Overview
The Corvallis Shared Responsibility Budget Model (SRBM), a modified responsibility-centered management (RCM) approach to allocating education and general (E&G) funds to academic and administrative units, is in its third year of use at OSU. The decision to implement the model included agreement that the model should be reviewed thoroughly every three to four years for potential improvements and adjustments. Charged by the Provost and Executive Vice President and Vice President for Finance and Administration, this will be the first such review since initial implementation. Some important points about the review process:
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The university remains committed to the principles in the SRBM that include an emphasis on recognizing academic productivity, varying costs of program delivery by discipline, and the need to plan and build enrollment from the college level. The review is not intended to revisit the basic RCM strategy in budgeting.
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The review will identify principles in the current model that are working, missing, creating unintended behaviors, or that are not necessary.
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The review will look for technical improvements in data, communication, and simplicity to improve the utility of the model for planning and forecasting.
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The review process will engage a cross-section of the university community and will continue to emphasize that all of the education and general budget is interconnected. Changes in any piece have consequences somewhere else. The groups involved in the process will be asked to identify areas for reduced funding when there are recommendations for increased funding in another area.
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The proposed changes to the model from the review process will be applied in the FY23 budget. If there are straightforward technical improvements, those may be applied in the FY22 budget.
BUDGET MODEL REVIEW WORKGROUPS
The review process will be structured around five workgroups, each charged to consider the budget model through a particular focus. These will each have membership of 6 to 8 people and will be charged with wider engagement with interested stakeholders. Workgroup members will be charged with viewing the model holistically, not with advocating for their home unit. The workgroups will include:
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University Mission Workgroup: This group will consider issues related to how the model is functioning to serve the institution as a whole and connections to mechanisms of state funding, enrollment demographics, and changes in student characteristics (transfers, advanced placement, etc.). The group will include representatives from Faculty Senate, the University Budget Committee, academic colleges and Cascades. This group will serve as the steering committee for the project.
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College Mission Workgroup: This group will consider issues related to how the model supports academic colleges, its recognition of appropriate program characteristics (cost of delivery, general education commitment, undergraduate and graduate major programs, etc.). This will include representatives of five or six academic colleges, Ecampus, and Cascades.
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Research Mission Workgroup: This group will consider issues related to the support of the research mission within the model including the distribution of F&A recovery dollars and the impact of E&G funding for facilities renewal. The group will include representatives from the Research Office, Centers and Institutes, Cascades, and academic colleges.
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Administrative and Support Mission Workgroup: This group will consider issues related to budgeting for administrative and support functions and how well that is allowing units to serve the needs of students and the academic colleges. It will include representatives from appropriate Vice Provost and Associate Vice President’s units.
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Technical and Process Improvement Workgroup: This group will consider issues related the implementation of the model and the distribution of budget through the model. The group will consider ways to simplify data acquisition and communication, identify areas in the model that can be simplified or revised, and improve budget development overall. It will include representatives from the Controller’s Office, Business Centers, Budget and Resource Planning, and a college financial analyst.
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Members of the Office of Budget and Resource Planning will staff each of the workgroups.