At a glance
The University of Notre Dame Australia is a national Catholic University with Campuses in Fremantle and Broome in Western Australia, and Sydney in New South Wales. They engaged Strategenics to shift their payroll team "out of the inbox" and into Jira Service Management. The project aimed to a reduce duplication of effort between team members, automate repetitive processes and feed into a larger Enterprise Service Management direction for the University.
There was a desire to go with an MVP (Minimum Viable Product) approach to get this into production over a 6-week period between November and December, 2023.
Through rapid planning, advanced technical expertise and effective collaboration, Strategenics successfully designed and built the new service management portal and trained the payroll team how to use it. By taking the time to understand how the payroll team worked, what they wanted to keep doing and what they wanted to improve on, the project met the team’s objective of increased efficiency and visibility
This case study demonstrates the importance of discovery, collaboration with stakeholders and the benefits of an MVP approach.
Services provided
- Jira Service Management
Technology used
Solutions and products involved
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Jira Service Management
The challenge
Inbox overload!
The payroll team at the University encountered significant challenges in managing payroll requests including:
- disorganisation in the central inbox
- complexities from manual coordination with the Human Resources (HR) department using Excel spreadsheets
- additional layers introduced by external software solutions
- manual approval processes conducted via email, physical handling and tracked via post-it notes.
The overarching payroll workflow depended heavily on manual processes. This resulted in bottlenecks and frequent errors, particularly in the multi-step pre-payroll process involving Excel and manual approval.
These challenges gave rise to operational issues, including:
- work duplication among team members
- increased ICT workloads for onboarding teams onto multiple systems
- manual and repetitive relay of support updates to staff
- manual transfer of support issue information and product improvement requests into the development system.
These challenges caused problems such as:
- incomplete payments,
- hurdles during staff onboarding and offboarding
- difficulties in managing inquiries and expense claims.
The University recognised the urgency of addressing these issues and enhance operational efficiency. They identified the need for a streamlined, automated and error-resistant payroll process.
The solution
JSM to the rescue
The solution began by transitioning the payroll team from a manual inbox system to a customised self-service portal within Jira Service Management. We designed this portal to meet the unique requirements of the payroll team. This included simplifying processes through intuitive issue request types and workflows and implementing automation rules.
This portal allowed the payroll team to:
- boost workflow efficiency
- improve request triaging
- expedite issue resolution and keep employees informed in real-time with automated notifications.
The overarching objective of this comprehensive solution was to enhance efficiency, user experience and operational effectiveness within the payroll team.
The outcome
Out of the inbox, efficiency gained
We devised a strategic Atlassian-based solution to revamp the manual payroll system and tailored to address key challenges. This involved the configuration of Jira Service Management to suit the needs of the University payroll team.
We used a collaborative sprint-based approach to implement the solution, including design, configuration and training on how to use the portal.
Following the successful implementation, the payroll team immediately expressed satisfaction with the enhanced efficiency and user experience. This solution marked a significant step forward in enhancing operational effectiveness within the payroll department.
The delivery team at Strategenics were extremely supportive throughout the process. They listened to our needs and provided effective solutions to get us to where we wanted to be, all while being mindful of the deadlines and budget we had for the project. They were responsive to our needs and have set us up for success!
Yvette Maloney | Associate Director
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