Case Study
UNIVERSITY OF JOHANNESBURG (UJ)
University of Johannesburg Cuts Months Off Budgeting with IDU
ABOUT THE UNIVERSITY OF JOHANNESBURG
The University of Johannesburg (UJ) is a public university located in Johannesburg, South Africa. The University of Johannesburg came into existence on 1 January 2005 as the result of a merger between the Rand Afrikaans University (RAU), the Technikon Witwatersrand (TWR) and the Soweto and East Rand campuses of Vista University.
UJ has four campuses with more than 8000 permanent and temporary staff: the Auckland Park Kingsway, Auckland Park Bunting Road, Doornfontein and Soweto campuses – all located in the metropolitan area of the City of Johannesburg.
UJ is one of the largest universities in South Africa with a student population of over 50 000, of which more than 3000 are international students from 80 countries.
THE BUSINESS CHALLENGE
Following its formation in 2004/5, UJ inherited an estimated 4 000 cost centres, 690 of which are budget cost centres, each with its own individual budget. The processing of data for all of these separate cost centres within the nine faculties of the university on a quarterly basis was an onerous task. It entailed first manually collating the data onto individual Excel spreadsheets for each cost centre, uploading these into Oracle, and then compiling a budget summary for presentation to the university’s management.
“The process was extremely slow and timeconsuming, and we needed a solution desperately. Ideally we wanted a system that provided us with a complete database that we would be able to access at any time, and in a single report get a feel of how the budget was faring,” says Ronel Jansen van Vuuren, director of cash management and financial reporting at UJ.
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THE SOLUTION
In May 2008, the University of Johannesburg implemented IDU-Concept for financial budgeting and reporting, delivering noticeable efficiency gains after a three-week rollout. Its user-friendly interface allowed non-financial managers to participate in budgeting with real-time data at each step, helping meetings visualize spend factors and forecast accurately. The powerful drill-down reporting enabled managers to trace variances to specific cost centers, including payroll, improving transparency and control.
This transition, guided by IDU’s consulting team, delivered rapid adoption and ongoing HR budgeting enhancements. Daily updates and mobile access ensured cost centers could monitor spending any time, while the streamlined process freed finance staff to focus on strategic analysis rather than data gathering, underpinning more informed decision-making across the university.
A PARTNER IN SUCCESS
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"IDU’s consulting team identified requirements not previously catered for during the installation. Our development team then enhanced the system to provide the University of Johannesburg with worthwhile information for improving their HR budgets.” - Margie Whitten, Director, IDU
“The reporting capability is easily accessible and convenient – we update our actuals daily and cost centre managers are able to see their spending at any time.”
Ronel Jansen van Vuuren, Director of Cash Management & Financial Reporting, UJ
THE RESULT
Reduced budgeting cycle time from months to weeks; staff can devote more time to higher-value planning and analysis.
Real-time visibility into budget performance at cost-centre level; management can make informed decisions faster.
Streamlined data consolidation across all cost centres with centralized reporting; eliminates manual Excel uploads and reduces errors.
Enhanced HR budgeting and payroll insight through drill-down reporting; HR budgets are more accurately tracked with vacancies and postings clearly visible at the click of a button.
