The OE Program Office tracks the expenses and savings associated with OE projects and reports this information on a quarterly basis on our website:
OE Program Financial Profile as of March 30, 2014
Achieving Savings
Operational Excellence, in partnership with other campus stakeholders—including the Campus Budget Office and Chief Financial Officer—are working in collaboration so that Campus Units can create and keep the majority of savings they achieve year-after-year through the efficiencies produced by Operational Excellence projects. These projects include new “foundational” systems and tools, along with new technologies, that will support managers and leaders within schools, colleges, and departments (units) in identifying, capturing, and reallocating the savings that they have the ability to produce—year after year.
The guiding principles that drive our approach to realizing and allocating Operational Excellence related savings are:
- Retain the majority of the savings in the units (rather than recapturing centrally)
- Keep tracking / administration as simple as possible
- Recapture savings to repay the loan from University of the California Office of the President loan
- Report on savings to the campus and Operational Excellence leadership
The information and skills that Unit Leaders need to redirect funding away from administrative costs will become increasingly available with the development of budgeting and other strategic decision-making tools—such as the critical introduction of Cal Planning, UC Berkeley’s new budgeting system, which made possible the campus’ first comprehensive Budget Plan. This tool allows unit leaders to see a comprehensive view of their financial status, leading to better opportunities to redirect resources toward critical priorities.
Another example is BearBuy—the OE procurement project—which completed a phased campus-wide implementation over the course of fiscal year 2012. Today, Procure-to-Pay reporting, which is part of the suite of Cal Answers financial and analytical reports, allows units to identify how buying “on contract” saves money and to capture opportunities for continued savings. And the suite of Operational Excellence energy projects provides both the reporting tools and opportunities to reduce energy use in units, translating to measurable savings.
The timeline below maps out our progress toward tracking, measuring and allocating the savings that OE Program projects will deliver.
Download a brief slide presentation on Operational Excellence’s approach to savings.
