Cardiff University Assessment

Cardiff University Assessment

Introduction

Cardiff University is a public research university in Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom. It was established in 1883 as the University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire and became a founding college of the University of Wales in 1893.

Cardiff University originally implemented Oracle E-Business Suite release 12.2.5 some time ago and requested an independent assessment of the application to understand if the application and processes were optimally configured for the University today.

Version 1 is Cardiff University’s current managed service provider. The scope of this support includes providing level 2 and 3 functional (configuration), technical (CEMLI) support, database administration and also requested changes and enhancements.

Client Profile
Cardiff University
Established:
1883
Client Since:
2008
Employees:
7,000
Industry:
Higher Education
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Key Challenge

Cardiff University’s overarching requirement was to understand the development potential of their existing E-Business Suite implementation to address known challenges and user ‘pain points’. The guiding principles used to evaluate the solutions proposed in the review are listed below:

  • Efficiency – Reduce duplication of effort, reduce complex processes with
    needless human intervention. Streamline, simplify, automate.
  •  Functionality – Reduce the gaps in functionality available to Finance and HR.
  •  Reduce Risk – Reduce level of off system processes that could lead to blind
    decision making, increased risk of data loss, data breach and/or
    reputational/financial damage.
  •  Move to SaaS – Focus on moving to vanilla processes and adopting rather than
    adapting functionality.
  •  User Centric – Move towards a more modern user interface, flexibly support
    hybrid working and availability anytime, anywhere across multiple devices.

The aim of the final report was to deliver a roadmap of work that can be delivered over the next few years to maximise Cardiff University ROI in their E-Business suite-based Finance estate.

Solution

  • Documented several opportunities to bring processes on-system and reduce the level of manual transaction processing and data manipulation by configuring currently unused standard Oracle functionality and introducing new Oracle or third-party tools.
  • 18 immediate opportunities – real benefits that can be realised now.
  • 14 Solution redesign opportunities – leveraging existing licenced products with minimal implementation cost.
  • 18 opportunities to increase efficiency – implementing complementary modules or tooling to extract maximum value from E-Business Suite.
  •  Identified the opportunity to extend the configuration of Oracle Projects to support Capital and Revenue Projects.
  • Highlighted an opportunity to extend the configuration of Oracle Collections to better support debtor management, reporting and collections.
  • Identified an opportunity to better utilise Oracle Receivables functionality to automate Income Accruals and Deferrals.

Difference Delivered 

  • A licensing review was included to ensure areas of potential license optimisation were highlighted to Cardiff University.
  •  An estimate of the time/cost/effort required to implement the suggested recommendations was provided to aid planning. 
“The teams professional approach focused on what was important, engaging the right SMEs to highlight the areas of potential development and crucially, provide insight into the scale of investment required to unlock that potential. Appropriate specialists from across the Version 1 team were deployed to deliver the review that both challenged and validated internal knowledge to deliver a valuable output that has supported our options analysis and ultimately business decision making. “
- Paul Howarth Programme Manager – Cardiff University

About Version 1

Version 1 proves that IT can make a real difference to our customers’ businesses. We are trusted by global brands to deliver IT services and solutions which drive customer success. Our team of difference-makers work tirelessly to provide independent advice and deliver impactful changes to help our customers navigate the rapidly changing Digital-First world we live in. Our greatest strength is balance in our efforts to achieve Customer Success, Empowered People and a Strong Organisation, underpinned by a commitment to our values. We believe this is what makes Version 1 different and more importantly, our customers agree.