UniForum 2018 data collection begins
The McMaster community is gearing up to begin this year’s participation in UniForum, the annual global benchmarking program for non-academic services and activities that support teaching and research in post-secondary institutions.
This is the second year McMaster is participating in the program and there have been improvements in the way data is collected that should make the process easier for staff and faculty.
Each year many McMaster staff and faculty members participate in the program. Using an online tool, they report on time employees spend on tasks and activities. The data is then compiled, analyzed and measured against the other universities in the program.
In 2017, McMaster joined UniForum as one of the first Canadian universities to participate in this benchmarking activity. The data and results help the University understand how we work administratively across campus, and how we compare to our peers in Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand.
The full report of findings from 2017 is available on the McMaster UniForum Website under the Secure Reports tab.
What’s different this year?
Based on the feedback received from those who participated in the project last year, the timelines for the collection activities have been lengthened, and more drop-in sessions have been scheduled. These sessions are held in building T13 and include hands-on training with the online collection tool. Further improvements have been made to the supplier dataset template, which will reduce the number of times the supplier data must be reviewed.
There have been other improvements to make the process easier and faster. New guidance has been issued for certain activity codes. All respondents and primary contacts should review the 2018 Activity Framework Guide, which can be found on the McMaster UniForum Website under ‘Secure Reports’ or directly in the UniForum collection tool.
With two years of data to review, we anticipate a deeper understanding of opportunities within administrative services across campus to inform our decision-making.
A launch event is scheduled for May 30, from 1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. in MDCL 1105 to provide more details and instructions to primary contacts and respondents for this year’s data collection.
Key dates for UNIFORUM@MCMASTER:
May 30, 2018: Collection Launch Event –MDCL 1105
June 1 – July 4, 2018: Service & Activity Data Collection and Faculty reviews
July 4 – Aug 3, 2018: Function and Quality Reviews
November 2018: University Briefings and Town Halls
If you have not been engaged in the UniForum process, but are interested in learning more or have any questions about the project in general, reach out to Diana Parker, Project Manager at parker d@mcmaster.ca
