University of California, San Diego
Rapid Process Redesign II
Identified Potential Cost Savings Opportunities
#
Process Name
Issue Description
1
Budget and Staffing
processes
The Budget and Staffing paper report distribution process is slow and labor
intensive. Paper based, delay in receipt in dept. Timing of updates, format of data,
staffing process, merit/range funding (costing), provision updates, frozen payroll.
2
Closeout/Realign
funds
Each fund manually adjusted at closeout.
3
Interlocation
Transfer of Funds
Date is key entered by department, printed and mailed to CBO, then keyed onto
OP system and keyed into local ledger system by GA.
Invoice Approvals
Disbursements pay upon receipt of a paper invoice for PayAuths, PO's,
Entertainment, Registrations, Foreign Travel, etc. Need to complete work that was
begun in RPR I.
Overdraft Report
Write offs.
Entertainment/Event
Planning
Payment Authorizations require the submission of original documentation,
which delays payment due to campus mail, causes receipts to be "lost"
because of poor custody practices, and forces Disbursements to duplicate
effort already done at the department. Entertainment reimbursement is still
processed on paper forms. Conferences, seminars, retreats, student events
are complex.
STIP Distribution
Process - (Quick
win)
The DOS Paradox system that supports the STIP Distribution Process is no
longer functioning adequately. The needs of the campus have already exceeded
its capabilities and the accountants must manually calculate adjusting journal
entries to correct the deficiencies.
Unrelated Income
Tax Worksheets
Coeus
conversion/upgrade
process Accelerated
Manual process is used to gather data.
Extramural Support
Form - ERES
Ability for Departments to efficiently and accurately process Request for
Extramural Support forms electronically.
Grant Proposals
Current internal practice of HSSPO and OCGA sending final copies of grant
proposals back to Dept
Travel
Finding info on the Travel tab is difficult. Fully web-based system like
MyTravel would be ideal. MyTravel can only be used for certain categories
of travel. Only domestic travel can be processed in MyTravel. Currently
cannot process Travel Card entertainment reimbursements electronically.
Excessive entertainment expenses and process inefficiencies.
This process is redundant - employees are already required to establish a trip
number when on university travel.
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
Travel - Insurance
(UC BUSINESS
TRAVEL)
14
Cashier's Recaps
The campus has been evaluating an upgrade from an older version of
Coeus, our sponsored project research administration system, for the past
12 months. Upgrading to the current version of Coeus will provide new
many new functions/features that are desperately needed.
Unable to view cashier's entry data
RPR2 Identified Processes (71).doc
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University of California, San Diego
Rapid Process Redesign II
Identified Potential Cost Savings Opportunities
#
15
Process Name
Issue Description
Deposit
Advice/Petty Cash
Paper based, error prone, time consuming process.
Conservation
Efforts
Campus Landscape Irrigation - Reduce use of water in landscape overall.
In some areas, water runs off from over-irrigation. Water rates are
projected to increase substantially in the coming years.
Energy Consumption Savings - Increasing energy costs; A renewed effort to
conserve power campus-wide would reduce our overall energy cost. Many
individuals use electric heaters and more lighting could be controlled
automatically. The campus could do more to reduce energy usage.
16
Restroom Hand Drying - Electric paper towel dispensing may not be the
most economic method when full life-cycle costs are determined.
Vehicle Fueling - New Federal regulations will require diesel engines for
on-road vehicles greater than 14,000 pounds and manufactured between
1960 and 2006 (UCSD has 55 such vehicles) to be replaced or have
control devices installed by 12/31/2009. (13 CCR 2020, 2022, and
17
18
19
Construction
Project Documents
(Quick win)
Shutdown notices are currently sent by the General Contractor to several people
and Inspector of Record who adds info and forwards to 3 to 5 persons some of
which already have a copy. Only the IOR knows status of the request.
Key Requests
Paper based, error prone, time consuming.
Tenant
Improvement
coordination for 3rd
parties on campus
No field condition verification completed prior to start of construction and
Coordination of Tenant Improvement overall process.
E-NPET's
One of the biggest redesign projects now would be ENPETs and being able to
change, correct and alter them. Currently if there is a problem and the ENPET is
not approved by OPAFS, the email addresses, justifications, etc need to be
completely reentered.
MyFunds Module
Features of MyFunds need to be expanded. Additional features are already in the
programming queue, so project would need to be given higher priority.
Calendar
Scheduling –
University wide
Calendaring software for the entire university, many emails are sent back and
forth to check for availability, all parties involved in one meeting need to check
their availability and then formulate a response.
