Identifying the issue
How do I capture the immense amount of content, processes, policies and experiences into a visual representation for future learning?
In my current position at Stanford University, I’ve recently transitioned from a technical role into a more frontward facing position working with various constituents on campus. From departments, students (indirectly), student services staff, and faculty committees there is a wealth of information that our offices processes on a daily basis. As I oversee the Degree Progress team within the Office of the University Registrar, we are heavily relied upon for degree clearance/conferral, transfer and test credit articulation, tuition adjustments, and academic policy creation and interpretation.
I’ve currently jumped head into the new role and found myself slightly overwhelmed with the amount of content that we consume, and there must be a dynamic way to capture these learning experiences. I’d love to be able to organize our importance in a visual representation of our processes. I’d like to tie the processes, content and policies all together, so when reviewing a certain concept we have documentation not just on the “how to” but the “why”. I will state that this is a MASSIVE project to undertake, and I simply don’t think one semester will allow me to complete every process, experience, and policy we oversee. However, I do hope to get a solid start on this re-design and really invigorate the learning opportunities from internal staff within our office.
As a reference, our current mode of capturing what our office does is through Microsoft word documents that are outdated (2009) or old reports that you must attempt to interpret to figure out the next step. Clearly, a huge disconnect between what our office actually does and how this learning is represented. Ideally I would like to capture the process (how), the policy/reason (why), establish a timeline (when), the population impact (who) and the purpose (what) for each area I currently oversee. I believe we can start with small changes to improve documentation with numerous resources out there, and then attempt to capture unique interactions that strengthen (or help support) the documentation moving forward as examples of the why. If we can create a learning space that links not only our processes/learning resources with that of the University I believe we can improve communication channels and understanding between all of our constituents on campus.
Here’s to design thinking about capturing business processes and policies in a higher education setting!
(Photo credit: bettermess.com)
In my current position at Stanford University, I’ve recently transitioned from a technical role into a more frontward facing position working with various constituents on campus. From departments, students (indirectly), student services staff, and faculty committees there is a wealth of information that our offices processes on a daily basis. As I oversee the Degree Progress team within the Office of the University Registrar, we are heavily relied upon for degree clearance/conferral, transfer and test credit articulation, tuition adjustments, and academic policy creation and interpretation.
I’ve currently jumped head into the new role and found myself slightly overwhelmed with the amount of content that we consume, and there must be a dynamic way to capture these learning experiences. I’d love to be able to organize our importance in a visual representation of our processes. I’d like to tie the processes, content and policies all together, so when reviewing a certain concept we have documentation not just on the “how to” but the “why”. I will state that this is a MASSIVE project to undertake, and I simply don’t think one semester will allow me to complete every process, experience, and policy we oversee. However, I do hope to get a solid start on this re-design and really invigorate the learning opportunities from internal staff within our office.
As a reference, our current mode of capturing what our office does is through Microsoft word documents that are outdated (2009) or old reports that you must attempt to interpret to figure out the next step. Clearly, a huge disconnect between what our office actually does and how this learning is represented. Ideally I would like to capture the process (how), the policy/reason (why), establish a timeline (when), the population impact (who) and the purpose (what) for each area I currently oversee. I believe we can start with small changes to improve documentation with numerous resources out there, and then attempt to capture unique interactions that strengthen (or help support) the documentation moving forward as examples of the why. If we can create a learning space that links not only our processes/learning resources with that of the University I believe we can improve communication channels and understanding between all of our constituents on campus.
Here’s to design thinking about capturing business processes and policies in a higher education setting!
(Photo credit: bettermess.com)