Less bureaucracy, or: work in progress
The Executive Board has put the reduction of organisational bureaucracy on the agenda. This supported by questions raised by an initiative of the University Council. As a first step, responses to a call from the University Council to report examples have been investigated. 62 employees and students responded to this invitation, bringing a total of 90 issues to light.
Together with the responsible directors and employees responses to and solutions for these examples have been gathered. The issues raised mainly have to do with financial administration, educational logistics, HRM and ICT. A number of the issues that were flagged up turn out to apply across the board, university-wide. On closer review, it emerged that certain other issues were not typically related to an excess of bureaucratic red tape. Some issues are already currently being tackled through a range of taskforces and initiatives, such as ICT projects, the development of the new Maastricht University (UM) website and Student Portal, and project groups that are focusing on improving the quality of education. Specific suggestions for improvements relating to these topics have been relayed to the relevant project leaders. A few respondents flagged up unique problems that were addressed individually.
The answers and solutions for the university-wide issues have been categorised and elaborated. An explanation is given for each question, along with the envisaged solution. In a few cases, it turned out the issue could be addressed by providing better information. In some cases the rules have been made simpler and clearer, or will be simplified in the near future. And in some cases, new facilities are required to make bureaucratic processes less of an obstacle. A number of very concrete initiatives are already under way to address some of these issues. The executive Board, University Council and the University-wide community will maintain dialogue about this topic.
A detailed overview of the most important issues, along with an explanation and the solutions that have been arrived at, are published in the schedule below.
Any questions, or comments about this overview and/or new examples can be sent to lessbureaucracy@maastrichtuniversity.nl.
| TOPIC | ISSUE AND QUESTION | EXPLANATION | SOLUTION | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Claiming for travel expenses | Having to ask for, store and submit all your receipts using a claim form after you have been on the road for UM is a lot of work and hassle. Can't we work with a standard daily allowance instead, like other universities? |
For some years now claiming for expenses at UM has been done based on actual costs. As a result of this measure: - there has been a substantial reduction in costs; - there has been a substantial reduction in the number of claims; - travel expense claim forms have been simplified. If the choice between a standard reimbursement and claiming for expenses based on actual costs were to be reintroduced, this would result in unnecessary additional expenditure, increased transaction costs and more work for the administration, among other things because of the tax consequences this would entail. |
It is true that filling out and submitting claim forms and receipts manually is labour-intensive. That is why UM will be switching to a much more efficient digital system in 2016. Uploading receipts, automated calculations, making requests for an advance, submitting your claim, reviewing (approving/declining) claims: all these things will be much easier and faster after that. A pilot of this new system will start in the spring. If everything goes as planned, everyone within UM will be able to begin using this system from the start of this summer. In addition, it will still be possible to apply for an advance, and in 2016 it will also be possible to do this digitally. Click here for the required form (currently this still needs to be filled out and submitted manually). |
| 2 | Use of credit cards | Nowadays you often need a credit card to pay for things, for example when making bookings online. Initially we always have to cover those costs ourselves, only to then claim for them later, including when large sums of money are involved. Is it possible to make more credit cards available for university staff? |
A few UM credit cards are available within UM. This number is limited deliberately, because: - a credit card purchase means money is booked off the UM bank account without approval having been granted in advance through the regular procedure; - this means the university runs imprudent risks; - the accountant can accept a limited degree of risk, but not on a large scale; - authorising a credit card payment afterwards is much more laborious than authorising a regular payment. |
As the explanation shows, increasing the number of credit cards is not a viable option. Orders made via Purchasing that can only be paid by credit card are paid using the ‘Purchasing credit card’. It is also possible to arrange a credit card payment via Finance. To do this, email um-crediteuren@maastrichtuniversity.nl In a number of specific cases, a prepaid credit card is an option, for example for software purchases and social media. For this, email um-crediteuren@maastrichtuniversity.nl In addition, it remains possible to apply for an advance. Click here for an overview of all forms |
| 3 | Booking business trips | Booking international travel through a UM travel agency (which is mandatory) involves additional transaction costs (of €35) and paperwork, even for simple train tickets. It also means the choice of hotels is too limited, and they tend to be more expensive than would ordinarily be the case. I also need to spend more time checking the booking and correcting errors. Is there a way to make this simpler and less expensive? |
