Starting Position 

Agnes Scott College’s (ASC) new leadership team was charged with reversing years of budget deficits and endowment draws, while also managing outdated facilities and IT: 

• An annual budget deficit of $ 7 million 
• Endowment draws had become standard practice for supplementing annual budget shortfalls 
• Inability to adequately fund mission critical support services such as Information Technology and Facilities 

Insights & Advice 

Leaders at Agnes Scott engaged Mindstream to assess the college through an Effectiveness and Efficiency Review. The goal was to identify opportunities to close the budget deficit and move toward a sustainable budget model. The scope of work included assessing the university’s finance and budgeting, procurement policies and processes, and the Information Technology and Facilities departments. 

We found that ASC’s enterprise resource planning (ERP) system lacked adequate reporting to understand the budget crisis that had developed. Budget management was decentralized, and Ad Hoc, with each division using its own standards, accounts, and codes to track purchases. 

To address these issues, our team helped ASC restructure its Chart of accounts and streamline its budget development and approval processes. Additionally, we revamped procurement practices that will monitor and control spending. We created dashboards in Tableau software to analyze all levels of financial data, including purchasing card and overall budgets. The plan also included implementation of travel software and policies that curtail those costs. 

We recommended restructuring Information Technology functions for greater efficiency and effectiveness, as well as improvements to Facilities Management through prioritizing and adjusting of APPA levels. ASC was guided to eliminate or outsource auxiliary functions that didn’t meet return-on-investment goals.  

The Mindstream solution set included Critical-To-Quality metrics and Key Performance Indicators to measure success of all initiatives. Also, each plan contained change management initiatives to ensure adherence to and cultural adaptation of new processes and policies. 

Impact 

Mindstream identified recurring and one- time savings. Mindstream’s analysis and approach also enabled ASC leadership to: 

• Reduce their annual budget 
• Reduce expenses across the institution without sacrificing services to students, faculty, or staff 
• Implement new financial policies and technologies that foster financial discipline 
• Centralize functions that led to budget woes while preserving the campus culture 

The post Agnes Scott College reversed years of deficits and created financial models that provide control appeared first on Mindstream.

Starting Position 

Hardin-Simmons University (HSU) faced challenges that many private, rural institutions are facing and will continue to face over the coming years 

• Declining revenues, leading to significant budget deficits each year 
• Declining enrollment and rising discount rates 
• Low morale from the first employee layoffs in the history of the university 

Insights & Advice 

HSU engaged Mindstream to address the two largest areas of expense for any university: employee compensation and program offerings.  

We discovered significant pay inequities across campus, due to the very decentralized nature of HSU’s budgeting and human resource functions. In addition, compensation for many positions did not match the local or national ranges for similar positions within the industry. Regarding the review of academic programs, many had been created and operated without consideration to prospective student markets and profitability of those programs, resulting in programs with very few students and significant resources tied to keeping those programs alive. 

Our team helped HSU craft a strategic philosophy for employee compensation that provided consistency and equity. The next step was implementing a plan that both created job classifications and simplified the employee salary structure. 

A model for measuring return-on-investment and potential market for all existing academic programs was also crafted for HSU leadership. We identified programs that could be created to drive enrollment as well as programs the university needed to eliminate because of very low enrollment. 

The Mindstream solution set included Critical-To-Quality metrics and Key Performance Indicators to measure success of all initiatives. Also, each plan contained change management initiatives to ensure adherence to and cultural adaptation of new processes and policies. 

Impact 

Mindstream identified $3.6 million in recurring and one- time savings. Our analysis and approach also enabled HSC leadership to: 

• Reduce their annual budget by $2.5 million 
• Consolidate staff and faculty roles to facilitate living within the university revenues without sacrificing the student experience 
• Close or consolidate academic programs that were no longer viable 
• Explore new programs to increase enrollment 

The post Hardin-Simmons University right-sized its academic offerings and created a sustainable salary structure for employees appeared first on Mindstream.

Starting Position 

Abilene Christian University (ACU) needed to close a significant budget gap and reinvest to expand its online offerings and increase enrollment: 

• An annual budget deficit of $ 4.5 million, resulting in consecutive years of layoffs, buyouts, and hiring freezes 
• Steady decline in residential enrollment over the previous 10 years 
• A culture of decentralization and resistance to change 

Insights & Advice 

ACU’s leadership team brought Mindstream to campus in September 2015 to conduct an Effectiveness and Efficiency Review. The goal was to identify opportunities to close the budget deficit through additional savings and increased revenue, and design options that met or exceeded current service levels. Our scope of work included assessing the overall university strategy, as well as the structure and members of university leadership teams. We also assessed key areas across the organization, including procurement of goods and services, information technology and management, facilities management, marketing and communications, auxiliary services (including the Campus Book Store, Dining, and the Pura Vida Salon), ACU Dallas (ACU’s satellite campus to provide online programs), the ACU library and ACU Press, employee compensation and classification, and administrative coordinator support. 

Mindstream discovered many significant insights during our assessment. Student populations had declined over 10 years, while campus infrastructure and staffing increased over that same period. The ACU Dallas satellite campus had posted a negative Return-on-investment since its creation. Inefficient and costly layers of administration and process kept the university frozen. For example, managers across campus managed too few people and in Administration and Operations division, too many management layers had been created. In addition, finance functions and personnel were decentralized into each division and college. 

Across the university, some offices were understaffed, while other functions, such as office support, had too many FTEs. Severe variations in compensation were common for similar jobs in different divisions. 

Some of the university’s auxiliary services were draining resources without providing appropriate return and over-spending on goods and services, driven by decentralized purchasing policies, were hurting the institution’s ability to close the budget gap. 

