UNH ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES PLANNING COMMITTEE 4/19/96 The following is an introductory summary of the administrative services redesign initiative (incorporating the business service center proposal). BACKGROUND Interim President Fairchild established the Administrative and Personnel Services Budget Task Force last summer as part of the university-wide effort to balance the budget in FY97 and beyond. The charge to the Task Force was to reduce the UNH fund 1000 budget by nearly $1 million by redesigning services and/or offices to accomplish tasks through consolidation and economies of scale. The group identified three main problems to be addressed: o The university budget was out of balance o Staff were overburdened o Some faculty and programs had only limited administrative/business support. The task force identified four possible solutions to the budget problem: o Lay-offs o Cuts to programs o Across the board cuts and continuing budget rescissions o Redesign of administrative services. The task force concluded that the first three options would be extremely detrimental to the university and were not sustainable alternatives. The fourth option, that of redesigning the way the university conducts its administrative business, appeared to be a way to address the problems of an out of balance budget, overburdened staff, and inequitably distributed support for faculty and programs. GOALS OF ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES REDESIGN The administrative services redesign initiative has been endorsed by Interim President Walter Peterson, the vice presidents, the deans, and the Board of Trustees, as a way of critically reducing expenditures while avoiding significant lay-offs of staff and horizontal budget cuts. By July 1, 1998 the overreaching goals are to: o Reduce UNH administrative costs by $1.5 million ($1 million in fund 1000) o Maintain/improve administrative services o Avoid a reduction-in-force through campus-wide management of voluntary attrition. Regarding the third goal, it is important to note that during the last three fiscal years a total of 81 administrative support positions were vacated voluntarily (29 so far in FY96). While it will be necessary to reduce the number of positions devoted to administrative functions by approximately 50 in order to realize the $1.5 million in savings, this reduction will take place over the next two years through careful management of natural attrition, development of appropriate retraining programs, and internal career opportunities. The Administrative Services Planning Committee is strongly dedicated to retaining and supporting UNH's highly qualified staff. Administrative services redesign will involve organizational, process, and policy changes. Specific changes will include: o Mandated establishment of 10 to 20 business service centers on campus o Suggested consolidation of secretarial/clerical resources o Elimination of non-value-added work o Implementation of procurement cards o Automation of personnel/payroll document processing o Utilization of existing and emerging technologies o Expansion of central support for business service centers with training, technology, and business process design o Revision of reward systems, job classifications, and performance evaluations o Empowerment of business service centers through delegation of authority from central administrative offices. TIMELINE The administrative redesign project has two remaining phases: PHASE 2 (Now - 9/96) PLAN - Refine plan and targets for 8 initial units - Address change management issues - Seek broad support - Begin selective hiring freeze PHASE 3 (10/96 - 7/98) IMPLEMENT - Refine plan/targets for remaining units on campus - Implement organizational changes - Implement process changes - Implement policy changes CURRENT ACTIVITY The current phase of the project is a planning stage -- refining the concept developed by the Administrative and Personnel Services Budget Task Force and producing a clear view of exactly what will be required to implement business service centers in terms of renovations, technology, reorganizations, etc. The comprehensive plan will be finished by September 30. The units selected for participation in this planning phase are: College of Life Sciences and Agriculture College of Liberal Arts College of Engineering and Physical Sciences Whittemore School of Business and Economics School of Health and Human Services Cooperative Extension Athletics Facilities Services/Campus Planning Every other unit on campus will have the opportunity to redesign their administrative processes in later phases with the added benefit of experience gained in constructing plans for the units in the first group. COMMITTEE MEMBERSHIP Interim President Walter Peterson has appointed a campus-wide committee to undertake this planning work. Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Walter Eggers is serving as project champion, and the Dean's Council and President's Staff are serving as steering committees. Membership of the University Administrative Services Planning Committee is as follows: Victor Benassi Professor and Chair, Psychology Co-Chair Bob Blanchard Professor and Chair, Plant Biology Dick Clukay Assistant Director, MIS Ken Cody Controller Co-Chair Steve Fink Professor of Management Susan Franzosa Professor and Chair, Education John Freear Associate Dean, WSBE Tammy Goldberg Assistant to the VP Research & Public Service Jim Grady Business Administrator, CES Matt Grant Student Representative Nancy Hamer Director of Administrative Services, DCE Jean Irvine Personnel Officer Tammy McGlone Business Manager, Bio Sciences Accounting Center Leigh Anne Melanson Director of Budget/Personnel Management, VPAA John Pokoski Professor, Electrical Engineering Carol Powers Assistant Director, Budget & Finance Marilyn Qua-Bowick Administrative Secretary, Mathematics Gregg Sanborn Executive Assistant to the President Patsy Stuart Finance & Budget Analyst, Student Affairs Neil Vroman Associate Dean, Health & Human Services INPUT SOUGHT It is extremely important to the committee to establish and maintain active and open communications with the campus community. Please check in at this site for updates on committee/subcommittee activities. In the very near future we will be establishing voice mail and e-mail addresses so you can forward comments, suggestions, and questions. Stay tuned for more details.