Charting The Future at the University of Northern Colorado

The Monfort College of Business at the University of Northern Colorado is a long time GroupSystems customer.  They use our product for strategic planning on campus, as a community resource with non-profits and local corporations, and in the classroom.  A few years ago, the University was faced with a 25% shortfall in the State’s contribution to their budget.  Using GroupSystems, the Administration quickly identified, and built consensus on, ways to meet the budget gap that minimized the impact on student learning.    

Business Challenge

• A 25% decrease in annual state funding provided the impetus for a thorough review of UNCs mix of programs and services.
• Over the years, the University had grown into an incredibly complex organization that very few understood comprehensively.  As grant funding ended, the University was typically left to continue funding for programs from its general fund, without a systematic review.
• The University President formed a team of senior administrators to create a map to enable UNC to live up to its promise as a great university. They were challenged to discover opportunities, foster imagination, and invest for greatness.

GroupSystems Solution

15 Senior administrators met in 3 sessions, totaling just 16 hours, to evaluate academic and administrative operations.
Using GroupOutliner, they created a complete view of the universitys countless academic departments, institutes, and organizations. For many, it was the first time they understand the complete scope of the university. They brainstormed on evaluation guidelines and criteria. GS Voting tools helped assess whether each department should be left alone, eliminated, merged, or broken out separately. GS consensus tools determined quickly where to focus attention.  Next, the group used Topic Commenter to understand opinions about those areas where they didnt agree. They also collected suggestions the organization should be re-aligned.  After another vote, the group reached consensus.

Benefits

GroupSystems helped the University chart their strategic direction and balance their budgets despite the 25% funding shortfall. A year later, UNCs Monfort College of Business won the prestigious Baldrige National Quality Award. One factor sited by the award committee was the Universitys ability to maintain high quality programs for students despite financial difficulties. University officials attribute part of their success to the innovations and efficiencies they formulated in their successful GroupSystems sessions.