University of North Texas regents are expected to decide today if the university’s system should share human resource and information technology personnel.

By restructuring those positions, the university could save millions of dollars. However, some UNT employees could lose their jobs.

Chancellor Lee Jackson recommended a plan Thursday for the UNT system to reduce redundancies in the human resources and information technology departments.

The UNT system oversees the UNT Denton and Dallas campuses and the UNT Health Science Center in Fort Worth, along with the upcoming UNT law school.

A systemwide organizational model of these departments would keep each campus on equal ground, Jackson said.

“The shared services would mean the same groups would be responsible for all campuses and share in the decision-making issues,” he said. “There are larger, more mature university systems that use this system.”

The practice of streamlining those business functions across campuses has been done in business for about 25 years; however, it’s not historically done in higher education, Jackson said.

The proposal stemmed from a study conducted by Alvarez & Marsal, a national consulting firm.

The study shows a high degree of overlap and manual process in the 64 human resources positions and 31 information technology positions, according to the consultant’s report.

The study found the information technology personnel expenditures within the UNT system are about $25 million annually, in addition to equipment, software agreements, service contracts and other expenses.

The human resources professionals cost the system about $3.4 million annually.

The universities could share vital processes and report to one governing body, which would standardize those processes, said Ryan Senter, managing director and consultant at Alvarez & Marsal.

If this plan was implemented, the UNT system could save nearly $30 million between the two departments over eight years, Senter said.

The proposal would cost about $15 million to implement, according to data presented to regents.

Jackson’s proposal outlines a five-step action plan headed up by UNT system personnel, taking some of those decisions away from the university presidents.

The presidents of the system’s three campuses voiced their concerns over losing key information technology support on their campuses.

UNT President Gretchen Bataille said she worried about the loss of technical support for research initiatives on the Denton campus.

“We have a lot to learn from business, but it [higher education] is very different,” Bataille said. “I have yet to be convinced we need more layers leading up through the system model. What we need to do is ensure we are not losing ground on research or distance education. We are very different than a Fortune 500 company.”

Scott Ransom, president of the UNT Health Science Center, raised a similar concern related to the specialized medical technology on his campus.

Regents noted the attendance of about 20 faculty and staff members who were concerned about the issue.

Regents also brought up concerns at the meeting, including the quality of information technology service diminishing at the campus level and about the lengthy five-year timeline of the implementation of Jackson’s proposal.

Regent Brint Ryan said the university presidents should be involved in the process and the deadlines should be moved up to capture the $3 million to $5 million that could be saved each year.

“If the consultant is half right, there’s a lot of money for taxpayers and students, and we have the expertise to do this,” Ryan said. “We could set a great example for other institutions of higher learning.”

The finance committee approved the board item Thursday, with conditional amendments to the order, including adding university presidents, along with system personnel, to oversee the restructuring of the human resource and information technology departments and move up the timeline for implementation.

The full board is expected to vote on the amended proposal during today’s board meeting.

CANDACE CARLISLE can be reached at 940-566-6889. Her e-mail address is ccarlisle@dentonrc.com .