Imagining Future Processes

Before launching into a refurbishment or new build project it is worth taking a step back to give consideration to what it is you hope to achieve in the new space. Is it really just a replica of what happens in your current space or are there things that could be improved about the way your organisation currently works?

There are a number of examples within the education sector of organisations that have reviewed their processes as an initial part of their Learning Space Design Project. JISC infoNet has produced an infoKit on Process Review that gives some simple fast-track ways of identifying improvements and emphasises the need to put the learner at the heart of the process. Elsewhere in this infoKit we refer to the need to have a creative view of the future that you wish to create. This has to be a starting point for process review. Having a view of what you would like things to be like means that during process review you can measure proposals against that future rather than adopt a 'deficit' approach that tries to 'fix' what is perceived to be wrong, which can be threatening and insulting to staff that operate current processes. For example, a rationale that is business process-focused, such as that used by Telford College, provides a common focus for staff and managers to make improvements.

Telford has introduced a managed Just-in-Time printing service for staff in its new building. This has resulted in storage space and financial savings. Michael Turpie, Associate Principal at Telford, endorses the need to plan, to be organised, and to think through the cycle. As a result of the initiative throughput has increased by 50%. There is an electronic document management system in place at Telford and the Corporate Information project completely changed information systems in the College. Electronic signatures, ID management, workflow, etc are all built into it and the information is more accurate than before and flows well.

At Glasgow Caledonian, the Students Access to Services (SAS) project undertook process review as an extended project over more than two years that involved all the departments providing services for students. The starting point for this review was a simple underlying principle that 'students should not have to understand how the university is structured in order to access its services'. The University engaged a project manager and used external services to review what was done and how it was done. A key aim was to identify which processes were:

• information provision
• transactions
• deeper processes involving problem identification and solution

The first two, information provision and transactions were, as far as possible, taken on line and are delivered in the Saltire Centre through all the computers in the building but also specifically through the Arup kiosks (interactive information points).

Feedback from the University was that an important phase of the SAS project was the input from JISC infoNet, and particularly the application of the administrative principles including 'Do it once, Do it right'. It was reported that these principles were very important, culturally significant, customer service guidelines for staff delivering on the front line. You can find out more about the methodologies used from our Process Review infoKit.

Several organisations have looked long and hard at space issues and identified that small offices can be empty for large amounts of time, paper files may be stored for years without seeing the light of day, and although single offices allow peace and quiet they also work against interaction and serendipitous conversations between staff. Some have come up with some quite radical solutions including; limiting the amount of storage space available to each member of staff, moving them out of one and two person offices into open plan offices and introducing 'hot desking'. At Telford College not even the Principal has an office! Such changes need to be carefully managed but flexible working arrangements and improved staff social areas can help win hearts and minds. Some staff at Telford found the experience of leaving years of junk behind very 'cathartic'.