Streamlining task management with a School Leader Checklist solution

Introduction

Organisation Overview

Brisbane Catholic Education (BCE) is a leading educational institution in Australia, focused on delivering high-quality education while nurturing spiritual growth. Over the years, BCE has expanded its footprint to include over 150 schools grouped into clusters. With this growth, effective communication and task management has become increasingly important.

Technology Utilisation

Given the diverse and expansive nature of the institution, BCE has been reliant on technology for administrative and operational tasks. Prior to implementing the School Leader Checklist (SLC) solution, email was the primary method of communication for distributing and tracking tasks among school leadership teams. However, this method was cumbersome and lacked central oversight.

Customer Challenges

Email Overload

The school leadership teams were inundated with a high volume of emails, making it difficult to separate high-priority tasks from less urgent communications.

Task Prioritisation

The old system lacked a way to easily prioritise tasks, which led to inefficiencies and occasionally missed deadlines.

Lack of Visibility

Without a centralised platform, it was challenging for the BCE administrative staff to get real-time insights into the status of various tasks across all schools and clusters.

Complexity in Access and Oversight

School leaders found it difficult to delegate tasks effectively among team members due to a lack of a streamlined system.

Solution Developed

The School Leader Checklist (SLC) Solution

Features

• Online Form: Allows BCE staff to create a new task or action item, which is captured in a SharePoint List
• SharePoint List: Nominated staff can review and approve tasks before they are visible to school leaders.
• Targeted Distribution: Tasks can be assigned to individual schools, clusters, or all schools.
• Automated Workflow: Notifies leaders by email about new tasks.
• Interactive Webpart: Allows leaders to review, complete, and delegate tasks.
• Dynamic Dashboard: PowerBI integration for real-time task metrics.

Benefits of Solution

Reduced Email Traffic

The SLC solution has drastically reduced the volume of emails sent to school leadership teams, thereby improving focus and productivity.

Enhanced Task Prioritisation

Tasks can now be sorted and filtered by priority, due date, and area, making it easier for teams to prioritise their workloads.

Increased Visibility

The PowerBI integrated dashboard offers BCE administrative staff a holistic view of task status across the organization, aiding in timely decision-making

Simplified Access and Oversight

The intuitive interface of the webpart makes it easy for school leaders to delegate and monitor tasks, thus streamlining operational efficiencies.

Compliance and Accountability

The system enables easy tracking of completed tasks and overdue items, which are highlighted in red, adding a layer of accountability to the workflow.

The School Leader Checklist (SLC) solution has effectively addressed the pain points experienced by the Brisbane Catholic Education leadership teams, creating a more efficient, accountable, and streamlined task management system

Conclusion

The School Leader Checklist (SLC) solution has not only transformed how Brisbane Catholic Education manages and delegates tasks, but it has also addressed and mitigated the fundamental challenges of communication and oversight within the institution. By integrating advanced technological tools and intuitive features, the solution has elevated operational efficiencies, promoted accountability, and significantly reduced administrative burdens