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NEW!

Business Officer Summit 2024

Join us for two days of insightful sessions, networking opportunities, and professional development exclusively for Business Officers looking to enhance their skills and knowledge in the field. Learn more…

 

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. 

Oracle Financials Cloud (OFC)

A primary focus of the Office of Financial Training will be on supporting the Financial Management Modernization Project to ensure that employees understand the new Common Chart of Accounts (CCOA) and can successfully navigate Oracle Financials Cloud, the new financial management system. 

These training sessions will begin rolling out about 6 months prior to going “live” with OFC.

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.