SCUP
Learning Resources

Operational Planning

ebook

A Practical Guide to Strategic Planning in Higher Education

A resource for anyone engaged in college or university strategic planning, and an excellent primer for planning committees. This second edition also contains new strategies for using an institution’s strategic plan during times of institutional upheaval, and additional techniques for jump-starting various parts of the planning process.

Planning for Higher Education Journal

Around the Water Cooler, Minus the Water Cooler

 More than 100 Muskegon Community College employees attend weekly, all-college meetings. These are essential touchpoints for communication, learning, and planning.
Planning for Higher Education Journal

Balanced Scorecard Implementation in a School of Nursing

 Implementing the balanced scorecard measurably improved the overall effectiveness of planning activities and increased individual involvement in and understanding of the strategic planning process.
Planning for Higher Education Journal

Beyond the Headlines

 Might a tuition reset be right for your institution? This article is a behind-the-scenes look at the yearlong process of a tuition reset at Rosemont College.
Example Plans

Brand Strategic Platform

 A thorough documentation of the institution’s branding strategy, including the purpose of the strategy, audiences and personas, value statements, and more.
Planning for Higher Education Journal

Breaking Barriers

 The University of West Georgia, toward dismantling silo thinking and promoting a sense of ownership within the workplace, formed a cross-divisional group: The Barriers Team. It was part of an initiative to recognize and encourage employee engagement, develop operational efficiencies and effectiveness, and eliminate obstructions to staff success.
Example Plans

Campus Strategic Sustainability Plan
Planning for Higher Education Journal

College Affordability and Institutional Pricing Policies

 Institutions would do well to make their complex pricing policies more clear to students and families to help them understand how a higher education is more affordable than most people believe.
Webinar Recordings

Developing a Nimble and Change-Ready Planning Culture

 Panelists Nick Santilli from SCUP and Larry Squarini and Tony Adam from SPOL discuss how integrated planning can help develop a robust culture and take a deep dive into strategic, operational, continuity, and scenario planning.

This is part three of the series, “Planning in Times of Crisis and Beyond: Reviving Your Strategic Planning Process.”

Planning for Higher Education Journal

Disrupting Poor Curricular Processes

 A large-scale change process, such as a curricular process revision, can be made easier by following a proven approach and understanding the potential hazards and challenges involved.
Planning for Higher Education Journal

Disruptive Transition to an Integrated Organizational Planning and Resource Allocation Model

 This is the story of how Glendale Community College in Arizona took intentional steps to integrate its strategic and operational plans with resources and assessment to develop a holistic approach to planning and implementation.
Example Plans

Futures Work

 From April 2020, the institution’s president led faculty and staff in a rigorous planning and exploration process to ensure that the college remained accessible and thriving through the pandemic and beyond. This bridge plan document details the action steps resulting from that process.
Webinar Recordings

Higher Education Business Models Under Stress, Part 2

 Join a panel discussion moderated by Rick Seltzer, senior editor of Higher Ed Dive, with guest panelists Melody Rose, author of AGB’s new book Higher Education Business Models Under Stress, and Lynn Priddy and James Lyons Sr., higher education leaders with experience closing financially distressed colleges and universities.
Example Plans

Information Technology Plan FY13–14

 Annual operating plan aligning to the university’s five-year IT visioning framework.
Planning for Higher Education Journal

Integrating Board, System, and University Planning and Performance During a Period of Rapidly Declining State Funding Commitment

 Even in the most difficult financial times, integrating planning and budgeting throughout the organization creates opportunities for success.
Example Plans

JHU Return to Research Guidance

 This document represents recommended guidelines for a gradual, phased reactivation of research activities at the university.
Example Plans

Operational Plan Feedback Form

 Worksheet for providing feedback on operational plan documents.
Example Plans

Operational Plan Template

 A simple template for drafting an operational or unit plan.
Example Plans

Operational Planning Assumptions

 List of assumptions to guide the operational planning exercise.
Example Plans

Operational Planning Template

 Worksheet for action planning at the department/unit level.
Conference Presentations

Organizational Transformation to an Efficient Student-centered Service Model

 We will show how to maintain a friendly warm-touch environment that leverages technology to streamline business processes, collect data, and utilize obtained data to cross train your team and improve productivity.
Planning for Higher Education Journal

Organizing Financial Information to Support University Planning and Analysis

 Before investing in complex and costly new technologies, first consider whether your institution would benefit from a redesigned chart of accounts.
Conference Presentations

Plan and Align Improvement Efforts Across Departments
Planning for Higher Education Journal

Redesigning a Budget Model with a Grassroots Approach

 While redesigning a campus budget model could happen relatively quickly from a technical standpoint, time spent in extensive engagement, collaboration, and conversation is key to successful implementation.
Conference Recordings

Shared Services Models

 This session will explore current shared service models that have achieved winning results for the campuses they serve, including financial successes, space efficiency, and customer satisfaction.
Conference Recordings

Shared Services Models

 Come discover new ways to improve the experience of your campus community by driving both space and personnel efficiencies.
Planning for Higher Education Journal

So, You Need a New Chart of Accounts

 Designing a new chart of accounts provides an opportunity to review and improve current practice and positively affect institutional financial data use and reporting.
Blog

Who Are Our Planners—and What Do They Read?

 October 2021 marked Planning for Higher Education’s 50th issue! To celebrate, we’re looking back at earlier articles in Planning to reflect on how things change (and, sometimes, how they don’t). Planning is an essential resource for all higher education administrators, planning analysts, and theorists from many disciplines. In this post, the author describes each group of planners and identifies the types of information each group can glean from the journal articles.