Awards

1995 Quality & Productivity Awards

Royal Bank of Canada, Xerox Canada Ltd., KPMG Peat Marwick Thorne and the Canadian Association of University Business Officers

The Royal Bank of Canada, Xerox Canada Ltd., KPMG, and the Canadian Association of University Business Officers are pleased to announce the following winners of the ninth annual CAUBO Quality & Productivity Awards Program:

It is interesting to note that the growing emphasis on quality, over the last couple of years, has highlighted the need to improve student services which is the focus of the three cash prize winners.

Productivity is still a major factor with net savings or revenue generated by the 40 applications of about $6 million. This compares favourably with last year's 44 submissions which totalled over $7 million in cost saving ideas.   Copies of the complete submission for the 1994 and 1995 competitions can be obtained through the CAUBO Office.

Since the inauguration of the program in 1987, corporations such as the current sponsors: Royal Bank and Xerox, and now KPMG, have provided not only significant funding but also invaluable expertise and facilities in selecting the winning entries. Their hard work and obvious interest in the selection process is gratefully acknowledged. It should be noted that their corporate representatives have reviewed 329 applications, many of them quite detailed, over the last nine years with innovative savings or revenue totalling an impressive $56 million.

K. Clements
Executive Director, CAUBO
25 May 1995

CARLETON UNIVERSITY (First Prize)

CHAT was conceived as a mechanism for providing a universal communications infrastructure for the Carleton University community, ensuring access to electronic mail, world-wide internet resources, and online discussion groups. Planning started in early 1993 and the service was made available to all students in September 1994. The service has experienced rapid growth and widespread acceptance. As of February 1996, there were 12,124 accounts on CHAT (approximately 60% of all students registered). A significant feature of CHAT is the use of newsgroups to support academic program delivery. There are currently 270 course sections using CHAT newsgroups as a mechanism for interaction between students and professors and for distribution of course materials. This has improved both the productivity of professors and has enhanced the learning experience for students.

By providing all students and staff with easy access to email, CHAT offers the opportunity for easy and low cost administrative communication with the student body. The University Library has been a pioneer in this area. Library patrons can renew books, place holds, request inter-library loans and send suggestions via CHAT. For the past year the Library has been sending automated advisory emails warning patrons that a loan is about to become due - a radical departure from the previous practice of advising a patron only when a loan is overdue. Other administrative applications are being considered.

CHAT was developed and implemented on a shoestring. It was designed to require no training and minimum consulting support. It features a simple menu-driven textual interface. Help is always on the screen and commands are simple and consistent across the system. Students can self-register on CHAT from any computer laboratory on campus. The software is based on common public domain Unix programs, suitably modified to provide a consistent interface. The system was developed by, and continues to be supported by, just two analysts, both of whom also have other duties.

Initially running on a borrowed Sun workstation, the CHAT system last year received the support of a major corporate donor, the Bank of Nova Scotia, who will donate $350,000 over 7 years in support of CHAT. As a direct result of this generous donation the University was able to purchase a more powerful multi-processor Unix server to meet the ever-increasing demand for CHAT access. Recently, another corporate donor has expressed an interest in supporting further software development to develop a graphical user interface for CHAT.

THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (SECOND PRIZE)

Academic libraries across North America are looking for ways to streamline and reduce costs of interlibrary lending. Traditionally considerable paperwork and staff mediation have been involved, and delivery delays have often been a result. Most commercial library systems do not yet offer interfaces by which library users can easily request materials from another library's catalogue.

The University of British Columbia Library developed its Document Delivery system to address these needs. Goals of this project were to:

• develop a simple, self-service interface by which other libraries' users could locate and request delivery of UBC Library books and journal articles;
• reduce paperwork and staff mediation wherever possible;
• reduce unit costs;
• maintain optimal 1-3 day delivery times.

The service was first piloted with Simon Fraser University in 1994. To use the service, SFU borrowers sign on to the UBC catalogue search for the items they need. They then issue a "request" command which prompts them for their SFU borrower number and details about the item (e.g., article title). At UBC the system generates "pick slips" which tell staff which items are wanted. Once books or journal articles have been retrieved from the stacks, the slips double as shipping slips for delivery to SFU by courier, fax, or Ariel (a PC-based system which scans and sends documents over the internet). An online status function allows users to track the progress of their requests.

With the Document Delivery system, the time-consuming staff procedure of accepting interlibrary request forms, searching them at other libraries, inputting data about the item and the requestor, and following up on progress of request are eliminated. Unit costs of delivery documents are reduced, staff time is freed to handle increased numbers of requests, and document lending revenues are enhanced.

BROCK UNIVERSITY (THIRD PRIZE)

Located atop the Niagara Escarpment at the southern border of St. Catharines, the University serves a twenty square-mile area that includes four major cities - Niagara Falls, St. Catharines, Thorold, Welland - as well as dozens of towns and villages. In 1989 St. Catharine's Transit was the only system providing service. Travelling from the city core to the Brock campus, a distance of only six miles, took a half hour. Students, faculty and staff living in other parts of the Region had little or no access to a public transit service. Recognizing a serious problem, Brock University's Department of Administrative Services set in place a plan of action to create a cooperative venture with the four major transit commissions in the Niagara Region. Over a six-year period, a committee of university and transit executives worked closely to improve transit service. The committee encouraged use of provincial highways, overcame Ontario licensing requirements, reduced negative response from civic governments and ended a history for each commission that focused solely on local transit needs. During the ensuing years, the St. Catharine's Transit System connected with systems in Welland, Niagara Falls and Thorold directly at the centre of the Brock University campus. Brock students as well as those from Niagara College in Welland, now travel throughout the regional corridor by arriving at or departing from the University. This system, unique to the province of Ontario, has been tagged the "Brock HUB". In 1995, service to Toronto was added to the successful Brock Hub project. The service is available not only to students but to citizens of each community.

