Wayne State sets course for smarter, faster operations with new process transformation initiative

Then interim president, Richard Bierschbach, answered questions during the Division of Digital Strategy and Operational Excellence's all-staff meeting in February.

DETROIT - Universities run on a lot of behind-the-scenes work. Every time a student applies, a staff member is hired or a purchase is approved, there's a process making it happen. Over time, those processes can become slow, complicated and spread across different offices.

At Wayne State University, a new effort is underway to address that.

The Division of Digital Strategy and Operational Excellence (DSOE) is launching a university-wide initiative to improve how everyday work gets done. The goal is to make processes simpler, faster and more connected in order to provide students, faculty and staff with a better overall experience.

Rohini Ananthakrishnan, vice president of the Division of Digital Strategy and Operational Excellence, held an all-staff meeting on February 11 to discuss the launching of the new process transformation initiative and Operational Excellence unit.

This work is part of a larger shift. Wayne State has also created a new Operational Excellence unit within DSOE to help lead these efforts and build long-term improvement across campus.

Instead of treating technology as just a support service, the university is taking a more strategic approach that considers how people, processes, data and systems work together and implement better ways to connect them.

For Rohini Ananthakrishnan, vice president of DSOE, the idea is simple.

"Operational excellence means we are improving how work gets done across people, process, technology and data," she said. "It's about reducing manual, repetitive work so our staff can focus on higher-value work that supports students, faculty, staff and the university's mission."

Right now, many processes involve multiple steps across different offices. For example, hiring someone or enrolling a student can require coordination between several departments. When those steps are not well connected, things can take longer than they should.

This new effort focuses on improving those processes from start to finish instead of fixing one step at a time.

The goal is to make things easier for everyone who interacts with the university.

"I don't want students to have to understand how the university is structured to get what they need," Ananthakrishnan said. "They should be able to navigate Wayne State seamlessly, without worrying about which office does what behind the scenes."

Anthony Injic, director of business affairs in C&IT made a presentation during DSOE's all-staff meeting in February.

Improving these processes can also help Wayne State work more efficiently. Tasks like hiring, enrollment and purchasing can move faster and more efficiently. Information can be more accurate and easier to find. And staff can spend less time on paperwork and more time helping students and supporting important work across campus.

Warren Doucet, who will lead the new Operational Excellence unit as assistant vice president, says one of the first steps is simply to understand how well current processes work.

"Right now, a lot of our processes happen through email or forms, which makes it hard to measure how long things take or where delays happen," he said. "By improving and standardizing these processes, we can track performance and keep making them better over time."

That idea of ongoing improvement is central to the effort. This is not a one-time project with a finish line. It is a long-term program that will continue to evolve.

"Operational excellence is continuous improvement," Ananthakrishnan said. "There is no end point. As the university changes, our processes have to change with it."

Over time, these changes are expected to make a noticeable difference. Processes should feel more straightforward. Services should be easier to access. And employees should have more time to focus on meaningful work instead of routine tasks.

At its core, the effort is about making Wayne State University work better for the people who rely on it every day.