Overview of the AIMS Project

Preamble

The AIMS Project has its origins in UCT's Strategic Planning Framework that in 1997 proposed a "University-wide Audit" to look at areas where operational systems could be improved to ensure maximum quality, efficiency and effectiveness. An investigation to define the appropriate scope for such an audit project was carried out between March and May 1999 by Ms Heidi Wheeler (an independent consultant) and her report described the purpose of the forthcoming project as being "to ensure that the support and service structures and processes are aligned with the functionality and needs of the core [academic] business. Through this process of alignment, the aim would be to optimise the cost/revenue ratio thereby enabling appropriate resource allocation. Given this, the project crucially has to do with the question of the type, quality and cost of support services required and where these are best located."

In June 1999 a Steering Committee for the project was appointed under the Chairmanship of Prof Nick Segal (Director, Graduate School of Business). Additional members of this Committee were Mr Paddy Attwell (acting Director of Communication), Ms Yvonne Boswarva (Director of Finance), Prof Wieland Gevers (Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor), Prof Dan Ncayiyana (Deputy Vice-Chancellor) and Prof Cyril O'Connor (Dean, Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment). A/Prof Andy Duncan joined the Steering Committee when he became Project Manager on 1 July 1999.

The Andrew W Mellon Foundation awarded an "officer's planning grant" of US$50,000 to UCT to enable it to reformulate a proposal, originally submitted to the Foundation in July 1999, in support of the AIMS Project. The principal activity funded by this award was a visit by UCT to the Mellon Foundation in New York (involving Professors Segal, Sillen and Duncan), to the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor (Segal and Duncan) and to the University of Southampton in the UK (Segal and Duncan), as well as discussion in Houston with key Mellon advisers (Segal, Sillen and Duncan) and in London with Mike Shattock of Warwick University (Segal). The knowledge gained during this trip proved invaluable in restructuring the proposal to the Mellon Foundation which led to the award of US$600,000 to UCT for the partial support of the AIMS Project.

The Steering Committee considered responses from six consulting organisations to a "Request for Capability Statement" and shortlisted three of the organisations. These were then requested to submit detailed proposals and to present them to the committee. Gemini Consulting were chosen as the primary consultants to work in conjunction with Ms Heidi Wheeler in support of the project.

The initial project design and budget was developed during September-October 1999, leading to a proposal to Council at its meeting on 3 November 1999. Council approved the proposal and a budget of R21,123,070. The project formally commenced on 8 November 1999 and finished on 30 June 2001.

^ Top

Objectives

The major objectives of the AIMS Project were stated in the proposal considered by Council at its meeting of 3 November 1999:

• To clarify the governance arrangements between the centre and the Faculties
• To ensure that the University's management systems and also its planning and decision structures and processes are aligned with its strategic objectives and operational needs
• To ensure the appropriate quality and efficiency in the provision of services (e.g. financial, real estate, human resources, IT and other)
• To assess the skills needed for managing the overall institution and its component parts, to upgrade the quality of systems and services, and to implement the requisite training programmes.

In essence, AIMS set about securing effective and efficient functioning of the University, in its major decision processes and in its day-to-day operations, with a view to enabling the academic staff to concentrate on the "core business" of teaching and research.

^ Top

Project Design as Implemented

The AIMS project design consisted of a number of "workstreams" which are represented by the pointed bars in Fig. 1A (note that all figures on the AIMS Project website are inserted in the text at thumbnail-size - click on the thumbnail to see the full-size diagram).

The AIMS project design evolved over the life of the project (as did project governance - these developments are tracked and described under Project Design). The project design as actually implemented through to the end of June 2001 is shown in Fig 1A.

Fig. 1A

There were three major components to the work done by the AIMS Project which are separated by horizontal dashed lines in Fig. 1A:

• The first component comprised the Organisational Design and Governance (ODG) workstream and the Planning and Budgeting workstream, which were closely allied. The ODG workstream reviewed governance, management and devolution, from the level of Council to the level of Faculty Boards, with a view to optimising the University's decision-making structures and processes. Clearly, the planning and budgeting process constitutes one of the most critical decision-making areas in the institution.
• The second component was a series of workstreams focused on improving the service offered by support departments at UCT; what can broadly be termed "Support Services Alignment". A large number of these streams followed a Business Process Reengineering (BPR - or operational effectiveness) approach. Others focused on the strategic role of a particular function (eg, HRM, Finance), with coordination as needed with the ODG and BPR streams.
• The third component constituted three workstreams that have provided overall support for the project and its execution in respect of Human Resources and Employee Relations, Communications, and in designing and arranging for the delivery of suitable training courses and workshops for Junior, Middle and Senior Management.