All four systems took a calculated gamble in becoming part of the transit commission group. Recent surveys indicate a 10 to 15 percent increase in annual growth for each individual system. Today, in 1996, each transit system considers this important interconnected service to be a permanent one.

Alan Pedler, Brock University's Director of Administrative Services who spearheaded the project, believes the venture realized success due to the "town and gown" cooperation of all four public transit commissions, whose people worked diligently over a prolonged period to achieve the ultimate goal of regional service.

DALHOUSIE UNIVERSITY (ATLANTIC REGIONAL AWARD)

Dealing with waste laboratory chemicals is a challenge faced by every Canadian university that offers programs in science, medicine and health professions. As do other major universities, Dalhousie strives to deal with these chemicals in a fashion that is safe, environmentally sound and cost effective. ChemEx - Dalhousie's chemical exchange program - offers chemicals which are surplus to the needs of one laboratory, to other laboratories within the University and neighbouring institutions. ChemEx has become an important component of the management of Dalhousie's chemical inventory and their disposal efforts.

ChemEx began with the realization that many chemicals, which Dalhousie laboratory supervisors wish to discard, are uncontaminated and potentially usable. From a small 1991 pilot, ChemEx has grown from an in-house exchange to a cooperative project involving almost two dozen research and teaching institutions in the Halifax area and throughout the Maritimes. Although Dalhousie continues to be the major participant, less than half of the chemicals donated to ChemEx during 1995 came from Dalhousie laboratories.

More importantly, ChemEx makes good use of valuable chemicals. But it also saves money. Although it is difficult to quantify avoided disposal costs, avoided chemical purchase costs now exceed $65,000. Including shipping and related costs would raise ChemEx savings to the $140,000 range.

UNIVERSITÉ DU QUÉBEC (QUEBEC REGIONAL AWARD)

During the Spring of 1994, the members of the Administrative Committee of the Université du Québec network agreed that given the existing climate of major financial cutbacks to institutions in the network, a review of administrative services operations was essential.

A committee composed of suppliers' representatives and clients of the Université du Québec network's purchasing department was given a mandate by the Administrative Committee to reengineer the supply process by establishing the following objectives:

• make existing operations more effective and efficient;
• adequately meet users' needs;
• wherever possible, develop a generic and modular architecture for the supply process that would benefit all network institutions;
• propose an operations implementation plan for the generic architecture which also respects the modular nature of the architecture used by all institutions in the network.

The approach favoured to successfully complete this project was based on a participative approach to the engineering of organizations. It included four stages. First, the project start-up allowed for clear understanding of the project and its scope. The team therefore clarified the project scope and objectives, and defined the targeted supply process. The team was thus able to propose a process that makes existing operations more effective and better meets the needs of users. Finally, the team proposed an operations implementation plan for all institutions in the network which respects the modular nature of the architecture used by all the institutions.

After carefully following the approach selected, the team, after validation by managers and clients, proposed a process that meets the previously-established objectives. This process recommends decentralized supply management, increased client responsibility, reduced bureaucracy, paperless management, and a strengthening of the key role played by the supplier in cost-effective operations.

Once implementation is completed in the network's institutions which use the same computerized management system, annual savings are estimated to be $1,100,000. The Université du Québec's Administrative Committee welcomed this project and authorized its implementation.

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO (ONTARIO REGIONAL AWARD)

The University of Toronto in its quest to increase productivity and improve quality, invested in technology to assist its Caretaking Department in planning and managing downsizing, while at the same time maintaining and improving the quality of the service. Modified by the vendor for the size of the University's operations, the system had two major benefits. Firstly it assisted the management of the Caretaking Department in planning "what if" scenarios to determine the most cost effective way to provide the cleaning for 115 diverse buildings, containing 8.7 million square feet. These scenarios could then be discussed with customers and staff on a building by building basis to ensure unique concerns were resolved.

The second benefit was the use of the technology to monitor the standard of cleaning and employee performance. Monthly audits are conducted of the workplace and computerized reports generated as to the level of cleanliness, thereby assuring a consistent standard of service across the University.

With the assistance of technology, through consultation, discussion and involvement of both staff and customers, the Caretaking Department has delivered productivity with $1.2 million in savings to date, consistent quality and increased customer satisfaction.

THE UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY (WESTERN REGIONAL AWARD)

The University of Calgary has developed an integrated model of support programs for staff. Through the University Staff Assistance Centre an integrated group of services are provided to support and promote healthy and productive lifestyles for staff and their families. Fundamental to the Centre is the concept of shared responsibility between the University and the staff member for successful outcomes. The Centre's staff provide confidential services in three areas; a staff assistance program; a managed rehabilitation program, and human resources support and intervention.

The Managed Rehabilitation Program was introduced to the University in the fall of 1994. In 1995 the Universtiy Staff Assistance Centre's staff worked on 142 managed rehab cases. The benefits of the program included early return to work (reduced use of benefits program and continued productivity) and resolution of cases through redeployment, resignation, termination or other means. In 1995, 1,431 days were saved (non-productive work days converted to productive work days), through earlier than anticipated return to work, or case intervention strategies leading to case resolution. An estimated 11 cases which have progressed to new Long Term Disability claims.

A significant benefit of the integrated model has been in managing "stress related" cases. Human Resources staff, Staff Assistance Program counsellors and Occupational Health consultants have worked together to assist staff in situations of work place stress. In some cases, no time was lost from work as a result of interventions using the integrated approach.