Voices: Barbara Bennett

Meet Change Agent Barbara Bennett, Director of Administrative Services in the Office of Teaching and Technology Support Services

The Office of Teaching and Technology Support Services is responsible for personnel and financial oversight for multiple departments and programs that support university operations. They also develop and monitor administrative support budgets and auxiliary funds. Part of Barbara’s responsibility is serving as the HR liaison for staff reporting to the Office of Teaching and Technology.

How have you been involved in the Empowering UF preparations for Workday?
Our oversight of the educational auxiliary funds (self-funded, non-credit, DL Fees, Off Campus Activities, conferences, events) for the institution to ensure compliance with federal and local statutes and regulations requires us to provide accurate reports to all interested stakeholders, including the BOT/BOG. I’ve been involved with Empowering UF’s HCM/Payroll, Finance/Research and Change Agent Network activities.

In what ways will Workday positively support your colleagues?
From what we’ve seen so far, a refreshing change I’m looking forward to is simplified access to complete different transactions, transparency and visibility of information at each level, and the ease with which Workday looks like it will search and navigate the systems. Workday should provide us with the opportunity to align colleges’ business models and streamline processes to provide a more transparent, comprehensive and unified view of our institution.

The various implementation teams have attempted to identify common practices while encouraging folks to shift their ways of doing business so that we may focus more on the university’s mission to maintain top-ranking status in higher education.

What advice would you offer to colleagues as they adapt to these changes ahead?
So many folks are task-driven … this change is going to be hard. We should stay focused on the why, stay compassionate with an understanding of how large we are and how differently each area is structured and — given the many hats each employee may wear in a day — be patient as we learn how the new system will, indeed, make our work easier.