JUDGMENT: Compliant

STATEMENT OF RATIONALE FOR JUDGMENT OF COMPLIANCE

Southwest Texas Junior College engages in ongoing, integrated, and institution-wide research-based planning and evaluation processes that (1) incorporate a systematic review of institutional mission, goals, and outcomes; (2) result in continuing improvement in institutional quality; and (3) demonstrate the institution is effectively accomplishing its mission.
Administrative Support Services are clearly driven by expected outcomes in measurable terms for each unit.  Unit Action Plans are completed annually by each service unit to continuously evaluate and improve support services to effectively meet the needs of the students, faculty, staff, the Board of Trustees and the community at large.
Click here to see a three year cycle sample of a Unit Action Plan report produced by SWTJC assessment software.

Information Technology – Colleague
The Colleague Enterprise Resource Planning System is used campus wide and the services and technology provided need to be measured for continuous improvement.  Unit Actions Plans are submitted annually to continuously evaluate and measure improvement on support services to effectively meet the needs of the college community.   See examples below:

Information Technology 2011-2012
Expected Outcome No. 1 – To implement a campus wide emergency alert system and improve on the communication process to the college community. 
Intervention:  To communicate with students, faculty and staff via portal/web, email and text to phone with emergency alerts.
Assessment: Evaluate the sending and receiving of alerts via portal/web, email and text to phone using the reporting tools provided in the emergency alert system. 
Analysis/Improvement Plan:  Test alerts were sent to all students, faculty and staff via portal/web, email and text to phone.  The test was successful as the test alerts were instantly available on the college portal and main web page.  The emails went out successfully to all.  The text to phone test alerts were received by everyone that had provided a cell phone.  There were some students that had not provided a cell phone so a list was generated by I.T. and submitted to the Registrar’s Office for them to obtain that information.

Expected outcome No 2 – To have a favorable response on the evaluation of the performance of the I.T. Colleague Staff on work and projects completed for the Colleague user departments.

Intervention:  To ensure that the I.T. Colleague Staff is providing Colleague users with effective, efficient and quality support on work and projects.  To evaluate the I.T. Colleague staff performance survey results to determine if improvement is needed and in which areas.
Assessment:  Satisfaction Survey, sent to faculty and staff, on the performance of the I.T. Colleague Staff using the Campus Cruiser Portal Survey Tool.
Analysis/Improvement Plan: 69 Colleague users responded to the following survey questions:
Was the work/projects performed by the I.T. Staff accurate? – 92% satisfied
Was the work/projects implemented to your level of satisfaction? – 92% satisfied
Was the work/projects completed within the appropriate timeframe? – 92% satisfied
Did you receive appropriate updates on the status of the projects? – 91% satisfied
How satisfied are you with the overall performance of the I.T. Colleague Staff? – 92% satisfied

Information Technology 2012-2013
Expected Outcome No. 1- Ability for additional faculty, staff and students to use the Colleague System.
Intervention:  Research, purchase and install additional UniData and Colleague licenses.
Assessment:  Review the Help Desk log to determine the number of calls of inability to log into Colleague.
Analysis/Improvement Plan:  After the purchase and installation of additional UniData and Colleague licenses the Help Desk calls for inability to log into Colleague due to licensing issues were eliminated.

Expected Outcome No. 2 – Improve the efficiency of faculty entering the student grades
Intervention:   Research and implement an interface in which the grades are entered once and are made available in multiple systems from different vendors.
Assessment:  Faculty were required to enter their grades into the Campus Cruiser Portal and also the WebAdvisor System in order for them to be available in the Colleague Database.  This was double work for the Faculty and a better process was needed.
Analysis/Improvement Plan:  A program interface was created and tested where the finalized grades would be entered once into the Campus Cruiser Portal and then exported to the Colleague Database.  The Colleague Database has a direct link to the Student Web Advisor System thereby allowing the grades to be accessed from all three systems.

