Commercial Applications

The Finance Systems team, part of Commercial Applications, is responsible for developing and maintaining the University’s finance systems. This includes managing data exchanges with other systems.

The core finance system is Unit4, which supports a wide range of functions such as income management, purchasing, supplier payments, staff expenses, budget control, and research funding. Unit4 integrates with several other key systems, including:

• ESIS – this is managed by Systems Development team and is for student invoicing
• Proactis – this is managed by the Payments team and is for marketplace purchasing, invoice capture, and contract management
• Lloyds – this is managed by the Payments team and for banking and credit card services
• iTrent – this is managed by the Commercial Applications team and is for payroll processing and user data management
• Planet FM – this is managed by Estates and is for handling work orders
• Web Shop and Web Payments – this is managed by the Income and Web Development teams and is for managing income from online sales and payments

The Commercial Applications Systems team supports the administration of multiple systems that underpin various operational processes, which in turn facilitates and enables learning, teaching and research. Ensuring availability, integrity, and security of the University’s information assets is vital to the smooth running of these systems and services.

We are a small, dedicated team, working closely with colleagues in People & Culture, Academic Section and Digital Innovation and Technology Services, while supporting up to 20,000 end users at the University and Student's Union.

Currently responsible for:

• iTrent
• HR Organiser
• People Manager
• Web Recruitment system
• Business Objects
• LEAP 
• OnBase
• External Examiner Nomination Portal
• Qualtrics
• TDS - Attendance Card Swipes 
• Staff Desk Booking System (LibCal)
• Raiser's Edge

The Customer Relationship Management (CRM) team manages the customisation and development of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Online.

Dynamics 365 is primarily used to manage the marketing campaigns to prospective students, turning a prospective enquiry into an application for study, through to successful registration on that course. Dynamics 365 is used for query management by the Student Services Hub teams, recording any communication and contact with a student.

The CRM team assists with support and training to users so they can use Dynamics 365 successfully. We also make customisations to the system, providing the end user with the correct data screens, workflows, automations and collaborative working to achieve CRM, all within the guidelines of GDPR. We also create data integrations to ensure Dynamics provides up-to-date and accurate information.