The survey summarizes participation data and feedback from the 2013 Business Cluster Survey. It provides strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats, and action items for each division: Human Resources, Research Administration, Business Operations, Purchasing/Procurement, Information Technology, Educational Technology, Facilities, Communications, and Infoporte. An overwhelming percentage of respondents agreed that staff in each division exhibited a "we are here to help" attitude. The document outlines ways to improve workflows, training, communication, and customer service across the business cluster.

1. Business Cluster Survey
February 17, 2014

2. Participation Data
2013 Business Cluster Survey Data
Total Participation
Faculty Participation
Staff Participation
Division
CBMC
DPET
DPOP
PACE
MOPH
Total
Division
CBMC
DPET
DPOP
PACE
MOPH
Unit
Total
101/175 - 58%
56/100 - 56%
45/75 = 60%
Faculty Sent Survey Faculty Participated % Faculty participated
27
8
30%
20
15
75%
8
6
75%
25
17
68%
20
10
50%
100
56
56%
Staff Sent Survey
17
14
2
5
15
22
75
Staff Participated
6
10
1
5
5
18
45
% Staff Participated
35%
71%
50%
100%
33%
82%
60%

3. Business Cluster Overall
Strengths
•
•
•
Strongly agree/agree responses increased in 8 of 10
survey questions administered
Timeliness of responses
Overall attitude of business cluster team members
Weaknesses
•
•
•
Opportunities
•
•
•
•
Review and update business cluster workflows
Reorganize business cluster workflows in Infoporte
to make their accessibility more user friendly
Implement a formal cross training program
Assign a contact to field questions when a business
cluster staff member is absent (vacation/sick/etc.)
Faculty and staff are not referring to or utilizing
business cluster workflows
Faculty and staff do not believe workflows are clear
or useful
Inconsistency among business cluster units
Threats
•
•
•
Staff back-up when an employee is absent or leaves
Staff turnover
Limited staff and resources among some cluster
units

4. Business Cluster Overall
Action items:
1. Unit directors will review and update, if necessary, all
business cluster workflows to ensure accuracy and
efficiency of process
2. Kim and Raj will work division EAs to reorganize the
workflows in Infoporte to make their accessibility more
user-friendly
3. HR will pilot a formal cross-training program with
implementation to follow
4. Unit directors will ensure that a contact or mechanism
for communication is in place when a staff member is
absent or leaves

5. Human Resources
Strengths
•
•
•
•
•
Fully staffed
•
82% (78% in 2012) agree/strongly agree HR exhibits
good customer service
•
85% (87% in 2012) agree/strongly agree that the HR
staff is knowledgeable about policies and
procedures
75% (72% in 2012) agree/strongly agree that HR
staff respond in a timely manner
77% (81% in 2012) agree/strongly agree that they
are satisfied with HR services and staff support
Opportunities
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Require each hiring manager to submit a plan for
•
recruitment and follow the workflow
Host Qualtrics Lunch & Learn
Develop hiring manager training including their role
in the onboarding process
HR Consultants develop “posting/recruitment tips”
Infoporte Faculty Leave/TIM pilot
•
270/360 assessments to help facilitate training and
development learning opportunities
Separate orientation for unpaid/EPA/SPA employees
Weaknesses
Hiring managers understanding their role in
supervision/management and onboarding process
Staff backup
Threats
An understanding by School personnel as to the
impact that GA/UNC have on the School’s HR
workflows (i.e. salary guidelines, ARPT guidelines,
Office of Internal Student Scholars, PID/ONYEN
process) and the impact that this has on the
working relationships within the School.
TIM

6. Human Resources
Action items:
1. Implement shared email for backup
(HR@email.unc.edu)
2. Link HR homepage to website to provide information
on updated Policies and Procedures
3. Conduct Lunch & Learn on Policies and Procedures
4. Conduct Lunch & Learn on ARPT for Executive
Assistants
5. Conduct Hiring Manager Training

7. Research Administration
Strengths
•
Research administration staff have a positive and
helpful attitude, excellent knowledge and
effectively meet the needs of faculty by providing
quality and accurate support
Weaknesses
•
•
Opportunities
•
•
Possible to support a growth spurt in research
funding with the addition of new space and high
profile faculty
Build on the positive attitude of the cluster staff
with further professional training and familiarity
with university systems
Pre and Post award integration can be improved
further
The office has new staff that who still have a
learning curve ahead of them
Threats
•
•
•
•
Budget situation at the state and federal level is still
a constraint
New PeopleSoft system may not function optimally
in its early stages of implementation
Oversight office/OSR is sometimes not responsive
and helpful
Staff retention