Information Technology 2013-2014
Expected Outcome No. 1- The student application process will be more efficient.
Intervention:  Purchase custom programming services for Apply Texas Import.  Install and test the new module.
Assessment:  The Registrar was having to manually evaluate the legal residence and student type on each application to determine tuition status for billing purposes and reporting.
Analysis/Improvement Plan:  Due to the end-of-life for the current Active Apply Online Application another online application was implemented. Custom programming from Ellucian for the Apply Texas Online Application provided a process in which the legal residence and student types were automatically assigned to applicants.  This new programming process reduced the manual review of each application by 90%, allowing the Registrar’s Office to complete the application process in a timelier manner.

Expected Outcome No. 2 – The purchasing process will be more efficient.
Intervention:  Purchase and implement the Colleague WebAdvisor purchase requisitions, request a payment and approval workflows. 
Assessment:  Employees were having to create; manual purchase requisitions, having them physically signed and approved, and physically delivered to the Purchasing Department.
Analysis/Improvement Plan:  Implementation and testing the WebAdvisor workflows of the purchase requisitions, request a payment and approvals was successful.  This has reduced the physical printing of forms, decreased the processing time for requisitions and has saved on costs.  Efficiency has greatly improved with the implementation of these workflows. 

Physical Plant – Facilities and Maintenance
The Facilities and Maintenance Department at Southwest Texas Junior College is charged with ensuring that facilities and grounds are maintained in a manner that is safe and conducive to student learning. The goal of the institution in this regard is to focus on what is best for both building occupants and the environment as we continually research and review industry trends, products and new ideas.

Physical Plant – Facilities and Maintenance 2011-2012
Expected Outcome No. 1:  Easier to manage work order system would make the department more effective and efficient.  Users would be more satisfied by knowing the work orders are getting to the “right people” and therefore a quicker response time would be initiated.
Intervention:  Initiate the use of SchoolDude , a cloud-based (online) work order management solution that allows you to manage the work order process.
Assessment:  Satisfaction surveys
Analysis/Improvement Plans:  This software allows work order requests to be submitted from anywhere, reducing emails, phone calls and on the spot requests. SchoolDude also routes, prioritizes, and ranks work order requests in real time by project, location, budget and available inventory. It enable maintenance staff to receive requests in the field via mobile devices and notifies end-users about the status of their request.

Expected Outcome No. 2: The SWTJC Preventive Maintenance Plan validates the College’s costs for maintenance, while assuring the adequacy of its physical resources to provide an atmosphere for effective learning, and to meet the institution’s stated mission, programs ,and activities.
Intervention:  Develop Preventive Maintenance Plan
Assessment:  Satisfaction surveys.  Logs submitted to immediate supervisors.  Close look at requested budgets for corrective or deferred maintenance (should show a pattern of actual reduction).
Analysis/Improvement Plans:  The preventive maintenance plan includes procedures for routine preventive, and corrective maintenance of college equipment and facilities, performed on a daily basis or at regularly scheduled intervals (deferred maintenance & custodial services covered under separate plans).  This plan keeps many items off the deferred maintenance list by extending the life of equipment and facilities.  This in turn saves the College money.  This plan should probably be updated and expanded on a regular basis.

Physical Plant – Facilities and Maintenance 2012-2013
Expected Outcome No. 1:  Improve overall effectiveness and efficiency of the Maintenance Department
Intervention:  Hire Administrative Assistant for Director of Facilities/Physical Plant
Assessment:  Improved favorable responses on faculty, staff, student surveys
Analysis/Improvement Plans:  Improvement in the effectiveness and efficiency of the maintenance staff because the significant paperwork load of the Maintenance Director has been diminished due to adding this position.  Check requisitions are now being processed in a timely manner at the Business Office, resulting in faster payment for vendors.  With the help of the administrative assistant, work orders are being assigned faster and response time for actual work is quicker.  This person has been a valuable addition to the team and is now being included in staff meetings.

