Glasgow Kelvin College. Publicity / Communications. Audit Report No: 2017/03

Transcription

1 Item 10a Glasgow Kelvin College Publicity / Communications Audit Report No: 2017/03 Draft issued: 10 March nd Draft issued: 17 March 2017 Final issued: 21 March 2017 LEVEL OF ASSURANCE Satisfactory

2 CONTENTS Section 1 Overall Level of Assurance 1 Section 2 Risk Assessment 1 Section 3 Background 1 Section 4 Scope and Objectives 2 Section 5 Audit Approach 2 Section 6 Summary of Main Findings 3 Section 7 Acknowledgements 3 Section 8 Action Plan 4-15 Level of Assurance In addition to the grading of individual recommendations in the action plan, audit findings are assessed and graded on an overall basis to denote the level of assurance that can be taken from the report. Risk and materiality levels are considered in the assessment and grading process as well as the general quality of the procedures in place. Gradings are defined as follows: Good Satisfactory Requires improvement Unacceptable System meets control objectives. System meets control objectives with some weaknesses present. System has weaknesses that could prevent it achieving control objectives. System cannot meet control objectives. Action Grades Priority 1 Priority 2 Priority 3 Issue subjecting the College to material risk and which requires to be brought to the attention of management and the Audit Committee. Issue subjecting the College to significant risk and which should be addressed by management. Matters subjecting the College to minor risk or which, if addressed, will enhance efficiency and effectiveness.

3 1. Overall Level of Assurance Satisfactory System meets control objectives with some weaknesses present. 2. Risk Assessment This review focused on the controls in place to mitigate the following risks on Glasgow Kelvin College s ( the College s ) Risk Register: Poor public relations image and perception of College (risk ranking: Red); Relationships with external partners deteriorate (risk ranking: Amber); Failure to develop and maintain good industrial relations (risk ranking: Red); Failure to achieve contracted targets for student activity (risk ranking: Green); and Serious breach of legislation (including Charities Legislation) (risk ranking: Green). 3. Background As part of the Internal Audit programme at the College for 2016/17 we carried out a review of the systems in place for managing publicity and communications. The Audit Needs Assessment, agreed with management and the Audit Committee, identified this as an area where risk can arise and where Internal Audit can assist in providing assurances to the Principal and the Audit Committee that the related control environment is operating effectively, ensuring risk is maintained at an acceptable level. Management of the College s public image is an important factor to ensure that prospective and current students view the College as an attractive place to study. Producing positive publicity aimed at target audiences, as well as mitigating the effects of any negative publicity, is a key part of ensuring the College has a positive image. Internal communication is important to ensure that staff are informed of changes and are given sufficient opportunities to make their opinions and ideas known. It is also valuable in creating a shared ethos within the College, particularly given that the College was formed through a merger of three separate colleges less than four years ago (John Wheatley College, Stow College and North Glasgow College merged to form the College on 1 November 2013). 1

4 4. Scope and Objectives This audit focused on internal communication processes as well as the systems in place within the College for the management of positive and negative publicity generated externally. The table below notes each separate objective for this review and records the results: Objective The objective of this audit was to obtain reasonable assurance that: 1. Policies, procedures and systems in place assist the College to maximise the benefits from positive publicity and effectively manage negative publicity, reducing the potential risk of damage to the College s reputation 2. Appropriate strategies, procedures, ICT and other systems are in place to assist and encourage internal communication and joint working between campuses and Academic Faculties / Support Services Findings No. of Agreed Actions Satisfactory Satisfactory Overall Level of Assurance Satisfactory System meets control objectives with some weaknesses present 5. Audit Approach The Communications and Planning Manager, Marketing Manager, Head of Community and Information Services and a sample of other College staff were interviewed to determine current working practices. The College s internal and external communication strategies, policies and procedures were reviewed and their content benchmarked against good practice, identifying any areas requiring improvement. The results of recent staff surveys relevant to internal communication were also reviewed to ensure that issues raised were being addressed where appropriate. 2

