WHAT IS THE APPOINTMENTS PROCESS?
The Appointments Process (TAP) enables MIT departments to newly appoint; extend an appointment; change appointment status; promote; transfer; place on leave status; or terminate academic, administrative, support and service staff.
HOW DID THE APPOINTMENTS TEAM APPROACH THIS PROCESS REDESIGN EFFORT ?
Working sessions were held involving participants representing a cross section of the MIT Community to:
Identify weaknesses inherent in the current Appointments process.
Construct high-level process maps depicting each piece of work, and who does it, to better understand the root causes of the perceived weaknesses.
Brainstorm ideas for significant improvement, and select the "best" ideas for incorporation into redesign.
Document the redesigned Appointment process, and Lab-test the major design concepts.
WHAT DID THE TAP TEAM DISCOVER ABOUT THE CURRENT APPOINTMENTS PROCESS?
The current process is paper-driven, and is overly complex, labor intensive and prone to error.
Current uses of automation to support individual parts of the overall process are fragmented, non-integrated and redundant.
Too much knowledge is required to become proficient in even one part of the overall process.
It is difficult to ascertain the status of a specific appointment, at any given point in time.
Result: It can take up to six weeks to process an appointment.
WHAT ARE THE MAJOR DESIGN OBJECTIVES FOR THE REDESIGNED APPOINTMENTS PROCESS?
Eliminate redundant work and unnecessary approval steps.
Eliminate paper and paper handling to the greatest extent possible.
Design an automated appointments system to support the global Appointments process.
Provide department access to data pertaining to appointments-in-process, as well as to current and historical employment data.
WHAT IS THE STATUS OF THE APPOINTMENT'S REDESIGN EFFORT?
Phase One has focused on defining and delivering a solution to support appointments for academic employment position categories. Two partial system releases are planned.
Release 1 is scheduled for pilot beginning in June/95, with rollout to the MIT community beginning in September/95.
Included in Release 1 is the automated solution to support: New Primary Appointments, Transfers, Terminations, Create & Manage Positions, as well as Data Query functions.
Release 2 will enter systems development in June/95, with a pilot expected in September/95, and rollout in December/95.
Included in Release 2 is the capability to perform: Leaves, Appointment Extensions, Promotions, Supplemental Appointments and Summer Session Appointments.
Phase Two redesign efforts begin in June/95, and will focus on the administrative, support and service staff position categories.
WHO IS THE APPOINTMENTS TEAM?
Joan Rice (sponsor) V.P. Human Resources
Steve Scarano (captain) Assistant to V.P. Administration
35+ others from academic departments, centers, labs, central administrative departments and Information Systems, serving on process redesign, system design, development and implementation teams.
HOW TO CONTACT THE APPOINTMENTS TEAM ?
Electronic mail: taps-team@mit.edu
World Wide Web .
Voice mail: 272-1700 (say your message is for Appointments team)
A version of this article appeared in MIT Tech Talk on May 1, 1995.
