Campus Solutions: Successful Management of Innovative Projects
• Introductions & Ice Breaker • UA Overview
• Assessing the Landscape • Project Initiation & Startup • Managing the Project
Rachel A. Beech, Ed.D.
– Director, New Student Services
– Co-Director, Degree Tracker Project
Barry Brummund, MBA
– Lead Consultant, Degree Tracker Project – Implementation Strategist, MOSAIC Projects
• Name, Institution, Position
• How long have you been in the position? In the field? In Higher Education?
• How many HEUGs have you attended? • One thing you hope to get from the
workshop
• If you had a superhero or magic power, what would it be?
• Tucson, AZ
– 387 acres (2nd smallest in the Pac-12)
– Oldest continually maintained green space in Arizona.
• Research I University
• State Land Grant University
• NCAA Division-1, PAC 12 Conference • More than $600 million in research
annually
• Ranked #16 among all public universities by the National Science Foundation
• Member, Association of American Universities
STUDENTS Undergraduate 30,592 Graduate 6,991 First Professional 1,503 Total 39,086 NUMBER OF DEGREE PROGRAMS OFFERED Bachelors 119 Masters 127
Research Scholarship (Doctoral) 92
Specialist 4
Professional Practice (First Professional) 3 Total 345 EMPLOYEES Men 7,164 Women 7,670 Total 14,834
Total Payroll (FY 2010-11) $783,554,053
For the 2009 Fiscal Year, the National Science Foundation (NSF) ranked The University of Arizona 26th among all universities and 18th among public universities for research and
development expenditures within the Science and Engineering category.
Institutional
Restructuring
– Colleges
• College of Letters Arts and Sciences
– University College to Center for Exploratory Studies • Majors – Sub-plans – Student Groups – Student Affairs • Streamlining departments Financial Restructuring
– Legislative Commitment Decreases – Institutional Financial Savings
• Intentional changes to preserve strong programs
• Saving faculty and staff resources
• MOSAIC Milestones
– 2008 – Initiate Program
– 2008 – Campus Web Reporting Go-Live – 2009 – PeopleSoft HCM Go-Live
– 2010 – PeopleSoft CS Go-Live
– 2011 – Kuali COEUS and Financials Go-Lives
• ~250 of Team Participants
• Change Felt by Everyone on Campus • 2 New Products
• What are the factors that shape decision making at your institution?
• Are your institutions directly compared to others? In state? In conference?
• Are the standards you are supposed to reach based on someone else's goals?
• Strengths
– MOSAIC project management solid – Executive sponsorship
– Willingness to take risks
– Expertise with PS Academic Advising and PS PeopleTools
• Weaknesses
– Campus Fatigue from 3 years of dramatic technology change – Strained relationship with advisors
• Opportunities
– Budget – funds reserved for 2 more years – Way to fulfill Board of Regents goals
– Advising load improvements
• Threats
– Project Budget – Competition for the funds
– Campus Budget – Organizational restructuring, property tax losses, lots of oversight
• Arizona Board of Regents Performance Measures
– Increase in freshman to sophomore retention • Fall 2010 – Fall 2011: 77.4%
• Goal for 2017: 85% – Increase in graduation rates
• Four-Year Graduation Rate (Class of 2007) : 39.9% • Six-Year Graduation Rate (Class of 2005) : 61.4% – Increase quality (2011 / 2010 / 2009)
• Full Time Mean SAT: 1109 / 1100 / 1105 • Full Time Mean ACT: 24.0 / 23.8 / 23.8
• We’re behind the technology curve
– 2002 – NAU Implemented PS CS – 2007 – ASU implemented PS CS
• Is our research mission as aligned with state legislative interests?
• Did we fall behind a political curve?
• Our enrollment growth has not been as fast
– NAU – 23,600 (2009) to 25,364 (2011) – 7.47% – ASU – 68,064 (2009) to 72,254 (2011) – 6.16% – UA – 38,767 (2009) to 39,236 (2011) – 1.21%
• Retention improvements aren’t as great either
• How does your campus decide what
MustM
• Have a queue
• Separate great from good • Consider and quantify
– Risk / Reward
– Return on Investment
• Be willing to deal with difficult topics • Listen first
• Be willing to take risks
• Filter voices that are always volume 11 • Separate products from projects
• MOSAIC Portfolio - Local reserve
generated from investment income and other local sources
• Our Project – Savings from initial student project
– Managed scope very carefully
– Market rates for consulting decreased
– Returns from new workforce: Business Analysts
• Do one ‘big deal’ or several smaller projects?
