•Priority 8; Reinforce the implicit covenants that bind the community; seek to understand and strengthen connections that honor civility, service, collegiality, social justice, and community trust.

•Priority 9; Confirm diversity as a College priority both by valuing the increased diversity of our student, faculty, and staff as well as through the emphases expressed by the College’s programs and curriculum.

•Priority 10; Provide space and facilities that strengthen the connectedness of learning, student/faculty/staff interaction, and reinforce the culture of equal access and use.

•Priority 11; Reinforce a work ethic that values flexibility, cooperation, experimentation and positive responsiveness to change, as well as supports the development of professional advancement.

•Priority 12; Envision learning as continuous and cumulative, connecting experiences at the College with those both before and after Bates (including pre-college education), employment, graduate education, and experiences as Bates Alumni.

•Priority 13; Create adequate resources to accomplish Bates’ excellences; creatively and positively manage finances, resources, facilities and environment.

•Priority 14; Collaborate with the local community in ways that both serve the College’s mission and recognize the reciprocrasy with the external community of both obligations and opportunities.
 
 

1.) DEFINE "LEVELS OF INFORMATION" FOR DISTRIBUTION.

The committee surveyed campus departments to ascertain what kind of mail is distributed to employees. We compiled the data on the attached spreadsheet [Addendum B]. We also wanted to ascertain how much was mailed, how often it was mailed and by what method (hard copy, email, the web). We asked a random group of employees to look at the mailpieces and identify a preference for distribution with the following options available:

1. Hard Copy home

2. Hard Copy campus to individual

3. Hard Copy campus general (bulk)

4. Email only

5. The Web

Representatives from the committee met with Christopher Lee, Director of Human Resource to identify categories that will support campus distribution:

1. Business Necessity - That which is required for the purposes of business

2. Legal - Mandated by local, state or federal law

3. Confidential - Private, personal information specific to the individual

4. Helpful / Nice to know - Information that helps one find information

5. General - Events, programs, publications

6. Courtesy / Grace - Death notifications, retirements, invitations

7. Time Sensitive - needs to distributed quickly, change of time or place, security alerts
 
 

The following matrix recommends a process for distribution of information on campus.

•Gray - preferred methods of distribution for the category

•Black - will not be distributed by this method

•White - depends on nature of information, may be distributed by one or more of the methods
 
 
 

	Business Necessity	Legal	Confidential	Helpful/Nice to know	General	Courtesy/Grace	Time Sensitive
Hard Copy Home
Hard Copy Campus Individual
Hard Copy Campus General
Email
Web

 

A.) We strongly suggest and encourage that the Bates community employ the above matrix as a method of distributing information on campus.

[In reference to letter E of your memo dated 3/8/99, [Addendum C] regarding levels of communication] We believe it would be an improvement in our current pattern which allows individuals to freely distribute what they want, to encourage and support the use of a system that minimizes paper consumption and costs associated with printing, is an improvement in our past practices and is environmentally responsible.

By channeling communications through electronic means as much as possible, the implementation of the communications matrix will actively promote the portions of the Bates College Environmental Policy that call for the campus community to "conserve natural resources and support their sustainable use" and "reduce the use of toxic substances and the generation of wastes". By doing so, we will improve upon our efforts to "conduct our business in accordance with this policy." While the committee recognizes the potential for cost savings resulting from the consumption of less paper, it also recognizes that there will be increased expenditures in other areas such as training and technical support. It would be ideal if the adoption of this recommendation simply saved money. However, the fact that costs shift may also be viewed as a positive outcome because not only has the community has adopted a more environmentally responsible position, but value has been added to the experience of community members in the form of training and increased assess to information underscoring the College's commitment to promoting an atmosphere where learning is valued.

B.) Create a "client friendly" system -- a system that couples design, production and distribution for external and internal mail pieces or publications.

