Organisational Development

College Review of Purchasing Practices

A working group of staff involved in purchasing activities reviewed the processes in place in the College. 

It concluded that the current processes were unnecessarily labour-intensive with large numbers of staff across the College carrying out requisition activities.  Where it was only an occasional part of an individual’s activities it often took time for an individual to re-acquaint themselves with the process and also there was a greater chance of inconsistent application of processes.

The purchasing processes were centralised within each School. With fewer individuals doing the work, they were more familiar with the processes, built greater expertise and it was easier to standardise approaches.  This led to shorter turnaround times and fewer errors which needed to be followed up creating a better experience for  School staff.

They also communicated normal turnaround time for internal customers which led to more realistic expectations and less unnecessary pressure on staff.

Centralising purchasing activities such as stationery also brought the advantage of bulk buying (saving money) and, with one central location in a School, there were fewer instances of supplies running out and also a saving in storage space (as one storage location replaced several). 

Centralising the purchase of printing cartridges also made it easier to manage the transition to centralised printers.

A key factor in the success was that it was those who did the work did the review and made the recommendations for change.

Student Services – Automating a Process

New and continuing students who wish to apply for Glasgow council tax exemptions need to have their student status verified by the University.

In the past there were thousands of paper forms at the start of the academic year which had sections that had to be manually completed by the student and then checked by the University.

The Student Services Enquiry Team worked with IT Services, the Freedom of Information Office, Registry and Glasgow City Council to add a section to the student registration process where the student could ‘opt in’ to an online application process.  The University does a bi-weekly electronic verification which is then sent to the Glasgow City Council.

The has led to reduced postal costs; shorter queues at Student Services Enquiry Team desk; improved student satisfaction; improved working relationships with the Council and more staff time devoted to managing frontline enquiries at the busy registration and enrolment time.

Sport & Recreation Leisure Management System

In 2008 the booking process for club and recreational sports was paper-based with staff in specialised roles (e.g. finance, booking etc) with a supervising manager.  There were many Excel spreadsheets and many different people inputting and checking information at various stages.

By moving to an IT-based system with cross-trained teams duplication of effort and need for checking was much reduced.  As well as a faster turnaround time for customer, it freed up staff time to focus on continuous improvement of the booking system and to look at other areas where they can provide value to the customer as Sport & Recreation changes and continues to change. 

A key factor in the success of this initiative was the close involvement of staff in working out the changes required and how best to implement them.