President Napolitano provides an update and announces the latest improvements she’s asked the Efficiency Review Working Group to begin implementing this month:

Dear Colleagues,

I’m pleased to report that the UCOP Efficiency Review is going strong and making a difference in how we work. It’s great to see you all stepping up and working to improve OP.

Here are the latest recommendations I’ve asked the Efficiency Working Group to begin implementing this month.

1) Green department certification program: As most of you know, I’ve launched an initiative to make UC carbon neutral by 2025. I want UCOP to play its part in helping the university reach that goal, which is why I’m excited to announce the creation of the UCOP Green Department Certification program.  This is a fun and productive way we can boost efficiency and create a healthier work environment by taking environmentally conscious steps such as supporting the Less-Paper/Paper-Less initiative, acting to lower OP’s utility bill and reducing waste.

Here’s how the program will work: Starting in October, the entire sixth floor of the Franklin building will embark on a full-scale pilot of the program, which encourages each individual to reduce the carbon footprint of his or her department. Staff on the floor will have the opportunity to learn what impact their actions have on the environment and health and how they can help their departments become greener. Once this pilot is complete, we’ll broaden the program in January to include all of UCOP in a friendly competition between floors to see who can attain the highest level of environmental performance. Winners will be recognized during Earth Week celebrations in April 2015. Look for details of the program later this summer.

2) Create simpler, more effective support for Mac users: After input from a Mac users focus group and consultation with UC campuses and other locations, ITS is making a number of changes to simplify and strengthen support for users of Apple products. From now on, existing Mac users will no longer have to provide business justification when they need to replace an older computer, unless they’ve changed jobs. ITS is also developing a plan to provide central management of Apple systems. Once the program launches, Mac users will no longer install their own system patches and software updates. Instead, Mac systems will be updated centrally, just like UCOP’s Dell systems. Further, ITS is creating a standard desktop configuration for Macs, which will make it simpler for ITS to diagnose problems and fix them. These changes will all increase the efficiency and speed of supporting Mac users, and are in keeping with the Efficiency Review’s goal.

3) Unsubscribe week: As we push on with our efforts to cut back on our use of paper, I’m issuing a call to rally around “Unsubscribe Week,” starting Aug. 25, which offers an opportunity to boost efficiency by reducing the amount of unwanted regular mail and email. If you receive fewer unwanted emails, you’ll spend less time searching your inbox for important correspondence. And, how many of us still get newsletters or other regular mail that we just throw away without reading? So please use the week of Aug. 25 to unsubscribe!

There are two Efficiency Review milestones I want to note this month. First, a big thank you to Paul Master, John Fox, John Waugh, Leslie Golden, Linda Klink, Lizzie Kennon and Cathy O’Sullivan for their hard work getting the eAppraisal system ready for launch. This was a multilayered effort over several months that implemented a long overdue change in the way UCOP conducts these appraisals. The online system will streamline the process and make it more useful for managers and employees.

Second, the first meeting of the executive assistants focus group took place last Friday (July 25). The group is off to a good start, and I’m looking forward to hearing more from its members on how UCOP can be more efficient. I want to personally thank all the participants and Kathy Eftekhari and Donna Collins for facilitating the group’s initial meeting.

Thanks again for helping to make UCOP better.

Yours very truly,

Janet Napolitano
President

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