Johns Hopkins is taking another step forward with Sightline, the multiyear effort to improve how services in human resources, finance, procurement, and sponsored projects support faculty and staff across the university.
Launched in 2023, Sightline was created to make everyday administrative work simpler, faster, and easier to navigate. Since that time, the initiative has expanded into three connected efforts, each focused on a different part of the administrative experience:
- Transitioning from the current SAP system to Workday, a modern, cloud-based business platform that will replace the current SAP system (planned for summer 2027)
- Introducing a new digital support tool, a single location where faculty and staff will request and receive routine administrative help (planned for fall 2026)
- A new way of organizing and delivering services in HR, finance, procurement, and sponsored projects (planned for fall 2026)
Together, these efforts will improve how administrative services support work across Johns Hopkins.
Connecting technology and how work gets done
Workday and the new digital support tool represent significant investments in modernized technology. As part of the Sightline strategy to improve the quality and consistency of administrative services for everyone at Johns Hopkins, the university is also making changes to how administrative work is organized and delivered.
The goal is straightforward: Make it easier to get support, reduce confusion, and allow faculty and staff to spend more time on teaching, research, and service.
Making administrative support easier to navigate
Today, administrative work in human resources, finance, procurement, and sponsored projects is handled differently across departments, divisions, and central offices. This can make it difficult to know where to turn for help or what to expect once a request is submitted.
The future state reflects ongoing input from faculty, staff, and divisional leaders:
- Each division will maintain a strong local administrative team led by the divisional business office, or DBO. These teams will focus on advising, planning, and relationship-driven work. DBOs, in close partnership with central functional leads, will oversee HR, finance, and sponsored project functions within their divisions, ensuring the new structure preserves local expertise and aligns with each division’s needs. Many divisions already work this way, and others have begun moving in this direction.
- New university-level HR and finance “solution teams” with staff dedicated to each division will handle day-to-day transactional activities, such as processing travel and expense reimbursements and updating employee records. Assisted by new and improved tools, these dedicated teams of experts are being designed to deliver faster turnaround times, increased consistency, and a more reliable service experience for these routine tasks.
The digital support tool will serve as the primary entry point for requesting administrative support and accessing resources, giving faculty and staff a clear place to go for help and visibility into the status of their requests. Using data gathered from this tool, the university will be able to identify opportunities to continue improving services over time.
Together, these changes aim to reduce administrative complexity while creating more capacity within divisions to focus on their mission-facing priorities.
This story was originally published in the Hub on March 16, 2026