Process Redesign begins review of research grant administration

The university’s effort to create better business processes is tackling its first large-scale project: a comprehensive review of the administration of research grants, with an eye toward making improvements.

The project marks the first time the Administrative Process Redesign project, begun in 2007, has moved beyond smaller training projects to improve processes that have a higher-level, campuswide impact.

APR 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.

Alice Gustafson, who leads the APR effort, says the grants project could produce widespread benefits to the campus.

“This is a chance to make campuswide gains and take on some larger issues. During tight budget times, there’s a feeling that if we’re going to put resources into finding answers, those answers should make a major difference,” Gustafson says.

Five project teams are undergoing in-depth training from UW-Madison experts in Lean Six Sigma to prepare for the project. They will analyze these areas:

• Award setup: There is currently substantial delay from the time that the campus receives a grant award and the time it is entered into the accounting system, which can slow the research or result in charges to the wrong project.
• Access to financial data: Researchers are often frustrated that the current reporting system does not give them access to timely, accurate and comprehensive information about the status of their grants.
• Cost transfers: The existing process for transferring expense from one project to another can be cumbersome, complex and paper-based. As a result, these transfers move slowly through the system and can complicate invoicing, financial reports and closing projects out.
• Cost-sharing and commitments: If UW-Madison commits to cost-share with certain expenditures, there can be considerable complexity in tracking commitments against actual expenditures.
• Financial reporting and award closeout: There can be substantial delays in submitting financial reports and closing out awards after the designated end date. When these reports are delayed, in can create problems for researchers in accessing the following year’s funding from the sponsor.

“All of these processes are really interdependent,” says Gustafson. “If you can’t get the right accounting number at the beginning of the process, you’ll have trouble closing out a grant at the end of the process.”

Gustafson says the APR project has helped build respect across campus because one of its fundamental principles is that broken processes are responsible for delays and confusion — not people.

For more information about APR, visit Administrative Process Redesign.