GCA Overview

GCA Help consists of four Grant Analysts

• Amy Liu• Cheryl Haycox• Colleen Laing• Meg RussoGCA Help is campus’s single point of contact for

grant and contract budget issues GCA Help can be reached atgcahelp@uw.edu – 206-616-9995

GCA and LEAN

• GCA has restructured our work and is striving to serve campus better

• Using LEAN, an approach focused on reducing waste and improving flow in work processes

• As a result, we are improving processing times with a goal of providing a more consistent response to campus

LEAN Process Lessons• Group like work in buckets to speed processing and identify

process backlogs and hitches• Focus on process flow

– Work one bucket at a time– Group work ion stations– Set core hours– Work uninterrupted

• Measure progress– Set SMART goals (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-framed)– Measure progress toward goals– Identify and address process issues when goals aren’t met

GCA through 2004

Three teams• Budget set-up• Invoicing• ReportingNo single point of contactNo focus on closingNo cross training

GCA 2005 - 2010• Organized by School/Department• Campus clients had single point of contact (Teams 1 - 6)• Everyone worked on all processes, set-up through close-

out• Processes were applied inconsistently• Process hitches went unidentified• Constant interruptions (phone, e-mail, GT) impeded flow• Backlogs accumulated – backlogs, process hitches and

bottlenecks were not apparent to whole office when we were broken into 6 teams by School/Department

GCA 2011 - Organized by Process

Core Process Teams

• Budget Set-Up– New & renewal– Supplements– Extensions

• Invoicing– Interim– Final

• Reporting– Interim– Final

• Closing– Cash– LOC

We help the Core Process Teams "flow" their workby pulling work that interrupts them into GCA Help and

work that is hard to "bucket" into a Changes team

• GCA Help - Single Point of Contact– Acknowledges receipt– Does quick work– Triages involved work to core process teams– Campus liaison & training

• Changes Team – Adjustments on active grants– Cost Share adjustments– IDC– Possibly supplements and extensions

Benefits

• Teams “flow” work by focusing uninterrupted on buckets of like work

• Staff rotates to retain process skills• Grouping work by process allows us to identify

process hitches• Backlogs are being reduced• Work assigned to stations, not individuals, and

staff cross-trained to prevent hold-ups

Continuous Improvement

We continue improving our processes with the aim of reducing processing time and improving quality

The GCA Landscape

• GCA manages 24,000 active budgets

Workload is growing much faster than staff

Budget set-up turn-around times are back to pre-restructuring times and continue improving.

We have closed nearly 5,000 backlog budgets (expired 2+ years) and are staying current on new budgets

Of 1,525 un-completed Grant Trackers, more than half are in the Closing topic.

2010 Monthly Core Process Workload Averages

• Budget Set-Up: 661 items• Invoicing: 2,787 items (769 manual)• Reporting: 136• Closing: 368

GCA Help Daily Volumes

• 100 E-mails• 40 Grant Trackers• 30 Phone Calls• 20% are thank you’s, duplicate requests, out

of office or undeliverable messages, etc., requiring little work

• Actual items processed per day ~130

Requests to GCA616-9995 or GCAHelp@uw.edu

– Phone Calls to GCA Help– E-Mails to GCA Help– Grant Trackers– Calls and E-Mails to GCA Managers

Are all funneled through GCA Help• GCA Help is staffed by four Grant Analysts• 8 – 5 Mon - Fri

GCA Help Core Process Teams

GCA Help ‘Just Do Its’• FIN changes• Status changes• Provide info from GCA systems• Rebudgeting• Cancel duplicate budgets• Close gift budgets• IDC adjustments• Extend non-grant budget and sub-budget end dates• Transfer deficits on non-stand-alone budgets• Collect information and initiate research on other requests

Grant Tracker• Grant Analysts reading new messages in these topics (as of 2 weeks

ago):* Budget set-up * NOE* IDC * Other* Invoicing * Reporting

• Responding directly to "Just Do Its"• Referring Team work to Teams• We are working toward reading new GT's daily, but still have a lag-time

in processing GT's• Other Teams also have GT backlogs, some substantial

Turn Around Times

GCA Help will respond within one business day to - acknowledge receipt - resolve simple matters - provide information about processing of more

complex matters• Currently we respond timely to 95% of phone and

e-mail inquiries• Grant Tracker response times are improving but

are not meeting our turn-around goal yet

Budget Set-Up Turn Around TimeGoals

Up To Three Days• New and renewal budgets• New sub budgets• Extension PACs• Cost Share Pledges

Within Ten Days• Other EFAs• PACs• TPUs

Invoicing Turn-Around TimeGoals

Within One Week• Revised final invoice

Within Two Weeks• Invoice detail request

Within One Month• Revised interim invoice• Past due invoice

Reporting Turn-Around Time GoalsOn Deadline• Current reports• Contractor release forms

Within One Week• Past due reports• Revised interim reports• Termination notices• Ad hoc reports

Within One Month• Revised final reports

Closing Turn-Around Time GoalsWithin Three Weeks• Closing PACs

By April 30, 2011• Closing backlog budgets expired pre-11/09

Within One Month of follow-up inquiry• Closing backlog expired between 11/09 to 12/10

120 days after expiration• Budgets expiring 1/1/11 to Current

The purpose of our process improvements is to shorten these turn-around times so we can deliver timely, quality services and effective communications to campus and sponsors

Turn-Around Time Caveat

We can serve you best, and meet our deadlines if everything is in good order, for example:- prior budgets are closed- encumbrances are liquidated- cost share obligations are met and documented- deficits are transferred- charges are transferred and- any needed concurrence is provided- Sponsor has paid

Tips• If it is urgent, please tell us why and what deadline you are working under• E-mail or call for urgent matters (use 'high priority' e-mail setting)• E-mail or call if you haven't received a timely response• Put a budget number in the subject line of e-mails• Be strategic in use of Grant Tracker topics

– Use GT topics "Transpasu" and "Advance Budget“ and attach signed forms for quickest processing

– Food approval goes under "Compliance"– Put status changes in "Other" rather than "Closing"– IDC has its own topic– GT requests should contain single topics, not multiple issues– Once closed, please only reopen if issue is unresolved (not for thank you’s or

new issues)

Request Tracker

- Provides a single process for all modes of communication- Assigns ticket numbers to enable tracking- Preserves a record of communications- Is assignable to individual staff- Can link tickets and create dependencies- Collects metrics * inquiry volume * response time averages * average length of time to completion