WHAT DOES AN ADMINISTRATOR DO?

Published: May 13, 2025 – The Administrator provides comprehensive administrative support for office operations, including vendor payments, staff events, and general office coordination. This position manages service systems and data records such as JDE, Salesforce, sales documents, stock, and customer information with accuracy and timeliness. The administrator also coordinates employee processes and welfare activities, including onboarding, interviews, and company events, to ensure smooth operations and engagement.

A Review of Professional Skills and Functions for Administrator

1. Administrator Roles and Responsibilities

  • Stock Management: Managing and ordering stock
  • Reception Management: Take responsibility for reception duties
  • Travel Coordination: Organising travel and the director's diaries
  • Meeting Documentation: Preparing minutes for monthly meetings
  • Ledger Support: Assisting with Purchase Ledger posting and Credit Control
  • Bid Assistance: Assisting with bids and tenders
  • Event Coordination: Helping to organise events
  • Presentation Design: Creating PowerPoint presentations
  • Social Media Content: Creating content for social media

2. Administrator Duties and Roles

  • Facility Management: Supervision of the facility, operation of the facility in compliance with law and regulations.
  • Staff Recruitment: Recruitment and general supervision of staff and volunteers.
  • Resident Services Supervision: Supervision of resident services, as well as admission, transfer, and discharge of residents.
  • Community Coordination: Coordination with and development of community activities and services for residents.
  • Public Relations: Maintenance of community relations.
  • Resident Rights Protection: Protection of residents’ rights and development of appropriate mechanisms for their protection
  • Grievance System Management: Maintenance of a system to enable residents to present grievances or recommendations regarding facility operations and programs.
  • Resident Care Oversight: Oversee resident care – personal hygiene, grooming, period of adjustment.
  • Prospective Resident Interviewing: Conduct prospective resident interviews in hospitals, rehab centers, and homes
  • Resident Records Management: Record admissions, discharges, case management notes, and incident reports.
  • Medical Records Review: Review the resident’s yearly medical evaluation, the resident’s medications, and the charts.
  • Physician-Family Coordination: Coordinate between physicians and the family to address and resolve issues
  • Employee Onboarding: Conducts interviews, provides orientation, and a probationary period for all new employees.
  • Staff Management: Staff supervision, performance evaluation, schedule, and conferences
  • Staff Training Scheduling: Schedule initial and monthly staff in-services.
  • Activity Program Oversight: Oversee the activity person’s program with the residents

3. Administrator Responsibilities and Key Tasks

  • Sales Support: Assisting the sales team perform efficiently by performing secretarial duties, such as answering the telephone, scheduling appointments, maintaining relationships with clients, filing, maintaining diaries, documents, and invoices.
  • Visa Assistance: Assist the Visa Processing Team in completing expatriate visas
  • Client Liaison: Involve trips to immigration offices and meeting clients to gather and deliver documentation.
  • Document Processing: Process legal documents.
  • Office Maintenance: General office upkeep, be responsible for ensuring the office is well stocked, everything is organised, and the office is clean.
  • Executive Assistance: Assist the CEO with ad hoc chores and ensure the office is running smoothly.

4. Administrator Roles and Details

  • Cloud Platform Proficiency: Understand the cloud telecom platform and gain proficiency in day-to-day requests.
  • Issue Escalation Handling: Act as a Tier II contact for issues escalated from ServiceDesk.
  • Problem Resolution: Diagnose and resolve problems quickly.
  • Cross-Functional Communication: Communicate with a variety of interdisciplinary teams, users, and the platform vendor.
  • Platform Support: Support the Administrator in the day-to-day support, configuration, and planning of enhancements, new workflows, and onboarding of new teams.
  • Service Request Management: Be resourceful and handle service requests promptly and efficiently.
  • IVR Call Flow Design: Use ‘Five9’ IVR builder tools to build and modify call flows.
  • Operational Reporting: Use ‘Five9’ reporting and dashboard tools to build operational reports on demand.
  • User Onboarding Support: Support user onboarding by helping set up new skills and teams.
  • Platform Monitoring: Proactively monitor for any anomalies in the platform artifacts and perform RCA on platform issues.
  • Change Promotion: Promote changes from Dev/Test to the Production environment.

