Automating those tedious, time-consuming tasks which take up large chunks of the working day sounds like a dream to many colleagues at the University. Making this a reality is the Workflow and Automation Competency Centre, part of Oxford’s Digital Transformation programme, which has been assisting colleagues from across the University since its introduction. Recently, Florence Ledger from the Student Fees and Funding team worked with the Centre to streamline processes and improve workflows.
Identifying the opportunity
The Student Fees and Funding team manages the Oxford Financial Assistance Schemes using the Microsoft Office suite. The process is that applications are made through Microsoft Forms, documents saved and shared through SharePoint, applications logged on Excel, and email requests and confirmations sent via Outlook to students and those supporting their applications for funding. With increasing application numbers, they sought automated solutions to improve efficiency and enhance the experience for students and staff. Although they had already set up basic email notifications, they then engaged the Workflow and Automation Competency Centre team to explore more complex automation flows.
Competency Centre contribution
The Competency Centre team, working in collaboration with the Focus programme, conducted a thorough review of the Student Fees and Funding processes and proposed a time-saving solution using Power Automate. The Centre assisted in creating flows to automatically manage and rename files in SharePoint upon submission. With 24 separate file attachment checks across Student Fees and Funding schemes, the Centre team's guidance was invaluable. They trained Florence and her team via Microsoft Teams, enabling them to build, edit, and maintain these flows. Their ongoing support, especially through 'surgery' calls, helped them to troubleshoot and refine their processes.
Impact of automation
According to the Student Fees and Funding team, the automation has led to a 55% reduction in manual steps for each application. While initial setup and maintenance required a time investment, the efficiency gains have been substantial. The Workflow and Automation team's responsive support has also allowed them to continuously improve their processes. As they near the end of their first cycle with the new automation, they are collaboratively planning refinements for the next cycle.
Florence said:
Overall, the automation has and will continue to save our team many hours spent on manual processes to save and log documentation, to issue email correspondence and prepare committee papers and financial assessments. It has enabled us to provide a more efficient service to students, colleges and departments with greater capacity to undertake the casework associated with financial assistance requests, and to improve response times rather than being constrained by manual administrative tasks.
The Workflow and Automation Competency Centre is open to all colleagues to assist with streamlining processes and discovering new ways to improve workload.
