Strategic Initiatives

About: Our organization is currently undergoing a comprehensive strategic planning exercise that will inform operational priorities over the next 3-5 year period.

Top Deliverables:

• Overhaul mission, vision, and values 
• Talent alignment and organizational name changes:
  • A/R Cash Operations name change to Financial Operations
  • Financial Analysis Office to Costing Policy & Analysis
  • Fiscal & Budget name change to Financial & Budget Operations
  • General Accounting name change to Internal Controls & Accounting
  • OPAFS name change to Sponsored Projects Finance
  • Payroll name change to Central Core Payroll
• Establish key priorities (short to mid-term goals to be achieved in 1-3 years)

What campus needs to know:

• Division names will change and updates will be managed through various communication channels and reflected on our web pages

About: Budget & Finance web content is being updated and restructured with the client experience in mind. This project will be rolled out in phases over the next year

Top Deliverables:

• Change layout of Blink pages to be user-friendly and more intuitive
• Ensure all content is up-to-date
• Reduce the number of pages to ease Blink management
• Implement a long-term strategy for content management

What campus needs to know:

• You might experience broken links as we work to redirect our clients to our new and updated pages
• Pages with outdated content will be updated or removed 
• Updates will be included in the Budget & Finance weekly digest as changes are rolled out

About: UC San Diego's mainframe financial system no longer met the university’s needs. To achieve modern efficiencies, streamline reporting needs and meet regulatory requirements, UC San Diego implemented Oracle ERP Cloud.

Top deliverables:

• Design financial processes and reporting to take maximum advantage of new UC San Diego chart of accounts.
• Full functional partnership with UC San Diego Health and Foundation in a common financial system and linked chart of accounts.
• Lead with UC San Diego’s internal resources and external guidance and support from an implementation partner.
• Adopt and streamline as much out of the box functionality as possible in new financial system, minimize cloning of current processes.
• Adopt full budget system and the benefits that come with corporate financial planning and associated metrics.

What campus needs to know:

• The Financial Information System (FIS) launched on July 1, 2020. The Enterprise Systems Renewal FIS website documented the implementation of the FIS project and is no longer updated by the project team.

About: The Oracle Value Assessment Team and UC San Diego key stakeholders are assessing the current state of business processes and systems. This is an ongoing effort to analyze and improve existing challenges and remedy limitations

Top Deliverables:

• Develop a strategy in order to track key metrics to measure improvements and retrogression 
• Implement measures aimed to improve existing challenges 
• Focus on the user experience through a strategically prioritized system of enhancements that improve processes, systems, and reporting
• Enhance staff training across functions to build expertise
• Quarterly review with the Finance Steering Committee to support resourcing and efforts to drive system improvements and reduce manual processes
• Introduce new functionality to close gaps

What campus needs to know:

• The Oracle Value Team and the UCSD IT/Business Leads are committed to driving improvements and efficiencies in the Oracle financial system
• Enhancements are reviewed and prioritized based on several criteria including: 
  1. Mission critical reporting for internal/external Entities
  2. Recommendations by Business Leads in partnership with the Budget & Finance User Group or Oracle Value Assessment Team 

About: Business and Financial Services has partnered with UC San Diego Extension to deliver a comprehensive financial accounting program that will provide training at a basic to intermediate level. The program is intended to establish foundational knowledge that is consistent across the university's finance and accounting staff -i.e., finance teams/fund managers. 

Top Deliverables:

• UC San Diego Accounting program launches this Fall 2021, with more details and how to participate coming soon
• Participants must complete prerequisites, two core accounting courses, and an elective to receive award of completion
• The curriculum is designed for direct application into the workplace, providing practical skills to help meet UC San Diego's financial community meet system demands

What campus needs to know:

• Award of completion offered through UC San Diego Extension
• In-person and remote options are available during business hours
• The program is complementary to UC San Diego Budget & Finance training programs that are currently being offered or planned for