People & Change: Elizabeth Kershaw

From building new lecture halls and state-of-the-art laboratories, to enhancing the student learning experience, the efforts in fundraising within UBC help nurture the brightest minds and the school reach its full potential. Elizabeth Kershaw, Manager at the Development and Alumni Engagement office at UBC Okanagan shared her insights on how the Okanagan campus is gearing up for Workday.

Tell us a little about yourself, your role in the Transition Network, and your history at UBC.

I am the Manager of the Development & Alumni Engagement office here at UBC Okanagan campus and I am celebrating my 14 year anniversary with UBC. Our office is responsible for the fundraising focusing on student awards, research and inspiring spaces. We are working on the Blue & Gold campaign for students and last week President Ono announced we are going to double our fundraising target to raise $200 million for student awards, which is very exciting for both our campuses. I am also the IRP Transition Lead as well as a Transition Captain for our office along with two other Captains. I think I have been with UBC for this long because of its constant growth and innovation, specifically for the Okanagan campus, and it’s so inspiring and exciting to watch it become more of a tech-savvy and research focused campus, which leads very well into the work that is happening with the IRP.

What excites you about the IRP and Workday? What do you hope to see from the change to Workday?

What excites me about the IRP and Workday is that it is helping our campus stay up to date with the advances in technology, as well as working towards becoming more sustainable, which is a priority in our strategic plan. There is also excitement in knowing the system will be more streamlined and user-friendly. The real-time data will be a crucial and beneficial change for us, with quick reporting, reduced use of excel shadow systems will help reduce errors. As a top-tier university in education and research, it’s really important that we advance our systems and administration to keep up with the change and times.

Workday touches on Finance, HR and student activities. Which stream is a priority for you and your office?

Considering the nature of what we do, it touches on all three areas, but the HR and FMS streams are leading the charge right now, mainly because the student stream won’t be live in a few years. 

How are you observing both campuses working together on this program, and what does a successful collaboration between campuses look like to you?

The work being done by the IRP is a huge undertaking, and it touches all areas on campus. The IRP team is doing a fantastic job of sharing important information that we need to know and Workday Wednesdays here at UBCO is helping share this information to the wider campus community. The nature of the program and the work being done will allow us to work together more organically moving forward, and again the success of the program among both campuses will be the real time data, with both campuses looking at one system and using the same terminology, which will help enhance our day-to-day operations in a unified way. With one system being used on both campuses, it will help make it feel like there isn’t a distance between us geographically. It will help bridge that gap even more between our campuses, and make us feel like one cohesive UBC.

What are some of the challenges do you see or have heard from your networks with the implementation of Workday and how do you think IRP and the TN can address those challenges?

From what I see, the IRP team is working hard to get ahead and address those challenges. With the call-in sessions and the demo events, I feel they are getting out there to show us what is coming with the change. The one thing that will be a challenge is the change in terminology that will take some people time to learn and get accustomed to. But I don’t see this as a challenge, more of a transition of change that the campuses will need to work together to work through. With any change, there is always a learning curve; it is expected so we are anticipating what needs to be done to address this. With the training module that will be ramping up in the new year and the ability to see and get to play around with the system, i predict this will help ease the mind of many people. Like getting a new phone, it takes a few days to fumble around and learn all that it has to offer, but then it becomes easy and almost second nature. Everyone has a different learning style, from learning on their own to needing official training and an instructor, the training curriculum created by the IRP will need to reflect that.

How are you collaborating with the other members of the TN?

I try to take part and attend all the call-in sessions, which helps me connect with many of the other transition leads. The IRP team here in the Okanagan are constantly keeping us up-to-date, so I would in turn share that information with my cohorts here. I feel there is a strong flow of information that helps encourage sharing, collaboration between the IRP and the network here, and across both campuses.