About Operational Excellence

Effective June 1, 2023, this site will no longer be updated, but will remain online for historical data purposes.

The Office of Operational Excellence was created to improve operations at SMU and, through its pursuit of organizational efficiency, to identify savings in administrative costs that could be reallocated to academic purposes. This effort is supported by a team of individuals from departments across the University. Together with the leadership of SMU’s President, Provost, Vice President for Business and Finance, Vice President for Executive Affairs and Faculty Senate President, the Office of Operational Excellence works to keep SMU focused on establishing the University as a leader among academic institutions.

The office managed the relationship with Bain & Company during SMU’s Operational Excellence for the Second Century (OE2C) project beginning in October 2014. Bain & Company’s work with the OE2C project concluded in September 2015, and the University has now begun a new phase in its goal to secure long-term economic vitality.

As it charts its own course for the future, SMU will continue to implement initiatives begun over the past year, and will soon establish continuous improvement teams to examine other ways – suggested by staff, faculty and students – to improve administrative functions and reallocate funds to the academic mission.

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