FGS Process and Systems Optimization project (PaSO)
Updated March 2023
The Faculty of Graduate Studies' Process and Systems Optimization (PaSO) project is a UCalgary-wide initiative focused on transforming the way processes, systems and communications support the graduate student journey.
The team at FGS knows there is a lot of room for improvement in FGS systems and processes. The team is talking to students, staff, and leaders across UCalgary to learn more about the challenges and explore and implement solutions.
Together with FGS partners and collaborators, the PaSO team is taking steps that will streamline and automate administrative processes and create a more agile, responsive, and inclusive student experience. This will create a path to transform how current and future graduate students engage and interact with UCalgary. At the same time FGS is creating a more effective working environment for graduate education staff, faculty, and leaders so that together we can provide more effective support for graduate students.
Current PaSO priorities (see images below for more information)
Current priorities for FGS:
- Admissions renewal
- Examinations (thesis-based students)
- Supervisory renewal
- Forms automation
Current priorities for teaching faculties:
- Arts: Target state design
- Schulich (MEng): Target state design
- Science: Current state discovery
- SAPL: Current state discovery
- Law: Current state discovery
- Haskayne: Executing transformation
- Werklund: Executing transformation
- Kinesiology: Executing transformation
Outcomes:
- Student journey steps: 163 opportunities discovered, 55 completed
- Initiatives: 238 opportunities discovered, 78 completed
- Capacity gained: 10,047 hours/year gained in employee capacity
- Employees engaged in transformation design to date: 194
PaSO is also a Spanish word that means “step” or “path”.
More insights:
New PeopleSoft Admissions Queries report may reduce manual tracking efforts for over 10,000 applications per year.
Early findings from the Self-calculated GPA Pilot for MEng admissions show that over 90% of applicants calculate their GPA correctly. A conservative estimate if implemented across all programs is capacity relief of over 200 days.
Early results from the changes made to Transcripts Processes show a decrease of over 50% in transcripts received over the same 4-month period (Oct-Jan) as well as a decrease in applicant inquiries regarding transcripts.
Aligned Outcomes Slides
Questions about PaSO
While PaSO launched back in May 2021, its mandate to simplify and streamline processes and explore ways to work better together aligns well with the UCalgary Strong Foundations Plan.
PaSO is also a foundational element of the Graduate Student Journey Transformation initiative which kicked off in June 2022 to accelerate an integrated approach to improving the graduate student experience across UCalgary. Supported by one-time funding from the Provost’s Office, this initiative sees FGS and teaching faculties partnering with Aligned Outcomes – an innovative Calgary-based software and services firm, to re-imagine the graduate student experience within faculties and programs. Putting this all together will enable a consistent end to end approach to transforming the student journey across UCalgary graduate programs.
UCalgary needs to smooth out the administrative side of the graduate student journey! Many UCalgary systems and processes can be improved and modernized to better serve graduate students and staff. The current state has a lot of manual forms, complex workflows, low levels of automation and other related issues that have a negative impact on the student experience. These things also increase workloads and stress within the graduate student-serving community of staff, leaders, and supervisors. PaSO aims to address these issues with improved systems and processes, making the graduate student experience much better.
Through collaboration among FGS, Programs, Registrar’s Office, IT and graduate students, UCalgary will transform the student journey from application to graduation. Objectives along this path include:
- Review forms and processes and assess potential solutions.
- Develop and implement streamlined, efficient and resilient processes to support the graduate student community.
- Leverage technical solutions to automate processes as much as possible.
- Create an environment of continuous improvement so that the change is sustainable for years to come.
- Information and guidance need to be more accessible and communication more effective. FGS is working on some new ideas for that too.
The PaSO sponsors are:
- Robin Yates, Dean & Vice Provost, Faculty of Graduate Studies
- Amy Dambrowitz, University Registrar
The Core/Project Team includes:
- Catherine McLeod, Project Lead
- Christian MacDonald, Project Manager
- Dan Ferguson, FGS Manager Communications
- Cindy Kalenga, Graduate Student Lead
- Catalina Kovacs, FGS Graduate Program Officer Lead
- Erna Regehr, Change Management Lead
- Michelle Speta, FGS Manager Enrolment & Program Support
- Alix Westgard, FGS Process Improvement Specialist
- Irfan Muhammad, FGS PeopleSoft Techno-Functional Analyst
- Aligned Outcomes Team
The Program Working Group includes Managers from the teaching faculties to bring the program perspective to PaSO and contribute to discussion and decisions about priorities and the way forward.
- Maureen Brost (SSE)
- Bev Ross (CSM)
- Lisa Llewellyn (WSE)
- Kate Innanen (Arts)
- Anisha Karia-Venugopal (Arts)
- Carrie MacKay (Nursing)
- Greta Vardazaryan (Science)
- Katie Cabaret (HSB)
- Morgan Haley (HSB)
- Corey Wilkes (FGS)
- Trisha Henschel (SSE)
- Sreekanth Nair (SSE)
- Dawna Hawrysh (Arts)
- Janelle Morris (Haskayne)
- Jodie McGill (Kinesiology)
- Nicole Stubley (Veterinary Medicine)
Graduate Program Administrators from the teaching faculties are also engaged in process consultation throughout the project.