Meet: Charlie Konoske
Associate Director of Housing Services
A man of many talents, he’s the associate director of housing services for the university. A huge Lakers fan, he’s also enthusiastic about meeting students’ needs. And after coaching high school basketball for 10 years, he’s going full court press for this project. Meet Charlie.
What do you do at APU?
I oversee the student services processes for housing services, which involves
transitioning students into campus housing and keeping them here.
How have you been involved in the Eiro Project?
As we gear up for the start of the housing module, I’ve compiled a list of our
business processes. I’ve also coordinated fit/gap sessions for our module,
inviting team members from the Business Office, Student Financial Services,
Residence Life, and other offices as we try to understand what we need from
this new system cross-departmentally.
What kind of challenges does this project bring?
The Eiro Project comes during a very transitional year for the housing team.
We recently acquired the University Village apartment complex, began offering
12-month housing, moved offices on campus, and are working on eliminating
housing deposits. Within the timeframe of the project, we will have grown from
50 percent of students living on campus to 70 percent. So, as we move forward,
we face the challenge of meeting the demands of Eiro and campus housing
simultaneously.
What are you hoping will come out of this project?
We’re working with an archaic system right now, so we’re hoping to gain new
functionality that allows us to automate many processes to enhance what we’re
currently doing.
What’s the coolest part of this project for you?
The university has made a huge effort to bring people together to work on this
project. This project has taken collaboration at APU to a new level.
How do you stay motivated?
Honestly, I try not to dwell on the project when I’m not working on it. I stay
busy and plan ahead, prioritizing my time to meet my goals. I also take time
to be a bit silly and enjoy the business day.
How has this challenged you to think outside the box?
In the midst of so much change, it’s challenging for me to trust God. With so
many projects outside of Eiro on my plate, it’s easy to lose sight of the end
result. I have to continually think outside the box to find new ways of
getting things done. We’re a staff of five people, which makes it hard to do
some of these higher level things, so we have to be creative in our approach.
What have you learned so far working on Eiro?
Most importantly, I’ve learned that change is inevitable—we have to adapt our
business processes to a new technology and new functionality. It’s key to
remember that the Eiro Project is not simply an opportunity to improve what we
already have, but to reengineer how we work from the ground up.
How will the new system make your job easier?
We spend a great amount of time on little details of campus housing, so we’re
hoping to cut down on the volume of daily monotonous tasks by automating some
of our processes. For example, to change a student’s housing charges, we
currently have to email student financial services. This new system will
hopefully allow us to do those processes in house.
What do you do for fun outside of work?
I just have fun being with my kids, Elliott and Elizabeth. My wife and I also
run the college group at my church and we enjoy investing our time in
discipleship there. Besides that, I love music, so you could find me playing
guitar or learning to play a new instrument.
It’s 10 a.m. on Saturday morning. What are you most likely doing?
I’m probably cleaning up from breakfast with my family. I usually cook
breakfast for my kids on Saturdays. From there, we plan what to do next as a
family, whether it’s going to a park or something else fun.
Anything else for the project team?
I’m pretty impressed with the progress of the project. I have a lot of respect for the team and how hard they’ve worked. It’s an amazing group of people and I’m glad to have their support.
