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Exit Process Initiative Begins Implementing Recommendations

Last spring, the Office of Operational Excellence created the Exit Process Initiative to streamline and improve the employment exit process from the University. Since that time, the Initiative Team, led by Sheri Starkey, Associate Vice President for Human Resources, has been working to look at the exit process through the eyes of all involved, document the process, identify areas for improvements, and create a new electronic process for benefit-eligible faculty and staff.

To address the opportunities they identified in the process, the team created a series of recommendations and future opportunities that are currently being implemented:

Develop Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for the exit process – The SOP will include identification of all responsible parties and roles for the exit process, Identification and definition of terms used, outline of the complete timeline and distribution of the termination process. This new SOP will give SMU consistency across departments and schools, improved response time and efficiency and reduced financial and compliance risks.

Create electronic exit form for benefit-eligible faculty and staff – the new forms will use Gideon Taylor forms software and will use a third party vendor to facilitate implementation. The new form will provide the University with a consistent exit process for faculty and staff, expedite notifications to terminate access and the clearance process, automate the termination and increase efficiency and completion time. Until the new forms are complete, the existing faculty electronic form will be revised to provide users with a more efficient experience until the new process is complete.

Enhance timely communication between supervisors and HR regarding termination procedures for faculty and staff – The communication plan includes new monthly messages to supervisors to prompt termination reporting and share importance and impact of timely and accurate time sheet entries and approvals. The SMU Manager Blog serves as the main vehicle for communication and will be home to checklists and FAQs for employees leaving SMU and managers. Increased communication about the exit process will improve awareness of policies and best practices and reduce the risks associated with processing late terminations.

Identify liaison within each business unit and school to provide education and training to manage terminations, pay papers, and time keeping – In 90% of exits, the structure exists and is working well. But creating liaisons offers HR the opportunity to work with business units and schools to train and educate on managing terminations, pay papers and time-keeping.

While the larger recommendations are being implemented, the team developed some quick fixes to jumpstart improvements in the exit process. Concur approval delegates will be initiated and HR will establish a master time approver at the point of termination. They will also use PeopleSoft to identify H1b visa employees to manage timely and appropriate visa status and track exiting employee rehire eligibility.

Moving forward, the Initiative Team believes there are additional opportunities associated with terminating access rights for those with access to University-wide systems and communications platforms. They will also work with the Access Control Initiative to develop a centralized inventory for all recoverable items provided to employees such as computers, tablets, phones/pagers, keys,​ uniforms​, vehicles, P-Cards/Credit Cards, ​Org subscriptions​, other misc. equipment. The initiative team will also review the reporting and approving of time, vacation accruals, temporary employee exits and the exit survey currently used when terminating staff.

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Access Control Recommends Fully Automated Process For Campus Spaces

In order to improve the process by which faculty, staff and student employees request and receive access to campus buildings and spaces, last fall the Office of Operational Excellence created the Access Control Initiative. Led by George Finney, Chief Security Office, the team contacted peer institutions to identify best practices and surveyed SMU employees with responsibilities for building scheduling, authorizing access and managing keys.

The team determined that the most efficient and effective way to manage a unified workflow for granting access would be to deploy a fully automated process. The recommendations for implementation are in three phases and would be complete in two and a half years.

Phase 1 – The first phase of the automation process, projected to take six months, includes the creation of a single workflow for both keys and cards, enforcement of manager/liaison approvals, elimination of the use of codes on doors and updating the key and access control policies and procedures. The current University policy on access control was written in 1994, before the use of electronic card access and prior to Facilities taking on responsibilities for the campus locksmiths. These new workflows and a clearly defined and web-accessible process that accounts for technological advances will help employees who are unsure of how to request the permissions they need.

Phase 2 – In the year that follows the first phase, the initiative team will aim to establish service –level agreements for key issuance, conduct a key inventory assessment and amnesty program for returning orphan keys, create a storage area for returned keys and implement an annual audit for keys and cards. To manage these recommendations, the team endorses the creation of a Key Manager position to expedite key requests, create and maintain an inventory in PeopleSoft, assist in the exit process and conduct an annual review of key assignments.

Phase 3 – In the final year the PeopleSoft Asset Control system created for keys would be expanded to include all University assets. To help managers track what SMU-owned assets have been assigned to their employees throughout their tenure at the University, the initiative recommends adding modules to an online inventory system to include uniforms, tablets, laptops, vehicles, tools and more. Similar to keys, these assignments should also be reviewed annually to determine condition and whether or not the property is still needed.

