NRF RISA RENEWAL CONSOLIDATED 8Th Annual Research Administrator Workshop Lord Charles Hotel Somerset West, Western Cape 09 -11 October 2017

NRF Mandate Support and promote research and knowledge generation through human capacity development Support and promote research and knowledge generation through the provision of National Research Platforms Strengthen the relationship between Science and Society through Science Engagement Contribute to National Imperatives

NRF Positioning Statement An NRF that has influence and impact, which is productive, efficient and effective as a research support, performing and engaged organisation to transform and enhance a globally competitive and contextually relevant NSI for societal benefit. Unwavering commitment to Excellence; Transformation; Service Culture; Good Governance and Sustainability To the community that we serve, the NRF must be transparent, fair, equitable and fiscally prudent

Why the need for Change? Align the Organization to deliver on Strategy 2020. Respond to the NRF Review recommendations, e.g. the need for internal analytical and advisory capacity Ensuring organisational focus for Effective and Impactful Delivery on Statutory Mandate Optimisation of processes, especially in the granting domain, including optimal use of IT Optimisation of use of resources (financial and other) Ensuring appropriate fit between function and resources, people

Guiding Principles for the new Structure Reduce Complexity design the structure for implementation of strategy; avoid making leadership roles too complex. Focus on Core Activities remove clutter (inefficiency in processes) and enhance the core role and deliverables. Feasible Roles avoid overloading; realistic groupings and clustering of activities or functions. Balance number of staff and functions directly managed (span of control); amount of expected “own tasks” on top of NRF leadership demands.

Guiding Principles for the new Structure - Continue Flexible and Reconfigurable Organisation active leadership enabling staff to deliver excellence; ability to collect and share knowledge across organisational boundaries; flexible – high tolerance for ambiguity, change, and unpredictability; integration – where possible and appropriate, people should be able to move around the organisation, understand how different parts of the organisation work and feel part of a whole. Sustainability the proposed structure must be delivered within the current allocation for human resources and operational costs. No redundancies as an outcome.

NEW HIGH LEVEL STRUCTURE NRF Board LEGEND Internal Audit Corporate Secretary New Office of the CEO Redefine / Refocus National Infrastructure Platforms Research & Innovation Support & Advancement (RISA) Science Engagement & Corporate Relations No Change Cluster SAEON SAIAB Biodiversity Reviews & Evaluation (RE) Science Awareness Science Communication Science Education Science Engagement SAASTA Operational Divisions Grant Management & Systems Administration (GMSA) Knowledge Advancement & Support iThemba LABS Nuclear Research Chairs & Centre of Excellence (RCCE) SARAO SAAO Astronomy Human Infrastructure Capacity Development (HICD) Databases SADA NEXUS Corporate Relations Strategy, Planning & Partnerships Information & Analysis Planning & Development Strategic Partnerships Support the NRF with information and data analytics for operational, planning and strategic purposes through the creation and accessing of a data warehouse, including the management of organizational intelligence and analytical systems Provide (i) macro-organizational system planning, foresight, including evaluating and reporting on the status and needs of national research as well as research trends and interests within and across disciplines and knowledge fields; and (ii) assessment of the state and development needs of individual institutions and interventions in order to be responsive to the requirements of a differentiated Higher Education Sector Identify, nurture and advance strategic partnerships of the NRF and South Africa both locally and internationally in support of the mandate of the NRF; to facilitate and promote national and international scientific exchange and collaboration between researchers and research institutions Corporate Services Finance & Business Systems Human Resources & Legal Services Finance & SCM Human Resources Knowledge Management (KM) Legal Services Governance ICT

Benefits of the new Structure Greater focus on the granting function of the NRF to improve efficiency, effectiveness and impact. In this regard, we shall also be exploring new ways to tap into technology and innovation; Cohesive leadership and management of infrastructure platforms, including local national platforms, international platforms, research databases and national facilities; Respond to the need for the NRF to become a stronger learning organization; Improved capacity and capability to respond to additional statutory mandates as proposed in the NRF Amendment Bill; Respond to the need for the NRF to be financially and operationally sustainable.

