Achieving our Vision - Project Management & Business Support Office Advances Deloitte Report Recommendations

Nearly a year ago, the Project Management & Business Support Office (PMO) was established. It was created as a result of one of the recommendations from the Deloitte Administrative Review. Their mandate includes the review of administrative processes currently supporting operations across the School, to create greater efficiencies and ensuring that goals outlined in the School's ten-year strategic plan will be achieved. And their focus has been and will continue to be on those processes identified through the Deloitte Report.

Dale Shelley, director, is leading the charge in this work. Joining her are: Vita Windrim and Lori Matheson. Also reporting in to the PMO are Jay Loftus, Deb Tieszer and Weikai Huang who are part of Strategic Technology Commons (STC).

The team has been incredibly busy since they were established in 2012.

First on their list of projects was the Staff Recruiting and Hiring Process including the creation of "OneForm". Parallel to that and after several months of work, the staff online orientation was successfully launched. This was a critical step in the process. Testing is currently underway with a Beta group for the new process and "OneForm" with full implementation expected in April.

Meanwhile, they have also completed 98 operational review interviews with six different groups and expect these to continue moving forward. Altogether, they plan to meet with all staff performing administrative functions in the traditional "Dean's Office" and all departments across the School. A year from now it is anticipated that all the Operations Reviews will be completed, recommendations will be implemented or in the process of being implemented, and the PMO will be working through additional recommendations and process reviews, as well as working to ensure that the organization has the appropriate data and information to make strategic decisions.

As part of their mandate to partner with Information Services (IS), the PMO has worked with IS to develop standardized project templates which they hope to finalize in the coming months. As well, the PMO's expertise has also been a tremendous resource in the development of standardized templates for role descriptions for basic science and clinical administrative officer positions.

Keenly aware that Process Management is new to many people across the School, Dale and her team developed a new workshop through Continuing Professional Development. The goal of the workshop, called Process 101, is to open the conversation about process management and provide an overview of how process management along with process improvement can be utilized within an organization. The workshop was held this past fall and due to popular demand it will be offered again this spring.

The School's ten-year strategic plan sets out six strategic directions with numerous goals and milestones to be achieved over the next eight years. With more efficient processes and focussed activities, the School will successfully achieve its vision to be a global leader in optimizing life-long health, through innovative work and engagement with our communities.