5. Administrator Key Accountabilities

  • Strategic Plan Implementation: Implementing the department's strategic plan as it relates to staff, administrative policies, and finances.
  • Policy Advising: Advising the Chair regarding department policies and procedures to maintain a strong team environment that supports diversity, equity, and inclusion.
  • Fund Administration: Administering all department funds (state funds, self-sustaining budgets, grants and contracts, ICR, and gift/discretionary funds), tracking revenues, expenditures, and commitments, and creating multi-year projections.
  • Committee Participation: Serve on department committees, including the Chair's Financial Advisory Committee and the Space Committee
  • MOU Management: Manage Memoranda of Understanding between HCDE and other units within the University that deal with space and financial considerations
  • Collaborative Administration: Collaborate with the COE Dean's Office and other CoE Administrators on University and college-wide initiatives
  • Fund Partnership: Administer all department funds (state funds, self-sustaining budgets, grants and contracts, ICR, and gift/discretionary funds) and partner with the Dean's Office.
  • Commitment Tracking: Track all department commitments, monitor large department expenditures, and review current balances.
  • Financial Forecasting: Using standardized tools, develop forecasts and long-range plans for major department funds, and strategize how to absorb budget cuts
  • Grant Administration Oversight: Oversee grant/contract administration.
  • Proposal Review: Review grant/contract proposals for the potential impact on staffing levels, space, and other infrastructure requirements.
  • Proposal Approval: Provide official department approval of all proposals.
  • Resource Allocation Advising: Advise the Chair regarding the allocation of resources, availability of departmental funds for strategic initiatives, and potential impacts of university-level policies such as activity-based budgeting.
  • Policy Development: Develop policies and procedures, and internal controls consistent with state and federal compliance of departmental and research budgets, and periodically report to state and federal agencies.

6. Administrator General Responsibilities

  • Fiscal Staff Oversight: Oversee the work of the department's fiscal staff.
  • Committee Participation: Serve on the department Chair's Financial Advisory and Student Emergency Fund committees.
  • Liaison Coordination: Serve as the primary liaison to the administrative offices of the campus and non-UW agencies
  • Policy Advisory: Advise the Chair and act as their representative with accurate knowledge of policies: develop, interpret, and implement institutional and organizational policies, procedures, and operations
  • Strategic Resource Planning: Advise the Chair with strategic planning concerning resources regarding staff, faculty, facilities, equipment, space, and financial needs.
  • Budget Proposal Drafting: In coordination with the Chair, draft annual budget summaries and proposals for the CoE Dean's Office
  • Self-Sustaining Operations Management: In conjunction with UW Continuum College's program manager, manage the administrative aspects of HCDE's self-sustaining operations, including summer sessions
  • Budget Development: Develop a yearly budget and decide on business processes
  • Program Administration: In conjunction with program administrators, manage the administrative aspects of HCDE's involvement in Master's of Human Computer Interaction and Design, Master's of Science in Data Science, and Global Innovation Exchange programs
  • Best Practice Analysis: Analyze best practices for sustaining fee-based programs and strengthening external relationships
  • Metric Tracking: Develop and track department metrics related to research expenditures, self-sustaining program revenues, and gifts
  • Audit Coordination: Prepare, organize, and coordinate internal, state, and federal audits
  • Process Improvement: Seek to improve overall processes

7. Administrator Role Purpose

  • HR Management: Serve as the human resources manager for staff [permanent, temporary, research, Academic Student Employees (ASEs)] hired by the department
  • Staff Resource Planning: Assess and analyze staff resources, advise and assist in the short and long-range planning and prioritization of staff resources
  • Hiring Coordination: Initiate and lead processing of all staff hires and administer use of the UWHires system for hiring department support staff, and coordinate with the Fiscal Specialist on hiring activities of ASEs
  • Staff Supervision: Supervise departmental fiscal, computing, and administrative support staff.
  • Management Oversight: Manage daily activities of the Fiscal Unit Supervisor, Grants Manager, Computing Manager, Events and Outreach Manager, and Office Manager/Faculty Assistant.
  • Personnel Coordination: Coordinate department personnel activities for staff.
  • Professional Development Support: Assist direct reports in developing plans for professional development.
  • Performance Evaluation: Initiate and lead annual performance evaluations of staff.
  • Appointment Oversight: Oversee appointments of classified and professional staff, hourly, and graduate and undergraduate student appointments.
  • HR Workflow Management: Partnering with the Dean's Office Human Resources team, manage workflow, hiring, disciplinary actions, and resolution of problems.
  • Personnel Advisory: Advise on personnel matters related to staff and ASEs (hiring, disciplinary actions, performance reviews, awards and recognition, training opportunities, reclassifications)
  • Policy Guidance: Advise staff and faculty on University policies and procedures
  • Payroll Oversight: Oversee payroll and maintenance of leave records
  • Regulation Communication: Provide information to employees regarding WAC regulations and union contracts
  • Confidential Assignment Administration: Administer the preparation of confidential material, coordinate and carry out special assignments that vary in complexity and frequency depending on the needs of the department

