Robert Barker/University Photography

Lexi Mest is a finance transaction specialist in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Business Service Center in Surge 3.

When Cornell University's Workforce Planning Team submitted its final report in June, the accomplishment drew little fanfare. But the unsung document, the result of an initiative launched in November 2001 by then-President Hunter Rawlings, describes a process that has positively altered the nature of how work gets done in key areas of the university. Among the results of workforce planning efforts: An estimated recurring annual financial savings in excess of $15 million.

Almost coinciding with release of the report, Rawlings stepped in to serve as interim president, and he is pleased to see the project through.

"I am delighted with the progress Cornell has made as a result of the workforce planning initiative," said Rawlings. "Since the review process began three-and-a-half years ago, we have made significant advances in clarifying how work is done across several broad functional areas within the university. We have realized substantial financial savings and increased our efficiency and effectiveness. Most important, we have internalized a commitment to achieve sustainable improvements in these areas and in other support operations. The Workforce Planning Team has recommended additional areas warranting review, and I anticipate that work on these will begin in the coming year."

Workforce planning began as a discrete project reviewing six functional areas -- human resources, financial transactions, alumni affairs and development, information technology, facilities and student services -- and it expanded in scope to include library services and procurement activities. The basic objectives and principles of workforce planning have taken root as a continuing priority for central university and unit administrative leaders.

"It was a thoughtful, multiyear process where we actually looked at how we work and provided each functional area with a conduit for change," said Carolyn Ainslie, Cornell vice president for budget and planning. "In prior years, budget reductions were met by each unit making discrete decisions without any coordination across functions. The result was an uncoordinated system of support between units and central offices. Workforce planning provided an opportunity to approach budget challenges differently."

While workforce planning was initiated in conjunction with a hiring freeze, a primary objective all along was to optimize resources in support of institutional and unit-specific priorities. Additionally, key points of responsibility and accountability within each functional area reviewed have been simplified and will provide a foundation to build upon in the future. Paul Streeter, senior project director, said that the relationships between central and unit offices have been clarified in several areas, but the end result was not a one-size-fits-all approach. "Although a consistent overall framework for managing a particular function was established, the specific actions taken varied based on the business needs of each area. We should continue to strive to achieve optimal integration of support operations without calling for centralization or the elimination of unit differences," said Streeter.

Improving competitive pay for staff was another objective of workforce planning, and progress has been made in this area as well and will remain a university priority. Ainslie credits the success achieved to the leaders of each of the functional reviews and the hundreds of staff and faculty members who participated with the various reviews. "Any project of this nature causes additional stress and challenges throughout the organization, and without the outstanding commitment demonstrated by many to improve the university, we would have fallen far short of the progress actually achieved," said Ainslie.

The final report -- available at http://www.dpb.cornell.edu/wp/index.htm -- summarizes these accomplishments and major activities and provides direction for continued institutional focus on the long-term objectives [see sidebar, below].

Comments from review team leaders also shed light on the impact of the project to date.

"We have seen great benefits from clarifying roles and creating an integrated approach to human resources," said Mary Opperman, vice president for human resources. "Most of the recommendations in HR have been implemented, [and] we continue to work to better understand HR and how we are best supportive of the departments, colleges and units. But I believe that our new structure has helped us better understand how we need to change and improve in the future."

Workforce planning efforts in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences resulted in considerable changes and improvements, said Susan Henry, the Ronald P. Lynch Dean of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

"We have been able to save the college time and money and provide a higher level of service," said Henry. "With the creation of a centralized business service center, departments now have more support than they did prior to workforce planning, while, on the HR side of the house, we are able to provide more effective support for faculty, staff supervisors and individual employees as questions, issues or problems arise. Overall, we streamlined processes, consolidated efforts and ensured better compliance with university policies and procedures. Change is always difficult, but I was very pleased with how openly most CALS faculty and staff engaged in the process."

Joanne DeStefano, vice president for financial affairs and university controller, said excellent progress was made in her area. Targeted savings were exceeded, and "an improved relationship between the division of financial affairs and the staff in departments and colleges" evolved, she said. "We meet regularly to share ideas, discuss new policies and refine procedures to meet both unit and fiscal needs."

In addition, DeStefano said, "Business service centers now also have greater flexibility to adjust workloads within a center to meet the changing demands on units. However, not all departments have taken full advantage of the benefits of the new business service center structure as there is still some duplicative work. We expect full transition once sufficient trust is built in the new model."

DeStefano also led a review of procurement operations, including a sourcing initiative seeking improved vendor pricing in a variety of commodity areas and a functional review of purchasing operations.

"The initial phase of the sourcing initiative is complete, and over $5 million in ongoing savings was generated," said DeStefano. "The savings is based on existing buying behaviors and to the extent that [the] campus is willing to utilize the preferred contracts that are now in place, the savings could be even greater."

At the Johnson Graduate School of Management, many of the workforce planning recommendations were standard procedure before the initiative, said Robert J. Swieringa, the Anne and Elmer Lindseth Dean of the school.

"[But] The workforce planning effort reinforced some activities already under way, provided some momentum to bring some initiatives to new levels and generated some ideas about additional savings and efficiencies," Swieringa said. "For example, we created a shared-service center before the workforce planning effort was under way and have now extended the center to include additional functions and services."

Because revenues from students, donors, governments and others cannot be expected to cover the annual costs of inefficient operations and purchases of goods and services, Swieringa emphasized the need for ongoing commitment to workforce planning.

"This commitment is essential to realize expected savings from the current effort and to overcome the natural tendency for activities and processes to revert to previous levels," he said. "This commitment also is essential to achieve savings in additional areas that were not included in the current effort. There is much that needs to be accomplished here."

The Future of Workforce Planning

The workforce planning effort has accomplished more than many expected. But its most significant impact is that it has set in motion a continuing institutionwide focus of review and improvement of high-quality support for core mission activities. As stated in the project's final report, "improving the effectiveness and efficiency of support operations not only is a worthy goal, but it is a fundamental stewardship responsibility essential for ensuring that limited resources are used most effectively."

With an eye toward the future, the Workforce Planning Team identified the following issues that would benefit from a broad institutional planning effort: