UT Austin’s core financial system runs on aging mainframe technology, and finance processes, roles, and tools have evolved independently across colleges, schools, and units over many years. That fragmentation limits trust in the University’s financial data, creates manual workarounds, and makes it harder to get timely, reliable information for decisions. Finance Modernization brings this work together into a coordinated effort to modernize financial operations across people, process, and technology, with consistent practices and modern tools so that finance can be a stronger partner to the University’s mission.

Cloud ERP Technology has matured significantly since the University’s last effort, offering proven options that weren’t available before. Just as important, staff and leaders across campus have expressed a real willingness to change, and this effort is designed to harness that momentum. This project is built around clear governance and a deliberate, phased approach, with an executive sponsor, a steering committee made up of University finance leadership, a dedicated project management function, and a design process that gathers input from finance staff and end users before decisions are made. That input is being collected directly through the Finance Pulse Survey and the Activity Analysis survey now going out to finance staff and leaders across the University, so the future design reflects the work that actually gets done today. One of the project’s guiding principles is to make key decisions with the right people at a sensible pace, so the timeline is driven by getting it right rather than by an arbitrary deadline.

Finance Modernization introduces a consistent, standardized, University-wide application of transactions, reporting, policies, practices, and tools within accounting, finance, business, and procurement. It covers all colleges, schools, and units at UT Austin while preserving essential unit-level partnerships. The work spans the future-state operating model, the redesign of processes and policies (including the chart of accounts, budgeting and forecasting, and reporting strategy), and the technology that supports it.

There is nothing you need to do differently right now. As the project moves forward, some staff and leaders will be invited to take part in surveys and working groups that help shape the future design, so please watch for those invitations and respond. Otherwise, keep using current systems and processes until you hear otherwise.

No layoffs are planned as a result of this project. Some roles and reporting relationships may change over time as the University standardizes how finance work gets done, but the intent is to reduce administrative burden, not to reduce staff.

Yes. Stronger career growth is one of the goals of this effort. Today, inconsistent roles and titles across units can limit advancement and create internal competition for talent. A more consistent finance structure is intended to open clearer career paths, more room to build deep expertise, opportunities for cross-training, and greater visibility across the wider finance community.

In the near term, the Finance Pulse Survey and the Activity Analysis survey are a primary way to share input that will directly shape the future design, so please watch for these and take part. You may also email us at finance.modernization@austin.utexas.edu.

Yes. Beyond the surveys, stakeholders will be invited into working sessions, design workshops, and listening sessions as the future model and processes take shape. If you are not part of the initial survey groups, there will still be plenty of chances to contribute, since additional feedback opportunities and working groups will be formed throughout the life of the project. Watch for invitations and encourage your teams to take part, because input from the people doing the work makes the design better.

Updates will be shared at key milestones through official University channels.