As the University of Iowa moves forward with the Iowa Board of Regents’ TIER (Transparent Inclusive Efficiency Review) project, the UI TIER leadership team is committed to keeping the campus informed on the latest developments in connection with the initiative.

The team will be sharing updates in Iowa Now on the 1st and 15th of each month through June. Information on the initiative can also be found on the UI TIER website.

Here are the latest developments on the UI’s academic and business cases:

Academic:

• In response the initial campus meetings with Pappas Consulting, the Office of the Provost created a background document on the current state of E-learning and Enrollment Management. That document was shared with Pappas and the Board of Regents office. The report can be found here. 
• Members of the Office of the Provost continued to engage with Ad Astra regarding classroom utilization at the UI.  

Finance:

Finance 01: Revise distributed finance delivery model

• Chazey Partners has been working to summarize data collected from stakeholder interviews, as well as the opportunity matrix and activity-based analysis survey. Preliminary results suggest that the UI has a significant savings opportunity by implementing shared services.
• Discussions continue on the future design of shared services. Potential transactions and services for financial shared services include procurement card purchases, procurement card reconciliation, request for travel, travel expense vouchers, procurement requisitions, ebuy requisitions, general accounting entries, pay cvs, web cvs, TDR reconciliation, and cash handling. Future meetings will continue to define the menu of services offered.
• Dani Weber and Debby Zumbach met and toured the staff locations in athletics and College of Dentistry for the beta shared services sites. April 27 marked the beginning of the beta shared services site in athletics. The two shared services staff were very excited to be given this opportunity and look forward to exceeding expectations while helping the project team understand potential issues or concerns that arise. The team has already documented specific process issues that need to be addressed for the larger campus rollout.

Human resources:  

Human resources 01: Revise distributed HR delivery model 

• An activity-based analysis survey of unit HR reps (not including UI Health Care) found that of 99 surveyed, only 20 are full-time HR professionals, with the majority of unit HR reps spending on average 25 percent of their time (10 hours per week) on HR responsibilities. The remaining 75 percent of these unit reps’ time is spent on other administrative responsibilities. This illustrates the challenge for these HR reps to provide a wide range of HR services efficiently and effectively, when they may encounter some tasks infrequently. This also limits the ability of unit reps to support local leadership through application of HR strategy and best practices.
• The primary concepts for improvement include:
  • Unit reps that are full time HR professionals
  • Direct reporting relationship between unit reps and their senior HR leader
  • Formal accountability of senior HR leaders to vice president of human resources, in addition to their respective dean or vice president
  • Consideration for use of specialists to focus on specific areas of HR practice (e.g., recruitment)
• The anticipated redesign process is to examine each college/division individually to:
  • Recognize the uniqueness of each organization and their needs in the redesign
  • Provide an opportunity for those impacted to participate in the redesign process
  • Maintain transparency of the process through regular communication with stakeholders

Pilot projects are anticipated to begin in May, and expand to other colleges/divisions beginning in July, with project completion anticipated in the fall of 2016.

Human resources 10: Establish clear policy for professional and scientific staff search committee size and structure

• The changes to eliminate the use of search committees for professional and scientific positions at grade 5 or below, and to limit search committees to four members for jobs in grade 6 and above, become effective on May 1 (excluding UI Health Care). Human resources professionals are prepared to assist supervisors with the new procedures, including the option to have additional people interview candidates as part of the evaluation process. 
• The university also will continue to encourage supervisors to recruit and identify a diverse pool of candidates, as we continue our efforts to create and maintain a diverse workforce. These changes are expected to reduce the time it takes to hire individuals into P&S positions, as a reflection of increases in the efficiency and effectiveness of our employment process.
• There also will be changes to support the use of internal searches. The benefits of internal searches include less time and expense to hire, less time to orient the new employee to be successful, and more opportunities for career advancement and promotion for UI staff. Unit HR staff will receive more information about this option at their May meeting. Promoting and enhancing the opportunities for career promotion has been an interest expressed in recent Working at Iowa survey results.

Information technology:

• Kickoff meetings: The program office met with all OneIT project leaders and managers to discuss project framework and review project planning templates. Teams were asked to prepare the first two deliverables: a draft project charter and a list of stakeholders.
• Project charters: First drafts of charters for seven of the projects were expected the week of April 27, and the remainder the week of May 4. A review period will follow as input from the OneIT steering committee, IT leaders, and the IT community is gathered. Charters will be finalized in early June.
• Project-management workshops: The week of May 4, OneIT project leaders/managers and other campus IT leaders will take part in a project-management workshop. Topics will include change-management, project planning/scheduling, communication, project execution, monitoring, team building, and leadership. This will help to convey processes, clarify expectations, and ensure consistency across OneIT projects.
• Savings tracking: A mechanism for tracking savings realized through OneIT initiatives is in development. OneIT leaders will soon begin collecting and compiling data for fiscal year 2015.
• Retirements: Eighteen UI IT professionals were approved for early retirement. Some of those positions will be rehired, but the early retirements will be helpful in achieving savings goals.

Sourcing and Procurement:

• A conference call was held with Huron Consulting to discuss the UI fund structure to determine how additional savings from this business case would impact the university. 
• On April 30, Huron presented their findings and recommendations for three commodity areas, janitorial supplies, MRO, and computer peripherals.