By Kenneth D. Hoyle, CPC, MCOMBusiness Services ManagerHouston Community College

The Houston Community College Sys-tem (HCC) in Houston, Texas, houses sixDistrict colleges citywide. The HCC geo-graphical spans 4.5 million square feet,which includes seventy-six (76) buildingsand 23 campus locations. The Adminis-trative Mail Center location collects andprocesses all USPS outgoing mail for theentire 624-mile HCC system.

During these unprecedented times, thespread of COVID-19 has undoubtedlypresented challenges for us all. The key toflourishing during this crisis has beenadaptability and flexibility. Here at HCC,our Facilities Division has answered thecall of support for our institution by pro-viding value added services. By workingin conjunction with departments that arelimited to remote assignment, mail distri-bution has arisen as an essential providerof services.

During quarantine, our Mail Servicestransformed its distribution centers into asingle centralized receiving and deploy-ment hub for Procurement, Operations,

Student Services and Safety. Duties ex-panded to include safety screening, curb-side and campus delivery (maintainingsocial distancing practices), and ware-housing of all Personal Protective Equip-ment (PPE).

A daily log of activities is documentedto operations leaders to stay abreast of ourprogress. We have coined this report "TheJournal.”

The HCC Mail Journal —Doing More with Less

As the saying goes, if it’s not docu-mented, it didn’t happen. As we navigatethrough these timesof economic uncer-tainty, the HCCMail Center contin-ues to share opera-

tional information with our stakeholders,detailing all activities that have takenplace since quarantine began.

Throughout the past seven months, wehave published over 251 articles of dailyactivities, in a simple-to-read, easy-to-share document. As many departmentsare tasked to do more with less and makedifficult decisions, we continue to docu-ment our daily contributions.

This includes:*incurring additional responsibilities in

value-added service* assisting fellow departments in laptop

deployments, PPEdistribution, etc.

* assisting withthe implementationof student collec-tion boxes at vari-ous campuses andany other projectsaffiliated withonsite activities asthe institutionmoves to a remoteenvironment.

Though docu-mentation may betime consuming,

the value it provides demonstrates the vi-tal function Mail Services holds to ourcore business.

Documentation should be: 1) Timely; 2)Factual; 3) Detailed; 4) Accurate.

Personal Protective EquipmentDistribution

As organizations are faced with increas-ing costs in the housing and distributionof PPE supplies, the Mail Center remainscommitted to supplying the resourcesnecessary to ensure safety as we continueour job functions. HCC Facilities over-sees the deployment of PPE to each cam-

Operations Management

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OFFICIAL MAIL GUIDE / FALL 2020 - WINTER 2021 EDITION

OFFICIAL MAIL GUIDE / FALL 2020 - WINTER 2021 EDITION

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Operations Management

pus location through coordination withCollege Operations.

To contribute to the cost effectiveness,our Mail Center has embraced the respon-sibility of providing PPE Equipment dis-tribution throughout the district to use atour HCC Facilities to adhere to CDCguidelines.

This program is managed by internalstaff, receiving district-wide requeststhrough a centralized inbox. An electronicsupply request form was created to moni-tor inventory levels. Each order is re-viewed by our staff and assigned to a dis-tribution representative for verificationand delivery coordination.

All PPE supplies are staged and pulledfrom our inventory in order to provide thecollege with an update on the inventorylevels.

Since April, we have distributed thou-sands of PPE products and continue tofind ways to streamline the delivery pro-cess while seeking feedback from internalusers for customer satisfaction.

Student Collection Boxes

As convenience plays a role in cus-tomer satisfaction, HCC developed a planto ensure that all students are provided anopportunity to submit critical documentsto expedite the registration process. Thisinitiative made possible through the jointefforts of HCC Facilities and Student Ser-vices allows students to submit these doc-uments at their convenience, during ourbuilding closures and after hours.

Site locations for collections were sur-veyed with HCC Police, to ensure each re-ceptacle was in the scope of visibility for

each building's security cameras field ofview prior to installation. Procurement,and Communications was able to lend as-sistance in the selection and branding ofthese items. Scheduled collection fromthe mail receptacles are Monday to Fri-day, excluding weekends and holidays,balanced between daily routes, and re-turned to our District Mail Center forproper routing/processing.

Your Network Is VitalAs I look back on the 30-plus years I’ve

devoted to this industry, I realize the con-tinuing education training, along with ob-stacles I have faced and overcome, servedin preparing me to lead and navigate myway through the uncertain times.

Maintaining an extensive network of in-dustry associates has proven vital as well.Remaining flexible in staff developmenthas also played a key role during this pe-riod. Overall, and most notably, I’velearned that adaptability is the key to live-lihood in this ever-changing mail busi-ness environment.

Contact us: (919) 714 7277generalinquiries@bowesystecinc.comwww.boewe-systec.com/inserting

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