It can easily be overwhelming when you are tasked with undertaking a Transformation Programme for an Institution. There are usually multiple deliverables in the 100 Day Plan normally required by shareholders and stakeholders and it is easy to be drowned in multiple issues. Here are a some guidelines I would recommend, based on the UNITAR experience:

1. Start with Sound Financial Reporting – this is the first and final yardstick for the success of an institution or company where the buck stops with the CEO (with a dollop of responsibility and accountability with the CFO, of course). In order to test the integrity of the financial reporting, one needs to first understand the Key Drivers of the business. Early on, it is also imperative to understand that apart from the Income Statement, P&L and Balance Sheet, what are the key ratios / indicators that needs to be reported, and the definition of those indicators (especially when your institution is being benchmarked against other similar institutions or investments) – and this often defines the Key Drivers

2. Really, Really Identify the Right Key Drivers – for a Private Higher Education Institution that does not receive any significant funding or grants (unlike Public Institutions where the dynamics are very different), the only or most significant source of revenue is from fee-paying students or their sponsors. Therefore it is important to understand the major factors impacting student numbers as follows:

a. 3 Year Trend Analysis of Gross Additional Students by Intake – Students intakes tend to be rather seasonal, which is often affected by the following:

• How the Institution Times its Intakes
• When the major pre-university exam results are released
• When acceptance into loan or scholarship programmes, or acceptance / rejection into public institutions are announced
• The target markets (urban-rural, high-mid-low income etc) specific to the institution

b. 3 Year Trend Analysis of Returning Students by Intake – this would be the conversion of students from Foundation to Bachelors, Diploma to Bachelors (with Credit Transfer), Bachelors to Masters, and Masters to PhD. A significant factor for conversion would usually include whether internal promotional activities and incentives are done to encourage students to continue their education at the institution

c. 3 Year Trend Analysis of Student Attrition by Intake – there is no use getting many Gross Add and Returning students of your attrition is also high. It is also important to define attrition, as students could go missing, or they may defer their subjects or they may actually withdraw. It is also important to understand whether the attrition us due to academic reasons (which may be addressed by having Special Exams) or financial (where the Institution could offer some financial assistance or channel students to other sources of financial assistance including Zakat)

The most important outcome of the analysis of student trends is to understand the number of billable students (and therefore the ability to forecast your revenue) and non-billable students (where you can then trigger recovery measures as outlines in 3c above, for example). The integrity of the student numbers can then yield your Average Revenue per Student, which is the basis of your overall Sales Projection, and therefore Financial Projection.

There are several common mistakes that are made which could distort your Financial Reporting:

• Wrong classification of billable and non-billable students – this usually happens when students are actually attending classes but have exceeded their sponsorship coverage (and therefore the institution is unknowingly subsidising their education)
• Wrong classification of Gross Add and Returning Students – although from a revenue perspective they could be treated the same, it may affect your cost especially if marketing commission is being paid for both instead of only for the former
• Not addressing Attrition in a Timely Manner – this is especially dire if it happens against the Trends Analysis and can significantly push down the numbers
• Garbage In, Garbage Out – in the end, your Financial Reporting is only as good as the data you put in; efforts to audit and undertake data-cleansing exercise has to be done early, as it could otherwise result in a yo-yo of financials being reported. Over the medium term, it would make sense to re-look at the core system for institutional administration, often billed (pun intended) as a Campus Management System

3. Persistently Track and Monitor Key Drivers, as well as  Follow Up with Actionable Plans – Welcome to the Engine Room of the Transformation Programme, usually referred to as the PMO (Programme Management Office). This is a Unit that needs to report directly to the CEO, and tracks all the initiatives of the 100 Day Plan and beyond. Ideally, the members would be a mix of current staff and new ones, but at UNITAR we have proven that having most PMO members as fresh graduates works, as they are unburdened by current culture and practices. The learnings from PMO will be discussed in another posting, potentially discussed under the subject of Governance and Reporting.

In summary, there are many important aspects to address in a Transformation Programme. It is however of utmost important to separate the ‘Important’ (Needs to be Done) for the ‘Urgent’ (Needs to be Done First). It is my hope that I have made sufficient argument that the three points outlined above as the Indisputably Urgent, and look forward to feedback.