Bradley University has hired a third-party consulting agency to assess the workflow processes of administrative units throughout campus.
The agency, Huron Consulting Group, evaluates organizational performance and provides an outline of prioritized recommendations.
Since the beginning of this semester, Huron has been evaluating various administrative units across the university.Afewareasincludedeans’ offices, student affairs, administrative staffs, the Office of Advancement, the Office of Admissions and business offices.
Provost Walter Zakahi and Nathan Thomas, vice president for student affairs, are the project leads responsible for meeting with Huron weekly.
The in-depth assessment consists of Huron analyzing university paperwork processes, interviewing individuals and administering activity assessments, which require respondents to record the amount of time they spend on daily tasks.
Thomas said the university needed to reexamine its routine operations that may be unclear to students and those outside administrative circles.
“So those types of policies and procedures pile up,” Thomas said. “They become confusing. We do things because they make sense to us, but maybe they don’t make sense to other people.”
Thomas said that this type of process has not taken place during his time at Bradley, but a reexamination could improve effectiveness and efficiency.
“We recognized that there are some process issues we need to work through that would, overall, benefit a number, any number, of different projects we’re working on,” Thomas said.
Activity assessments were due today, according to Thomas. Once other initial data gathering is complete, Huron will take six to eight weeks to analyze the information and return a batch of results and recommendations.
“It’s a massive undertaking that they’re doing in a relatively short period of time,” Thomas said.
Thomas added that Huron is looking at a large number of roles on campus, but general faculty are not included. However, faculty members who have administrative roles will be investigated.
