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Managing campus expansion in an era of climate change

Through ten years of comprehensive climate action, the University of Winnipeg has made quantitative reductions in its greenhouse gas emissions while showing strong leadership and innovation in GHG emission tracking, policy development, management, and reporting.  Between 1990 and 2015, absolute campus wide emissions decreased by approximately 32% despite the fact that 38% of currently owned … Continue reading "Managing campus expansion in an era of climate change"

January 25, 2017

Queen’s New (Activity-Based) Budget Model

Queen’s New Budget Model has had a profoundly positive effect on the university.  Planning for the new model began in March 2012. Over  the following four months, the development of the actual model benefited from a very considerable amount of consultation, and a great deal of hard work by many people.  The first fiscal year for which … Continue reading "Queen’s New (Activity-Based) Budget Model"

January 24, 2017

One of North America’s largest university web publishing platforms, from marketing campaigns to basic information websites

McGill IT’s Web Management System (WMS) includes McGill’s award-winning homepage and approximately 800 associated websites, representing all faculties and frontline services, the majority of departments, as well as many marketing, informational and interactive sites housed under one central umbrella. By using a centrally-administrated platform with powerful content management and layout tools, we can quickly and efficiently deploy … Continue reading "One of North America’s largest university web publishing platforms, from marketing campaigns to basic information websites"

January 9, 2017

Facilities & Services (F&S) Invoice Workflow Project

he Facilities and Services Invoice Workflow initiative is transformative in many respects. The workflow software automates the department’s invoice payment process (25,000 invoices per year) and significantly increases productivity for over one hundred staff members located across the university. The system actively manages the invoice approval and processing cycle and reduces risk to the department … Continue reading "Facilities & Services (F&S) Invoice Workflow Project"

June 14, 2016

Quality improvements to implementing capital projects

In 2013, a restructuring of the project management department at the University of Toronto was undertaken to address issues relating to capacity and process. Prior to this the department comprised 26 staff completing approximately SO projects of a total project dollar value of $400M annually.   Issues identified for resolution included: Determining whether the organizational … Continue reading "Quality improvements to implementing capital projects"

June 13, 2016

University Manager 2015 Spring

Emergency Management Part II: Communication, Higher Education Budgeting Basics – Concepts, creation and connections, Balancing agility, openness and security in IT’s new normal

Tags: Budgets, Communication, Emergency Management, Financial Management, Information Technology, Resource Allocation, Risk Management, University Manager

April 17, 2015

Partnership agreement between the Université du Québec en Outaouais (UQO), the Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue (UQAT) and the Université du Québec à Rimouski (UQAR) for maintaining, evolving and developing IT systems.

First and foremost, UQO, UQAT and UQAR sought to share each university’s customized IT systems and equitably pool the organizational resources devoted to maintaining, evolving and developing these IT systems. Collectively, five analysts and five programmers (four at UQO, four at UQAR and two at UQAT) were assigned to the partnership. The agreement also aimed … Continue reading "Partnership agreement between the Université du Québec en Outaouais (UQO), the Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue (UQAT) and the Université du Québec à Rimouski (UQAR) for maintaining, evolving and developing IT systems."

April 16, 2015

Virage Bleu and Healthy Beverage Choices on Campus: a Comprehensive and Unifying Project

Université de Montreal (UdeM) and its 2 affiliated schools (HEC Montreal and Polytechnique Montreal) decided to undertake the “Virage bleu” upon requests raised by their staff and student bodies, and in keeping with their commitment to sustainable development. Officially launched in March 2013, this initiative was geared toward promoting self-service water fountains as the best … Continue reading "Virage Bleu and Healthy Beverage Choices on Campus: a Comprehensive and Unifying Project"

April 16, 2015

RYERSON UNIVERSITY’S FINANCIAL SERVICES CERTIFICATE PROGRAM

There are financial aspects to every department of an academic institution, and postsecondary organizations across Canada are facing increased pressure on their budgets and overall accountability. Yet in many cases, faculty and staff who are responsible for managing or administering budgets and money issues have little financial background, and they report not just a lack … Continue reading "RYERSON UNIVERSITY’S FINANCIAL SERVICES CERTIFICATE PROGRAM"

April 16, 2014

NEXUS, changing the administrative culture of an institution through a software implementation project

The project mobilized a large interdisciplinary team of managers, staff and faculty committed to the successful and quick implementation. The governance provided leadership from the top with involvement of the Executive Management Group and the President appointing the VP Finance as project champion. Implementation teams, Team Leads Committee, and a Steering Committee pulled representation from … Continue reading "NEXUS, changing the administrative culture of an institution through a software implementation project"

April 16, 2008