L&S Administrative Regional Teams
TIMELINE
High-level timeline draft for implementation of the Administrative Regional Teams
ENGAGEMENTS
| Event | Date & Time | Related Material (when applicable) |
|---|---|---|
| CASI/USIC standing agenda item for this academic year | Ongoing | |
| HR Information Session |
Date: October 21st Time: 11am – 12pm |
Slides |
| Finance Information Session |
Date: October 22nd Time: 1pm – 2pm |
Slides |
| Research Administration Information Session |
Date: October 22nd Time: 2pm – 3pm |
Slides |
| Advisory Group Meeting | Date: October 29th | |
| Administrative Topic of the Month – College Staffing |
Date: November 7th Time: 8:30am - 10am |
|
| Semesterly L&S Townhall for All-Staff |
Date: November 18th |
COMMUNICATIONS
Subject: PRIORITY MESSAGE: Research Administration information session invitation
From: Tina Nielsen
To: People with positions identified as future SLAC roles
Date: October 11, 2024
Dear Colleague,
As the Dean shared earlier this fall (see below), L&S will be migrating towards an administrative staffing model where individuals in finance, human resources, and research administration support L&S units through semi-local administrative teams. We will transition to this model by the end of this fiscal year to coincide with the implementation of the Workday system. Units will have dedicated points of contact in each functional area in the new teams and existing staff will continue the same partnerships with their current units. Relationships with those units will feel very similar under the new model, but the supervision structure will change to L&S Admin to facilitate the security needs of the Workday system as well as to ensure we have a stronger and more resilient staffing model that provides an improved ability to back-up work when folks are out of office, access to training and professional development opportunities, and more career pathing including promotional opportunities.
We recognize this is a major change. Our initial conversations are being purposely designed to begin an open dialogue and provide a space for all staff migrating to this new support model to ask both philosophical as well as detailed logistical questions about this change of approach. To that end, the upcoming information sessions will be the first in a series of opportunities to engage in dialogue about the changes and will occur the week of October 21st.
Your position has been identified as one that will be a part of the researcher administration team in the future. The information session for research administration will occur via Zoom at 2pm on Tuesday, October 22nd. We hope you can join us and encourage you to add the attached invite to your calendar. In addition to these sessions, please note there will be an L&S Admin Topic of the Month focused on this topic 8:30-10a on November 7th and an All-Staff Listening Session at 10am on November 18th. Be on the lookout for information for both of these events in the near future.
Thank you for your patience and collaboration as we work through the details of this change together.
Sincerely,
Tina, on behalf of the L&S Admin Team – Lea, Jennifer, John and Dani
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Subject: College Staffing Update
From: Dean Eric Wilcots
To: L&S Community
Date: September 5, 2024
Dear L&S Staff,
As we begin another academic year together, we set our sights on the best ways to achieve our core mission in the year ahead. Being a top-ranked public university requires modern, responsive, efficient, and secure administrative systems and resilient staffing structures to serve as the foundation for us to achieve excellence.
Near the end of academic year 2022-23, L&S introduced a plan to pivot towards a strategic staffing methodology. A key goal of strategic staffing was to create more resilience across our lean and fragile administrative staffing in the College to ensure departmental operations do not grind to a halt if there is a sudden leave or staff vacancy. Additionally, a strategic staffing framework allows us to provide better access to training, professional development, and career pathing for administrative staff across the College as well as the ability for more frequent engagement with fellow employees in their communities of practice.
The Universities of Wisconsin and UW-Madison have been engaged in efforts towards re-envisioning our administrative systems and structures for the last several years with the Administrative Transformation Program (ATP). As campus began to evaluate the current state, the findings were that our administrative systems and the ways our staff were required to work through and around those systems were outdated, inefficient and staying the course was not an option. Therefore, a necessary decision was made to move away from our current administrative systems and to the Workday system on 7/1/2025 for all financial, post-award and human resources processes.
