The R3 Project Working Groups: Who are they and what do they do?

Posted on Friday, August 12th, 2022

Interior image of ACCE building living green wall, elevators and stairs.

The R3 Project has established five main objectives that we refer to whenever we make a decision that has ultimate outcomes. We always make sure that at least one of these objectives is being met when we’re re-working an existing element or introducing a new Business Process.

But who is helping review the Business Processes to inform how we could meet our Project objectives, which include increasing employee productivity and student success?

The answer: Working Groups.

Through these Working Groups, the R3 Project is utilizing our college’s own staff members to review how we run our Business Processes. We’re also applying their experience, expertise and knowledge for feedback, input and decision-making processes when implementing the new Student Information System (SIS), Thesis Student Management (Thesis SM).

What do Working Groups do?

The main goal is to review our Business Processes and use the new SIS implementation as an opportunity to review whether there are ways to change how we do things for the better. We do this by reviewing our Current State Business Processes, seeing how Thesis can make any improvements to those Business Processes, and proposing a Draft Business Process for the College to consider for the Future State.

To help with this process, we ask ourselves the following questions: What are we doing now? What’s the potential for the future? What’s going well? What can we improve on?

Who are the Working Groups?

With Working Groups, we make sure to leverage in-house expertise and that there’s collaboration at all levels of the College. We’ve got Business Systems Analysts, Business Analysts, Subject Matter Experts (SMEs), various members of the R3 team, representatives from Thesis, and others. Working Groups are also an extension of the Implementation Committee—a group made up of a range of Algonquin College employees. All these key players communicate with one another to collaborate and generate conversations about what the future could look like for AC employees and learners once the new SIS is implemented.

We currently have six Working Groups (as of August 2022):

  • Admissions Data Migration Working Group
  • Curriculum Data Migration Working Group
  • Flex-Field Progress and Approval Workflow Review
  • Loading and Scheduling Working Group
  • SWF Working Group
  • Transcript Working Group

Working Groups are created based on what we already know about the new SIS, including existing modules we’ll eventually be using. However, they’re also created based on the current Business Processes we do on the daily, weekly, monthly, annually and so on—for instance, scheduling and SWF processes. Since we’re discovering new things as the Project progresses, Working Groups are also subject to change based on our needs.

The flexible and organic nature of these Working Groups helps us better understand what we need, and when we need it, when it comes to the main objectives of the R3 Project.

You can find out who is involved in each Working Group.

Working Groups and Business Processes

Working Groups play a very crucial role when it comes to reviewing Business Processes because they’re the ones who determine new Business Process Drafts. Here are some of the things that Working Groups do:

  • Work very closely and collaboratively with Thesis to find solutions to Algonquin College’s needs.
  • Discuss the Current State of the Business Processes and what needs to be implemented for the Future State.
  • Develop a Future Business Process Draft that adheres to the five main objectives.

Once a Business Process Draft has been created, it then gets presented to the Implementation Committee for consideration or set up for a Business Process Walkthrough (which is to present the drafted concept to the College community).

As we progress through the Design and Develop (Personalize) phase of the R3 Project, you’ll start to hear more about the outcomes that derive from our Working Groups. You can see the upcoming changes that are scheduled to occur once our SIS goes live.

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If you’re wondering where you can find more information about the Project, then the R3 Project FAQ and Glossary sections are great resources!

Additionally, don’t miss our next R3 Showcase Event to receive important updates and learn more about the R3 Project. We’ll also be happy to answer any questions that you might have.

The next R3 Showcase is set for Thursday, Sept. 29 at 10 a.m.


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