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BUSINESS PROCESS
DESIGN |
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Academic
institutions, like every for profit or non-profit
enterprise, have a collection of business or operational
processes. These processes, or groups of interrelated
activities, are established to enable the enterprise
to produce a defined output for a particular “customer”,
be it internal (students, staff, faculty, administrators)
or external (parents, research partners, regulatory
agencies). Examples include payroll processing,
supplies and material procurement, human resources
administration, grant applications, faculty reviews,
and course scheduling to name just a few.
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With
the economic and regulatory challenges facing most
campuses, leaders everywhere are looking for ways
to improve the cost, timeliness, accuracy, and end-user
satisfaction of their most critical processes. Increasingly,
they are turning to information technology solutions
as a way to improve financial and operational performance.
Yet applying new technology to existing and frequently
inefficient business processes oftentimes leads
to disappointment. If the process is not right from
the beginning, then the people and technologies
involved in the change – perhaps even the organization
itself – risk failure. We view Process Design as
primarily a Business activity. We believe redesigning
a business process should be driven by an enterprise
or unit strategy with specific objectives for improving
performance measures (e.g., cost reduction, time
reduction, output quality improvement).
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When organizational objectives are established,
the critical processes impacting business vision
can then be identified. In an effort to provide
a baseline for measuring improvement and to avoid
repeating past mistakes, we then seek to fully understand
existing processes. This includes identifying types
and sources of inputs, managerial and operational
activities, process owners, outputs and how they
are used, and performance measurement tools and
comparisons. Then we identify IT levers for improving
capabilities and influencing process design.
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Finally, we design, build,
prototype, iterate, and implement new processes.
We reach across the entire campus, whether at
an organizational or unit level, looking for opportunities
to coordinate decentralized functions, introduce
or further leverage existing technology investments
to improve processes, and identify opportunities
to gain economies of scale. With the goal of cost-effectively
renewing and enhancing core campus services, we
help our clients:
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strategic and operational management
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Restructure
overall business processes |
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Introduce
updated technologies to automate manual and
paper-intensive procedures |
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Sample
Client Initiatives:
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We conducted
a strategic and operational assessment for
a division of over 750 FTE focused on the
academic enterprise in the leadership office
for a large university system. Activities
resulting from the findings and recommendations
address realigning the division into a more
focused set of cohesive units and evaluating
all mission-critical roles and responsibilities
to enhance the value of the functions and
services the division provides. |
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We helped one
client restructure campus business services,
including staff human resources, timecard
processing, and core financial transactions,
to create standard practices, improve service
levels, better manage and reduce costs, and
streamline paper and labor intensive processes.
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We helped one
client reduce costs of goods and services
by adopting changes in procurement policies,
procedures, practices, and technology. |
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