BPM in higher education institutions

BPM in higher education institutions An example of a process framework for HEIs

Compiled and edited by dr. Tomislav Rozman, BICERO d.o.o., 2017

BPM in higher education institutions

Title: BPM in higher education institutions (e-book) Subtitle: An example of a process framework for HEIs Authors: dr. Tomislav Rozman (editing and chapters: introductory chapters an Research processes) Mateja Geder, MA ODE, (chapter Teaching processes) Laura Paulionienė, PhD., Kristina Puleikienė, (chapter Studying processes) Prof. (FH) Mag. Michael Reiner, (chapter Development processes) Iliyana Ruseva-Zaharieva, Monika Tsvetkova, Anna Worach (chapter Management and supporting processes) Editing and publishing: BICERO Ltd., www.bicero.com Release date: December 2017 Version: 0.1 License: CC-BY-NC-SA (Creative Commons)

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercialShareAlike 4.0 International License. Can I copy/reuse/distribute this work? Check the terms & conditions here. This project (Project number: 518035-LLP-1-2011-1-AT-ERASMUS-ECUE, Agreement no. 2011-3846/001-001) was carried out with the financial support of the Commission of the European Communities under the Lifelong Learning Program

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1

For whom?

This E-book targets analysts and managers and consultants, especially employees in higher education institutions and training organisations, such as: •

HEI managers,

•

training organisation managers,

•

administrators,

•

teachers,

•

professors,

•

researchers,

•

process owners,

•

business developers,

•

CxOs,

•

graduate or postgraduate students of management.

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2

Contents

1

FOR WHOM? __________________________________________________ 3

3

SUMMARY ___________________________________________________ 5

4

INTRODUCTION _______________________________________________ 7 4.1 RATIONALE ........................................................................................................................................... 7 4.2 SPECIFIC NEEDS, PROBLEMS, CHALLENGES ............................................................................................. 8 4.3 PROJECT CONSORTIUM .......................................................................................................................... 8 4.4 BACKGROUND, FRAMEWORKS AND SIMILAR WORK ................................................................................ 10

5

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT _________________________________________ 12

6

THE OVERVIEW OF THE PROCESS FRAMEWORK BPM4HEI ____________ 13 6.1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................... 13 6.2 TERMINOLOGY - ROLES ....................................................................................................................... 14

7

THE STRUCTURE OF THE FRAMEWORK ___________________________ 15 7.1 MAIN PROCESS GROUPS ...................................................................................................................... 15 FIGURE 1. PROCESS FRAMEWORK LANDSCAPE ............................................................................................. 16

8

ASSESSMENT FRAMEWORK FOR HEIS ____________________________ 19 8.1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................... 19 8.2 SELF-ASSESSMENT QUESTIONNAIRE..................................................................................................... 19 8.3 DEMOGRAPHICS .................................................................................................................................. 19 8.4 STATE OF BUSINESS PROCESS MANAGEMENT IN YOUR ORGANISATION.................................................. 22 8.5 PROCESS IDENTIFICATION AND MATURITY - GENERAL ............................................................................ 23 8.6 MATURITY OF THE PROCESSES IN YOUR ORGANISATION - FRAMEWORK .................................................. 25 8.6.1 Maturity levels and instructions ...................................................................................... 25

9

REFERENCES_________________________________________________ 27

10 THE FRAMEWORK PRESENTATIONS AND NOTES __________________ 28

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3

Summary

The purpose of this manual is to improve the satisfaction of the students, teachers, managers and other stakeholders of HEIs1 through the implementation of the systematic process oriented approach to HEI management. Process oriented management is common in private companies and emphasized in various standards of the ISO 9000 group. We hypothesized that the process oriented approach can be used and useful in educational institutions too. This manual presents an example of the process framework, which can be used by higher education institutions to set-up their own. It includes the main key process areas such as teaching, studying, research, development and management. The key process areas are further refined in process groups and processes. Each process is described with roles, inputs, outputs, goals, key performance indicators and the context. This manual also includes a survey instrument which can be used by HEI managers to assess the maturity of their institution. The process areas and groups are described using process maps technique from Aris methodology (Aris community, 2011). Some of the lower level processes are described with BPMN 2.0 ((OMG ( Object Management Group), 2015)).

1

Higher Education Institutions

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This manual is a part of the learning materials for the course and the certificate ECQA Business Process Manager for Higher Education Institutions2.

2

http://www.bicero.com/training-services/ecbpm-hei

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4

Introduction

4.1 Rationale SMEs3 and large enterprises, which perform their activities on the market, usually have their core business processes well managed. Identified, documented, standardized, managed, automatized business processes ensure they stay competitive on the market. Nowadays, HEIs (Higher Education Institutions) are faced with a shift from mass education, almost uniform age group (adolescents), employment status of students and finance sourcing to very different position. HEIs should adapt to study programme specialisation, broader target age group (lifelong learning), already employed students at companies and various sources and combinations of financing (state, tuitions, projects, services ...). Not only private HEIs, public HEIs are faced with mentioned changes also. To improve HEI clients (=students, employees, partners) satisfaction and to remain competitive, HEI’s should manage their business processes similar to Enterprises and SMEs. Therefore, a business process management knowledge transfer should be initiated and maintained. Business Process Management (BPM) methodologies should be adapted to HEI specifics. Additionally, best practices of business processes from the enterprises and SMEs should be gathered, analysed, modified and compiled into unified methodology for management of HEIs. Constant flow of BPM knowledge between HEIs and enterprises should also be maintained, to ensure exchange of field-based BPM experiences and theoretical knowledge. Existing BPM courses should also be improved with HEI processes best practices, to educate next generation of BPM capable students.

