Achieving Operational Excellence

UB’s parking enforcement vehicles are now equipped with mobile roof-mounted cameras that read license plates and, using Optical Character Recognition (OCR), capture, store, and compare vehicle information to stored data about owners and their permissions to park on UB’s campuses. Using this information, our parking ambassadors can:

• Ensure a vehicle has a valid virtual permit
• Determine whether a vehicle is parked in an appropriate lot or area
• Send real-time mobile alerts to parking ambassadors’ LPR mobile devices
• When a scanned license plate number is not recognized or is not used correctly, our team is prompted to investigate further and potentially issue a citation

Through the use of LPR, we can passively capture lot occupancy data to determine when and where lots are full or vacant to help guide decision-making for lot advancements as well as special event parking options

• Faculty/Staff
• Students

• Kick-off meeting June 2021
• First Camera installation on vehicles began in November 2021
• Pilot November 2021 – June 2023
• LPR implemented July 2023
• After a campus-wide pilot in 2022-2023, UB’s License Plate Recognition system (LPR) was implemented
  

LPR systems significantly enhance our parking enforcement efforts, allowing our parking ambassadors to spend more time on high-value parking activities like improving traffic flow and assisting commuters with wayfinding. In addition, UB’s LPR system has these benefits:

• No permit to lose, forget or move from vehicle to vehicle
• Simplifies, streamlines and reduces processing time in permit renewal; no more taking trips to campus and waiting in line to pick up a permit
• No worries about lost or stolen mail
• Elimination of physical hang tags reduces waste 

• Christopher Austin, Parking and Transportation Services
• Matthew Reitmeier, Parking and Transportation Services
• Linda Velazquez, Parking and Transportation Services
• Nancy Kobielski, Parking and Transportation Services
• Renee Giacomazza, Parking and Transportation Services
• Parking Ambassador Team, Parking and Transportation Services
• Andrea Roy, Business Reporting and Systems
• Linda English, Enterprise Application Services
• Zhen Jiang, Enterprise Application Services
• T2 Flex System, Inc.
  

The Resource Planning subcommittee is charged with providing financial planning support and investment tracking for the Instructional Facilities Steering Committee. 

Specifically, we will:  

• Develop a three year budget for classroom/instructional technology projects which is integrated into the university's Annual Resource Planning process.
• Ensure that the appropriate funding sources are accounted for and provided to support the project in a timely manner.
• Ensure financial reporting on the project is provided and/or as requested.

Office of the Provost, Office for Vice President of Finance and Administration and senior leadership

The Instructional Facilities Budget is developed and approved annually as part of the Central University Budget during the university's Annual Resource Planning Process.

Project leader:
Joe Lewandowski, Resource Planning

Project committee:
Carl Lam, Resource Planning
Suzanne Gentz, University Facilities
Nancy Kielar, CIO Administrative Operations Office
Michelle McCartney, Financial Management

The Real Estate and Resource Planning committee consists of members from Real Estate, Resource Planning, Business Services and Facilities who are collaborating to create business plans for leased properties. The business plans include ten-year forecasts of revenue and expenses for each building.

Establishing a portfolio of business plans for leased properties will allow for a comprehensive evaluation of properties and facilitate the identification of efficiencies, savings and areas in need of investment.

Other areas of improvement achieved by the committee include the development of a property management dashboard in SIRI to streamline reporting for leased properties and a full review of facilities cost rates charged to properties.

Senior leadership

The leased properties budget is developed and approved annually and reviewed quarterly as part of the Central University Budget during the university's Annual Resource Planning Process.

Project committee:

Ashley Butcher, Financial Management
Beth Corry, Business Services
Kishanie Fernando, Resource Planning
Suzanne Gentz, University Facilities
Stacy Knapper, UB Foundation
Joe Lewandowski, Resource Planning
Michelle Maurer, UB Foundation
Carla Persico, Real Estate and Property Management
Tonga Pham, University Facilities

• Improve efficiency and accuracy of multi-year financial plan.
• Improve forecasting and financial reporting of budget versus actual.
• Support the UB initiative to pursue opportunities to invest in technology to gain efficiencies and lower costs.    

