On December 7-8, 2022, the Finance and Administrative divisions of the University billeted themselves at The Farm, Koronadal City to conduct the Strategic Planning Workshop. The workshop was aligned with the President’s goal of streamlining the plans and activities of the University for the next ten (10) years.
The activity was spearheaded by the Vice President for Finance, Administration, and Resource Generation Reynaldo H. Dalayap, Jr., PhD and was participated by 30 personnel from the offices of the Bids and Awards Committee, Accounting, Budget, Disbursing and Collecting, Supply, Records, Utility, and Internal Audit. The 2-day seminar workshop was facilitated by the Chief Administrative Office Ms. Lani Alcon and the Director for Finance Prof. Lovina P. Cogollo, DBA and invited trained experts of the University in the persons of Ms. Rosalie S. Ibot and Mr. Jesher Y. Palomaria, CPA as speakers.
The seminar-workshop started with an Opening Program during which Vice President Dalayap welcomed the participants. The University President Samson L. Molao, EdD graced the event and thanked the people behind the activity for their initiative and expressed his support for the activities and plans of the division. Moreover, he reminded the participants of his directive for effective and efficient use of University resources. CAO Alcon then explained the house rules. The Opening Program concluded with a community dance.
The afternoon sessions consisted with a lecture presentation by the University Accountant Mr. Palomaria on the issues and concerns of his office. He presented the Agency Action Plan and Status of Implementation and discussed on the issues that were not yet addressed and those not yet fully implemented. He likewise presented the plans of his office which consisted of digitalization, digitation, automation, addressing the AOMS, and enhancement of quality objectives. After his presentation, an open forum was also conducted wherein other offices likewise raised their respective concerns. These concerns were noted and made bases for the division’s action plans.
After the open forum, the session continued with an issue-based strategic planning using a root cause analysis tool spearheaded by Ms. Rosalie Ibot. She explained that for the division to properly address the issues and concerns previously raised there is a need to identify the bottleneck, the reason for these issues and concerns. To do this, she explained the fishbone diagram. The fishbone diagram identifies many possible causes for an effect or problem. It can be used to structure a brainstorming session and can immediately sort ideas into useful categories.
Participants were then divided per office for the workshop which consisted of identifying one major issue and drawing a fishbone diagram to identify the causes of such issue. Mr. Palomaria presented his output and set an example for the other offices. After which, the participants retired to their rooms and prepared for the Socialization Night.
The next day (December 08) started with the presentation of outputs from the previous day’s workshop. Budget Officer Reizza Mae K. Iran, CPA presented her output and Ms. Ibot acted as a critic and made suggestions for improvement. With the presented root-cause analysis, the Budget Office has crafted an action plan to have a budget calendar per fund and to conduct citizen engagement mechanism through a University-wide budget call, as well as employ other budget mechanisms.
The morning session continued with a presentation by Vice President Dalayap of the strategic plans and targets of the division based on the issues, concerns, and plans raised by every office the day before. A total of 52 long- and short-term plans as well as action plans were presented.
Ms. Yusrah Molao-Lu, Ms. Kaye Ann Acaylar, and Mr. Wilbert Cabanban gave their respective impressions. The activity ended with Dr. Cogollo thanking the participants for their participation and input. With that, it was time to go home.
-Irish Mae G. Pasquin
