Operational
governance
within reach:
Strategies for better decision-making
at the cabinet level
An eBook for
institutional
decisionmakers
3
Introduction
4
Operational governance vs. enterprise governance
5Why enterprise governance matters to college and
university presidents
6
Why enterprise governance matters to chief academic officers
7
Why enterprise governance matters to chief financial officers
8
Why enterprise governance matters to chief information officers
9
Why enterprise governance matters to senior student affairs officers
10
The Ellucian governance maturity model
11
Bridge strategy and operations to achieve better outcomes
12
Signs of dysfunction in operational governance
13Conclusion
14
About Ellucian
Contents
Introduction
Board governance—or the partnership between a college’s or university’s governing board
and its president or chancellor—is vital in helping the institution remain true to its mission,
execute appropriate policies and practices, and sustain financial growth. When shared,
governance between an institution’s administration and its faculty helps ensure high quality,
relevant academic programs. And partnerships with student governments lend a unique
perspective that benefits everyone involved.
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Operational
governance
vs. enterprise
governance
What’s the difference and why does it matter?
Operational governance is the organizational structure and supporting processes that help your
institution achieve optimal performance and make continuous improvements.
Operational governance can help you:
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Translate your strategic plans into measurable actions
Align resources, initiatives, and goals to improve efficiency
Foresee and address challenges
Enterprise governance is based on three interrelated components: board governance, shared
governance with faculty, and operational governance executed at the cabinet level.
Enterprise governance can help you:
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Set priorities and define responsibilities
Make informed decisions and create a more collaborative campus
Integrate various processes and strategies
Success in higher education requires bold vision. Introducing operational governance at the
cabinet level enhances enterprise governance and can lead to more efficient operations, effective
collaboration, and clear communication—all of which helps you deliver on your bold vision.
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Why enterprise
governance
matters to college
and university
presidents
MUSKEGON
COMMUNITY COLLEGE
Enterprise governance creates the forum for vital campus discussions. This gives all key
stakeholders the chance to engage in conversations at the right time and in the right context.
Effective enterprise governance provides a solid foundation for innovative ideas. This helps
presidents make sound and fair decisions quickly based on quality input from across the
institution as well as anticipate and address changes—in both the institution and the industry.
You can improve enterprise governance by:
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Leading with explicit statements and actions and establishing clear expectations
Ensuring that the team is focused on the most important issues and priorities
Building constructive partnerships
At Muskegon Community College, academic and non-academic divisions on campus are all
individually governed by various councils.
Councils focused on instructional affairs, technology, business activities, and student services
report to the school’s coordinating council, the primary governance council. The councils
generally function independently of the administration, but the school’s board, administration,
faculty, and students all have ways to give input to respective councils. Decisions can move
between councils to get different input as needed and decisions made by the coordinating
council are reported to the president’s cabinet.
“It’s a process whereby every component of the college has the ability to have input into
decisions that are either directly related to in-the-classroom issues or out-of-the-classroom
issues.” —Dr. Dale K. Nesbary, President, Muskegon Community College.
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Why enterprise
governance matters
to chief academic
officers
Because colleges and universities typically educate many different types of students, it’s critical
to coordinate both in-class and online educational formats. Add to that the complexity of rising
costs and tight budgets, heightened accountability requirements, and conflicting priorities and
it’s easy to see why collaborative and cross-functional decisions are so important.
Effective enterprise governance plays a critical role in this mix as the chief academic officer
balances the institution’s investments in academics—whether those investments take the form of
faculty and advisors, technology, or facilities and equipment.
You can improve enterprise governance by:
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ANTIOCH UNIVERSITY
Ensuring integrity and effective delivery and assessment of academic programs
Meeting the requirements of program and institutional accreditation
Designing accessible, convenient, and outcomes-oriented student services
Antioch University created ad hoc cross-campus faculty committees to deal with specific tasks
such as reviewing and creating new policies for curriculum standards and faculty workloads.
Building on that work, Antioch University leaders created a commission that eventually produced
recommendations for a new university academic council (UAC). The council leaves campusspecific questions to be resolved at the local level, but creates a mechanism for the university to
resolve academic issues that affect the university as a whole.
