Cutover

You won’t be able to raise any new purchase orders or requisitions from 19 October to 15 November 2026. Therefore, start to consider: 

• Do you have any good or services that need renewing at this time which could be completed prior to the freeze?
• Are there any goods or services that may be needed unexpectedly during this period that could be covered by a blanket Purchase Order? 

We are working with Finance to agree any mitigations that will be needed during this period.

You will still be able to use Talentlink during cutover to continue with recruitment activities, such as shortlisting and scheduling interviews. However, you will not be able to create a new person record between 12 October and 6 November for new hires or casual workers. Therefore, start to consider:

•  Any upcoming recruitment activity. Ensure any new person records have been created prior to 12 October to allow onboarding to continue during the freeze period.

We are working with the People team to review the transition from Talentlink to the new system and to map our interim recruitment and casual workers process. 

You will still be able to use Banner during cutover. However, the integration will freeze from 31 October for two weeks. This means it will not be possible to create any new student or sponsor records during this time. Therefore, start to consider:

• What this means for your team and plan ahead for activity that can be brought forward.    

We know it is critical to minimise any disruption to student deposit and tuition fee processes. This is a priority area for mapping interim processes which will be shared soon. 

You won’t be able to create any new suppliers or commercial customers from 12 October to 6 November. Supplier payments will continue up until 31 October and will then freeze for two weeks.  Therefore, start to consider:

• If you have any suppliers due to be paid during that period and any risks. 

We are working with Finance to consider how we communicate with suppliers at a university level, but you may also want to think about which of your critical suppliers you wish to contact.

We know in October there are a number of bursary payment runs to support student onboarding. The programme team have worked with Payroll to ensure there is minimal impact on these payments. 

The cutover period will require a change in timing and frequency of bursary runs in Autumn 2026:

​September 2026:

• No change - there will be two payment runs as usual that will clear on 7 and 21 of the month

October 2026:

• No change – there will still be the usual four payment runs in October to support timely payments to newly enrolled students. Payments will clear to students on 7, 14, 21, and 28 October.​

November 2026:

• One payment run based on submissions by 20 October.  ​
  - There is no system available to perform the November main run in the normal timeframe.​
  - The November run will be generated in ICIS prior to the final closedown of the system and costed in October.​
  - Payment will be made on 6 November, the normal payment date​.
  - This run will include all recurring bursary payments due in November that were submitted by 20 October. This deadline is three days earlier than usual.
  - There will be no additional run in November​.​

December 2026:

• Two payment runs using the new and improved bursary process in Atlas.

Find out more about bursary processing and payment during cutover

Expenses cannot be input or paid during the freeze. Any expenses incurred during the cutover period will need to be held and submitted through the refreshed process in Atlas once it is live.

Egencia, the travel booking system, feeds data into ICIS and we are working through how travel booking, amendments, and changes will work during the freeze, including for staff already abroad. Further guidance on this will be published ahead of cutover. In the meantime, start to consider:

• If any dates you need to travel for research, fieldwork, or a conference fall within the cutover window
• Plan ahead and ensure you understand what you will and won't be able to do in the system during this time

If you have a specific scenario that concerns you, please raise it with your Finance contact as early as possible.

Worktribe, which is used for grant applications and award management, is not part of the system freeze and will remain available throughout cutover. However, Worktribe does receive salary data from ICIS for grant costings and this connection will be affected during the freeze.

We understand the research community have concerns about this area. It is one of the most complex parts of cutover. We will be working through the specifics of this in the coming weeks and will share more information as soon as we have it.