Four years ago, the Administrative Support Project identified concerns and frustrations regarding the creation, production and distribution of printed materials. Historically, if a printed piece is targeted for an external audience, employees are directed to the Office of College Relations. Consequently if a printed piece is targeted for an internal audience, employees are directed to Print & Mail Services. The above matrix proposes a method to distribute the materials printed for on campus use. The matrix does not resolve a chronic problem that exists -- the efficient and timely distribution of materials created for the external audience. Generally we find that a gap exists between the printing of the external piece (which is usually outsourced) and the distribution of the piece which may be done in house (or outsourced). Although College Relations requires the client to communicate with Print & Mail Services two weeks in advance about the distribution of an external piece, the client finds the "multiple stop" approach time consuming and inefficient. The communication between client and Print and Mail Services rarely happens two weeks in advance. Rather the client is called when the piece arrives at Print and Mail Services. The client then scrambles to coordinate the distribution. This also often results in a "time crunch" to get the piece addressed, tabbed, labeled and out the door to the final audience. We believe a system that is more client friendly could be created and would be an improvement in our current practice. We recommend that Office Services create and consider a model similar to the "Publications Distribution Manager" or "Communications Planning Worksheet" used in College Relations.

Our aim is to create, produce and distribute high quality documents quickly, cost effectively and in a manner that is capable of responding to rapidly changing priorities. We also recognize the need for a working group to identify a strategies for coping with the significant technological and customer-driven changes occurring in output processing in general (input, transformation, delivery and preparation, and control and reporting). This would be for the documents that don’t generally require standards of design by the Office of College Relations staff.

We propose that the working group consist of two or three major clients (Admissions, Development, Registrar and Student Financial Services) a print and mail coordinator and an information services person.

C.) Centralize distribution of College publications.

Duplication in distribution also occurs when multiple offices oversee the distribution of a single publication or document. Since these offices may not necessarily be in communication with one another, they may target and mail to the same or similar audience. The Alumni Magazine is a case in point. It may be mailed to employees and alumni at home by the Development Office and to employees on-campus by the College Relations Office. Such duplication could be eliminated by centralizing the distribution process or, at least, by actively managing it. If distribution was managed centrally, all individuals identified by various offices could be reached by a single distribution process. This in turn reduces redundancy of efforts and overlapping labor costs.

College Relations has created a "Publications Distribution Manager" which will be up on the web shortly. This is a pilot intranet project that will allow us to collect distribution material from the client or user electronically, addressing environmental concerns.

2 . ) COMMUNICATE VIA THE WEB.

The worldwide web is quickly growing and changing. Technology, technical skills and needs, html and design skills are required in order to ensure we are keeping up with the web and web alternatives. Currently, the Campus Wide Information Services team (CWIS) operates to discuss and facilitate development of the web. Since they operate informally, the group has formulated many great ideas but has no authority to invoke standards or ensure maintenance of developed pages. Decisions on how and when to use the Web are not consistent because there is no official structure in place to guide and advise people of its use. Internal campus communications is an aspect of the web that CWIS and other campus groups have identified as poorly managed or underutilized. In the spirit of improving this capability, the Ad hoc Communications Committee makes the following recommendations to use the web to facilitate campus communications. Note that in order to implement Section 1 of this document effectively, the following recommendations need to be in place.

A.) Formalize the oversight of the Bates College web presence by developing a management structure to deal with internal and external constituencies of the College.

This includes a Web Manager, an advisory group, and an implementation team. This structure would enhance the ability for the web to act as a key component for internal campus communications. It would allow for management of efforts to disseminate information that is both helpful and necessary for regular business transactions. Out-of-date materials would be more consistently evaluated and maintained in such a model. [Reference Information Strategic Plan for information technology and library services section E.3.5.a, 3.5.b, 3.5.c]

We recognize this may require additional staffing as outlined in the Information Services strategic plan.

B.) Develop a fully functional intranet to make services and information available to faculty, staff, and students.

