04 December 2023 - CISG-PCMG23 Reflections - Michelle Boyle
I welcomed the opportunity to attend my first CISG-PCMG23 conference as part of the plus one scheme after being nominated by my line manager. I have been in my role as Head of ERP at Birkbeck, University of London for over three years now but I have worked within CIS at Birkbeck for 25 years. My role centres around the management of our ERP system which is Unit4 ERP, it is an interesting time for Universities working with Unit4 ERP for many reasons and I was looking forward to meeting contacts at other institutions facing similar challenges.
When I arrived and settled in, the Network and orientation session provided really useful information for getting an idea of what lay ahead. It was a good ice breaker to get talking to the other delegates at my table who I frequently bumped into again and again over the next couple of days and caught up with over lunch or refreshments. At the registration I was provided with my Exhibitor bingo card which again is a great ice breaker to get chatting to the many exhibitors at the conference. Our Unit4 account manager was on their stand and this provided our first face to face meeting and a good catch up opportunity. We are interested in looking at automated testing scripts so I quickly sought out Infuse and Prolific Testing, I now have contact details and will set up a meeting in the new year.
The theme of the conference was Out with the Old and in with the new - this was reflected though many of the sessions, as well as looking at the principles of Change management there were sessions on AI & Automation.
Jennifer Robertson's From Idea to Impact followed the University of Glasgow's journey implementing the project of automating the task of extension requests. The presentation focused on the importance of the user experience, putting users at the heart of the project as a major benefit of this project was to ease the workload of administrative staff. Jennifer's presentation featured video clips from the users themselves speaking about their journey through the project implementation, guiding us from their initial hesitations right through to the positive impact the project had on their workload after its successful completion.
Another session which particularly interested me was part of the University showcases, Mike Whyment's Money doesn't Matter. I spent a lot of my career producing Financial Management reporting and it was interesting to see a new approach to financial management which allowed the University of Aberdeen to deliver a transparent overview of Digital spend across the organisation.
The social side of the conference was fun as well as providing further opportunities for networking. I bumped into someone I had not seen for around eight years who had provided support for our previous HR/Payroll system and is now COO at Namos. It was great to see him and we spent time reminiscing about our past colleagues. I attended my first Murder Mystery dinner which was great fun and another great way to get talking to other delegates, an added bonus was that my table were the winners, although I don't think my detective skills had anything to do with the outcome!
I would thoroughly recommend attending the conference to all CIS colleagues, it provides a chance to take a break from the office and listen to many interesting and inspirational sessions. I definitely returned to the office with a lot to think about and new ideas.