In fact, a few years ago, UM ceased working with mandatory travel agencies, and chose instead to go with a range of preferred suppliers who can be used if desired. The advantage of these preferred suppliers is that they: - know exactly which travel options are cheapest; -have direct contacts with suppliers and can therefore get things done more quickly; -are intimately familiar with the administrative procedures of our organisation and can therefore make things easier. |
Using a preferred supplier is not mandatory, but it is recommended, as experience has shown that this involves less administrative hassle than making your own travel arrangements. Information on how to book travel, the list of suppliers and forms for claiming for travel expenses can be found here |
| 4 | Decentralised purchasing | Purchasing within our organisation is fully centralised. This is inefficient, as there is no direct contact with the purchaser. This means that the importance and priority of the product are not clear. Is it possible to appoint decentralised purchasers who can provide purchasing assistance for each department/faculty? |
The importance of more direct contact between the customer and the supplier is evident. This can be achieved, among other things, by linking trained purchasers to units. This way, UM will not lose the benefits associated with centralised purchasing, i.e.: - Lawfulness. The Purchasing department has the legal expertise and experience to provide the appropriate assistance with the oftentimes complex purchasing procedures UM is obliged to employ as an institution; - Efficiency. Purchasing employees have the professional expertise to help employees with the schedule of requirements, competition, purchasing conditions etc. - Cross-unit. Many contracts (office supplies, furniture, workstations, occupational health & safety) are entered into by the University as a whole. This means units benefit from economy of scale, and the corresponding financial savings. - Contract management. Purchasing also ensures that all contracts are followed through after they have been signed, that agreements are met in a timely manner, risks managed and costs reduced. |
The information provided is to be improved, including on the MyUM website. Click here and check under ‘Order Products’ and ‘Purchasing Services’. Office supplies / workstation equipment / furniture etc. can already be ordered through our SRM system. Purchasers are linked to units, so that they can function as a recognisable first point of contact. |
| 5 | Schedules | It is not always clear how and when schedules and schedule changes are being communicated. Sometimes schedules are only available at the last minute, and then to make matters worse, changes will be made subsequently. Is it possible to bring greater clarity to this? What are the rules and how do we communicate them? |
It has become apparent that rules about scheduling are implemented differently in different departments. In principle, UM is not opposed to this kind of tailor-made approach, but it would appear that, university-wide, little standardisation can be seen. This is not desirable, for students or lecturers and other university employees. | A special ‘Scheduling’ working group has been looking into these issues and is making better, clearer and more binding agreements that apply to all parties. In addition, the stability and functionality of the systems used in course planning have been improved. Communication with students and staff about what can be expected from schedules is also being improved. Agreements have been made within the faculties to limit the number of schedule changes. The final results of the working group's efforts will be made available in the first quarter of 2016, and will be published here presently. The new Student Portal will make a significant contribution to improving communication. This portal is to be tested by 300 students in early 2016. As soon as everything works as it should, it will be rolled out across the entire student body. In addition, the agreements that have been made (including the new agreements) will be covered more clearly during the UM-wide and faculty introductions, and in handbooks and regulations. |
| 6 | Admissions and registration | Sometimes confusion arises because emails from the Admissions and Registration Office about the payment of tuition fees do not always match the emails sent from Studielink, leaving students unsure as to whether their registration has been completed or not. Is there a way to coordinate this more effectively? |
In order to avoid being sent lots of reminders, students have to specify in Studielink how they wish to pay their tuition fees as early as possible. Currently there are two important things students have to do in Studielink relating to paying their tuition fees: specify the payment method and, if they have elected to pay by direct debit, confirm the authorisation for payments to be collected from the student themselves or an authorised third party via Studielink. It can be confusing for students that they have to first specify the payment method, only to then have to confirm the authorisation separately at a later date. If the student does not do this in time, the Admissions and Registration Office will send reminders requesting them to specify the payment method or confirm the direct debit. |
From the 2016/2017 academic year, it will be possible for students to authorise a direct debit in Studielink via their online banking environment. This means that, upon receiving notification of the due amount for their tuition fees, the student will have the opportunity to set up a direct debit straight away. This means that both things can be done at the same time, rather than first having to specify the payment method and then having to confirm the direct debit further down the line. We expect that this will enable students to make their payment via Studielink more quickly and easily and that it will eliminate the need to send out reminders. |
| 7 | Recording attendance | Keeping track of student attendance and absence is laborious and time-consuming, and is detrimental to the primary process. Is there a way to make this easier? |
