Project Board Updates

July’s Programme Board meeting was the final for Matt Youngs as Project Manager. From September, he will be replaced by James Badger, who is moving into the Change Team on placement under the Graduate Management Trainee Scheme.

At this Board, the Project Manager provided updates on the progress to date, with over 2,700 working days equivalent of benefits having been realised, in time for the start of the 2023/24 academic year. In line with the creation of the new Project Management Office in Organisational Development, new documentation and workstream tracking was presented to the Board, enabling them to have a more effective strategic overview of the progress of the project.

The Board also received an update from John Houghton, Organisational Development and Change Advisor, on the progress that has been made as part of efforts to evaluate the potential of AI at the University. A mock-up of an AI chat function was presented that was able to answer questions related to information about the university. The Board recognised the benefit of this to Student Services and Academic Registry colleagues in particular.

James Badger, workstream lead for Archibus, presented progress to date of the end-user review. This included feedback on the various stakeholder conversations that had taken place, and how this had translated into a detailed, end-user flow diagram. The Board were informed of the intention to conduct a trial in AACME of a proposed new approach, with feedback collected at the end of the trial period before a wider rollout.

Updates to the risk register were noted before Prof. Lisanne Gibson, who is due to depart the University in August, was thanked for her time as a member of the Programme Board. Her replacement as a representative from the Deans will be confirmed in due course.

The Board received an update from the new Project Manager (Matt Youngs) on the progress made since the last Programme Board meeting in January. As of March, 2,024 working days equivalent of savings had been realised or would be realised from the start of the 2023/24 academic year.

The Board were also updated on work that had already been taking place across the institution but that had become aligned under the banner of Project Enable. This included a review of the ethics approval process, contract triaging in the Research & Innovation Office, and the semi-automation of the annual TRAC return undertaken by all academic schools. Together with three additional workstreams that were approved to go live by the Board, this took the total number of active workstreams in Project Enable to 18. The three new workstreams approved by the Board were:

1. Module Update Alignment: Aims to remove adverse system conditions that currently make the University teaching timetable creation process unnecessarily complex and labour intensive for colleagues in Registry and the Academy.
2. Reasonable Adjustments: Intends to conduct a post-pandemic review of the Change Project that considered the reasonable adjustments process in 2018. This workstream will focus on the information provided to module leaders and associated school staff from the Student Wellbeing Inclusivity Team in Student Services, as well as Registry.
3. Archibus: Will conduct an end-user process review of the Archibus reactive maintenance system, using the Vanguard change methodology, to identify process inefficiencies and failures. The accessibility and transparency of the reporting system and the communication with end users and contractors will be in scope.

In addition to approving three new workstreams to go live, the Board also received a presentation from John Houghton (Organisational Development and Change Adviser) on the potential of artificial intelligence at Loughborough University. The Board discussed how AI could be most effectively used by staff to further the institution’s strategy, as well as improving the efficiency of process, aligning closely with the aims of Project Enable. To further this work, the Board endorsed John linking up with academic colleagues in the School of Science’s Computer Science department, Registry’s Information Governance team, and IT Services. It was agreed that another progress update would be provided to the Board in July.

As of January 2023, Project Enable is transitioning from Phase 2 to Phase 3 of the project and has 13 active workstreams. These are split into two broad categories – Culture & Behaviour and Process Improvement – with a mix of short-, medium-, and long-term workstreams.

The active workstreams and their aims are as follows:

Process Improvement

• Assessment and Feedback: Reduce the amount of time and burden involved for academic colleagues marking student assessment, providing/responding to feedback, and to improve the NSS score in relation to assessment and feedback.
• Ethics Approval Process: Transition to a risk-based approval process, giving authority and accountability to staff who have sufficient knowledge to approve applications at low, medium, and high risk levels.
• Operations Committee: Critically reflect on the role and remit of Operations Committee, including consistency and transparency of decision-making and devolved autonomy.
• PhD Admissions: Using the School of Aeronautical, Automotive, Chemical and Materials Engineering as a pilot, review the existing PhD admissions process to ensure both candidates and staff are able to clearly view the admissions pathway, with efficient correspondence, and an awareness for candidates of their application’s ‘status’.
• Procurement: Introduce a new ‘intelligently’ adaptive online form for procurement, where the detail of information required is reflective of the risk. It should be accessible and useable for a lay person and reduce the administrative burden for the Finance department.
• Part-time Staff Annual Leave Allocation: Create a new tool to calculate part-time staff annual leave allocations, with the view to replacing the current method of calculating leave on an ad-hoc manner, inefficiently, and without clear consistency.
• Placements: Allow staff and students to conduct placement progress meetings online. Post-placement meetings will be delivered in a format mindful of workload for both students and staff.
• Fieldwork Risk Assessments: Create a new, ‘intelligently’ adaptive online form for risk assessments in advance of fieldwork being undertaken. This will replace the ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach currently used.
• Creative & Print Service Charging Costs: Eliminate the need for back-and-forth exchanges via email regarding charge codes for jobs where ink and paper costs are minimal. Automatic charging will be utilised as an effective method of realising this change.
• Apprenticeships: Seek to reduce the high time- and resource- intensive nature of delivering the APA Apprenticeship Programme. This will include a review of the merits of adopting PGCert as an alternative.