• One Big Deal
– Scarce – don’t get to do many ‘big deals’ – Opportunity to fulfill a very strategic goal
• Lots of Small Projects
– Diversifies Risk
• We had momentum
• We had a significant need
• We were taking it in a larger MOSAIC portfolio
• Urgency to prepare for imminent state funding changes
• Urgency to respond to significant in-state competition for in-state
• Welcome Back
• Remaining agenda:
– From big picture to project development – Project Initiation & Startup
– Managing the Project – Looking Forward
• How are we feeling?
• How do you consider important decision?
• We want all of this butM • Cost
– We want to stay on or under budget
• Scope
– We want to make sure that my customers get what they need
• Time
– We want to deliver on-time
• Quality
– We want to minimize
• Risk
• How will you govern your project? • What oversight will you seek?
• What additional oversight will be required?
• Executive Steering
• AVP for Academic Affairs
– Deans and Faculty – Advisors
• AVP for Student Affairs
– Holistic Student Experience
• CIO
• How do you plan your project? • How do you staff your project?
• Primarily from IT?
• How many members of campus are engaged?
• Part-time participation allowed? • Consulting?
• Temporary employment? • Backfill?
• Purpose-built team • Led by co-directors
– Academic Affairs & Student Affairs (part-time)
• Hired 3 former advisors
– Leadership roles in the advising community – Trained/developed into Business Analysts
• Engaged consulting
– Project Management (part-time)
– Functional (full-time Academic Advising in this case) – Technical (technical staff were already busy)
• What project management methodology do you use?
• What technology?
• Dedicated project manager? • Measures/metrics?
• Focus on specific goals
– Time sensitive / academic calendar driven
– Milestones established by our sponsors & defined by our customers
• Communication to the community
– From start to the end – In their space, not ours
• Build allies from adversaries
– Strategic choices and campus relationships
• Agile Project Management
– Iterative builds
– Functional / Technical partnership – Phased roll-out by college (with pilot)
Change 1 (there is a 2)M
• How do you handle opportunities (aka scope changes)?
Change Management
• Every Project Changes
– Ours has perhaps had more than most
• Knowing when to hold and when to fold • Keeping up with the Jones
Case Study: Degree Search
• Big opportunity & small cost (1 month) • Willing to accept less Degree Track
scope
• Became a strategic milestone for our executive steering team
Key: Development vs Implementation • Continuous Change Management • Changing directions
– Feedback driving decisions
• Multidirectional feedback
– Constant 360 review
– How do you listen to so many voices
• Competitive feedback
– Difference of opinion – Client or Customer?
• If you don’t do something, you’re doing nothingM
Change 2
• Lots of external moving parts can impact your project – organization, competition, personality, policy, process, technology, etc.
• How do you handle personnel changes as an example?
• Changes:
– 3rd co-director
– Additional full-time staff member - BA – Work with marketing
– Swap out web programmer
• Co-directors (two heads)
• Highly productive vs group think
– JAD session / co-location
• Natural fighter personality
• How to sustain energy during compromise?
• How do you stay focused on your customers?
• Do students present a particular challenge?
One Project with Three Customers 1. Students (self service)
2. Advisors (opportunity to lever their talents)
3. Department, College, and University Management (course and student
Customer 1 – Students (as user) • Self service
• Developing a more informed consumer
– What to take and when – 4 year graduation pathways – Curricular choice and fit
Customer 1 – Students (as contributor) • Feedback from an end user
– Student facing interface
– Driver for adaption of product on campus
• Various populations
– Student leaders
– Students on academic probation
• Listening between the lines • Watching how they click
• This is NOT easy
Customer 2 – Academic Advisors
• Partners in an electronic advising tool • Project staff
– BAs are former advisors
• Advising community
– Experts on the data (owners as well?)
– Specific and frequent feedback from three existing organizations
• Implications for the future of advising on campus?
Customer 3 – Curricular Decision Makers • Seat demand, ie, what to offer
– Future instructor hiring – RCM implications?
• Student FTE, Retention, and Graduation Rates
Student Affairs: Another customer? • Career services
– Degree search content
• Recruitment
– Tool for prospective students
• Tutoring services
– how many tutors in which subjects
• NCAA programs of studies • Financial aid / scholarships • Marketing
Ready to take a look? Degree Tracker Demo
UA: Are we done yet? • No, never
• Finding closure a project that can never close
Questions, comments, concerns,
