OE Updates | Operational Excellence

OE Weekly Update – 2/5/21

Good afternoon, I hope each of you is staying safe and healthy and is off to a successful beginning to the spring semester. One of the most important aspects of keeping our community safe this spring is the Carolina Together Testing Program. I’m sure you’ve heard the chancellor or provost say the program has been a “campus-wide … Read more

OE Weekly Update – 12/14/20

Good afternoon, It is the time of year when we look back and celebrate our success. Certainly, 2020 has been a year of new challenges, so I am honored to share our annual report for the 2019-2020 academic year and recognize the accomplishments and partners that have been a part … Read more

OE Weekly Update – 11/13/20

Good afternoon, This week, the Operational Excellence Data Use & Literacy project unveiled a new home for University-level dashboards, the Carolina Analytics Portal at analytics.unc.edu. I want to congratulate the design and data teams for this achievement, led by Transformation Manager Candace Reynolds, as well as our campus partners Lynn … Read more

OE Weekly Update – 11/6/20

Good afternoon, In June, I provided updates on the design team members for the Exchange Visitor (J-1) Process Design project and a message on how the design team had utilized an energizer to kick off their initial meeting. Of course, that first meeting was held virtually using Zoom. And so were the 16 additional two-hour … Read more

OE Weekly Update – 10/30/20

Good afternoon, As always, I hope you are doing well. I am pleased to be providing an update for the first time this fall. This has been a year of new and unusual challenges for our campus, including the Operational Excellence team. Our team has been working with many of you assisting the ongoing work of the Roadmap Implementation Team and … Read more

OE Weekly Update – 8/7/20

Good afternoon, I hope that you are doing well! The Operational Excellence Team continues to support the University with its preparation for bringing faculty, staff and students back to campus. No doubt, the campus will look very different this fall. It will not only physically look different, but in some … Read more

OE Weekly Update – 7/17/20

Good afternoon, Operational Excellence collaborated with the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research on several focused initiatives to streamline the management of externally sponsored research programs at the University. This week, the Office of Sponsored Research released one of the first results from this partnership. Research Playbooks are an online resource intended to support researchers and research administrators in managing … Read more

OE Weekly Update – 6/26/20

Good afternoon, Our goal in Operational Excellence is to create a high-functioning administrative operation that supports the University’s mission of teaching, learning and research. The OE team has been able to make progress on that goal as our community works together to resume campus operations this summer. We are staying true to the OE Service Model while … Read more

OE Weekly Update – 6/19/20

Good afternoon, If you have been a member of an Operational Excellence design team, you know that we often start out meetings with an energizer to get everyone talking and thinking. This week, Transformation Manger Jason Derrick started out his J Scholar Process Design Team meeting with an energizer focused on lateral thinking. Lateral thinking is an approach to … Read more

OE Weekly Update – 6/12/20

Good afternoon, This week, the Data Use and Literacy design and leadership teams officially launched the Salary Dashboard and accompanying data literacy resources for HR officers. These tools were developed in collaboration with OHR, OIRA, ITS, and employees across campus through a design team approach. The Salary Dashboard provides HR officers with on-demand access to 10 years of data for both … Read more

OE Weekly Update – 6/5/20

Good afternoon, I am pleased to announce the design team members for the International Student and Scholar Services (ISSS) project. Carolyn Adams, School of Social Work Tudor Comaniciu, College of Arts and Sciences Gretchen Gosnell, International Student and Scholar Services Joey Landry, School of Information and Library Science Steve Niezgoda, School of Medicine Brandon … Read more

OE Weekly Update – 5/29/20

Good afternoon, After taking a break last Friday from the weekly email due to the holiday weekend, I wanted to share some good news. The Executive Search project was launched in April to improve the experience for the candidate, search chair and administrative staff. This project is led by OE … Read more

OE Weekly Update – 5/15/20

Good afternoon, Back in February, I discussed how the Operational Excellence team employs the concept of continuous improvement in our work. This week, I want to talk about another strategy our team uses: problem-solving sessions. A problem-solving session, or PS session, is time intentionally set aside for a group of … Read more

OE Weekly Update – 5/8/20

Good afternoon, I am pleased to announce that the Operational Excellence Data Use and Literacy project began its pilot phase this week. The pilot group is testing two new resources developed for improved data use and literacy at UNC: a “one-stop-shop” portal for existing University-level dashboards, and a new dashboard for salary data. This is our team’s first fully … Read more

OE Weekly Email – 5/1/20

Good afternoon, As we begin a new month, I want to update you all on some of our ongoing work. Our Operational Excellence transformation managers, Candace Reynolds, Jason Derrick, and Mieke Lynch, continue to move forward on these projects with the help of their incredible campus partners. Data Use & … Read more

OE Weekly Update – 4/24/20

Good afternoon, Since Operational Excellence began in fall 2018, our relationships with schools and units across campus have driven early wins, sustained change, and a new way of doing business at Carolina. These relationships have been especially important as we navigate the current situation with COVID-19. This week, I want … Read more

OE Weekly Update – 4/17/20

Good afternoon, I hope you all are doing well. The Operational Excellence Steering Committee is often a source of ideas for our team regarding new opportunities for us to engage with campus, as well as a space in which we can learn from our colleagues. Though we have decided to … Read more

OE Weekly Update – 4/3/20

Good afternoon, As we wrap up our third week of working remotely, I want to give a brief look at some of the ways Operational Excellence is currently engaged with campus. On Monday, I had the opportunity to speak to the Faculty Executive Committee about the work that our team … Read more

OE Weekly Update – 3/27/20

Good afternoon, You may have noticed that I did not send my normal weekly update last Friday. Considering the many challenges that Carolina is facing right now, my updates may be less frequent and have a different focus than the ones you usually receive from us. However, even though you … Read more

OE Weekly Update – 3/13/20

Good afternoon all, As we work through the challenges of the next few weeks, Operational Excellence will continue operating to support the mission of the University, with some adjustments. The OE team has developed a plan together for how we can best work on-site and remotely, including daily check-ins and … Read more

Category: OE Updates