BUworks—We Are Listening
Every other year, the BU community is surveyed on IT services, and for several years, some of the most common complaints from University faculty and staff concerned BUworks’ system speed and overall user experience. We listened and have upgraded user experience (“UX” in IT parlance) and system and database infrastructure to greatly improve BUworks and services.
The “Spinning Wheel of Death”—Performance from BUworks
Last year the BUworks team, along with many of our IS&T peers, key clients, and stakeholders, undertook a large-scale effort to improve our SAP environments, including new equipment and a new type of database. We did this while enhancing our disaster resiliency, our capabilities to support new projects, and our system-wide capacity for testing—all at reduced annual costs! What does this mean for you? The new architecture allows quicker retrieval of data, which means less time watching the “spinning wheel of death” and more time completing items on your list. These enhancements also mean better options for how we can improve your experience with BUworks and MyBUworks.
User-Centered Design, Design Thinking, and MyBUworks
Have you tried MyBUworks (bu.edu/mybuworks)? This streamlined user interface is available across many commonly used BUworks functions. You can review your paycheck, request time off, approve time off, quickly get to Concur expense reporting, or approve a shopping cart—all from MyBUworks. MyBUworks is also mobile-friendly, so you can access the site securely from your mobile device or tablet, allowing you to work from your office or on the go with ease.
Last year, we also rolled out new functionality based on your input to support needed changes to the Boston University retirement plan. Sessions were conducted with clients from all over campus with the specific goal of rolling out functionality from BUworks to present SAP in a more intuitive and visually pleasing format. We hope you liked it!