ILASFAA: 2014 Doing More With Less Presented by: Tina Baskin Director of College Aid

2014 AGENDA  What is Successful  Set Realistic Goals  Analyze Workload  Utilize Current Resources  Identify Strategy

2014 QUESTION If you had the resources to get anything you wanted, what would you do to make your current office successful?

2014  Great Customer Service  Short Processing Times  Clean Audits  Short Waiting Times  Satisfying Senior Leadership at your Institution What defines a successful office?

2014  Compliance  Customer Service The Keys to a Successful Office

2014  Analyze  Utilize ANALYZE

2014 ANALYZE  Determine Work Volume  How many staff members do you have that can contribute to the work volume  How many students receive financial aid at your institution (i.e. 6,000 students)  Calls, s, and walk-in’s  When is volume high (what time of day and what time of year)  How many calls, s, and walk-ins

2014 ANALYZE  Determine reasonable time spans for completing tasks  How soon will you respond to s and voic s  Acceptable wait times on the phone and walk-ins  Turn around times for processing files

2014 ANALYZE  Determine reasonable time spans for completing tasks  How soon will you respond to s and voic s  Acceptable wait times on the phone and walk-ins  Turn around times for processing files

2014 ANALYZE  Evaluate staffing compared to the workload  Do you have enough staff members to respond to students in the amount of time that you expect?

2014 SO WHAT DO YOU DO WITH THE DATA YOU’VE GATHERED?  Utilize what you do have  Organize  Training  Quality Assurance

2014 UTILIZE  Organize and determine who’s going to do what  How many staff members will you have to answer calls, s and see students  How many staff members do you need to ensure a week processing time (i.e. verification file)  Who will perform Quality Assurance to ensure compliance.

2014 UTILIZE  Organizational Structures  Open Ended  Everyone does everything  Team structure  Customer Service Team  Processing Team  Staff members are functional on either team

2014 UTILIZE  Customer Service and Processing  Select staff members only do customer service  Select staff members only process files  Staff members are not cross trained

2014 UTILIZE  Training  Make time to train staff  One of the best ways to utilize resources is to utilize all staff members  Cross training  There is flexibility with cross training  Makes it easier to function during turnover

2014 UTILIZE  Quality Assurance  Create a process to review the work that you have completed  Helps to identify areas where training is needed  Helps to identify areas where staff excel  Helps to identify if additional resources are needed  Ensures compliance

2014 UTILIZE  Quality Assurance  Create a process to review the work that you have completed  Helps to identify areas where training is needed  Helps to identify areas where staff excel  Helps to identify if additional resources are needed  Ensures compliance

2014 PICK A STRATGEY  Tips  Big schools with high volumes usually benefit from organizing in teams that are also cross trained  Make training a priority! What’s the best way to eat an elephant? One bite at a time. The more staff that are trained the smaller the elephant gets

2014 PICK A STRATGEY  Small schools really need to analyze volume  Don’t fall into the trap of letting a select few do everything.  Try not to silo processes

2014 QUESTIONS