Manie Lombard, Chief Director Finance, writes: 

It was with immense gratitude and relief that I could write in our recent report to SU’s council that we have completed the formal implementation of SUNFin and ended the three-month-long hypercare period that followed. We have transferred all support operations to the various Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) in conjunction with the subdivision Financial Systems Support and Training. We’ve also established a Senate working group to help us address critical issues that arise as we continue our SUNFin journey. 

I am proud to say that the team has rolled out three quarterly updates until now without any downtime or interruption of the system – indeed, a remarkable achievement.  

Our focus now is to stabilise the SUNFin system and ensure that we provide efficient client service and support. The SUNFin service desk is fully operational and indicates that 92 percent of help tickets have been resolved. Since going live at the end of July last year, 4 188 tickets were logged. Our team is working hard to close the long, outstanding items. 

It has not been an easy ride, but I have confidence in the Finance team that we will achieve our goals for 2024. One of the lessons learned in 2023 was that we need to listen and find solutions for those unique problems that arise. We all know that there will be big and small mountains to climb along the way, and by listening and understanding our client’s needs, I believe 2024 will be a great year. 

Thank you to a highly devoted and dedicated team. I look forward to another year working side-by-side and finding new solutions and better ways of working together.