8. Research Administration
Action items:
1. Meet with faculty periodically at division meetings to
explain the role of the office and improve
understanding of issues faced on the part of faculty and
staff
2. Further improve pre and post award integration

9. Business Operations
Strengths
•
•
High 95% response for helpful attitude and support
satisfaction
No turnover
Weaknesses
•
•
Opportunities
•
•
Professional training may lead to improved
performance competence
Make strategic additions to the staff
Not proactive; poor communication
No general updates provided to the School
Threats
•
•
Move to IRB may cause need to rework current
processes
Staff face a steep learning curve with the
implementation of PeopleSoft

10. Business Operations
Action items:
1. Further interpersonal and professional training for staff
2. Further improve communication amongst cluster staff
3. Improve team-based approach within the business
operations team

11. Purchasing/Procurement
Strengths
•
•
High 97% response for helpful attitude and support
satisfaction
No turnover
Weaknesses
•
•
Opportunities
•
•
Make strategic additions to the staff
PeopleSoft is similar to ePro and will offer catalog
ordering from all University sources
Study subject payment process was noted
No general updates provided to the School
Threats
•
Move to IRB may cause need to rework current
process

12. Purchasing/Procurement
Action items:
1. Build upon staff strengths by continuing to provide
training opportunities
2. Conduct periodic meetings with research and
administration staff and oversight offices

13. Information Technology
Strengths
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Continued personalized service
Expanded services (i.e. server consultation set-up)
Flexibility in managing requests
Technicians continue to expand their skill sets
Ability to effectively support two buildings
Localized help desk; timely responses to requests
Consultation services provided for purchasing and
receiving of equipment
Effectively manage a complex security environment
Meet system administration initiative for the School
School representation on campus committee
Weaknesses
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Opportunities
•
•
•
•
•
•
Virtualization, leveraging of new offerings from UNC
ITS for software distribution and management
Transfer server infrastructure to virtual servers
Move servers not appropriate for virtualization to
free data center hosted by UNC ITS
Collaborate with other Health Affairs schools to
meet storage, infrastructure, and other IT needs
Create advisory groups for computer and research
Take advantage of unstable campus IT environment
to provide enterprise level offerings to campus
community
Efficiency: IT rarely turns down a request
Preventative Maintenance: Problems are addressed
in isolation
Inconsistency of knowledge among staff; all IT staff
must be able to perform all functions of the unit
Lack of disaster recovery plans
No standardized platforms for computers
Lack of School-wide IT enforcement body to assist
with policy enforcement
Lack of advisory committees for computing and
research
Threats
•
•
•
•
Unstable campus IT environment causing a lack of
dependable centralized campus services
Unfunded campus IT mandates
Ability to maintain industry level
security/computing policies and best practices in an
academic setting
Support model that encompasses all aspects of IT in
the School

14. Information Technology
Action items:
1. Tighten scope of services rendered, give options for
requests falling outside of that scope
2. Create faculty/staff advisory groups for IT, IRB policy and
research computing
3. Create a comprehensive disaster recovery plan
4. Utilize virtual computing labs software distribution
model to assist with standardization

15. Educational Technology
Strengths
•
•
•
•
Received highest rating for core operations
Satisfaction for videoconferencing classes and
meetings
Satisfaction for resolutions to problems
Most videoconference classes and meetings start
on time with no problems
Weaknesses
•
•
•
•
Opportunities
•
•
Educate faculty/staff about the differences between •
•
the departments of Education Technology,
Information Technology, and Educational
Renaissance
Opportunity to better the department’s image by
focusing service on PACE faculty and DPET staff
(who voiced the most concerned regarding the
operations of ET) while maintaining existing level of
service to other divisions
Department policies are difficult for faculty and
staff to find
Not clear to faculty/staff why policies are needed
Customer service is inconsistent between members
of the department
Not all staff members within the department have
the same knowledge and faculty/staff receive
mediocre service if the subject matter expert is
unavailable
Threats
Inconsistency among department staff
Lack of resources which causes a lack of
communication

16. Educational Technology
Action items:
1. Implement a ticket tracking system that will be used to
measure and compare how each member of the team
delivers customer service.
a.
b.
Automatic ticket escalation will be applied to tickets from DPET and PACE to
ensure that their requests are closely monitored from creation to completion.
Simple surveys will be sent to customers automatically after a technician
resolves a help request. If a technician receives a poor evaluation, that ticket
will be reviewed to see how the technician could improve the customers
experience in the future.
2. Publish all policies on the School’s website and link to the
department’s ticket portal.
a.
Each policy will contain a rational as to why it is necessary and when it was put
into effect.

