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Strategic Plan

Strategic Plan



Administration & Finance 2018

It is with pride and enthusiasm that we present the Administration and Finance (A&F) strategic plan. This plan embodies our dedication to excellence in support of the university’s mission, today and into the future. Our intention was to develop a bold plan to transform A&F into a forward-leaning organization, positioned to provide service excellence and strategic leadership for the university. Cal Poly is not an institution that relies on the status quo, and our plan reflects the spirit of innovation and action that is at the heart of our Learn by Doing philosophy. Our strategic plan aspires to adopt exceptional, yet achievable goals.

The A&F strategic planning effort has been a vital and dynamic activity. This strategic plan is a collective effort of more than 300 A&F and Cal Poly employees, which included listening sessions, extensive outreach and collaborative workshops designed to elicit customer and employee feedback and explore internal operational insight. This input coalesced into a vision with A&F as a strategic partner focused on providing world-class service to the campus. It establishes direction and empowers all staff and management to participate and assume greater responsibility for establishing and achieving our goals.

Completion of our strategic plan is very important, but it is just the start. A&F will wholeheartedly endeavor to achieve the ambitious goals established in the plan. Each unit within A&F will develop their own plan to incorporate strategic directions, tactical goals and operational metrics in support of the overall A&F strategic plan with a commitment to illuminate our vision, unify our efforts and Lead by Doing.

Cynthia Vizcaíno Villa

SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT ADMINISTRATION AND FINANCE





Strategic Directions

1
Provide effective and innovative stewardship of institutional assets and resources.
2
Create a culture of world-class service.
3
Attract, develop and retain a diverse and talented workforce.
4
Engage, partner and collaborate.
5
Create a safe, vibrant and attractive campus environment.
6
Make sustainability a core part of Cal Poly and A&F culture.

Vision, Mission & Values

Our Vision

A vibrant Cal Poly community where every student, faculty and staff member is equipped to thrive.

Our Mission

Drive Cal Poly's success through operational expertise and strategic innovation.

Our Values

We put SERVICE into action.

  • Strategic
  • Ethical
  • Results-Driven
  • Visionary
  • Inclusive
  • Collaborative
  • Empowering

Our vision guides our strategy. Our mission directs our priorities. And our core values create a culture that enables us to deliver the highest level of service to our students, faculty and staff.

STRATEGIC DIRECTION #1

Provide effective and innovative stewardship of institutional assets and resources.

A&F is entrusted to ethically, strategically and sustainably manage Cal Poly’s resources by obtaining maximum value to the benefit of the university.

GOAL(S) OBJECTIVE(S)
1

Promote proper stewardship and effective usage of university assets.
  1. Review and analyze all university space and property to understand current usage, ongoing maintenance costs, and opportunities for optimization and consolidation.
  2. Create an internal audit function for the university.
  3. Develop and implement a system to solicit suggestions for improvements from faculty, staff and students.
2

Pursue creative strategies to maximize and diversify the university’s revenue streams.
  1. Analyze and pursue opportunities for public/private partnerships (P3) that will enhance the university community while generating revenue to support the university’s mission.
  2. Evaluate and pursue opportunities to expand commercial enterprises and revenues for the university.
  3. Regularly review existing revenue streams to ensure that maximum value is achieved for the university.
3

Analyze A&F operations for effectiveness, funding and sustainability.
  1. Maximize the use of existing funding; strategically allocate and redistribute resources as necessary to accomplish priority initiatives.
  2. Establish a set of shared guidelines, with periodic review, such as a Key Performance Indicators (KPI) or Balanced Scorecard.
  3. Capitalize on technology to improve services, streamline processes, and promote efficiency.
4

Provide timely and effective budget and financial reporting to decision-makers to facilitate data-driven decisions and enhance resource management and accountability.
  1. Develop a comprehensive annual budget and reporting structure.
  2. Develop quarterly budget reporting with actuals and documented corrective action as needed.
  3. Create and maintain a multi-year forecasting model for budget planning.

STRATEGIC DIRECTION #2

Create a culture of world-class service.

Focus relentlessly on delivering the highest level of customer value, adopting a division-wide commitment to innovation and excellence. Embrace continuous improvement as a path to achieving service excellence.

