The State of Business Process Performance

How do respondents assess the current state of business process performance at their institution in the areas of fi nance, human relations, student, grants management, and management information and analysis We illustrate the state of the industry’s practice with performance maps that show perceived levels of business process performance for 48 processes in fi ve business areas at 335 universities and colleges. Is there any apparent pattern of business process improvement in and across the fi ve functional areas—fi nance, HR, student, grants management, and management information and analysis? (See Figures 4-1, 4-4, 4-7, 410, and 4-12.) To what degree do we fi nd common levels of performance in the four quadrants discussed in Chapter 3? Are some business areas doing better than others? In a later chapter, we will try to explain probable sources of divergence. One would expect, other things being equal, all institutions to be comparably capable of improving many business processes, especially those that are tightly controlled and/or standardized either through software or common regulation. New and supporting technologies such as ERP, business intelligence tools, and the Web are readily available. Training in improvement methodologies is plentiKey Findings ◆ Respondents have achieved higher levels of performance with their transactional processes than with monitoring or managerial processes. ◆ Respondents reported the highest level of performance for student processes and the lowest for grants management and management information. ◆ Three grants management processes were reported at risk by at least 20 percent of respondents. ◆ Nine student processes were reported as leading processes by at least 10 percent of respondents. ◆ Institutions have sought to be leaders (optimize rather than satisfi ce) most frequently in the student services area, and especially in processes that affect recruitment and retention. ◆ Respondents are most satisfi ed with reporting for enrollment management and least satisfi ed with reporting to support management of the workforce.