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News

Contract Administration: New initiative to update policies, streamline process

The OE2C project has identified Contract Administration as the next initiative. The Contract Administration initiative team will seek to update risk policies to streamline the contracting process and to create a prioritization system for contract requests. These actions will help individuals understand how the contracting process works and create more transparency of the time required.

Dean David Chard of the Simmons School of Education & Human Development and Dr. Thomas Tunks, Professor of Music and former SMU Associate Provost, will lead the initiative. Project team members are being identified and the team expects to kick off in early September.

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News

Travel and Entertainment: Meet four software vendor finalists Sept. 4-5, 2014

As you may know, a complete review of SMU’s Travel and Entertainment Policy is underway as part of the OE2C Initiative. As part of this review, we are evaluating the implementation of an electronic travel software solution to better manage and streamline SMU business travel. Faculty and staff input on the solution is vital to ensuring the tool meets the needs of all SMU travelers.

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FAQ

Have any recent staff member departures been as a result of the OE2C process?

No. They have been from usual attrition or part of the annual budget process, which for this past fiscal year included a budget reduction of 2.5 percent for central administration and 1.5 percent for the schools and colleges. Most areas chose to meet their budget reduction without eliminating positions, but some areas opted for a reduction in the number of FTEs. Even in those cases, however, most eliminated positions had been filled by people who retired or resigned. A goal of the OE2C process is to proactively address budget shortfalls, so that we do not have to rely on non-strategic across-the-board budget cuts every few years.

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News OE2C

Progress Report, June 2014

In March, President R. Gerald Turner announced the kickoff of Operational Excellence for the Second Century (OE2C). Today, we are pleased to update you on the project’s progress thus far.

What is the OE2C project?

OE2C stands for Operational Excellence for the Second Century. We are engaging in this process because a number of external factors are having an impact on higher education institutions throughout the nation, including SMU. The institutions that will thrive are the ones that take proactive steps now to invest more fully in their academic missions.

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FAQ

Is Athletics being considered as part of the OE2C project?

Yes, to enable maximum resources to support our core academic mission, all operating units of the University are being reviewed. As we seek to reduce our expenditures on administration and institutional support, it is imperative that we take an all-university view of positions, processes and infrastructure. By looking holistically at our campus we will be able to design and deliver better support at a lower cost, thereby enabling greater investment in our core academic mission.