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Office of Research Services

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OQM Training

​​​​​Customer Assessment

This training covers concepts and methods that can be used by service groups to obtain and interpret customer data. The training also discusses the role that good customer measurement plays in strategy development through the Performance Management planning process. It covers methods used to gather customer data based on existing data, observation, and customer satisfaction surveys, as well as provides examples. In addition, this training discusses how customer surveys can be used to understand your customers' future needs and assess an organization' s internal climate.

Customer Assessment Training Manual​​

Expert Choice

Expert choice (EC) is a group decision support software application that allows service groups to make quicker and justifiable group decisions. In combination with the wireless hardware, EC allows real-time interaction of management teams to achieve consensus on decisions. EC has been used by several Government, Commercial, and International organizations to make and document decisions in areas such as: resource allocation, vendor selection, strategic planning, risk assessment, and HR management. The training consists of a fun exercise where participants will make a group decision using the EC hardware and software.

Expert Choice Training Manual

Data Analysis and Graphing

This training assists you in planning for data collection and analysis by using the Data Collection Plan template. It discusses various ways to display and analyze data and describes how to construct various graphs for data analysis. It also reviews specifics of creating basic charts using Excel.

Financial Measures

This training assists you in understanding how to calculate the common financial measures of unit cost and asset utilization. It includes guidance on determining appropriate output measures for unit costs and issues to consider in collecting data for the assess utilization ratio.

Managing with Measures

This training reviews how to define both lead and lag measures to gauge progress on meeting the performance objectives defined in your Service Group's Performance Management Plan (PMP). It also reviews how to set up basic data collection systems and demonstrates how to graph and analyze data to evaluate effectiveness in implementing your strategy. Examples from actual service group teams in ORF and ORS are used to demonstrate the process of defining lead/lag measures, setting up data collection forms, and graphing, analyzing, and interpreting data for improvement purposes.

Managing with Measures Training Manual

Performance Management Using the Balanced Scorecard Approach

This training provides a historical review of performance management in ORF and ORS, along with a discussion of the basics of applying the method to your service area. The Balanced Scorecard (BSC) approach to strategic planning is reviewed, including tips for understanding the value you deliver to customers and defining your performance objectives for the four BSC perspectives: customer, internal business process, learning and growth, and financial. Use of the Performance Management Plan (PMP) is reviewed as a tool to summarize and communicate your strategic plan to others.

Performance Management using the Balanced Scorecard Approach Training Manual


Seven Steps to Performance-Based Acquisition

The Seven Steps to Performance-Based Acquisition course teaches a seven-step process to developing a performance-based acquisition and structuring it around the purpose of the work to be performed. By working through the seven steps, students develop performance-based competencies that can be immediately applied to acquisition requirements. The course emphasizes the teamwork, culture change, championship, and performance management that are vital to a successful and effective performance-based acquisition.

Process Mapping

A process is a series of steps, actions, or tasks that lead to the creation or delivery of a product or service. A process map is a visual representation of the sequential activities that transform inputs to outputs. ORS’ Process Mapping workshop provides an introduction to understanding business processes and mapping them for purposes of understanding, analysis, and improvement.

Workshop participants have the opportunity to break out into groups and create a process map. Attendees gain an appreciation for understanding work as a process, a familiarity with the purpose and value of different types of process maps, and an understanding of basic concepts of process measurement and process improvement.   

This training assesses reasons why it is important to understand business processes, reviews a few types of process maps and the purposes of each, describes how to create a deployment flowchart, and provides a short review of process measurement and the process improvement cycle.  

The FY10 training includes information and examples regarding the use of process mapping in support of the NIH Risk Management (RM) Program.

 

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