UT Dallas is in the middle of a sweeping internal software overhaul that will streamline business processes in ways that promise to cut paperwork, save time and smooth workflow.
The project, nicknamed Gemini, will change many of the ways faculty members and staffers do business with and for the University. The switch-over is scheduled for Dec. 1.
“Time reporting, travel, purchasing, account reconciliation – routine activities across the spectrum will change from paper-intensive activities to online, Web-based processes, affecting nearly the entire UT Dallas community,” said Dr. Jim Gary, vice president and chief information officer at the University. “From the large ranks of those who fill out a time sheet or vacation/sick leave request each month to the smaller crew of purchase requisition preparers, all will need to be taught how to use the new systems.”
The University is the first UT System school to install the new systems, which are known broadly as enterprise resource planning programs. The Gemini systems have been designed by PeopleSoft specifically for human resources and financial operations.
The changes will be increasingly visible in the coming weeks. On Dec. 1, users will be able to access many University human resources and business functions on a central Web page.
The University has rolled out a training plan to prepare users for the new business processes and tools. Beginning in November, there will be classroom activities as well as online training to accommodate varying needs and availability of faculty, staff and students.
Gemini project teams from the University’s department of Information Resources and Office of Business Affairs are working this month to finalize configuration. These teams have been preparing for the changeover for a year with the goal of modernizing UT Dallas’ business processes.
The project is part of the Shared Service Initiative, which is designed to save money throughout the UT System. The project aims to leverage economies of scale by combining multiple institutions that have common services and reducing the required effort and costs.
UT Dallas will be followed in 2012 by six other UT schools, all using the shared infrastructure of the UT System Arlington Regional Data Center in Fort Worth.