A U. Illinois-wide group dedicated to internal administrative review made 43 recommendations that could save up to $58 million, according to their report released Wednesday.
The Administrative Review and Restructuring Working Group was established by interim President Stanley Ikenberry in November to look at Campuswide spending. Their work is similar to that of the Stewarding Excellence project on the Urbana campus, but on a larger scale.
The University has been struggling financially as a combination of reduced state funding and the economic downturn nationwide. The state owes the University $332 million according to a press release from administrators.
“Our goal was to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of administrative services throughout the University,” said Craid Bazzani, UI Foundation senior adviser.” Rather than use outside consultants, we opted to roll up our own sleeves to develop better business practices by using in-house content experts.”
The 27-page report was delivered to Ikenberry last week and details recommendations ranging from clarifying administrative positions to making different purchasing and information technology decisions.
One of the recommendations from the group is already becoming reality, as the Board of Trustees approved the consolidation of two vice president positions into a single office of the executive vice president. The group recommended creating this position, which they wrote would work closely with the academic leaders of each campus and the president.
Other recommendations and cost-reduction strategies
The group suggested clarifying the position of Chancellor at each campus and explaining their dual roles both on their campus and at the system-wide level. After the lack of leadership in both the Chancellor and Provost position, former ACES dean Bob Easter has been serving as interim Chancellor/Provost and there has been discussion about combining those positions further in the future.
Aside from a review of the chancellors job, the ARR group recommended further review of the organization of each campus but looking at what het jobs of the provosts and vice-chancellors are and how to make them more efficient. This may include changing the role of the Provost or creating an executive vice chancellor position.
Purchasing decisions were also reviewed by the group, as each year the University spends over $300 million in purchasing supplies and services, according to the report.
The report said that although some of these decisions are managed through contracts, most purchases the University makes are more decentralized which can lead to “vendor fragmenting and disparate pricing.”
The group suggested that the University actively renegotiate all of their existing contracts for improves services and lower costs, as well as look for more contracts that could help the University receive supplies and services for less money.
They also recommended several technological advances that could help save money, such as creating an online workflow system to reduce processing time of ravel reimbursements and make the system more efficient.
Another IT related suggestion was to reduce the expense of maintaining the Banner enterprise system, which was instituted in 2003, though software upgrades, consolidating e-mail and calendaring services, and expanding University reliance on cloud computing and other new developments.
Potential savings from the IT related recommendations are between $17 and $19 million by fiscal year 2013, according to the report.
Other areas reviewed in the report include human relations, communications, alumni relations. facilities management and capital programs.
A possible $2 million could be saved by more efficient communications spending and producing fewer print products, according to the report. Part of implementing these communications changes could be assigning having a new staff dedicated to complying with the requirements of the updated Illinois Freedom of Information Act, which went into affect on Jan. 1.
Steamlining and reducing costs for the facilities and services departments on all campuses was a recommendation from the review group as well. This includes merging units doing similar activities, including selling Illini merchandise and other retail possibilities.
The next steps
Although this report was the result of five months of internal review, not all of the groups recommendations will become University practices immediately.
“The real challenge is one of execution. Good ideas and recommendations are useless sitting on the shelf,” said Ikenberry in a press release. “Change will not occur overnight, but it must occur promptly. The University much achieve the saving and improvements now.”
The ARR group recommended that the President and Chancellors of the University establish a process for selecting which recommendations from the report will be implanted and the details of such.
Reports from the UI Stewarding Excellence review groups are continuing to be releases throughout the summer, making recommendations for spending and efficiency on the Urbana campus.