We recommended combining the Finance and Business & Operations divisions, which significantly reduced unnecessary spans and layers, which in turn led to more responsive services and reduced costs. Part of that restructuring included reallocating decentralized staff to the Finance division, to serve all divisions and colleges and creating more bandwidth for budget management and reporting. Centralized procurement practices that monitor and control spending were implemented, as well as travel software and policies that curtail costs in those areas. 

Other procurement recommendations included the elimination or outsourcing of auxiliary functions that had not met return-on-investment goals. Our team also executed new RFPs for existing outsourced functions and evaluated outsourcing internal functions, such as IT and Facilities Management. 

We recommended consolidation of office support functions within centers across campus and a structured job class and compensation plan that equalized pay for similar job functions. 

The Mindstream solution set included Critical-To-Quality metrics and Key Performance Indicators to measure success of all initiatives. Also, each plan contained change management initiatives to ensure adherence to and cultural adaptation of new processes and policies. 

Impact 

Mindstream’s analysis and approach enabled ACU to: 

• Reduce their annual budget by identifying $ 4.5 million in recurring and one- time savings, allowing the university to invest in its online programs and grow enrollment to record levels 
• Restructure so that functions were more accountable and responsive 
• Restructure the finance division to be strategic rather than transactional 
• Reduce expenses across the institution without sacrificing services to students, faculty, or staff 

• Implement new financial policies and technologies that foster financial discipline 
• Centralize functions that led to budget woes while preserving the campus culture 

We faced the challenging task of finding ways to offer the same quality of service to students, faculty, and staff while trimming cost and redundancy. Joseph Garcia and his Mindstream team were invaluable in this venture & they provided expert guidance and service. Joseph became part of our team at ACU and I am grateful for his dedication and expertise.

Dr. Robert Rhodes

Provost

The post Abilene Christian University eliminated a $4.5 million budget deficit and reimagined itself appeared first on Mindstream.

Starting Position 

LeTourneau University (LETU) faced the same challenges many private institutions before the COVID-19 pandemic: 

• An annual budget deficit of ~ $ 4 million 
• Declining new enrollment and concerns about retention, e.g., 5 + years of declining non- traditional enrollment 
• A lack of consistent data standards across the institution 
• Inability to adequately fund mission critical support services such as Information Technology 
• A culture of decentralization and resistance to change 

Insights & Advice  

LETU’s leadership engaged our team in August 2019 to conduct an Effectiveness and Efficiency Review of the university. Our charge was to identify and design options that closed the budget deficit, reversed enrollment and retention declines, produced consistent data standards, and undertake a comprehensive of the university’s operations. Our scope of work included reviewing the university’s strategy and structure, as well as traditional (residential) and non- traditional admissions and enrollment, procurement, information technology and management, facilities management, marketing and communications, and finally, auxiliary functions such as including the Campus Book Store, Dining and the Belcher Center for university special events. 

Our assessment of these key areas uncovered several problems that were driving institutional inefficiency and ineffectiveness. 

Over time, artificial divisions between residential and non-traditional admissions and student service functions were created that prevented synergy between the two areas and increased costs for both units. In addition, non-traditional student retention was poorly managed and measured and enrollment funnel data for both segments was defined and reported differently in different offices. A lack of consistent data standards made accurate and timely reporting almost impossible and paralyzed decision-making at all levels  

Layers of administration and unneeded process kept the university from the ability to make real change. For example, human resource functions, over time, were spread across multiple offices and inconsistently applied. This culture of decentralization created barriers for student success and permeated the institution. 

Our rigorous root cause analysis drove solutions that addressed these problems holistically. 

New procurement policies and practices were developed that effectively curtailed unnecessary spending but fit within the goals and culture that LETU leadership wanted. This included travel policy, process, and technology improvements that controlled costs and dashboards to analyze all levels of data, from purchasing card spend to admissions funnel data. 

We recommended and implemented significant changes to service and auxiliary areas. A new plan and process for Information Technology services increased responsiveness and effectiveness. Facilities Management efficiency was improved through prioritizing and adjusting of APPA levels. Workflows for facilities and event planning were streamlined through a new ticketing system implementation. Consolidated office support functions were recommended to improve efficiency and reduce workloads. 

The focus on enrollment led to a new set of data definitions that drive consistent reporting of information about the admissions funnel. Revamping workflows in enrollment led to removal of many barriers in the application, admission, and registration processes for all students. Additionally, streamlined workflows in non-traditional admissions allowed staff to refocus on non-traditional recruitment. 

To out the focus back on student retention in the nontraditional advising function, we re-aligned organizational structures and people and aided in improvements to onboarding for new non-traditional students. 

The Mindstream solution set included Critical-To-Quality metrics and Key Performance Indicators to measure success of all initiatives. Also, each plan contained change management initiatives to ensure adherence to and cultural adaptation of new processes and policies. 

Impact  

Mindstream identified over $6 million in recurring and one-time savings, which enabled LETU to reduce their budget deficit. Additionally, our analysis and approach helped LETU to:  

• Implement new financial policies and technologies that foster financial discipline 
• Increase efficiency and reduce errors on over 30 major processes across the university 
• Integrate nontraditional and residential application and admissions process to increase enrollment 
• Increase retention of non-traditional students 

Thanks for all the work you’ve done for us this past year. I know it was the Lord’s timing to connect us last year so that we completed all this work prior to the challenges of this year. It is going to be tough, but if we still had the budget deficit it would be even worse. I am feeling much more confident of our ability to move towards a financially sustainable place as we are in the process of implementing many of your recommendations and solutions… hopefully, we have and are putting in place the right measures to begin to turn that ship around over the next year or two.

Mike Hood

Vice President for Finance & Administration 

The post LeTourneau University reduced $4 million in expenses and positioned itself for the future appeared first on Mindstream.