To a large extent, this actually is a matter of principle. Is attendance mandatory; and is this only the case for tutorials, or also for lectures? There are likely to be big differences between the various faculties. This is an issue which thus far was not on the radar at the university level and therefore has not been given attention. It is therefore difficult to give a simple answer to this question. |
The Office of Student Affairs (FASoS) has experimented with an app to monitor student attendance. Both a new form and an app have been developed. The Office of Student Affairs' experiences will be shared on a large scale within UM in 2016, following which it will be decided whether this experiment should be replicated by other faculties. |
| 8 | Feedback procedure / feedback forms | Some time ago, it became the rule that all feedback given to students must be archived. This must be done using complicated procedures and forms. These are very time-consuming and it is easy to make mistakes or forget to include information. After the forms have been filled in, the feedback is then forwarded to the students via the Examination Board. I would welcome it if we, as lecturers, had the freedom to share and store feedback for the future in our own way. |
Clear agreements have been made within UM, with reference to the relevant legislation, about storing and potentially destroying any documents relating to examinations and their administration. The faculties comply with these agreements, although the way in which they are implemented on a practical level can differ between the various faculties. However, the university does strive for uniformity, so this area is monitored by a special project group. If the legal framework provides the scope for an individual approach, the opportunity for this will be offered. At the same time, work is being done to create a more broadly applicable model (see the column to the right). This not only ensures the legal requirements are satisfied as standard, but also makes certain tasks more convenient for lecturers. |
UM is working on further improving and standardising procedures relating to examinations and their administration. This project is still in the start-up phase. Issues under review are the drafting of exam questions and the archiving of exams, the delivery of physical exams and secure transportation of exams to the exam locations, test-taking and collection, exam corrections, the delivery of physically corrected exams, results and marks, the publication of final marks, the releasing of exams for student inspection, and storage and storage periods for exams. The project group will provide further updates on this during the course of 2016. The following has already been achieved: - The establishment of a separate, secure printing room for exams at Ricoh. - The drafting of instructions / protocols for the transportation of examinations. The ‘order procedure and reception procedure’ for diplomas currently also varies across the various faculties. The project group will also look into whether this can be further standardised. |
| 9 | Forms | The available forms for the annual appraisal, Personal Development Plan appraisal and the assessment interview often do not reflect the issues that managers want to monitor and employees want to get off their chests. Can this be changed? |
The forms are complex as, partly in view of the rights and obligations of employees and the institution: - it is important that personal data is entered in files correctly; - both the responsibilities and the required and demonstrated competencies are listed according to the University Job Classification (UFO) system. |
A working group consisting of HR advisors has begun working on improving the existing forms in terms of both their form and content. The new form is expected to tally more closely with the annual appraisals and cover the making of agreements about career prospects and personal development. In the spring of 2016, HRM will present a proposal for a new form. The new forms can be rolled out shortly after this proposal has been approved. |
| 10 | PhDs | We have a new tracking system for PhDs, TRACK, which should link up with the SAP personnel files. Currently this can only be done manually and therefore creates a lot of extra work. Is it possible for these two reporting systems to be streamlined and automated? |
UM wants to stay on top of the progress and development of PhDs. It is true that this creates a lot of duplication of work and that this is not desirable. | Research into how this process can be improved has resulted in the development of a clear instruction manual for users of the system. Once the ICT tasks provide the scope for this, the system will be automated. |
| 11 | Student assistants | Student assistants who are not appointed via InterUM must be registered and deregistered in all systems for each course period. This is very laborious and time-consuming. Is it possible to come up with a different solution for this? |
Appointing students as UM employees rather than at InterUM also has a number of unforeseen consequences. The institution cannot provide employment contracts for this group, which was possible at InterUm. This means, among other things, that UM needs to register the dates of commencement and termination of employment through the Copyright Information System in accordance with the periods over which the faculties are paying wages. | The registration and deregistration of employees is enshrined in law. HRM will consult with ICTS to look into whether it may be possible and desirable to make registration for this group of employees easier. |
| 12 | Decentralised support | Local ICT staff are not authorised to help us with ICT problems; everything has to be arranged centrally via ICTS. We feel this is impractical. | The outsourcing of the ICT facilities to ICTS means that local IT support staff are no longer able to deal with certain queries, and people will be referred to the ICTS Service Desk, which possesses the required professional expertise. | It appears there is a lack of awareness about the range of services the Service Desk provides, and how it can be most easily contacted. ICTS, in conjunction with the departments that use Athena Desktop, will be looking into this and making a number of improvements. ICTS can also provide support, for example, if personal equipment (including Apple Mac devices) is used for work. |
