Finance and Business IE Summary

The Office of Finance and Business' mission statement and goals articulate a commitment to service, safety and accountability. The Office includes six service divisions: Financial Services, Environmental Health and Public Safety, Resource Management and Information Systems, Treasurer, Human Resources, and Facilities. Each of these divisions is distinct with various levels of continuous improvement efforts and assessment tools in place. Overall, Finance and Business is engaged in a number of assessment efforts that reflect an average understanding of and appreciation for assessment and its impact on the organization's effectiveness. All but one of the divisions routinely survey customer satisfaction levels, but only two have either comprehensive, overall organizational efforts or plans for such efforts. All divisions that use formal workshops and training sessions to provide information to customers solicit feedback through course evaluation forms at the end of the sessions. There is insufficient documentation to determine if all use the information gathered on the forms to make course improvements or for staff development.

The two organizational development efforts are in Human Resources and Facilities. Facilities' effort is best known as "Team Excellence." Its goal is to improve communication, customer service and the work environment. Brief descriptions are found in a recent edition of Facilities' online newsletter and in the document titled "Team Excellence." Human Resources began its organizational development effort last spring, but had to put it on hold after unexpectedly assuming additional university-wide duties and responsibilities. The goal of Human Resources' organizational study is to improve HR processes and services, to implement partner relationships throughout the University and generally to become more client-centric. Results are available from an initial assessment of the gap between the customers' expectations of the service provided by an excellent (Benefits, Payroll, Classification, etc.) department and the service they have been provided with by the actual HR department at NCSU. The analysis has not yet progressed beyond this initial "Gap 1" portion. Human Resources plans to resume its study next fall.

The Treasurer's Division is responsible for oversight of endowment assets, financing activities and student bookstore operations. These areas, especially endowments and financing, do not lend themselves easily to the traditional tools for customer feedback. Instead, they monitor returns on investment and other appropriate measures. The University Bookstore does rely on a University Standing committee to help with policy development and to make recommendations for improvements in operations. The University Standing Committee on Bookstores includes students, faculty and staff members.

More specific information about each division and their other assessment efforts is provided below.

The Human Resources Division has the greatest involvement in assessment and related improvements and demonstrates an above average understanding of the impact of assessment on the organization's effectiveness. It includes the following divisions: Employment and Compensation, Employee Relations and Training, Benefits, Payroll, and Transportation. The Division's compact plan sets forth its goals and initiatives.

In addition to the overall organizational development effort, Human Resources uses a variety of methods for assessing performance and informing improvements. Training classes and workshops are evaluated at several different levels. Every session ends with an evaluation form designed to gather information about course content and facilitator delivery. The information is used for performance evaluations, staff development and course development. The Pathways program has a mid-year and end of year survey to assess participant satisfaction, supervisory support, participant progress toward individual and organizational goals, and ultimately there is an evaluation to measure the return on investment. Participants and supervisors look at how the participant uses the learned skills and what impact the use of those skills has on the organization. The Pathway Program also uses a campus advisory board for constant assessment. It meets once each semester; there are mid-year participant focus groups for feedback and participant advisors meet with each participant to discuss suggestions for program improvements.

Human Resources uses an improvement team to assess the effectiveness of the New Employee Orientation program. It meets each semester to discuss and take opportunities for improvement. Feedback sessions with participants and adjunct trainers are also used to gather information concerning the Supervisory Development Series and the courses offered through open enrollment. Feedback with respect to content issues helps with the redesign of the course, and concerns regarding delivery are used for facilitator development. Focus groups are also used to evaluate special recognition programs to influence programming for subsequent years. Human Resources uses facilitator evaluations to assess the service quality for customized training efforts and organizational interventions. Project plans and Statement of Work goals help to keep projects on track. They are reviewed with the customer at the beginning of the work to ensure mutual understanding of expectations and goals and at the end to ensure customer satisfaction and that goals are reached. The facilitators also follow-up with a telephone call to seek feedback sometime after the closing session.

In the employment arena, Human Resources sends employee evaluation forms to each supervisor employing a temporary staff member from University Temporary Services, and it sends customer satisfaction surveys to University departments utilizing the services. Exiting employees provide feedback on their entire experience at NC State. Information gathered through that program is used to make improvements in an individual supervisor's skills, human resource programs and policies, and improvements in the University environment. Employees and supervisors are surveyed for comments and evaluation of classification and organizational services. Applicants are surveyed regularly and Human Resources evaluates the effectiveness of its recruitment sources, gathering information daily on the number of individuals viewing postings, applying for positions and ultimately getting hired. Hiring statistics are gathered and evaluated quarterly.

Improvements in the Benefits area come through the Group Insurance and Benefits Committee (GIBC). GIBC is a University Standing Committee that advises Finance and Business with respect to opportunities for improving group insurance, retirement and other fringe benefit programs of the University. GIBC provides advice with respect to improvements in existing programs and the development of new programs. The committee is made up of faculty and staff members.

