North Dakota Department of Public Instruction

Business Process Model and Strategic Plan

The Opportunity: The North Dakota Department of Public Instruction sought to improve its practices through business process modeling, including identification of opportunities to increase efficiency and effectiveness of service delivery.  One of the major recommendations from this project was to develop a strategic plan to guide the future work of the Department of Public Instruction, so that staff could evolve from a compliance orientation to a focus on outcomes directed toward a common vision.​

Our Services: GSG documented all current business processes and identified improvement opportunities through the following activities:

  • staff interviews

  • review of process descriptions, documentation, and outputs

  • staff survey regarding process quality

  • gap analysis of current to desired process optimization for all business processes

  • prioritization of process improvements based upon gap analysis

  • benchmarking of priority processes against best practice and similar size state education agencies

  • recommendations for improvement in priority processes.

Following the business process modeling engagement, GSG was awarded a subsequent contract to develop a strategic plan for the Department of Public Instruction.  This work included the following activities:

  • Interviewed key stakeholders across the state including legislators, other state agency leaders, and local education representatives

  • Conducted a survey of all local school district superintendents, school principals, and Department of Public Instruction staff

  • Analyzed historical student performance on a wide range of indicators among different student groups, including benchmarking results with the nation and comparable states

  • Conducted focus groups with representative students from across the state

  • Held regional community forums for feedback on the draft strategic plan framework

  • Conducted an open statewide survey regarding the draft strategic plan framework

  • Facilitated a design team to identify priority strategic themes and strategic initiatives to improve future performance

  • Trained and supported Strategic Initiative Action Teams to design and implement the work of the strategic plan

  • Supported the leadership team in reviewing and monitoring progress.

An Education Vision Steering Committee was created, including all state organizations working to improve outcomes for children Prekindergarten through Grade 12. GSG facilitated the group to develop consensus on a common set of priority outcomes and strategic themes, to share current work aligned with these outcomes and strategic themes, to identify gaps in services and work collectively to address gaps.

Results: The strategic plan continues to guide the work of the Department of Public Instruction. A statewide PK-12 Education Vison Steering Committee continues to meet and discuss collective efforts to align work and fill gaps in order to achieve the shared vision.

The statewide PK-12 Vision for Education can be found here.