1. Creating an Office Calendar That Works (Getting Organized Before Your Next Emergency)
Introduction.
Asked by Chris/Aristea to do this presentation after we attended a session on the topic at NASFAA.
The subtitle is near and dear to my heart: our FAO calendar traces its origins to an emergency of sorts: about two years ago, our Director was leaving for maternity leave and I was transitioning into our office from Admissions. Dana’s since moved on to become the Director of Financial Aid at Wooster College in OH, and I’m glad we were better prepared for her absence this time around.
Obviously you’ve come to this session because you already have ideas about how a calendar can help create structure and organize long-term plans for your office, so I’m going to skip the “Why?” and go right into the “How?”
I’ll go over some guiding principals in creating an office calendar, talk about how ours is set up at SJC, and then address some challenges I think we’re still facing. We’ll have plenty of time for Q&A at the end, and to share ideas. Think of this as a case study; what works for SJC may or may not be best suited for your office, but I hope you can take some of the “big picture” ideas from today and begin to apply them at your school.
Jennifer G. Sandler
St. John’s College

2. Guiding Principles Be proactive: The ideal calendar:
Make an exhaustive list of everything your office does month-by-month
Don’t take shortcuts—make an entry for a process each time it should happen
The ideal calendar:
Is process-focused
Can be accessed easily by all staff members
Points to written policies and procedures
Breaks big projects into manageable pieces
Leaves room for flexibility
Show Dana’s legal pad calendar. This is a great example of being reactive: done in a hurry, can only be seen by one person at a time and can be easily lost/destroyed, doesn’t link the reader to anywhere s/he can find explanations/details/instructions for completing a task
This is a great place to start. Your finished office calendar should not look like this.
Initial list should probably be put together by the Director, who has the 10,000 foot view of what needs to happen every day/week/month/year. S/he should get input from colleagues who work more in depth with individual tasks (verification, default management, awarding, etc.)
Do not skimp on this part of the process. It can get arduous (boring, even), but is essential to the final product—it’s the foundation of your calendar.
The ideal calendar is process-focused, not person-focused. Staff change happens, and people can get overwhelmed or sidetracked by other projects and priorities. So don’t assign tasks to individuals, even if they are generally that person’s responsibility.
This is why it’s helpful to create and house a Financial Aid Office calendar separately from individuals’ calendars if you haven’t already. This should be a global calendar shared by all staff members, who can easily see at any point in time what the overall office priorities are.
Whenever possible, link tasks to their corresponding policies/procedures in your office’s manual if you keep an electronic version. This step doesn’t have to be completed right away (get everything on the calendar first, then go back and fill in tasks with more detailed notes and instructions) but is very helpful for staff changeover.
The ideal calendar breaks big projects into manageable pieces. The FISAP is due 10/1. It becomes available online around 8/1. Both dates should be on your FAO calendar. But you should set intermediate dates, too (I learned that this year.) For example, Ask your BO to begin gathering Perkins figures in mid-August, then follow up every week or so. Shoot to have FWS data done by mid-September. Leave yourself 1-2 days for data validation.
You may notice, as you begin using your calendar, that you’ve been overly ambitious in organizing workflow. A calendar itself isn’t policy; allow yourself to make changes to your calendar based on your experiences.

3. SJC Case Study Outlook-based
Global “Financial Aid Office” calendar shared with all staff
Color-coded task categories
Utilizes “Recurrence” functionality of Outlook
Notes for tasks include links to instructions in our Policies & Procedures Manual on FAO drive and/or pertinent letter templates, Web links, etc.
Log into your calendar in Outlook 365.

4. How’s It Working? Pros Cons Visually straightforward
Can overlay personal Outlook calendar
Ability to edit individual tasks or all occurrences of single task
Limitations to “Recurrence” tool
Must remember to edit calendar if you move or delete a policy document
Re-evaluation of communication flow due to early FAFSA
The ability to overlay my personal Outlook calendar on top of FAO calendar is probably one of my favorite functions right now. It keeps me from duplicating tasks (which can lead one to become overwhelmed rather quickly) and also give me a more realistic picture of my priorities, workflow, and availability on any given day.
The limitations of the “Recurrence” tool is probably my biggest issue with our current calendar. The tool isn’t nuanced enough to allow one to have a task recur periodically for a set period of time, then not at all for a while, before picking back up. You basically have to stop and start, which means you have to remember, once you’re done with a task or process for the year, to jump ahead in the calendar to where it picks back up, and create a new instance with a new recurrence pattern.

5. Jennifer G. Sandler Assistant Director of Financial Aid St
Jennifer G. Sandler Assistant Director of Financial Aid St. John’s College (410)