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Committee on Process and Policy Review Recommendations on Physical Plant

May 21, 2010

Dear Faculty and Staff,

I know that all of you are being asked to continue moving this great institution forward at a time when our financial situation is challenging. To support your efforts, I would like to ensure that our administrative processes work as effectively as possible and provide maximum support to the faculty in their scholarly and instructional activities.  To this end, last summer, I appointed a Committee on Process and Policy Review (CPPR). The official charge to CPPR was, “to identify ways in which campus policies, procedures, or practices could be improved to enhance the level of support provided for the work of faculty.  CPPR should draw on appropriate campus offices and individuals for advice and input, both about those areas in which improvement is indicated and about specific ways in which that improvement can be achieved.  CPPR should focus on a manageable number of areas for improvement and on those areas in which improvement is possible without additional cost to the campus.”

The committee met several times last year and identified eight areas to receive initial attention:

1. The faculty search, hiring, and appointment process, with an eye toward eliminating duplication of effort and inconsistency, clarifying authority, and easing new faculty members’ transition to the campus
2. The assignment of staff position levels, in order to improve consistency and transparency and support the work of the employing departments
3. Selected Physical Plant functions, such as small projects, routine maintenance, keys, and the building coordinator system, in order to improve response time and communication
4. Classroom scheduling
5. Student academic forms, including advising and registration forms as well as grade change forms, to determine whether more could be done online and with fewer signatures
6. Payroll forms, including Continuing and Professional Education (CPE) instructor appointments, graduate assistantship forms, and personnel action forms, to eliminate unnecessary steps, replace paper forms with online submission, and allow for direct entry into the database by the hiring department
7. Telephone charges, to determine whether the rate structure is appropriate
8. Data storage and security protocols and infrastructure

CPPR formed subcommittees to address these areas for improvement, bringing in additional staff as needed. As each subcommittee completes its work, I will present their recommendations to you.

Today, I am very pleased to share the following recommendations from the subcommittee on Physical Plant.

Recommendations from CPPR Subcommittee on Physical Plant

Communication with Customers

1. Physical Plant will review its work order backlog to determine a procedure for how long a work request should stay on the list and how to communicate when a work order gets cancelled.
2. Institutional maintenance foremen from the Alterations department of Facilities Planning will meet with the customer at least once a week at the job site to give an update as a standard operating procedure.
3. Physical Plant will create, routinely update, and share a list of building coordinators by building with Facilities Planning.
4. Customer Service Representatives (Physical Plant) or Institutional Maintenance Foremen (Facilities Planning) will inform all building coordinators in the building where the work takes place when jobs are initiated and completed. 
5. Facilities Planning and Physical Plant Directors will schedule regular update meetings with Deans.
6. Facilities Planning and Physical Plant will schedule 1) a building coordinators meeting to share survey and custodial results and address issues of timeliness, cost and general customer concerns, and 2) semi-annual building coordinators meetings to monitor issues of timeliness, cost and general customer concerns.
7. Physical Plant and Facilities Planning will develop an email notification procedure to alert building occupants on potential impacts from project activity. Human Resources will assist in developing email lists by building.

Small projects (less than $100,000)

1. Facilities Planning and Physical Plant will develop a system where customers can track progress of work orders on-line.
2. Administration and Finance will provide support to Physical Plant to implement web-based communication and information.
3. Facilities Planning will review how it estimates projects and communicates to customers. The key problem identified is that customers of small projects often are unaware that they are receiving conservatively high estimates of project costs in order to provide a not to exceed estimate.
4. Facilities Planning will initiate a system to track the aging of work orders for small projects and a protocol to ensure completion in a timely manner.

Custodial services

1. Physical Plant will continue its custodial evaluation program to address custodial inconsistencies. 
2. Supervisors will be rotated across building zones.
3. Physical Plant will disseminate information on custodial standards through its web site.

Routine maintenance, including keys

1. Physical Plant will include Building Coordinators in their scheduled building inspections.
2. Physical Plant will assess a method to replace window air conditioning filters with minimal expense.
3. Physical Plant will restructure key shop hours and recommend to the Security Implementation Committee a process for getting keys and/or UCard access (including bulk access requests).

These recommendations have been endorsed by the full CPPR committee and accepted by the Executive Management Team for implementation. You may read the Physical Plant report in its entirety at www.umass.edu/chancellor/pdfs/ppor1209.pdf

I thank the Physical Plant subcommittee for its good work and look forward seeing these recommendations implemented.

Sincerely,

Robert C. Holub
Chancellor