Bay Shore Union Free School District, NY
 
Office Staffing
Efficiency Study
Staffing level and organizational determination
Job classification and job description formulation
Operational and administrative procedure formulation

 
The Bay Shore UFSD’s middle and high school Guidance Offices are hives of activity.  Beyond counseling functions, the Guidance Office creates and maintains the data critical for smooth district operation. Student class schedules originate and will pass through here several times every semester. Absences are recorded, and excesses noted. Teacher team meetings must be arranged and sites scheduled; college applications are processed, parent/teacher conferences are arranged and coordinated; BOCES identification, arrangement and coordination are seen to; mass mailings created and sent. In addition, this office is responsible for large and small tasks that interface with the district’s administrative, teaching and business staffs. Have we mentioned Report Cards…?
 
Bay Shore realized that Guidance Office functions either ensure smooth information flow throughout the district, or create n unbreakable bottle neck. To establish the most effective staff use, Bay Shore asked the VMC Group’s Value Management Consultants division to conduct an efficiency study of its Guidance Office clerical duties, as well as the activities of the elementary school clerical staff.
 
The Workflow analysis described “how things get done.”—what forms and procedures are used, what data is created, shared and how.
 
 
Value Management Consultants’ methodology included the performance of a Workflow analysis in order to identify the calculated level of productivity that would form the basis of a more effective operational staff, based on the normal range of departmental and individual staff tasks. In order to further calibrate the data considered in the study for accuracy, Value Management Consultants included a Pareto Analysis. This analysis reviews detailed daily activities (each individual step involved with each) on the basis of staff reports of daily tasks performed during the “control period.”
 
The Workflow Analysis describes “how things get done”—what forms and procedures are used, what data is created, what information is shared, and how. This method assists in the visualization of the normal processes. Reviewing Value Management Consultants’ Workflow Analysis helped the District identify unnecessary information delays in information handling, transmittal, and processing time. It also illuminated bottlenecks and showed how they were caused by crossing departmental lines, a failure to use available technology, and a lack of necessary authority that would allow individual staff members to complete their jobs. Workflow diagramming also highlighted areas in which more efficient staff functions could be secured by additional technological applications.
 
Axiomatically, twenty percent of an individual’s tasks will account for eighty percent of his time. The Pareto Analysis allowed Value Management Consultants to sift and separate each staff member’s few vital activities from the trivial many.
 
Value Management Consultants followed up the written study report with a live presentation at a Board of Education meeting. This graphically demonstrated how some clearly identifiable procedural alterations would allow work to flow more smoothly and timelier. In addition, the analysis demonstrated that a position could be abolished presenting the District with significant savings. It was also shown how the implementation of Value Management Consultants’ recommendations concerning proper staff training techniques, written procedures, and technological tools could free other staff members to fill currently vacant positions, and so save the District additional money.
 
In the elementary school, it was found that the staffing level was accurate and adequate, and that procedural formulations were all that was needed in order to ensure a seamless workflow. To secure this efficiency, Value Management Consultants promulgated a set of written operational and administrative procedures.