20
21
22
RPR2 Identified Processes (71).doc
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University of California, San Diego
Rapid Process Redesign II
Identified Potential Cost Savings Opportunities
#
Process Name
Issue Description
Conference
Room/Coordination
Service Department
responsible for ALL
available facilities
on campus.
Delegation of
Authority - On-line
The non release of available conference rooms throughout the Campus and
Hillcrest. The tone of recharging departments who are unable to obtain
conference room space on-site.
Forms Library
Many departments require form that are sometimes available on Blink in PDF,
Excel, or Word format. These forms are usually poorly crafted, hard to use, or
cannot be saved as a template.
25
Policies/Procedures
(Quick win)
Often policies/procedures are implemented or changed without any campus
notification (example: UCSD Catering Recharge approval form).
26
Records Reduction
Too many files (hard and electronic) stored unnecessarily
RPR I Continuation
34 issues were identified in the original RPR I. RPR II should include any of the
issues that are still outstanding.
Video Conferencing
Reduce travel by offering more video conferencing capabilities, before organizing
a meeting that might require travel consider if it is necessary for people to be there
in person. Time lost traveling to/from Med Center, TPS, Campus, SIO, etc.
Admin Records,
Regents and
Chancellor items
Process is cumbersome.
Gift Processing
(Foundation)
Central support in
preparation of
diverse hiring pools
High volume, low dollar gifts deposited and processed manually.
Some on line links through blink, now points to UC Irvine.
32
Classification specs
for job titles (Quick
win)
33
Contract Software
Support
Do we really get what we pay for in contract support and do we really
need it?
34
Generic Job
Descriptions
Unique job descriptions are written for most positions which is very laborintensive.
22
23
24
27
28
29
30
31
Unclear, inaccurate, and/or insufficient on-line information regarding current
delegation of authority and related policies. No on-line mechanism to process
delegation of authority requests and approvals.
Depts. lack knowledge to implement.
RPR2 Identified Processes (71).doc
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University of California, San Diego
Rapid Process Redesign II
Identified Potential Cost Savings Opportunities
#
Process Name
New Hire Paperwork
HR Paperwork, it is necessary to have some HR functions decentralized.
However, for new hires, this may be better suited as a central function. For
instance, all required paperwork is filled out and completed on the first day in
central HR. As it stands, often HR received unnecessary paperwork and they
have to sort, rearrange, and discard paper received from other departments.
Paper based, error prone, time consuming.
Non-Standard Work
Schedules
Currently, flexible schedules and telecommute arrangements are tacked on to
existing job descriptions as an afterthought, usually in response to a request from
an incumbent staff person. In light of our area’s worsening transportation and
parking situation, we could attract a more diverse workforce by proactively
identifying jobs/positions that are amenable to flexible work schedules and/or
telecommuting arrangements. These standardized flex-time / telecommute
positions would provide cost savings for utilities, would reduce demands on
parking, and enhance UCSD’s competitiveness for quality employees. And, in light
of the current global warming crisis, we have a responsibility to be the vanguard in
innovations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. 8am to 4:30 work day does not
meet the needs of all departments.
Recruitment/ Skills
Assessment
The campus currently does not have a standard method of assessing the skills for
potential new hires.
Retiree Utilization
Departments find themselves in a bind when experienced employees leave the
university leaving a succession gap.
Service Credit
Calculations
Service Credit calculation is distinct from Retirement Credit calculation. See:
http://blink.ucsd.edu/Blink/External/Topics/Policy/0,1162,18493,00.html.
Departments are responsible to keep a good record of how much service credit
each of their employees. Manual, depts. Asked to retrieve info from central units,
then resubmit to central units with calculation, current HR training inadequate.
Departments calculate service credit manually using information from the data
warehouse in order to award employees a service pin at 10 years of service.
Additional pins are granted with each additional five years of service.
Staff Turn-Over
Turnover is extremely costly. Some studies estimate the cost of replacing an
employee at between 30% to 150% of their salary. While all turnover can never
be eliminated, turnover caused by chronic supervisory problems can be reduced
or improved.
Staffing Changes Automatic notices
created by
department from
department selected
changes to
department selected
individuals.
Student Assistant
Utilization
Automate new hire/separation summary notices to identified personnel
within departments.
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
Issue Description
Recession, budget cuts, potential layoffs and/or reductions in time
RPR2 Identified Processes (71).doc
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University of California, San Diego
Rapid Process Redesign II
Identified Potential Cost Savings Opportunities
#
Process Name
Issue Description
Layoff process is a time consuming paper process
46
Involuntary layoff
and reduction in
time - online
Volunteer Grad
Students (Quick
win)
Laptops vs.
Desktops
Shared Systems
47
Accesslink
Too many security concerns about data that is public information.