Expected Outcome No. 2:  A significant amount of budgetary savings is expected, as well as improved safety and comfort for the students, faculty, and staff at the four Southwest Texas Junior College comprehensive campuses.
Intervention:  Implementation of an energy saving package of solutions by Schneider Electric that guarantees the college a savings of $114,566 for the first year.
Assessment:  First year audit from Schneider Electric that breaks down the major components of the overall annual cost savings established as a result of the energy improvements at the four comprehensive campuses.
Analysis/Improvement Plans:  The guaranteed savings for SWTJC was $114,566 for the first year.  The energy audit showed an actual savings of $144,098.  In addition to the money saved by the college, other benefits included:

• Better lighting because of major energy efficient retrofits.
• More comfort due to building automation system work and mechanical improvements at the various campuses.
• Fewer power outages at the main Uvalde Campus due to the installation of a custom made capacitor bank.
• Installation of PC Power Management software at Uvalde, Del Rio, Eagle Pass, and Crystal City campuses.

Because of the significant savings, SWTJC plans to:

• Use the Schneider Electric package of solutions in all new construction
• Enter into a new support contract with Schneider Electric
• Enter an agreement with electric provider AEP to proceed with a three phase plan to replace all underground electric utilities (some date back to the 1950’s) at the Uvalde Main Campus.

Physical Plant – Facilities and Maintenance 2013-2014
Expected Outcome No. 1:  Increase the quality and efficiency of work completed.
Intervention:  Expand the use of “SchoolDude” Online Work Order System by using additional features such as tracking and reports.
Assessment:  Director of Facilities/Physical Plant and the Administrative Assistant meet monthly with the V.P. of Administrative Services to check all work orders received during this time.
Analysis/Improvement Plans:  We now know how many minor and extensive work orders are received and completed each month, the time to respond to work orders, and the amount of time it takes from response to completion of the various types of work orders.  These reports also give the college another tool for evaluation of employees and helps the V.P. of Administrative Services to better assess the human resource needs in each department.  This intervention has resulted in a more effective and efficient department.

Expected Outcome No. 2:  Provide quality and consistency in custodial services at all SWTJC campuses.
Intervention:  Physical Plant Director, Assistant Director, and V.P. of Administrative Services developed a custodial handbook that is issued to all employees in this department.
Assessment:  Regular inspections and evaluations of work are conducted to assure that the guidelines outlined in the SWTJC Custodial Handbook are being followed.
Analysis/Improvement Plans:  These inspections and evaluations are periodically reviewed by the Physical Plant Director, Assistant Director, Administrative Assistant, and V.P. of Administrative Services.  The consistent set of guidelines and inspections are not only creating an inviting and healthy environment for students and employees, but is also developing a sense of pride in the important work that these custodial staff do.

Business Office 2011-2012:
Expected Outcome No. 1 – The business office will decrease the expenditures related to paper and printing through the use of the Fortis Record Management System.
Intervention:  All journal entry reports, Post General Ledger Transactions (daily 200 page report), Invoice General Ledger Posting, Cash Receipt Sessions Reconciliation, Bank Deposit Processing, and Cash Receipt GL Processing will be printed to the Fortis Imaging Station rather than printed on paper.  Copiers will be set up to scan to email accounts and Fortis.  Training for the staff will be conducted.
Assessment:  Compare percentage decrease in copier and paper charges between fiscal year 2010 and 2011.
Analysis/Improvement Plans:  The business office began using Fortis print management and paper supply costs were reduced by 66%.  The business office firmly believes that this could be the beginning of not only saving money on paper but saving manpower hours and money spent of physical storage.  Recommend looking into further use of the Fortis system.

Expected Outcome No. 2 – The business office will increase the ability to provide timely and accurate financial information to faculty, staff and Board members.
Intervention:  The business office will have Synoptix installed in order to streamline reporting.  This program will have the ability to be designed to create reports based on Excel worksheets.
Assessment:  The success of this change will be measured in the decrease in the amount of time spent on preparing the monthly financial statements.
Analysis/Improvement Plans:  There was a significant reduction in the time and effort to run general ledger reports and produce the monthly financial statements.  Institutionalize the use of Synoptix within the business office and other related offices.  Expand the number and type of reports using Synoptix.

