A More Efficient Office Tiffany Wilson - PowerPoint Presentation

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A More Efficient Office

Tiffany Wilson

Financial Aid Services, Consultant

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What is it you would say you do here?

Processed

$241.3 billion in student

aid for undergraduate

and graduate

student aid.*

Assisted in the decline in Federal loans for

undergraduate

students for

the

seventh consecutive

year

.*

Increased grant

aid

by

71%

and reduced

total loan

volume

by 10%

over the last 10 years.*

Helped state

grant aid

for undergraduate students rise for

the fifth consecutive

year.*

Assisted in the processing of 19

million

student FAFSA’s.**

Processed more

than 6 million students

selected

for verification.

**

Awarded aid to allow the conferring of

1.0 million associate‘s degrees; 1.9 million bachelor's degrees; 780,000 master's degrees; and 182,000 doctor's

degrees***

*

College Board, Trends in Student Aid 2018

**

US ED OIG Federal Student Aid’s Process

to Select

Free Application

for Federal

Student Aid

Data Elements

and Students

for Verification

***IES NCES Back to School Statistics

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“Progress isn’t made by early risers. It’s made by lazy men trying to find easier ways to do something.”

(Heinlein)

“We cannot expect better performance from people stuck in bad processes.”

(George, 2010

)

“You must have the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.” (Collins, 2001)

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Lean Six Sigma & Process Mapping

Define the Destination

Prepare the Vehicle

Map the Route

Describe the Stops

Clarify the Roles

(Sparks, W. 2016.

Process Mapping Road Trip

. Promptitude Publishing. Denton, Maryland.)

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Step 1: Define the Destination

“There seems to be an inherent desire in all teams to jump right to fixing the process. Not mapping it. Not defining the destination. Going right to the fixing. That is going way too fast and can be dangerous.”

(Sparks, 2016)

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Financial Aid Destination

Provide notification on awarded federal financial aid

for Okey Doke University students

m

eeting all Graduate admission requirements

and enrolled in an approved program, taught at an approved location

w

ith all verification items submitted and validated by a trained financial aid member

while maintaining fund limitations and eligibility requirementsand meeting the goals of the University.

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Example Destinations

V5 Verifications

Unusual Enrollment History

Exit Counseling

Gainful Employment Reporting

FISAP CompletionDirect Loan ReconciliationMailing of Financial Aid Award LettersEmployee Training and Succession Planning

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Work through

ONE

process during a staff meeting.

Invite other stakeholders involved in the process.

Create for all stakeholders. Exclude “Financial Aid-ese”.

“G5 drawdowns as a result of the Direct Loan reconciliation and for our McKinney-Vento students who recently provided affirmative confirmation.”Develop the process based on the current reality, not the optimal reality. That comes next.

Create a Destination Description

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Step 2: Prepare the Vehicle

Start with the very first action in the process.

What action triggers the workflow?

How is this action communicated?

Exactly how this action travels from the first person to the next person will reveal the vehicle.

(i.e. forms, websites, queuing systems, electronic workflow, e-mail, etc.)

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Unless the “vehicle” has clear instructions, the user may never reach the intended destination.

Include embedded instructions to help users avoid common mistakes.

Step 2: Prepare the Vehicle

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Vehicle Improvements

Create a shared office drive with instructions and process maps developed by the office for reference.

Add

‘Office

Use

Only’ sections to new forms to include specific screens requiring updates.

Create clear overhead sheets to assist new verification

processors

find information on tax documents. Use the Verification Tax Matrix provided by ED annually.CC other stakeholders in e-mail notifications when a process is complete. Domino-effect.Use “Test Drivers” to ensure instructions for use are clear and eliminate user error.

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Vehicle Improvements

Use the technology customized for your audience. Not all students are “techy”.

Review the “vehicles” used by third-party servicers to ensure alignment with process map.

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Step 3: Map the Route

Buy a Plane Ticket

Example

(Sparks, 2016)

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Step 4: Describe the Stops (Swim Lane Map)

Pool

: Name of Process

Lanes

: Areas/Person Responsible

Each start and end event

in your process map is indicated by a

circle.

Each action in your process map is indicated by a square/rectangle.Use 3 to 4 words to describe the action. First word should be an action word.Arrows connect the flow of the process from action to action and between those areas/persons responsible.

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Draft the Swim Lane Map

Use a pencil or sticky notes, this draft took me three tries…

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Process Map - Excel

Use software such as Excel to create the formal process map with swim

lanes.

Insert

 SmartArt  Process Choose Type & Begin

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“They first

got the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus, and the right people in the right seats – and

then

they figured out where to drive it.”

(Collins, 2001)

Step 5: Clarifying the Roles

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Step 5: Clarifying the Roles

Four critical roles in any workflow:

Responsible

: person responsible to see task through to

completion.

Approver: anyone who have go/no-go authority.Contributor

: anyone who contributes to the final

product.

Informed: anyone who needs to be notified at any point within the process, but does not contribute to the final product.

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Assign a Letter

Responsible

: Too often this is left undefined and falls to the user by default. Assign to the person who ensures that all of the stops are completed.

This is not the student

.

Approver: This person can stop the process. There can be multiple stops in a process.

Be sure to replace these members should employee changes occur.

Contributor

: This is who performs the work in the process map.Informed: Gatekeepers and technical staff are often this person. No contribution to the final output.

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Final Tips

Go slow, don’t steamroll.

Compromise when necessary.

Ask people to test a new way temporarily.

Remind people where they are going.

Be transparent and open-minded in the evaluation process.

Attach constraints and time needed for each action in the process map.

If additional resources are needed, don’t whine. Present your case with irrefutable data and poise.

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What Now?

NASFAA Policies

& Procedures Builder

G

uides

you step-by-step through the creation of a centralized, accessible policies and procedures manual.Enter responses through the template to create one or manuals for your institution.

Includes

all required sections for federal compliance

Copy, paste, and format existing and new content easily with familiar document management functionsTools for inclusion of images and related filesRegulatory references easily accessible throughout the template and can be embedded in the manuals to simplify your research

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Thank you.

Tiffany Wilson

Financial Aid Services, Consultant

www.financialaidservices.org