“What makes Antioch’s unique structure so compelling is precisely in the way it is aligned so
carefully and intently with the institution’s mission. It’s not just treating governance as a throwaway;
it’s treating governance as part of the core.” —Felice Nudelman, Chancellor, Antioch University
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Why enterprise
governance matters
to chief financial
officers
The chief financial officer plays a central role in ensuring the institution’s resources are managed
equitably, transparently, and responsibly. The practice of enterprise governance ensures that the
chief financial officer participates in important conversations when priorities and decisions with
a financial dimension are made.
In this way, the chief financial officer becomes a trusted advisor, providing well-informed
managerial analysis and support for all institutional financial business matters.
You can improve enterprise governance by:
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WRIGHT STATE UNIVERSITY
Ensuring that financial practices align with the institution’s resources and goals
Budgeting capital expenditures and supporting a healthy revenue
Managing debt and risk more effectively
Wright State University implemented a mission-driven allocation budget model to generate
revenue, reduce unnecessary expense, and improve transparency and accountability.
This responsibility-centered style of budgeting and planning, coupled with its activity-based
approach to costing, helps the university’s leaders look collectively at all the university’s operational
expenses and identify opportunities that deliver the most value from the university’s budget.
“At the end of the day, what this really is about is synergy in delivering our mission. We’re
maximizing the resources that we have resident at the university, and leveraging the talents and
expertise that we have from our faculty, staff, students, community, and our strategic partners
in business and industry.” —Mark Polatajko, Vice President, Business and Fiscal Affairs and
University Treasurer, Wright State University
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Why enterprise
governance matters
to chief information
officers
The chief information officer makes sure that the institution takes full advantage of the
opportunities that information technology (IT) presents to improve teaching, learning, and
administrative practices. This provides a framework for thinking about IT as it applies to a
business unit as well as to the institution as a whole. Because IT is a significant investment,
the chief information officer helps stakeholders see the broad picture of IT funding from an
institution-wide level.
You can improve enterprise governance by:
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CARDINAL STRITCH
UNIVERSITY
Helping make better, more informed decisions regarding IT
Improving IT delivery and increasing the number of projects that are completed on time,
on scope, and within budget
Aligning IT investments to overall mission
The IT governance structure at Cardinal Stritch University is based around core units, including
library and learning services, user support services, infrastructure enterprise systems, data
quality, and ERP systems. This structure helps administrators address IT challenges because it
helps prioritize and plan projects, investment decisions, and allocation of services in ways that
clearly align with the needs across campus.
“We’ve started aligning our work with what the needs, goals, and strategies of the university
are. It’s very clear as to what we’re working on, and why. That’s one of the primary goals of
any governance structure. And we’ve seen a huge increase in institutional satisfaction with
the services that we’re offering and the projects that we are engaging in.” —TJ Rains, Vice
President, Information Services and Chief Information Officer, Cardinal Stritch University
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Why enterprise
governance matters
to senior student
affairs officers
Students are at the core of the mission of every college and university, and that focus pervades
the work of every university unit. So the senior student affairs officer has a pivotal role in
enterprise governance. Stewardship of student success cannot take place in a vacuum—it
requires transparency and involvement. The success of the student affairs demands that the
senior student affairs officers keep colleagues in every campus role fully apprised of trends and
issues affecting students.
You can improve enterprise governance by:
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CREIGHTON UNIVERSITY
Informing colleagues about the inevitable issues that crop up around student life
Helping colleagues understand trends that affect student life now and in the future
Sharing ownership and responsibility in decisions about student affairs
Creighton University operates under a provost model. All its schools and colleges report to a
single administrator, as does the vice president for student life, which ensures that resources are
coordinated and aligned.
The more integrated administrative structure helps the university engage in more
multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary initiatives and helps administrators and staff work across
what have traditionally been fairly siloed campus units.
