Administrative Process Redesign work apparent around campus

With the help of many project volunteers, the Administrative Process Redesign project’s efforts are being felt campuswide.

Beginning its third year in leading an effort to streamline administrative practices and systems, the project’s third phase is underway with the launch of the first major project — a comprehensive review of the administration of research grants.

APR teams involved in process improvement for 10 training redesign projects are nearing completion of their projects. The last four of these teams are in the process of implementing solutions. They will present project updates at a campus forum on Monday, April 20.

One such team is working on decreasing the time for routing, reviewing, approving and posting the transfer of nonsalary costs. The implementation is planned for completion by June in time to coincide with the launch of a new project in Phase III, which will address cost transfers.

A second team is exploring a number of low-cost, high-impact solutions to decrease the time it takes to gain access to campus mainframe applications. This project’s goal is to provide new employees their requested mainframe transactions on their first day of work.

As a way to improve the human-resources process for requesting and approving overload, the third team is implementing its solution to eliminate at least one approval layer, redesign the form, and create a web-based approval process. The plan shortens the amount of time it takes for approval and improves communication throughout the process.

A fourth team is working with Research and Sponsored Programs and the deans’ offices on a solution to prevent delays in processing multidepartmental collaborative research proposals.

APR, which began in the spring of 2007, has brought the expertise of people closest to the daily tasks together to find ways to improve work processes.

The project involves teams of employees, trained in Lean Six Sigma process-improvement techniques, accurately identifying and correcting defects in business processes.

The project’s goals are to streamline practices, leverage technology, preserve resources, reduce frustration and provide high-quality customer service.

For more information about APR, visit Administrative Process Redesign.

APR campus forum planned

The Administrative Process Redesign campus forum will be held from 2–4 p.m. on Monday, April 20, at Lowell Hall, 610 Langdon St.

All university staff are invited and may attend without loss of pay, but should make arrangements with their supervisors before attending. No registration is required. The forum will be video streamed and can be accessed from the project Web site at Administrative Process Redesign, where there’s more information about the forums and the project.