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GCA Overview. GCA Help consists of four Grant Analysts. Amy Liu Cheryl Haycox Colleen Laing Meg Russo GCA Help is campus’s single point of contact for grant and contract budget issues GCA Help can be reached at gcahelp@uw.edu – 206-616-9995. GCA and LEAN.
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GCA Help consists of four Grant Analysts • Amy Liu • Cheryl Haycox • Colleen Laing • Meg Russo GCA Help is campus’s single point of contact for grant and contract budget issues GCA Help can be reached at gcahelp@uw.edu – 206-616-9995
GCA and LEAN • GCA has restructured our work and is striving to serve campus better • Using LEAN, an approach focused on reducing waste and improving flow in work processes • As a result, we are improving processing times with a goal of providing a more consistent response to campus
LEAN Process Lessons • Group like work in buckets to speed processing and identify process backlogs and hitches • Focus on process flow • Work one bucket at a time • Group work ion stations • Set core hours • Work uninterrupted • Measure progress • Set SMART goals (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-framed) • Measure progress toward goals • Identify and address process issues when goals aren’t met
GCA through 2004 Three teams • Budget set-up • Invoicing • Reporting No single point of contact No focus on closing No cross training
GCA 2005 - 2010 • Organized by School/Department • Campus clients had single point of contact (Teams 1 - 6) • Everyone worked on all processes, set-up through close-out • Processes were applied inconsistently • Process hitches went unidentified • Constant interruptions (phone, e-mail, GT) impeded flow • Backlogs accumulated – backlogs, process hitches and bottlenecks were not apparent to whole office when we were broken into 6 teams by School/Department
GCA 2011 - Organized by ProcessCore Process Teams • Budget Set-Up • New & renewal • Supplements • Extensions • Invoicing • Interim • Final • Reporting • Interim • Final • Closing • Cash • LOC
We help the Core Process Teams "flow" their workby pulling work that interrupts them into GCA Help andwork that is hard to "bucket" into a Changes team • GCA Help - Single Point of Contact • Acknowledges receipt • Does quick work • Triages involved work to core process teams • Campus liaison & training • Changes Team – Adjustments on active grants • Cost Share adjustments • IDC • Possibly supplements and extensions
Benefits • Teams “flow” work by focusing uninterrupted on buckets of like work • Staff rotates to retain process skills • Grouping work by process allows us to identify process hitches • Backlogs are being reduced • Work assigned to stations, not individuals, and staff cross-trained to prevent hold-ups
Continuous Improvement We continue improving our processes with the aim of reducing processing time and improving quality
The GCA Landscape • GCA manages 24,000 active budgets
Budget set-up turn-around times are back to pre-restructuring times and continue improving.
We have closed nearly 5,000 backlog budgets (expired 2+ years) and are staying current on new budgets
Of 1,525 un-completed Grant Trackers, more than half are in the Closing topic.
2010 Monthly Core Process Workload Averages • Budget Set-Up: 661 items • Invoicing: 2,787 items (769 manual) • Reporting: 136 • Closing: 368
GCA Help Daily Volumes • 100 E-mails • 40 Grant Trackers • 30 Phone Calls • 20% are thank you’s, duplicate requests, out of office or undeliverable messages, etc., requiring little work • Actual items processed per day ~130
Requests to GCA616-9995 or GCAHelp@uw.edu • Phone Calls to GCA Help • E-Mails to GCA Help • Grant Trackers • Calls and E-Mails to GCA Managers Are all funneled through GCA Help • GCA Help is staffed by four Grant Analysts • 8 – 5 Mon - Fri
GCA Help ‘Just Do Its’ • FIN changes • Status changes • Provide info from GCA systems • Rebudgeting • Cancel duplicate budgets • Close gift budgets • IDC adjustments • Extend non-grant budget and sub-budget end dates • Transfer deficits on non-stand-alone budgets • Collect information and initiate research on other requests
Grant Tracker • Grant Analysts reading new messages in these topics (as of 2 weeks ago): * Budget set-up * NOE * IDC * Other * Invoicing * Reporting • Responding directly to "Just Do Its" • Referring Team work to Teams • We are working toward reading new GT's daily, but still have a lag-time in processing GT's • Other Teams also have GT backlogs, some substantial
Turn Around Times GCA Help will respond within one business day to - acknowledge receipt - resolve simple matters - provide information about processing of more complex matters • Currently we respond timely to 95% of phone and e-mail inquiries • Grant Tracker response times are improving but are not meeting our turn-around goal yet
Budget Set-Up Turn Around TimeGoals Up To Three Days • New and renewal budgets • New sub budgets • Extension PACs • Cost Share Pledges Within Ten Days • Other EFAs • PACs • TPUs
Invoicing Turn-Around TimeGoals Within One Week • Revised final invoice Within Two Weeks • Invoice detail request Within One Month • Revised interim invoice • Past due invoice
Reporting Turn-Around Time Goals On Deadline • Current reports • Contractor release forms Within One Week • Past due reports • Revised interim reports • Termination notices • Ad hoc reports Within One Month • Revised final reports
Closing Turn-Around Time Goals Within Three Weeks • Closing PACs By April 30, 2011 • Closing backlog budgets expired pre-11/09 Within One Month of follow-up inquiry • Closing backlog expired between 11/09 to 12/10 120 days after expiration • Budgets expiring 1/1/11 to Current
The purpose of our process improvements is to shorten these turn-around times so we can deliver timely, quality services and effective communications to campus and sponsors
Turn-Around Time Caveat We can serve you best, and meet our deadlines if everything is in good order, for example: - prior budgets are closed - encumbrances are liquidated - cost share obligations are met and documented - deficits are transferred - charges are transferred and • any needed concurrence is provided • Sponsor has paid
Tips • If it is urgent, please tell us why and what deadline you are working under • E-mail or call for urgent matters (use 'high priority' e-mail setting) • E-mail or call if you haven't received a timely response • Put a budget number in the subject line of e-mails • Be strategic in use of Grant Tracker topics • Use GT topics "Transpasu" and "Advance Budget“ and attach signed forms for quickest processing • Food approval goes under "Compliance" • Put status changes in "Other" rather than "Closing" • IDC has its own topic • GT requests should contain single topics, not multiple issues • Once closed, please only reopen if issue is unresolved (not for thank you’s or new issues)
Request Tracker - Provides a single process for all modes of communication - Assigns ticket numbers to enable tracking - Preserves a record of communications - Is assignable to individual staff - Can link tickets and create dependencies - Collects metrics * inquiry volume * response time averages * average length of time to completion