Leadership
Development Program 2003
Policy Access: Campus Needs and Best Practices Project
Overview
"Policy
is the glue that holds a decentralized organization together."
- Greg Brown
The Controller's Office of UC Berkeley recognizes that campus policies and procedures are difficult to find and, if found, hard to understand. Research indicates these are common issues for all of campus including the Chancellor's Cabinet.
The underlying problems regarding current policy access on the UC Berkeley campus include:
- Disorganized
and inadequate policy communication and dissemination
- Disparate
mechanisms for policy development and approval
- Inconsistent
methods to distinguish official UC Berkeley policy
- Inconsistent
implementation procedures, guidelines, summaries, timely policy
revisions and updates
- Inadequate
tools for quick and easy access to policies
- Inadequate policy training about policies and procedures
The Controller and the Controls Initiative Advisory Committee are charged with the implementation of the Regents' Controls Initiative at UC Berkeley with the following four goals:
- Determine
the significant operational and controls risks to UC Berkeley in
achieving its objectives
- Implement
appropriate process improvements and best practices to ensure the
significant risks are held to an acceptable level
- Establish
and maintain a campus communications structure/support network to
improve the control environment
- Reduce risk by providing management tools and core competency training to improve operational effectiveness through cost efficient controls
Achieving these goals will ensure effectiveness and efficiency of operations, reliability of financial reporting, and compliance with applicable laws and regulations.
Improved access to policies will reduce the risks of outside audits, increase efficiency despite diminished resources, and reduce errors due to policy non-compliance.
The Policy Access Project Team was directed to investigate policy needs at the UC Berkeley campus by identifying UC Berkeley policy makers and methods of disseminating new policies, and analyzing policy access best practices at other universities. To ensure that the needs of the campus community are met, the Team was asked to develop recommendations for improving access to policies at UC Berkeley based on the research data that would improve policy access at UC Berkeley. Further, the Project Team was asked to develop metrics assessing the success of those recommendations.
This report outlines the methodology and findings of the Project Team's research along with recommendations.
Methodology
In mid-July, the Policy Access Project Team was assembled from Leadership Development Program (LDP) participants. The team received a project scope document, and team members met with the project sponsors. From the project scope document [Appendix A], the Project Team determined that the key tasks of the project would include designing and developing a needs survey, researching best practices at other universities, and identifying and interviewing policy makers at UC Berkeley. The Project Team developed an aggressive timeline to satisfy the project scope and meet its objectives.
The Project Team conducted a stakeholder analysis and used this information to determine the breadth of survey distribution and to identify policy areas to research.
The Project Team divided into "Who," "How," and "What" subgroups to formulate a list of issues for the survey to answer. [Appendix B]. The subgroups then developed associated survey questions. The questions were refined and categorized as the following: Content/Access; Procedures; Interpretation; Exceptions; Policy Owner/Issuer; Updates/Revisions; Communication; Format; and Demographics. The team submitted the survey to the sponsors for review and approval and consulted with Survey Research Center staff to refine the mechanics of the survey.
The final survey questions were submitted to UC Berkeley programmer Ryan Means, who designed a web-based data collection form and an Oracle database backend. A preliminary version for testing by the Leadership Development Program participants was posted in mid-September. The survey went live on September 25, 2003 [Appendix C] and was announced via CalMail by Vice Chancellor for Budget and Finance and Chief Financial Officer, James Hyatt [Appendix D]. Follow-up announcements were sent to the Business Officers Institute (BOI) and Berkeley Financial System (BFS) listservs. Team members encouraged staff to participate in the survey. The survey ended on October 10, 2003.
After posting the survey, the Project Team formed three research subgroups:
- Survey
Analysis
- Policy Makers
- Best
Practices
In mid-October, the Project Team presented preliminary survey results and research data to sponsors James Hyatt, Greg Brown, and Barbara VanCleave Smith. The meeting confirmed that project objectives were being met.
The Survey Analysis group worked in conjunction with the programmer to develop data summaries and graphs.
The Policy Makers group identified and interviewed UC Berkeley policy makers, researched campus administration organization charts, and focused on major policy areas. [Appendix E]
In preparation for the policy maker interviews, the group reviewed project scope, and developed and refined interview questions with the Project Team and sponsors, and refined the interview questions [Appendix F]. The following common interview categories emerged:
- Policy
approval process
- Standardized
template
- A
central policy office
- Dissemination
of policies and a centralized policy repository
- Training
and help
- Navigation
and search tools
- Other concerns raised by policy makers
More than twenty interviews were conducted with campus policy makers during October and November. The Policy Makers group transcribed the interviews and compiled the data for analysis.
The Best Practices group took direction from the survey results to research other university websites, investigating the following aspects:
- Access
to policies
- Website
layout and architecture
- Website
search methods
- Website
functions
- Components
of standard policy formats
- Policy development and approval processes
The Best Practices group initially performed keyword searches and attempted to navigate to policies and procedures on comparable university websites. Results were mixed. Private university websites were often inaccessible to outsiders. Some universities did not have policy websites at all. Many searches found a policy only at a departmental level, produced no results, or produced inappropriate results. For example, a keyword search using "policy" sometimes resulted in a link to "School of Public Policy" or to a published paper, rather than to a campus policy.
The group also examined the look and feel, ease of navigation, and aesthetic features of other university websites. Websites included institutions listed in the Princeton Review of top-rated universities according to administration and in the Association of College and University Policy Administrators (ACUPA) [Appendix G]. Interviews were conducted at UC Berkeley and other UC campuses with colleagues who have expertise in website design, navigation, and technology [Appendix H]. The group also investigated content management systems commonly used in well-designed websites.
The data collected from the campus survey, best practices research, and interviews with policy makers was reviewed and analyzed by the Project Team to compile findings and to formulate recommendations.
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