5 6. Summary of Main Findings Strengths An External Communications Strategy is in place covering both positive and negative publicity; Responsible staff are assigned to undertake internal and external key communications activities; A range of internal and external communication channels are being utilised by the College including: s, external mailings; social media; video; and the College website; A range of activities are undertaken to support internal communications and to support joint working between campuses and between academic and support departments; There was a positive feedback received from staff about internal communications from a survey on this topic undertaken in Weaknesses The Internal Communications Strategy was still in draft and a number of improvement points regarding this were identified as part of the audit; Some areas relating to communications and publicity would benefit from formal documentation of procedures (including the controls within these procedures); Controls over the use of social media could be improved, particularly over social media accounts created by staff for College courses or College activities; and Although Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software was used by Business Development, a CRM system is not currently used across the College to share information on key employers, customers and stakeholders. 7. Acknowledgements We would like to take this opportunity to thank the staff at the College who helped us during the course of our audit visit. 3

6 8. Action Plan manage negative publicity, reducing the potential risk of damage to the College s reputation External Communications Framework The College has an External Communications Strategy, which we reviewed and found to be a good framework for external communications. We noted that the Strategy sets out the key stakeholders but does not formally prioritise these stakeholders, or set out the main communication methods and frequency of such communication method with each stakeholder group. This was discussed with College management who noted that work is currently being undertaken to identify and establish a stratified approach to engagement and this will form the basis for stakeholder identification and key Customer Relationship Management within the College going forward. The External Communications Strategy is a public document and management believe that it is more appropriate to include this information in operational plans, which contain much of the detail on the frequency of publications and other engagement. External Communications Operational Planning There is a Communications and Planning Operational Plan which has links to the College s Strategic Plan. This sets out the key external communication activities being undertaken and when these will be completed. External Communications Activities External relations activity is undertaken by a range of staff in the College including: The Communications and Planning Manager, who creates press releases for the media (including for print, TV and radio), provides stakeholder level communications (letters, s, event promotions), is involved with communications with College partners and community engagement groups, helps run events and promotions, and supports the Marketing Team with internal communications; The Marketing Team, who post on social media (with both an internal and external facing focus), place information on the College website and are involved with event promotion; The Web and Intranet Developer in the Information Services Team, who is responsible for intranet access controls, and provides devolved user access rights to add / amend the website; and The Head of the Community and Flexible Learning Faculty, who has a strong outward facing role within the community and builds stakeholder relations. 4

7 manage negative publicity, reducing the potential risk of damage to the College s reputation (continued) Observation Risk Recommendation Management Response Communication of External Communications Strategy to Staff It is important that staff are aware of the External Communications Strategy as it includes protocols to instruct staff on what action they should take if / when approached by the media. We were advised that the Strategy was made known to staff when it was developed in 2014 but it has not been promoted to staff since then, and we noted that there was no mention of the Strategy, or any reference to staff dealing with the media, within the Staff Handbook which all staff receive each year. We also noted that the Staff Handbook, although printed out and issued to all staff at the beginning of the year, was not available via the intranet. Staff may not be aware of what they are required to do in the event of being approached by the media. R1 Highlight to all staff the agreed protocol they are required to follow if they are approached by the media (as set out in the External Communications Strategy). This could be achieved annually through inclusion in the SMT Bulletin; or reference in the Staff Handbook and making the Staff Handbook available on the intranet. Recommendation accepted. The Media Protocols will be highlighted as part of the Induction process for new staff, be included in the Staff Welcome Back Handbook and in the SMT Briefing at the commencement of the academic year. This to be undertaken by the Communications & Planning Manager and Marketing Department in August each year to support and inform staff. The Staff Welcome Back Handbook to be made available on the College Intranet under College Documents by Marketing Department in August each year. To be actioned by: Communication & Planning Manager No later than: August 2017 Grade 3 5