GOAL(S) OBJECTIVE(S)
1

Empower employee innovation to promote continuous improvement in all A&F operations, processes and services.
  1. Encourage employees to take ownership of, and improve their business process with the end goal of delivering customer value.
  2. Simplify A&F processes by removing waste (extra steps and non-value added work) through process improvement methodology.
  3. Develop a unified way for employees to submit ideas for process improvement initiatives.
  4. Create an A&F process improvement team to champion continuous improvement initiatives.
  5. Review and re-envision departmental organization and services to assure they meet customer needs.
2

Design and deliver an A&F customer service training program.
  1. Create a team to facilitate A&F-wide training and seek out speakers and instructors to lead customer service courses.
  2. A&F Senior Leadership to acknowledge and incentivize staff members who are representative of A&F’s new values as service champions.
  3. Integrate customer service expectations and a culture of innovation into all recruitment and evaluation procedures.
  4. Develop an ongoing program for A&F employees to foster a culture of customer service.
3

Develop a deep understanding of customer needs in order to drive performance improvements.
  1. Analyze the results of the A&F customer satisfaction survey (CSS) to find customer service gaps, including the root causes that drive them.
  2. Consult with peers to understand others’ experience in identifying and addressing similar gaps.
  3. Improve A&F processes to be more customer service focused.

STRATEGIC DIRECTION #3

Attract, develop and retain a diverse and talented workforce.

Create an environment that attracts a talented workforce, supports and cultivates team members, and rewards their contributions. Provide opportunities for people to enhance well-being, personal growth and professional development.

GOAL(S) OBJECTIVE(S)
1

Develop the recruiting process to improve outreach, diversity and the applicant experience.
  1. Utilize multiple channels for outreach and marketing of vacant positions to attract robust and diverse candidate pools.
  2. Create a framework to engage recruitment committees to reduce time to hire and achieve success in the hiring process.
  3. Streamline the application process to improve applicant experience.
  4. Educate hiring managers and committees regarding strategies for mitigating unconscious bias in the hiring process.
2

Strive to provide competitive salaries, benefits and employee services.
  1. Develop a compensation strategy that includes market and other relevant considerations.
  2. Improve awareness of employee services and benefits through partnering, outreach and education.
  3. Endeavor to identify and meet the benefits and employee service needsof newly hired and current employees.
  4. Connect newly hired employees to community resources
3

Empower A&F employees in their learning and development objectives, while providing opportunities to achieve and apply them.
  1. Develop and deliver a professional development program to unleash the potential of every employee.
  2. Engage and support employees in taking ownership of their learningand development goals as an essential part of their employment.
  3. Develop a program that connects new employees to the campus community and cultural affinity groups
  4. Promote a learning culture that encourages employee participation in campus learning, diversity, and wellness opportunities, and active service in relevant professional organizations
4

Build an inclusive community
  1. Develop an emotionally intelligent management team that fosters an inclusive and compassionate workplace.
  2. Recognize and reward those who engage and promote diversity and inclusion in their workplace.
  3. Organize opportunities for A&F employees to gather informally on a regular basis.

STRATEGIC DIRECTION #4

Engage, partner and collaborate.

Engage, partner and collaborate within A&F and across the university through transparent communication, open discussions and consistent messaging. Engage external partners to promote improved university relations in the community.

GOAL(S) OBJECTIVE(S)
1

Develop a united communications strategy focused on A&F’s refreshed vision, mission and values.
  1. Offer university-wide presentations to build awareness of A&F.
  2. Optimize and update the A&F web presence to improve communication and highlight departmental accomplishments.
  3. Standardize departmental branding and communication.
  4. Utilize social media to educate the campus about A&F; its services, people and accomplishments.
2

Increase internal collaboration and partnership among A&F departments.
  1. Provide networking events to create a larger A&F community and help foster a spirit of collaboration.
  2. Collaborate on shared departmental goals and cross-departmental strategic projects.
  3. Develop an A&F communication plan to share A&F projects, successes and strategic initiatives.
  4. Ensure project planning includes affected A&F departments (upstream and downstream).
3

Develop university partnerships to leverage shared project, development and resource opportunities.
  1. Work with campus divisions and units to utilize technical expertise, data and information resources to solve problems and take advantage of strategic opportunities.
  2. Work with campus divisions and units to identify and implement process improvements, cost savings and revenue enhancement opportunities.
  3. Improve communication with campus to foster productive working relationships and enhance the transparency and understanding of campus operations and processes.
4

Leverage our campus and A&F operations as a living laboratory to increase student employment opportunities and learn by doing experiences.
  1. Engage students and faculty to help identify and implement innovative, cost effective and creative solutions to A&F challenges.
  2. Provide student employment opportunities within A&F to promote Learn by Doing.

