Progress tracker

Workstream Lead name: James Badger

Workstream summary: The workstream will conduct an end-user review of the Archibus software used to log issues and problems relating to the Estate and its facilities. The scope will include assessing how the software can be better utilised by contractors.

What has been delivered? 

• April-June 2023: Process map drawn following observations and interviews with representatives from each stakeholder group
• June-August 2023: Reviewed map and designed a trial within an academic school
• September-December 2023: Ran the trial and reviewed feedback
• January-present 2024: Scoping requirement specification and plan for software upgrade

What’s next?

• Present-June 2024: Deliver Archibus software upgrade with supporting training and change management activity

Contact email: j.w.badger@lboro.ac.uk

Workstream Lead name: Oliver Preedy

Workstream summary:The University currently adopts a 'one-size-fits-all' approach to field work risk assessments, regardless of the location and nature of the work being undertaken. The submission and approval process are inefficient, with multiple black holes for users.

What has been delivered? 

• 2023: Design and build of Power App supported software solution

What’s next?

• Present-June 2024: Trial the solution in an academic school
• June – September 2024: Implement solution across all schools. 
  
  

Contact email: o.preedy@lboro.ac.uk

Workstream Lead name: Reena Saujani

Workstream summary: A review of the reasonable adjustments process was conducted by the Change Team in 2018. The recommendations were accepted by the Change Portfolio Board and implemented by the Student Wellbeing and Inclusivity team, part of Student Services. This workstream aims to conduct a review of the process, in light of post-pandemic learnings. It will focus on the extent to which tailored information is provided to module leaders, thereby increasing the efficiency of the process.

What has been delivered? 

• September-December 2023: Thorough process review and mapping activity of the reasonable adjustment process

What’s next?

• March 2024: Workshops to scope desirability, achievability, and feasibility of different recommendations
• April 2024: Determine scope and shape of Phase 2 (first delivery stage) and plan the stage to fit.

Contact email: r.saujani@lboro.ac.uk

Aim

To reduce the administrative burden on staff and students by moving from an APA accredited apprenticeship pathway to PGCert.

Future State

Apprenticeships are resourced sustainably and proportionately from an academic and professional services perspective.

Benefits Realised

1092 days

Aim

To reduce the time-intensive nature of the time allocation survey for the annual TRAC return. This approach involves multiple sign-offs and input from colleagues across three Professional Service departments.

Future State

Data collection is semi-automated for the annual TRAC return, removing the need for a manual time allocation survey.

Benefits Realised

188 days

Additional benefits

• Increased consistency and reliability of data
• 287 staff positively affected by reduced workload
• Improved morale in the Finance Department and amongst academic staff

Aim

Reduce the amount of time and burden involved for academic colleagues marking student asssessments, and providing/responding to student feedback. This workstream also aims to improve the National Student Survey (NSS) score in relation to assessment and feedback.

Future State

The burden of assessment delivery is reduced for colleagues, with a measurable decrease in the amount of time taken to provide certain types of feedback. 

Benefits realised

We estimate over 310 days have been saved across the schools reducing the number of assessment points in their modules as part of the project.

A SharePoint resource outlining guidance on providing feedback and how to design assessments has been set up and existing technologies to support provision of personalised feedback on examinations are now advertised to academics.

Monitoring Risks

Risks to the implementation of actions from the Assessment and Feedback report continue to exist around staff capacity to make changes and to absorb new ways of doing things (which, although resulting in time savings eventually, will initially mean more work). Learning and teaching continue to be a space where significant time savings for staff could be made. An additional challenge will likely emerge around the timings of aligning changes through the workstream with the delivery of the Education & Student Experience core plan.

Aim

In line with the Council Effectiveness Review, support colleagues to write clear, focused papers, and enable the creation of concise papers.

Future State

There is a measurable decrease in the size of paper packs, the impact of which is positively felt by Chairs and Secretaries through committees' effectiveness. This feedback is collected qualitatively, alongside the positive experience of paper authors regarding the time taken to write papers.

Benefits realised

A 'Ways of Working Principles' paper has been endorsed by the University Leadership Group (ULG) which will act as a foundation from which tangible benefits and deliverables are agreed. A key vehicle for this will be the upscaling of the 'Writing for Business' course led out of Organisational Development. The first institution-wide cohorts of this were completed in February 2023. 

A high level review of Council pack lengths, which receive a number of papers previously submitted to other committees, showed a 20% reduction in pack length between 2021 and 2023.

We estimate this to have saved around 50 days for Council and committee members.

Aim

Eliminate the need for back-and-forth exchanges via email regarding charge codes for jobs where ink and paper costs are negligible.

Future State

Each area of the University will have a specified charge code for small jobs that will automatically be charged, without the person placing the order needing to provide it each time.

Benefits Realised (to date)

We estimate 72 days have been saved for CPS staff.

The workstream has now been fully scoped and a process review has been completed. Changes were implemented, with the following improvements introduced:

• Mail charges have been automated
• Student printing queues transitioned from counter to online shop
• Month-end reports are now generated automatically

Aim

The current ethics approval process is not sufficiently risk-based and requires significant levels of sign-offs and checks at all points. The result is a time-consuming process that can be frustrating for both users and service owners.

Future State

Our approach to ethics approvals will be risk-based and approached in a way that gives appropriate authority and accountability to staff who have sufficient knowledge to approve applications at low, medium, and high risk levels. Opportunities will be identified to reduce the number of feedback loops an application goes through. 

Benefits Realised (to date)

Ethics applications made by undergraduate and postgraduate taught project students which are classified as low risk are signed off by the supervisor without further review. Training to support the implementation of this change has also been developed, focusing on both ethical thinking and technical/system knowledge.

