Administrative Excellence forum examines opportunities, efficiencies

In a time of decreasing state support for public universities, University of Wisconsin–Madison officials say the time is now to seize opportunities provided by the flexibilities granted to the campus to create budget efficiencies.

Interim Chancellor David Ward told the Oct. 27 forum that while the university will continue to fight for more funding at the state level, the campus community needs to work to help itself through initiatives by being creative, responsible stewards of its resources.

The forum brought 230 UW staff and faculty to Union South to ask questions and voice their opinions about the suggestions from Huron Consulting Group, which helped to collect and analyze data for the effort.

Top administrators and members of the campus Advisory Committee and Steering Committee were on hand to listen to the feedback. The goal is to foster a dialogue with stakeholders and implement opportunities identified by the effort.

More information about the forum, including a video archive of the forum and a link to offer comments and questions, can be found at the Administrative Excellence homepage.

The five opportunities unveiled include consolidating email and calendar systems, streamlining of computer bundling purchasing, data center aggregation, improving space utilization and coordinating product demand management (strategic purchasing). More opportunities will be rolled out in the next months and years.

“The savings that are possible are not inconsequential,” said Ward, who characterized the Administrative Excellence effort as “a collective self-help effort.”

“I think without this we will remain a somewhat impoverished institution over the next half decade unless we find ways to address these issues,” Ward said.

Vice Chancellor for Administration Darrell Bazzell stressed that there will be consideration given to the unique demands of different stakeholders.

“What we’re not talking about here is one-size-fits-all in all cases,” he said. “What we’re really talking about here is finding a more proper balance between the commonality and things we can leverage together” while at the same time recognizing the distinct needs of staff to carry out the university’s core mission.

Huron has identified more than 75 opportunities to consider, Bazzell said. The effort will move in three phases: identifying and analyzing opportunities, gathering input, and implementation.

“No decisions have been made yet,” Bazzell said. “We’re going to decide which opportunities to explore and analyze in greater depth.”

Brad Barham, professor of agricultural and applied economics in the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences and chair of the Advisory Committee, said the initiative will provide improvement in services or cost savings that will improve management of resources. The effort is an opportunity for the UW to seize more autonomy, he said.

“We have, out of all the activity of the last year, been given a bit more authority over ourselves and I think that if we work together well and cooperate well … we’ll get more of those flexibilities and more of that power and more of that authority,” he said.

– By Greg Bump