"I know that together we can make it"

With such a great challenge ahead, could you indicate the challenges you have to face as a person managing the administration?

The biggest challenge we face is a change in the system, which is the change in the way documents circulate. To make everything work precisely, we must identify the points of reception and registration of electronic correspondence, i.e., secretarial offices. Good organization of the office for incoming and outgoing correspondence will have a positive impact on the external environment of the WUT. Another important, or even one of the greater challenges, is to encourage the employees to introduce changes.

Are the units prepared to introduce this change (structurally and technologically)?

WUT’s Centre for Information Technology has identified the technological equipment needs. Now, we are working on meeting these needs and removing the defects. At the same time, we inform the employees during the individual stages of our work so that everyone is aware of the approaching change in the work system. We plan to organize a series of training sessions, which has been already mentioned by Gabriel Matus, head of the EDMS project.

How are the employees who will be most affected by the change, for example, internal mail, going to be supported?

Every employee may expect two kinds of support at every implementation stage and later during utilizing the system: the CI team will support them in dealing with IT issues and the Project Team and Steering Committee, among others, will provide substantive support, and eventually they will be supported by persons trained by the Competence Centre (WSE is our Competence Centre, which helps WUT with implementing an EDMS and trains employees how to use an EDMS. – editor’s note). I know that some people might dread making the processes electronic. And they shouldn’t. After initial calculations made with the participation of the section of Internal Mail, it turned out that we are rather slightly understaffed than overstaffed in this area. Obviously, I mean a situation when we fully implement an EDMS.

Modernization costs. Will an EDMS implementation be beneficial to us?

In the long run – yes. At present, we must incur costs to gain later. Last year was a good example.  The pandemic exposed certain deficits of systems, skills, and resources, which luckily for us we identified over the previous year and made up for most of them. We managed to equip a large chunk of our staff with modern computer equipment with an increased financial effort, and now, in times of an EDMS implementation, this will result in a lower financial contribution.  The anticipated consequence of an EDMS implementation will be lower paper and toner consumption, and lower maintenance costs, for example.  

What’s your advice for employees who are afraid of an EDMS implementation? Do you have a word of reassurance for them? 

I think the best answer is a proverb: ‘It’s not as black as it’s painted.’ I know that together we can make it.