ILASFAA : 201 4 Doing More With Less Presented by: Tina Baskin Director of College Aid
Dec 26, 2015
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AGENDA
What is SuccessfulSet Realistic GoalsAnalyze WorkloadUtilize Current ResourcesIdentify Strategy
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QUESTION
If you had the resources to get anything you wanted, what would you do to make your current office successful?
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Great Customer Service Short Processing Times Clean Audits Short Waiting Times Satisfying Senior Leadership
at your Institution
What defines a successful office?
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ANALYZE Determine Work Volume
How many staff members do you have that can contribute to the work volume
How many students receive financial aid at your institution (i.e. 6,000 students)
Calls, e-mails, and walk-in’s When is volume high (what time of day
and what time of year) How many calls, e-mails, and walk-ins
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ANALYZE Determine reasonable time spans for
completing tasks How soon will you respond to e-mails
and voicemails Acceptable wait times on the phone
and walk-ins Turn around times for processing files
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ANALYZE Determine reasonable time spans for
completing tasks How soon will you respond to e-mails
and voicemails Acceptable wait times on the phone
and walk-ins Turn around times for processing files
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ANALYZE
Evaluate staffing compared to the workload
Do you have enough staff members to respond to students in the amount of time that you expect?
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SO WHAT DO YOU DO WITH THE DATA YOU’VE GATHERED?
Utilize what you do have Organize Training Quality Assurance
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UTILIZE Organize and determine who’s going
to do what How many staff members will you have
to answer calls, e-mails and see students
How many staff members do you need to ensure a week processing time (i.e. verification file)
Who will perform Quality Assurance to ensure compliance.
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UTILIZE Organizational Structures
Open Ended Everyone does everything
Team structure Customer Service Team Processing Team Staff members are functional on either
team
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UTILIZE Customer Service and Processing
Select staff members only do customer service
Select staff members only process files Staff members are not cross trained
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UTILIZE Training
Make time to train staff One of the best ways to utilize resources
is to utilize all staff members Cross training
There is flexibility with cross training Makes it easier to function during
turnover
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UTILIZE Quality Assurance
Create a process to review the work that you have completed
Helps to identify areas where training is needed
Helps to identify areas where staff excel Helps to identify if additional resources
are needed Ensures compliance
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UTILIZE Quality Assurance
Create a process to review the work that you have completed
Helps to identify areas where training is needed
Helps to identify areas where staff excel Helps to identify if additional resources
are needed Ensures compliance
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PICK A STRATGEY Tips
Big schools with high volumes usually benefit from organizing in teams that are also cross trained
Make training a priority! What’s the best way to eat an elephant? One bite at a time. The more staff that are trained the smaller the elephant gets
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PICK A STRATGEY Small schools really need to analyze
volume Don’t fall into the trap of letting a select
few do everything. Try not to silo processes