STRATEGIC DIRECTION #5

Create a safe, vibrant and attractive campus environment.

A safe and inviting campus environment is essential to campus climate and student success. A&F will promote a vibrant living, learning and working environment by providing high-quality campus services, facilities and infrastructure to meet university needs.

GOAL(S) OBJECTIVE(S)
1

Foster a safe environment for students, faculty, staff and visitors.
  1. Enhance and sustain an effective safety climate across the university with the goal to minimize and/or mitigate campus hazards.
  2. Implement environmental, health and safety policies, procedures and programs.
  3. Promote a campus culture of emergency preparedness.
  4. Minimize crime, and the fear of crime-related offences, on campus.
  5. Improve communication channels for campus constituents to report safety issues.
2

Be creative and innovative in the development, construction and maintenance of facilities and infrastructure to maximize the value for campus.
  1. Develop a campus-wide, five-year capital improvement plan to guide future development.
  2. Develop a robust preventive maintenance program to maintain existing facilities.
  3. Perform regular facility assessments to establish priorities for deferredmaintenance funds.
  4. Develop and implement a utility master plan.
  5. Develop a traffic, circulation and parking master plan.
3

Create an attractive physical campus environment; focus on enhancing aesthetics of campus facilities and grounds, generating campus pride, and improving the living, learning and work environment.
  1. Develop and implement campus standards for architecture, buildings, landscape and lighting.
  2. Develop and implement a standardized, user-friendly campus wayfinding program.
  3. Utilize campus branding and colors to promote campus pride.
  4. Develop a campus landscape master plan.
4

Provide services and amenities that contribute to the growth of a vibrant, 24/7, residential campus, fostering academic and social interaction and enhancing the quality of campus life.
  1. Develop spaces, services, hours of operation, and amenities that integrate access to campus food, retail, recreation, study and community gathering in a 24/7 environment.
  2. Actively scan and research high performing campuses and other environments to stay abreast, and on the cutting edge, of trends and service delivery options.
  3. Collaborate with internal and external partners to identify innovative opportunities to expand the range and quality of services and amenities offered.
  4. Seek input and feedback from campus constituents to continually assess, develop and improve campus life.

STRATEGIC DIRECTION #6

Make sustainability a core part of Cal Poly and A&F culture.

A&F will provide leadership to promote practices that reduce our overall footprint and build a university-wide culture of social and environmental responsibility.

GOAL(S) OBJECTIVE(S)
1

Make progress toward the university goal of carbon neutrality and climate resilience.
  1. Prioritize energy conservation projects that maximize return on investment.
  2. Develop high performance building standards to set sustainability goals for all new construction.
2

Increase water use efficiency and resilience of supply.
  1. Retrofit existing buildings with low flow plumbing fixtures.
  2. Develop secondary source of potable water supply.
  3. Develop source of recycled water for campus.
3

Improve solid waste management, recycling and composting.
  1. Standardize waste collection infrastructure and signage.
  2. Optimize collection locations and frequencies.
  3. Develop educational outreach and marketing campaign.
  4. Simplify the campus waste stream through strategic procurement.
4

Increase use of sustainable transportation options.
  1. Reduce number of commuters in single-passenger vehicles through alternative transportation programs.
  2. Make campus more bike and pedestrian friendly.
  3. Provide adequate electric vehicle charging infrastructure.
5

Increase awareness and adoption of sustainability practices in day-to-day business operations.
  1. Develop an outreach and communications strategy to educate the campus community and promote sustainable practices.
  2. Reduce paper use by making business practices digital/paperless.
  3. Encourage use of refillable beverage containers and water bottle filling stations over purchase of single use plastic water bottles.

A&F Department Strategic Plans