University Times

Is Pitt top-heavy? To help answer that ques- tion — and suggest ways to improve efficiency and cut costs — Pitt has hired a consulting firm to assess financial and administrative functions within the University, including the four regional campuses.

At the Board of Trustees' behest, Pitt has hired Coopers & Lybrand Consulting "to identify opportunities for improving administrative services and reducing administrative costs," Chancellor Mark Nordenberg wrote in an Aug. 12 memo to Pitt deans, directors and department chairs.

"Some issues that we will be examining include the structure of administrative staffs throughout the central administration, schools and departments and potential benefits that might be realized through alternative approaches to delivering administrative services," Nordenberg wrote.

Coopers & Lybrand is expected to present at least a draft of its report to Nordenberg prior to the next Board of Trustees meeting on Oct. 24. Board secretary Robert Dunkelman said "there's a good chance" that Nordenberg and/or trustees chairperson J. Wray Connolly will report publicly on Coopers & Lybrand's findings at the Oct. 24 meeting.

According to the chancellor's Aug. 12 memo, Pitt commissioned the study to help "ensure operational efficiency and effectiveness," one of five institutional goals set by the Board of Trustees in February. The other goals were to assess and improve undergraduate education, fund-raising and community relations, and to maintain excellence in research.

"The consultants are going to be looking at all of the major operations within the old [Office of] Business and Finance," said Arthur Ramicone, associate vice chancellor for Budget and Administration and interim vice chancellor for Finance. "It will be a real soup-to-nuts look at how we do business." Coopers & Lybrand will cross departmental lines in examining how much time and effort Pitt spends on various administrative functions, Ramicone said. "Rather than looking at the Human Resources office, for example, the consultants will examine the way the University does its hiring, employee recruiting, budgeting and so on.

"Now, much of our hiring and recruiting is done through Human Resources, but Coopers & Lybrand will be concentrating on those specific activities themselves rather than on the Office of Human Resources as a separate unit." The consultants also will focus on processes, Ramicone said. "They will try to determine how much a particular activity costs and how efficiently it's being done here," he said. "In looking at purchasing, to use that as an example, the consultants will ask: How long does it take to purchase something at this University — from the point of ordering to the point at which something actually gets delivered? How much time and effort goes into that process? Could it be done more efficiently?" This month, Coopers & Lybrand began conducting 100-110 separate interviews with Pitt personnel — mainly one-on-one meetings, said Ramicone, whose office is scheduling the interviews. But Nordenberg wrote, "The consultants will not be able to interview everyone. Therefore, we have established an electronic mail address and encourage you to send us your suggestions for administrative improvements. All suggestions will be treated confidentially." The e-mail address is C&L@budget.ba.pitt.edu.

Some of the more intriguing e-mail suggestions may prompt the consultants to set up interviews with the senders, said Peter Segall, a partner in Coopers & Lybrand's higher education consulting group, which is doing the study.

Pitt officials would not say how much the University is paying for the study.

Ken Service, Pitt director of communications, said that Coopers & Lybrand bid against other firms for the Pitt contract. So, revealing the fee might conflict with Coopers & Lybrand's "proprietary interests," Service said. Segall of Coopers & Lybrand called the fee "confidential client information" and likewise refused to reveal it.

According to Segall, Coopers & Lybrand has conducted comparable studies of non-academic business functions at a dozen other universities over the last five years. The schools included the University of Pennsylvania, Rutgers and the University of California-Santa Cruz, Segall said.

— Bruce Steele