Denison University
IN-26: Innovation C

Denison started a formal process improvement initiative on campus and selected the Director of Sustainability to lead those efforts. The initiative focuses on the premise that be effective and sustainable as a university, we must be both effective and efficient with our resources. Every part of Denison, administrative and academic alike, play a critical and shared role. Denison Continuous Improvement (DCI) is a systematic method of continuously improving processes to better meet and exceed stakeholder needs and expectations. At Denison, we hope to create a community of practice where all of us feel empowered to suggest and make changes that will benefit the college. DCI will be aided by both the Engagement & Communications Committee and a new DCI Resource Group. This group consists of a handful of Denison employees from across the college that have experience and expertise in various aspects of process improvement. Its role will be to help facilitate process improvement by providing resources and guidance to groups embarking on an improvement activity. Denison Continuous Improvement (DCI) is a resource designed to support Communities of Practice (CoP) across the university as they seek to improve their effectiveness, experience and efficiency. A Community of Practice is a group of folks who are doing the work of the group, not an outside organization, and who take responsibility for identifying and improving processes in their own groups. As individuals and groups within Denison identify opportunities for improvement, the DCI Resource Group will be available to provide assistance with additional resources. These resources might include facilitation experts, subject matter experts, professional development for your CoP to help us improve our processes, and connections to resources across campus. This initiative is in its first year and has been positively received by campus. So far, Denison has eliminated paper-centered processes involving credit card purchases, vacation leave requests, and key requisitions and replaced them with online processes that are saving paper and staff time while increasing employee satisfaction. Improvement efforts have also led to improved communication pathways across the campus.