UCalgary enters 2nd year of international benchmarking study of administrative and support services

The University of Calgary is entering into its second year of participating in the UniForum program — a multi-university benchmarking study of administrative and support services.

As part of our journey to build a better UCalgary, it is our hope that the UniForum program will offer data to help us evaluate and strengthen our foundations — building strong people, strong systems, and strong processes. Along with other data collection measures, the initiative provides an opportunity for improvements as part of our commitment via our ‘Strong Foundations Plan’ to meet our needs now and in the future — one where staff, faculty and students face fewer barriers and more tools for innovation and effectiveness in their work, research, and studies. The study will help us understand where we need to invest to meet current challenges and support the Framework for Growth.

“We have to be bold enough to ask ourselves if the way we’ve always done things needs to be reimagined to fit our current context,” says Dr. Teri Balser, provost and vice-president (academic). “There is value in making space for new ideas, simplifying and streamlining our processes, and aligning our resources so that we can support our best work.”

To help improve the process, for this second year of the UniForum program, the UniForum@UCalgary team will be hosting faculty/unit-specific online workshops to assist with data collection and answering any questions. More information will be sent to the leaders and managers across campus who are involved in coding data, which begins June 1, 2022. Our intent is to reduce the time and effort needed to complete the process.

“The initiative showcases teamwork, collaboration and cross-campus involvement that is deeply appreciated as we move forward on this journey together,” says Ron Kim, vice-president (finance) and chief financial officer.

By working to improve accuracy within our second-year data and gaining insight into our end-to-end processes and resourcing of services and activities at UCalgary, the UniForum program will help frame and support UCalgary’s strategic decisions at all levels, as well as improve implementation of new ideas and transformational projects.

Once UCalgary has two years of comparable data, the data will be able to help improve our forecasting, using smart planning and fostering greater alignment with university goals as we begin to share program data with faculty and unit leaders across campus. Each year that the university participates in UniForum, the university will gain a deeper understanding of the opportunities in each area.

If you have any questions about the program, please contact the UCalgary UniForum team at [email protected]. Learn more about UniForum@UCalgary.