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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 better understand their financial position in order to make informed strategic decisions.

Several departments collaborated from July 2016 to November 2017 to discuss pooling resources to develop one financial/research management and reporting system that will integrate with current University systems. Departments achieved consensus on the needs within three areas:

  • 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.  Nine School of Medicine departments committed to join, 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 with aims of moving 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 prior to interaction with University systems. Involving the right people up front 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 that 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

As the budget was approved to begin the project in FY19, the project is underway and Phase 1 will be live by the end of the fiscal year. The scope of what will be included in this initial phase is still being established. It is expected that this will be a multi-year effort to bring on additional features and integrations.

Participating Colleges and Departments

Who's Currently Involved?

 

Project Position Title/Name/Organization Phone E-mail
Sponsor Representative Cynthia Best, Associate Dean, SOM Dean’s Finance 801-585-0946 cynthia.best@hsc.utah.edu
Program Manager Peter Panos, Associate Director, SOM Dean’s Finance 801-213-1147 Peter.panos@hsc.utah.edu
Program Manager Jessica Groves, Finance Manager, SOM Dean’s Finance 801-585-6122 jessica.groves@hsc.utah.edu
Project Director Jeremy Uffens, IT Director, UFIS 801-585-9301 jeremy.uffens@hsc.utah.edu
Product/Project Manager Neil Rasmuson, IT Product Manager, UFIS 801-213-0927 neil.rasmuson@hsc.utah.edu
Business Analyst Rob Owen,  Sr. Business Analyst, UFIS 801-585-2552 rob.owen@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 Susan Krantz, Department Administrator, CCTS 801-213-4040 susan.krantz@hsc.utah.edu
Department / User Representative Natalie Johnson, Department Administrator, Human Genetics 801-585-5462 njohnson@genetics.utah.edu
Department / User Representative Neha Kushan, Department Administrator, N&A 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 Jonathan Baranowsky, Department Administrator, Biomedical Informatics 801-581-7511 jonathan.baranowsky@utah.edu
Department / User Representative Audra Woolley, Accounting & Finance Director, OB/GYN 801-587-0119 audra.woolley@hsc.utah.edu

Interested In Joining The discussion?

Please contact Jessica Groves at the information listed above if you'd like more information or want to know how to participate in this initiative.