3

Small and Medium Enterprises

7


4.2 Specific needs, problems, challenges The challenge of the project was to create a common framework - a set of business processes for HEIs, which can be used by all partner HEIs and beyond. Therefore, a thorough analysis of existing BPM practices and needs was performed before creating such common set of core processes for HEIs. How to change existing processes in HEIs and adapt them to the is also a challenge. We are aware the process changes in every organization can be painful and a long process. Therefore the project has set an initiative for business process reengineering projects in partner (HEI) organizations. The project results have directly influenced and improved management practices of project partners, which is complementary with their strategies: to remain competitive on educational market. The idea partially builds on previous knowledge and project CertiBPM4, which goal was to prepare ECQA compliant Business Process Management course and transfer of the knowledge to EE countries.

4.3 Project consortium The project consortium included partners from Slovenia (BICERO, DOBA Faculty), Lithuania(WLBC), Bulgaria (AUBG) and Poland (SZSWCB) and AT (ISCN). This combination of partners (private SMEs and faculties) ensures that the best practices transfer from ENT to HEIs could be successful. Different EU regions (Central Europe, South East and East Europe) were chosen because there is a great need for management skills improvement, especially in education institutions.

4

http://www.bicero.com/training-services/ecqa-certified-business-process-manager

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Partner BICERO(SI)5 acted as project coordinator and as a source of BPM methodology. Its core activities include performing BPM courses on the market and other Business Process Reengineering projects, ICT consulting and EU project management. BICERO is leading the preparation of the business process framework for HEIs. Partner DOBA Faculty6 is a private faculty. It is the largest e-study provider in Slovenia. It offers Bachelor and Masters study programmes (Applied Business and Social studies). DOBA has a vast experience in online study. DOBA’s competences will be used for preparation of research instrument, analysis of existing courses and market needs and it is offering offer their ICT infrastructure for virtual seminars for partners. They also share their e-study knowledge and include it in the process framework. The partner provides a source of HEI business process best practices. ISCN7 is a private company (AT, IE), with solid knowledge and over 10 years of experience in managing EU projects, consulting (Automotive SPICE), networking and dissemination. Most important, ISCN was the initiator of the ECQA (European Certification and Qualification Association), which currently offers over 20 management related courses. It also organizes yearly EUROSPI and ECQA conferences all over EU. The partner provides its competences related to the dissemination and experiences from the process consulting. WLBC (West Lithuania Business College)8, a business college from Lithuania, provides their experiences in identification of professional needs for the market. The partner acts as a source of HEI business process best practices and also as a target. Because of its connections in regional business life, it disseminates the results to state and private institutions.

5

www.bicero.com

6

http://www.dobabusiness-school.eu

7

http://www.iscn.com/

8

http://www.ltvk.lt/

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SZCZECIŹSKA SZKOŁA WYŹSZA COLLEGIUM BALTICUM9 is a private university from Poland. It offers educational (educational science, economy and management, political science and foreign language studies, Masters and Bachelors level), research and dissemination competences to the consortium. Its competences for gathering market requirements make it an important member of the consortium. This university also organizes various international symposiums and conferences, which makes it very appropriate partner for dissemination. AUBG (American University of Bulgaria)10 is also higher education institution located in Bulgaria. It offers various education programs (e.g. Business Administration, Computer Science, Economics, European Studies, History and Civilizations, Information Systems, Journalism and Mass Communication, Mathematics, Political Science and International Relations) and research competences. It has implemented more than 100 various projects, which ensures solid EU project management and cooperation skills.

4.4 Background, frameworks and similar work Primary driver for this project is the fact that life expectancy and working age are prolonging, which is drastically changing the structure and requirements of the students visiting HEIs. One of new challenges for HEIs is a new generation of students - Encore Careers, (55-78 years). For example, research from 2008 shows that only 16% of 17 million students in USA was ‘classical students’ (18-22 years). The parallels of these structural changes can be easily seen in EU education market. Therefore, a process change in HEIs is needed. Modern approaches for business, organization and enterprise management are usually a combination of process-based and human-centric approaches. Using process based approach for business management ensures the business processes

9

http://www.cb.szczecin.pl/

10

https://www.aubg.edu/

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in organization are identified, documented, well-managed and (partly) automated. This ensures the organization’s products, services and interaction with environment are standardized. Human - centric approach ensures that employee’s needs are recognized and managed, to maintain their satisfaction. One

of

traditional

approaches

to

improve

organizational

processes

is

implementation of ISO9001:2008 standard(ISO/IEC, 2008). But, the standard doesn’t prescribe any specific processes for education institutions. On the other hand, process frameworks like APQC (APQC, 2012) offer a set of processes which can be used for HEIs. But, straightforward implementation of this reference model without a proper approach, research and analysis and adaptation to specific country and HEI organization type can be risky. Various higher education institutions around the world have confirmed the importance of process - based approach and also implemented it in their everyday operations, for example Charles Sturt University Australia (CSU - Charles Sturt University Australia, 2011).

