Designing a Research Administration Shared Service Center

Abstract

Institutions of higher education are part of a movement to increase efficiency, become more cost-effective, and provide consistent service quality. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is no different and developed a strategic framework that included a vision to be the leading global public research university in America. This framework, The Blueprint for Next, included a component for Optimizing Operations to improve administrative functions. Research administration was not exempt from this initiative and as such, the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research took this as an opportunity to provide enhanced service, improved compliance, and better staff opportunities under a shared service model. This Capstone Project describes the design process for a shared service support infrastructure for research administration that can be implemented as a pilot for feasibility purposes.