Staff news

Update on Service Excellence Programme

Progress is being made in a large-scale review of the University’s key professional service functions.

Activity on the Service Excellence Programme (SEP) has been moving quickly over the summer and two new sub-programmes are just about to launch which will make four areas of activity in total:

  • Finance Transformation – starts 26 September led by Garry Robertson
  • Student Recruitment & Admissions – starts 26 September led by Rebecca Gaukroger
  • Student Administration & Support led by Tracey Dart
  • Human Resources Transformation led by Martyn Peggie

Improving services

The SEP is a large-scale review of key professional service functions designed to ensure that we get the best from the sum of our efforts by building effective and efficient services.  

The programme is being run by colleagues in Colleges, Schools and the Centre in a joint approach supported by KPMG, who are providing independent guidance and expertise. 

You can find out much more on the SEP website, including further details of activity and FAQs about the programme: http://www.ed.ac.uk/university-secretary-group/service-excellence-programme 

Current Activity

The two sub-programmes that have been running since May, Student Administration & Support and Human Resources Transformation, have progressed apace through the first stage of the work – understanding and identifying the good practice, issues and opportunities with the way we operate these areas of activity across the University. 

In total, 55 workshops have been run with over 360 colleagues taking part. They are now moving on to the next stages of their work, looking at potential solutions for some of the issues identified in the initial phase.  

The new areas of work, Student Recruitment & Admissions and Finance Transformation, are just about to start their scoping and assessment work with workshops scheduled for mid-October to early November. If you work in these areas, look out for further information on how you can get involved.

Drop-in Sessions

The SEP team plan to hold a series of drop-in sessions for any interested member of staff to find out more about the whole programme. These take place across campus later in the autumn and will be widely advertised, so please follow Staff News for more details.

You can get in touch with the programme with any enquiries on: Service.Excellence.Programme@ed.ac.uk

Related links

Service Excellence Programme