The university's administration is gradually being converted to digital processes. Vice President Jörg Stahlmann and Sabine Lohwasser, Coordinator for Digital Change in Administration, report on the current status and the challenges of the switchover.
Mr Stahlmann, Ms Lohwasser, how much paper do you still need in your day-to-day work?
Stahlmann: It's a good thing we're not doing this interview in my office, where the paper is piling up (laughs).
Lohwasser: I'm almost exclusively digital now. The only things I still print out are longer publications or concepts.
How does that look for the university as a whole? How far has the digitalisation of administration progressed?
Stahlmann: The process is picking up speed. The issue of paper plays a key role in one of the central projects we are currently tackling: digital document management is currently being trialled in the 'Digital Personnel File' pilot project. Files are being converted into digital documents and processes are being reorganised.
Digitisation means more than just PDF documents that can be filled out online. Are we as a university prepared for this?
Stahlmann: We are. However, successful digitalisation requires lead time, clear structures and priorities. In the central administration and Divisions, for example, we initially focused on mapping analogue processes digitally. We have also established an efficient project management tool known as the "project portfolio board", which allows us to prioritise projects with a view to strategic goals, deploy resources in a targeted manner and identify conflicts between projects at an early stage. We have also created Sabine Lohwasser as 'Digital Transformation Officer', a position that brings together all the threads of digitalisation in the administration.
Digitalisation eliminates sources of error and avoids redundancies.
Lohwasser: For us, it is important that digitalisation is not an end in itself, but that we want to make the administration fit for the future. Ultimately, this involves a transformation - and that is also the name of my new area of responsibility. This is based on the question of what is needed for a modern administration. Many people want a digital workflow. At the same time, this changeover entails many other changes. We need to look at this: How do we take people with us, how do we preserve existing knowledge? If a long-established process suddenly runs differently than before, then employees must be prepared to accept this and change the way they work. The scientific sector also has to adapt to new processes.
Stahlmann: This change process takes place on many levels. A digital workflow can also be more rigid, for example, if handwritten changes can no longer be made to a proposal or signing cannot be delegated via the short official channels. And sometimes it also turns out that processes in real life are different from what a guideline originally envisaged. This means we also have to review regulations.
What specific digitalisation projects are currently underway at the university?
Stahlmann: We are currently rolling out web-based software for carrying out appointment procedures. From 1 October, applications for professorships in all Schools will be processed via a digital appointment portal. The entire process will then run digitally, from the invitation to the appointment of the appointment committee to the creation of an overview of the most important applicant data.
Lohwasser: In the next step, we will then introduce a digital application portal for all positions beyond professorships. Both of these measures are also part of the university's digitalisation strategy.
And what's next for digital document management?
Stahlmann: The next steps here are the digital examination file, the digital student file and the digital third-party funding file. Ultimately, we will convert the entire file system to digital systems where it makes sense to do so. One project that has been running for some time is electronic invoice processing. The new system makes it possible to process electronic-digital invoices in the legally prescribed format, so-called X-invoices. The by-product is that invoices that reach the university by email or paper invoices that are scanned in will also be automatically recognised, pre-checked and assigned to an account in future.
What other benefits do you expect for employees?
Lohwasser: Digital processes make work easier for everyone. For example, if forms no longer have to be typed out, sources of error are eliminated and redundancies are avoided.
The backbone of the digitalisation offensive is that people go along with it.
Stahlmann: Digitalisation also makes it possible to work from any location, for example. In future, it will also be possible to access digital files from home. Processes can also be organised much faster if paper mail is no longer needed. The moment I press 'Send', my data is already at the next location for processing. There is also greater transparency: I can see the current status of my authorisation. Ticket systems make it possible to forward faults to the right places. This also results in a different way of working together than in the analogue world.
The state is funding the digitalisation of university administrations in the Hochschule.digital Niedersachsen initiative with a total of 18 million euros. What is it all about?
Stahlmann: The state's idea is to launch a cross-university network. Digitisation should be thought of in a much more cooperative way. This approach allows synergies to be realised - not every location has to reinvent the wheel. The universities can support each other and implement good ideas together. As the University of Oldenburg, we are self-confident and say: we are a location that can support others with good quality.
Lohwasser: Within the project, we have taken on the leadership of the Centre of Excellence 'Personnel Development and Change Management', or PE-Change for short. The aim is to enable employees at our university and other universities to participate in and help shape change. Corresponding programmes are in preparation. We are working closely with HüW Niedersachsen, the inter-university further education programme.
Stahlmann: For me, this is the backbone of the digitalisation offensive - we have to ensure that organisations and people go along with it. As a university, we are also involved in other competence centres due to identical software selection, such as the document management centre in Braunschweig and the campus management centre in Osnabrück. The upcoming SAP changeover will also be carried out jointly.
What is your vision of e-administration? And how far is there still to go?
Stahlmann: We still have some way to go. We have laid a good foundation and initiated other important projects. If we think four or five years ahead, we will have gone beyond the digital PDF and digitised many processes and the university's most important files. Many things will really work at the touch of a button and we will have achieved the digital change.
Lohwasser: I hope that this will increase job satisfaction and reduce the workload. Even employees who were sceptical about the change will hopefully say: digitalisation makes my job easier.
Stahlmann: And my desk will also be paperless, I promise!
Interview: Ute Kehse
