Priority 5: Operational Excellence

Human Resources digitized the MacID procurement process by launching the Pre-Hire MacID eForm, which has improved the onboarding process for new hires. HR continues to deploy enhancements to existing HR eForms to drive continuous improvement, improve accuracy of data, and enable increased operational efficiency.

The DeGroote School of Business has developed an integrated teaching and faculty resource planning model which uses trends in student demand for business courses to optimize course offerings and inform faculty hiring needs.

The Department of Pediatrics centralized all education program administration, moving away from a generalist staffing model to concentrate support within a unit of subject matter experts who support education program directors and enhance learner experiences.

McMaster is implementing a three-year Information Security Roadmap aimed at strengthening McMaster’s information security risk posture. In 2022/2023, several enhancements to existing security measures and new solutions have been introduced to strengthen the university’s ability to prevent, detect, and respond to an ever-changing cyber security threat landscape.

McMaster Continuing Education is working with UTS, the Registrar, Finance and other units to implement a dedicated student registration and administration system called Destiny One. This system will better serve adult learners, internal and external partners.

McMaster is working to unify student and staff activities onto a single identification card, simplifying tasks and creating a more seamless campus experience. The foundational groundwork needed to allow for greater integration has been completed, and several smaller phased integrations are currently in progress.

A Hire to Pay task force, co-sponsored by the Office of the Provost and Office of the Vice-President (Operations &Finance) was launched to identify short and long-term recommendations to administrative processes across the university and ensure the accurate and timely processing of hiring and payroll for all Faculties, departments, and Human Resources Services.

In partnership with Institutional Research and Analysis, Human Resources has developed the HR Workforce Dashboard, which equips Faculty and department leaders with dynamic employee data needed to analyze workforce data for trends and compliance, and to inform better business decisions. Most recently, HR was able to integrate the data cookbook, an authoritative source for answering questions about McMaster data elements or common terms about data processes and systems, with HR reporting Hub to make these reports more accessible and transparent for users.

Human Resources continued to offer internal leadership programs with a focus on professional development including Personal Leaders, Knowledge Leaders and Strategic Leaders. The programs cover topics including skill development, cultivating human potential and collaborative relationship building, and integrate three key themes – leading self, leading others and leading at the university. As of April 2023, 143 leaders have complected leadership programming this year.

The Health Leadership Academy, a partnership between McMaster’s Faculty of Health Sciences and the DeGroote School of Business developed a senior leadership program, Health Improvement and Faculty Innovation, targeted at academic and administrative leaders aspiring to senior leadership positions. The first cohort will begin in fall 2023.

Human Resources, in partnership with the Indigenous Health Learning Lodge, designed and launched a new course “The Social Injustice of Sameness – Shape Shifting Leadership within the Academy” for people managers. This session is expected to provide leaders with an opportunity to learn more about the Indigenous experience related to higher education and to critically reflect on key elements of Indigenous allyship and a self-determining approach to systemic change.

McMaster has launched a set of flexible work guidelines. Developed by the Workplace and Employee Experience committee, the guidelines were designed to assist managers and employees in navigating flexible work arrangements, the guidelines establish a standard process for employees and managers to propose and approve a flexible work arrangement, and ensure consistency as these arrangements are made across Faculties and departments.

To enhance operational excellence across departments and foster continuous learning and improvement, the Student Success Centre leadership team completed their Green Belt certification as part of Lean Six Sigma. The Faculty of Social Sciences sponsored 17 staff members to complete Lean Six Sigma Green Belt certification.

The Student Wellness Centre introduced a walk-in clinic providing same-day access to a counsellor for students seeking support. More than 325 students accessed the walk-in clinic within the first four months of opening. This stepped-care approach allows the counsellor to assess the needs in short, same-day appointments and then direct students appropriately to their required level of intervention.

The Residence Life unit in Housing & Conference Services (HCS) worked extensively with the Sexual Violence Prevention and Response Office to deliver an enhanced training program for staff. The training provides the necessary tools to effectively respond to disclosures of sexual and gender-based violence on campus.

During Summer 2022, Housing & Conference Services hosted 21 conference groups from May 1 to August 13, 2022, and held 4,170 events on-campus between May 1, 2022, and March 15, 2023.

Housing & Conference Services expanded its Signature Venues portfolio, adding Crescent House and Alumni Memorial Hall. Available for events, executive retreats, and corporate receptions, these unique venues are open to students, staff and McMaster community members.

McMaster announced the installation of geothermal technology to heat and cool McMaster’s new greenhouse, which is currently under construction. Facilities Services is also exploring multiple locations on campus for future geothermal sites.

McMaster hired its inaugural Director of Sustainability. This position will play an essential role in executing important initiatives including developing ambitious targets; defining key metrics related to McMaster’s inaugural, campus-wide Sustainability Strategy; and helping to steer the university’s Net Zero Carbon Roadmap.

Hundreds of campus and community members planted 1,000 trees in the McMaster Carbon Sink Forest. As part of this academic and research initiative led by the McMaster Centre for Climate Change, students, post-doctoral researchers and faculty are addressing climate change by monitoring the growth and health of each tree, and measuring the amount of carbon dioxide each tree is pulling out of the atmosphere. This data will be freely available to researchers around the world who are planting similar forests.

Students from a third-year Academic Sustainability Program course collaborated with Facility Services and University Technology Services to coordinate ACCESS Tech, a reuse technology donation drive that took place on campus. Empowerment Squared, a local charitable organization that supports newcomer, racialized, and marginalized communities with the tools and opportunities to thrive, distributed the donated technology to local families.

A working group of students, faculty and staff developed the Bring Your Own Bottle campaign to reduce single-use plastic water bottles by encouraging the McMaster community to use the water bottle filling stations located throughout campus. The campaign, made possible through McMaster Okanagan special project funding, includes a website, campus-wide signage and a digital map of all the 200-plus water refilling locations across campus and in residence.

McMaster’s ability to structurally balance and fund strategic and capital priorities demonstrates prudent financial management enabled by McMaster’s transparent budget model that places fiscal accountabilities with area leaders who initiate one-time investments to advance the university mission, vision, and strategic priorities.

A review of the budget model will provide recommendations for better strategic funding allocations in the face of a rapidly changing higher education landscape and resourcing challenges.

In 2022/2023, McMaster attained a significant milestone by achieving its 2025 goal of reducing the Investment Pool’s weighted average carbon intensity (WACI) by more than 65% two years earlier than originally targeted.

McMaster achieved a significant milestone in its plans to invest in the clean economy. In March 2022, the Board of Governors approved a commitment of US$24 million (C$32 million) to invest in the Brookfield Global Transition Fund (BGTF), a fund which invests in clean infrastructure investments. In 2023 McMaster, through its investment in the BGTF, achieved a significant milestone funding over C$10 million in infrastructure investments that support the transition to a global clean economy.

McMaster’s credit profile and financial position which is viewed as very strong by the credit rating agencies. Standard and Poor’s (S&P) and Dominion Bond Rating Service (DBRS) rate McMaster as AA, which is among the strongest in the higher education sector.

Multiple initiatives to simplify financial processes and enhance reporting will improve efficiency to reduce expenses and improve stewardship of assets.  Projects include transaction workflow authorization in line with policies, implementation of internal billings for research activity, integration with human resources and student systems, improving payment card security, and enabling electronic delivery of donor trust fund statements.

Working in partnership with MIP, the University made significant progress on MIP’s major development initiative, providing an additional 2.8 million square feet of new and renovated life sciences and biomanufacturing space. Work on this strategic initiative is continuing and expected to conclude in 2023/24.