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Financial Management System

About the Financial Management System Project

The Financial Management system’s objective is to develop a shared resource for University departments to bridge system gaps, streamline processes, and allow faculty and senior leadership to understand their financial position better and make informed strategic decisions. Several departments are engaged in on-going collaboration and pooling resources to develop one financial/research management and reporting system that will integrate with current University systems. These departments have achieved consensus on the needs and requirements over multiple aspects of this new system, including:

  • Transaction Approval Process
  • Procurement Process (in alignment with current University systems)
  • Reconciliation Tool & Data Repository
  • Reporting (i.e., projections, dashboards)

A proposal to implement the project was submitted and approved by the VP of Research and the Health Sciences CFO.  The project also has support from the SVP for Health Sciences, AVP for Research, and the Budgeting and Planning Office.  Ten School of Medicine departments are committed to joining or actively using the system, and other departments or units may join in the future. View the full Executive Summary.

Goals and Objectives

What is the Project’s Scope?

  • The delivery of an online tool that complements existing university enterprise systems enabling departments to run their businesses in their most efficient manner.
  • An effort to consolidate multiple department shadow accounting systems and processes into a single tool aims to move participating groups to agreed-upon best practices and standard operating procedures to facilitate staff training.
  • The need for flexible approval routing and funds control to track and approve procurement requests before interaction with University systems. Involving the right people upfront results, with correct, clean transactions that save time for departments and central offices later.
  • The ability to conduct a thorough reconciliation using technology to identify and automatically match transactions that clear as expected, so the focus can be on a timely review of variances.
  • A beginning solution to meet the needs for interactive reporting and forecasting includes pending transactions not yet captured in university systems.
  • The project is not a replacement for existing centralized university systems and processes (i.e., UShop, Research Portal).

View a full Summary of Project Requirements

Timeline

Multiple departments came together to begin collaboration on this project in FY 2018. The project began in FY 2019, and on July 1, 2019, the new system was launched. Since the beginning of this project, the system has evolved, bringing more functionality and increasing its value-added incrementally and the development team continues its efforts on the project. Interest and support for this new system have also grown over the course of this project.

The timeline graphic is being updated.

Participating Colleges and Departments

Who’s Currently Involved?

Project Position Title/Name/Organization Phone E-mail
Sponsor Representative Cynthia Best, Vice Dean, SOM Dean’s Finance 801-581-7443 cynthia.best@hsc.utah.edu
Project Director Nate Dickson, IT Director, UFIS 801-585-7552 nate.dickson@hsc.utah.edu
Product Owner Jovana Weaver, Project Manager, UFIS & SOM Dean’s Finance 801-585-0944 jovana.weaver@hsc.utah.edu
Program Manager Peter Panos, Director, SOM Dean’s Finance 801-581-7443 peter.panos@hsc.utah.edu
Program Manager James Steffen, Operations Manager, SOM Dean’s Finance 801-585-0944 james.steffen@hsc.utah.edu
Department  / User Representative Jared Kirby, Department Administrator, Biochemistry 801-581-4223 jared.kirby@biochem.utah.edu
Department / User Representative Marsha Williams, Department Administrator, Pathology 801-213-3710 marsha.williams@path.utah.edu
Department / User Representative Neha Kushan, Department Administrator, Neurobiology 801-581-5494 neha.kushan@neuro.utah.edu
Department / User Representative Tammy Willis, Department Administrator, Molecular Medicine 801-585-0700 tammy.willis@u2m2.utah.edu
Department / User Representative Tara Hitzman, Research & Science Associate Director, CVRTI 801-587-5845 tara.hitzman@hsc.utah.edu
Department / User Representative Tyler Sebahar, Accounting & Finance Director, Pediatrics 801-587-0119 tyler.sebahar@hsc.utah.edu
Department / User Representative Lauren Budinger, Operations Manager, Population Health Sciences 801-587-2258 lauren.budinger@hsc.utah.edu
Department / User Representative Mandy Aucutt, Accounting & Finance Manager, OBGYN 801-581-7647 mandy.aucutt@hsc.utah.edu

Interested In Joining The discussion?

Please contact Jovana Weaver at the information listed above if you’d like more information or want to know how to participate.