"Simplify and Omit"

It was worth it - that was the unanimous tenor when the results from the "Simplify and Omit" process were presented on Thursday (July 13) in the Foundry House. Under this title, Provost Dr. Oliver Fromm had invited people to submit suggestions for more efficient administrative processes. Over eight days in July, known as Sprint Days, mixed groups - from Faculty and Administration, Secretariats and Department Heads - worked on clustered issues.

The results of the work were met with applause in the packed Gießhaus. Some of the key findings to be implemented in the coming months:

Labor contracts: In the future, approval and release processes will go paperless by mail from departments through the Dean's Office to the Department of Human Resources. Where possible, signatures and notarizations will be eliminated.

Auxiliary staff matters: Here, too, digitization should make things easier in the future. One specific change: In the future, the vacation entitlement of support staff will be included in the employment contract or appendix.

Onboarding: The goal is to ensure that new employees are ready to work on their first day. To this end, processes are to be initiated earlier in the future and initiated by mail without the signature of superiors, such as the hiring application, activation of the Campus Card, etc. To this end, the Department of Human Resources is revising a checklist for new employees and a to-do list for supervisors. Another project is the provision of target group-specific information for the workplace at the university.

Key: Closely related to the topic of onboarding is the issue of keys. Digital forms should greatly streamline the process for new hires. When contracts are renewed or employees leave, it is even easier: via a data exchange with the Department of Human Resources and Organization, the key depot now knows who may keep which keys or when they have to hand them in.

Accounting: There were many comments on the subject of how privately incurred costs are reimbursed; up to now, the process has been long and cumbersome. Clear rules should ensure that employees (have to) advance expenses less frequently. Where it is still necessary, there are to be simplified rules for purchases of up to 250 euros. An input mask on the web will make it easier to submit claims for reimbursement.

Parcel delivery: In the future, all shipments to the Holländischer Platz campus will be received at the central mailroom. It is then important to neatly address the department to which the motor pool will eventually deliver the shipment.

Five-year talks: There is a long lead time for the university management's five-yearly talks with professors, during which reports are written, for example. In the future, this process will be more standardized and shortened by 2-3 months.

Teaching assignments: The Department of Human Resources and Organization will, among other things, update the relevant forms as well as facilitate the accounting of guest lectures. The information on the web on this topic is also to be improved. Digitization should make the process easier for everyone in the future. A first process draft was created for this purpose in the fuel week.

Communication/Web: The Faculties will get a page for their web presence that summarizes frequently searched topics and keywords (for example, on how to use systems such as BITE or EVER). At the same time, the web presence of the university administration (employee portal) is to be revised and also present frequently searched information at a glance. The frequently criticized search engine in the employee portal will be switched off, and in the future it will be possible to ask questions about where to find which information on the web in the Typo3 consultation area.

Knowledge and process management: Among other things, the mail distribution lists used to distribute information from the university management will be revised; they should reach the right addressees more precisely. Training will be offered more frequently on certain administrative processes.

Business trips: Here, the Department of Human Resources and Organization provided information on processes that are already underway. The introduction of the Hesse-wide app FIORI will streamline accounting and approval in the future.

Successively, these and other simplifications are now being implemented. "We are staying on the ball," promised the chancellor. In the future, you will find information about the implementation in the employee portal as well as in the next issue of publik magazine, which will be published on October 9. On October 16, Dr. Fromm will also provide first-hand information at the Provost's Forum.