the american university in cairo

The American University in Cairo

One-Stop Shop

AUC’s Student Service Center

ssc

• Pre-one stop shop

• Consultation Phase

• Pilot Phase

• Completion and the move to the New Campus

• Critical Success Factors

• Advantages of centralizing student services

Student Services at AUC: A pre One-Stop Shop overview

Inquiries &FAQAll general information about AUC

Take an application form

Submit application &receive ID

Cashier

Testing

Pay the application fee

Go back to receive ID

Old System

VERTICAL COMMUNICATION

CONTINOUS PARADE TO DIFFERENT OFFICES

ST

UD

EN

T

Recruitment

Enrollment

Testing

Cashiers Admissions

Financial Affairs

Registrar

Student Accounts

STUDENT

ACCOUNTS

REG

ISTRAR

RECRU

ITMENT

FINANC

IAL

AID

TEST

ING

E N R O L

L MENT

ADMIS

SIONS

CASH

IERS

Horizontal Communication Process Improvement Proposed System

PROVIDING STUDENT ONE PORTAL FOR INFORMATION DISSEMINATION

ST

UD

EN

T

ONE-STOP SHOP/STUDENT

PROPOSED

Student Accounts

Registrar

Financial Affairs

Admissions

Cashiers

Testing

Enrollment

Recruitment

One Hub

PROPOSED

Student Accounts

Registrar

Financial Affairs

Admissions

Cashiers

Testing

Enrollment

Consultation Phase Booz Allen Hamilton

Problems with the initial proposal:

• It was the mere physical relocation of existing staff (Specialists) to a

central location

• Did NOT solve the queuing problem

• Various logistical and training issues

Alternative proposal: A true One-Stop Shop:

• A “Stand Alone” office with dedicated staff members

• “Generalist” staff cross-trained in the various functions of relevant offices

GENERALIST

Student Accounts

Registrar

Financial Affairs

Admissions

Cashiers

Testing

Enrollment

Recruitment

Enrolled and Prospective students, parents , counselors, etc….

One-Stop Shop

Walk Ins Emails Telephones

One-Stop Shop

One-Stop Shop

Walk Ins Emails Telephones

Front Office Back Office

• Handled at the back office and not by the front office staff,

• A system to ensure responding to emails during public holidays to maintain the service (particularly for international students).

• A call center is currently being prepared to respond to all incoming telephone inquiries

Emails Telephones

Back Office

• Telephone hot lines were created between the SSC staff and specialists in all related offices.

Support from other offices

• For special cases, visitors are issued passes to the back offices where they can discuss their cases in more details with “Specialists”

Pilot Phase

Pilot Phase

Advantages:

• Implementation starting in a “Stress Period” in the admission cycle that allowed us to flesh out any potential problems,

• A trial visitor management system was employed to measure service and waiting time,

• Creating a complete digital archiving and document processing.

Arising Problem:

Inadequate familiarization period for new staff to adapt to the new working environment, new functions and system, resulted in a less than optimal waiting time.

Sample Waiting/service Times TrendsAcross Different Phases

Main Elements of a One-Stop Shop

1-Staff:

• Professional, cross- trained and technology-aware staff members who should also be service –oriented Pleasant and flexible

2-Office technologies

• Operating System as well as multifunction, time and space saving, office machines

3-Space:

• Adequate, well designed and utilized space. For both visitors and staff.

Completion phase and the move to AUC’s New Campus

1

2

3 564

7

Quick Adaptation to Variations in Workload

Seven Service Stations

1

2

3 564

7

Quick Adaptation to Variations in Workload

Normal: 3 Counters Operational

1

2

3 564

7

Quick Adaptation to Variations in Workload

Medium: 5 Counters Operational

1

2

3 564

7

Quick Adaptation to Variations in Workload

High: All 7 Counters Operational

Completion phase and the move to AUC’s New Campus

• More sophisticated visitor management system was employed,

•Permanent ID center and cashier’s counter were created to serve students throughout the year,

•Digital document management system and electronic delivery of documents to offices,

•Adequate space and adaptability in handling peak periods (for example, additional service counters can be quickly set up to handle requests during peak/deadlines periods),

•Successful implementation of office technologies and tailored technology solutions,

•Adequate space and physical infrastructure.

Critical Success Factors

• A new software to manage digital archiving of all incoming documents,

• Separate back office space for digital archiving and document management system,

Electronic delivery and an archived backup of all received documents.

Digital Document Management System

Example:

Electronic delivery of:

• Requests for transcripts and other students records (Registrar)

• Graduate admission files

• Data is extracted on regular basis to measure service and waiting time for different functions and staff,

• Monthly comparative reports are issued to monitor the change in service and waiting time during regular and peak periods.

• Monthly reports are extracted trace peaks times throughout the year.

A full data base illustrating the SSC workflow throughout the year.

Visitor Management System

Instant Counter Status Report

Instant Queue Status Report

Charts extracted from the Visitor Management System

Daily follow up data for all performed functions at the SSC

Charts Illustrating the SSC Operations

Advantages of centralizing student services…

• Creating a central hub for student services,

• Minimizing turnaround time for various requests,

• Reduction of queues and better visitor management system,

• More efficient management of document workflow,

• Better archival and retrieval of documents,

• Standardization of procedures relevant to handling different services.