Open Letter to the CSUF Community
March 27, 2006
Dear CSUF community member,
As you may recall from the campus updates I sent out in November 2005 and March 2006, the Division of Administration and Finance has initiated a strategic planning process for the division. With the merger of Administration and Business and Financial Affairs (BFA) into a single division, I felt that a thorough examination of the new division was necessary to ensure that all functional, operational and service aspects are aligned to meet the needs of the university. We also need to define and prioritize goals and objectives for this newly created division and ensure they are consistent with the mission of the division and the university and provide the highest level of services required and desired by the campus community.
One of the early steps in a strategic planning process is the collection of data from a wide range of individuals who can provide information and perspective that will help us develop our plans. Typically, this takes the form of a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) Assessment and involves getting feedback from individuals both from within and outside the organization. This is where you come in. As part of our planning process, all divisional employees as well as selected employees from outside the division who interact with the Division of Administration and Finance functions and processes will be invited to give us an assessment of our division’s strengths and weaknesses. There also will be an opportunity for you to comment on areas where you feel there may be strengths or opportunities that we have failed to take advantage of, or threats or divisional weaknesses that may harm our ability to achieve our goals if we do not adequately address them.
If you are a division employee or have been specifically invited to participate, you will receive an email this afternoon with a link to a web-based survey that will ask for your anonymous assessment of the division in the four SWOT categories, along with a section where you can identify strategic issues that you think deserve the division’s attention. I would appreciate your taking some time from your busy schedule to complete the survey as soon as possible. If you do not receive a survey invitation and would like to provide input, access the survey. We will be glad to hear from you. The survey link is also available on the Administration and Finance webpage and can be accessed through Monday, April 10 at 5:00 p.m.
All survey responses will be transmitted electronically to an outside firm and we will not be tracking individual responses so your input will remain anonymous.
The end result of our strategic planning process will be a dynamic document that will guide us as a division. It will not sit on a shelf. It will be a compilation of goals, objectives and prioritized action items that will impact divisional resource allocation decisions and inform what we will do as a division and how we will do it. As noted earlier, our goal is to create a division that is committed to the highest standards of excellence and focused on carrying out its activities in a manner that best serves the institution.
In case you are not familiar with the newly formed division, attached is a brief summary of the departments that make up the division.
Thank you for your assistance.
Sincerely,
Willie J. Hagan
Vice President, Administration and Finance
