News
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's financial goals will be realized by means of:
- Encouragement of revenue growth, entrepreneurship, and cost management;
- Improved understanding of the University's 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's cost centers will follow. Overall, the University's 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.
Resource Management: Policies and Procedures
As a complement to the implementation of RCM, the Administration and Finance division has been leading a process to strengthen University-wide resource management policies and procedures in order to improve the University's ability to fulfill its mission and meet its goals.
The goals and principles guiding the preparation of this policy and procedure framework include:
General Goals
- All resources managed within the context of an integrated economic system;
- Strengthened management controls and accountability;
- Meaningful financial reporting and analysis;
- Enhanced capacity to inform and implement strategic plans;
- Effective linkage of goals to resources .
Many of the University's policies and procedures are already available on the Web, and all will be eventually. Links to these are provided on our Documents page.
Major Projects
For information about major projects within the direct purview of the Office of the Executive Vice President that are currently underway at Brandeis please visit the Office of Capital Projects website.
Administrative Information Systems
In order to fully support implementation of the Brandeis strategic plan, RCM, resource management policies and procedures, and improved student and faculty support, timely, accurate, appropriate, and current data and an up-to-date technology infrastructure are absolutely essential.
PEAK Project: PeopleSoft's Administrative Information System
In June 2000, Brandeis began the process of implementing PeopleSoft's integrated administrative information system, including financials, human resources, and grants management. The new financial system went live on schedule on July 2, 2001, and the human resources system went live less than one year later, in 2002. Brandeis is in the process of implementing PeopleSoft's Student Information System to improve support for faculty and students. This system is expected to service over 5,000 users and should be ready for use in Fall 2004.
For more information on the PEAK Project, please visit the PEAK project web sites for Financial and HR Systems information and for Student System information.