As L&S began to plan for implementation of our strategic staffing structure, we also began to understand the changing ways work will be accomplished on campus as the full efforts of the ATP unfold and faced the parameters of the Legislative position cap. Therefore, our timeline for achieving the plans for strategic staffing was accelerated and boundary conditions became better defined. Given the needs of achieving administrative work in a more resilient staffing system with greater back-up, ensuring that we have appropriate separation of duties, incorporating more communities of practice support into day to day work and building a staffing system constructed in a manner that will integrate well with the security parameters of the Workday system, we are embarking on the effort of creating Semi-Local Administrative Centers (SLACs or colloquially referred to in the College as the “pod” model).
The pod model is designed to:
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Allow us to ensure administrative work is performed under a supervisory structure of specialized experts in finance, research administration and human resources who deeply understand the rapidly changing landscape of compliance, reporting, and best practices;
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Retain vital partnerships with unit staff at every step of the configuration and long-term operation of the pods - financial, HR and research administration staff that migrate to the SLAC structure on or before 7/1/2025 will continue to have assigned departments they work very closely with day in and day out, often at 1:1 or 1 to few for those high transactional volume roles; and
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Provide the necessary system access, training, and support to complete administrative work.
As to the question of which staff will migrate to the SLACs, we are currently in the process of determining that via a survey and discussions with unit leaders to understand current day to day efforts. They may need to engage with you in order to complete the survey. Once we are able to analyze the results in partnership with unit leaders, we will be able to determine the efforts that will need to be reconfigured versus the many other vital tasks needed to meet our mission which will remain locally administered. In order to meet the timeline for security role access and training needed for set up in Workday, any modifications to reporting lines will need to be established before the end of the calendar year. While job duties are likely to change for most individuals currently in administrative roles, we are seeking to maintain the existing connections with current unit assignments while expanding communities as well.
We recognize this is a significant shift for staff to process, and we will be holding information sessions and discussions throughout the fall semester. Whether an individual will be joining a SLAC or continue reporting directly to a unit, there will be many questions regardless of which group an individual lands. Let me be very clear, though there may be changes in job responsibilities and reporting relations for a portion of the L&S community, these changes will not result in employee layoffs.
We acknowledge a transformation of this magnitude causes a great deal of anxiety for all in our College community, staff and faculty, and we greatly appreciate your patience and constructive engagement as we navigate these efforts. We also encourage you to reach out to the Employee Assistance Office for support and assistance when helpful; they are an incredible resource in navigating change and are available at no cost.
While recognizing that many of the key details of the upcoming changes will continue to emerge in the next several months, our goal is to have transparent communications and discussions throughout ATP. As our campus leadership has indicated, ATP is not just about implementing a system, but reimagining how we approach our work and shifting towards continuous improvement. To meet the opportunity and challenge ahead of us, your partnership, expertise, and insights will play a critical role in our success. While there is much to be done, we know we can do this together.
Sincerely,
Eric
FAQs
General FAQs
Will L&S involve Academic staff Assembly and University staff Congress in planning this as part of shared governance?
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Yes, shared governance groups (L&S CASI-USIC) will be involved in supporting the implementation of the Administrative Regional Teams and help us to ensure we are addressing employee questions and concerns. The Administrative Regional Teams implementation will be an ongoing agenda item during the upcoming academic year, and meetings will include individuals moving to the teams to ensure we are hearing questions, concerns, and feedback.
Will other pods be formed on campus (Advising, program coordination?)
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There will be other shared administrative service groups formed on campus, but we are not aware of the formation of an advising or program coordination shared service group at this time.
People and Position Impacts
Will people lose FTE when moving to a pod? How is the FTE determined? What if that person has duties in a pod area, and a non-pod area?
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Individuals who will be part of the Administrative Regional Teams will not experience an FTE decrease. L&S Admin will be partnering with each unit to evaluate positions with responsibilities both inside and outside the new team.
Will anyone lose their job to pods?
