Vision
The ASR Initiative is focused on enhancing, integrating, and aligning USask's people, operational structures and resources. Through consultation, collaboration, and co-design, USask is designing a way forward so we have the right administrative services at the right time from our valued professionals, while ensuring a financially sustainable future.
Strategic Goals
Starting with the Administrative Network Project and the Communications and Marketing Project, the ASR Initiative will deliver:
By 2029:
- Effective end-to-end support services: USask has enhanced the overall experience for faculty, staff, students, and leaders accessing administrative support, communications, and marketing services by using globally-recognized and institutionally-supported best practices. This has led to greater support for a university-wide service culture, and strengthened research and teaching capacity by reducing the administrative burden on faculty.
- Greater organizational alignment: USask has successfully implemented a pan-institutional approach for administrative support, communications, and marketing service delivery. This has led to greater efficiency, integration, and well-being across the institution, improved role clarity within these functional areas, and the opportunity for the release and reinvestment of revenue.
- Consistent approach to administrative service delivery: USask has a well-functioning administrative operation where administrative support, communications, and marketing professionals are using institutionally approved processes, tools, templates, and systems to deliver services. This has led to the creation of communities of practices throughout the institution.
- Enhanced staff retention and development: USask has identified positive career pathways and is providing ongoing professional development and networking opportunities for administrative support, communications, and marketing professionals to ensure positive career progression within the institution. Staff are highly engaged, well-supported, and better equipped to help advance the university's mission.
Guiding Principles
Guided by the University Plan 2025, and in alignment with USask's core values and guiding principles, the ASR Initiative has adopted a set of principles endorsed through the President's Executive Council. These principles are guiding the ASR Initiative as we co-design a new administrative operating framework that supports high-quality end-to-end service delivery and focuses the maximum amount of the university’s resources and energies on its core mission.
- Apply a pan-institutional approach. We are committed to working with colleges, schools, and central units to develop recommendations that work for and support the institution and individual units across USask.
- Remain people focused. We will ensure our consultations, planning, decision making, and recommendations retain USask's commitment to Indigenous and EDI priorities, actions, and outcomes, are student-focused, and support employee engagement and enablement.
- Apply innovative approaches. We are committed to working with campus leaders and administrative professionals to evaluate, simplify, and think differently about service process; to better understand where service can be improved to reduce duplication; to be more inclusive, clear, consistent, yet adaptable, and transparent; and to learn from local best practices.
- Demonstrate financial sustainability. We will ensure recommendations are fiscally responsible, while supporting the sustainable growth of USask’s academic, research, and service endeavours and its campus community.