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Repurposed Property Initiative is Building Offers Since Launch

Recently, the Operational Excellence Repurposed Property Initiative team launched two email listservs to enable SMU departments to share surplus office supplies and furniture. Faculty and staff sign up for the listservs voluntarily and can claim items posted for campus use for no charge on a first-come, first-served basis.

The response to the listservs has been great. The office supply listserv has 304 participants and the furniture exchange has 194. So far, over 50 offerings have been distributed to the office supply group and only 12 of them were not claimed. The furniture exchange listserv has had 20 postings (includes multiples) and 12 of them have been claimed.

“Even though the lists are in their infancy, it is great to see that people are interested in saving money on supplies and furniture,” said Karie Conklin, project manager for the initiative and assistant to SMU’s chief information officer. “As an added benefit, it is nice to know that we are also reducing waste by finding new homes for supplies and furniture instead of sending them to a landfill.”

Registration for both listservs is ongoing. To join in the cost-saving and waste-reducing action, subscribe to the office supply exchange and the furniture exchange

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News

Streamlining Events: SMU’s New Site Features Venues, Campus Partners and More

Last spring, the Operational Excellence Event Management Initiative team began implementing a list of improvements developed to streamline the event planning process at SMU. Among their recommendations was the creation of a one-stop website for both internal and external event planners.

The site, smu.edu/Events, went live in October and features information about venues, University policies and campus partners which should prove helpful to those planning all kinds of events including, receptions, luncheons, weddings, student events, conferences, and more. Photos, location details, capacities, and the Event Lead to contact for scheduling or more information are given for each major SMU venue in addition to a venue directory.

The Event Leads are members of a group recently created by the Event Management Initiative and serve as primary logistics contacts or representatives for the spaces in their area(s). Event leads are also responsible for keeping information about their venues current on the SMU Event Services website and meet quarterly to discuss standards and best practices. This group is co-chaired by Denton Bricker, Director of Operations for Conference and Event Services and  Jay Hengst, Director of Operations and Events at Meadows School of the Arts.

The new website is managed by Denton Bricker.

For questions about the site, contact jdbricker@smu.edu.

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News Staff Spotlight

Team Spotlight: The Progress of SMU’s Graduate Application Processing Initiative

As part of the OE2C project, an initiative was undertaken to centralize and streamline graduate program applications, whereas before each school had to manage its own applications. After moving graduate admissions to a shared services model and creating the Graduate Application Process (GAP), Joe Davis, associate dean of admission, now oversees a team that manages part of graduate applications for five of the seven colleges. The GAP serves as a central processing point for all application materials, leaving academic departments with only the review and decision-making to manage.

“What was split between five or six offices is now concentrated in one,” said Davis.  “We have been able to standardize and codify some processes within graduate admission and have brought best practices from each individual school forward to benefit all programs at SMU.  The process  also moves faster and students are receiving decisions sooner. We have also managed to vastly improve the process for international students receiving I-20s.”

Davis said that each graduate program has its own unique challenges. “Some of our graduate programs have a high volume, rolling admission process, while others have a smaller, very individualized process, so we had to develop a system that would work at both ends of that continuum.”

Cruz Lopez, senior business analyst and admissions module lead, focuses more on process improvement than employee management in his new role with the GAP. “A flatter reporting structure has been advantageous,” said Lopez, “mainly due to having a high-level supervisor in a leadership position whom we directly report to and whose main priority is improving operations.”

“The biggest advantage of the new GAP structure has been our ability to implement Slate for all SMU graduate programs who have wanted it,” said Jill Witt, senior business systems analyst in the Office of Undergraduate Admissions. “Since our admission operations team was already highly knowledgeable about Slate and admissions processing, the implementation for each school was relatively straightforward because we were able to apply best practices and processes used in the implementation of Slate for undergrad admissions. Although each graduate program is very different and has very different goals and processes, Slate is a highly flexible, customizable tool, and we have been able to develop it in such a way that it works for the many unique needs across SMU graduate programs.”

Witt said the new structure has given her a broader perspective about how things work at SMU. “I have very much enjoyed getting to know faculty and staff across campus. I have also really enjoyed learning about graduate admission processes, both on the recruiting side and the application side.”

Davis and his team continue to look for improvements in graduate application processes. “We are working to give graduate departments more functionality within the Slate system,” he said. “There is a lot of potential for programs to be more proactive with recruitment activities, and I see that as our next big opportunity.”

“I enjoy continuing to be challenged on a regular basis,” said Lopez.  “Admissions is ever-changing, which is exciting, and having the support and direction has been a real plus.”