People and Change: Janice Weigel

People and Change: Janice Weigel

May 13, 2020

As UBC continues to move towards modernizing its human resources, finance and student systems with Workday, the ten departments within the Vice-President Finance and Operations (VPFO) portfolio are coming together to prepare for this change. The implementation of Workday, through the Integrated Renewal Program (IRP), is one of many initiatives within the VPFO Strategic Plan.

Senior Director, Strategic and Operational Performance, Janice Weigel, is part of the VPFO change network fulfilling the VPFO’s strategic priorities. As a transition lead in the IRP’s Transition Network (TN), Weigel brings her change management expertise to ready the portfolio’s departments for Workday.

“What the change community has done, is really knit the VPFO together to outline what we’re all working on so there is visibility on the amount of change that we’re going through, and so we can be more aligned with how we go through changes,” says Weigel.

Aligning the departments in preparation for Workday is a priority for the VPFO change network. Ensuring staff have opportunities for training and are provided the right level of support is key to a successful launch in the workforce, particularly with the shift from classroom to online training.

“Some departments, like operations, will need to set aside time so that staff are in a space to access computers during work time,” says Weigel. “Although, working remotely as a result of COVID-19 has given us an opportunity to get those people up and running.”

Workday will bring several exciting changes to UBC’s systems and processes. For Weigel, these changes can be categorized in terms of technology, agility and consistency.

“From a technology perspective, it’s going to put us into this century. Going into a cloud environment where there are constant updates is really very helpful,” she says. “From an organization adaptive perspective, I’m really excited about becoming more agile and more ‘change-able.’ We are pretty static and thinking in silos and there is an opportunity to break down those silos.”

For consistency, Weigel is looking forward to the flexibility Workday offers through its cloud-based applications, as well as by sharing and leveraging best practices with other universities.

In addition, the newly-created Integrated Service Centre (ISC) will provide ongoing Workday support to the UBC community post go-live.

“I’m really pleased to see us putting in an organization like the ISC to sustain us, which is a real commitment to making sure that in the future we can glean from best practices,” she says. “The executives have demonstrated foresight in putting in the ISC to keep that sustainment going so it will be about ensuring that the vision is operationalized.”

While the Workday launch in November will change and replace many of UBC’s outdated systems and processes, Weigel knows being mindful of managing expectations is necessary when launching any new core enterprise system.

“Many of us in leadership positions have put on hold goals and aspirations because we want to make sure that they align with Workday,” she says. “We know that the way things have been designed might need tweaks and we need to be open and flexible to those tweaks and need to give people the space and latitude to embrace Workday.”

Bringing about a systems and processes transformation to an institution the size of UBC requires a considerable effort in resources and collaboration. Weigel recognizes the contribution Workday will bring to the UBC community will be measured by its many benefits.

“Even though intrinsically we won’t be able to measure the value that this new system will bring us, in the long term it’s going to pay off,” she says.