Benchmarking, which in a higher education setting applies only to non-academic service units, is a process in which organizations collect data regarding the cost, effectiveness and customer satisfaction of their operations and then compare that data to similar information from other organizations.
While relatively few colleges and universities (particularly private institutions) have embarked on benchmarking projects, Emory has launched such a project in conjunction with the National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO). Emory, which began supplying benchmarking data to NACUBO two years ago, is one of about 150 colleges and universities nationwide that do so. The pilot project that began several weeks ago in the Facilities Management Division (FMD), however, represents the University's first effort to go beyond benchmarking to reengineering. Business Process Reengineering is the process of examining specific operations, recommending improvements, and implementing changes.
Beverly Cormican, director of University projects in the office of Vice President for Business Bobby Williams, is coordinating the reengineering project on a University-wide basis. Cormican said the University has contracted with Coopers & Lybrand Consultants to oversee the project, largely because Coopers & Lybrand has been assisting NACUBO with its nationwide benchmarking work for several years, in addition to working with several other colleges and universities on their reengineering projects.
Assistant Vice President for FMD Dave Gojdics, who volunteered his division for Emory's pilot benchmarking project, said the pilot project will be conducted in two FMD areas: maintenance and construction. Two eight- to 10-member teams consisting of FMD representatives and Coopers & Lybrand staff will participate in the two projects. Gojdics also said he has asked several campus customers of the two areas to assist the teams in their work, primarily to enable the teams to see the functions performed by the two departments "through the eyes of the customer."
The maintenance team, Gojdics said, will analyze every step of the FMD maintenance work order. He said that more than 80 steps have already been identified in that process. The construction team will examine how a construction project is conceived, planned, budgeted, authorized, designed, managed and built. Gojdics said nearly 200 steps have been identified in that process. He said the two teams' data collection work began more than a month ago and should be completed by December.
"By the end of December, I hope to have a plan and a set of specific recommendations for change in these areas to improve our service delivery and to be more competitive," Gojdics said. As part of this process, the teams will begin identifying what Gojdics terms "best practices," procedures that have proven effective at other institutions. The next step will be to adapt those best practices to the Emory environment.
Gojdics said he expects meaningful changes to be made in FMD operations as a result of the project. "I think it is particularly significant that Emory is engaging in a process that private industry has utilized for some time and that has proven to be effective in improving costs and other important aspects of their services," he said. "I hope that we will get to the point where we will be as competitive as any private business that provides similar services."
Cormican said that a total of 25 non-academic "core functional areas" at Emory have been identified as being potential beneficiaries of the benchmarking process. For more information on the current study at FMD, call Cormican at 727-8391.
--Dan Treadaway