Vol. 38, No. 18

2-20-2008
By: Jeff McCallister

Task force sets out to cut through university red tape

Anyone who has been with the university long enough has seen streamlining plans come and go, with varying degrees of success.

But Joan Hebers knows they can do what they’re designed to do — that is, make life easier on university employees while still maintaining the control structures needed to stay accountable.

Hebers, dean of the College of Biological Sciences, turns in requests for reimbursement a couple of times every month. “It used to be, turn in the paperwork, wait a couple of weeks, call the office, make them go hunt down the paperwork, then wait another week to get a check, then drive to the bank to deposit it.

“Now, you turn in a form, and the money goes right to your account. It makes a big difference and saves loads of time.”

It’s successes like direct deposit of reimbursements that give Leslie Flesch hope. Flesch, assistant vice president for Resource Management Systems, heads up a task force as part of the Office of Business and Finance’s Streamlining and Simplification Initiative.

And she’s convinced that her task force is part of a perfect storm that will indeed cut away some of the bureaucratic layers involved in everyday life working for the nation’s largest university.

“We’re in a unique position right at this point in time where the stars seem to be aligning with us to make this happen,” Flesch said.

Those stars, she said, begin with the overall environment since the Enron scandal, which spurred a set of restrictive controls and made people more aware of the need for positive, reasonable change in accountability structures. “Now the pendulum is swinging back the other way toward more of a middle ground, but we still have to be mindful of our responsibility to be accountable,” Flesch said.

Beyond that, the university received an external consultant’s report on its operational structures from Pricewaterhouse Coopers that only reinforced the notion that some changes are needed.

It called for a higher degree of standardization, more formalized policies and improved training.

And since President Gordon Gee listed simplifying systems and structures as one of his six strategic goals, it has become even more of a priority.

Finally, the streamlining procedures can take advantage of new financials and human resources systems and the unveiling of the new Student Information System scheduled later this year. The systems provide electronic tools the initiative can make use of.

Flesch and her small task force consisting of four faculty members and two college senior fiscal officers have begun with a focus on travel and procurement procedures. They are currently interviewing faculty and staff to compile a “Top Five” list of the most cumbersome processes that can be addressed.

Flesch hopes to have an interim report ready by April and a full presentation of the task force’s findings and recommendations by June, then will move on to a different set of procedures to examine.

The initiative also has begun a pilot program that uses a shared services model at the college or vice presidential unit level (instead of decentralized processes within each individual department) that will then interact with Central Purchasing.

The offices of Business and Finance, Academic Affairs, Research and Student Affairs and the College of Engineering will be involved in the pilot program.

“We’re not going in so naïve as to think this will be an easy process,” Flesch said. “But wwe have seen some very positive steps, and we are in a position to make a difference.”

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