Budget Process
The Office of the EVP/COO, with support from outside consultants, has devised a new budget process for the University. This process, termed Responsibility Center Management (RCM), is collaborative, deliberate, and responsive. Under RCM, the University financial goals will be realized by means of:
- Encouragement of revenue growth, entrepreneurship, and cost management;
- Improved understanding of the University cost structure;
- Promotion of rigorous planning, program evaluation, and financial discipline;
- Increased financial authority and accountability of school deans;
- Minimization of University overhead costs;
- Strategic planning of overall operations.
Specifically, RCM will provide for:
- Decentralized budget management;
- The budget as a contract that provides incentives for good management and sanctions poor management;
- The matching of financial authority and responsibility;
- Bottom-line outcome measures in preference to process controls.
As the first steps toward implementing this new budget process, the University is now in a pilot phase for four major programs - Heller, IEF, Rabb, and Auxiliary Services. Following that, Arts & Sciences and the University cost centers will follow. Overall, the University budget process will commence much earlier than in the past in order to accommodate the deliberate nature of the new process. At the same time, the role of the operational units will expand as they, and not the Budget Office, take primary responsibility for planning.