| 13 | Athena Desktop requests | All requests relating to Athena Desktop (for example if you need new hardware) have to be approved by both the user representative and the management, even if you are part of the management and therefore are responsible for the budget. We feel this is a little strange. | All ICT requests, even those submitted by a user representative, are submitted to (another) user representative for a formal authorisation. When they receive a request, ICTS do not know whether the person submitting the request is responsible for the budget themselves. The request process is the same for all end users. This means formal authorisation must be given in all cases. |
ICTS will consult with the user representatives to see if other solutions are possible. If departments decide that authorisation is not, or will no longer be, required for some requests, of course ICTS will adjust its procedures accordingly. |
| 14 | Athena Desktop applications | Submitting an application for a new Athena Desktop user and all matters related to this is a lengthy process and requires many emails between different departments and people. Is it possible to simplify this? |
As part of this process, many emails are sent out by ICTS (receipt of the application, forwarding, receipt of reply, handling of event etc.). ICTS' intention in sending these emails to users was to maximise transparency in the handling process, as this gives the end user the option of flagging it up in a targeted way if there is no progress on a ticket for too long. |
In consultation with the user representatives, ICTS is reviewing ways that the customer can be kept updated on the progress efficiently. |
| 15 | Size of email inboxes | The limited email capacity leads to a lot of extra work. You constantly have to spend time cleaning up your inbox and storing your emails elsewhere because the many PDF files you receive mean you quickly reach the limit of your inbox. | Employees can request changes or expansions to the standard services. They are not always aware of this option. | Customers can request an increase in the capacity of their inbox from the Service Desk. ICTS has installed a new email environment with considerably more space at the end of 2015. In addition, ICTS is looking into ways that services can be requested more easily through a kind of ‘online store’, and increasing awareness of how this can be done. |
| 16 | ICTS point of contact | ICTS does not sign its emails with the name of a specified person as a way of avoiding responsibility. This means it is not possible to contact individual employees about the processing of a request. |
ICTS wants to be as flexible as possible. That is why ICTS employees have to be able to help in all situations, and it is not important which employee sends the email. ICTS is, however, able to see which employee dealt with the request in the underlying screen. This means employees cannot shirk their responsibility. |
ICTS will improve the way in which it informs staff and students about how ICT support is structured. |
| 17 | Overall information provision | It would be great for students if there was one central point which they could turn to for all their questions. I currently have to look for answers in lots of different places. In addition, I am studying at two faculties, and things are organised differently at each faculty. Is it possible to create one clear website or point of contact that I can turn to for all of my UM questions? |
UM has a lot of different service desks. Often, ICTS is the first point of contact if things are not arranged properly (or are not arranged properly yet), because this means certain IT facilities have not been activated. The differences between the various faculties and degree programmes mean that there is not one uniform, across-the-board procedure for a lot of things within UM. This means that one service desk that students can turn to for all questions probably would not be very useful and would result in a lot of referrals. However, where possible and useful, we are striving for further standardisation and unification, which effectively means further steps are being taken towards having a one-stop-shop service desk for all student queries. |
A lot of procedures are currently being re-examined, with standardisation, uniformity and the improvement of procedures and processes as the key priorities. A lot of information will be more readily and clearly available via the new student portal and the UM website, both of which will go live during the course of 2016. A large number of specialised taskforces are also under way within UM to improve, among other things, issues relating to study facilities, performance targets, HR and employability. |
In addition to this table, below you will find a list with a number of the relevant offices for the topics mentioned in this overview.
Relevante loketten
Facility Services (purchases, UM-card, catering, cleaning, technical issues, relocations etc.):
Facility Services Service Point
Email: servicepoint-fs@maastrichtuniversity.nl
Telefoon: +31 (0)43 388 20 02
Kijk hier voor de betreffende informatie
Admissions/registration and other study-related matters:
Studenten Services Centre
E-mail: study@maastrichtuniversity.nl
Telefoon: +31 (0)43 388 5388
Kijk hier voor de betreffende informatie
HRM:
Click here for the relevant departments
ICT:
| students | for all ICT-related matters | servicedesk-icts@maastrichtuniversity.nl +31 (0)43 388 55 55 |
| staff | working for UM using personal devices: | servicedesk-icts@maastrichtuniversity.nl +31 (0)43 388 55 55 |
| working with Athena Desktop: | servicedesk-icts@maastrichtuniversity.nl +31 (0)43 388 55 55 |
|
| working with other UM equipment: | The supplier of the equipment or your local IT Helpdesk |