the Prudential Productivity Awards.
Nine individual and team entries from Florida State University have won 2014 Prudential Productivity Awards.
The annual program recognizes and rewards state employees’ work that significantly and measurably increases productivity and promotes innovation to improve the delivery of state services while saving money for Florida taxpayers and businesses. This year, the competition attracted 568 nominations for innovations and productivity improvements worth $558 million in cost savings, cost avoidances and increased revenue for state government.
The winning Florida State achievements are detailed below in two categories.
PLAQUE WINNERS
Central Utilities & Engineering Services
Achievement: Chiller Energy Optimization
Award Winner: Nariman Nusserwanji
In 1985, Florida State University’s (FSU) Utilities Plant received a Governors Energy Award for its then fledgling 4,500 ton chiller plant. Since then, and spurred by the growth at FSU, this system has grown now to a maximum design capacity of 23,485 tons with three additional Satellite Plants. With a 2012 highest recorded electrical usage of 18,362,595 KWH at Satellite-1 Plant, this system became the prime target for energy reduction through Chiller Plant Optimization. The daunting undertaking was tirelessly tackled by a Senior Engineer at the Utilities Plant. Nariman Nusserwanji with his 37 years of experience took it upon himself to perform studies well beyond the scope of his assigned duties and investigated all avenues towards improving efficiency and reducing costs incurred by this University. The mission involved total in-house designing, proprietary programming, commissioning and documenting a system that is robust, saves energy, improves system reliability, protects equipment and reduces system down time. All achievements were accomplished in-house and without any assistance from outside contractors or consultants. FSU can proudly boast that it stands alone amongst many others in the quality and quantity of energy measurement points. An adage amongst engineers is,” if you cannot measure, you cannot control”. All major mechanical equipment is now measured and tagged for trending proof of savings. The existing project has targeted the largest 7,200 ton chiller plant and has shown a documented efficiency improvement of 6.2% at this location. The 12 month energy (July2012-July 2013) usage at this 7,200 ton chiller plant was 18,362,595 KWH which prorates to energy reduction of 1,138,408 KWH (18,362,595 x 0.062). With average utility cost of $0.10/KWH this is an annual savings of $ 113,840 just at the 7,200 ton chiller plant. Additional ongoing progressively increasing energy savings are also occurring at the rest of the chiller plants and show an annual documented savings of 98,748 KWH ($9,874). The added savings will reach about 1,239,088 KWH. With a projected savings of 4 percent, this would reduce annual costs by an additional $123,908.
Institute for Family Violence Studies
Achievement: Expanding Officer-Involved Domestic Violence Resources Through Education & Training
Award Winners: Karen Oehme, Zachary Summerlin, Suzanne Harrison, Nat Stern, Ember Maselli, Steve Casey, Amy Mercer, Jennifer Pritt
The Law Enforcement Families Partnership (LEFP) has continued to assist and provide training resources to Florida’s criminal justice agencies and officers in their efforts to prevent officer-involved domestic violence. The LEFP has also developed supplemental trainings and updated existing resources for Florida’s officers. In an effort to provide this first of its kind training to a national audience, the LEFP sought approval from the Professionalism Director, Jennifer Pritt, at the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to ensure that the training curriculum meets the designated criteria for an officer’s mandatory retraining credits. With the financial backing and support of the Verizon Foundation, this online training curriculum and the supplemental materials developed are available to all criminal justice agencies and officers at no cost to the officer, agency, or tax payers.
NationalHigh Magnetic Field Lab
Achievement: Coil Development Team
Award Winners: Iain Dixon, Todd Adkins, Emsley Marks, Robert Stanton, Donald Richardson, Lamar English, Justin Deterding, Eric Arroyo, Joseph Lucia
The National High Magnetic Field Lab at Florida State University has undertaken development of a novel $12M magnet system for the Helmholtz Zentrum Berlin that will provide 25 Tesla for neutron-scattering experiments at the nuclear reactor in Berlin. This magnet will provide 47 percent higher field than the present world record. Completing this magnet requires the development of a highly-stresses coil using superconducting cable that weighs 7.2 tons, carries 20,000 amps of current and operates at 4.5 degrees above absolute zero. There are no commercial firms in the world capable of developing such a system. This eight member team developed the technology to enable such a system to be realized. It is now ready to ship to Europe. Some of the technology developed is now being incorporated into the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, an $18B magnet system being built in southern France. The technology will also allow the completion of a nearly identical ~$12M system for use at FSU which will enable physics and chemistry experiment presently not possible. It also enables a third similar system to be developed for the High Field Magnet Lab in Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
CERTIFICATE WINNERS
Alumni Affairs
Achievement: New E-Ticketing Process Generates Nearly 94% Savings
Award Winner: Louise Bradshaw
In an effort to reduce costs, the FSU Alumni Association replaced a holographic ticketing system with a quick new response code. The minimal cost associated with the 2013 e-ticketing process also generated a nearly 94% savings compared to last year’s overall cost of $1,870 for printing and mailing tickets. Moreover, the savings does not even take into consideration the time and cost to design, proof, seek approval and arrange for printing, delivery and mailing the holographic tickets of past years
Florida State University Police Department
Achievement: Improving Dispatch Staffing Efficiency
Award Winner: Jason Trumbower
Captain Trumbower spearheaded efforts and research into moving Police Dispatchers to 12-hour shifts as opposed to 8-hour shifts. With only 9 dispatchers to cover 3 shifts and each with differing days off, campus police officers would often time need to cover dispatch. Moreover, if not enough officers were available, officers on overtime were called in. This practice produced inefficiency both in production and in cost. Captain Trumbower through working with FSU Human Resources and Union representatives was able to develop a 12-hour shift schedule for dispatchers. Work on this project was largely done in 2012 with “go-live” scheduling taking place in 2013. It is conservatively estimated that this development will save FSU, some $12,500 per year in overtime, and will also increase information sharing between shift supervisors and dispatchers. Also, efficiency and expertise in dispatch will remain at higher levels and more constant.