Business Office 2012-2013:
Expected Outcome No. 1 – The business office will continue to decrease the expenditures related to paper and printing through extended use of the Fortis Record Management System.
Intervention:  Reduce the amount of paper used in the business office by extending the use of the Fortis Print management system to accounts payable and accounts receivable.
Assessment:  Compare this year’s paper supply cost to fiscal year 2012.
Analysis/Improvement Plans:  Fortis is not flexible enough to support accounts payable check printing and reporting needs.  Accounts receivable has also been unable to participate in the Fortis programs because of programing requirements.  Next year another way to print checks and store reports needs to be examined.

Expected Outcome No. 2 – The business office will increase the ability to provide timely and accurate financial information to faculty, staff, and Board members.
Intervention:  The business office will expand the use of Synoptix to create reports that can be saved and viewed by non-Synoptix users and expand the number of business office personnel capable of using the program.
Assessment:  The success of this endeavor will be measured by the number of reports stablished and the number of people trained.
Analysis/Improvement Plans:  The business office made great strides in report creation.  It is very useful and saves untold work hours.  This has become a natural function for portions of the business office that deal with reporting.  The business office will continue to foster better and more accurate reporting to better serve our clients (students, faculty, staff, Board members and the community).

Business Office 2013-2014:
Expected Outcome No. 1 – The business office will decrease the expenditures related to check printing through the use of a print management system.
Intervention:  A print management system will be identified in order to reduce the costs of printing checks and the inefficiency of using a dot-matrix printer.
Assessment:  A print management system is in place and training has occurred.
Analysis/Improvement Plans:  Softdocs print management system was installed and training is complete.  Accounts payable will continue to use Softdocs to print checks and the office will expand the use of Softdocs to purchasing.  Our assessment is that we are still printing too many small amount checks.

Expected Outcome No. 2 – More students will reach the 15 semester credit hour and 30 semester credit hour threshold through increased use of the Estudias student information system.  This system will identify those who are approaching a threshold and cannot reach it because of financial and other issues that can be addressed by the business office.
Intervention:  Estudias training.  Assess each student entering the Vice President’s office based on threshold information.
Assessment:  Identify students on the de-registration list who are close to a threshold and after interacting with business office staff, meet the criteria after enrolling for the term.
Analysis/Improvement Plans:  The Vice President looked up every student (on Estudias ) while making decisions about giving a student more financial leeway or assistance.  Over 60% of these students succeeded.  There will be an effort to involve more decision makers in the business office with the Estudias program.

Expected Outcome No. 3 – Students will improve learning related to the Business office literacy program outcome “Manage financial and identification cards”.
Intervention:  Provide a more robust and organized business office orientation to students.  Begin using the SmartCard for identification and closed-loop debit cards.
Assessment:  Monitor usage of the card
Analysis/Improvement Plans:  The SWTJC SmartCard  was introduced to employees and students.  The card allows Estudias to have a picture of the student, which is quite helpful when looking up students.  Also, the students can put money on the closed-loop debit card to use in the cafeteria and the cafeteria can identify dorm students.  Along with this program, the cafeteria can now accept credit cards.  We will continue to roll out the SmartCard program.  The Libraries will begin using it instead of cash and the student services personnel will begin recording which students they are serving using the card swipe.

Purchasing Department:  2011-2012
Expected Outcome No. 1 – The Purchasing department will reduce the number of purchase orders processed for the same vendor, thus saving time for purchasing staff and accounts payable staff (efficiency).
Intervention:  Introduce blanket purchase orders for multiple, related purchases from a common vendor throughout the year.
Assessment:  The success of this project will be measured by the increase in the number of blanket purchase orders.
Analysis/Improvement Plans:  The use of blanket purchase orders created 10 purchase orders out of what would have been 120 regular monthly purchase orders.  This has saved a great deal of time, effort, and paper.  Recommended to push this program further out into extensive use.

