The budget model redesign project wrapped up stakeholder interviews with 114 academic and administrative leaders in 38 units and shared governance groups in February, marking the end of phase one, or the diagnostic phase, of the budget redesign project officially launched by Chancellor Phil DiStefano in December 2020. The project has now entered phase two, called solution design.
“It is imperative that we better understand the current state of campus budgeting going into the redesign,” said Katrina Spencer, associate vice chancellor for budget and finance. “Our stakeholders across campus are experts when it comes to knowing exactly how the current model works—and in some cases doesn’t work—and what could be improved to better support the activities in their college, school, or unit.”
Spencer says that key themes emerged from the interviews:
- The new model should prioritize alignment with clearly stated campus strategic goals; a better link between activities and outcomes would promote greater accountability
- The new model should include an easy-to-understand allocation of funds, which would increase transparency and build trust
- CU Boulder’s budget model should reexamine existing incentives for unintended consequences, and build incentives that reflect our values
- Resources should be aligned with areas of growth and priority (for example, retention of students) and should take into consideration the academic and administrative costs associated with these priorities
- Stakeholders expressed a desire for a model that supports multiyear planning, and that offers some measure of predictability
- Institutional data are generally trusted, and stakeholders would like to see improved data integration and data governance
- Stakeholders would like to see a campuswide vs. siloed approach to budgeting, citing simplified financial reporting and a common budgeting tool as options for eliminating unit-level shadow systems and processes
These interview themes will guide the budget model redesign’s Strategic Alignment Committee and the newly convened Design Committee as they develop models and recommendations for consideration.
Spencer notes that additional feedback from the campus community will be sought during solution design. “During this next phase, we’ll be actively seeking feedback from faculty, staff and students via listening sessions centered around the priorities identified by the Strategic Alignment Committee,” she said.
“The new budget won’t be a silver bullet that fixes all of our problems,” said Spencer, “but we can build the budget to more intentionally support our mission.”
Listening sessions are tentatively scheduled to begin in April and will be announced in CUBT in the coming weeks. Visit colorado.edu/bfp/budget-model to learn more.
