Collaboration and communication crucial for implementation of new finance system

By Tina Ellehuus Larsen, tila@sdu.dk, 6/9/2022

Despite various obstacles along the way, the implementation process has generally gone well. This is particularly because of the excellent cooperation between the departments, faculties and central units at SDU.

Tine Kristiansen, Head of Finance at the Faculty of Science, is relieved that the implementation of the system has gone relatively smoothly, and she attributes this in particular to the excellent cooperation between the departments, the Faculty of Science Finance and SDU Financial Services.

– From start to finish, the process has been characterised by a high level of information and continuous briefings, including on changes, which has helped to make the process as smooth as possible. Thanks to Q&A sessions at the Faculty of Science, errors have been detected and dealt with and, where possible, corrected fairly quickly. Many thanks are due to the central implementation team for their approach along the way. It has made a big difference.

SDU needed a new finance system because the old one was being phased out, but also because ERP has better integration with the HR system, HCM, which was implemented in autumn 2021. When ERP went live, SDU also switched to the state chart of accounts, which has given users of the system many new things to deal with.

– During all this newness, I have experienced a great sense of community among the Faculty’s finance staff, both in the faculty administration and at the departments, to solve the task in the best possible way. Everyone has done their bit to help get it off to a good start, and I’m really pleased and proud of that. All along, I have had in mind that the Faculty of Science should contribute, take responsibility and be actively involved in the implementation, and I think it has succeeded tremendously. I’m sure that when we become really acquainted with the new system, it will be really good, Tine Kristiansen says reassuringly.

So far, Tine Kristiansen is happy with the system:

–  The accounting part of ERP has got off to a flying start. The system works well and is user-friendly, and although it always takes time to learn something new, most of the feedback I’m getting is that the system works better than expected. Some say it’s nicer to use, while others find it more click-heavy, but most people say the interface is more user-friendly.

The budget and reporting part has been the longest in the making, but fortunately we are now seeing a solution that works and is very similar to the old system, which comes as a great relief to many.

In the future, the new financial system will provide a more up-to-date system that supports financial management and budgeting at SDU, and this ultimately puts everyone’s mind at ease.

In the ‘people and organisation’ section of the Faculty’s 2021-2025 Strategy, it says: We are an active player in the digitalisation process at SDU and are at the forefront of our own digitalisation. With the new financial system, it seems that a digitalisation project has been truly successful due to the excellent cooperation between the faculties and the central units at SDU.