UNF: Latest from OspreyRising

UNF Vice President and Chief Information Officer Brian Verkamp discusses OspreyRising, a digital transformation project to upgrade and transition key University business processes to Workday.

March 21, 2023 - OspreyRising Monthly Newsletter

Osprey Rising ~ March 2023

Check out the latest from OspreyRising

February 17, 2023 - OspreyRising Monthly Newsletter

Osprey Rising ~ February 2023

Attention OspreyRising Rock Stars!

This OspreyRising newsletter is made for rock stars like you. As you know, OspreyRising is an exciting new project aimed at upgrading and enhancing many of our core business processes at UNF into a new cloud-based system called Workday. This monthly communication will help keep you informed on our progress as we share the latest project insights. OspreyRising is guided by goals to continually improve the overall experience for students, faculty and staff. Our focus is you, so we encourage you to stay in touch with us throughout this journey as we share updates and a few laughs along the way. Check out Workday’s SuperBowl ad! Are you ready to embrace the OspreyRising project and become Workday rock stars like Billy Idol and Joan Jett? Learn more about the roles and responsibilities of the project team members.

What is a Business Process Analysis?

OspreyRising launched with UNF staff across campus participating in intensive Day in the Life (DITL) sessions. The goal is to learn more about how UNF does business, our business needs, and our roadblocks to improvement. The sessions have been led by consultants with real-world experience who are dedicated to listening to our UNF employees. These business process analysis sessions will conclude in mid-March, after which the next phase of OspreyRising will kick off. Special thanks to all UNF participants — your input and expertise are extremely valuable to laying the foundation of a successful project. Learn more regarding the OspreyRising Timeline.

Six Questions with Project Team Member Mike McGuire

Mike McGuire is the assistant director, planning reporting and a member of the OspreyRising Implementation Team. His role with the Planning and Budget Office consists of auxiliary and project budgets, NSF reviews, and chart of accounts management. Get to know Mike McGuire and his thoughts on the OspreyRising project.

OspreyRising Giggles

What do you call a funny mountain?

Hill-arious

January 12, 2023 - Improving Our Day-to-Day Processes at UNF through Workday

Over the next 18 months, the University will be actively engaged in OspreyRising, a digital transformation project that will replace finance and human resource functions in our current system, Ellucian Banner, with a new cloud-based technology platform, Workday.

This change is aimed at helping all of us at UNF do our jobs better — to increase functionality, usability and productivity within our systems. Working in higher education, we are in a unique position to impact lives every day. No matter what our job is at UNF, we all play a role in supporting our students and helping them succeed. Having the right tools to do our jobs effectively is critical. Workday was selected to help simplify processes and promote consistency across the University.

We certainly know that change can be disruptive, and we ask for your support, involvement and patience as we begin this project together. Next week, we officially begin OspreyRising with the first phase analyzing our business processes and opportunities for improvement. Some surveys and discussions have been conducted already, and we will continue to offer the campus community ongoing opportunities to learn about this new system, ask questions and make suggestions.

Workday finance and human resources processes are expected to officially launch in July 2024. All faculty, staff and student workers interact with these technologies. Changes to how we access information and complete related functions are expected. UNF has appointed a Steering Committee dedicated to open communication and collaboration across campus. Please know that your feedback and continued engagement is key to the success of this project. Communications will be frequent and regular. We urge you to please pay close attention to shared messages and visit the OspreyRising website often for updates and information. 

We truly believe this endeavor will have a significant and positive long-term impact on our University and how we do business every day. We look forward to working with you and appreciate your continued support. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to Megan Kuehner, project manager, at mkuehner@unf.edu.

Sincerely,

Brian Verkamp
Vice President and CIO

Scott Bennett
Vice President of Administration and Finance