The date for the rollout of the university’s new HR, Finance and Procurement system (UniCore) has changed.

During the past few months, the Digital Core project team have made significant progress in preparing for the rollout of UniCore.

The team have been focusing on delivering the project plan:  collecting, checking and migrating data; testing systems that will be receiving data from or sending data to UniCore; making preparations for the cutover period; developing a service delivery framework; creating the reports that UniCore will generate; keeping a large network of staff engaged with the project; meeting with Operations teams to model what the rollout will mean in practice; and developing a training strategy.

The project team have also been engaging with more than 250 staff to enable them to test the system for themselves. Having completed around 3,300 tests, they have found that the system is performing well but the quality of the data that has been transferred to UniCore is not at the standard that it needs to be at. Without accurate and complete data we run the risk of rolling out a system that does not work properly or which staff do not have confidence in.

The data quality issues are not related with the accuracy of the data in our current systems, especially ResourceLink and Agresso, they relate to how that data is transformed and presented in UniCore.

The Digital Core Project Board are determined that UniCore must have the highest quality data when it is rolled out, which is why a delay to the May 2024 go-live date is being announced.

It is understandable that colleagues across the university may be concerned about the impact of any revised date, however the project team is committed to ensuring it provides adequate notice for people and teams to prepare. Staff no longer need to work to the cutover dates that were previously set.

The Project Board apologise for the inconvenience caused by the replanning of this work and would like to thank you for your efforts in planning for the cutover period. An update will be provided next month with details of the revised cutover period and go-live date.

With support from colleagues across the university, the project team are in the process of collecting data about our organisational hierarchy, supervisory structure and individual staff working patterns.  The project team will keep moving forward with this work as it is vital to improving our datasets now, ensuring it is ready to be finalised prior to being put into UniCore.

The plan and approach for UniCore training will soon be shared. You will also be invited to various briefing sessions to help you become familiar with the new system.

Your support and understanding as we work to put in place our new HR, Finance and Procurement processes and system continues to be greatly appreciated.

A comprehensive set of frequently asked questions can now be found on the Digital Core SharePoint site. Please email digitalcore@nottingham.ac.uk if you require further information.