Penn Works Better

Simplifying work, clarifying accountability, reducing institutional risk.

Penn’s academic ambitions depend on administrative operations that are reliable, secure, efficient, and fit for the scale and complexity of a modern research university. Penn Works Better is a coordinated, University-wide effort to strengthen how work gets done across Penn—by simplifying processes, clarifying accountability, modernizing core services, and reducing administrative cost and avoidable financial burden for schools and centers—so that faculty, students, and staff can focus more fully on Penn’s teaching, research, clinical, and service missions.

The Opportunity

As Penn has grown in scale and complexity, so too has the administrative work required to support its mission. 

Penn’s distributed model has long enabled local responsiveness, strong relationships, and tailored support across schools and centers. Building on these strengths, we have an opportunity to streamline how administrative services are delivered, making it easier for faculty, staff, and students to navigate the University while preserving the flexibility that makes the model effective. Achieving this will require greater coordination and a shared approach to delivering services across Penn.

Vision

Penn Works Better creates a more coordinated, efficient, and resilient University by simplifying administrative work, strengthening accountability, and enabling high-quality service. By reducing administrative burden and improving how the University operates, Penn can better support its academic mission while preserving the distinctive strengths and entrepreneurial spirit of its schools and centers.

Emerging Design

Penn Works Better is advancing a coordinated portfolio of eight initial projects designed to strengthen how administrative work is delivered across the University. These projects balance near-term impact with long-term transformation and are aligned to the four core objectives: business simplification and automation, accountability, risk mitigation, and cost savings.

Simplify and standardize core administrative processes 

  • Contract Lifecycle Management: Modernize how Penn manages contracts across their lifecycle—from intake and drafting through review, execution, and repository management—improving consistency, visibility, and accountability while reducing institutional risk and administrative burdens across the procurement lifecycle. 
  • Strategic Sourcing: Strengthen procurement, vendor management, and contracting practices across the University, increasing visibility into institutional purchasing and enabling Penn to leverage its collective buying power in support of its academic and research mission. 
  • Unified Leave Experience: Strengthen Penn’s ability to manage employee leave consistently and compliantly across schools, centers, and central administrative teams by simplifying and aligning leave practices, policies, processes, and roles. 

Strengthen governance and reduce institutional risk 

  • Student Employment & Payments: Strengthen Penn’s ability to manage student hiring and payment processes consistently and compliantly across schools and centers by simplifying workflows, clarifying accountability, and improving coordination across HR, Payroll, Finance, and Student Services. 
  • IT Strategy Board: Establish a representative body to identify, evaluate, and propose strategic approaches to Penn’s distributed IT environment that improve institutional cost, security, and operational efficiency. The Board will provide recommendations that balance local and enterprise priorities. 
  • Penn SecureIT Expansion: Strengthen the University’s technology, cybersecurity, and data environment by consolidating and standardizing foundational IT services. This effort reduces institutional risk, improves operational efficiency, and establishes a consistent baseline of cybersecurity protection. 

Improve service delivery and build modern capabilities  

  • Regionalized Business Support: Explore a new administrative service delivery model designed to improve consistency, accountability, and service reliability across schools and centers. 
  • Penn Works Better AI Enablement: Establish a coordinated capability to support responsible AI adoption and automation across Penn Works Better initiatives. This effort will identify automation opportunities within and across the eight projects and help scale solutions that improve efficiency and decision support. 

Delivering this work will require change at every level of the University. Continued engagement with faculty, staff, and school and center leadership will be critical to shaping solutions, ensuring transparency, and sustaining progress over time. 

Existing Foundation

Penn has a strong foundation to build on: 

  • Deep functional expertise across schools and central teams: Finance, HR, IT, and Research Administration functions are staffed by experienced professionals who understand Penn’s complexity. 
  • A distributed model that supports academic excellence: Local administrative teams provide responsive, mission-aligned support to schools and centers. 
  • Existing efforts to modernize operations: Initiatives such as Finance Forward and SecureIT have demonstrated the value of coordinated, institution-wide approaches. 
  • Early success with shared service and technology models: Select schools and units have piloted more centralized or standardized approaches, improving efficiency and consistency. 
  • Broad engagement and alignment: More than 50 leaders and 150 functional experts contributed to identifying priorities and shaping the direction of this work. 

Leads

  • Tom Murphy, Senior Vice President and Chief Transformation Officer

Announcements