A Kick-Off Event for the planning phase of the new Service Center of Excellence in UNC’s Division of Finance and Administration drew more than 100 staff members from across all units Aug. 13. The hour-long event included a presentation by Vice Chancellor of Finance and Administration Matt Fajack, followed by a question and answer session.
Fajack introduced the concept of the Service Center of Excellence (SCE), adding that it was “our name for a service delivery center.” He quoted the definition of a service delivery center from the Educational Advisory Board, saying that the center will “absorb transactional activity previously performed by generalist staff across the division.” Fajack introduced the directors of the four departments within the SCE: Carly Perin, director of finance; Bill Stockard, director of human resources; Ray Reitz, director of information technology; and Allison Reid, director of marketing and communications. Fajack also introduced Meredith Weiss, senior associate vice chancellor for finance and administration, who will manage the SCE and the transition process.
Fajack discussed the timeline for the transition to the new SCE. The process started in July with the SCE announcement memo he sent to the division and will end in late spring or early summer 2016, when all SCE staff have moved from their home units into the service centers. The first phase, during which the SCE team is meeting with staff division-wide and gathering information, he said, was key to the success of the transition to the SCE.
“When we say we this process to be collaborative, we truly do want to hear your feedback,” Fajack said.
From September through December 2015, the team will take all of the information and data and begin planning the scope of the project. The implementation phase will begin in January 2016.
Since the SCE team has already begun having meetings with various staff members across the division, Fajack was also able to share some early feedback and common questions that people are asking. He answered some of the questions that have been received so far, adding that there will be more answers as the planning process starts.
One question asked at the event was how the division plans to evaluate success for the SCE. “That is part of what we will plan for over the fall, what those key performance indicators will be,” Fajack said. “The key to our success will be defining those metrics and comparing how are we doing now with how we are doing after we make the transition.”
Throughout the process, Fajack said that the SCE team will keep staff informed of progress by email, website updates, a newsletter and more town hall-style meetings like the Kick-Off.
Watch the video of Fajack’s presentation. View the Kick-Off slideshow.