UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Penn State’s Optimized Service Teams (OSTs) continue to reach milestones and are setting the stage for the implementation phases of the University’s multi-year effort to reimagine shared support and services.

The goal of the Optimized Service Teams — focused on finance, information technology (IT), facilities, safety, and development and alumni relations (DDAR) — is to optimize business practices, enhance service and support for the University community, and create career pathways and development opportunities for staff. 

“I want to recognize the outstanding efforts of our OST leads, working groups and the employees who are working to improve these critical functions. The OSTs have made significant strides over the past year to understand our current operations and engage with their stakeholders in optimization exercises,” said Michael Wade Smith, senior vice president and chief of staff. 

He added, “Their commitment is helping to transform our internal operations and elevate Penn State from great to greater. This essential groundwork provides the foundation for a future state that will benefit both the employees dedicated to these areas and the communities they serve.”

The workstreams — which are working closely with the Office of Enterprise Change and Transformation, Interim Executive Vice President and Provost Tracy Langkilde, Vice President for Commonwealth Campuses and Executive Chancellor Margo DelliCarpini, and Senior Vice President for Finance and Business and Treasurer Sara Thorndike — are expected to continue their work into the fall on distinct timelines for implementation. 

At a glance, the OST workstreams are working on the following estimated timelines:

• Finance – Future state recommendations will be shared with University leadership in late fall. 

• IT – The workstream is actively identifying opportunities for optimization and integrating IT from the Commonwealth Campuses throughout the fall semester. 

• Facilities – Plans for a future state will be shared with the community in the fall. 

• Safety – Future state recommendations are currently under review with the OST committee and are expected to be reviewed with executive sponsors this fall. 

• DDAR – As shared in the spring, optimization efforts will continue once a permanent vice president of the unit is named.  

As previously shared, efforts connected to three OSTs went into effect on July 1 for staff and technical service employees at the Commonwealth campuses in facilities, information technology and finance. Along with these initiatives, Penn State is also moving forward with a range of activities to explore further regionalization opportunities and areas for growth across the campuses. In support of these ongoing optimization efforts, an updated list of points of contacts for business services at each campus is now available. 

The following provides additional details about the progress the finance, IT, facilities and safety OSTs have achieved since last spring:

Finance  

Phase one efforts to develop a current state analysis for the University’s financial services across all campuses are nearing completion. After engaging with financial officers, budget executives, and external experts and consultants, the workstream partnered with consulting firm PwC during the summer to review Penn State’s financial services and processes at all campuses across the commonwealth. 

This analysis phase included an inventory of all financial processes, personnel and systems across the University. PwC interviewed key staff members and conducted a Financial Activity Analysis (FAA) survey, gathering information from all employees working in finance operations or who have utilized SIMBA in the last six months. Their activities also included a survey targeted at gathering insights from deans, chancellors and vice presidents to understand the full scope of their unit’s financial operations.

To continue developing the current state analysis, the working group is hosting a series of workshops to gain deeper insights into Penn State’s financial functions, including team structures, roles and responsibilities; day-to-day activities; current challenges; pain points; and more. These workshops will include virtual and in-person meetings with financial officers and staff from across the commonwealth gathered at the University Park, Berks and New Kensington campuses.

“Our financial officers have provided invaluable insights that are helping us develop a clear picture of our financial operations and where we are able to optimize,” said Thorndike. “We are looking forward to continuing these collaborations and delivering a set of recommendations that will empower our staff to be more impactful in their roles and fulfill their critical functions that enable every facet of the University’s mission.”

Future state recommendations, led by these findings, will be shared later this fall with University leadership. 

Staff members can email FinanceOST@psu.edu to submit questions and feedback. 

IT

During the spring, the IT OST developed a list of 17 recommendations that the workstream is currently focused on implementing.

Among those recommendations was conducting an application rationalization assessment, which plans to reduce the complexity and redundancies within IT applications the University uses, which was guided by insights from 100 IT leaders from 62 different units across Penn State during a series of workshops. Over the span of ten weeks, the workstream analyzed a portfolio of more than 1,700 applications used by the University to identify opportunities for enhanced efficiency. 

As key partners in their efforts, PwC helped facilitate the workshops and University IT employees proposed nearly 200 optimization activities. Meanwhile, the OST identified 40 additional opportunities, including pathways to better support hardware and software inventory management, governance and event management software.

In addition, the Commonwealth Campus IT teams transitioned to Penn State IT on July 1, marking a significant step toward unifying technology resources and enhancing service delivery. The goal of these efforts is to enable a smooth integration process that respects the unique needs and strengths of each Commonwealth Campus while fully leveraging the broader capabilities of Penn State IT.

“The momentum we’re building is due in large part to the enthusiastic engagement of the community of IT professionals across Penn State,” said David Horton, vice president for Information Technology, chief information officer and co-lead of the IT OST. “Capitalizing on their insights, we've undertaken an in-depth analysis of our extensive IT operations and laid the groundwork for critical improvements.”

This work will continue throughout the fall semester, with additional insights used to develop and implement recommendations. 

Staff or community members who have questions or feedback about this process should reach out to ITOST@psu.edu.   

Facilities

Over the last six months, the facilities OST has been gathering information that will help Penn State find efficiencies and identify ways to enhance the operations and maintenance of the physical infrastructure at all campuses. 

Over the summer, the workstream has identified eight different job profiles for facilities staff across University Park. Throughout the fall, the workstream will continue this work to evaluate its current staffing and services and engage with colleges and units to help define each group’s goals for the future.

Thorndike said, “We are working with a solid plan and I’m confident our future state will enhance our facilities and enable our staff at the Office of the Physical Plant to provide improved support, maintenance, health and safety programs, and construction, while being responsible stewards of the University’s physical assets.”  

The workstream is expected to share future state recommendations for all campuses in the fall. 

For questions regarding the facilities OST, community members can reach out to Kyle Hawkey, change management consultant and project manager, at krh28@psu.edu. 

Safety

Following a comprehensive review of operations at University Park, the safety OST has developed recommendations, which are in line with the Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) modernization strategic plan developed in 2019 with University leadership and presented to the Board of Trustees Audit and Risk Subcommittee. The strategy of the safety OST has been to restructure the organization. These modernization efforts will transform the University’s historically de-centralized management model to an enhanced EHS support model with the capability to distribute and target specialized safety resources based on unit-specific functions and risks.

These recommendations will be presented to the project’s executive sponsors for consideration in the coming months. Pending approval from the executive sponsors, the workstream will begin plans for implementation.

For questions regarding the safety OST, community members can reach out to Kyle Hawkey, change management consultant and project manager, at krh28@psu.edu. 

Additional optimization efforts

As the University continues to transform its internal operations, additional resources and avenues to better support the Commonwealth Campuses have been identified. With the elimination of the director of business service positions at the campuses, these duties have been moved to Auxiliary and Business Services (ABS) and University Police and Public Safety (UPPS).

To build upon its longstanding partnership with Barnes & Noble, ABS will continue to collaborate on service opportunities with Penn State Bookstores located across the commonwealth. This collaboration is intended to increase efficiency and cost savings and provide a better customer experience in campus bookstores. In July, ABS also began to provide mail, fleet and parking oversight across the campuses, leveraging technology and resources to better support campus operations to be more efficient and eliminate duplication of services. In addition, UPPS units at each campus assumed key custodian and access responsibilities, which will allow their communities to draw upon the existing expertise in physical security.