Using Metrics to Drive Research Administration Performance NCURA Annual Meeting November 2012 Marcia Smith, Associate Vice Chancellor, Research Administration, UCLA Patti Manheim, OCGA Director, Research Administration, UCLA Elizabeth H. Adams, Executive Director, Office for Sponsored Research, Northwestern University, Evanston Campus Nate Haines, Senior Director, Higher Education Consulting, Huron Consulting Group

Agenda Introduction Benefits of Metrics Developing Metrics Determine Metrics to Track Collecting Metrics Discussion (All)

Introductions

Benefit of Metrics

Benefit of Metrics Metrics Drive Performance Support Investments Change Behavior Drive Performance Support Investments

Benefits of Metrics Drive Performance Motivate teams to achieve desired outcomes Increasing transparency can trigger positive culture changes and improve outcomes. Using metrics to monitor business processes improves accountability so high performers can be recognized and bottlenecks addressed. Define business processes and responsibilities Implementing metrics requires an organization to identify its desired outputs resulting in defined business processes. Use of metrics helps identify operational bottlenecks which can be a result of personnel having varied understandings of processes, roles and responsibilities. Monitor the impact of new processes As new processes are implemented, metrics provide confirmation that the change is working. Easily identify bottlenecks Help motivate team Ex. Faster payment of clinical trial invoices is achieved by developing a process for tracking and follow-up of A/R. You cannot manage what you cannot measure….and what gets measured gets done – United Quote.

Benefits of Metrics Change Behavior Manage stakeholder expectations Metrics enable clear communication of process goals and current status to stakeholders. Concrete information enables stakeholders to determine whether their needs are being met. If an institution sets reasonable and clear goals which are communicated then customer perception of performance can improve simply through a better understanding. Evaluate staff performance Metrics allow leadership to objectively track staff contributions both individually and collectively against operational goals. With metrics, personnel know their assessments are objective, why they are receiving their assessments, and how to improve them.

Benefits of Metrics Support Investments in Research Administration Infrastructure: Improve decision making and prioritization Metrics provide leadership with insights as to where attention and resources are needed. Concrete information improves decision-making and allows managers to better understand and identify opportunities to improve compliance, financial management, and operational performance.

Developing Metrics

Identify Greatest Opportunity Operational Performance Turnaround times Workload Distribution Compliance Management Cost transfers Effort Reporting Expiring Protocols Financial/Cost Management Timeliness of financial reporting Bottlenecks Outstanding collections Write-offs Customer Perception Turnaround Times Taking a focused approach will allow you to more quickly implement successful, lasting, and measureable improvements

UCLA Case Study Pre-Award Metrics Post-Award Metrics

UCLA Case Study

Determine Metrics to Track?

Pre-Award Metrics Area Metric Proposal Submission Average days complete submission received before deadline, missing/incomplete proposals, detailed metrics Proposals/Awards Submission Number and $$ of proposals/awards, detailed metrics by categories Award Set-Up Timeline for central office(s) to process set-up* Award Set-up Timeline for receipt of award document to financial account activation Award/Outgoing Subcontract Execution Timeline with central office Timeline with internal Departments, Principal Investigator, Sponsor, Subrecipient Advance Accounts Number and how long they have been open

Proposal Submission Add proposal submission – what are the bottlenecks – Why are proposals submitted so close to the deadline?

Award Intake Process (Pilot) Award Set-Up Award Intake Process (Pilot) Turnaround time for Expedited Awards has improved by over 80% during the award setup pilot Talking Points: 1. Business process change to establish an intake team. 2. Operational improvement and customer perception 3. Bottleneck – ended up being the COI forms.

Award Intake Process (Current) Award Set-Up Award Intake Process (Current) Full implementation January 2012 Award setup has slowed for expedited awards, but is still 65% faster than previous processing timeline

Award Setup (Current) New process has identified hold-ups Shaping policy and procedure decisions Awards processed 6 days faster when all internal documents are present

Post-Award Metrics Area Metric Letter of Credit Number and $ of draws $ unbilled $ in LOC Clearing Account(s) Invoicing Monthly unbilled number and $ Monthly billed number and $ Accounts Receivable Number and $ in aging buckets 30/60/90/120+ days Overdrafts Number and $ in aging buckets for overspent accounts Closeout Awards open 120+ days past end date Cost Transfers Number submitted/approved less than 90 or 90+days

Post-Award Metrics Area Metric Financial Reporting Monthly number submitted Monthly percentage submitted on time Monthly number past due (i.e. backlog) Cash Application Number and $ of payments sitting in holding accounts Bad Debt Number and $ of write-offs Effort Reporting Number and % certified on time Number and % outstanding Number and % certified by PI or individual Number of recertifications

On-Time Submission On-time submission increased by 35% for Invoices On-time submission increased by 48% for Reports, from a low of 14% at the start of FY10 Marcia

Backlog – Invoices and Reports Backlogs have decreased by 64% since the start of FY10

Collecting Metrics

Collecting Metrics Things to consider: Audience for metrics Identify Opportunities Determine Metrics to track Identify systems to deliver outputs Analyze output to ensure integrity Things to consider: Audience for metrics Effectiveness of metrics is greatly affected by the selection of recipients who will be reviewing the metrics. Wrong metrics or wrong audience diminishes the value of the metrics. Data integrity Is the data that you are using to populate the metrics accurate? Is the correct logic being used? Establish standardized processes for entering data Interpretation of data Are assumptions being made? Know what each data field means; develop a data dictionary

Discussion