How Benchmarking is Making a Difference at Carleton University

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How Benchmarking is Making a Difference at
Carleton University

• CAUBO Conference Making Connections
• June 2008

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Carleton University Facts

• 24,263 Students
• 3,691 Total employee population
• 2,593 Residence rooms
• 30 Academic and administrative buildings
• 100,000 Alumni

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What is Benchmarking?

• Benchmarking is a systematic and frequently
  continuous process for measuring own performance
  against Best Practice in order to identify
  improvement potential.
• Dr. Ing. Holger Kohl

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Message

• The mean life of productivity improvement fads
  has been 8.3 years
• Best Practice Benchmarking has been used for
  over 20 years
• Why?.because it works!
• Dr. Camp, Best Practice Institute

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Office of Quality Initiatives

• Mission
• We provide and inspire quality through
  continuous improvement initiatives with a
  customer focused approach. In collaboration with
  Senior Management, Faculty, Staff and Students we
  strive to improve Carleton Universitys
  performance to reach our strategic goals.
• Services
• Benchmarking Projects
• Customer Service Strategies
• Strategic Planning
• Process Review
• Best Practice Research
• Focus Group
• Team
• Associate Director
• Benchmarking Co-ordinator
• Part-time Student

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Benchmarking Model

• Benchmarking Steering Committee
• Benchmarking Team
• Office of Quality Initiatives

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Benchmarking Steering Committee Chair VP,
Finance Administration Core Members Director,
Institutional Research and Planning Director,
Human Resources Director, Internal Audit and
Advisory Services Assistant VP, University
Services Assistant VP, Facilities Management and
Planning Executive Communications
Advisor Manager, Project Office, Computing
Communications 1-2 Representatives from outside
the Finance Administration Division Rotating
Member Process Owner(s)
Benchmarking Team Team Leader Manager 1-2
Employees 1-2 Stakeholders 1-2 Users/Customers
Benchmarking Co-ordinator
Implementation Team Team Leader Manager 3-4
Employees Additional stakeholders as needed
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Benchmarking Team

• Team Leader
• Process Owner
• Team Members
• Process Specialists
• Other Stakeholders
• Customer Representatives
• Benchmarking Co-ordinator
• Facilitator and Researcher

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Benchmarking Processes
Plan Benchmarking Process
Implement Internal Data Collection and Analysis
Plan
Implement External Data Collection and Analysis
Plan
Identify Recommendations for Change
Improve Performance
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Phase I Plan the Benchmarking Process
Develop the data collection and analysis plan
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Phase II Implement the Internal Data Collection
and Analysis Plan
Survey Results Internal Procedures
Collect and analyze internal published information
Focus groups Process mapping
Collect and analyze internal original research
data
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Phase III Implement the External Data Collection
and Analysis Plan
Professional Associations Articles Website
searches
Collect and analyze external published information
Collect and analyze external original research
data
Surveys Conferences Site visits
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Benchmarking Funnel
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Typical Questions

• What is your process for (insert topic/scope)?
• How do you do it?
• How well do you do it?
• How do you know how well you do it?
• What are your challenges?
• What have you improved recently/or what are you
  about to improve?

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Mindset

• Look beyond higher education for benchmarking
  partners
• Think continuous improvement
• Move mindset from weve always done it this way

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Benchmarking Sites

• Canada
• McGill University
• University of Ottawa
• Queens University
• Statistics Canada
• Regional Municipality of Niagara
• United States
• Penn State University
• Notre Dame University
• University of Texas at Austin
• State Farm Insurance

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Phase IV Identify Recommendations for Change
Select the changes to improve performance
Obtain the support of the Steering Committee
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Phase V Improve Performance
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Projects Completed

• 13 completed since 2003
• 2 more currently under way
• 4 6 months to complete
• Up to 4 completed per year

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Processes Improved

• Application for Residence
• Managing Custodial Contract and Services
• Tuition Payment
• Accessing Courses
• Textbook Adoption/Ordering
• Security of Athletics Facilities
• Hiring
• Awards Administration
• Managing Construction Project Delivery
• Creating Healthy Workplace Culture

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Challenges

• Collecting relevant data
• Time consuming process
• Keeping an open mind
• Narrow to critical few recommendations
• Keeping momentum going through implementation
• Change management

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Successes

• Raise awareness of key decision makers
• Gaining a shared understanding of processes
• Breaking down silos
• Best practices research
• Open dialogue with customers/departments
• Career development for employees

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Productivity Impact

• Cycle time to respond to and accept applications
  to residence improved by 3 months
• Reduced the residence vacancy rate from 3.5 to
  0.4
• Increased residence revenue by 400,000
• Completely eliminated line-ups at the Business
  Office
• Reduced the number of scholarship refunds issued
  by 50
• Increased the percentage of total payments (e.g.
  tuition) processed electronically from 59 to 77
• Reduced the number of thefts in the athletics
  facility by 35

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Moving Forward

• Build momentum
• Align with strategic planning
• Broaden to the entire university
• Introduce mini benchmarking projects

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• Look before you find yourself behind
• Benjamin Franklin

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Visit our website

• http//www.carleton.ca/qualityinitiatives