University Communications
Achievement: Enhancing Efficiency & Effectiveness through Integrated Marketing & Communications Strategies and ROI
Award Winners: Jeanette DeDiemar, Anthony Archer, Keith Bromery, Browning Brooks, Aynalem Markos, Rodney Johnson, Thomas Butler, Dennis Schnittker
Florida State University’s marketing and communications functions were, until recently, a highly decentralized model. The university has now established an integrated marketing and communications infrastructure to enhance effectiveness, improve return on investment, and increase impact as well as expand client services. The Office of University Communications led the initiative to develop and launch institution-wide services and solutions with a focus on the creation and delivery of high quality products and content across multiple channels.
Office of Distance Learning
Achievement: Digital update of the FSU Curricular Request Process
Award Winners: Robert Fuselier, Mary Eichin, Xiaoli Tao, Wenjin Zhang
The curricular request form system has been digitally updated and applied to a beta application by the Office of Distance Learning. This application expedites the curricular request process, provides real-time status reports, and replaces the paper process with a digital process. The form used to update and revise the course delivery method (which must be revised every 3 years) is also available in this application for faculty to access, review, and revise. The end of this form allows applicants to upload the syllabus for the requested course for review. This application requires authenticated log in for review and approval, and a routing system to facilitate the process of securing signatures. The features allow the applicant to track the progress of the request, revise and update the request, and submit the forms for approval from department heads and other committee chairs instantly. In addition, the University Curriculum Committee can access status reports and view curricular requests pending the committee’s approval. The application, will save faculty time and considerable consumable resources. In addition, since it will be fully integrated into Campus Solutions, the new FSU Registration and Payment system, the application will eliminate the need for a data processor to input the approved curricular requests into the system each term.
FCRC Consensus Center
Achievement: Engaging the Private Sector and Reducing the Costs of Congestion: The Florida Mobility and Trade Plan
Award Winners: Harald Beardall, Robert Jones, Rafael Montalvo
The FCRC Consensus Center at Florida State University, on behalf of the Florida Department of Transportation, designed and facilitated a public/private collaborative process to engage the public and private stakeholders in developing the innovative and first of its kind Freight Mobility and Trade Plan Policy (FMTP) Element. The Florida legislature directed (HB 599) FDOT to develop this plan. The FCRC Center fulfilled the tasks of designing and facilitating the collaborative plan development that featured online surveys, listening sessions around the state and business and leadership forums focusing on scenarios and plan development with the active engagement of the private sector, FDOT, and its partner agencies. The resulting consensus on the FMTP Policy Element has provided a strong foundation to position Florida as the gateway to the Western Hemisphere in a global trading environment.
Purchasing Services and Payables & Disbursement Efficiency Team
Achievement: Business Efficiency/Process Improvement
Award Winners: To-Há Tang, Karen Gibson, Carla Daniels, Raynell King, Matt Culpepper
The Purchasing Services and Payables & Disbursement Efficiency Team developed an online People Payments Procedure to help individuals determine the proper payment classification when paying individuals. Before, departments only had something that they could view online as a PDF file or print out on paper. Now, they can open the application, click through a series of interactive response based questions, to obtain information regarding the particular payment process they are trying to make. The design of the online application guides the users through an automated process and provides a distinct answer to any payment process questions without having users spend time making phone calls and/or spending hours of their work time searching for answers to their payment process question(s). This application not only provides this desired tool for the users but it’s logically designed in such a way that it presents a dynamic answer to the users that is dependent upon the prior selection in the application process. Therefore, users do not have to learn the entire process just to get an answer for their question. One could spend as little as one minute to get their payment process question answered using this online application. The online People Payments tool can be accessed by visiting https://fsu.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_0MWXSdBguFQYQD3
Nominations for the 2015 Prudential Productivity Awards will begin in September. For more information, visit http://www.floridataxwatch.org/prudpa.aspx or contact FSU Agency Awards Coordinator Megan Darris at mld08j@admin.fsu.edu or (850) 644-4579.