Monitoring Risks

Maintaining buy-in and support from key colleagues involved in the process- both centrally and in relation to Ethics Committee- remains crucial to the success of the project.

Aim

Examine how the institution uses platforms (Outlook, MS Teams etc.) and identify opportunities to reduce volume and increase quality of communications.

Future State

Encourage a standardised institutional approach and culture to email and MS Teams usage, with colleagues able to access digital competency and advanced platform training, if requested. There is a demonstrable reduction in email 'noise', with positive qualitative feedback on the impact of this.

Latest Update

The success of this workstream is dependent on leaders and managers to act as role models for others in mindful inbox management and 'passive permission giving' (e.g. awareness of when emails are sent and clarity on their purpose). This aligns closely with Project Expectation's 'Leadership Development' workstream. Alongside this, steps are being taken to support with the upskilling of individuals in the use of features in Outlook and Teams. The Project has commissioned EAB to conduct a benchmarking exercise across the wider sector and beyond on how to approach this. It is anticipated that this will align closely with the existing upskilling of digital platforms led by the Enhanced Academic Practice team in Organisational Development.

Monitoring Risks

There are three actively monitored risks with this workstream:

• Scope: Given the breadth of the topic, it can be easy to stray into out-of-scope areas
• Buy-in: It requires an institutional appetite for change in order to succeed
• Evolution: Technology and solutions remain fast-paced in this area (e.g. the seismici increase in MS Teams usage since the pandemic). We need to ensure our proposed solutions are as future proof as possible.

Aim

Critically reflect on the role and remit of Operations Committee, incuding consistecncy and transparency of decision-making and devolved autonomy.

Benefits Realised

25 days

Additional benefits

• Weekly Operations Committee meetings have been reduced from 90 minutes to half an hour.
• Schools and Professional Services departments are empowered to make in-budget decision through a new devolved process.
• The request submission process takes approximately half the time as a result of the new process.

Aim

To address the hand-offs, black spots and failure demands identified in the PhD admissions process. This review will initially be conducted in the School of Architecture, Building, and Civil Engineering (ABCE), but there is an expectation that any lessons learnt will be considered for implementation in other schools.

Future State

Both PhD candidates and admissions staff are able to clearly view the admissions pathway, with efficient correspondence between parties, and an awareness of their application 'status'.

Benefits Realised

New guidance has been created for:

• Academic supervisors to track applicants in the process without the need for assistance from administrative staff
• Visiting students transferring to PhDs
• Recording absence and annual leave, to ensure applications still progress without pauses
• A clear escalation process where applications require decision-making from senior admissions staff

Monitoring Risks

Knowledge and training within admissions teams might not be at the level needed to undertake root-and-branch change. Steps should be taken to address for this through the introduction of appropriate training, before changes to the process are introduced.

Aim

To examine the workload associated with the creating of placement reports and visits, and whether this is in the best interests of staff and students.

Future State

Staff and students will be able to conduct placement progress meetings online (up to all three recommended visits, if mutually agreed) and post-placement assessments will be delivered in a format that is mindful of the attached weighting, as well as the workload for staff and students.

Monitoring

Variability of how the changes are being introduced across Schools will be monitored by the Placements Team, alongside Associate Deans for Education & Student Experience. This will ensure that changes are well communicated and are being implemented to the benefit of staff.

Benefits Realised

667 days

Aim

The current procurement process is elongated and not user-friendly, despite often being completed by a layperson outside of the Finance team.

Future State

A new process will create an intuitive, branched electronic form that allows users to focus on the questions/information relevant to their specific case. Time will be saved through the creation of some automated steps (e.g. approvals and signatures).

Final Update

Finance continue to make good progress on the 'how we spend money' project. A dedicated resource within Finance, together with ad-hoc support from IT Services, has resulted in the creation of an online form and approvals process. The pilot is now going through user testing, alongside the addition of troubleshooting guidance on the relevant webpages. Necessary communication on the update, as well as training on the new process, will be launched prior to the rollout in late summer 2023.

Benefits realised

600 days

Aim

Conduct a review of the current timetabling process, with the view to improving its efficiency for administrators and academics.

Problem Statements

• Each previous academic year's schedule should be used as a basis to amend things, rather than starting from scratch each time
• Currently, the system operates with an assumption that something is going to change, rather than everything is going to stay the same. As a result, colleagues are asked to provide the same information every year.

Latest Update

This workstream is being steered by a group of colleagues drawn from the Change Team and Academic Registry. The workstream has been scoped and a process review methodology approved, led by colleagues in the Change Team.

Aim

Reduce the amount of time colleagues spend in meetings and broaden the diversity of University-level meeting memberships to improve inclusivity and transparency.

Future State

There is a measurable reduction in the amount of time the Executive spend in meetings, correlating with an increase in the diversity of meetings' membership.

Latest Update

The Senate and Council Effectiveness reviews scheduled for 2023 and 2024 respectively will consider this problem statement and therefore the Project Enable workstream has been closed to prevent duplicated effort.

Aim

To improve the sustainability of the approach to contract approvals in the Research and Innovation Office (RIO), with the aim of reducing the number of cases requiring review and negotiation from RIO.

Future State

The RIO contract triaging and approval process is streamlined, with minimal hand-offs. A system and staffing structure are in place that are sustainable, leading to no case backlogs.

Benefits Realised

6 days

Additional benefits

• The new process and structure has resulted in a zero case backlog
• The percentage of cases being reviewed each month has increased by 10%
• The average number of cases being reviewed each month has increased by 19%
• The average processing time for each contract has decreased from 108 days (Summer 2022) to 78 days (Winter 2022).