A defined and structured intranet facilitates the dissemination of information to the campus community. The more sophisticated models allow for individualized links that allow people to choose the information most important to their work or more specific to their interests. Using such a model would reduce the amount of materials delivered by hardcopy or email and allow the individual to make the choice about what she/he sees. [Reference Information Strategic Plan for information technology and library services section E.3.5.d]

C.) Promote web solutions for administrative tasks.

Sites on Bates College Online which have been given significant thought and effort to functionality and design are the Library Catalog, the Bates Student Records Service (Noline Online), and the Career Services pages. All are excellent examples of how the web can be used to provide information to internal constituencies with a great need to know. Similar solutions for the administrative needs of faculty and staff will provide information to individuals without the need for hardcopy or email communications. [Reference Information Strategic Plan for information technology and library services section E.3.5.e]

D.) Develop web solutions for college-wide communications, business transactions and information needs.

The Web should always be a consideration when seeking methods to transact business and inform individuals of campus events. It is the recommendation of this committee to use the Web as the source for all calendars, newsletters, and like publications. Any information that can be categorized as helpful or nice-to-know may be posted on the web for access campus-wide. It is also the recommendation of this committee to continue interfacing the Web with information stored in Banner to expand the access to information needed to conduct business and ease the sharing of information among academic and administrative departments. [Reference Information Strategic Plan for information technology and library services section E.3.6.a, 3.6.b]

3. ) MAINTAIN ACCURATE EMPLOYEE INFORMATION [In reference to letter C of your memo dated 3/8/99 [Addendum C] to identify, without duplication, accurate lists of all those associated with the college.]

A.) Define the term employee.

A set definition of what constitutes an employee is necessary before an accurate list of employees can be created and maintained.

B.) Use one source of data for the generation of mailing labels.

Human Resources is in the final stages of implementing the Banner HR module. Once this transition is made, some of the confusion of dealing with multiple databases should go away. Information for mailing lists and labels needs to come from one place and that should be the Banner database. [Reference Information Strategic Plan for information technology and library services section E.3.1.a, 3.3]

C.) Maintain accurate address information for employees.

The procedure for collecting and maintaining employee information needs to be communicated to employees and reminders sent out on a scheduled basis; the new Human Resources Communicator would be an ideal way to remind employees to update address information. It is the recommendation of this committee that; the Office of Human Resources be the control agency for creating and maintaining employee address information and Supervisors be responsible for reporting on-campus location and/or phone changes to the Human Resources Office.

In some institutions, usually mandated by employment law, address data for employees and staff is maintained and distributed through the Human Resource Office or some other steward of employee information. Monitoring the employee address data distribution ensures proper use of the system and protects privacy and legal concerns. There are many systems for codifying employee information - such as that in the Library - that have proved to be successful and efficient. Keeping consistent employee data will becoming increasingly important and we work consortially with Bowdoin and Colby, in order to smooth share information that will allow for collaboration.
 
 

D.) Utilize the population selection function in Banner to avoid duplication in mailing lists.

There needs to be a way in which employees who fall into multiple constituencies within the College (ex. employees who are also alumni, administrators with faculty status) are able to be filtered out of assorted mailing lists, as necessary, to eliminate duplication in the distribution process. The college development office is currently responsible for the production of files used to print mailing labels and envelopes. These lists are designated by donor category or constituent, rather than by specific mail code and therefore, the system can and will pull the same person twice for the same mailing if they meet the criteria. Banner offers a solution through the use of a process called population selection. For the purpose of distributing College publications and communications, various populations of individuals could be defined using elements within the Banner database. These population selections would then be used alone or in concert with one another to create labels or envelopes for distribution of College communications. It is possible to take the union or intersection of two population selections or even to perform a subtraction of one set from another. This would also necessitate working with offices across campus to define the various populations that receive College publications and communications.

In the short term, the Development Office will eliminate employees who are also alumni from selected mailings, particularly those delivered on campus.