48
Employee Link
Enhancements
Provide expanded downloading capabilities. Download PPS changed
data into existing department spreadsheets and/or Access databases.
49
Facilities Link
Not user friendly. Not properly updated with PI or employee data.
Financial Link Module (Quick win)
Speed up the on-line financial information system (Financial link). All staff working
on fiscal issues are required to use it and it has become very slow with frequent
errors and crashes. I calculate that personally I waste several hours each month
waiting for information to download and if one was to extrapolate the cost of
wasted staff hours campus-wide the results would be significant.
Printing, distribution, confirmation of receipt, filing, retention, destruction.
43
44
45
50
51
Ledgers (Quick win)
paper based enrollment unnecessary
Department maintains both laptop and desktop workstations.
Related and/or redundant data in fragmented repositories.
NGN, Gen Liability
monthly reports
distributed to
campus depts.
(Quick win)
SDG&E billing
(Quick win)
Paper distribution.
Shipping Memo
Paper process.
Timesheets
Multiple people manually key entering timesheet date in multiple places
(employee into timesheet which is printed for timekeeper to enter into PPS).
56
Leave Activity LASR
Employees not aware when they are about to reach maximum vacation accrual.
Comp time s/b after six months on the books. Timekeepers have to look up leave
balances when doing payroll.
57
Payroll Expense
Transfers
Complete work begun in RPR I. PET processing is still a paper-driven
process. Payroll expense transfer forms are currently completed manually.
Ability for Departments to efficiently and accurately process payroll
expense transfers, with an approval hierarchy.
Purchase Order Change Order
System (Quick win)
Disbursements currently doesn't seem to get the information when a change order
is done, resulting in delays in processing invoices, charges to incorrect index
numbers, and overdrafts
52
53
54
55
58
A&PS currently receives hundreds of paper bills from SDGE for meters not
connected to campus-generated power.
RPR2 Identified Processes (71).doc
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University of California, San Diego
Rapid Process Redesign II
Identified Potential Cost Savings Opportunities
#
Process Name
59
Chemical Fumes Shut down unused
or seldom used
Many chemical fume hoods are seldom used and some are never used,
but they continue to run 24/7.
Film Processing
Hazardous Waste
Disposal
Vendor maintenance and service of silver recovery units on automated
photo-processing machines is occasionally unreliable, and when not
maintained properly the units may discharge hazardous waste illegally
and cause plumbing problems. Currently, departments, research groups
and PIs all contract individually with vendors for photo-processing silver
recovery units.
61
Hazardous Waste
Disposal
Contracting
The UC system wide contact for hazardous waste disposal includes a
built-in charge for full service lab packing. Other UC campuses utilize full
service lab packing, however UCSD does not.
62
Photocopying
(Quick win)
Printing for safety committees and training is a substantial reoccurring
expense.
Delays in software implementation.
63
Auxiliary (semi)
Operations University Centers
Accounting
64
Financial
Statements
Manual process is used to gather data for Stmt of Operations, Balance
Sheet and Analysis of Reserves.
Recharge
Approvals,
Proposals
Recharge Approval form for Faculty Club and UCSD Catering. Many departments
don’t even do this, therefore from a liability standpoint, is it even necessary.
The form is time consuming, it is required for even one faculty club lunch. It then
has to be signed by a minimum of three people. Perhaps when a catering or
faculty club bill is sent, the department can just sign it acknowledging it was for a
legitimate business purpose and keep it for their records. Time consuming
process.
Surplus/Deficit
Balances
Annual "Budget
Sensitivity" Training
Manual process is used to enter the year-end balances to existing
worksheet.
Mandatory (IIPP,
Sex Harassment,
Ethics) Training
E.g. on-line sexual harass training not accessible via on-line to depts., much time
spent verifying requirement has been met.
Training
Justification and
Anticipated Costs
(Quick win)
Training
opportunities
Issue identified in RPR I. Too many steps, confusing process.
60
65
66
67
68
69
70
Issue Description
Lack of broad understanding of budgetary issues, especially controlling expenses
and accountability to the public as a state-affiliated organization.
Sharing of knowledge among process experts and training the next generation of
knowledge experts at UCSD is inefficient and could be improved through the use
of current available technologies.
RPR2 Identified Processes (71).doc
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University of California, San Diego
Rapid Process Redesign II
Identified Potential Cost Savings Opportunities
#
71
Process Name
Roles
Responsibilities
Database
Issue Description
No central repository that defines employee responsibilities and assigns
appropriate approval, accountability and communication venues.
Notes:
Yellow highlighted represent selected processes to address.
Pink highlighted processes represent Quick win opportunities if addressed.
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