Managing a public teaching unit is a complex task that requires a great deal of coordination. Among the challenges are adapting to norms established by the government, efficient management of financial resources and alignment with good governance practices.

To help universities and federal education institutes, RNP is making the For Platform available. The solution is made up of software, online training courses and methodology to assist in the development of the Institutional Development Plan (PDI) and to create a risk management model. With the tool, managers leverage organizational processes, improve the effectiveness of financial management and have more information for decision-making.

The platform is available to all federal institutes and universities in the country. It is already used by 14 of the 41 federal institutes and 37 of the 69 universities. In order to increase adherence, RNP entered into a partnership with the Ministry of Education (MEC) and made the tool available in the cloud, in addition to guaranteeing permanent support at no cost to institutions.

One of the units that adopted the solution was the Federal Institute of Tocantins (IFTO). Economist William de Sousa Dias, an employee of the IFTO, says that the For platform optimized the administration of the institution. “We chose the For Platform after extensive research and testing on other platforms. It made most of the institutional development processes possible”, he explains.

Monitoring of the Institutional Development Plan in real time

One of the key points in management is the Institutional Development Plan (PDI). The document brings all the strategic planning developed by management, listing the objectives for a period of five years. It is an obligation of the institutions to present this plan, which also contains updated data on the progress of the stipulated goals.

ForPDI is one of the For Platform tools. It was prepared after identifying the need to monitor the management of the Institutional Development Plan in real time, allowing the work to occur in a collaborative manner. With the software, managers can flexibly develop this entire plan and monitor its execution. The solution also brings the main management resources used in a business context, such as SWOT analysis, Balanced Scoredcard (BSC), Situational Strategic Planning (PES) and others.

An example of the potential of ForPDI is in the plan preparation phase. It is possible to register reference documents used in the preparation of the PDI, giving those involved faster access to this material. Managers can also analyze the institution's current situation and anticipate potential scenarios, cataloging all information on the platform. As a result, the development of strategies is carried out more efficiently.

“The platform facilitated not only the elaboration, but also the management of the PDI and other processes. Among numerous advantages, ForPDI allows the collaborative elaboration of chapters and the integrated management of goal plans”, reports William de Sousa Dias.

Platform helps to identify risks and makes the manager's reaction more agile

Risk management is another essential activity for institutions. The process consists of identifying risks and thinking about solutions to minimize the impacts of potential problems. These threats can be of different types, such as financial, operational, legal or those that can affect the reputation of the institution.

ForRisco is a tool of the For Platform with the aim of facilitating this management. It arose from the need to apply theoretical and practical principles of risk management in the strategic planning of federal teaching units. An example of risk that can be managed by the tool is a financial problem that compromises the institution's ability to carry out its activities. The solution helps identify the most susceptible periods and define solutions, such as reallocating resources.

In the case of operational threats, it would be possible to use ForRisco to monitor the institution's different systems, classify risks into different categories and define specific action plans for each of them.

“Today, we have the obligation to manage risks in order to achieve our objectives and we needed a system like this, mainly because there are no other options on the market. It was developed by the National Forum of Pro-Deans of Planning and Administration of Federal Institutions of Higher Education (FORPLAD), being created to meet the latent needs perceived by the institutions. We hope it continues to evolve more and more and help to improve our management”, says the Dean of Planning at the Federal University of Southern Bahia (UFSB) and FORPLAD coordinator, Franklin Matos Silva Júnior.

When developing the solution, we sought to provide teaching units with a means of creating their own records structure. The manager can create a customized policy for these threats, define corrective actions and analyze causes and consequences of possible problems. Thus, even if it cannot avoid all organizational problems, adopting a risk management policy creates a culture within the institution about the importance of the topic.

The for platform has an improvement committee made up of representatives from MEC (SETEC and SESU), RNP, Universities and Institutes, which meet periodically to evaluate requests for improvements and prioritize them in order to keep the For platform always up to date and aligned with the needs of the user community.