SER BENEFITS BRAINSTORMING SESSION
23 July 2014
Ideas from Claire Doherty, Daniel Farrell, Nadege Minois and Kevin Thomson
Rationale
Instead of using the more conventional approach of benefits categorisation as
financial/risk and compliance/time saving and so on, we decided to classify the
benefits of the SER projects using the four SER guiding principles. Our first task was
to evaluate the importance of each principle to apply a weighting factor if necessary.
Principle
Claire
Daniel
Kevin
Nadege
Total
Simplification
2
1
4
4
11
Visibility and
Transparency
3
3
2
1
9
E-enablement
4
2
1
3
10
Adaptatibility
and Flexibility
1
4
3
2
10
1: least important
4: most important
Although each attendee perceived the importance of each principle differently, the
overall importance of each principle is similar.
Simplification: What does it mean?
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•
•
•
•
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•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Cyclical process review / continuous improvement
Process-led technology (do not strap/bolt in ITS)
Eliminate hoops
Increase service delivery / pace
Clarify cross-unit communications
Promote institutional change
Decrease cost / increase revenue
Top-led
Improve customer service
Improve data quality
Expose problems
Increase creative capacity
Better management of resources
Visibility and Transparency: What does it mean?
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Golden sources: minimise or eliminate local copies
Provision of management information
Improve decision making and quality of decision
More information for analysis
Clarify inter-departmental communications
Better control / less fragmentation
Improve audit preparation / self-monitoring
Better documentation including semantics
Less shooting down of ideas
Encouragement of self-improvement
Improve data quality (aeration)
Expose gaps / problems
E-enablement: What does it mean?
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•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Reduce or minimise sutures between systems (i.e., keep the bonnet closed)
Encourage move towards standards and structured data
Paper-lite
Mobile devices / web promoted developments
Easy and ready (24/7) access
Common features
Sexing up the image (no more clunky)
Promote innovation and modernisation
Customisation
Be ahead of the game / customer
Making staff feel part of the developments (e.g., workspaces)
Adaptability and Flexibility: What does it mean?
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Repeatable / prototypical
Decrease cost of repair / maintenance
Delegable
Upgradable / maintainable while in circulation
Reliable
Friendly
Responsive to external changes
Recoverable
Customisable
Scalable
Do the SER projects bring the identified benefits?
Case study 1: Paperless Admissions
Current characteristics to improve
Benefit achieved
E-enabled replacement of unreviewed process
E-enablement
Written on complex platform (MMS)
Simplification
Developers need to learn language (not industry standard)
Simplification
Not self-reported or wholly accurate reporting
Transparency
Complex workflow with many variables
Simplification
Not self-sufficient ecosystem (closed?)
Simplification
Not easily adaptable
Adaptability
Involves a lot of staff
Simplification
Work-around heavy
Transparency
Do the SER projects bring the identified benefits?
Case study 2: Online Matriculation
Current characteristics to improve
Benefit achieved
E-enabled only to an extent
E-enablement
Work-around, SITS fields used for other purposes
Flexibility
Complex workflow
Simplification
Not maintainable at local level
Flexibility
Slow
Simplification
Replacement of paper-based process
E-enablement
Not self-explanatory at times
Transparency
Permits errors because of manual intervention
Adaptability
No up-to-date documentation
Transparency
Further thoughts on benefits
Thoughts on Time: Breaking institutional habits
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•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Case study resolution (round-the-houses time)
Response rates including enquiries
Time spent on data correction
Time spent on maintenance
Data entry including upload / scanning
Time spent on developments
Time spent researching (looking on different systems for full information)
Time spent finding / creating work-around (creative space versus quick
fixes from lack of planning time)
• Time spent diagnosing problems
• Time spent reporting (not e-enabled)
Further thoughts on benefits
Thoughts on Cost: What do we actually measure
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•
•
•
Paper
Transparency: Invisible budgets
Printer/Ink
Stress: Sick leaves
Thoughts on Feedback
• Staff survey
• Staff experience: training and self-improvement
• Direct correlations between NSS and SER?
Representation of benefits
Advising
Simplification
E-enablement
Curriculum
Approvals
Adaptability
Flexibility
Visibility
Transparency
Paperless
Admissions
Tasks
Conclusion on benefits
We can work quicker (save time), more accurately
(increase quality) and more creatively (be ahead of the
game).
By freeing up a percentage of staff time and saving
money, we will be in a position to re-invest. Reinvestment has to be in the areas of professional
development, self-improvement and the continuous
improvement of processes and services.
We can achieve greater improvement without
continually expanding staff complement.