In the Transportation department, hotlines, customer surveys and e-mail are all used to evaluate all services. Staff members check the "Wolf Hotline" daily and respond to customers within 48 hours. The comments received on the hotline are used in planning and maintaining Wolfline services. Transportation frequently uses focus groups to plan service delivery and rates for upcoming years. Most recently, feedback from campus focus groups resulted in the reduction in the cost of a parking permit.

The Facilities Division provides the physical environment and services for the university to accomplish its mission. Through effective management of human and physical resources and delivery of quality services, Facilities demonstrates its support of the mission of the Office of Finance and Business. Facilities Division is composed of five departments: Construction Management, Facilities Operations, Facilities Planning and Design, Real Estate, and University Architect.

The Facilities Division is proficient in its use of assessment tools to inform the organization's overall effectiveness. This is demonstrated by the following initiatives:

Master planning process to ensure quality development of the physical campus
TEAM Excellence program, an organizational development effort designed to improve communication, customer service and the work environment
Assessment tools to improve customer service and provide quality construction and building maintenance programs.

Office of University Architect designed and developed the master planning process, which lead to development of the NC State University Physical Master Plan. The plan entitled "A Campus of Neighborhoods and Paths" brings together the many parts of the campus into a coherent whole and lays out the long-range future development of the campus. It was the result of an intense series of continuing dialogs and workshops with faculty, student, staff, trustees, neighbors and the City of Raleigh. Chancellor Fox has said "[the plan] presents a campus vision that embodies NC State University's commitment to community, partnerships and efficient use of resources".

The TEAM Excellence program, which was initiated in March 2001, has improved the way Facilities Division conducts its business.

Facilities Division employs the following assessment tools to continually improve customer service and ensure that the work of designers, construction contractors and project managers meets set standards:

Real Estate Office obtains feedback through annual surveys to improve services for partner-tenants on Centennial Campus
Facilities Operations surveys the more that 250 building liaisons annually to make continuous improvements in housekeeping services, maintenance and repair, grounds management and motor pool services
Facilities Operations sends individual survey to customers after each renovation project it completed to check on quality, timeliness and communication
Facilities Operations has initiated a Door Hanger Program for maintenance and repair projects to improve communication and find out about customer satisfaction. The Door Hanger Program results in a measured response within 24 hours.
Facilities Planning and Design and Construction Management project mangers fill out a survey after each capital project is completed to assess design quality and design service during construction. Input is obtained from customers, State Construction Office project managers and contractors with designer comments considered prior to preparation of the final report provided to the State Construction Office.
Construction Management project managers fill out contractor evaluations for capital projects. Input is solicited from other prime construction contractors on the project, selected sub-contractors and suppliers, the State Construction Office project manager, and the end users regarding quality. Contractor comments are considered prior to preparation of the final report provided to the State Construction Office and to the contractor. A less than satisfactory assessment is sufficient to disqualify a contractor from bidding State capital projects.
Evaluations of projects awarded at the campus level assess design quality and design service during construction and overall performance of contractors. The evaluations, completed by staff project managers influence future selections of designers and contractors.
Construction Management surveys customers on the performance of project managers to evaluate staff performance and make continuous improvement.

Financial Services includes the Cashier's Office, Materials Management, Office of Contracts and Grants, the University Controller's Office, and University Graphics. These areas are basically accounting and transactional processing areas. Financial Services uses the Compact Planning Process, state audits and internal audits, customer groups, and customer surveys to meet assessment requirements.

The Compact Planning process is used for identifying goals and follow-up all the way through implementation of the goals. Staff members are evaluated based upon completion of the objectives.

Audits are a major part of the assessment process, as they indicate the quality of the work that is being done by the accounting related offices. State Audits (annually), internal audits, and Federal audits serve to provide constant feedback. The university has a follow-up process to the audits that continues until all agreed upon recommendations have been implemented.

Another major part of the assessment process used by Financial Services is participation in campus organizations such as the University Business Officers (organization of on-campus business officers from the colleges), the University Research Committee, the Research Operations Council, the systems' steering committee. Financial Services uses these organizations to obtain feedback (assessment data) and also uses a variety of focus groups composed of faculty/staff from across the campus obtain customer input at the beginning and completion of projects. Training sessions by Financial Services staff for campus units are also an integral part of the assessment process, providing essential information about needs for improved services. All of this information is used to determine what goes into the Compact Plan and determine new projects to improve services.

Financial Services also uses written customer surveys of students and staff for customer feedback and makes changes based upon that feedback. These include surveys of students by the Cashier's Office, evaluations of training sessions, periodic surveys by Materials Management, and surveys of faculty/staff on particular issues.

Environmental Health and Public Safety includes Environmental Health, Campus Police and Fire Departments. The division is at the developing stage of compliance with required assessment levels. The Radiation Protection Program conducts a customer satisfaction survey as part of its annual review of the content and implementation of the radiation program and makes changes to the program accordingly. The Campus Police are in the second year of a three-year accreditation project, the objective of which is to ensure excellence in management and service delivery. They are currently in the self-assessment stage.