As a public research institution, UB’s model of sustainability focuses on finding solutions to global challenges through research, educating individuals about these challenges, setting high expectations of efficiency and effectiveness in our operations, sharing our experiences, and partnering with the external community. Through an integrated and collaborative resource planning approach, UB has become a higher education leader in sustainability and is on its way to carbon neutrality. 

• UB faculty, staff and students
• Buffalo Niagara Region

• Climate Action Plan calls for UB to become climate neutral by 2030
• UB places number 1 in Climate Action by the Times Higher Education Impact Assessment in 2021

• Minimize UB’s carbon emissions and environmental footprint
• Advance climate justice by integrating racial, gender, LGBTQIA+, and ability equity into our work
• Increase adaptation and resiliency across the enterprise as climate disruption increases
• Create the next generation of climate action advocates
• Leverage the University’s operations as a living laboratory and experiential learning opportunities
• Create an environment that supports greater economic efficiency and cost savings

• Developing a system of carbon pricing
• Increasing the production and procurement of renewable energy
• Electrifying the university’s fleet
• Fostering green and responsible commuting
• Creating and promoting sustainable food systems and access to healthy food
• Becoming a zero waste university
• Developing and fostering equitable and local carbon offsets
• Increasing building efficiency
• Fostering cultural and behavior changes that promote sustainability

Project leader:
Ryan McPherson, Chief Sustainability Officer

Project committee:
Erin Moscati, Zero Waste Manager
Derek Nichols, Associate Director for Sustainability

Climate Action Plan Captains:

• Beth Corry, associate vice president for Business Services, Put a Price on Pollution
• Ryan McPherson, chief sustainability officer, Not All Electricity is Created Equal
• Chris Austin, director of Parking and Transportation, Zero Carbon Mobility
• Tonga Pham, associate vice president for University Facilities, Keep it Cozy and Green
• Erin Moscati, zero waste manager for Sustainability, Waste Not
• Stacy Knapper, chief executive officer for UBF, Responsible Investing
• Christopher Delello, associate vice president for Human Resources, Every Action Counts
• Christina Hernandez, senior associate vice president for Student Life, Taking Stock of our Food System
• William McDonnell, associate vice provost for Academic Planning, Investing Locally to Provide Flexibility
• Bruce Buerger, director of Capital Planning and Deferred Maintenance, Increasing Efficiency
• Amy Bisantz, dean of Undergraduate Education, Making it Happen
• Jessica Alaimo, senior emergency manager for Environment, Health and Safety, Resilience
• Jason Corwin, professor in the Department of Indigenous Studies, Climate Justice

A team of members from Facilities, Business Services and Resource Planning work together to create a multi-year utilities budget. The rolling 5-year financial plan has helped the university minimize commodity costs, prepare for volatility in energy prices and meet environmental stewardship goals by implementing energy conservation projects. By managing the utilities budget at a central level, fiscal risk is reduced, shortfalls are covered by the university, and surpluses are reinvested in the university.

Senior leadership

Utilities budget is developed and approved annually and reviewed quarterly as part of the Central University Budget during the university's Annual Resource Planning Process. 

University's Annual Resource Planning Process (ARPP) Guiding Principles:

Strategic — we align incentives with our mission and with strategic behaviors.

Predictability — we build models that provide reliable foundations for planning.

Flexibility — we build planning models that anticipate and are responsive to changes in the economic environment; we incorporate appropriate risk management strategies.

Integration — we consider the university as a whole and make intentional connections between varying types of organizational needs and priorities.

Stewardship — we exercise prudence in managing our resources, diversify revenues to promote resilience, maintain appropriate reserves and reward efficiency and effectiveness.

The utility budget will:

• Be integrated into the UB annual budget process
• Support UB’s environmental stewardship
• Support UB’s goals and directions
• Be managed as a business enterprise model

The utility budget:

• Supports specialized energy service contracts
• Supports the Climate Action Plan

The utility budget is not:

• A replacement for capital funds
• A replacement for operating funds

Project leaders:
Beth Corry, Business Services
Tonga Pham, University Facilities

Project committee:
Suzanne Gentz, Facilities Finance
Jeff Angiel, Facilities Campus Operations
John Wojcik, Facilities Campus Operations
Michelle McCartney, Financial Management
Joe Lewandowski, Resource Planning
Peter DiNunzio, Resource Planning