The University of the Witwaterstand has confirmed that the implementation of its new i-Wits system has caused some minor problems with its human resources payroll, but says it is rectifying the situation.
Responding to reports that staff members and postgraduate students were not paid at the end of last month due to the university going live with its new Oracle-based system, spokesperson Shirona Hassim says all persons on the payroll, about 4 500 people, were paid timeously.
"However, the vendor/supplier database was not automatically transferred from the old system to the new one. This was a conscious decision to ensure only our current suppliers with updated data (tax clearance certificates and VAT numbers) were loaded onto the new system," she says.
"The university regrets that about 50 postgraduate students who fall into this category were not paid timeously. Their details have been uploaded to the new system and their payments are being processed."
Hassim explains that the system, which went live on 9 May, replaced and integrated the university`s methods of recording and managing data in almost every sphere, including human resources, management information and finance systems across the institution. The student system modules will be implemented in the next two years.
"The system will affect the work routine of the whole university, including faculties and schools, finance, human resources, management information reporting, the central networking services and all areas affecting student applications, registrations and marks.
"The implementation process of the finance and HR modules went smoothly overall, but as with the implementation of any new system, despite the intricate planning for contingencies, there were still some small hiccups around the go-live date," she comments.
Hassim adds that contingency plans were put in place and a help-desk is still on hand to help solve any problems caused by the changeover.
"A change management team, a project team, a process owners` team and a technical team are all on hand to assist with problems as and when they occur," she says.
The i-Wits system will affect about 4 500 staff members and 24 000 students.
Share
