Principles of Process Review
There are two key themes we suggest all institutions should keep in mind when thinking about their business processes:
Customer/Client Focus
Income Generation
Customer/Client Focus - A common theme amongst successful businesses in all areas of activity is that they have a strong client focus. This is a factor that is all too easily submerged when an institution is embroiled in the internal politics of running a project. Our view is that in our business the client is nearly always the learner. This Kit includes examples of a learner-centred approach to business processes that might surprise you. It is also worth remembering that learning and teaching is the core function of all of our institutions and that any consideration of the impact on the student as a client also means considering the impact on learning and teaching. Many types of change may impact on your pedagogic models e.g. moving into new markets such as distance or work-based learning. The design of your administrative processes also has an impact on pedagogy e.g. a lengthy enrolment period effectively reduces the teaching year and pushes you towards more independent learning. The introduction of on-line learning may have indirect impacts that, if not carefully managed, can affect your ability to deliver to your target audience e.g. printing costs passed on to student. To take the example further, you may offer open-access facilities to counter this but some students will not use the facilities unless there is some 'authority', in the form of security staff, present. Process design can be a minefield of issues such as this but, with a structured approach based on understanding and relating to client needs, they can be overcome.
Income Generation - This one may raise a few eyebrows but if you want to get the most out of this review forget about cost cutting and think instead about income generation. A narrow focus on bottom-line costs (aside from the notorious difficulties inherent in fully costing activities in the sector) will get in the way of you identifying opportunities. It emphasises a smokestack view of the organisation - you will cut the scope down to what (you believe) you can accurately cost and you will miss the chance to make potentially wide-ranging improvements. An example of such an approach could be the implementation of an HR system in a large institution. If you look at this purely from the perspective of costs in your Personnel Department it will cost money and may take increased staff time to input data. However if what you have actually done is to cut out a vast series of manual record systems across the organisation the potential savings are enormous (aside from the improvements in data quality and timeliness). Improving the experience your institution offers the student will undoubtedly lead to increased revenue. It will also lead to improved staff satisfaction: the other aspect to this approach is the critical need to get staff on your side when you are implementing change. People want to do a good job and to be associated with quality and value. If you want to get staff on board you need to emphasise that you are looking to improve quality and overall efficiency. Remember - turkeys won't vote for Christmas! The section on costing looks at this in more detail.
With this in mind you may want to think about the principles that underlie your business administration. We came up with six principles that we believe are appropriate to any process:
The principles are so straightforward and self-evident that few people could argue against them. You ought to be able to get both senior management and other staff signed up to the fact that this is how we should be working. Senior managers can see clearly that an organisation run along these lines will necessarily be as efficient and cost effective as possible. Staff can see that this is about doing a job well and adding value.
With this approach you can turn a potentially threatening review into a Win/Win situation for all of the major stakeholders.
