Preparing for a Unit/Program Review in Finance and Operations
Document Location and Background
The purpose of a non academic unit or program review is to allow the University community to examine operations and programs and evaluate how well they function in relation to the University’s mission as well as University guidelines, policies and procedures. The Criteria for Reduction and Enhancement document is the main tool used to review units and programs and is available from: http://www.uiowa.edu/~provost/docs/criteria.htm.
The review process provides an opportunity to recognize excellence as well as to suggest improvement. For more information on the Unit Review Process, view the document at http://www.uiowa.edu/~cqi/unit.html.
Responsibility and Accountability
The Director/Department Head is ultimately responsible for any programs or units falling under his/her authority. However, the Unit Leader will probably be more involved in the review process. It is important that these two plan together and then communicate throughout the entire process. While the review committee may ask the Unit Leader for information or access to people or documents, the Unit Leader will not automatically be asked to attend every meeting – nor will they actually serve on the committee. The Unit Leader‘s job is to serve as a resource for the committee.
Planning
TheDepartment Head/Director and Unit Leader meet together to plan for a unit or program review. The first step for the unit being reviewed is to complete a self-study. Information about the elements of the self-study is located in the “Unit Review Process” document available at http://www.uiowa.edu/~cqi/unit.html
The purpose of the self-study is to provide information to the review committee about the unit and programs, its overall relationship to the University, and its role in relation to University goals and aspirations.For non-academic units, processes may be one way to review and measure a unit’s success.Directors and Unit Leaders need to be sure that their self-study provides the reviewers with information about how processes have been reviewed and improved over time.Information about successes should also be included.
The Department Head/Director and Unit leader also need to select a review committee that will reflect both their stakeholders and their customers. In most instances, these stakeholders and customers will be part of the University community. In those cases where these stakeholders or customers are not members of the University community, Unit Leaders and Department Heads or Directors should make arrangements to provide for their input into the process, perhaps via survey or other communication mechanism.
The Department Head/Director and the Unit Leader should both be familiar with the Self-Study before it is shared with the Review Committee.
Access to Information
The Unit Leader and Department Head/Director should consider in advance what documents might provide insight into the workings of the unit. Inclusion of this material in the self-study will assist the committee in doing its work.
Best Practices For Sharing Data Collected During An FO Unit Review
A program review committee may choose to assess the satisfaction of external or internal customers (or both) of the unit being reviewed. To accomplish these objectives, the committee may elect to collect relevant information via survey, interview, and/or focus group. If it is the intention of the review committee to reproduce the collected raw data in any way, it is critical that respondents are made aware of this in advance of their responding. In most cases “raw data” refers to any specific comments or numerical responses of small sample cells. The following guidelines should be followed in order to assure that appropriate confidentiality is maintained throughout the review process.
Data Distribution
Raw data from campus surveys, interviews, or focus groups
Raw data from unit employees, surveys, focus groups or interviews
Committee Chair
Yes
Yes
Committee Members
Yes
Maybe, dependent upon chair judgment
Unit Leader
Yes
No
Supervisor of Unit Leader
Yes
No
Written Report
No
No
For the written report:
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Group "like" comments into positive or negative themes.
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Determine the relevance and/or importance of comments received based on the number of people surveyed and the size of the population surveyed.
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Remember that comments of a personal nature from employees received via confidential survey, interview, or focus group only provide you with one side of the story. Consider how to include these thematic concerns in your report in a way in which the unit leadership can address them.
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Avoid creating a situation where retaliation or the fear of retaliation might become an issue. Weave what you hear into your narrative or recommendations rather than quote the comments directly. If you notice a pattern of behavior that needs to be addressed, please do so, but present your concern in such a way that the unit leadership can investigate using standard university policies and procedures.
The Final Committee Report
The Final Report is issued by the Committee. As a courtesy, the Unit Leader will be given the opportunity to review the report to correct factual errors. The Unit leader and the Department Head/Director will have an opportunity to accept or refute the report; they do not have the authority to change it.Once accepted, the Committee’s report then is presented to the Finance and Operations Leadership Group by the Department Head/Director and/or Unit Leader.