CASIP Update: Project List and Stream Webpages Published

We hope you’re all enjoying a smooth start to fall term. 

Work is swiftly moving ahead on the Continuous Administrative Service Improvement Program and we would like to share progress. Since beginning the program earlier this year, the University Initiatives Office team has focused efforts on meeting with stream leads, who are the owners of each stream of work, in University Services and Finance to define stream scope.

CASIP project list published

At the CASIP Town Hall the community expressed interest in seeing the work planned within each stream. A project list is now available on the CASIP web page with assigned completion dates. By nature of the program and the work involved, improvements will be delivered incrementally leading up to each expected completion date.

Stream web pages available

Dedicated web pages have been developed for each stream of work and will be used to share information as work advances: service governance , finance , information governance and reporting , human resources administrative processes , and technology .

Stream progress

A key outcome of the Service Governance Stream includes clarifying service and process ownership, and the roles and responsibilities within each service and the supporting processes. Clearly defining our administrative services and filling gaps in our processes will enable us to deliver more efficient and collaborative services to the university community.

The Service Governance Stream is in the process of planning a workshop with Finance, Procurement and Planning to review services currently offered. Information gathering is being conducted to understand opportunities for improvements to our service governance model.

The Finance Stream will standardize the use of the chart of accounts across the colleges, faculties and departments to enhance our business processes and will result in more consistent financial reporting across the university.

A list of stakeholders has been identified and a tentative schedule has been prepared for upcoming workshop engagements. These are anticipated to occur in September and October. Finance leaders have been engaged and documents are being developed to understand our current state.

The Technology Stream will improve the flow and accessibility of our data, result in more efficient processes, and improve user experience through the consolidation of applications and the introduction of an integration platform.

The Technology Stream has begun engagement sessions with the Faculty of Science  and will continue collaborations to further application rationalization. The next stakeholders planned for engagement include Augustana and Campus Saint-Jean. An RFP is being prepared for the application integration project in consultation with Information, Services and Technology and Finance, Procurement and Planning. Engagements with the university community to further understand requirements will be planned in the coming months.

In the Information Governance and Reporting Stream a number of initiatives will be undertaken to address data cleanup, to establish roles and responsibilities for data, and to implement tools to improve data governance and reporting capabilities. This stream is key to improving our processes and implementing enabling technology and will lead to more efficient processes, faster turnaround times and an improved user experience. Ultimately, this stream will provide you with enhanced reporting to support decision making.

The project team is in the process of defining the strategic direction for data and analytics. These strategic plans are in the collaboration stages with other key stakeholders across the university. The team is working to select a vendor to assist with moving in-scope data to the cloud. To ensure stakeholders have access to the right information, we continue data governance activities, such as data classifications and defining data policies, to guide the proper use and dissemination of institutional data.

The Human Resources Administrative Process Stream will focus on continuous improvement to simplify and standardize key human resources administrative processes to improve the delivery of services and client experience. 

The stream has received approval on the HR Forms and Checklists project to review and find opportunities to improve forms and checklists currently used for administrative purposes. The project team for the Recruitment Process Pilot Program has identified three faculties and one service unit that will participate in the pilot. These groups will be notified in the coming weeks. The Medical Leave Process project brief will be presented at an upcoming steering committee meeting for approval, and a recruitment tool implementation project has entered into its planning phases to begin assessing current state and gathering requirements.

Improvements within research administrative services are not in scope for the Continuous Administrative Service Improvement Program. Work in this area is being advanced by the Office of the Vice-President (Research and Innovation) with the support of the University Initiatives Office. For more information, visit research administration process redesign.

Join a Community Conversation

The University Initiatives Office has held monthly in-person sessions with the university community since April to receive feedback on services. The feedback from these sessions has been invaluable and has reinforced that we are steering toward the same end goal: improved processes, enhanced training, and clarity around roles and responsibilities. The next session will occur in October.

University Services and Finance is committed to advancing this high priority work and we encourage your continued engagement through our Community Conversation sessions, our Town Hall later in fall, or by email at uio@ualberta.ca.

Please distribute this to your teams as appropriate.

Regards,

Matina and Todd