The Great Innovate Competition
Real Processes, Real Results, Really Fun!
The Great Innovate Competition pits six teams (each comprised of six competitors) against one another to improve real UC San Diego business processes using Lean Six Sigma.
Day 1 of the competition is all about process improvement.
Day 2 is when each team presents their improvements to a panel of judges, who then pick the winning teams for each of the business process scenarios.
The winning teams get showcased and receive prizes later that day at The Great Innovate Awards Ceremony.
Applications for the 2024 Great Innovate Competition are now being accepted! Head over to the Compete page to apply to become 1 of 36 competitors flexing their LSS skills to improve real UC San Diego business processes!
Below you can explore competitions and winning improvements from previous years.
Previous Competitions
Summer Session Schedule
DEPARTMENT: Summer Session Office
PROCESS IMPROVEMENT OUTCOMES:
Developed a system to pull only information pertaining to new classes, alleviating the need to manually pull data and minimizing the delays inherent in parsing this data. Implemented an automatic notification system whenever a new course is approved, minimizing errors on both the department side and on the student side. The end result reduces processing time from weeks to a few days.
Academic Planning Form
PROGRAM: Study Abroad
PROCESS IMPROVEMENT OUTCOMES:
Developed a pilot e-form that routes through various departments/colleges across divisions based upon student majors/minors, which has never been done before. Gained support for a dedicated development team who is continuing to automate the process.
Patient Flow & Capacity Management
DEPARTMENT: Health Transfer Center
PROCESS IMPROVEMENT OUTCOMES:
24% increase in volume and 0.5% increase in acceptance rate during the period of January to June 2019 when compared with the baseline period of January to June 2018.
Department Vehicle Request
DEPARTMENT: Fleet Services
PROCESS IMPROVEMENT OUTCOMES:
Implemented a policy-supported vetting process which resulted in 50% reduction of new vehicles procured, equating to $1.1 million reduction in annual costs.
Travel Request
DEPARTMENT: Associated Students
PROCESS IMPROVEMENT OUTCOMES:
$96,000 savings, 41% reduction in processing time, 50% reduction of rework, 50% reduction of advising time, increased customer satisfaction by 80%, increased process understanding by 100%.
New Employee Commute Options
DEPARTMENT: Transportation Services
PROCESS IMPROVEMENT OUTCOMES:
By implementing a small number of improvements, achieved $105K in labor savings and 30% reduction of in-person processing.
Go Inside The Great Innovate!
Hear straight from a winning competitor what it’s like to put your skills to the ultimate LSS test.