Effective and Innovative Practices Award

APPA’s Effective & Innovative Practices Award recognizes programs and processes that enhance service delivery, lower costs, increase productivity, improve customer service, generate revenue, or otherwise benefit the educational institution. Award nomination entries must describe either a new program or a significant restructuring of an existing program or process. Recipients will receive special recognition on both APPA’s website and in APPA’s Facilities Manager magazine.

Eligibility Criteria:

The Effective and Innovative Practices Award is open to any good-standing APPA Institutional member who applies and accepts the award. Multi-campus or state systems may also submit applications for system-wide or individual operations. 

Projects displaying a high level of innovation and adaptability/transferability for implementation at other schools have the best chance of being favorably ranked. Up to three submissions are selected per group. Groups include:

• Four-year, public institutions or private institutions
• Community College
• K-12

Entries are judged on a point system based on:

• Institutional Benefit
  • Describe how the initiative directly benefits the institution and its constituents. Provide the extent of the benefit and documented results and outcomes. The results must be factual and supported by data.
• Innovativeness, Creativity, and Originality 
  • Describe in detail the level of innovation and creativity involved with the initiative. Describe how this initiative is unique and original and what differentiates it from similar efforts. Document the efforts to benchmark and determine the originality of the concept.
• Portability and Resiliency
  • The initiative must be portable to other institutions without drastic alterations or costs to be recognized. It should be easy to implement without extensive customization.
• Management Commitment and Employee Involvement
  • Describe the level of management commitment and the alignment with institutional goals. Provide information on the involvement of stakeholder groups and the participation of employees at all levels of the organization.
• Documentation, Analysis, Customer Input, and Benchmarking
  • Information analysis is used to evaluate performance and drive future performance improvements. Of interest are the types of tools used (peer comparative data such as benchmarking) and how the tools are used to enhance the success of the effective practice. Documentation should be factual, clear, logical, and well-developed. The analysis must be clear and well-documented. Customer and stakeholder involvement would be described for each step of development and implementation. Benchmarks should establish experiences for others and help to define the originality of the practice.

Congratulations to our 2023 Effective and Innovative Award Recipient

The California State University – Women in Facilities

University of Alabama Custodial Summer Housing Operations Process Improvement Initiative

Past Institutional and Individual Award Recipients