Rapid process improvements (RPIs)

Rapid process improvements (RPIs) focus on quick wins in improving process efficiencies. Putting these in place in the short-term can resolve administrative pain points with immediate benefits in cost as well as user satisfaction. Opportunities for administrative improvements were submitted by staff and leadership in faculties and central units. 

  • Simplifying processes by removing unnecessary steps and duplication, 
  • Better allocating processes by changing where and by whom they are completed, 
  • Changing quality or quantity of services to what is needed to achieve outcomes, 
  • Automating or enhanced through the use of new or existing technology, 
  • Building specific and technical capability of staff to enhance service performance, and
  • Streamlining compliance or change risk approach to enable processes to be more efficient.

As RPIs are completed, they will be announced on this page. Feedback on process improvements will continue throughout the SET process.

 

Awards and scholarships management

Issue identified

Undergraduate merit-based student financial supports were previously administered by the RO and from within the faculties. The selection and nomination process extended administrative timelines by 3-10 months and directed students to multiple locations (central, faculty, department, etc.) to gain access to merit-based student financial supports.

Solution

We have centralized undergraduate merit-based student financial supports to the Office of the Registrar (RO), including prizes, medals, awards and scholarships.

RPI 16 - Award timeline

Please note, this excludes athletic funding, awards for study abroad, post-graduate medical education (PGME) supports.

Benefits

  • Students will have their award offers sooner, which will mean students will know the full extent of their awards and be able to see their total balance owing prior to the tuition and fee payment deadline.
  • For award administrators, unified delivery will result in faster decisions, improved quality and consistency in the application system and in application processing, streamlined administration and earlier funding announcements and disbursements.

Important Links:

Please note, this excludes athletic funding, awards for study abroad, post-graduate medical education (PGME) supports.

Professional Expense Reimbursement (PER) tracking and value of assets (RPI bundle)

Issue identified

All assets purchased by employees through the PER program were tracked regardless of value. This meant the university was spending time and money tracking and valuing small, movable assets, such as computers and computer accessories of all kinds. It also required senior-level signoff for all end-of-life transactions (such as when the employee purchased the asset at the end of their employment, donations, trade-in and recycling) to write off those assets.

Solution

Only PER-purchased equipment valued at more than $1,000 will be tracked. We introduced the asset depreciation approach for PER-purchased equipment only, which automatically reduces the value for these types of purchases. This approach is a commonly-used method in accounting and does not incur additional risk to the university. Assets purchased with operating or research funds require a fair market value assessment despite the value. 

Benefits

  • Introducing asset depreciation for PER equipment reduces back-office costs and administrative frustration through the effort spent tracking low-value assets purchased through the PER program.
  • University employees wanting to buy equipment they purchased through the PER program at the end of their employment have a clear and defined valuation process which expedites the activity.

For more information:

Changing financial corrections defaults

Issue identified

The Accounts Payable (AP) module of the Accounts Payable Journal Voucher (APJV) system in PeopleSoft defaults to including GST. Every entry required a manual switch to indicate no GST.

Solution

Supply Management Services (SMS) and TATA Consultancy Services (our software provider) changed the defaults, which included developing the change in the software, testing, and implementing the new default.

Benefits

  • The new default makes the APJV easier to work with, less likely to forget the step from human error, and will save time for the financial administration staff.

For more information:

Simplify grant signing matrix (RPI bundle)

Issue identified

Current grant-signing authorization limits in the Research Services Office (RSO) posed unnecessary and complicated workflows for grant applications and amendments. The system was set up with seven narrow bands of signing authority, which made it very likely that applications would need to be escalated and therefore require more time (and labour cost).

Additionally, depending on the home faculty/department of the particular research team, some grants needed to go through up to four reviews or approvals within the department and faculty before reaching the RSO.

Solution

The RSO has expanded the authorization bands to empower people closest to the process to make decisions, thus reducing the number of times that escalations are required for approvals at the institutional level.

In addition, the RSO is encouraging and empowering faculties and departments to control their authorization matrix before it reaches the RSO. For example, ALES—a large, research-intensive faculty—has cut their required reviews and approvals across the board (down to one or two), centralizing the approval at the faculty level.

These two RPIs have been reviewed by the Provost's Office and the institutional legal team to ensure we are not taking on more risk by adjusting the signatory bands.

Benefits

  • Reducing the layers of signing authority results in a faster turnaround time for grant applications and amendments. This also improves approval workflow by re-assessing authorization levels based on the current environment and actual risks.
  • Allows for expanded staff decision-making, and reduction of non-value add authorization cycle time by increasing signing bands at lower levels; thus enhancing accountability throughout the process.
  • Reducing the number of required RSO signatures lowers costs and reduces the delay time by approximately one week per signature reduction.
  • For faculties that have also reduced their faculty-level approvals, most grant applications can be processed even faster.

For more information:

Research funding policy and procedure simplification

Issue identified

The Eligibility to Apply for and Hold Research Funding Policy and associated procedures were prescriptive and confusing, handled funding on a case by case basis, and included multiple pages in an attempt to list every permutation of the policy. This led to duplication of effort when determining eligibility for researchers applying for funding.

Solution

Following a great deal of consultation with unions and deans’ council, we reduced the Eligibility to Apply for and Hold Research Funding Policy document from seven pages to two. The new policy is intended to simplify the entire process by providing a statement of principles rather than a complex set of rules. It also rescinds the related Eligibility to Apply for and Hold Research Funding Procedure, saving time. In addition to greatly reducing the length and complexity of this procedure, we have introduced exceptions to the new policy that only require the dean's approval, removing the VPRI approval requirement.

In addition to the original scope of the RPI, we are also implementing a disclosure at the New Project Request stage in PeopleSoft in which the PI will need to disclose whether they have a conflict of interest with the sponsor or any vendors which will be supplying services or supplies to the project. This disclosure will be visible to the subsequent approvers of the request (i.e. chair, dean, etc.). Adding disclosure information here will make potential conflicts of interest more transparent when a researcher requests a new project.

Benefits

  • A simpler process with clearer and easier rules to follow for eligibility will save time and effort in the long term.
  • Simplification of the policy will save time in the faculties and in the Research Services Office (RSO) for new Faculty Service Officers (FSO) and Administrative Professional Officers (APO) who need to approve funding.
  • Staff will be able to focus on determining eligibility of exceptions that a dean would need to review instead of evaluating standard cases.

For more information:

Refine procedure for financial exception situations

Issue identified

When working within a grant or restricted fund, the Guide to Financial Management was unclear as to how to deal with small-dollar cost recoveries, such as salaries relating to parental leave, as there was not a level given for when you need to take a certain action.

Solution

We developed and refined policy and procedure regarding exceptions or anomalous situations like stipends, parental leave reimbursement, travel reimbursement, etc. For amounts less than $10,000, the amount can be run through the project as a credit to the related expense. For anything higher, or for a new grant, the RSO will still need to process.

This process improvement involved an update to the Guide to Financial Management. Many people at the university have reviewed the changes to ensure there was no additional risk incurred.

Benefits

  • This will save time for the finance administrator in the departments related to handling exceptions and determine the correct policy to use.

For more information:

If you have questions, please contact the RSO.