To have pretty much automated 90% of my job and pretend I'm very busy?

[IroningBoardAgainstTheWall]

So, I run a database and predecessor didn't seem to actually understand databases and what they can do so was working 50+hrs and not achieving very much. We'll call him Phil.
I took over and was warned how much work Phil did, he was very busy and he was actually in a retainer in case I needed his help or had any queries over certain tasks. I work in education and there's weekly, half termly, termly and annual tasks, quite cyclic and not difficult.

Within a month I'd automated the daily, weekly and monthly reports, added more useful ones and sent them out. During my first academic year, I'd introduced new systems to automate tasks for others, developed new ways of capturing and reporting data, linked systems to the main MIS to automate account creation and syncing etc

So basically I have very little to do anymore. I do ask for stuff to do, but there's nothing much really. I look for stuff to do but again, there's not much.Occasionally I'll get feature requests or specific reports.

But honestly I do about 4-6 hours of work a week...max, and that includes stuff that isn't really my job, like fixing printers and laptops and stuff.

Should I confess?

Dear god no, don't say anything. Just keep your head down and enjoy it.

Op, can you see other places within the working environment where you can make changes? Preferably without getting anyone made redundant!

Maybe you could share this with our Data Manager, she seems clueless and there’s constant issues with the MIS and other systems. She’s part time, so if she’s not there, I end up picking up and stumbling through it, I’m not even IT trained.

You are still needed to manage the system, deal with bespoke requests and be generally helpful on the IT side, so you are very much doing a fulltime job, even if you are effectively on-call most of the time.

I don't completely understand though - you refer to Phil as a piss taker when at worst he sounds incompetent, whereas you actually are taking the mick a bit?

You may find you get the occasional surge of work when new government guidance comes out, provided of course that your employers read it.

Do you know enough about how other departments and tasks work to have a view of other pain points? Could you create your own job description? If so, you could sit down with your manager/someone you think will listen, explain the situation and point out other things you could be fixing/focusing on. Then you’d have more to do, but would have control over what you’re doing and by when.

Any company worth their salt would recognise the talent they have in front of them and give you the chance to solve more of their problems. You could also talk about what a reward/compensation package could look like, if you’re able to meet some additional targets.

Why not introduce them to using AI for lesson plans?

I just wanted to say how impressed I am with your skills!

Can you ask them to pay for you to upskill in related areas, particularly data science/ machine learning/ AI. From what you've said it sounds like what you're doing now is data analysis, is that right? But would it be useful for your employer if you could extend it to predict future student outcomes (such as drops in attainment or school refusal, or whatever is relevant - I'm not a domain expert here) using DS/ ML tools?

If so, would they pay for you to upskill in these areas? Then when you're ready you can jump ship to a much better paid job in DS/ML?

I suppose so.

I think it's more that he convinced them that he was very good at his job and couldn't do any more. He was unable to do anything more than basic stuff, but was getting paid as a skilled DBA.

It's documented in shared drives 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️

Oh forecasting grades/ failures would be interesting 👌👌

Yeah and read books and do crosswords and get paid for it

The problem is also the actual academic tracking manager is paid for the tracking. I've already automated a huge part of us in, freeing up perhaps 5-8 hrs a week on average for him to do more stuff. He was pulling late nights and stuff to get the reports done etc, because of the failings of predecessor. So I did the data collation, calculations and exports/report templates for him. So now at least he isn't spending evenings doing this work instead of seeing his family.

I am willing to help him use the data better, now that we're actually recording things properly and in the right place etc but It's a fine line between helping him and doing his job for him.

Don't say a fucking word OP, you have increased efficiency and productivity for your role and you should be paid for that. You've also asked if you can do extra work, so the offers there, and they haven't given you any.

Agree that you should request to work from home part time so that you can use your extra time productively for your own benefit. Either getting stuff done at the house, downtime or a hobby.

If they don't let you work from home and they make you come in could you do anything like request extra training or qualifications? My sister in law got her employer to sponsor her masters degree which she did part-time along side her job.

I'm not a teacher, so have no "authority" to tell them how to do their jobs better 😁😁😁

No but it seems obvious you have a lot more knowledge than they do and you do have the time. You could suggest you run some training sessions. I used to be a teacher and I put one of my learning objectives into AI and within a split second it gave me a fantastic Lesson plan.

I do, and I have helped finance, estates etc

Sometimes the problem is that people don't know what data/systems can do for them. So I show them. And that might lead to something.

Sometimes they don't really know what information they want. Like... They might ask how many boys eat bread every day at school. And I'll ask, well, does that include toast? And they do "oh, um, well I don't know" or I'll say ok, where do you record the bread consumption, and they'll say oh we just record "carbs". Which could include pasta and chips and rice...

Sometimes they just don't want to change and have a "well, I've always done it like this, and I'm fine" attitude (whilst bemoaning how busy they are) once created an automatic report for this particular colleague and a "proof of concept". But they didn't trust that it would add the numbers up correctly... So they would manually check every week anyway 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️

Please, please, please talk to other people in the school using databases and explain to them how to do their jobs efficiently. It pains me so much to see colleagues using databases in a way which must be inefficient if not incompetent as they just don't seem to be able to do anything other than manually and clearly that isn't the point of a database.
We have one person at work who I strongly suspect is in a similar position to you. My role involves me working with a number of different departments and I often take her along to seemingly random meetings as I know the question of data will come up and I want her to wave her magic wand and help that team realise that they can press a few buttons and most of it will sort itself out. This person and I have never had a direct conversation about whether she is underworked but she is always very happy to help and will continue to help for weeks. Her line manager occasionally splutters as she has such a complicated, time pressured job and is so busy but she tends to ignore him and come along to the things I've invited her to instead!

My first thoughts ...

Keep it a secret. Let everyone think you're working at the same level as he did to deliver, and be seen as essential and indispensable. 😈

Work from home as much as possible .. and use the won time to run your own business, with an eye on emails and Teams calls. 😈

Do a big reveal announcement and a presentation on your huge automation project and how much it benefits the organisation, and hoover up the congratulations 😁

Let everyone know now - you could save the organisation so much money and time, make it more efficient, lead the roll out over different departments and branches etc. 😇

Bearing in mind that could lead to redundancies and 'efficiencies', including possibly you. 🤔

Ah. HR is a prime example of this. They're 80% paper, 20% online. But they're so busy being ineffective and inefficient they haven't got the time to move to online 100%!! Nothing in my remit will make them change. I can't force them 😭 and because it's HR I can't touch the system it data 😭😭😭

Can I ask what training you have please? I would love to become proficient in data analysis!

Well done @IroningBoardAgainstTheWall what you've done is great!!

If someone like the previous person had been in the role, they'd still pay them for the job and it's likely noone knows the systems like you do, so keeping you there is good for them.

I do wonder if you could make more £ by going freelance and having more clients. But I wouldn't rush to change anything right now cos it sounds like it suits your needs.

Should you fess up - for what benefit? They get their reports, they're happy. You do additional stuff when asked/needs be. It all sounds fine to me. I'd definitely use learning and development to fill my time if I was you.

Happy days!!!