4) GIVE EMPLOYEES THE CHOICE OF WHICH BATES PUBLICATIONS [In reference to letter D of your memo dated 3/8/99]

We believe that if we can accomplish the recommendations 1-3 in this report, the need for this section will diminish. We could keep the idea of giving people a distribution choice open for future technologies, like the employee web.

5) REQUIRE DEPARTMENTS TO REVIEW AND ESTABLISH EFFECTIVE METHODS FOR ONGOING COMMUNICATION, PARTICULARLY IN DINING SERVICES AND THE PHYSICAL PLANT. [In reference to letter A of your memo dated 3/8/99]

Communication with Dining Services and Physical Plant pose unique problems. These two staff populations comprise 31% of the total employee population. Therefore in developing an effective campus communication plan, problems must be carefully identified and addressed. This committee proposes the following recommendations.

A.) Establish communication centers that are strategically located for Physical Plant (specifically custodians) and Dining Services staff so that each have individual mailboxes to facilitate distribution of hard copy materials.

We asked for feedback and recommendations from Pat Murphy and Bob Volpi regarding hard copy distribution in the Physical Plant and Dining Services [see attached memo from Bob Volpi [Addendum D]]. Dining Services and Physical Plant rely on team leaders to distribute materials to the individual team members. When a team leader is sick or absent, the system can fail. Additionally, Dining Services shares staff with the Physical Plant in the summer and find it difficult to forward hard copy materials during this time.

Dining Services staff work within Chase Hall. Hard copy distribution seems to work well. The Physical Plant staff, especially custodial staff, spread out around campus making distribution of materials more difficult. Team leaders are responsible to distribute hard copy materials, however, when we visited the Physical Plant there was no system in place to facilitate the process. In talking with Pat Murphy we identified that a proposed solution might be to create four or five communication centers in the areas where the custodial staff meet twice a day. These communication centers would have mailboxes for the team members from that area, a telephone and a computer.

Depending on availability of space, there may be costs associated with developing these communication centers.

B.) Establish employee kiosks and informal electronic information centers to give employees access to email.

"Information is power" is becoming increasingly true as we move into the 21st century. If Bates is to continue its long tradition of egalitarianism, it will have to provide the opportunity for all employees to have equal access to information. Today, and tomorrow, that means access to the intranet and internet. In order to make "a culture of equal access and use" a reality, we must provide training and hardware for all. [Priorities #8,10,11] The expenditure required to make full access available will return exceptional value. It will enhance the free flow of information; it will reduce the need for paper flow; it will increase the campus-wide sense of team; it will create extraordinary training opportunities. We'll be able to partner with local community groups and cross-train. We can offer programs to employees and students without disrupting work/school schedules . We can provide individualized levels of training in a self-paced mode. We can enable the entire college community to engage in the life-long learning so necessary for a vital and fulfilling life. [Priorities #8,9,10,11, 12, 13, 14]

Bob Volpi reports that approximately 50% of Dining Services staff use email. According to Bob, the staff are encouraged to get email accounts. He suggests that the other 50% would be more amenable to computer use if it were integrated into the workplace. For instance, if a portion of the Den were set up like an "Internet Cafe", staff would be more likely to use them to check their email. There will likely be costs associated with providing such access in the Dining Services area. There are some staff who may be hindered because of disability, literacy or language issues. This is a training issue and needs to be discussed with Human Resources and Information Services.

Many communications are now done solely by email. Those without access to email may not receive information that is being shared with the rest of the community. By providing computer kiosks or communication centers in strategically located areas, particularly for Physical Plant and Dining Services employees, we will increase the likelihood that information will be received by all individuals. It also offers an effective mode of communication among co-workers. Managers and Team Leaders would have the additional capability of sharing information with their team members. [Reference Information Strategic Plan for information technology and library services section E.5]

C.) In regard to recommendation #5 of our original report [Addendum E]; Departments need to review and establish effective methods of ongoing communication.

We recommend that a specific improvement would be to have Supervisors and Team Leaders encourage employees to take advantage of email access during work hours. It should be understood that email is a work related activity.