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

This 2 year project has been funded with support from the European Commission programme LifeLong Learning - action Erasmus Multilateral, Contract no.: 20113846/001-001, project no.: 518035-LLP-1-2011-1-AT-ERASMUS-ECUE. This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

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The overview of the process framework BPM4HEI

6.1 Introduction The processes framework for higher education institutions (BPM4HEI) consists of: •

a high-level process map,

•

a definition of 2nd level process groups,

•

a definition of 3rd level processes, activities, inputs, outputs, key performance indicators, roles,

•

role definition,

•

process maturity assessment questionnaire.

The purpose of BPM4HEI is to help education institutions to improve their processes. The framework provides the information, which processes should be performed within HEI and what is their content. This framework can serve you as a set of good practices, which you can use to design your own processes. We do not advise to blindly reuse this set of processes. Each institution has its own specifics and processes already in place.

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6.2 Terminology - Roles Role name

Competencies

Professional

- is familiar with the content of the HEI processes and can identify gaps within the processes

Manager

- is familiar with the BPM methodology and can identify, model, document, design, analyse and

Trainer

- can train and coach people about BPM in HEIs

Consultant

- can perform the HEI processes assessment and provide

(assessor)

suggestions for the improvement

Role name

Competencies, examples

Process owner

- takes care of the process description, improvements and up-todateness

Process

- is responsible for managing all process instances and tracking key

manager

process indicators. - is responsible for managing process resources (employees, funds, equipment, other)

Process

- performs the process (researcher, teaching staff, students,

performer

administrative staff, management staff)

Process

- designs the process model, prepares process documentation

designer

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The structure of the framework

Each Key Process Area (KPA) consists of several Process Groups (PG): • •

each PG (Process Group) consists of processes, each PG is described with the following elements: o goals and objectives, o graphic process diagram, o process description, o main process inputs and outputs, o roles, o key performance indicators, o predecessors and successors, o example/exercise.

Each process is described in details in learning materials, which are the part of this framework.

7.1 Main process groups The framework consists of the process maps and the descriptions of the key process areas and process groups (3 levels of details).

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Figure 1. Process framework landscape

Unit 1. Element 1. Teaching processes, •

Course planning

•

Course preparation

•

Course implementation

•

Course evaluation

•

Thesis Supervision and Examination procedure

Unit 1. Element 2. Studying processes, •

Applying

•

Preparation for the study

•

Enrolment

•

Studying

•

Mobility

•

Examination

•

Graduation

•

Career development

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Unit 1. Element 3. Research processes, •

Establish research environment

•

Conducting the research

•

Dissemination of the research results

Unit 1. Element 4. Development processes, •

Programme development

•

Double degree/Joint degree programmes

•

Export of programmes (transnational programmes)

Unit 1. Element 5. Management and supporting processes. •

Strategic management

•

Finance and resource management

•

Human resource management and habilitation support

•

Quality management

•

IT management

•

Alumni management & support

•

Teaching support

•

Graduation support

•

Innovation and IPR management

•

Marketing and event management

•

Project management

•

Life-Long Learning

•

Teacher, student and staff mobility

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The details of each process group is shown in the chapter 10 The framework presentations and notes.

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8

Assessment framework for HEIs

8.1 Introduction The purpose of the assessment framework for higher education institutions is to help HEIs to evaluate their processes’ maturity. It consists of the three-part questionnaire: •

Demographics,

•

general BPM state in HEI,

•

maturity of the processes in HEI.

8.2 Self-assessment questionnaire This self-assessment questionnaire serves for overall evaluation of the BPM state within the organization.

8.3 Demographics Questions

Answers

Organisation 1

What

is

the

type

of

your

organisation?

1. Higher education institution 2. Company, Enterprise 3. Other, please specify:______

2

What is the ownership type (legal

1. private

status) of your organisation?

2. public 3. mixed 4. other, please specify:______

3

Commercial orientation

1. for- profit

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2. not-for profit 4

What is your organization's’ share

1. 0% services (selling products only)

of sold services in comparison

2. 1-25% services out of total sales

with total sales (services and

3. 26-50% services out of total sales

products)

4. 51-75% services out of total sales 5. 76-94% services out of total sales 6. more than 95% services out of total

(select share of sold services to

sales

customers)

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What

is

the

educational

percentage

services

sales

of

1. 0% (no educational services sold)

in

2. 25% educational services out of

comparison with total services sales?

total services sold 3. 50% educational services out of total services sold 4. 75% educational services out of total services sold 5. more than 95% educational services out of total services sold

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What

is

the

size

of

your

1. Micro (