Cost Savings Program
Overview
As a central unit within Harvard University, it is imperative that groups within the Office of the CIO remain lean
and competitive. Keeping costs low and finding efficiencies results in more
funds available to enhance our existing products and services, explore emerging
technologies, or provide lower rates to our customers. UIS/OAS Finance and
Planning has developed the UIS/OAS Cost Savings Program to:
·
help identify areas where additional
cost savings opportunities may be achieved;
·
facilitate communication of
potential cost savings opportunities across business units; and
·
to maximize their benefit across
the entire CIO organization.
The formalized process
described within ensures there is a cost/benefit to implementation and that
consideration is given to scaling the project across other groups when
appropriate. It will also assure success is measurable and the project has
appropriate support.
It is not the intention of
this Program to replace any local business processes developed through their
normal operations.
Identifying Cost Savings Opportunities
Through
the normal course of supporting their businesses, the UIS/OAS Financial
Partners will look for ways in which cost savings may be achieved by talking
with their colleagues, soliciting ideas from business unit management and
staff, and through interacting with the business unit’s day-to-day financial
operations.
Savings
often can be categorized in multiple ways and are not confined to an individual
department. Some of the different categories that provide savings
opportunities to the organization are listed below:
·
Savings to Customers – any net
reduction in costs to customers for a specified service
·
Vendor Savings – any net reduction
in expenditures by the University to its vendors
·
Efficiency Savings – any net
reduction in the effort (usually expressed in man-hours) to accomplish a task
·
Collaborative Savings – savings
resulting from business units working together
Gathering and Reviewing Ideas
On a periodic basis, the
UIS/OAS Financial Partners will meet to discuss cost savings opportunities that
have been identified through the normal course of supporting their
organizations. This review is intended to formally outline all of the savings
opportunities that may be available, to discuss the viability of each of the
options, and to ensure the cost savings opportunities have been weighed against
all criteria. Some of the criteria used to assess project viability are
listed below:
·
The Net Cost Savings
of the Project - The anticipated savings
are compared to the effort/manpower needed to attain those savings
·
Scalability – The initiative is reviewed to determine how it might
be implemented more broadly across additional business units.
·
Success Measurement - The determination as to how success will be measured
and communicated is made before proceeding with the project to be sure that all
project stakeholders will agree that a cost savings initiative was a success.
·
Management Support - Support from staff and management is critical to the
success of any cost savings initiative. The Financial Partners work with the
appropriate staff to identify the initiative’s sponsors and ensure there is
appropriate management support prior to moving forward.
·
Resource Availability
- Depending upon the level of effort
involved, Financial Partners will work with the business unit to ensure that
any key participants in the initiative have the capacity to participate within
the planned time frame.
Selecting Cost Savings Opportunities to Pursue
Once the various cost savings
ideas have been compiled and evaluated, the Financial Partners will work with business
management to select ideas to pursue and to communicate the plan to the
appropriate participants. The highest priority will be given to projects with
the greatest net savings. Lower priority projects or those that do not have key
resources available will be deferred and re-evaluated in the future or when
resources become available.
Executing
the Plan
Financial Partners will work
together to develop a work plan for each cost savings initiative including a
project time line, scope, milestones, and deliverables. The plan and progress will
be communicated to project stakeholders as appropriate.
Measuring Success and Communicating Results
On an annual basis, the UIS/OAS
Financial Partners will report to business owners and other project
stakeholders on the results of the Cost Savings Program and provide a
comparison to each initiative’s success criteria. Some cost saving may be
easily measured: the historical cost vs. the cost after implementing the cost
saving idea. Others may take more evaluation, particularly efficiency
savings. There, measurement might take the form of how long it took to perform
a task previously vs. how long it takes after implementing the cost saving idea.
For
More Information
If you have ideas for cost savings opportunities, please
contact your Financial
Partner who will be happy to work with you.
