Purpose of the process
The business operations optimisation process will contribute substantially to the university's austerity task. The aim is to support the primary processes of education and research more efficiently and thus at lower cost, while continuing to meet the increasing demands from laws and regulations. How this can be achieved will be examined using estimates of potential savings (hypotheses) for each pillar* within the university. In this process, Radboud Services, faculty staff departments, the Radboud Teachers Academy and the Donders Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging are pulling together. The first analysis of savings opportunities focuses on the information pillar (ICT and library services) and the HR pillar. Following this, the remaining pillars will also be explored.
How will you notice the savings?
Although opportunities to make savings are becoming more concrete, no decisions have been made on these options yet. It is therefore not yet quite possible to indicate in what way you will notice the savings. After decision-making has taken place, it will become clear which potential savings will be implemented and in what timeframe. We will then inform you about the effects on the organisation and on the services you are used to.
The following information already provides more details on the identified savings opportunities in the information pillar and the HR pillar.
Information pillar
In the information pillar, 19 hypotheses form the basis for determining the savings potential. Input to arrive at potential savings initiatives was provided by staff from the pillar. The opportunities and possible consequences of the savings initiatives were then discussed with the pillar's management, staff from other pillars and a representation of academic staff members. This input resulted in 25 potential initiatives for the next five years.
These savings initiatives include optimising self-service options for ICT matters (for e.g. password recovery, software installation and other common questions), reducing the number of PCs at student work stations (in practice, students mostly sit behind their own laptops and mainly need a power supply), making more use of cloud applications and replacing (outdated) software with applications that are sometimes free and open source.
Discussions were also held with academics about the Read & Publish deals, which involve many costs. Research is leading in this, but critical thinking on possible savings in the business operations side can be executed on the basis of a supported publications policy. Besides these concrete savings initiatives, there are also initiatives that address the organisation and strategy of the pillar, the design of the ICT network and the design of services to parties outside the university.
HR pillar
Within the HR pillar, five hypotheses were assessed, zooming in on administrative processes in particular. The assumption is that simplifying, harmonising and/or digitising these processes will lead to savings. A lot of manual work now takes place and processes differ between faculties. Ten processes were selected that involved the most manual and/or tailored work. These include, for example, the hiring process, internal change requests, leave registration and the interview cycle/annual appraisal interviews.
The processes were described in detail by staff from the pillar and analysed for optimisation opportunities. This led to improvement initiatives to harmonise and/or digitise HR processes and organise HR administration jointly. In addition, improvement initiatives in this pillar focus on introducing self-service options, replacing (in due course) the current HR system Oracle eBS (BASS) and recalibrating the overall HR service provision model.
Follow-up
Follow-up steps for the information and HR pillars will be discussed in late February. These discussions will include participational bodies, so that they are informed about the initiatives. Thereafter, follow-up steps will be determined for the two pillars.
The learning points gained from the information and HR pillars in this process will be incorporated into the approach towards the other pillars. The analysis phase for the other pillars is expected to start in the second quarter of 2025. Once a subsequent pillar is actually scheduled for analysis, it will be announced at least one month in advance within the pillar.
* Each pillar comprises all the business operations and professional services provided by all organisational units collectively in a given field; for example, all the HR services within faculties, institutions and Radboud Services collectively. There are six pillars: teaching and research support, finance & control, property & facility services, human resources, ICT & library services, and marketing & communications and general affairs.