Managing Change in the Central Pre-Award Office: Optimizing Subcontracting Tyra Darville-Layne,...
21
Managing Change in the Central Pre-Award Office: Optimizing Subcontracting Tyra Darville-Layne, Senior Grant & Contract Officer Elizabeth Adams, Executive Director Office for Sponsored Research-Evanston Campus NCURA Region IV Spring Meeting April 29, 2014
Managing Change in the Central Pre-Award Office: Optimizing Subcontracting Tyra Darville-Layne, Senior Grant & Contract Officer Elizabeth Adams, Executive
Managing Change in the Central Pre-Award Office: Optimizing
Subcontracting Tyra Darville-Layne, Senior Grant & Contract
Officer Elizabeth Adams, Executive Director Office for Sponsored
Research-Evanston Campus NCURA Region IV Spring Meeting April 29,
2014
Slide 2
Agenda 1.Change in the pre-award office (importance of,
obstacles to) 2.Priority-setting in the pre- award office 3.Tools
for managing change in the pre-award office 4.Case study:
re-engineering subcontracting in the pre- award office
Slide 3
Common Central Pre-Award Business Functions Proposal review
Proposal submission Agreement negotiation Award establishment
Subcontract issuance Non-financial post-award Some financial
post-award! Training/outreach ERA/information
Slide 4
Change in the Central Pre-Award Office The Importance of Change
Pre-award offices confront change on a daily basis; we have the
skills at the individual and transactional level Organizational
change is just as important; the ability to act collectively is
essential to this An important responsibility of management is to
get organizations to act collectively, in terms of functions and
values As time passes, business environments and demands change
Organizations dont change (in a positive way) on their own Not
changing creates risk The many business functions in a pre-award
office must continually be evaluated and appropriately balanced
Change in the central pre-award office drives change in other key
units
Slide 5
Change in the Central Pre-Award Office The Obstacles to Change
Lack of metrics/feedback Quantitative Qualitative You need
mechanisms to perceive yourself as an organization, as a customer
might see you Dont wait for the feedback to find you Take more
control of the conversation on campus regarding your office, and on
change Systems Lack of SOPs Organizational structure Human
resources Organizational culture
Slide 6
Typical Reactions to Organizational Change Why change? Weve
always done it this way. We dont need to do things differently,
theyre working fine the way they are. We dont have time to make
these changes and still do our day-to-day work. Things will be
worse than they are now if we make these changes. Its too much of a
hassle to do this. Jake Julia, Associate VP, Office for Change
Management, Northwestern University
Slide 7
Characteristics of effective change agents Patience Strong work
ethic Strategic thinking Multi-frame thinking (viewing issues from
multiple perspectives) Strong analytical skills Consensus building
Collaborative Assertive Focused Considers the institutional context
(culture and climate) when contemplating organizational change Jake
Julia, Associate VP, Office for Change Management, Northwestern
University
Slide 8
A Few More Words on Patience Not to be confused with
indifference or ineptitude Transformation is a process, not an
event Real change advances in organizations through stages that
build on each other It takes months and years It is never really
done
Slide 9
Priority setting in the pre-award office Priority setting
within and among business functions should be a conscious activity
of management High priority functions should be transparent and
consistent What drives priority setting? Risk Internal business
environment External business environment You need a few
champions/change agents in the office to help drive the priorities
through the organization
Slide 10
Tools for change management in the pre-award office
Organizational structure Human resources and professional
development Policies/procedures Systems Metrics Relationships and
Culture
Slide 11
Case study: re-engineering subcontracting in the pre-award
office Organizational structure Old Seven Grants Officers assigned
departmental constituencies Each Grants Officer performed all
preaward (and selected postaward) functions, including the issuance
of outgoing subcontracts Competing priorities among variety of
business functions at the individual level caused serious
institutional delay issuing subcontracts
Slide 12
Case study: re-engineering subcontracting in the pre-award
office Human resources and professional development Identify/select
staff with strong interest in contracting and characteristics of
effective change agent Centralize the subcontracting function
Cultivate competencies through professional development/formal
engagement at regional and national levels Increase overall
organizational knowledge, capacity and commitment
Slide 13
Case study: re-engineering subcontracting in the pre-award
office Policies and procedures Institutional policy Establish the
foundation upon which processes stand Subcontracting on Sponsored
Programs new NU policy Institutional procedures Establish written
review elements for each transaction that connect the preaward and
postaward stages Focus on assigning resources to risks Align work
between campuses
Slide 14
Case study: re-engineering subcontracting in the pre-award
office Systems There are a variety of systems that are used to
manage subcontracts, across their lifecycle. At Northwestern:
Home-grown Electronic Sponsored Projects Request (ESPR) facilitates
award- stage subcontract requests from the PI/unit to OSR-Evanston
Agreements module in InfoEd (enterprise pre-award platform) tracks
subcontract negotiation/issuance process NUFinancials (PeopleSoft)
captures subcontract expenditures and receivables Home-grown BI
Publisher generates subcontract agreement templates These systems
need to connect, or make sense in relation to each other A system
is only as good as the procedures and business processes
surrounding it These systems contain data elements that you should
be able to report on
Slide 15
How to evaluate the subcontracting function of a pre-award
office Metrics Goals for change and continuous improvement should
be informed by data Quantitative and qualitative
Slide 16
How to evaluate the subcontracting function of a pre-award
office Quantitative: Subcontract caseload report, GM055 (see
handout) Report data retrieved from InfoEd Report distributed to
staff daily within the office Subaward transactions tracked from
formal OSR receipt of sub request to full execution of agreement Im
interested in what Im doing so Im measuring myself
Slide 17
How to evaluate the subcontracting function of a pre-award
office Qualitative: Regular distribution of subcontract caseload
reports to Deans Offices Feedback loops on operational snags
Identification of training needs Managing perception Data
influences opinion - TRUST
Slide 18
Relationships and Culture Be the change you wish to see in the
world (or at least at the University) Leveraging relationships
among stakeholders is essential to the success of managing change -
if you dont have the relationships, change is much more difficult
Continuous improvement depends to a great degree on relationships
established through collaboration Change in culture takes time and
patience People are everything Celebrate team wins Effective change
agents recruit into the new culture
Slide 19
Re-engineering Subcontracting Timeline Outgoing subcontract
issuance function centralized and partially dedicated FTE
Cross-unit workgroup recommendations presented New business
processes established, allowing enterprise system-level reporting
on subcontract negotiation/issuance FFATA reporting assigned to
subcontracting function Subrecipient commitment form finalized (NIH
and NSF, etc.) March 2012 April 2012 May 2012 August 2012 September
2012
Slide 20
Re-engineering Subcontracting Timeline Partial signature
authority granted FDP subcontract updates in BI Publisher Grants
Assistant support added to subcontract function Outgoing
subcontract issuance function centralized and fully dedicated FTE
ESPR (electronic requests for subcontracts) go live Maximal
signature authority granted Subcontract policy draft submitted to
University Policy Review Committee October 2012 March 2013 June
2013 July 2013 November 2013 April 2014