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No one will lose their job as a result of Administrative Regional Team implementation.
If employees currently do multiple jobs (HR and Finance) in their department, will they have to choose one when they move to a POD?
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There will be a separation of duties between the functional areas within the Administrative Regional Teams, and, in many cases, within Workday. Where positions currently have responsibilities that bridge multiple functional areas, L&S Admin will be discussing the details of these positions and the outcome (if the individual will be part of the new team, and if so, which one) will be determined based on the unique circumstances of their situation.
Will titles change?
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There will not be immediate title changes with the implementation of Administrative Regional Teams. We will continue to evaluate titles after we fully transition into the new structure and Workday to ensure we are in alignment with campus title guidelines.
Will pay change?
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There will not be salary changes as a result of Administrative Regional Team implementation.
Is there career progression in a pod?
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Yes, we do expect more opportunities for career progression within L&S as a result of Administrative Regional Teams.
Will there be an open call for applications to the new pod roles or a forced move?
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There will be both recruitments for roles within the Administrative Regional Teams and reassignment of existing employees to a team.
Will staff get a new appointment letter if duties are changing?
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If the percentage split and/or unique duties need to be updated on the position description, we will work through PD update process. This would not result in a new appointment letter; however, individuals will receive a letter communicating changes such as supervisory and operational area.
How will training be managed for staff moving to a pod with work they are not familiar with?
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We will offer training for any aspects of a role an individual may not be familiar with. In addition, we will all be engaging in Workday training (expected to begin in March) and the many impacted processes. Ongoing professional development will also be a key component of the Administrative Regional Teams.
Will our supervisor change if we are moved to a pod?
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Yes, those positions that are part of the Administrative Regional Teams will report to the manager overseeing their functional area (e.g. Finance Manager, HR Manager, or Multi-functional Research Administration Manager). Current supervisors will have an active role in your work.
Currently we each have a variety of work schedules. Can we keep our current work schedule when moved to a pod? Will pods allow flexible schedules or require standardized schedules? Will we need to coordinate work schedules and leave requests with other pod members for adequate coverage?
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We will be working with the Administrative Regional Teams advisory group and L&S shared governance to work through expectations around work schedules and coordination of leave requests.
Will our Academic or University staff status change when moved to a pod? When new pod members are hired will they all be Academic staff, or a mix of Academic staff and University staff?
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Existing staff will retain their current employment classification with Administrative Regional Team implementation since titles are not changing. New team positions will be in a mix of both Academic and University staff classifications.
Structure & Operations
Will all departments be in a pod?
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Yes, all departments will be included in the new model.
Will an ART member’s current department remain their primary department?
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In most cases yes, the individual currently in a unit will continue to be assigned to that same unit. While it will take time to fully evaluate capacity and activity levels, potentially 1-2 years. we will be working with ART employees to address areas where the workload needs balancing. For individuals with capacity, this may result in having an additional unit(s) assignment.
Will staff need to move offices?
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In most cases, no, the existing staff will not need to move offices. L&S Admin would prefer that individuals within the Administrative Regional Team have space within or near the unit(s) they serve.
What will the daily interaction look like between departments and the pods? Will it be something like what happens now between centralized departments and the College HR partners?
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We expect the daily interaction between departments and their assigned person within the Administrative Regional Team will look similar to the interactions folks within these roles currently have with their departments. We recognize the need for strong and collaborative working relationships in order for all of us to be successful.
How will work be assigned in a pod? Will each pod member be assigned to one department as their main support role like it is now? Or will pod members support all departments in their pod on a routine basis? Will an email ticketing system be used like UWSS does for affinity groups?
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There will be an Administrative Regional Team primary point-of-contact assigned to each unit, and that person will serve the primary operational needs of their assigned unit(s). We expect members of the Administrative Regional Team will support each other as needed in times of peak workload, leave, etc. We are looking into the possibility of using an email ticketing system to help facilitate and track requests, but the primary assignment to a ticketing system request would be to the unit's primary point-of-contact.
