Your July transformation update

[Transforming HR and finance]

Hello, everyone.

With York’s leads and experts making steady progress testing the second Workday prototype, we’re close to being able to create and share some sneak peeks with you all, starting with general day-to-day navigation in the platform.

Alongside this, we’ll soon be finalising the approach to the hands-on activities taking place later this year: the ‘user acceptance’ phase in autumn to sense-check processes with wider teams, and the sessions that’ll make up various rounds of training from November onwards.

Conversations around change

As promised (and touched on in the timeline), as the final elements of the Workday design are pinned down, we’ll also be able to start communicating more about the Service Delivery Model (how staff interact across different processes) and Foundational Data Model (how information flows throughout Workday) when this phase of testing wraps up.

This week, we’ve run sessions with UEB and Trade Unions to discuss some of these practical implications for various staff groups, and we’ll be doing likewise next week with HODs and other senior leaders. We’ll then cascade these messages through the Change Network throughout August before sharing them more widely.

Conversations around support

Last month, we mentioned a set of videos from the People and Organisational Development team, introducing some of the transformation’s design principles (like direct access) and what they might mean for you. The first three of these will go live on the roles page at the end of next week; Tom Babington is busy creating others to follow, focusing more on data and governance.

POD have also launched a new set of practical resources so we can further support each other through any uncertainty that change brings, and support your personal development. These toolkits will grow in the coming months, and we’ll keep spotlighting new topics on the web hub to guide conversations throughout the transition. Chris Marsay has done a wonderful job leading the charge on this one – props to you, Chris.

Our second readiness survey

Thanks again to all of you who responded to this month’s Change Readiness Survey. After it closes this evening, we’ll be working through the themes to sketch out the next few weeks of comms and engagement.

We’ll also be getting in touch with the winners of the prize draws, so keep an eye on your inboxes. If you haven’t already, you have a few hours left to enter and have your say.

Our second Change Roadshow

We’re working through the practicalities of running another series of Change Roadshow sessions – feeding in your survey themes – to tie all of these points and conversations together. We’re hoping to keep the best elements of the first sessions back in March, lose the parts that didn’t work so well (breakout rooms), and focus this time on previews of common processes.

We’ll announce all the dates, details and booking information in next month’s update. We can’t wait to see you there.

All the best,
Transformation team