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Built and ledInternal2014 to 2017

Getting a university off paper, Bethune-Cookman

Bethune-Cookman University, Fiscal Affairs

Results

Saved
$6.9M+
Saved
Efficiency gain
33%
Efficiency gain
Person team hired and led
5
Person team hired and led
Fellowship startups' MVPs taken into university workflows
4
Fellowship startups' MVPs taken into university workflows

$6.9M+ saved and a 33% efficiency gain. Results went to the President and the Board of Trustees.

Co-developed products with 4 fellowship startups and took their MVPs into the university's operational workflows.

The problem

Fiscal Affairs ran on printed forms and paper approvals. The university had no clear view of who spent how much, on what, and with which vendors. It couldn't see how long a purchase order took to clear.

From paper to one digital flowBefore: a stack of printed forms and signatures. After: one digital flow from form to approval to purchase order, with processing time measured at each step.BEFOREPRINTED FORMSPAPER APPROVALSAFTERFORMAPPROVALPOPROCESSING TIME MEASURED AT EACH STEP

The build

The university's first data and digitalization function, built as a Stanford and NSF fellow reporting to the CFO. A five-person team, hired and led for the work, put Fiscal Affairs forms and approvals online and built a cost and vendor database. The same role owned the 10-year capital financial plan and took part in rolling out a new work order system for facilities and a fixed assets module in the ERP.

Key calls

  1. Measured processing time.

    Each step got timed, down to who was slow to process a purchase order. That showed where approvals stalled.

  2. Started with Fiscal Affairs.

    Fiscal Affairs went digital first, with a plan to take it university-wide.

  3. Made build, buy and integrate calls one system at a time.

    Some tools were built in-house. Some were bought as SaaS. The rest were integrated with the Jenzabar ERP.