ALVSCE Strategic Intent Three

Be the most effective, efficient, responsive, flexible, and financially sustainable enterprise on campus

Current situation and gap between current situation and desired solution:
Continually reassess and improve on how we work with people (internally and externally), our cost structures, finance and business systems and practices, and how we utilize technology.
Strategies (numbered) and actions (bulleted)

  1. Maintain sound, efficient, effective and financially responsible division management.
    • All implementation decisions will be made by those closest to the problem.
    • Use Activity-based or Zero-based budgeting throughout the division.
    • Maintain the minimum administration and bureaucracy.
    • Have similar administrative support structures in each unit.
    • Ensure that all peripheral unit business offices deliver the same level of service at the best level of competence in the university.
    • Standardize unit annual review format to be primarily objective.
    • Minimize bureaucracy, busy work and maintain appropriate infrastructure.
    • All service staff will focus on success and accountability rather than regulation and policing.
    • Maintain appropriate business function infrastructure to efficiently complete work in compliant way.
    • Minimize investment in depreciating assets and maximize investment in people.
    • Measure what we need to manage and only that.
    • Every unit will have a "living" strategic plan in the same format that has clear goals, strategies, actions, responsibilities, inputs and metrics.
    • Maintain 5-year predictive budget model for CALES.
    • Maintain 3-year predictive budget model for academic units.
    • Begin capital projects only once funding is in place.
    • All units with debt to CALES will have a debt management plan and pay debts back.
  2. Decisions and accountability are to be as close to the point of delivery as possible.
    • Administrative heads will be selected and assessed on their leadership and management performance and motivation.
    • Focus scarce Development resources into units that have philanthropic potential.
    • Development is a standard part of academic unit leaders' jobs. 
    • Delivering on the division's contribution to the UArizona strategic plan is the division's responsibility.
  3. Work only in strategically critical and/or exceptional areas that are regionally important and globally relevant, delivering on the U of A strategic plan, and where we either are national leaders or could be.
    • Build strategic partnerships and alliances with other public entities as well as private industry rather than transactional relationships.

 

2017 Update:
For an update on this strategic intent, please read Associate Vice President Jeffrey Ratje's May 15, 2017 memo:

Progress towards financial strategic goal

 

 

 

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