Automation
Adapting and adopting to Automation technology should be an exciting experience. We understand you may seem unsure of what this means at first, however introducing Automation in the form of virtual assistants is all about complimenting and enhancing talented team members.
Automating processes is something to embrace because it creates more engaging and rewarding roles for those whose time is taken up by carrying out repetitive and more menial tasks.
It’s a win-win situation for all, as colleagues are given time back to focus on more enriching work like growing skill sets and taking on new projects, while service quality is improved through faster delivery, reduction in errors and greater use of data to aid continuous progress.
Our Automation journey so far
The Transformation Team sponsored the initial discovery and prototype phases of Automation back in June 2021. Since then, we have engaged with three business areas within the University to help them on their journey to adopting and adapting to Automation.
People & OD
What were we trying to solve/address: When the University first explored Automation and was looking for candidates for the pilot, the HR team were experiencing a significant workload with internal resource constraints and were looking for ways to manage continually increasing demands. We worked with People & OD to develop a backlog of requirements, which also aided in creating a case for change for automation within the University.
What we did and why: 6 virtual assistants have been successfully deployed across 3 processes in the Recruitment space, working at 100% accuracy.
Now we've done it, here's what we've achieved: Automation is now becoming embedded as a day-to-day tool within People & OD. By learning from the lived-experiences of People & OD colleagues through the pilot, an Automation Playbook has also been developed to work as a guide to support all colleagues through adopting and adapting to automation-enabled change.
Finance
What were we trying to solve/address: Currently, when there are any changes to be made to Agresso, the Agresso team need to spend 4 days regression testing for every 1 day of development. Regression testing is the process of ensuring the change being implemented does not cause any knock-on unforeseen/unwanted impacts to other processes. We wanted to see if we could automate these types of tests to reduce the manual burden and speed up the testing cycle.
What we did and why: Time was spent with the Agresso development team to investigate automation in regression testing, as this was an area that Finance identified as an opportunity to automate. This successfully demonstrated that the virtual worker is able to interact with Agresso.
Now we've done it, here's what we've achieved: Work is progressing on track as 2 virtual assistants have been built to deliver automated regressions and are now going through end-to-end testing. The Finance team are eager to be self-sufficient!
College of Social Sciences
What were we trying to solve/address: Assignment extensions requests and academic registration are both high volume and repetitive tasks in The College of Social Sciences. The College wanted to find a way to reduce this burden on staff completing these day in day out. This would enable them to focus more strategically on supporting students. The team acknowledged that these have certain peaks either at the start of an academic year or all the way through. Therefore the introduction of virtual workers to both processes has been an exciting prospect for both teams.
What we did and why: We have held engagement sessions and conducted an initial value assessment to identify and understand opportunities for automation within the College. As a result, assignment extensions and registration and enrolment are two processes that have been prioritised.
Now we've done it, here's what we've achieved: Real progress is being made as the team have worked well to establish the design of the processes and accelerate progress. Virtual assistants are being built to assist with assignment extensions, and further analysis is being conducted into registration and enrolment.
Experiencing Automation
Curious to hear about what it's really like to introduce a virtual assistant into your team? We've asked collegues embracing Automation for their thoughts and feelings of the experience so that we can share them here for you to watch.
College of Social Sciences - Academic Registration
Watch this video to hear about the College of Social Sciences' experience of automating aspects of the academic registration process!
Lessons learned
We have completed some great work so far with introducing Automation in the three pilot business areas. During these pilots, we have learned some lessons which we will share below and ensure we take forward during future work.
- We know that technology is not a constraint or the challenge. The biggest challenge is getting time with colleagues beginning their Automation journey to ensure we understand their processes. This means we can build a great virtual assistant and ensure that the Service Team can be confident it will do what they want it to do.
- Capturing data at the outset is critical to ensure we can chart progress and improvements. We need to have a good baseline of process information so that Service Owners can manage and monitor progress.
- Testing of the virtual assistant is critical. We need to have enough case volume and time from the team to ensure we can robustly test our work. Putting the effort in during testing makes go-live much easier.
- We need to be really clear up front about the potential benefits that we want to achieve, for example, service & experience improvements, reduction in workarounds, time savings. It is important we are all on the same page and know what is possible.
- Language is important. Robot or virtual assistant? Business change or adoption of the change? We have learned what lands well but will continue to improve as we progress.
Future Plans
The University is working with Ernst & Young as the strategic partner and has begun Automations in six business areas: External Relations, People & OD, Finance, the College of Social Sciences, the College of Science & Engineering, and the College of Medical, Veterinary & Life Sciences. As we progress, we plan to develop Automation opportunities across the University over the next three years, creating a lasting, enduring service.