How does backup coverage work with pods? If a pod member is on long vacation or leaves for another job, how is it decided which pod member will do their work temporarily? Will they be paid more when covering for other areas?
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In most cases, back-up coverage assignments will be based on capacity and will be short-term in nature. In these cases, individuals providing back-up coverage would not be paid more when covering for other areas. However, each situation, particularly if there is a long-term coverage assignment, will be evaluated to ensure appropriate workload and compliance with UW-Madison's overload policy.
How will RWAs work in a pod? What if one department does not allow RWAs?
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We will be working with the Administrative Regional Team advisory group and L&S shared governance to work through differences in onsite/hybrid/remote work expectations.
Will department assignments within a pod be geographically close so that employees do not need to walk across campus to speak to someone in person?
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We are looking at multiple variables when assigning individuals to departments, including geographical location/proximity, similarity of units, and overall workload.
How many pods are there?
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There will be 5 Administrative Regional Teams in total covering all units within L&S. Note: We have received some questions about the units listed on the August 27, 2024, plenary slide detailing the 5 teams. Please note some units were not listed individually and were combined into categories (e.g. Social Science Centers, Arts & Humanities Centers) due to space limitations on the presentation slide.
What improvements is the pod process meant to make?
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The improvements and benefits of Administrative Regional Teams include:
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More resilient staffing model
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Ability to successfully implement new workflows within Workday
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Robust training and support in each functional area (e.g. finance, HR, research admin)
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Ongoing communications and sharing of best practices with the L&S community
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Supervisors that are specialized in each functional area
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Increased career pathing and advancement
Will these changes reduce redundancy in the system and lessen bureaucracy?
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We do anticipate this new model will present opportunities to streamline processes and decision making. We will be engaging with Administrative Regional Team members to help us identify these opportunities as both a part of implementation, and as part of ongoing operations. Please let us know if you see opportunities!
Will all staff in a pod do all of the work, or will "specialist" positions be created within a pod? How will that be managed when someone is on vacation?
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We do not anticipate having "specialist" positions within each team upon implementation, but will continue to evaluate, listen to feedback, and adjust our approach if needed.
When employees contact a pod will they deal with a random pod member like happens when they contact OHR now? Most employees prefer dealing with a regular contact who they know well and knows them well.
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Employees within a unit will reach out to their designated contact person when support is needed, similar to how employees reach out for support in current state.
When employees want to talk in person with a pod member will they need to go halfway across campus to the pod office?
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L&S Admin would like Administrative Regional Team members to be located within the unit, or nearby, when they are onsite, similar to current state.
Transition & Communication
Will there be a Town Hall that staff can attend?
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There will be a number of opportunities for individuals to receive additional information regarding Administrative Regional Team implementation, including:
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Week of 10/21/2024: Information sessions for impacted individuals by functional area (finance, HR, and research administration)
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11/7/2024: L&S Administrative Topic of the Month focusing on Administrative Regional Team implementation
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11/18/2024: Semesterly L&S Townhall for all staff
What is the timeline for pod implementation?
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The transition to Administrative Regional Teams will occur by July 1, 2025.
Will faculty experience a loss of financial support as a result of the SLAC structure and Workday?
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We do not expect financial support services will decrease as a result of Administrative Regional Team implementation. In some units, particularly smaller units, more services may be available with the addition of dedicated support.
The Dean’s 9/5 message noted: “In order to meet the timeline for security role access and training needed for set up in Workday, any modifications to reporting lines will need to be established before the end of the calendar year.” What does this mean?
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The Dean's message is stating that employees will be informed before the end of the calendar year if they will be part of the new Administrative Regional Team structure and/or if there will be modifications to their scope of work (to the extent known) due to Workday implementation. The changes will be communicated by the end of the calendar year so we can appropriately map security roles and sign people up for training, however the changes will not take effect until closer to July 1, 2025.
RECRUITMENT
No active recruitment at this time