Expected Outcome No. 2 – Make the bidding process more valuable, more transparent, and more efficient.
Intervention:  Seek out and become a member of more buying consortiums that are nationally bid.
Assessment:  Measurement for this outcome will be the number consortiums.
Analysis/Improvement Plans:  At year end, the College was a member of 24 consortiums as compared to 2 in the previous year.  This process should continue in order to take full advantage of the pricing.

Expected Outcome No. 3 – The purchasing department will make sure that all information technology (whether hardware or software) ordered conforms to and is consistent with the College’s secure network.  The Information Technology (IT) department must have the capability to track assets and prevent maverick purchases.
Intervention:  Put in place a process by which an IT staff is identified as the approver and no item may be purchased without his written approval.
Assessment:  This will be measured by the adoption of a process.
Analysis/Improvement Plans:  The process was adopted and IT staff identified.  This improvement has saved money on rouge purchases that were not supported by the College IT department and has resulted in consistency in proper levels of hardware.

Purchasing Department:  2012-2013
Expected Outcome No. 1 – Staff and faculty will save time, effort and money by not needing to leave campus to purchase supplies
Intervention:  The purchasing department will contract with an on-line office supply company that delivers to the College warehouse, preferably overnight and for free.
Assessment:  The measure for this outcome will be the amount of money that was spent with the contracted company.
Analysis/Improvement Plans:  Office Max was contracted with the College for office supply on-line ordering.  Most of the supplies are provided overnight and free delivery.  The amount spent with Office Max was over $900,000 and the College receives a rebate for the purchasers.  This also reduced the number of requisitions and checks to various other vendors.  It is recommended that this program be further institutionalized.

Expected Outcome No. 2 – The purchasing department will help develop the ability to report purchasing patterns in order to facilitate better faculty and staff decisions.
Intervention:  Institute a data analysis tool and train purchasing staff to use and interpret it.
Assessment:  The measure for this outcome will be the purchase of the tool and the ability to use it.
Analysis/Improvement Plans:  Spikes-Clavell was contracted to develop the data analysis tool for the College.  The purchasing department has been trained and will be ready to make use of the tool when comparison data is available for the next year.  This year it is being used to drive faculty and staff to the best value purchase.

Purchasing Department:  2013-2014
Expected Outcome No. 1 – The purchasing department will reduce the number of purchase orders, requisitions, and checks thereby saving the College money.
Intervention:  Institute a Purchase Card (P-card) program in which departments will have credit cards for small routine purchases that can all be paid with one payment and one journal entry rather than thousands of small checks.
Assessment:  Determination of the writing of procedure, contract of safe credit card program, and the assurance that the cards will not be improperly used.
Analysis/Improvement Plans:  A procedure has been written for the P-card program.  The College has contracted with the State of Texas recommended P-company. Many departments have been trained so as to ensure proper use of the cards and audit programs have been put in place to determine proper use of the cards.  Recommendation is to push the program campus wide in 2015

Expected Outcome No. 2 – There will be continuous improvement in all procedures at the College.
Intervention:  Contract with a Business Process Review (BPR) professional to create a procedure and team to conduct BPR for the entire College.
Assessment:  The BPR team will identify one procedure to begin process.
Analysis/Improvement Plans: BPR team has identified communication as the major pain point in the College.  Recommendation is to review communication procedures and have the team flesh out the entire BPR concerning communication.

Evidence

SWTJC Unit Action Plan Business Office
SWTJC Web Advisor
SWTJC School Dude Work Order Request
SWTJC Preventive Maintenance Plan
Schneider Energy Audit
SWTJC Estudias Database
SWTJC Smart Card
SWTJC Listing of Consortiums
SWTJC Purchase Process
SWTJC Data Analysis Tool
SWTJC Purchasing Card Policies and Procedures
SWTJC Business Process Review