Systems and Process Improvement
Making Processes Clearer, Simpler, and Smarter
Idaho State University is a great place to work and study, and the System and Process Improvement Department exists to help make it even better. Housed within the University Planning Division, we partner with faculty, staff, and campus leaders to improve how work gets done across the institution. Guided by Lean Six Sigma principles, we focus on reducing waste, simplifying processes, and increasing productivity to better support the campus community.
Our work is collaborative, practical, and grounded in day-to-day operations. By using data-informed decision making and continuous improvement methods, we help teams identify and scale solutions that save time and resources while improving service quality and outcomes. Whether addressing a single workflow or a cross-campus process, our goal is to help ISU operate more efficiently and effectively in support of its strategic priorities.
Our Mission
We collaborate with ISU employees to improve how work gets done by simplifying processes, leveraging technology, and applying continuous improvement principles. Together, we create sustainable solutions that enhance efficiency, effectiveness, and job satisfaction across campus.
Our Guiding Principles
Collaborative and People-Centered
Meaningful improvement starts with the people who do the work every day. We partner closely with employees across campus to understand current challenges, map existing processes, and co-design solutions that are both practical and impactful. By engaging those closest to the work, we ensure improvements are grounded in real experience and supported by the people who will use and sustain them.
This collaborative approach builds shared ownership, trust, and transparency throughout the improvement process. Our role is not to impose change, but to facilitate learning, problem-solving, and experimentation. We strive to help teams test ideas, refine solutions, and implement improvements that last.
Customer-Focused
We view the entire campus community as our customer base. Every process impacts someone, whether that’s students, faculty, staff, or external partners. We strive to understand the full experience across all roles and stages of engagement. By taking a holistic view of customer needs, we identify opportunities to reduce barriers, improve clarity, and enhance service quality.
Our customer-focused mindset ensures that improvements are not optimized for a single step or group, but for the overall experience. This perspective helps departments better align their work with institutional values while delivering more responsive, accessible, and effective services
Shared Services Perspective
University processes rarely exist in isolation. Many span departments, systems, and functional areas, creating handoffs and dependencies that can introduce complexity or inefficiency. We take a big-picture, shared services view to understand how work flows across the full lifecycle of a process.
By identifying common touchpoints and opportunities for alignment, we help units reduce duplication, strengthen coordination, and maximize collective impact. This approach supports consistency where it matters most while enabling collaboration that benefits the institution as a whole.
Leveraging Technology
Technology plays a critical role in modernizing and improving how work gets done. We help teams leverage the right tools to enhance collaboration, automate routine tasks, and manage information more effectively. In many cases, the necessary tools already exist, and our focus is on helping units use them more strategically and efficiently.
By aligning technology with well-designed processes, we ensure systems support the work rather than complicate it. Our approach prioritizes usability, sustainability, and data integrity, allowing teams to spend less time navigating systems and more time focusing on high-value work.
Agile and Iterative
Continuous improvement is not a one-time event; it is an ongoing practice. We promote agile and iterative approaches that encourage open dialogue, regular feedback, and learning through action. Solutions are developed, tested, refined, and adjusted as needs evolve.
These practices are embedded through clear communication channels and intentional feedback loops, ensuring improvements remain relevant over time. By normalizing iteration and learning, we help teams respond more effectively to change and foster a culture of adaptability and innovation.
Standardization of Best Practices
Standardization provides a strong foundation for clarity, consistency, and scalability. Using Lean Six Sigma principles, we help establish best practices that reduce rework, improve quality, and support shared understanding across campus.
At the same time, we recognize that flexibility is essential. Our approach balances standardized frameworks with room for local context, allowing departments to meet unique needs while benefiting from institution-wide alignment and continuous improvement.