Improving the Way We Work

In the past two decades, BU’s growth has literally been off the charts: our budget has grown more than 400 percent. But the University is still using administrative system software originally purchased in 1985. To continue to be a great research university, we must upgrade to modern systems that can help us work more efficiently and effectively.

Employees across the University recognize the need for better processes and technology:

Tom: Following Paper Trails

To hire a new employee, a department fills out a paper requisition (PS-1 Form) and then routes that piece of paper from one University office to another to get proper approvals. Tom Bagarella, manager of employment and training for the Charles River Campus, calls it “the journey of the PS-1.”

And the journey isn’t always smooth—envelopes get misdirected, handwritten information gets misinterpreted, forms get lost and delayed. “So we have a lot of good people spending time tracking requisitions,” Tom says, “when they could be doing things that really enhance their departments’ operations.”

BUworks will replace the PS-1 and many other paper forms with electronic systems. In addition to saving trees, moving to electronic workflows will make our business processes faster, more accurate, and easier to track.

Suzette: Digging for Buried Data

Suzette Levenson, assistant dean of administration and finance at the School of Public Health, was recently asked to compile a report showing the growth of SPH’s staff over the last 10 years.

The University doesn’t have a single electronic repository for human resources data, so Suzette and her staff had to sift through stacks of paper personnel files to find all the information they needed. “It took two weeks,” she says. “It was unbelievable.”

Implementing a comprehensive, electronic human resources system is one of the major goals of BUworks. Once the system is in place, HR data—job descriptions, performance evaluations, salary histories, etc.—will be stored in one place and be easily accessible to authorized personnel.

Kara: Navigating Without a Map

As a member of BU’s internal audit team, Kara Kearney fields countless questions from University employees asking how they’re supposed to address certain responsibilities—reconciling accounts, calculating and making journal entries, approving expenses, handling revenue.

Unfortunately for many of the people who contact her, Kara says, “there’s nothing I can easily point them to.”

This lack of standard, written processes is one of the problems BUworks is meant to address. Working groups are devising ways to improve many of our business processes; the new processes will be documented and then shared with employees during BUworks training sessions.