Our Mission
To empower UC Santa Barbara employees with the knowledge and resources to effectively understand the policies, procedures, and systems needed to successfully perform their job responsibilities.
Our Vision
To enhance the UCSB campus community by providing centralized financial training resources that are clear, consistent, convenient, and comprehensive.
Guiding Principles
Offer a Variety of Training Options
Meet the needs of employees in a variety of settings and with a variety of training modalities to offer “just-in-time” learning when it’s most needed.
Focus on the Complete Picture
Training will be comprehensive and enable employees to understand end-to-end business processes by focusing on 3 key areas: policies, business processes and best practices, and the financial systems themselves.
Learn by Doing
Offer scenario-based and hands-on training using test environments (a.k.a. “sandboxes”) to offer a risk-free “sandbox” where employees can practice without impacting real financial data.
Build Communities of Practice
Create opportunities to connect employees for sharing best practices, addressing challenges, and providing peer-to-peer support.
Dedicate Training Resources
Develop a dedicated team to provide ongoing training development and support across all campus financial systems and roles.
Centralize Knowledge
Embody a “one-stop-shop” approach to knowledge management with a centralized, up to date, and easy-to-search repository of training resources.
Areas of Training
Core Financial Principles
Designed to support a standardized baseline of financial knowledge and skills, Core Financial Principles will be divided into two “tracks”:
Finance 101: Areas of focus include Chart of Accounts, Fund Accounting, Ethics, Internal Controls, Stewardship, Purchasing, and Travel & Entertainment.
Finance 201: Areas of focus include Budgeting, Staffing, Risk Assessment, Data Warehouse, and Recharges.
Financial Systems and Processes
A primary focus of the Office of Financial Training is supporting the Financial Management Modernization Project and the various new systems with robust training for employees. Our goal is to help employees understand the Common Chart of Accounts (CCOA), successfully navigate Oracle Financials Cloud, and learn the new financial reporting tools.
Business Processes & Policies
Equally important to knowing how to complete a task within a financial system is understanding the impact employee actions have on the larger financial picture at UCSB. To help employees better understand the “How” and “Why” behind what we do from a financial perspective, we offer standalone training on policies and procedures, as well as continually incorporate policy information into other training whenever relevant.