Adjusting to FIS Will Take Time - Be Patient with Each Other, and Yourself

In less than two weeks on July 1, Oracle Financials Cloud and Concur will go live as part of our Financial Information Systems (FIS) project. This milestone is more than two years in the making and has involved participation from hundreds of staff members across campus, the Foundation and UC San Diego Health.  

On behalf of the FIS team, thank you for your efforts, contributions and dedication. A core tenant of ESR has been to rely on our staff’s talent and expertise, and that has truly come to the forefront as we’ve worked together.  

The FIS go live represents a major milestone for UC San Diego. There is much to be proud of and celebrate. But the go live on July 1 is not the culmination. In some ways it’s really the beginning. We’re going to continue working throughout the next year and beyond to enhance the systems.  

You may find the transition difficult. Even for me, I’ve been at UC San Diego over 20 years and I consider myself pretty knowledgeable about our systems. But now in many ways I’m going to be just like a new employee along with everyone else. There will be a huge learning curve for everyone involved.  

It will take time to learn the system. It will take time to work through bugs and other issues. The new system may feel like a step back on Day 1, or even a couple of steps back.  

Therefore, please be patient with each other. Acknowledge that your colleagues will be struggling to learn a new system and may not be as responsive as they normally are. They may not have the ready, quick answers you’ve come to rely on.  

And have empathy for those who helped design and configure the system. Remember that they are your colleagues and fellow Tritons.  

Be patient with yourself, too. Many of us are very familiar with how we do our jobs today. It’s going to be uncomfortable to not know how to do something at first. Give yourself the leeway to stumble through. It’s going to take practice and repetition and above all else it’s going to take time.  

The good news is, we’re all going to be doing this together. We’re all going to make it work together. 

With that in mind, I encourage you to crowdsource solutions as much as possible. Discuss your early questions and issues with co-workers and our Change Network. Commiserate, cope and share together as well.  

Finally, keep in mind that transition will be gradual. There’s no pressure to complete or master anything right away. Closing for FY19/20 will be completed in IFIS, just like normal. Also, starting July 6, we’re going to be asking certain “super users” to begin entering transactions and providing feedback and submitting issues. The intent is to rapidly identify and address issues before most users start entering their July 2020 transactions. 

To conclude, I offer my sincere thanks to the hundreds of people who’ve helped out along the way.