The American University in Cairo

1. The American University in Cairo

3. One-Stop Shop AUC’s Student Service Centerssc

4. Pre-one stop shop • Consultation Phase • Pilot Phase • Completion and the move to the New Campus • Critical Success Factors • Advantages of centralizing student services

5. Student Services at AUC: A pre One-Stop Shop overview

6. Inquiries &FAQ All general information about AUC Take an application form Testing Pay the application fee Go back to receive ID Submit application & receive ID Cashier

7. Old System Cashiers Admissions Testing Financial Affairs Enrollment Registrar Recruitment Student Accounts STUDENT VERTICAL COMMUNICATION CONTINOUS PARADE TO DIFFERENT OFFICES

8. Horizontal Communication Process Improvement Proposed System STUDENT ACCOUNTS F I N A N C I A L A I D A D M I S S I O N S R E C R U I T M E N T E N R O L L M E N T T E S T I N G CASH IERS REG ISTRAR ONE-STOP SHOP/STUDENT STUDENT PROVIDING STUDENT ONE PORTAL FOR INFORMATION DISSEMINATION

9. PROPOSED Enrollment Recruitment Cashiers Testing OneHub Registrar Student Accounts Financial Affairs Admissions

10. PROPOSED Enrollment Cashiers Registrar Financial Affairs Admissions Student Accounts Testing

11. Consultation Phase Booz Allen Hamilton Problems with the initial proposal: • It was the mere physical relocation of existing staff (Specialists) to a • central location • Did NOT solve the queuing problem • Various logistical and training issues Alternative proposal: A true One-Stop Shop: • A “Stand Alone” office with dedicated staff members • “Generalist” staff cross-trained in the various functions of relevant offices

12. Recruitment GENERALIST Enrollment Cashiers Registrar Financial Affairs Admissions Student Accounts Testing

13. Enrolled and Prospective students, parents , counselors, etc….

14. One-Stop Shop One-Stop Shop Emails Telephones Walk Ins

15. One-Stop Shop Front Office Back Office Walk Ins Emails Telephones

16. Back Office Emails Telephones • Handled at the back office and not • by the front office staff, • A system to ensure responding to • emails during public holidays to • maintain the service (particularly for • international students). • A call center is currently being • prepared to respond to all • incoming telephone inquiries

17. Support from other offices • Telephone hot lines were created between the SSC staff and specialists in all related offices. • For special cases, visitors are issued passes to the back offices where they can discuss their cases in more details with “Specialists”

18. PilotPhase

20. Pilot Phase • Advantages: • Implementation starting in a “Stress Period” in the admission cycle that allowed us to flesh out any potential problems, • A trial visitor management system was employed to measure • service and waiting time, • Creating a complete digital archiving and document processing. Arising Problem: Inadequate familiarization period for new staff to adapt to the new working environment, new functions and system, resulted in a less than optimal waiting time.

21. Sample Waiting/service Times Trends Across Different Phases

22. Main Elements of a One-Stop Shop • 1-Staff: • Professional, cross- trained and technology-aware staff members who should also be service –oriented Pleasant and flexible • 2-Office technologies • Operating System as well as multifunction, time and space saving, office machines • 3-Space: • Adequate, well designed and utilized space. For both visitors and staff.

23. Completion phase and the move to AUC’s New Campus

24. Quick Adaptation to Variations in Workload Seven Service Stations 1 7 2 6 4 5 3

25. Quick Adaptation to Variations in Workload Normal: 3 Counters Operational 1 7 2 6 4 5 3

26. Quick Adaptation to Variations in Workload Medium: 5 Counters Operational 1 7 2 6 4 5 3

27. Quick Adaptation to Variations in Workload High: All 7 Counters Operational 1 7 2 6 4 5 3

28. Completion phase and the move to AUC’s New Campus Critical Success Factors • More sophisticated visitor management system was employed, • Permanent ID center and cashier’s counter were created to serve • students throughout the year, • Digital document management system and electronic delivery of documents to offices, • Adequate space and adaptability in handling peak periods (for example, additional service counters can be quickly set up to handle requests during peak/deadlines periods), • Successful implementation of office technologies and tailored technology solutions, • Adequate space and physical infrastructure.

29. Digital Document Management System • A new software to manage digital archiving of all incoming documents, • Separate back office space for digital archiving and document management system, Electronic delivery and an archived backup of all received documents.

30. Example: • Electronic delivery of: • Requests for transcripts and other students records (Registrar) • Graduate admission files

31. Visitor Management System • Data is extracted on regular basis to measure service and waiting time for different functions and staff, • Monthly comparative reports are issued to monitor the change in service and waiting time during regular and peak periods. • Monthly reports are extracted trace peaks times throughout the year. A full data base illustrating the SSC workflow throughout the year.

32. Instant Counter Status Report

33. Instant Queue Status Report

34. Charts extracted from the Visitor Management System

35. Daily follow up data for all performed functions at the SSC

36. Charts Illustrating the SSC Operations

37. Advantages of centralizing student services… • Creating a central hub for student services, • Minimizing turnaround time for various requests, • Reduction of queues and better visitor management system, • More efficient management of document workflow, • Better archival and retrieval of documents, • Standardization of procedures relevant to handling different services.

38. Thank You