University Business - January 2007 - (Page 35)

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These hearings are open to the college community. The council is charged with helping the president determine which requests are most closely aligned with the “College Priorities.” The president receives the recommendations and then deliberates with the executive team before making a final decision. A public meeting is then held in which the council first presents its recommendations, followed by a response from the president with an executive decision. Throughout this process, the president keeps the college community informed on issues likely to impact budget decisions, such as legislative actions, demographic shifts, cost increases, and program changes. With transparency about challenges and opportunities and information sharing with staff, faculty, and students, the process allows for a better understanding of issues the college is facing. The community is therefore generally supportive of difficult decisions that need to be made. SSCC’s process has been refined over the last five years; improvements continue to be made. It’s become clear to the community that, through the structured process in which information is shared and decisions are made, the college has been able to take giant steps toward achieving its mission and goals. The major beneficiaries of this rational, inclusive decision-making process: the students and community. BUILDING CONSENSUS IN DAYTONA BEACH Daytona Beach Community College has also developed an effective approach to resource allocation with a focus on select- ing operational priorities for funding that support the college’s strategic goals. For DBCC, the solution involves its Planning Council and committees that directly involve 20 percent of the institution’s approximately 900 full-time employees. The council, which is chaired by the college’s chief planning officer, works at the center of the resource allocation process. It has 30 members, with a mandatory 50 percent faculty representation and representation from all other employee groups. Eleven committees deal with all aspects of the college’s operations, ranging from teaching and learning to program importance, and ultimately places them in priority order for recommendation to the president’s cabinet and the president. The higher the priority assigned to a proposal, the greater the likelihood of funding. The president, with the cabinet’s suppor t, has committed to following the council recommendations and has been steadfast in maintaining that commitment, funding in priority order as many recommendations as available funds allow. When the president and cabinet accept the Planning Council recommendations, budget alignment occurs. A TRIMMER PROCESS In the early years of using the process, the number of proposals was high, and in some cases they were only marginally related to the college’s strategic plan and priorities. But with President D. Kent Sharples’ charge that “if a group of committed employees are given the best information possible, they will make the best decisions for the institution,” the council was able to sort through and assign top priorities to the proposals most important to the institution. As a result, the number of proposals has fallen while their quality has risen. The Planning Council sent forth 38 proposals this past year, all of which were funded. BUDGETING PROCESS SUCCESS Thanks to broad employee involvement, open communication, and a tiered process for input, South Seattle Community College and Daytona Beach Community College have achieved successful budgeting processes. Even in tough times, both institutions have found ways to clarify goals and assign resources accordingly. Laura Phillips is associate VP/controller at Daytona Beach Community College and a Community College Business Officers board member. Charles Carroll is senior VP, planning, development, and institutional effectiveness at DBCC. Kurt Buttleman is VP, administrative services at South Seattle Community College and a CCBO board member. Being transparent about challenges and opportunities helps win community support for tough decisions. review to human resources, diversity, and technology. Each committee has two cochairs and 15 to 20 committee members. DBCC’s strategic plan and priorities, from which an annual plan is developed, provide a guiding framework for the council and committees. The annual plan shapes their recommendations and is also shaped by the final priorities. SCANNING THE FACTORS Each fall, the Planning Council develops planning assumptions based on an ongoing scan of factors likely to impact college operations, enrollment, and funding. The assumptions are presented to the Planning Council committees to use in proposal development. Each committee develops and presents proposals to the council against the backdrop of these assumptions. Proposals may include recommendations on spending new funds or the reallocation of existing funds. The council reviews the proposals, debates their relative universitybusiness.com January 2007 | 35 Cmmty107REV.indd 35 12/15/06 11:28:40 AM Warning : Unknown : The session id contains invalid characters, valid characters are only a-z, A-Z and 0-9 in Unknown on line 0 Warning : Unknown : Failed to write session data files . Please verify that the current setting of session.save_path is correct /var/lib/php/session in Unknown on line 0 http://universitybusiness.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of University Business - January 2007

Contents
College Index
Company Index
Advisory Board
Editor's Note
Sense of Place
Stats Watch
People Watch
Viewpoint
Human Resources
Money Matters
Marketing
Financial Aid
Community Colleges
Missed Connections
Escuse Me: Can you Spare a Million?
The Associate
Media Relations Boot Camp
Admissions Administrators Speak Out
Business Technology
What's New
Calendar of Events
Direct Connect
End Note

University Business - January 2007