The SEIU Education and Support Fund (ESF) is a 501(c)(3) organization with a successful track record of nearly 30 years managing workforce development grants, developing educational materials, convening health and safety trainings, undertaking public informational efforts and improving standards in the public and service sectors. ESF partners with think tanks, policy makers, advocates, community colleges and businesses, as well as labor unions, chief among them the Service Employees International Union (SEIU).    

ESF has a long history of administering initiatives designed for health care workers; however, currently, ESF’s core sectors include early childhood education, human services, and property services. ESF also manages labor-management training funds in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and California.  

ESF needed a central way for all ESF staff to access and understand, coordinate and manage strategic project work ongoing across the organization.

From January-May 2024, Root Cause partnered with ESF to design, implement, and codify standardized organization-wide project and knowledge management practices. This included working closely with ESF’s Director of Operations and new Operations team members, ESF leadership, ESF’s Project Management Working Group, and other staff across the team in a participatory design process to determine the structure and strategy for rolling out a project management platform, Asana. 

The resulting design is dynamic and evolving, as are other project management standards codified during this project, and serves as a central way for all ESF staff to access and understand strategic project work ongoing across the organization. The ESF team, now with additional internal capacity, is well-equipped to continuously improve and maintain these practices in their ever-growing team.

Phase I: Project start up and current state analysis of ESF project management  (January-Early February 2024)

• In Phase I, our objective was to understand current project management and operations processes, identify specific benefits and opportunities of more standardized processes, and define goals and priorities for Asana design and other related tools.
• Root Cause and ESF successfully formed a Working Group, completed a current state analysis, and developed a summary of project management and operations needs to prioritize in the project. 

Phase II: Asana and project management design and implementation  (February-April 2024)

• In Phase II, our objective was to design and strategically roll out a standardized organization-wide project management approach and Asana use.
• Root Cause and ESF successfully completed Asana design and set up, developed a suite of training materials and guided pathways for various user profiles, and provided  coaching support for project managers’ implementation/change management efforts on their teams.

Phase III: Operations Team Infrastructure & Support (February-May 2024)

• In Phase III, Root Cause supported ESF’s Operations team in developing and maintaining streamlined/ cohesive workflows aligned with the needs of rapid organizational growth. 
• We successfully documented Standard Operating Procedures/expectations for their virtual workspace and expected use of tools and technology platforms, delivered onboarding materials for new hires, delivered onboarding/coaching sessions to new hires, researched and made recommendations for a Learning Management System, and identified selection criteria for Intranet selection.