8 manage negative publicity, reducing the potential risk of damage to the College s reputation (continued) Observation Risk Recommendation Management Response Customer Relationship Management Currently a range of College staff may interact with external bodies, including College management, Marketing staff, the Communications and Planning Manager and curriculum staff. However, there is no means of sharing information gathered by these staff in a central location. We were advised that there is a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system used by the Business Development Team, but not by other functions within the College. We understand, however, that the College is considering implementing a new College-wide CRM. Staff may obtain useful information about training needs or other developments when in contact with external bodies, but this information may not be shared with other staff in the College for follow-up, such as for providing training proposals or for use as positive publicity. R2 The College should consider how to get a better level of oversight over external engagement with external organisations and stakeholders. The use of a central CRM system would be one of the best ways for doing this, and if a new CRM is introduced then the aspect of better College-wide oversight should be considered when drawing up the CRM specification. Recommendation accepted. Through the HE Innovate project the College is seeking to develop its plan for addressing this recommendation through the use of a CRM. To be actioned by: Director of Business Development No later than: 31 October 2017 Grade 3 6

9 manage negative publicity, reducing the potential risk of damage to the College s reputation (continued) Observation Risk Recommendation Management Response Policies and Procedures The External Communications Strategy sets out key communications methods including the media handling protocol. There are also Social Media Guidelines. However, we noted that there are no formal procedures in place. Staff may not be aware of the procedures to be followed for external communications. R3 Set out the formal procedures and systems in place for dealing with positive and negative publicity, including: a) press release creation, checking and release; b) website additions, checks done on these and periodic checks on website information accuracy; c) social media (including controls); and d) monitoring information. Recommendation accepted: a. Process mapping to be undertaken for the production of good news press releases, internal articles and social media items and made available to staff. The appropriate element of this would be included in any Social Media Strategy produced and in the Internal Communications Strategy. This would be undertaken by Communications & Planning Manager and Marketing Department by June b. Development of a Web-tracking system will be undertaken as part of the new website development, to be completed by Marketing Department in August 2017 To be actioned by: Vice Principal, HR & Organisational Development No later than: September 2017 Grade 3 7

10 manage negative publicity, reducing the potential risk of damage to the College s reputation (continued) Policies and Procedures (Continued) Obtaining positive publicity Although there is not a formal procedure we noted that the weekly SMT Bulletin ( to all staff) and the College Blog requested good news stories to be reported to the Communications and Planning Manager, or sent to the generic marketing@glasgowkelvin.ac.uk address after which they would be forwarded on to the Communications and Planning Manager. The Communications and Planning Manager considers if the information is appropriate to release to the media or internally and, where considered appropriate, she would create a media release, self-review this (although where press releases would have a higher profile in the media, or where these could be contentious, a member of the Executive Management Team would also review), get approval for use of any quotes, and then send this to the College s list of key media contacts, and also to the Marketing Team for posting on the College website and intranet where appropriate. Systems a) Specific s and mailings The College has a spreadsheet which records all stakeholder contacts and their s and / or addresses which is kept up-to-date by the Secretariat when changes are made known. This is used for events and for generic communications. b) Social Media The College uses Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ and the College Blog for social media. We noted that there is no Social Media Strategy in place and that although there are Social Media Guidelines these are in draft and not yet available on the intranet (see R4 raised on following page). However, we were advised that at a series of staff conferences in 2015 these guidelines were outlined to staff and copies were issued to staff to take away. The College s central social media accounts are managed by the Social Media and Website Officer within the Marketing Team. Staff her with requests to post items and she reviews these for appropriateness and wording before scheduling when these should go out (normally to be sent at 8am or 12 noon - key times when people are travelling and on lunch) or sending out at any time (which is suitable for times such as holiday periods). The Social Media and Website Officer monitors the College s twitter feeds, tweets, and mentions and Facebook posts using Hootsuite software. All tweets and Facebook posts from external users are moderated (reviewed) before accepting (and therefore becoming visible) on the College s twitter and Facebook accounts. The draft Social Media Guidelines set out how moderation should be done, with unacceptable posts being deleted and the individual informed. Social media usage monitoring reports are prepared and there are some social media usage targets set, but there is no review of social media usage for positive or negative trends, or any formal information on social media usage being reported upward to senior management or to a Board Committee (see R4 raised on following page). 8