8. Administrator Essential Functions

  • Strategic Planning Participation: Participate in the long-range planning for the department, including requests for equipment and space
  • Project Administration: Administer all departmental minor modification projects, from initial request to project completion
  • Space Assignment Oversight: Oversee quarterly space assignments of ASEs, lecturers, and visiting scholars
  • Facilities Coordination: Work with UW Facilities, Capitol Projects, and the CoE Facilities Manager to renovate existing space, build out new space, and manage employee physical relocations
  • Facilities Request Approval: Approve requests to UW Facilities Services for major and minor changes and repairs
  • Vendor Contract Approval: Approve bids and contracts from off-campus vendors for space modification projects
  • Equipment Fund Allocation: Allocate funds for equipment purchases and approve the purchase of equipment, and oversee equipment inventory and equipment insurance
  • Space MOU Management: Manage space allocation MOUs between the department and other University entities, including the College of Engineering and CoMotion
  • Policy Compliance Monitoring: Monitor compliance with Risk Management and Environmental Health and Safety policies
  • Committee Participation: Serve on the department Space Committee
  • Initiative Collaboration: In collaboration with other CoE Dean's Office and Administrators, work on University and college-wide initiatives such as Financial Transformation and shared services
  • Meeting Attendance: Attend various CoE and university meetings and training sessions, including the CoE's monthly administrator meetings and the department's External Advisory Board meetings

9. Business Administrator Additional Details

  • Transactional Administration: Deliver professional transactional administration services.
  • Standards and Teamwork: Maintain and promote high personal standards in environment, safety, health, security, and quality, and be a great team player.
  • General Administration: Provide general administration services.
  • Management Support: Services in support of management activity (e.g., diary management).
  • Meeting Organization: Organise meetings varying from individual to larger department meetings/events, including facilitating hospitality and equipment.
  • Customer Guidance: Provision of advice and guidance to customers.
  • Procurement Support: Support for Supply Chain Management (procurement).
  • DSE Assessment Responsibility: Take responsibility for providing DSE Assessments
  • Mustering Activities: Carry out Mustering activities
  • SLO Activities: Provide SLO activities where required by the business.

10. Office and Business Administrator Responsibilities

  • Administrative Support: General admin support to all employees
  • Office Operations Management: Be the main contact point and is responsible for all administrative tasks regarding the office operations
  • Vendor Payment Processing: Process relevant payments to vendors
  • Event Coordination: Coordinate office/employee events, including meetings and business reviews, annual dinners, etc.
  • Functional Team Support: Admin Support to Functional Teams
  • Record Maintenance: Assist in maintaining accurate records such as service sales data, customer data, stock movement, etc.
  • Service Logistics Management: Responsible for service spare parts stock count, service orders and invoices, and RMA requests
  • System Usage: Service system main user, such as JDE and e-information
  • Sales Data Processing: Assist in processing sales data, such as tender document preparation
  • Customer Service Support: Review and respond to customers' or dealers' requests to ensure excellent customer service main system user, such as Salesforce
  • Onboarding and Offboarding Assistance: Assist with the staff on- and off-boarding process, such as greeting, access card, laptop preparation, and collection
  • Interview Coordination: Interview arrangements, such as setting up video interviews, collecting health screening questionnaires for onsite interviews, etc.
  • Employee Welfare Coordination: Employee welfare arrangements such as coupon purchase and distribution, corporate event coordination, family day orientation, etc.
Relevant Information
What Does A Project Administrator Do?
What Does A Facilities Administrator Do?
What Does A Finance Administrator Do?
What Does A Front Desk Administrator Do?