What We’re Working On

Below is a short summary of some of the projects that the Operational Excellence team is working on:

Accounting Manual Refresh: Define what the accounting manual is and the purpose. Build a robust architecture and develop a comprehensive inventory of policies and procedures, ensuring clear differentiation between the two. This includes updating existing content and establishing a sustainable process for ongoing maintenance, executed in well-defined phases.

Annual Accounting Close: Our goal is to reduce the number of days required to close the books at year-end to enhance the team's well-being and meet the campuses' need for a quicker close. This involves not only accelerating the process but also clearly defining and communicating the closing steps and deadlines. We will inform stakeholders of new expectations and implement change management strategies.

Payroll Compliance Knowledge Transfer: Ensure that knowledge is transferred to and retained by the payroll compliance team. Identify what critical knowledge needs to transfer, develop the knowledge structure and process to determine how we're going to transfer the knowledge. Avoid ongoing work and minimize disruption.

UC Controller Website Refresh: Ensure the efficient management and continuous improvement of the UC Controller website. Determine clear ownership of its various components, establish a robust process for governing website updates, and create a comprehensive timeline for stakeholders. This timeline will outline the steps for content submission, approval, and posting, as well as provide clear expectations for the duration of requested changes to be implemented and live on the website. By doing so, we will enhance transparency, streamline operations, and ensure timely and accurate updates to the website.

Standardized Intake Process: Define and implement an approach for how all functional areas of the UC Controller department receive and respond to stakeholder inquiries to improve response time and ensure consistency. Establish a tracking process for responses. Optimize core stakeholder-facing communications processes through Shared Inboxes. Establish clear roles, responsibilities, and SLAs to enhance stakeholder satisfaction and engagement for each functional area.

Box Transition: Transition document storage systems from scattered tools and locations to a singular file storage platform to streamline work processes and foster better communications within the team and with external stakeholders.

Lean Six Sigma Cohort 1: This project supports two Black Belt candidates as they advance through the DMAIC problem-solving framework with the goal of earning certification. Through structured training, personalized coaching, and real-world project work, the candidates are applying their learning directly to their specific Black Belt projects to improve processes, reduce waste, and deliver measurable results. This initiative strengthens our culture of continuous improvement, builds internal expertise, and drives greater value for the organization and those we serve.

Fundriver V4 Documentation: Develop detailed, accessible documentation for key business processes, enabling consistent execution across teams, facilitating efficient operations, and supporting continuous improvement by capturing best practices and identifying opportunities for optimization. Complete business process mapping and documentation.

Onboarding and Offboarding: Develop a standardized onboarding experience for all new employees across the entire UC Controller department that fully enables new staff to begin working without impediments. When offboarding a staff member, a series of items should be checked off to ensure complete removal of access to tools, systems, and all institutional knowledge captured.

State Appropriation Claims Process: Enhance the state claims process by reducing delays and rework through improved transparency, minimizing unnecessary communication caused by unclear procedures, establishing clear and consistent timelines for campuses, centralizing documentation, implementing a real-time claims tracking system to help track expiring claims, reconciling revenue in a timely basis, and standardizing the format for collecting information from campuses.

DPR Readiness: Ensure readiness for DPR rollout without external consulting support. Streamline and strengthen the depreciation reporting (DPR) process in preparation for the 2026 cycle by reducing reliance on external support, clarifying roles through an updated RACI, and improving efficiency across 11 diverse campus locations. This effort aims to alleviate the current workload on internal teams, enhance data accuracy, and ensure a sustainable, scalable process post-external consulting support. The project will begin with a review of the 2025 process to identify improvement opportunities and define a clear path forward.