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Over the course of this academic year, I have periodically updated the campus on the status of our campus-wide restructuring effort, Striving for Excellence (SFE), published Sept. 12 in the Campus Chronicle. As you may recall, SFE is the campus workplan, which outlines the steps for process redesign and restructuring, with the goals of enhancing the quality of services and achieving cost savings. The following is an update on the current accomplishments of the campus toward achieving these goals.
Under the framework of SFE, the Campus Committee for Organizational Restructuring (CCOR), chaired by Deputy Chancellor Williams, is responsible for identifying and recommending academic support processes which would most benefit from review, assessment and possible redesign. After much work, CCOR has submitted a report to the Chancellor's Executive Advisory Council (CEAC) recommending nine such processes. The nine processes reflect a considerable amount of thought and analysis on the part of CCOR. The processes were considered in light of and span a wide range of constituents served, complexity, perceived level of needed change, visible impact, and potential benefit across the campus. In the report, CCOR also recognized and reported on various efficiency and quality gains already made in the recommended process by the units responsible for them. Even so, CCOR felt further benefits to the units and to the campus would be realized by including the processes in SFE. For example, it will permit the campus to integrate better the work that units are currently engaged in and will allow the campus to recognize and build on the momentum of achievements already made.
CEAC has carefully reviewed and discussed the recommendations of CCOR and has approved an immediate review and assessment of four processes and some preliminary discussion regarding a fifth process. The four processes selected for immediate review and their sponsors are as follows:
1. Review of Small-scale Renovation and Construction; sponsor: Paul Page
2. Feasibility of Establishing a Travel Services Office; sponsor: Paul Page
3. Interventions to Assist Entering High Risk Undergraduate Students; sponsors:
Cora Marrett and Tom Robinson
4. Graduate Student Assistant Appointment Process; sponsor: Cora Marrett
5. Review of Legislative Mandates; sponsor: Paul Page
The review, assessment and recommendations for redesign and restructuring will be the product of the work of project teams composed of individuals from areas involved in the processes. After review and assessment, the recommendations of the project teams will be submitted and evaluated by the project sponsor, CCOR and CEAC before any action is taken. During this period, there will be ample opportunity for campus input. I expect the work of some project teams will begin as early as next month. The project sponsor will be contacting potential project team members in the coming weeks.
The other four processes, recommended by CCOR but not selected in this round,
are as follows:
6. Faculty Appointment Process
7. Professional Staff Search Process
8. Clerical, Administrative and Technical Staff Hiring Process
9. Computer Technology Planning Utilization and Replacement
While these processes were not selected for review in this phase, they will still remain as active candidates for a possible next round of process review.
This restructuring effort is the first time that the campus has engaged in such a wide-scale change project. While the workplan which guides our campus has been carefully designed and adapted based on input from campus constituents, there is always room for oversights and improvements. For this reason and for general communication, we have established a web site (www.umass.edu) as an information source for this project. Please visit the site to read about the project in more detail or if you have questions, comments, or any other information you would like to provide. I ask your support for this effort in the coming months as we move the university toward achieving quantum quality improvements in the five processes.
David K. Scott
Chancellor
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Copyright © 1998
University of Massachusetts, Amherst. |