11 manage negative publicity, reducing the potential risk of damage to the College s reputation (continued) Observation Risk Recommendation Management Response b) Social Media (Continued) As well as the College s central social media accounts being managed by the Social Media and Website Officer there are a large number of social media accounts being utilised by staff within the College. The Marketing Team ed staff in 2015/16 asking them to inform Marketing of any social media accounts they were using. Marketing were advised of some accounts, however a list of these has not been compiled and no review of these has been undertaken to determine whether these accounts are being actively used, have appropriate information on them, and whether the content complies with the draft Social Media Guidelines. We consider there would be benefit in developing a social media framework covering the use of social media by staff for classes and College related activities including: a) Marketing having administrator access to these accounts (so they can delete these where staff have left, they are being inappropriately used, or have been hacked); (Continued on next page) Without appropriate guidance on the use of social media by staff, and an appropriate review of all College social media accounts there is a risk that: a) staff may create social media accounts for College courses or College activities and may post photos or information that could be inappropriate; or b) social media accounts may cease to be used when a staff member leaves but continue to be viewed by staff and students. R4 Develop a formal Social Media Strategy, and finalise the Social Media Guidelines. These documents should then be communicated to all staff. The Social Media Strategy should: list the relevant statistics on social media, which should be collected, analysed and reported upwards to an appropriate management group and / or Board Committee; set out the social media control framework covering the use of social media by staff for classes and College related activities, which takes into account the points raised in this report; and set out the purpose of video within the College. Recommendation accepted: a. A Social Media Strategy will be produced and will include collection and reporting on analytics; b. User-friendly guidelines on the use of social media should be finalised and made available to staff and students through the intranet (staff and students) and the VLE; and c. Feedback on monitoring and analytics will be provided as part of the Marketing Operational Planning process and half-yearly reporting to Senior Management Team. To be actioned by: Vice Principal, HR & Organisational Development No later than: September 2017 Grade 3 9

12 manage negative publicity, reducing the potential risk of damage to the College s reputation (continued) Observation Risk Recommendation Management Response b) Social Media (Continued) b) ensuring the purpose of each social media account being used is set out; c) providing training and guidance to users; and d) Marketing undertaking ad hoc checking of social media accounts for compliance with Social Media Guidelines. See above. See above. See above. c) Video There is one staff member in the Marketing Team (0.6 FTE) who creates videos for the College. We noted that currently their workload is based on requests from different parts of the College. There is no overarching strategy setting out how video fits into the College s Marketing Strategy. Videos are posted on the College s YouTube channel and are not on the College website due to technical limitations because of the way the website has been configured. However, work is currently being carried out on the website to improve it and this should allow the website to host videos. We were advised that once the website is able to host videos then the Marketing Team will ensure that appropriate promotional video content will be made available via the website. 10

13 manage negative publicity, reducing the potential risk of damage to the College s reputation (continued) Observation Risk Recommendation Management Response d) Website The College website is managed by the Marketing Team, with the Social Media and Website Officer receiving requests for website updates before reviewing these and uploading onto the live website. We noted that although new posts are reviewed before putting on the website there is a risk that, over time, existing information on webpages becomes out-of-date. We discussed with members of the Marketing Team what controls could be put in place and it was considered that periodically, say every three months, reports could be run from the website content management system to find out the date that each webpage was last updated. Pages that had not been updated for some time (within a review period) could then be reviewed to verify that the information was still valid and appropriate. Information on the website may be out-of-date and misleading. R5 Include in the Marketing Team Operational Plan for 2017/18 the requirement to implement a checking process over website pages to ensure that information on all webpages is periodically reviewed to ensure that it is still correct and appropriate for including on the website. This will be included in the 2017/18 Operational Plan for the Marketing Team. To be actioned by: Vice Principal, HR & Organisational Development No later than: 30 September 2017 Grade 3 11

