What's this "BPA" business I keep hearing about?

BPA, otherwise known as Business Process Analysis, is a method of analyzing and documenting major processes on our campus that affect our student record system. This helps us to determine the workflow process across departments and identify possible areas of improvement. This also enables us to provide to SunGard Higher Education/Banner consultants an inside and detailed view of our business practices before they arrive on campus for Banner training. Sixteen members of the campus community were trained to facilitate BPA sessions and to apply SunGard's methodology for gathering information about, modeling and analyzing business processes.

What is the purpose of a BPA?

• To identify the process and any communication problems
• To facilitate interdepartmental understanding of joint processes
• To identify areas for process improvement before, during and after implementing new information systems.

What are the benefits of a BPA?

• Creates an open, non-threatening space for the sharing of knowledge about a process
• Promotes a cross-enterprise viewpoint
• Identifies key business issues and areas for improvement
• Aligns business processes with institutional goals
• Strengthens staff's ability to deal with change

These sessions have been taking place every Tuesday for the last couple of months, and will continue through the end of the semester. Please keep in mind that these are time-consuming processes for the administrative offices that are involved. They will be doing this in addition to their regular duties and may not always be available, especially during the Tuesday sessions.

For more information and details about the BPA process, visit the BPA page on our Web site at www.newpaltz.edu/banner/bpa.html.