REVISED

 
M E M O R A N D U M

							November 22, 2011

To:	Members of the Board of Trustees

From:	Nancy L. Zimpher, Chancellor

Subject:	Shared Services: Administrative Alliances


Action Requested

	The proposed resolution affirms at this time the current leadership structures at Canton, Potsdam, Morrisville, SUNYIT, Cobleskill and Delhi, and provides for enhanced analysis and reporting of potential shared services opportunities at these campuses and progress to date in implementing shared services.

Resolution

      I recommend that the Board of Trustees adopt the following resolution:

Whereas a reduction in State support for the State University of $1.4 billion over the past four years has compelled SUNY to re-evaluate its administrative structures and processes at every campus, and to think creatively about the management of its resources to make the system more efficient and fiscally sound; and
 
Whereas SUNY has committed to improving administrative efficiency while simultaneously working to preserve quality, accessibility, affordability, completion, and the unique student experience at each of its sixty-four campuses, recognizing these tenets as the foundation of the University's core mission; and
 



Whereas while a rational five-year tuition policy provides students and their families with a system of increases that is predictable and incremental, SUNY recognizes that increased tuition costs mean an even deeper obligation on its part to use and invest those funds responsibly; and


Whereas by Res. 2011-063, adopted June 15, 2011, the Board acknowledged this responsibility and  authorized the Chancellor to direct the campuses to begin a collaborative process of identifying opportunities for cost savings and administrative efficiencies and the realignment of resources toward academic and student support services and other strategic priorities; and
 
Whereas in August 2011, as a component of the overall efforts to maximize administrative efficiencies, and in addition to the system-wide Campus Alliance Networks that have been established to encourage shared services among all sixty-four campuses, the Chancellor announced the creation of three Administrative Alliances, where pairs of campuses(Canton/Potsdam,Morrisville/SUNYIT, Cobleskill/Delhi) with lower enrollments and whose campuses were receiving a total of approximately $9 million in subsidies to sustain independent administrative structures, would consolidate administrations and would be recommended to share a president; and
Whereas the principle for Administrative Alliances to go beyond merely sharing certain services as in Campus Alliance Networks was to enhance the ability of these select campuses to realign their spending, which is currently disproportionately high for administrative functions as compared to academic and student support services,  by enabling a unified administration directed by a shared president or other common leader to more effectively identify ways to reduce administrative costs while becoming more student focused and allowing for the expansion of academic resources, course availability, and services for students by re-deploying administrative funds and sharing administrative services between the two campuses; and 
Whereas since August 2011, with the support of the Board, System Administration has been further consulting with affected stakeholders on the Administrative Alliances model and senior staff have made and received numerous communications on this topic and conducted a listening tour, which included dozens of meetings with campus presidents, provosts, business officers, student affairs officers, campus council members, the leadership of faculty and student governments, and legislators and their staff; and
Whereas the feedback from these communications and the listening tour has been carefully weighed and discussed, leading SUNY System Administration to the conclusion that while there is overwhelming support for the concept of shared services in general, and for aligning a large portion of the administrations of the selected six campuses in particular, many constituents stopped short of being able to support the concept of one president serving two campuses simultaneously, and that such a long-term arrangement may not be necessary in order to achieve the primary goal of achieving administrative efficiencies and increasing the proportion of funding spent on academic and student support services; and 
Whereas SUNY appreciates the commitment of our constituents to engage in shared services and, wishes to alleviate the concern of sharing presidencies; now, therefore, be it 

Resolved as follows:

1) At this time, President Vancko and President Yeigh will remain respectively as Officer-in-Charge at Cobleskill and Morrisville while also serving as president at Delhi and SUNYIT, and President Kennedy and President Schwaller will remain as president of Canton and Potsdam, respectively. The Board authorizes the Chancellor to direct the presidents of Canton and Potsdam, and the President/Officer-in-Charge of Cobleskill and Delhi and Morrisville and SUNYIT, to continue to have both campuses in each such pairing work together promptly, diligently, and cooperatively to explore and implement shared services where appropriate and to devote the savings from such efforts to academics and student support services, particularly working toward a goal of increasing the percentage of operating funds devoted to instruction and academic services.
2) The joint report currently required by Res.2011-084, adopted September 20, 2011, from the Presidents of Canton and Potsdam  shall  be  due  to the Chancellor by July 15, 2012 (instead of March 30), and the Board shall consider such report, and commentary and analysis thereon, by its January 2013 meeting. 


3) The Presidents/Officers-in-Charge at Cobleskill/Delhi and Morrisville/SUNYIT shall also prepare and submit reports to the Chancellor by July 15, 2012 on their progress to date in aligning those administrations and in creating administrative efficiencies and devoting a higher percentage of funding to academic and student support services, and their recommendations as to whether there should be a shared presidency between those campuses, whether there would be substantial obstacles or costs to such a shared presidency, and whether they recommend such a shared presidency, the continuation of separate presidencies, or some other organizational structure or approach to best achieve the above goals.  Such report shall also be transmitted promptly to the chairs of each college council, and shall be made public and shared with other campus and State-wide constituencies also, who are each invited and encouraged to provide their comments and views on such report to the Chancellor.  

4) The report from each pair of campuses must include how the campuses are able to accomplish the following:
a.) Demonstrated progress toward a 10 percentage point increase from current percentage of operating budget devoted directly to instructional budget, or achievement of at least 52% spending on instructional budget in total, with a plan of how to reach the remainder of such goals by June 30, 2014.

b.) A full alignment of administrative staff, including but not limited to Institutional Research, Human Resources, Finance, Accounting, Purchasing, Billing, Budget and Facilities consolidated toward an eventual goal of a unified administration, with the exception of the president. Limited additional exceptions may be made on a case-by-case basis in consultation with, and subject to the approval of, the Chancellor or her designee.

c.) Significant progress toward full consolidation of business and student information systems, processes and software, in all major areas, such as registrar, accounts payable, procurement, and others. 
5) In addition to College Councils and others referred to above, the Strategic Planning Steering Committee, comprised of sector representatives and shared governance leaders, will review and advise on the reports.

6) The Chancellor will assess the reports and input from all other constituencies and determine if the goals have been adequately met and will recommend appropriate action to the Board.

7) Upon submission and consideration of the reports described above and  successful implementation of the above goals at each pairing of campuses, as determined by the Chancellor, the Chancellor will work with each College Council at a college where there is a presidential vacancy to initiate a search for a single campus president for each such school.



Board Resolution	-2-	November 22, 2011










Board Resolution0-5-0November 22, 2011