Campus strives for ‘continuous improvement’ in operating efficiently
By Sharita Forrest, Assistant Editor 217-244-1072; slforres@illinois.edu
Policies and procedures in the areas of budgeting, human resources, management reporting, promotion and tenure, and travel expenses and reimbursement were identified as needing overhauls in a recent survey of deans, directors and department heads on the Urbana campus. The online survey, conducted Nov. 28-Jan. 2, was part of President B. Joseph White’s “Improving the System” initiative, which began in July. “The goal of the initiative is to continuously evaluate how we can operate more effectively,” said Stig Lanesskog, assistant provost for strategic planning and assessment. “That can take many different forms, so it’s really an overall efficiency and effectiveness initiative. It’s not just about dollars and cents.” More than 50 of the 500 people invited to participate in the survey responded and offered more than 150 comments and suggestions, which were summarized in a report to White on Feb. 5. Staff members responsible for areas of focus identified in the survey were consulted to discuss the viability of the recommendations made and initiatives already under way to address problems, and to develop strategies for addressing problematic policies and procedures. A Budget Advisory Group, formed by Provost Linda Katehi, and two subcommittees of that group, are working with the Council of Deans and key stakeholders to reform the campus budget model. The State Funds and Tuition Revenue Distribution Subcommittee is evaluating and refining the state funding and tuition allocation processes, and the ICR Distribution Subcommittee is evaluating processes for allocating indirect costs to campus units. Efforts are under way to clarify the processes for allocating state funds and indirect costs, and to correlate funding for unavoidable costs/shared services, such as utilities and information technology costs, to units’ growth. A new budget model will be implemented and will run parallel with the existing system through Fiscal Year 2009, when it will be finalized. Several human resource functions have been identified as problematic as well. Survey respondents indicated that hiring processes for Civil Service and academic professional positions as well as Civil Service termination procedures are inflexible, time consuming and impractical; and that time and resources are not used optimally in some search procedures. Respondents also wanted better training for new personnel, especially in central administration, to ensure policies are interpreted and applied consistently, and to protect against the loss of institutional knowledge when employees leave. Many of the HR processes – such as hiring, termination and rewards – are governed by state statutes and/or organized labor agreements, so modifying those processes/policies in the short term may be a challenge. But all of the state universities in Illinois have expressed interest in revamping the Civil Service system, so broader reforms may be on the horizon, the report said. HR staff at the three UI campuses are partnering with the Civil Service system to improve and simplify recruiting processes and problematic policies. Additionally, Urbana HR staff members are working with the Office of Equal Opportunity and Access to revamp hiring processes, and with the academic deans and their staff members to streamline HR processes in general. A new Web application, to be released in October, will make it easier for employees to conduct online HR transactions. Additionally, the Promotion and Tenure Reform Committee is assessing promotion and tenure processes, and expects to complete its work by the end of the 2006-2007 Academic Year. Management reporting was another area identified by administrators as needing reform. Specific suggestions included expediting and consolidating management reporting tools and processes, protecting data integrity and security, and expanding the hours that the Enterprise Data Warehouse is available for downloading information. A need also was identified for developing reports to keep researchers apprised of their grant expenditures. The Academic Caucus has developed an outline of a status report tailored to the needs of researchers on grant-funded projects that may be of significant value to stakeholders. With regard to travel and expense reimbursement, respondents suggested enabling employees to use P-cards for hotels, streamlining the processes for paying international partners, and re-evaluating the thresholds for allowable reimbursable expenses. Because of the large volume of travel and expense reimbursement transactions, many of which are governed by Internal Revenue System regulations, the report suggested that campus administration review practices on an ongoing basis. “We were pleased with the responses, the comments, the productive feedback, and the range of items that were identified” in the survey, Lanesskog said. “It was helpful as a starting point for this process. We can now focus on a few key areas, some of which are within our campus’s control. Others will require a partnership with other organizations and entities. Those are going to be harder, and take longer, if we want to impact change.”
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