Green Belt project teams celebrated

Author: Angela Knobloch, Continuous Improvement

Green Belt

On January 26 the achievements of eight Green Belt project teams on campus were celebrated during an event hosted by the Office of Continuous Improvement. Green Belt projects focus on “making Notre Dame better every day” by improving services, reducing rework, mitigating risk, and giving back to people the gift of time that can be transferred from administrative tasks to more value-added activities.

Eleven faculty/staff members were honored with Green Belt certification at this event, after having finished both online and classroom coursework and leading process improvement projects to successful completion. Those recognized in January were:

Satish Adusumilli; Freimann Life Science Center (ND Research): Animal Care and Husbandry Tasks
Through process streamlining and facility reconfiguration, created additional capacity to accommodate new and growing research needs with little to no additional expense

Dan Allen; Student Affairs: Summer Housing Process
Thirteen weeks restored capacity; rework decreased by 83 percent; improved customer satisfaction campus-wide

Maureen Collins; Graduate School: Transcript Process
Ensured 100 percent accurate capture of transcripts for current-year incoming class; revised process to align with electronic student files; approximately 60 hours annual restored capacity

Crystal DeJaegher and Laurie Kirkner; Office of Digital Learning: Course/Content Development Process
Increased faculty satisfaction; enhanced the discipline around project management and tracking steps to ensure quality and timeliness; clarified roles and responsibilities

Jonathan Hall; OIT: Campus Workstation Program
Reduced non-value added time in annual CWP allocation process by 85 percent; annual restored capacity of 821 hours projected in the ordering and installation process

Denise Moser, Chelsea Noble; OIT: Knowledge Centered Support
Restored annual capacity of approximately 1133 hours or 28.3 FTE weeks; improved service to OIT Help Desk customers

Laura Picking (Human Resources), Phyllis Campbell (Building Services): Unplanned Reporting Process
Increased absence documentation to 100 percent; reduced missing information to 0 percent; improved communication cycle time between employee and supervisor regarding absence within one day to 100 percent; 154.4 hours restored capacity during control phase with projected annual savings of approximately 600 hours.

Andy Wendelborn; Graduate Business Programs (Mendoza College of Business): Internal Student Communications
Improved quality via content, style and branding standards; reduced email volume via internal consolidation and planning efforts; approximately 84 hours of restored capacity due to process streamlining.

While these individuals led the project work, they were supported by engaged sponsors and team members who were critical to project success. If you would like more information about the Office of Continuous Improvement or the Notre Dame Green Belt program, please visit continuousimprovement.nd.edu or call Carol Mullaney at 631-1293.