“The provost structure will create systems to nurture even stronger cross-campus relationships
in support of student affairs initiatives. Ultimately, the new structure will help the university’s
student affairs function to integrate even more fully into the life of the university and play
an even stronger role in the student learning process.” —W. Wayne Young, Jr., Associate Vice
President, Student Life, Creighton University
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The Ellucian governance maturity model
NONEXISTENT
BEGINNING
LOW PERFORMING
PROGRESSING
HIGH PERFORMING
Decisions
Individuals making and
enacting decisions
Individual units making
decisions mostly without
regard to other areas
Some decisions made
with input from more
than one functional area
Governing body meets
to make key decisions
Automation facilitates
decisions and approvals,
garnering input from
across allareas
Strategic
Exclusive
Somewhat inclusive
Occurring with some
link to BI
Inclusive planning
process but lacks
mechanism to track
execution success
Inclusive, sets
measurable objectives
and tracks success
Planning
communication
Nonexistent
Inconsistent, sporadic
Consistent but low tech,
prone to error
Systematic
communication,
documentation
practices still lacking
Systematic, automated
communication,
technology leveraged to
facilitate. Documentation
practices set and
maintained.
Collaboration
Inconceivable
Inconsistent, sporadic
Consistent but not yet
inclusive enough
Inclusive but not yet
strategic
Inclusive, strategic in
the work accomplished
Performance
metrics
None
Beginning to understand
the importance
and usefulness of
performance metrics
Some reports and
analysis occurring,
beginning work toward
KPIs
Some KPIs in place,
analysis performed
Dashboards and KPIs
in use across many of
the exec leadership.
Forecasting is a part
of the strategic
planning inputs
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Bridge strategy and operations to achieve better outcomes
Strategy
Program
tactics
Performance
DEFINE:
DESIGN:
MEASURE:
Goals
Plan
Goal Progress
Timelines
Identitfy Projects
ROI
Benefits
Prioritize
Benchmarks
Stakeholders
Take Action
Language
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Signs of dysfunction
in operational
governance
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Cabinet-level conversations remain focused at the unit level, seldom rising to
encompass strategy for the institution as a whole
Insufficient access to metrics that helps stakeholders make better decisions
When critical discussions are on the agenda, not all the right players are at the table
at the right time
Decisions are not communicated effectively to staff who need to know
There is little or no follow-up to ensure that decisions have been executed, and to
measure the effectiveness of that execution
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Conclusion
In short, enterprise governance that includes operational governance at the cabinet level offers
a clear path forward for institutions to fulfill operational goals—and to work more effectively and
efficiently in reaching those aspirations.
Because each institution is unique, colleges and universities seeking better
operational governance will have to map their own path to progress. But doing so
will reap important and valuable benefits, including the ability to:
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Align daily operations with the institution’s strategic plan
Set priorities, make decisions, and execute plans
Enhance collaboration and communication across campus
Allocate resources more efficiently and strategically
Improve benchmarks for assessing progress and outcomes
Ellucian Management Consulting Services provide the industry expertise you need to create
a culture of operational governance within your institution. This team of senior consultants
provides credible leadership and works across campus departments to be catalysts for positive
change. With experience as chief information officers, chief financial officers, and departmental
vice presidents on campuses throughout the U.S. and Canada, this group understands your
challenges and is uniquely qualified to support you.
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About Ellucian
Ellucian helps education institutions thrive in an open and dynamic world.
We deliver a broad portfolio of technology solutions, developed in collaboration with a global
education community, and provide strategic guidance to help education institutions of all
kinds navigate change, achieve greater transparency, and drive efficiencies. More than 2,400
institutions in 40 countries around the world look to Ellucian for the ideas and insights that will
move education forward, helping people everywhere discover their potential through learning.
To learn more, visit www.ellucian.com.
Author acknowledgements
We thank the following authors for their significant contributions to this eBook:
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President perspective: Dr. Tim Coley, Senior Strategic Consultant, Ellucian and Dale Nesbary,
President, Muskegon Community College
Chief academic officer perspective: Dr. Chrissy Coley, Senior Strategic Consultant, Ellucian
and Felice Nudelman, Chancellor and Laurien Alexandre, Vice Chancellor, Antioch University
Chief financial officer perspective: Ellucian, and Mark Polatajko, Vice President, Business and
Fiscal Affairs and University Treasurer, Wright State University
Chief information officer perspective: Becky Weaver, Manager, Management Consulting,
Ellucian; Chris Meholic, Management Consulting, Ellucian; and TJ Rains, Vice President,
Information Services and Chief Information Officer, Cardinal Stritch University
Student perspective: Ellucian and W. Wayne Young, Jr., Associate Vice President, Student
Life, Creighton University
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Phone: +1 800.223.7036
www.ellucian.com
© 2014 Ellucian, Inc. All rights reserved. EEB-512