Change Proposal: Business Service Centers

The Business Service Center Committee was asked to assess the current structure that supports administrative functions on the campus and evaluate the feasibility of establishing Business Service Centers (BSCs) as an alternative organizational arrangement.

It is the recommendation of our team that Business Service Centers should be established on the Amherst campus. We base this recommendation on our analysis and discussions of the information collected during our feasibility study. If implemented properly, business centers can: increase efficiency, improve service quality, and offer cost savings by reducing the number of full-time equivalent (FTE) employees needed for handling administrative transations.

It would be beneficial if a decision on BSC adoption was made prior to the intorduction of the new PeopleSoft Human Resources and Financial systems. If the BSC concept is adopted, the committee would also make the following recommendations concerning the development, implementation and operation of these units:

1) Postpone establishing BSCs until after PeopleSoft HR and FIN modules are implemented.
2) Appoint an Implementation Group that will be responsible for the following: divising a plan for BSC staff selection, developing a strategy for accommodating non-BSC employees who do not become part of a business center, handling organizational issues such as signature authority, skill requirements, job descriptions, etc.
3) All BSCs should have a core set of administrative and transactional functions common to each one. All non-BSC functions should be clearly delineated.
4) Create an Advisory Council to review/support BSC administrative business processes and act as a governing body.
5) A revision of business procedures (workflow) and reorganization of non-BSC functions should take place to create efficiencies within the departments being served by BSCs.

If you wish to comment on this proposal, please send e-mail to sfe@chancellor.umass.edu

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