“It’s more than just a building”

Julie Kelly, Head of Student Centre and Hub Co-Ordinator

University of Hertfordshire

UH background

• Founded 1952, a former polytechnic with strong

roots in industry (aerospace)

• Ambition to be “Internationally renowned as the UK’s

leading business facing University”

• Currently has c24,000 campus based students

• Largest School: Health and Social Work (lots of

students on placements)

The campus (student view)

What our students wanted . . .

• No queues

• “Tell my story once” with seamless handovers to

other UH departments

• Multiple access routes into one common service

• Easy, convenient connectedness to University

services

• Single point of contact

• Extended service hours to meet our needs

Hutton Hub – the solution

• Creation of a new student zone at the College Lane

Campus

• A single location for all student services which were

previously distributed across various buildings on

two campuses

Expected benefits

• Enhance the student experience by integrating

services, not just co-locating them

• Improve accessibility by moving support services

next to the social hub, the Forum Hertfordshire

• Improvement of the quality and suitability of the

existing buildings

Key milestones

• Planning approval – Summer 2012

• Contractor appointed – Autumn 2012

• Building work to start – Winter 2012

• Completion – Summer 2014 (January 2015)

• Review – Spring 2016 (TBC)

The campus (pre-Hub)

The Hub

The Hub (2)

The Hub (3)

Teams in the Hub

• Student Centre

– Admissions, Student Records

and Enrolment

– Frontline Services

– International Student Support

– Residential Allocations

– Student Finance

• Careers, Employment and

Enterprise

• Campus Pharmacy

• Medical Centre

• Occupational Health and Safety

• Student Life: off campus support

• Student WellBeing

• Students’ Union

• Study Abroad

• Santander

• Café Zest: juice bar

Hub opening hours

Teams*

• Monday to Wednesday 9AM – 5PM

• Thursday 9AM – 7PM

• Friday 9AM – 4PM

Hutton Lounge

• Daily 7AM – 10PM

*Except Campus Pharmacy and Students’ Union

An integrated approach

It’s more than just a building, it’s an

opportunity to provide an integrated

student experience

How was this delivered?

College Lane Phase One (the building)

People and Processes (the people)

IT for Integrated Services (the technology)

The building

• Handover was delayed, and delayed again

• Problems with the site – chalk mines

• Glazing contractor went into liquidation

• Handed over in time for Christmas 2014 (just!)

June 2014 Sep’ 2014 Nov’ 2014

The people

• Creation of the Hub Management Team and Hub

Coordinator role

• Harmonised opening hours which required a formal

staff consultation (introduced Sep’ 2014, i.e. pre

launch)

• Changing the culture for teams to start working

together to enhance the student experience

Hub Management Team and

Hub Coordinator

• No change in structure or line management

arrangements

• Management teams are responsible for the

delivery of their own services

• Hub Coordinator is responsible for oversight and

management of shared resources, health and

safety, and cross team staff development events

The technology

• Student/user-focussed, with the need for

organisational efficiency

• Provide a 24/7 online service; enabled on mobile

devices, accessible anywhere

• Provide a single point of entry to services

• Shared, accessible technology services even when

the operating service is closed

Technology delivered

• Self service Information Points in the Hutton Lounge

‘manned’ daily

• Queue management software

• Appointment booking software

• Ask Herts: knowledge management tool allows

students to self serve

Queue management

Queue management MI

Appointment booking

Ask Herts

• Prior to project we had lots of sources of ‘the right’ answer to a question!

1) StudyNet: managed learning environment

2) StaffNet: intranet

3) WWW: main website

4) Printed publications

5) Staff (the people!)

• For every question we answered right the first time – we saved time!

• The solution? ask.herts.ac.uk A search engine, content repository and

sign posting system (if we already have good content elsewhere we

direct people to it)

Go!

Information Points

Information Points (2)

• Designed to be more than a kiosk

• A phone if you need to speak to someone

• Computer to access Ask Herts and other services

• Check in for pre-booked appointments and join a

queue if needed

• Supported by staff with our Front of House iPad

application

What do our staff think?

• 82% were happy with their new working pattern

• They would have preferred better communication about the changes

and what was going to happen

• The virtual queue is valuable; much less stressful at peak times

• They prefer the new working environment

• They would like to work more with their colleagues in other teams

• Great show case for recruitment open days and interview days

What do our students think?

• They like the new building and services being together

• They like the new booking system, but don’t see why they need to use

it when we are not busy

• They felt there was insufficient signage to explain what to do/where to

go

• They like Ask Herts – 1,000 visits per week

• They were not aware of our late night opening

Challenges

• Formal Hub review and

evaluation

• More integration – staff want

more, but how do we make that

happen?

• How do we fully integrate our

processes?

• How can we encourage all

services to use the technology?

• Signage?

• How do we ensure that Ask Herts

remains relevant and does not

become a victim of its own

success?

• How do we make the space feel

more welcoming?

• How do we better promote the

Hub and the late nights?

• More furniture?

• Music?

Lessons learnt

• A clearer brief from senior

management

• Agree names for things/buildings

upfront

• Good business analyst support is

critical

• Keep driving forward – weekly

meetings

• Phase your changes – no ‘big

bang’

• Take a risk?

• Change your management

structure?

• Signage and promotion are

important

• Expect delays, problems and set

backs . . .

• Review and evaluation – you are

unlikely to get it right first time

Questions?