Culture & Behaviour

• Internal Communications and Emails: In light of the dynamic working practices adopted during the COVID-19 pandemic, review our approach to email and digital communication with the desire to reduce the volume of emails, and improve their etiquette. The driving force behind this will be a desire to move to ‘compassionate inboxes’.
• Paperwork for University Meetings: In line with the Council Effectiveness Review, cascade recommendations to other university committees and meetings. This includes critically reviewing the size of paper packs and conciseness of papers that are submitted.
• University Meetings: Conduct a review of the memberships of university meetings, with the aim of reducing the amount of time colleagues spending in meetings; broadening their diversity; avoiding duplicate memberships; and improving the inclusivity and transparency of meetings.

In due course, we hope that a dedicated ‘workstream tracker’ will be launched on the Project Enable webpages, to improve the transparency of the project and allow colleagues to track progress made on workstreams of interest.

Finally, January 2023 marked the final month for Jenna Townend working on both Project Enable and at Loughborough. She moves to pastures new in February at Derby University, as Principal Adviser to the Vice-Chancellor. Matt Young will remain on Project Enable, and steps up to become Project Manager.

On Tuesday 13th September, colleagues drawn from across the teams of our six Strategic Projects took part in a workshop facilitated by Warren Bramley, a Visiting Fellow in the School of Business and Economics.  

The all-day workshop explored design theory and practice, drawing on Warren’s experience as a strategic designer, as well as his time leading a design studio. A law graduate, Warren’s career in the creative industry started when he worked for the Factory Records, alongside bands including Joy Division and New Order. From here, Warren founded a design innovation studio – four23 – based first in Manchester, and later London. His work in research-led strategic design, alongside institutions including Somerset House and Medicine San Frontiers, led him to study an MA in Global Political Economy at the University of Sheffield. Now based at Loughborough, Warren has continued his work in social enterprise, co-founding the Coloral Cycle Company, and chairing the community arts organisation, Creative Scene. Find out more about Warren’s work on his website: www.warrenbramley.com.  

The first half of the day considered perspectives on design and how adjusting the lens through which design is viewed can influence outcomes and aims for a wide range of sectors and organisations. Simple techniques include reframing questions and challenging whether the question being asked is the one to be asking. This evolved into the notion of co-design: using creative and participatory methods to engage with stakeholders and ensure input is acquired as equitably as possible. This was facilitated through a series of activities including concept development, iteration of ideas, and novel uses for cardboard boxes and facilitators! 

After lunch, we considered the Design Futures method which seeks to develop a prospective and systematic exploration of transformative change. An important consideration here is the timeframes through which change is being considered, ensuring that journeys to an endpoint are valued, rather than simply aiming for a future achievement. In the workshop, this manifested through groups exploring what a Higher Education sector of the future – more than 10 years from now – might look like, and what would be the trends and factors that appealed to the needs of current employees and students. A fun element of competition was introduced with the groups judging one another on plausibility, the methodology employed, and how engaging a pitch was. 

Though diverse in their remit, each of the teams delivering the University’s Enabling Programme of projects agreed they will benefit from this new perspective on how to approach design and change, ensuring that all stakeholders are considered equitably, that sufficient time is given to the articulation of the problem, research, and the generation of ideas, and ensuring that future-thinking is embedded within the process.  

The feedback collected by attendees at the end of the day suggested there are numerous learnings that colleagues would like to embed into both their departments, as well as the wider institution. 

"I wish more teams could come together to define a concept."

"What if we all thought a little bit more about the future?"

"What if we added more team building days?"

"I wish I had a toolkit to take home"

"What if we took time in meetings to 'define' things?"

"I wish I could identify more opportunities to use tools in my role"