We continue to read media reports about breakdowns in various mission critical systems in a few school districts. The continuing reports beg the question “Do single points of failure exist in your school district?” Have/could select business processes come to a halt when certain employees were/are out on sick leave ranging from one to 20 days or more? To avoid being the next newspaper article, taking an inventory of potential single points of failure is essential in all public schools.
In addition to a lack of sufficient cross-functional training, another common thread in single points of failure for various operational areas is the lack of sufficient documentation of procedures, policies and process workflows, in addition to key controls. Sufficient documentation of payroll- and benefits-related processes are obvious examples of high priority areas, as you review the results of this type of survey in your district. If developing sufficient documentation in one or more areas has been on the “to do” list for a long period of time, it is highly recommended that the district find an outside consultant to facilitate the task of developing sufficient documentation. An outside consultant is recommended because staff members in most operational areas are not trained to be technical writers, nor are they likely to write procedures on their own because they are too busy keeping up with daily work demands in their areas.