Be sure to drive by campus in the evening to check out the holiday decorations the Drake Neighborhood Association installed on the construction fences. The Association hung lights at key spots in the neighborhood and held a special holiday lighting event Monday, Dec. 16. The lights and event were possible by a grant from Invest DSM, several neighborhood volunteers, and cooperation from Drake Facilities Planning and Management and Drake Public Safety, Weitz Construction, and Nelson Development. Hopefully, this brings some holiday cheer to neighbors as we exercise construction patience.

— Ryan Arnold, director of community engagement, University Advancement

As the adage goes, “Feedback is a gift.” That’s something I remind myself and my colleagues when we review and discuss the Administrative Services Survey feedback each year. What did University Communications and Marketing (UCM) learn from this year’s survey? First, that campus is as pleased with our department as they have been since the annual survey began. On a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being highest, UCM earned a 3.98 score. Moreover, three-fourths of all respondents reported being satisfied or somewhat satisfied with UCM’s work. Both of those scores continue a pattern of improvement.

Campus partners appreciate UCM the most for being courteous (4.58, up from 4.34 last year), professional (4.55, up from 4.23), and knowledgeable (4.45, up from 4.10). Those are the same top three strengths identified in last year’s survey.

Not all feedback is positive, of course. In terms of areas of improvement, respondents most want UCM to be more responsive (3.88) and to deliver more work on time (3.85). These are difficult criticisms to face, as we have worked hard this past year to improve our responsiveness and reliability, even though our staff is 25% smaller than the prior survey period. Making the department smaller was a difficult yet strategic decision to shift resources from staff to services, in order to expand marketing and especially to support the critical need for stronger student recruitment. Still, perception is reality, and we will reflect on what more we can do to improve our responsiveness and turn time.

How about the work itself? Respondents feel that UCM’s output is strongest in the areas of campus communication (4.27) and donor communications (4.05). They would like to see improvement in student recruitment (3.86), public relations (3.86), and strategic planning (3.64). 

Here are some steps we have in mind for spring semester:

Responsiveness and deadlines: 
1. Better educate campus partners on who to contact within UCM for specific needs.
2. Better communicate and reinforce the necessary lead time required to complete a request (typically 2-3 weeks for standard requests, and 4-6 weeks or longer for more complex needs)
3. Ensure campus partners clear their requests first through a Deans Council or President’s Council member so that all of the work being done for a unit is properly prioritized.

Student recruitment:
1. Finish and implement a digital dashboard. This dynamic tool is nearing completion (thank you, ITS and Admission!), and it will help us better understand the impact of marketing efforts across multiple platforms and the University website. We can then periodically report to campus partners on strides being made.
2. In addition to sharing digital dashboard metrics, we would like to periodically share with campus when we have launched new marketing campaigns (digital, social, email, etc.) or tools. This is likely to alleviate questions about what we are doing to help drive recruitment.

Public relations:
1. Work to define a more efficient process for promoting unit-level news, particularly the academic units.
2. Promote the self-serve “Faculty and Staff Accomplishments” form, which allows any faculty or staff member from across campus to generate a news item for the University’s online newsroom.

Strategic planning:
1. Initiate the annual strategic planning process earlier with key partners, particularly Admission and the academic units.
2. For other areas and projects, rely on our Wrike project management system as a tool to help ensure that all aspects of a project have been properly planned upfront – and that we are not just responding to an on-the-fly request that lacks sufficient details.

I welcome any feedback about these ideas, or other suggestions. We are proud and grateful to be stewards of the University’s brand and reputation, and to work with so many great partners from across campus and beyond.

— Dave Remund, executive director, University Communications and Marketing

The University Bookstore will operate on a modified schedule over the holiday break.

Dec. 16–20:  9 a.m.–5:30 p.m.
Dec. 21: 10 a.m.–4:30 p.m.
Dec. 23: 9 a.m.–5:30 p.m.
Dec. 24–26: Closed
Dec. 27–28: 10 a.m.–4:30 p.m.
Dec. 30: 10 a.m.–4:30 p.m.
Dec. 31–Jan. 1:  Closed
Jan. 2–4: 10 a.m.–4:30 p.m.

Please note: If the building is closed, please enter the bookstore through the outside southwest doors.

I wanted to share with you the most recent results from the ITS section of this year’s Survey of Administrative Services. The results of the survey show that satisfaction with ITS decreased slightly from 2018. The survey makes clear that ITS needs to continue to focus attention on providing high-quality support for our colleagues.

In 2019, overall satisfaction with ITS decreased from 3.99 to 3.96 on a scale of 1 to 5 (see Figure 1). Although the decline is small, I am concerned about any decline in overall satisfaction and I will work closely with the ITS team to turn the trend back around.

Questions related to satisfaction with ITS staff showed modest declines in two key areas: the timeliness of our responses and the regularity of updates around requests (see Figure 2). This information points to the two key areas we will be working on in the coming year.

From left to right in Figure 2:
— ITS staff are courteous
— ITS staff are professional
— ITS staff are knowledgeable
— ITS staff resolve my requests in a timely manner
— ITS staff resolve my requests without errors
— ITS staff provide regular communication about the status of my requests

When I contact ITS, I have confidence my requests will be resolved to my satisfaction

Responses to questions related to ITS’ Continuous Improvement efforts were very similar to last year and even showed some minor increases. Consistent and dependable communication will continue to be a significant focus area for us in 2020.

From left to right in Figure 3:
— I have the right technology tools I need to do my job effectively
— I know how to use the technology I need to do my job effectively
— I have the right level of support to use technology effectively
— I know how to get training when I need to learn new technology
— I know how to find information about the status of technology issues or problems on campus
— ITS keeps me aware of changes to technology that will impact my work

Taken as a whole, my conclusion is that ITS must pay close attention to being consistent, dependable, and communicative. We must also work to decrease the time needed to complete requests.

One step, in particular, that we will be taking this year involves the use of remote support software to connect to users’ computers to resolve issues remotely. Although this may cause some concerns, I want to reassure you that the software system we are using requires you to authorize access each session before a technician can connect remotely. We will be slowly rolling out this capability over the next few months.

As I close, I want to emphasize how important your participation in the Survey of Administrative Services is to me and the rest of the ITS team. Every member of the ITS department reviews the results and the administration team reviews all comments in addition to careful analysis of the results. We then develop initiatives to help improve service based directly on the results of the survey. Thank you for taking your time to help us improve our service.  We are paying close attention to your voices.

— Chris Gill, Chief Information Technology Officer