This Explainer details what the Workflow and Automation Competency Centre is all about. It covers the background, current situation, what’s coming up, and how staff can get involved.
What is the Workflow and Automation Competency Centre?
Competency Centres are teams you can consult for expert support in different areas of digital technology. The Workflow and Automation Competency Centre helps colleagues to streamline their working practices and automate processes. This helps teams and individuals improve efficiencies and save time.
What’s the background to this?
Competency Centres are a key part of the University’s digital transformation as they help people discover, learn to use and implement new technologies to make their lives easier. There are other Competency Centres focused on artificial intelligence and machine learning, cybersecurity, and cloud computing for research.
What can the Competency Centre help me with?
If you have a process in your work which takes a long time to do or causes issues, the centre might be able to take that task and automate it, to remove the stress often involved with manual workloads. The Workflow and Automation Competency Centre comprises a team of dedicated staff including automation developers, business technologists, continuous improvement practitioners and training experts. The team work to help you build new workflows, show you ways you could improve your processes and train you so you can implement new skills and technology.
Who does it benefit and how?
The centre is now open and free to access by colleagues within the University. Anyone who has a role which includes repetitive, admin heavy, manual tasks or processes could benefit from working with the centre. The Student Fees and Funding team worked with the centre to streamline their processes, resulting in a 53% reduction in manual steps needed for each application. The team working on the VC Awards worked with the centre to streamline the entry process, improving efficiencies and reducing time and potential for human error.
When will we start seeing any results?
The Competency Centre has already supported over 1,800 staff members and 174 teams with training, consultancy and project development. Automations developed by the centre have helped teams speed up process to take minutes instead of weeks. Automations have been seen to speed up work by up to 350 times and reduce time spent on repetitive tasks from weeks to minutes.
What support can I get from the Competency Centre?
The Competency Centre works with departments, divisions, colleges, and project teams on either a project basic to co-create new workflows, or on a consultancy basis if you need advice and ideas on how to improve and unblock processes. The centre also offers training to upskill so you can use and implement the technology in the future. It focuses on using tools that are already accessible, and makes uses of Power Automate, Microsoft’s automation tool, which is integrated with Microsoft’s other suite of tools. The team also include Focus practitioners who can help you implement continuous improvement with workflow and automation.
How can staff get involved?
Colleagues within the University who works with a process that could be improved can get involved. There is an Expression of Interest form available for people interested in workflow and automation. Complete the form and the team will get back to you to arrange an initial discussion. Power Automate training is accessible for complete beginners, and you can join the Power Automate Channel on Teams for a community of users, find out how to join here.
How can I find out more?
Find out more by visiting Workflow and Automation Competency Centre (sharepoint.com).