17. Facilities
Strengths
•
•
•
•
•
•
Knowledgeable and attentive to detail
Effectively handle day-to-day functions
Response time to repairs/maintenance problems
Effectively address environmental issues, safety
hazards and violations
Effectively plan/coordinate lab set-ups (new and
old)
Exhibit a “we are here to help” attitude
Weaknesses
•
•
Opportunities
•
•
•
•
Plan and oversee the move of personnel to IRB
•
Permanent Facilities Coordinator to handle the day- •
to-day issues IRB/GMB
Increase proactivity in maintenance requests
Anticipate safety hazard violations in our buildings
and work to have them resolved
Concern regarding successor to Facilities Director
Three buildings are currently managed by one
director with part-time assistance. With the
completion of IRB and addition of more
laboratories, maintenance and repair issues will
increase
Threats
Volume of projects conducted by researchers
Emergencies, safety hazards, lab violations

18. Facilities
Action items:
1. Facilitate the move of faculty, staff, students, and labs
to GMB and IRB
2. Set-up labs in compliance with all safety regulations and
faculty expectations

19. Communications
Strengths
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Negative ratings (strongly disagree and disagree)
comprised less than 10% of total responses
Overall satisfaction in several categories increased
from 2012 survey results
John Zhu
Creativity
High quality work
Professionalism and knowledge
Timely responses to inquiries
Weaknesses
•
•
•
•
Opportunities
•
•
•
Communications office needs to focus its efforts or
expand in order to maximize its effectiveness
Focus primarily on the one communications
initiative within the Strategic Plan
Expand resources the communications staff
Communications staff will not always do what they
are asked
Communications staff is too small
More outreach to faculty and research centers is
needed
More help is needed with PhD recruitment
Threats
•
•
•
•
Office offers a wide range of high quality services
but has no consistent way of rationing or prioritizing
those services
Priorities need to be established within the office
Loose definition of the roles and purpose of the
communications office
Divisions/centers creating their own promotional
materials that are not high-quality

20. Communications
Action items:
1. Consult with School administration to identify
communication priorities
2. Create proposals with options for restructuring or
growing the communications office in response to
specific needs identified by the survey and School
leadership
3. Determine whether it is possible to increase outreach
to faculty based on 1 and 2 above for the purposes of:
a.
b.
c.
Generating more new releases about research
Offering training on interaction with news media and social media, and
Creating richer web-based content about faculty

21. Infoporte
Strengths
•
•
•
•
Weaknesses
Percentage increased in respondents usage of 10 of •
14 functions within Infoporte; remained the same
in 3; and decreased in 1
•
Percentage of faculty/staff not using Infoporte
decreased from 23% to 18%
•
95% of respondents agree or strongly agree that the
Faculty Dashboard is useful
84% of respondents agree or strongly agree that
Infoporte meets their needs (increase of 8% over
2012)
Opportunities
•
•
•
•
•
Require faculty/staff to submit HR and Finance
requests through Infoporte in order for their
requests to be processed
Faculty Leave Pilot
Make a Dashboard available for staff
Update and reorganize business cluster workflows
in Infoporte to make them more accessible and
user-friendly
Develop an in-depth training program for all faculty
and staff
66% of faculty/staff do not submit HR or Finance
requests through Infoporte
Faculty/staff do not understand the financial
information available in Infoporte
44% of faculty/staff are utilizing Infoporte to access
business cluster workflows
Threats
•
•
Faculty/staff do not see benefit of using Infoporte
versus email
Infoporte will change with the implementation of
PeopleSoft; faculty/staff may need to be retrained

22. Infoporte
Action items:
1. Develop an in-depth training program for all faculty and
staff
2. Require HR and Finance staff to only accept requests
through Infoporte (not email or phone)
3. Update and reorganize business cluster workflows in
Infoporte to make them more accessible and userfriendly

23. We are here to help!
Percentage of total respondents who strongly agree or agree
that the staff exhibit a “we are here to help” attitude in responding to inquiries/requests
Business Cluster Overall 94%
Human Resources 86%
Research Administration 100%
Business Operations 99%
Purchasing/Procurement 99%
Information Technology 98%
Educational Technology 94%
Facilities 100%
Communications 97%