The Division of Operations, Finance, and Support is committed to improving the experiences of students, faculty, and staff by streamlining processes and enhancing service delivery. To reflect this focus, the Resource Optimization Initiative (ROI), with its focus on Strategic Value Enhancements and Strategic Sourcing, has been rebranded as Building Momentum Together, signaling the emphasis on collaborating to improve the customer experience across campus. Building Momentum Together is about enhancing service interactions, reducing administrative burden, and creating efficiencies in support of the campus strategic plan.
Phase 1 of the Strategic Value Enhancements is officially underway, with three key projects focusing on facilities, IT, and research administration. These projects are all in the early stages, but more updates will be shared in the coming months.
Phase 1 Strategic Value Enhancement Projects
Stronger Together: Facilities Reimagined
The Stronger Together: Facilities Reimagined project will optimize custodial- and maintenance-related operations across multiple teams to create a more efficient, customer-focused, and future-ready service model.
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Leads: Ken Jett, Rice Real Estate Company, President and Vice President of Facilities & Capital Construction, and Rick Mello, Associate Vice President of Campus Services & Sustainability
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Goals:
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Operational Efficiency and Effectiveness: Enhance the maintenance and custodial operating model that optimizes resources, enhances service delivery, and ensures cost-effective, safe, and reliable operations.
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Customer-Centric Service: Create a responsive and accountable service model that prioritizes stakeholder needs, improves the customer experience, and fosters trust across campus.
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Talent Attraction and Retention: Develop a workforce model that promotes career growth, professional development, and a positive work environment to attract and retain top talent.
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Workforce Succession and Sustainability: Ensure long-term workforce sustainability by implementing structured succession planning, knowledge transfer programs, and career progression pathways to build future leadership capacity.
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What’s Next: A new working group has been charged with strengthening workforce development, utilizing resources more effectively, and fostering a more connected team to ensure custodial and maintenance services are more efficient and customer-focused. The community will receive regular updates and have opportunities to provide feedback in the coming months.
IT Prioritization
The IT Prioritization project will create a transparent and systematic approach to evaluate, prioritize, and resource IT projects based on their value, impact, and alignment with university-wide priorities.
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Lead: Marc Scarborough, Chief Information Security Officer
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Goals:
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Centralized IT Tracking – Develop and maintain a unified IT log to consolidate all project requests, ensuring greater visibility and coordination across teams.
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Strategic Alignment – Establish a structured process to evaluate and prioritize IT requests, ensuring that resources are directed toward projects that best support university priorities.
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Increased Transparency – Improve communication and decision-making by creating a clear, structured framework and governance for IT project selection and execution.
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Operational Efficiency – Streamline IT project workflows to identify bottlenecks and redundancies and improve service delivery.
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What’s Next: The working group will work with campus-wide senior leadership to establish prioritization criteria and finalize a shortlist of priority initiatives. Once confirmed, project owners will be informed about the prioritization decisions, including any delays or pauses.
Research Administration
This project continues to build upon the work accomplished last year, which included the new STARS training program and various process improvements.
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Leads: Katrina Spencer, Chief Financial Officer & Treasurer; Carlos Garcia, Associate Vice President for Research Operations and Administration, Mauricio Benitez, Assistant Provost; and Megan Buie, Assistant Vice President of Research and Cost Accounting
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Goals:
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Streamlined Research Administration – Identify major pain points in the research administration process and prioritize solutions to reduce administrative complexity, ensuring Rice remains a leader in research and innovation.
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Simplified Pre- and Post-Award Processes – Enhance efficiency in proposal submission, compliance, grant financial management, and reporting to support faculty and researchers.
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Modernized Systems and Processes – Update technology, refine workflows, and strengthen research administration support to improve service delivery and coordination.
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Optimized Operating Model – Evaluate and develop recommendations on the future structure of research administration at the department, school, and central levels (e.g., RCA, OPS, VPR) to better support faculty.
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What’s Next: A dedicated working group will be established to assess and redesign grant-related processes, with a focus on pre- and post-award administration. The initiative will prioritize areas for improvement, design solutions, and implement changes across the grants and research lifecycle. Research Administrators and Principal Investigators (PIs) will be key beneficiaries, gaining improved support and streamlined processes to enhance research success.
As Building Momentum Together progresses, more opportunities will emerge for you to provide input as we work together to refine services, simplify processes, and create a seamless experience for the Rice community. Be on the lookout for regular updates through Fast Five articles and Admin Forums.