Introducing UVAFinance is a recurring blog feature created to introduce our team to our team, a couple of members at a time. Every other week, we'll present readers with two team members to get to know. To understand how these colleagues are situated within the greater UVAFinance structure, check out this resource on the UVAFinance website. (Keep in mind that it's not an org chart, but rather a map of what functions of central finance exist in which general areas.)
Let's go!
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Ben Tolson, Business Systems Analyst
What do you do as a Business Systems Analyst? I think my boss Scott Adams, says it best: our job is to help everyone else do their job better. Whether it's process improvement, helping build applications, improving Salesforce, etc. --- we're doing our best work when we're helping everyone else do their jobs more efficiently and with more needed information.
Who do you work with on a regular basis? The Business Services Team works closely with Andrew Sallans and the User Success Team, since we jointly manage Salesforce. Andrew's goal is similar to ours: delivering service across UVAFinance in a way that embodies our values. Where the User Success Team is more externally focused, helping UVAFinance understand how we work with other areas, Business Systems is more internally focused, taking the information from Salesforce and asking how we can use that to work best with our stakeholders.
What seasons are busiest, or what rhythms exist in your job? I've only been in this role for six months, so I'm not sure I have a grip on the yearly flow, but I think we're similar to the broader UVAFinance rhythms. We make sure everything is in place to help with things other departments are undertaking, like budget season, annual cardholder training, and so on. We also have a pattern of reviewing the process once it's done, to see if there's anything we can improve.
What might surprise people about the work you do? One thing is that we touch more or less every department in UVAFinance. Because of that, we need to be dilettantes and have a basic understanding of what every team does. We have amazing people in UVAFinance who have an incredible depth of knowledge in their area but need to be able to speak their language and understand, at least a little, what their work is and how they function to best help them. This lets us build the best processes for the work they do. Our knowledge of lots of different areas allows us to break down silos.
What do you like best about working in UVAFinance? I like being part of the connective node that helps highlight and create cross-functional opportunities -taking the great things one group is doing and using them to help another group. You have to see things from a broad perspective and be able to draw connections, and that's something I really enjoy.
How do you connect your work with the UVAFinance values? I try to embody them from the standpoint of excellent service and support and building strong relationships. The project I worked on this fall is a great example of our values: the Customer Portal for the Solution Center is an example of innovation to provide the best service, and it definitely involved building relationships with our stakeholders via focus groups. I think you can connect anything you do with the values by approaching the work from a values-driven mindset. It's not what you do, it's how you do it.
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Dawn Wood, User Success Agent Associate
What do you do as a User Success Agent Associate?
The User Success Team provides customer service to internal and external users about anything related to central finance, and also some random things. In addition to finance questions, we also get calls from suppliers who need to know where to deliver orders, calls about prescriptions, and many other unrelated topics. My colleague Moserah once said our team is kind of like the "
sorting squirrels" in Willy Wonka, and that's true! We're on the front lines of communication for everyone within Finance, so I'm a jack of all trades, a traffic cop, or whatever is needed.
Who are the people you work with on a regular basis?
We literally work with every department or unit you can think of! Sometimes the phone calls we get are a result of people being unsure of who to go to and we have a central number listed. We facilitate getting folks connected to the right people, even when it's in another area. We also work with lots of internal departments to help them identify where business transactions are hung up, so we're connecting people with those who can help move it along. We provide guidance to all users, sharing quick reference guides, training materials, and more. When there's an opportunity to address a knowledge gap that our stakeholders have, I try to take that moment and provide helpful information to the best of my capabilities. We try to solve their problem but also supply them with the tools to handle it if it comes up again. And of course, we work closely with our colleagues on the Ask HR team all the time.
What seasons are busiest, or what rhythms exist in your job?
We definitely see trends based on the rhythms of the academic community: month end, the arrival of account certifications, tax season, etc. As graduation approaches, we get questions about procedures and events.
What might surprise people about the work you do?
We wear so many hats! Also, I think it's remarkable that we built up the knowledge and tools we have in place from the ground up. We were all brand new people who came in ready to pull knowledge as quickly as we could to help people with the transition to Workday Finance. Now, we're going back and streamlining and updating our resources so we can be of even better help. Now that we know all we know, we're in the phase of continuous improvement. We have so much in terms of resources now, and I love knowing that I've been a part of the inception of what the User Success Team is and what it will become. I'm proud to be a part of this team!
What do you like best about working in UVAFinance?
I love working in Central Finance so much. The longer I'm on this team and get to engage with the different departments and collaborate with others, I feel more connected to this group of people than I ever have in a work environment. It's so warm and supportive here, and I feel like I could share any issues or concerns in front of our leadership. It's also awesome to see my teammates move on to other roles and thrive and grow. We've all come so far!
How do you connect your work with the UVAFinance values?
The most important thing to me is based in integrity, and doing the right thing when nobody is looking. Conducting myself with integrity and respecting others, are the values I hold close to my heart with every customer engagement I have.
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