Task Force Journal: April 24, 2009
The working groups that make up MIT's Institute-wide Planning Task Force are now beginning to identify opportunities that have the greatest potential to reduce costs and increase efficiencies. Groups have begun to assess which of these high-profile strategies would be most feasible to adopt, and to estimate the degree of savings that would result. Groups are also identifying a number of smaller improvements and changes that, taken together, could also offer significant savings for the Institute.
“By moving forward with both large-scale automation projects and foundational changes in the way we support research and education, as well as smaller projects and improvements, we can change the way we do business over the long-term and streamline work so that it can be accomplished more efficiently in the future,” said Vice President for Finance Israel Ruiz, who is helping to coordinate the Task Force.
“We are considering ways in which the Institute can take maximal advantage of shared research facilities, and are also looking at the different teaching models, as well as looking at opportunities to automate and simplify existing processes — for example, electronic invoicing, electronic pay stubs, graduate student admissions, and faculty and staff searches,” he added.
While the Idea Bank — a website where MIT community members can offer suggestions for savings — remains open, the working groups will no longer receive automatic reports of new submissions. The Idea Bank’s homepage will soon feature charts that summarize the various categories of submissions and the themes each working group has identified. The Task Force aims eventually to showcase the most promising Idea Bank submissions under consideration.
