Leaders of the University of Iowa's TIER, or Transparent Inclusive Efficiency Review, working groups evaluating information technology,  human resources, finance, sourcing and procurement, and academic cases, provided an update to the  UI Faculty Senate  on Tuesday, Feb. 10.

P. Barry Butler, executive vice president and provost, shared the selection of a new academic consultant will take place on Thursday, Feb. 12, with the review to begin in March. Two UI representatives selected by the Faculty Senate will join the Iowa Board of Regents for the interviews, as well as representatives from other state institutions in meeting the two finalists. The issues the consultants will address are distance education and time to graduation.

Some additional significant developments and updates since the senate’s last meeting in December include:

• The Iowa Board of Regents engaged Chazey Partners to lend its expertise and experience to assist in the further development of the delivery of service planning and implementation at the public universities. Huron Consulting Group was also engaged to do a strategic analysis of sourcing and procurement.

Reviews began last week and are scheduled to run for a period of 12 weeks. 

Debby Zumbach, director of UI purchasing and senior associate director of business services, says her project team will be working with Huron to develop an action plan on how it will look at sourcing and procurement’s internal organizational structure, the technology used at the UI, as well as how it assesses seven primary spend categories, which may include office supplies, scientific supplies and freight, to determine opportunities to save money.

Zumbach added a project team is being developed to work with consultants on developing a potential plan for virtual university-wide shared services, or having specialized individuals that will work on specific transactions. Next, will come a campus survey soliciting feedback on what transactions and tasks are done on a daily basis and how often.

“Then, we’ll take that data and continue to work with Chazey,” says Zumbach.

“One thing I leave with you with is that there will be continuous communication and meetings.”

• Steve Fleagle, UI chief information officer and associate vice president, reported the on-campus component of the Board of Regents recommendations for IT is called OneIT@Iowa, which encompasses many different efforts that are occurring involving infrastructure and commodity kinds of services.  

Fleagle says his project team is currently trying to bring people together from different areas (administrative units, collegiate units, and from central IT) to work together in evaluating how efficiency can be improved in their respective areas.

• Sue Buckley, vice president for human resources, provided an overview on HR One, the consolidation and realignment of HR and unit reps across the  campus, which she said will be done methodically and thoughtfully.

According to Buckley, HR One will also cause other employee groups to be added into the UI’s electronic review system. As of now, professional scientific employees are in the system. SEIU (Service Employees International Union) and Merit employees will be next.  

• Butler also shared an academic case was finished last week when the Board of Regents approved an alternative formula for the Regents Admissions Index, which takes into account certain parameters of a high school student’s record.

The change was the result of the board asking the three regents institutions to work together to find a consistent way to determine an admissions index if a high school does not rank their students.

In addition, Butler said the consulting firm Ad Astra has begun working on campus to collect information regarding two business cases: Improving utilization of classroom space through scheduling policy, and optimizing faculty allocation through a data-informed, student-centered course schedule.

• Laura McLeran, UI’s TIER representative and assistant vice president for external relations, shared the Sounding Board group has agreed to continue providing insight to the leadership team as the UI moves into the implementation process.

The group will continue being made up of representatives from the shared governance organizations, as well as AFSCME (American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees). Representatives from the various business cases teams will also be added.

For more information, visit the UI TIER website.