Maine's Public Universities - University of Maine System

December 2003 Update

SSTP Improvement Opportunities

A. Systemwide Improvement Opportunities Suggested for Refinement
B. Improvement Opportunities Suggested for Campus Implementation
C. Improvement Opportunities Suggested for CAOs to Explore
D. Improvement Opportunities Suggested for CFOs to Expore

April 14, 2003

Dear UMS Community:

As many of you know, the University System is involved in a multi-year PeopleSoft® implementation project to upgrade and integrate our administrative computing systems, including the systems used for Student Administration. The Student Administration component is beginning with a process redesign project called the Student Services Transformation Project (SSTP). It offers an important and exciting opportunity to modernize and streamline our Student Administration functions in order to serve students more effectively and efficiently.

Because our universities currently use many different systems and processes to carry out Student Administration functions, the first step in the SSTP project was to identify and document current campus processes and technology. Over the course of the last six weeks the UMS Student Services Transformation Project Core Team completed and facilitated documentation of more than 567 common and college-specific current processes. The documentation effort covered current processes for the following six student administration areas: Admissions, Recruiting, Student Records, Academic Advisement, Student Financials, and Financial Aid. For the purposes of documenting the current processes, the Core Team paired the recruiting and admissions functions because they are closely related to one another. The student records and academic advisement functions were similarly paired.

Subsequently, the Core Team analyzed and summarized the current processes to:

• Determine their similarities and differences,
• Capture issues and concerns that should be addressed prior to implementation of the PeopleSoft Student Administration system, and
• Highlight opportunities for potential student services improvements.
  

For your convenience, at the bottom of this page the Core Team has provided links to the templates that record the analysis and summary of the current processes for the six student administration areas. We hope that distribution of these templates will promote open discussion of the implementation considerations as the UMS community progresses into the upcoming steps and phases of the SST Project. The remaining steps and phases of the SST Project are as follows:

• Phase I: Where are we now?
  • Step 3: Assess Stakeholder Views
• Phase II: Where are we going?
  • Step 4: Create Student Services Vision
• Phase III: How do we get there?
  • Step 5: Redesign Student Services Delivery
  • Step 6: Create and Monitor Transformation Plan
  
  

The SSTP Core Team and Advisory Committee would like to emphasize that the templates contain many ideas that will never be implemented, but are presented in a spirit of “brainstorming.” All of these ideas, and many that have yet to be voiced, will be discussed and evaluated during the upcoming project phases. Some ideas will result in change, while others will not. To give your input, please contact your campus’ Core Team Representative as listed below.

We realize that you may have questions about how the SSTP project, and in particular some of the ideas for future consideration, will change the way we do our work. We look forward to continuing to provide you periodically with information that will help answer some of these questions.

Sincerely,

SSTP Core Team

SSTP Process Summaries

Admission and Recruiting Summary

Financial Aid Process Summary

Student Financial Process Summary

Student Records and Academic Advisement Summary