Improving Business Processes in

1
Improving Business Processes in Large,
Decentralized Universities. Bob Davis Yale
University NCURA Regional Meeting May 7, 2007
2
Why is change so hard?

• Typical project
• Specific problem is identified that needs to be
  fixed.
• Senior management defines a project.
• A project team is formed from operating unit
  staff.
• IT is tasked with creating a solution.
• Typical result
• Schedule, cost overruns.
• Poor acceptance of changes by operational units
  and external stakeholders
• 50 or lower adoption/effectiveness of new
  solution

3
Why is change so hard? (continued)

• Why?
• Senior managements project oftentimes addresses
  symptoms.
• Inadequate project management expertise.
• Failure to adequately involve the people who use
  the process.
• Functional
• Customers
• Functional staff is too busy churning
  transactions.
• Inadequate functional specifications
• Inadequate participation, commitment
• IT creates a solution without adequate support
  and assistance from the people who know the
  process.

4
Why is change so hard? (Continued)

• Operational units that support research
  administration are organized vertically. Business
  processes work horizontally across units and
  functions.
• Effective, efficient business processes require a
  high degree of
• Data integration
• Business process standardization
• Communication
• Growth and increased complexity organizations
  struggle to keep up with volume.
• Transaction bound
• Too busy working in the business to work on
  the business

5
How can we make change initiatives work?

• Know what needs to be changed.
• Strategic Plan
• Detailed Implementation Plan.
• Re-engineer business process before applying new
  technology.
• Facilitate the change process with dedicated
  change management resources using a formal
  business process improvement methodology.
• Be realistic about the functional and IT
  resources needed to execute the plan.
• Measure results and be prepared to iterate to
  success.

6
Cascading Effects of Process Improvement
Goals
Benefits
Process Effectiveness

• Reduced rework and complexity
• Increased resource availability

Service Quality

• Improved Collaboration
• Increased Client Satisfaction

Regulatory Compliance

• Timeliness, accuracy

Research Brand

• Increased for research
• Attract PIs

7
Principle 1Involvement of the people who do the
work is key to the creation and implementation of
an effective solution.
8
The Business Managers Value Matrix
Principle 2Client / stakeholder needs must
drive the redesign effort.
YSM
Central
10
6
Client Focus
5
3
3
4
0
10
Operational Performance
9
Principle 3Process performance metrics are
essential to the development and management of
the new process.

• First Pass Yield
• Cycle Time

10
Key Performance Metrics First Pass Yield
11
Key Performance Metrics Processing Cycle Time
12
Principle 4Use activity-based costing to focus
on a vital few areas for improvement.
13
Key Process Measures by Phase
The biggest opportunities are in the first phase
of the process.
14
Principle 5 Focus redesign effort on specific,
measurable redesign objectives that maximize
stakeholder impact.
Increased proposal quality and improved process
effectiveness will reduce rework, complexity and
information opportunity cost resulting in a
recurring 40 increase in resource availability.
15
Principle 6 Redesign the business process
before choosing and implementing new technology.
As-is and To-be business processes
16
Principle 7 Create a formal project plan with
adequate resources.
Project Leadership
Executive Sponsors
Steering Committee
Process Owner
OBT Project Mgr.
Community Advisory Group
Project Team
Proposal Devel.
Contracts
Sub- Contracts
Compliance Set-Up
Org. Structure
Training Devel.
IT Systems
Triage
Policies Procedures
17
Principle 8 Actively manage the plan
18
How can we make change initiatives work?

• Know what needs to be changed.
• Strategic Plan
• Detailed Implementation Plan.
• Re-engineer business process before applying new
  technology.
• Facilitate the change process with dedicated
  change management resources using a formal
  business process improvement methodology.
• Be realistic about the functional and IT
  resources needed to execute the plan.
• Measure results and be prepared to iterate to
  success.