More detail about the workstreams and their evolution is given under Project Design.

^ Top

Project Staffing

This project was carried out largely by UCT staff; who were guided, trained and supported by a team of consultants from Gemini Consulting and PSP Icon together with two independent consultants. Eight UCT staff were seconded full-time to the project for its duration and an additional 51 were "lifted-out" from their normal jobs at UCT for significant periods on a full-time or part-time basis. These staff who played particularly significant roles in the project were all termed "Joint Team Members" (JTMs). Many other staff in areas where work was done by the project were also part of the process, but generally in a part-time capacity over a much shorter time-frame. These staff were characterised as members of "Natural Work Teams" (NWTs).

Senior line managers and members of the University Executive also played a key role as "champions" of the different workstreams in the project.

A table showing the champion, UCT staff and consultants involved in a specific workstream is provided at the bottom of each of the web pages describing an AIMS stream or sub-stream.

The overall Project Manager for AIMS was Assoc Prof Andy Duncan and the Project Administrators were Kath Webb (until June 2000) and Madiega Jacobs (from June 2000).

^ Top

Project Implementation

All of the project recommendations and interventions that were approved by the AIMS Steering Structure (or by Senate and Council in the case of the Organisational Design and Governance recommendations) are in the process of implementation. In some cases implementation is essentially complete, in others it is still very much "work in progress". With the end of the project on 30 June 2001, the accountability for seeing the implementation through to completion rests with the responsible line managers in the areas concerned. The overall "success", or otherwise, of the AIMS project can only really be assessed when the implementation process is complete. If the University is to derive maximum benefit from the project, then it is critical that the remaining parts of the implementation process should be completed as rapidly as possible.

In the reports of the various workstreams on this website you should find the current state of implementation is clearly indicated. You will also find that where delays have occurred, the reasons for the delays are stated and where problems have occurred in implementation, then these are described and analysed so that we can learn from them.

^ Top

Summary of Project Achievements

The project achievements are summarised below, grouped underneath the four primary objectives for the project.

Objective: To clarify the governance arrangements between the centre and the faculties:

• Recommendations from the Organisational Design and Governance (ODG) workstream
• Definition of roles and responsibilities in Functional Strategic Overviews of Finance, HRM and Planning functions and in the Planning and Budgeting workstream
• Redefinition of governance structure for Information and Communication Technology to make it "demand-side driven"
• Formulation of exemplar Service Level Agreements.

Objective: To ensure that the University's management systems and also its planning and decision structures and processes are aligned with its strategic objectives and operational needs:

• Comprehensive recommendations in this respect from the ODG workstream
• Comprehensive re-definition of the planning and budgeting process which now explicitly includes an environmental scan
• Overall financial model for UCT delivered as part of the new planning and budgeting process.

Objective: To ensure appropriate quality and efficiency in the provision of services (e.g. financial, real estate, human resources, IT and other):

• Several of the key processes have been reengineered and the methodology for doing this has been learnt by many AIMS team members
• Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) have been established for all reengineered processes and roles and responsibilities have been defined and/or clarified by RACI charting
• All major services from Properties and Services were subject to business modelling and comparison with outsource proposals
• Campus Protection Services were selected for phased outsourcing
• Exemplar Service Level Agreements (SLAs) were developed to illustrate how this can be done and additional SLAs are now under development to define expectations of service quality and efficiency.

Objective: To assess the skills needed for managing the overall institution and its component parts, to upgrade the quality of systems and services, and to implement the requisite training programmes:

• The ODG workstream developed a revised framework for senior leadership positions, accountabilities and responsibilities
• Functional Strategic Overviews included an assessment of required skills for senior positions
• The structured job description process introduced by the Human Resources & Employee Relations (HR/ER) workstream explicitly defines required competencies for jobs and leads to a competency-based selection process
• Management training programmes have been introduced for Junior and Middle Managers
• Leadership Development programmes are being designed for senior management and academic leadership in the University.

^ Top

Project Budget and Expenditure

The budget for the AIMS Project and details of expenditure against this are considered to be information which is proprietary to UCT. If you are accessing this site from a computer that is physically connected to the UCT network then you can view this information (pdf 59kb) on the UCT intranet.

The project was completed for less than the Council-approved budget.

^ Top

Links to Additional Material

• File of printable Figures on this page (pdf 12kb)

To navigate to additional pages on the AIMS website please make use of the buttons in the navigation sidebar near the top of this page.

^ Top

Last updated: 2001-09-20