maximizing user adoption.

The Transition to Operations (TOPS) service delivery model has been approved by the IRP Student program leadership team. Plans are underway to socialize the service delivery model with Enrolment Services and Faculty leadership. The program team has shared the model with the Executive Registrar, Academic Model & Transformation Advisory Committee (AMTAC) and Enrollment Services Management Action Committee (MAC). The TOPS model will not have any impacts to student users as the front end access is not changing, however changes will impact Enrolment Services and how requests are received and triaged.

TOPs Background

The Integrated Service Centre (ISC) was established in November 2020 to provide support for Workday. For almost two years, the ISC has been operational and has been supporting HR, Finance, and Payroll. The ISC closely collaborates with the Integration Enablement Centre (IEC) for Workday integrations and with UBC IT for ecosystem applications. Support for SIS systems is currently provided by Enrolment Services and teams in UBC IT, including Academic Systems (AS), Development & Sustainment Services (DASS), the Integration Enablement Centre (IEC), and more. After go-live, the existing SIS will co-exist for one year, during which students and staff may be in both environments, and support staff will need to support both environments. It is expected that the ISC will provide systems support for Workday STU. The support for point solutions, such as BPMS, Award Cloud, ADM, etc., needs to be determined.

What’s different this time?

• The Integrated Service Centre (ISC) has already been established, though it needs to be scaled appropriately for the Workday Student implementation
• This is not just a move to Workday; there are more systems involved, including net new point solutions
• The project is much more complex because the existing Student Information System (SIS) will need to run in parallel with WD STU, meaning that staff and students will occasionally need to be in both systems. Additionally, there will be multiple launches
• Existing support teams/staff still need to support the old system while transitioning to the new one.
• The project will impact more users, including 72,000 students, 7,000+ faculty and administrative staff, and prospective students and parents through to alumni
• Users are becoming more tech-savvy and used to self-serving and connecting with support quickly (such as advisors) if they can't resolve issues themselves
• The project represents the "core" of the university, so a great user experience is essential
• All impacted support staff are currently stretched very thin, and additional resources may be needed to support the project successfully
• The project has started earlier to allow sufficient time for testing and user acceptance

Setting ourselves up for success

Transition to Operations - Purpose & Objectives

To successfully transition all of IRP Student systems (Workday, point solutions, BPMS, and ecosystem applications) into the ISC and/or appropriate support units by November 2024, while minimizing disruption to staff and maximizing user adoption.

1. Understand the current student systems support models – user lifecycles, systems, staff, services, tools, volumes, in addition to dependencies and handoffs between teams.
2. Determine future state support model by mapping current to future state (WD, point systems, BPMS, etc.) and developing a transition roadmap.
3. Ensure the ISC and other groups, are properly scaled (structure, capacity, processes, tools and technology) to support future state.
4. Develop a workforce transition and change management plan (including training and knowledge transfer) that minimizes staff disruption while ensuring all users are effectively supported.
5. Ensure stabilization by developing a Hypercare plan with clearly defined roles & responsibilities during multiple go-lives.

 Approach

In order to successfully manage the transition process, it is important to take a collaborative approach. This involves working closely with multiple stakeholder groups, such as ISC, ES, and UBC IT, across different campuses.

Key transitional strategies and plans need to be developed to manage workforce, knowledge transfer, Hypercare, peak, and backlog management.

It is important to plan the approach and associated timeframes carefully, including the transition of people, processes, and responsibilities to the appropriate support group. This includes ensuring that target support groups, such as ISC, are properly scaled.

Identifying key operational/transition risks and developing plans to mitigate those risks is also critical, with collaboration from ERA.

A transitional decision framework should be developed to supplement existing governance structures, during Hypercare, to facilitate expedited decision making.

Finally, executing a Hypercare plan in waves, designed to collaboratively address and resolve issues, is necessary for success.

Guiding principles

1) User-Centric: Do what’s ultimately best for the user - understand the high-level student user lifecycle, intake, triage and support methods based on user needs.

2) Right-Size: Ensure the ISC, and other support units, have the capacity, knowledge, tools, and technology to meet the volumes and the new types of users.

3) Clear and Simple: Do the hard work to make it simple - clear, consistent, and timely, eliminating ambiguity and complexity and enabling people to see, understand, and act with confidence.

4) Minimize Disruption: Maximize ease of adoption and enable the organization to adapt quickly.

5) Secure and confidential: Ensure the system and support is secure and maintains user confidentiality at all times.

6) Leverage existing model: Update and/or enhance work done in R1. Where possible don’t reinvent.

7) Encourage collaboration vs. silos: ensure model and workflow captures end-to-end support and avoid silos.

8) Focus on near and medium term: aligned with shared understanding of the long term direction.

Transition to Operations Scope