RISA Renewal Initiative The RISA Renewal began in 2012, with a objective to transform RISA to better respond to the complex and often demanding needs of its client base. This has resulted in a renewal exercise specifically implemented at RISA with the following objectives: Improve quality of engagements with stakeholders/customers; Utilise expertise present in the organisation effectively; Encourage sharing of skills for effective implementation of projects; and Manage turnaround time on grants applications. As a result of the RISA renewal, all funding instruments are now managed within the integrated matrix model.

Matrix Organisation – Some Benefits Offers great flexibility for adaptation, Encourages interfacing of activities across departments, reducing ‘silo’ approach Creates strong problem-solving or goal focus Results in clear and visible project objectives Uses staff resources efficiently Creates vertical and horizontal information flow Conducive to innovation Are these issues with the matrix system part of the finding relating to the processes which were being mapped? If not delete slides

RISA High Level Granting Process MoAs and Contracts from Funders Core Funding RISA High Level Granting Process RISA Finance Conceptualisation of a Funding Instrument Registering of Funding Instrument as Project Request for Call on NRF Online Submission System Issuing Call for Proposals NRF Legal Department MFAAs with Beneficiaries Call Closes Internal Screening Process Review Process Successful applications Funding Decision Grant Management Process Reporting to Funder Review of Funding Instrument Award Process Audits Feedback to applicants Appeals Process Project Office RISA Unsuccessful applications Funding Domain RE GMSA RISA IT

RISA Value Chain Post Award: Pre-Award: Research & Innovation Support & Advancement (RISA) Human and Infrastructure Capacity Development (HICD) Award Management Research Chairs & Centres of Excellence Knowledge Fields Development (Including IRC) Rating of individuals Funding Decision Post Award: Grant Management & Systems Administration (GMSA) ,Progress Reports, Student Admin & Monitoring Funding Instrument Development Funding Domain Project Management Office Internal Audit Contract Management Rating Decision GMSA Support Desk Pre-Award: Call Management, Verification, Screening (GMSA) Reviews & Evaluation (RE) Appeals Management Funding Instruments Evaluations

Update on the RISA Business Process Mapping In 2016 RISA embarked on mapping process of its granting activities to improve its efficiency The objective of the RISA BPM was to provide a baseline on which to improve efficiencies and effectiveness within RISA To ensure overall alignment with the NRF Vision 2020

Some Benefits of Business Process Mapping Redundancy – from a Governance perspective, having documented artefacts (policies and procedures) that meet internal and external audit requirements; Baseline – mapping business processes that establish a baseline to look at continuous improvement opportunities; Training – the business process maps can be used to train new employees within the business units regarding policy processes and standards; and Integration – once process has been baselined – opportunities for streamlining and integration can be established.

Update on the Rationalisation of Applications, Progress Reports and Calls The aim of this exercise is to: Minimise business reliance on IT through the development of a Call Provisioning Tool; Streamline the review processes for cost effectiveness and efficiency by NRF; and Make greater use of technology to improve efficiencies such as turn-around-times by: Following international standards; Reviewing and rationalising the sections of the application templates Streamlining the Application content and alleviate unnecessary information requested; Simplify the Application templates for the NRF stakeholders; and Reduce the number of types of Applications by grouping them in categories.

Objectives of the Rationalisation of NRF Applications, Progress Reports and Calls (Cont.) In order to: Eliminate time delays in opening Calls for Proposals on the NRF Online Submission System; Free time for IT developers for system improvements; Streamline Calls for Proposals and their duplicity (over 80 Calls); Streamline possible Reviews and Evaluation processes; and Optimise granting Turn around Time.

Recommendations from RISA BPM Evolve the RISA going forward along the following three organizational architecture guiding principles: Simplify: Simplify products (funding instruments) business processes, systems and organisational structure in support of the Fit-for-Purpose vision Reduction of application templates (currently) Reduction of funding instruments and lead to simplification of business processes Call Rationalisation Standardise: Standardise similar business processes between functions, divisions and systems within the matrix organisational structure and share and devolve proven best-practice to other business units Automate: Identify opportunities where common processes can be automated, such as current initiatives Further development on the call provisioning tool, the ERP investigation that is underway Possible future opportunities such as integration between application, review, funding decision and grant management Other opportunities for integration with supporting systems, such as filing, current excel spreadsheets, the BI systems (Gerhard) Enhancements of NRF Submission & Phoenix system.