About the Report Introduction The New Business Architecture Next Steps Appendices
Appendices  
Appendix A
Appendix B
Appendix C
Appendix D
Appendix E
Summary of Recent UC Business Process Redesign Activity

Survey Design

When considering courses of action to improve the University's business processes and accompanying policy and guidelines, the Planning Group decided to deploy a survey to the nine UC campuses and Office of the President to gather information on recent business process redesign efforts. The survey asked each respondent for the following information about the 5-10 most significant business or administrative processes redesign efforts over the past decade:
  • Description of the redesign effort
  • Redesign objectives
  • The extent to which these objectives were achieved or not achieved
  • The effects of UC administrative and business policies on the redesign effort
  • The effects of the campus (or Office of the President) workplace culture on the redesign effort
  • New risks identified during the redesign effort and how they were addressed.
Summary of Survey Results
Types of Redesign Efforts Reported
(click link to view chart in a new browser window)

Objectives of UC Campus and Office of the President Redesign Efforts

(The following chart includes multiple objectives for some individual redesign efforts)

Objective Instances  
Streamline process, improve efficiency/productivity 43  
Improve customer service 23  
Improve accountability, compliance with policies, internal control, or reduce errors 22  
Improve access to information 18  
Automate manual, paper-based portions of process 15  
Improve quality of information 12  
Eliminate/reduce redundancy 8  
Improve process functionality 6  
Consolidate disparate processes, support, training 5  
Improve reporting system 3  
Consolidate information in a single location or system 2  
Enhance flexibility of information system infrastructure 2  
Improve communications between depts/units 2  
Accommodate emerging business needs 1  
Accommodate growth 1  
Enhance flexibility 1  
Improve work environment 1  
Obtain more favorable pricing, vendor terms 1  
Process transactions in central office 1  
Standardize process 1  


Survey Response Summary

Effects of UC Administrative and Business Policies on Redesign Efforts*
  • UC policies do not adequately address electronic transaction processing issues. (3 campuses)
  • UC transaction approval policies impede some redesign efforts. (2 campuses)
  • Controls of marginal value are implemented in redesigned processes to comply with UC policy requirements.
  • Financial reporting requirements are overly complicated.
  • Audit and documentation retention requirements adversely affect process redesign.
  • Accommodating the processing requirements imposed by multiple personnel merit programs requires making extensive modifications to new systems.
  • Supporting a variety of computing platforms across the campus created additional challenges in redesigning processes.
  • Security and access policies have to be taken into consideration in allowing the appropriate staff access to data.
  • Federal agency requirements affect the process redesign effort.
  • Process owners need to coordinate policies to facilitate redesign efforts.
  • Definition of data elements needs to be changed.
*  Bernard w. Gleason, Boston College, White Paper: "University-wide Information Portal Concepts and Recommended Course of Action," January 26, 2000.

Effects of Campus Workplace Culture on Redesign Efforts*
  • Redesigned processes often require a greater level of accountability among staff (process operators).
  • Variation in staff skills and knowledge requires additional training and support. (4 campuses)
  • Some staff are resistant to change. (4 campuses/OP)
  • The redesign effort is sometimes perceived as a way of transferring workload from central offices to departments. (2 campuses)
  • Earlier, ultimately successful redesign efforts smoothed the way for later redesign efforts. (2 campuses)
  • Providing open communication among parties of interest is important. (2 campuses)
  • Some staff are not willing to adapt to a redesigned process/system that meets overall campus needs, but not necessarily their specific needs. (2 campuses)
  • Process owners and process operators have different perspectives as to what constitutes good/adequate "customer service."
  • The redesign effort improved communication, student service and provided greater autonomy to student service departments.
  • As a result of departmental staff initiating transactions online, they expect faster transaction turn-around times.
  • Campus-wide teams provide ongoing direction for the redesign efforts.
  • The success of redesign efforts is dependent on support from campus executives.
  • In implementing a one stop "help desk" service, staff who formerly provided customer service felt a loss of control when inquiries were directed through the centralized "help desk."
  • Access to data is limited due to security concerns.
  • Focusing too much on roles and responsibilities in the redesign process results in introducing too many controls.
  • An "open workplace" culture helped to achieve buy-in by encouraging broad-based participation in redesign effort.
  • The technical infrastructure was in place to support redesign effort.
Several campuses provided comments related to the results of their redesign efforts. They include the following:
  • Improved accountability
  • More opportunities for cross-training
  • Departments having greater control over the timing of the process
  • Empowering system/process users
  • Improved communications
  • Awareness of costs
   
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