School Support Services

Purpose

As a result of feedback to the discussion paper released in August 2023, the Provost has supported aligning the student misconduct function within the Office of Governance Services (OGS).

Impact & Intent

This will impact Governance and Compliance Officers within Schools. Previous organisational change has moved from discussion paper to a proposed design.  Our intent is to work with GCO’s and other key stakeholders to design a possible future state together rather than delivering a pre-determined future state.

Does this constitute major change?

It may.  It depends on the design developed together.  We have a HR Change Manager on board to assist (Amanda Burke) and will ensure we follow the EBA if the end design is determined to be major change.

How and when is this going to happen?

The first phase of the project will commence now with a Service Health Check for OGS.  Following a health check, a future state design developed and compliance with EBA if needed, it is anticipated the alignment of the student misconduct function within OGS will occur by the end of 2024.

Why are we doing this?

• To improve the consistency in application of the Student Misconduct Rule between Schools
• To address the high and increasing workload of GCO’s
• To assess the level of resourcing required to effectively support student misconduct
• To improve leave management options when GCO’s take leave (create scalable service)
• To open potential career pathway for GCO’s
• To improve the diversity of work for GCO’s and Secretariat staff
• To action discussion paper feedback suggesting the GCO role better aligns with OGS

What are the anticipated benefits to the University?

• Improved consistent application of the Student Misconduct Rule
• Improved focus and framing of academic integrity
• Promotes the WSU value "Ethics and Accountability"
• More scale and agility in governance services

What are the potential benefits to GCO’s and Secretariat staff

• Opportunity for more diverse work in the governance space
• Creation of developmental pathways and career progression opportunities
• Enabling better access to leave
• Transfers risk from the individual to the service area/team
• Closer connections to peers working in the same governance portfolio
• Gain exposure and understanding in other governance areas across the University

What do you need to know?

• No jobs will be lost
• We value the input of GCO’s, secretariat staff and key stakeholders to a future state design
• There will be an emphasis on face-to-face discussions
• Other tasks completed by GCO’s that are not student misconduct related will be assessed during the process and appropriate solutions will be identified to manage these additional duties
• There will be a post change support plan developed with input from all key stakeholders

Will this affect the role out of the Advocate case management system?

No. The technology solution will continue to be implemented with a July implementation date. We will continue to work alongside ITDS on this roll out and its impact on this project.

Why has this taken so long after the discussion paper was released?

In the time since the feedback was collated there has been uncertainty in University budgetary position, a focus on the University Accord submission and a change of leadership which have all contributed to delays in the progression of the project. We understand that this may have impacted staff trust in the Service Reimagined program. It is our intention to regain that trust and work together transparently and co-design an appropriate solution.

We also understand this may impact staff in different ways. We encourage staff to contact us with any questions, clarification, and concerns. We are more than happy to discuss this directly with you.  Alternatively, you can get in touch with the Employee Assistance Program.

We are using lessons learned.

We have the benefit of lessons learned after the implementation of the Shared Services project in 2017. Here’s how we are using them:

• The project team is comprised of internal University staff that have a good working knowledge and connection to university operations with both divisional and school-based experience.
• There will be an emphasis on structure AND process.
• The centralised service area will go through a change readiness assessment (service health check) to ensure they are ready and supported to support the student misconduct function.
• There will be an emphasis on co-design of solutions with relevant stakeholder groups.
• We are striving for service improvement and building service capability in teams.
• We will identify and track benefits.
• Face to face conversations will be a focus.
• We will hold a dedicated workshop for affected academic staff (authorised officers) as well as all affected professional staff.
• The service governance framework will be implemented by the time this project is completed, offering structure and support for shared services partnerships.
• We will distribute simplified and regular communication and ensure the single source of truth for information is on our website to supplement the face-to-face discussions.
• There is now a defined service excellence strategy (including service excellence principles) that frames how we deliver service, with our service culture becoming more mature.