University Business - July/August 2011 - (Page 81)

Office Of Planning, assessment, ReseaRch and Quality University of Wisconsin-Stout D First Things First oing more with less is the new priority level to each task so that more senior personnel aren’t normal in higher education. And as college and uni- wasting time on work that can be easily handled by lower levels. “in the past, professional staff would have to do the majority versity administrators work to increase efficiencies, the areas of planning and assessment have grown in importance of a project because of the way we organized it in our heads,” she explains. “with the log system, we can assign bits and pieces of as strategic tools to manage resources. Accompanying that growth are greater workloads and more projects to other people so there’s less workload on the highercomplex duties for the offices tasked with handling such duties. level professional staff people.” The new system hasn’t reduced overall workload, but by For the office of Planning, Assessment, research and Quality spreading out tasks more evenly, it enables (PArQ) at the University of Wisconsin-Stout, that PArQ to be more efficient and productive. has meant an ever-expanding to-do list that covers Listing and Additionally, to save time explaining and resuch knotty responsibilities as strategic and account- prioritizing tasks explaining how to manage projects that happen ability planning, institutional research, quality asgave staff a better with regularity—such as conducting surveys— sessment and improvement, and more. staff have developed templates and checklists in other words, for PArQ’s staff, sticky notes roadmap to follow that team members can consult when they are placed around the perimeter of their computer while managing assigned such work. monitors weren’t cutting it as a viable projectThe new approach allowed PArQ to commanagement tool. Procedures governing timelines, projects. plete 75 percent more regular projects in 2010 due dates, and project organization and format needed overhauling so that the omnipresent more with less di- than it did in 2007, for an estimated cost savings of $75,000. “it’s easy to spend your day consumed with smaller tasks,” rective could be followed. PArQ’s solution involved neither hardware nor software, wentz says. “‘i have these 15 tasks, and maybe 10 of them can but building a better process. whereas, previously, the office’s be done really easily, so i’m going to do those 10 first.’ By putwork was handed off to project managers who handled tasks ting things on a log and prioritizing them, we can ensure that in whatever ways they deemed best, the new system utilizes a what needs to be done first gets done first.” four-step process that standardizes how every project is completed. First, with each new project, the team that will be responsible for completing it meets to compile a list of every single task associated with the project, rendered in the smallest increments possible. Those tasks are then logged in a microsoft excel spreadsheet that includes due dates and level of personnel required to complete each. second, all tasks assigned to graduate students are placed in a separate log and prioritized daily by a staff member. Third, each day, both students and staff examine their respective logs and begin working on the highest-priority task that has yet to be started. Fourth, PArQ conducts biweekly log reviews to assess progress and plan ahead. According to meridith wentz, assistant chan- Biweekly log reviews allow PARQ office staff to assess progress on current projects and cellor for PArQ, the real key has been assigning a prioritize appropriately to ensure everything gets done. universitybusiness.com July/August 2011 | 81 http://www.universitybusiness.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of University Business - July/August 2011

University Business - July/August 2011
Contents
Editor's Note
Ad Index
College Index
Behind the News
Sense of Place
Viewpoint
Financial Success
Money Matters
Community Colleges
Funding Capture
Models of Efficiency
Thwarting ID Thieves
Embezzlement Epidemic
What's New
End Note

University Business - July/August 2011