Resource Management and Information Systems includes five departments: Administrative Computing Services (ACS), University Budget Office, Communication Technologies (ComTech), Enterprise Information Systems (EIS), and Network and Client Services (NCS). Only the Communication Technologies department has direct interaction with students. The other departments provide services to the campus's administrative organizations at both the central office and college or division levels. Feedback from customers is derived through various committee and team structures that insure input from customers on the activities of the departments as well as feedback from the customers in regard to departmental actions, processes, and systems.

Three of these departments use formal customer feedback forms to stay in touch with needed improvements: Administrative Computing Services' Remedy system launches an email requesting feedback to all customers who call their Solutions Center (help desk) to measure the satisfaction of the caller. Communications Technology seeks student input on cable and telephone services. Network and Client Services performs customer service surveys to gauge customer satisfaction levels.

The Division of Resource Management and Information Systems also uses Special Interest Groups (SIGS) and focus groups to gather information and feedback with respect to the services the division provides. These groups provide the customer with a means for information sharing and a funnel for application feedback directly to a respective central office. Members of the SIGS and focus groups participate in early testing and technology assessments of products being evaluated. Assessment and Steering teams are used to guide the development of administrative systems and campus-wide information technology direction and standards are coordinated through the University Information Technology (IT) Committee that includes representatives from all of the colleges and major campus divisions.

The Treasurer's Division handles campus-wide debt financing; financial planning for the Centennial Campus; transactional accounting for the University Endowment Fund, nine affiliated fundraising foundations, the NC State Investment Fund, Inc. and the NC State Partnership Corporation; and management of the Student Bookstore. The Divisional units include the Treasurer's Office, the Foundations Accounting and Investments Office and the Student Bookstore. Approximately 68 employees work in the Division servicing a diverse customer base of students, faculty, staff, development officers, foundation bookkeepers, donors, board members, alumni, and other campus visitors.

Direct assessment of campus-wide debt occurs via credit agency review as part of periodic debt issuances. Both national credit agencies (Standard & Poors and Moodys) have made on-campus visits within the past two years and both agencies upgraded the NC State credit ratings as a result of these visits. As a result of these visits and the university's desire to maintain strong credit ratings, the Division's compact plan has identified enhanced debt planning and development of an enhanced debt management policy as initiatives in the next three years.

The Treasurer's Office was instrumental in the development of a five-year plan for Centennial Campus development and continues to guide its annual update in collaboration with the Centennial Campus Partnership Office and Facilities Division. The Chancellor and selective Vice Chancellors review the plan in detail prior to distribution to a broad campus audience. Actual annual results are compared to the projections and future plans incorporate changing programmatic needs as well as revisions of financial resources and lessons learned from prior years' reviews. Monitoring of the plan throughout the year provides budgetary guidance, provides programmatic focus and evaluates the effectiveness of each year's plan.

The Foundations Accounting & Investments (FAI) office prepares nine FASB (Financial Accounting Standards Board) compliant independent annual audits, one GASB (Governmental Accounting Standards Board) compliant independent annual audit, and the annual financial report for the Endowment Fund (which is incorporated within the NC State University annual audit). All continue to receive "unqualified" audit opinions and no major findings. At the end of each audit cycle, the FAI office prepares an internal assessment of the year-end close process and in addition holds an exit interview with the external auditing firm to assess any process improvements needed for the next cycle.

The FAI office submits endowment investment data for inclusion in the annual NACUBO (National Association of College and University Business Officers) endowment survey and results are compared to over 450 other college and university endowments. The comparative data gathered from the final survey are reported to the various Boards and investment committees that utilize the information to establish investment procedures. Board feedback is then incorporated into FAI compact initiatives or special projects. The survey data is also utilized when the foundations are seeking to modify spending policies or asset allocation decisions. Again, Board feedback can change methodology, FAI procedures, and foundation policies, which are incorporated into the next NACUBO survey.

In addition, the FAI office handles significant transactional volume and monitors a variety of benchmarks such as number of journals processed, number of deposit items, etc. to assess these transactional activities. The Office has surveyed customers in the past and plans to prepare a customer survey in the next fiscal year. On a quarterly basis, departmental staff meet with various foundation development officers for customer communication and feedback. These meetings function as focus groups. Outcomes of these meetings result in enhanced operating procedures and customer service initiatives.

The Treasurer serves as treasurer or assistant treasurer to the University Endowment Fund, the NC State Investment Fund, Inc., the NC State Partnership Corporation and nine affiliated fundraising foundations. As such, over 25 board meetings were attended during calendar year 2002. Boards serve as effective focus groups to identify issues of importance and concern. Board feedback regarding financial matters is received at each meeting and captured via "follow-up notes" for Treasurer's Division staff. All notes are resolved between meetings or are identified as part of longer-term initiatives in the compact process. Board feedback is documented in the minutes relative to the successful completion of prior "notes" and on continued improvements that enhance donor service, board service and internal foundation operational service.

A primary goal of the Bookstore is to meet the University requirement that the Bookstores' annual profits are distributed to the general scholarship fund. This is accomplished by sound business and financial practices and by continually meeting and exceeding the expectations of the students, faculty, staff, and campus visitors. A variety of assessment information is gathered to sustain, monitor and sustain this goal.