14 manage negative publicity, reducing the potential risk of damage to the College s reputation (continued) Negative publicity There are a number of controls in place to effectively manage negative publicity. These include: Issues that could lead to negative publicity are identified by members of the Strategic Management Team (SMT) or other staff, including the Social Media and Website Officer who monitors social media, from the Communications and Planning Manager, or from the College complaints process; The Communications and Planning Manager receives Google Alerts, which picks up any online mentions of Glasgow Kelvin College; The College receives a report from Colleges Scotland of mentions of the College in the press; There is a process to respond to media enquiries in the event of negative publicity. The Communications and Planning Manager will speak to the Principal or another SMT member to get as much background as possible about the issue before compiling a response. The Principal or another SMT member will then review and approve this before the response is provided to the media; There would be use of a PR agency where considered necessary; and Student class rep training includes what to do in the event of negative feedback being received from students, with feedback being raised with the relevant lecturer, then being escalated to the appropriate Curriculum Manager and then Senior Curriculum Manager. The Student Engagement Officer, who works closely with the Students Association and with students generally advised that any negative feedback she became aware of would be forwarded upwards to a member of SMT where considered necessary. 12

15 Objective 2 - Appropriate strategies, procedures, ICT and other systems are in place to assist and encourage internal communication and joint working between campuses and Academic Faculties / Support Services Observation Risk Recommendation Management Response a) Internal Communications Internal Communications Strategy We noted that there is a draft Internal Communications Strategy, which sets out a range of activities for communicating with staff and students. We reviewed the draft Strategy and noted that there would be benefit in: formally identifying the key information needs for staff and students and setting out how these are covered; splitting communication activities into communications with staff and communication with students; reviewing the detailed findings of the 2015 internal communications staff survey when reviewing the Strategy; and setting out the need for communication activities to be evaluated, such as through periodic surveys or by electronically measuring the number of staff that access a certain electronic communication. Resources may be invested in internal communications that may not be effective. R6 Revise and finalise the draft Internal Communications Strategy, including considering the points noted in this internal audit report, and disseminate it to all staff. This will be implemented. To be actioned by: Marketing Department No later than: June 2017 Grade 3 13

16 Objective 2 - Appropriate strategies, procedures, ICT and other systems are in place to assist and encourage internal communication and joint working between campuses and Academic Faculties / Support Services (continued) a) Internal Communications (Continued) Internal Communication Methods The College has a wide range of internal communication methods including: the intranet; the virtual learning environment, Moodle; weekly SMT Bulletin with examples of positive activities; Principal s blog and College blog; newsletter; all-staff s on specific matters; the Chair of the Board sometimes sends out memos via the College Secretariat; Staff Handbook; Innovation News e-newsletter (twice a year); and the computer network log-in screen sometimes contains important information for staff. Procedures There are no formal procedures in place for internal communication however we consider that these procedures are not complex and that adequate staff cover is in place in the event of current staff performing these activities becoming unavailable. As a result there is little benefit in having formal procedures so no recommendation has been raised regarding this. ICT The College uses a range of different ICT means for communication, including , blog, video conferencing and e-newsletters which is considered appropriate. 14

17 Objective 2 - Appropriate strategies, procedures, ICT and other systems are in place to assist and encourage internal communication and joint working between campuses and Academic Faculties / Support Services (continued) b) Joint Working between Campuses and Academic Faculties / Support Services The College has a wide range of means to support joint working in the College including: The SMT (comprised of the Principal, three Vice Principals and four Directors (covering Business Development, HR, Curriculum and Corporate Services)) meets regularly and discusses matters relating to all campuses and which span both Academic Faculties and Support Services; The Operational Management Team (OMT) contains key support and teaching staff and they meet regularly to consider operational aspects of the College which cover working between campuses and Academic Faculties / Support Services; There are a range of Faculty meetings with staff spanning across campuses; Joint CPD events which help bring staff together; Ad-hoc groups convened for specific projects and initiatives, such as for the closure of the City campus and Gazelle projects; Use of video conferencing (Skype for Business) and conference calls, which cut down on travel time and cost; and Joint Consultative Committee and Joint Negotiating Consultative Committee in place. 15