The MIT Core Team for reengineering has received several comments and suggestions at its e-mail address,
The sender's name is blocked out to ensure anonymity. A name can be added to the message if a response is desired."
Here is a paraphrased summary of some recent comments and questions.
*"Registering for classes, setting class and exam schedules and applying for parking permits all require filling out paper forms when it appears those activities could be done more effectively by computer."
*"The lack of a mechanism to return unused funds to the general Institute budget without penalty in the following budget year is a counterincentive to saving."
*"The process for closing out fabricated equipment accounts is confusing, time consuming and frustrating. I can't find any written information on the process. I do not know what offices are involved beyond the Office of Sponsored Programs and property. We began closing out one fabricated equipment account where the equipment was completed last fall. As of February 28 the parent account for the equipment was still not charged."
*"My department has restricted the hiring of support staff. My position covers so many duties that it essentially is one and a half jobs. Lack of support puts extra work on one of the professors I work for. He could have brought in perhaps three more research grants with additional administrative assistance, which he can pay for. It seems absurd that his growth and the development of research grants should be stopped by a department's unwillingness to hire more support staff. Adding one part-time person would help the faculty member, me and MIT a lot. Would reengineering supply a solution to a situation like this?
*"It would be great if a mechanism could be set up so that if a group at Lincoln Laboratory needs a particular type of programming and someone in another group could do it, that person could be temporarily reassigned. Software engineers are not considered a resource of the Lab but as members of a group, and sometimes their services are not needed in that group. Wouldn't it make more sense to keep them actively producing by lending them out to where the service is needed?"
There is also a voice mail box, x2-1700 (2 is correct) at which questions and comments can be left. All members of the MIT community are urged to make use of the e-mail and the voice mail box to share thoughts on reengineering.
A version of this article appeared in the April 6, 1994 issue of MIT Tech Talk (Volume 38, Number 28).
