Streamlining operations with service design

Introduction

The course rollover process was identified as a critical yet challenging activity for academic institutions. The process involves preparing course information for a new academic year to support student recruitment activities, requiring coordination across multiple teams. However, the existing approach was manual, fragmented and error-prone, leading to increased workloads, missed deadlines and risks to recruitment efforts.

The project aimed to optimise the process by fostering better cross-team collaboration, providing robust guidance and mitigating errors and delays.

Objectives

The key objectives were to:

• Enhance inter-team coordination and communication
• Develop clear guidelines and training to support the rollover
• Reduce manual workload, errors and inefficiencies
• Establish mechanisms to measure process effectiveness and staff satisfaction

What we did

1. Mapping the current process

Through individual workshops with teams such as Admissions, Marketing, Finance and Digital UX, we created detailed ‘as-is’ process maps. These workshops revealed pain points, dependencies and improvement opportunities.

2. Collaborative discovery sessions

I facilitated cross-department workshops to provide visibility into how each team contributes to the process. This clarified roles, highlighted interdependencies and fostered a shared understanding of challenges and opportunities.

3. Thematic analysis of challenges and opportunities

We analysed over 180 identified pain points and opportunities, using theme mapping to prioritise based on impact. This allowed us to propose actionable solutions in eight key areas, including communication, resource management and automation.

Key challenges and opportunities

1. Scheduling and processes

Challenge: variable rollover dates hindered resource planning.
Solution: propose fixed annual rollover dates to enable better coordination.

2. Communication and coordination

Challenge: lack of clear ownership created gaps and inefficiencies.
Solution: implement a RACI framework to define roles and responsibilities clearly.

3. Resource management and workload

Challenge: last-minute requests overloaded teams.
Solution: enforce strict submission deadlines and limit simultaneous new course developments.

4. Process automation

Challenge: manual updates led to delays and errors.
Solution: automate routine data updates and enable pre-rollover validation checks.

Outcomes and impact

Improved collaboration. Teams gained a better understanding of their roles and the larger end-to-end process. Cross-department communication improved through structured workshops and shared insights.

Increased efficiency. The proposed solutions, including automation and fixed scheduling, set out a clear path to reducing manual workload, errors and bottlenecks.

Actionable roadmap. The discovery phase culminated in a prioritised list of opportunities, setting the stage for detailed prioritisation, planning and implementation.

Next steps

The project transitions to its next phase with these focus areas:

• Establishing a stakeholder working group for continuous alignment
• Conducting prioritisation workshops to refine the opportunity backlog
• Developing and piloting automation and integration solutions
• Creating detailed process documentation to institutionalise improvements

Final reflections

The course rollover optimisation project demonstrated the effectiveness of structured discovery and cross-team collaboration in tackling complex organisational challenges. By addressing root causes and proposing practical, scalable solutions, this initiative sets the foundation for a more efficient, reliable and user-centric process.