Performance Audit Affirms Enterprise Project Direction

Efforts related to Ohio State’s Enterprise Project, including streamlining human resources and financial systems and processes, were named as some of the university’s largest opportunities to reduce administrative costs in a recently released state performance audit.

Ohio State volunteered to be the first public higher education institution for a state performance audit as part of its commitment to operational excellence and resource stewardship.

The state detailed Ohio State’s Workday implementation as a driver for business and technology efficiencies. Workday will serve as a single system for Ohio State’s financial, human resources, payroll and student information. Many outdated systems will be replaced by Workday’s modern, cloud-based technology.

According to the report, “in addition to replacing outdated systems, the project will adopt industry leading business processes that provide improved customer service, an enhanced student experience, and consistent operations across all parts of the University community.”

For example, the report recommended Ohio State implement a single recruiting and hiring process for campus and Wexner Medical Center, which is an effort already underway by the Enterprise Project. Creating a single process, and retiring several systems when Workday goes live, could result in “the opportunity to save or redirect more than $1,204,400 annually based on just those systems in the recruit-to-hire process.” Improving recruitment and hiring processes will support an exceptional employee experience, in addition to operational efficiencies.

“We welcome this report, which supports Ohio State’s focus on operational excellence and resource stewardship,” said Michael Papadakis, Ohio State’s interim senior vice president for business and finance and chief financial officer, and Enterprise Project executive sponsor. “This report will contribute to our ongoing efficiency work.”