With over 32,000 students and more than 6000 staff, the University of Wollongong (UOW) is young, dynamic and innovative, and has become a benchmark for Australia’s new generation of universities. It has multiple campuses in Australia and overseas and is ranked in Australia’s top 10 universities.
Globally recognised for delivering impactful research that drives positive change, UOW ranks 6th globally for social and economic impact in the Times Higher Education (THE) Impact rankings (benchmarked against the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals). It also produces some of the world’s most employable graduates by anticipating emergent industries and future jobs to prepare them for the future of work.
Business challenge
In the face of increasing competition, higher education providers are under pressure to think more strategically and innovatively about the future, while delivering superior student experiences and making budgets go further. UOW must continue attracting interest from local and international students, academic staff and researchers.
UOW’s existing Oracle JD Edwards (JDE) ERP system was nearing its end of life and offered limited current capability whilst also presenting an increased cyber security risk. Multiple siloed systems meant numerous integrations were difficult to maintain, and without new functionality, the business was ‘making do’ while trying to drive better business outcomes.
“DXC understood the nuances of university operations which made all the difference. This was particularly apparent when we developed our student load model – the team really understood the outputs needed and delivered on that.”
Matt Wright Director Financial Operations, University of Wollongong
In addition, existing systems offered limited sharing of core data causing errors, and inadequate visibility into workforce information which was hindering effective responses to changing student and staff needs. A 360-degree view of global operations was essential to ensure the best student and staff engagement experiences. Offshore operations in Malaysia, Hong Kong and Dubai used a completely different finance system, presenting even more challenges in gaining a holistic business view.
UOW needed to progress from the legacy solutions to a modern, contemporary platform. The solution needed to provide leading-edge cloud technology and digital capability to help UOW grow, innovate and build a resilient and adaptable organisation – all critical with today’s current uncertainties.
Solution
To drive its digital transformation, UOW chose Oracle Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Enterprise Performance Planning (EPM) with extended functionalities such as expenses management. The cloud-based Oracle Software as a Service (SaaS) solution enables holistic management of business operations, leveraging modern best practices.
UOW selected DXC Technology as its strategic implementation partner based on its experience as a leading Oracle services partner, extensive knowledge of the higher education sector, demonstrated framework encompassing innovative methodologies, and ability to lead the key elements of a digital transformation.
“The dedication and professionalism from the DXC team is outstanding, with their commitment to do what needs to be done very much appreciated. We’re constantly up to date, and if something comes that users want, we simply pick it up.”
Matt Wright Director Financial Operations, University of Wollongong
Implementation
DXC supported UOW in modernizing and optimizing operations through a whole-of-business approach, creating a highly scalable and flexible environment - future-ready for the hybrid technology world and longer term trends as they emerge.
DXC began by consulting with UOW to develop a holistic transformation roadmap with acceleration capabilities to deliver technology innovation and process-driven outcomes. DXC’s proven higher education industry templates developed through decades of learned best practice, implementation experience, technical and functional IP and industry specific knowledge accelerated time to value and reduced risk for UOW. Matt Wright, UOW’s Director Financial Operations, said, “Finance is finance across most businesses, but DXC understood the nuances of university operations which made all the difference. This was particularly apparent when we developed our student load model – the team really understood the outputs needed and delivered on that.”
Phase 1 (local implementation) was delivered on time and budget, with subsequent phases delivered in more agile sprints. Consulting, training, implementation and ongoing Business-as-Usual (BAU) support was provided for a rollout to multiple Australian campuses, with staggered international rollouts to Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and Dubai.
The critical final handover into production was effectively managed via Hypercare support with DXC ensuring UOW experienced a smooth transition. After 60 days, an ongoing DXC support model was adopted.
“This initiative showcases how DXC’s leading expertise in cloud technologies is helping universities like UOW deliver a better quality of education that empowers market leading innovation to address student needs today and into the future.”
Richard James Director, DXC Practice for Oracle, Asia Pacific
Results and benefits
DXC supported UOW in delivering a complete technology transformation with multiple disparate systems replaced with a single unified platform. UOW now manages finance and student data modelling on the same platform, offering a 360-degree view of the business, and new insights into operational, student, and employee data. The modern cloud-based technology will support growth across UOW’s complex business environment and is helping lower costs, and improve business agility and resiliency.
JDE and other legacy systems were retired, with the new platform unifying local and international users while providing consistent data, definitions and terminology. The path to Oracle SaaS was smooth, simple, achieved at speed, and with low risk for UOW. As the first project in Asia Pacific to successfully rollout all product pillars simultaneously, UOW was also the first university to go live with Oracle Cloud SaaS solutions in the region, and now has the most significant footprint locally.
With 120 core finance users across multiple locations and other users within faculties and portfolios running reports, the digital experience is helping drive strategic intent so UOW can be the innovative player it must be to attract staff and students. Part of UOW’s response to recent global crises was to centralize several services, including finance. This solution was crucial in enabling that restructure, improving efficiency, consistency and reporting from a centralized hub, and providing remote users with easy access.
“New functionality is always coming. We have opportunities to do things differently, and DXC proactively suggests how we could use certain features, which we appreciate. As a result, we don’t have to think about changing technology or improving functionality throughout the system lifecycle.”
Matt Wright Director Financial Operations, University of Wollongong
As a SaaS solution, continuous updates mean UOW remains current with the latest innovations - ensuring an agile platform to address rapid business changes. Wright commented, “New functionality is always coming. We have opportunities to do things differently, and DXC proactively suggests how we could use certain features, which we appreciate. As a result, we don’t have to think about changing technology or improving functionality throughout the system lifecycle. The dedication and professionalism from the DXC team is outstanding, with their commitment to do what needs to be done very much appreciated. We’re constantly up to date, and if something comes up that users want, we simply pick it up.”
“DXC was delighted to work with UOW to deliver a comprehensive technology transformation, encompassing a global rollout across Australia, UAE, Hong Kong and Malaysia. This initiative showcases how DXC’s leading expertise in cloud technologies is helping universities like UOW deliver a better quality of education that empowers market leading innovation to address student needs today and into the future,” said Richard James, Director, DXC Practice for Oracle, Asia Pacific.
“New functionality is always coming. We have opportunities to do things differently, and DXC proactively suggests how we could use certain features, which we appreciate. As a result, we don’t have to think about changing technology or improving functionality throughout the system lifecycle.”
Matt Wright Director Financial Operations, University of Wollongong
The future
DXC is a trusted and strategic partner - considered an extension of UOW’s business, providing vital BAU services and support. This includes quarterly reviews to address upcoming business challenges and ongoing innovation.
UOW will roll out budgeting and planning across the enterprise and further enhance reporting with new dashboards for key users to offer academics, divisional managers, and others fast and easy access to information on research projects and other aspects of the business.
