Business & Finance Division

BPR Notes

June 22, 2005

 

Steering Committee:      Patsy Barr, Patricia Durrough, Bill Gauthier, Dan Lewis, Tom Mackel, Jerry Mock,

Robin Mullinix, Cathy Osborne, Mike Renfrow, Stephanie Rooks, Bob Watkins

 

1. Notes from BPR meeting of 3-30-05 meeting were distributed on 6/17/05. 

 

2. The meeting commenced at 10:00 a.m. in the Hubbard Dining Room.  Dan Lewis reviewed the following Division BPR’s that were completed within the current fiscal year:

 

 

With regards to the PBX Process, Jerry Mock met with Patricia Durrough, Patsy Barr and John Roessler to strategize on methods to help build a reserve.  Jerry indicated that the savings for FY 05 was approximately $233,000 spread across 5 fund groups.  Of this amount, 49,141.45 of E&G funds were applied to buy down the debt at year-end.  Mock reported that a revised allocation model was developed for FY 06 that allowed for the building of a reserve pool for capital equipment replacement over the next 5-8 years.

 

Jerry also reported that the university bookstore received a fiber link this spring and that the bookstore will be connected to the university’s fiber backbone this summer allowing for a more secure connection to do business.

 

Jerry is working with Higher One to reduce on-going cost.  A replacement fee of $20.00 is assessed to students if another card is reissued.  Bill wanted everyone to reassess how the students were being charged for the card replacement to see if there wasn't a way we could streamline the process.  Bill suggested that this be a process to consider for redesign.

 

Auxiliary Services is working with Student Services to fine tune the orientation schedule as it relates to meal plan selection and billing.

 

3. Bill Gauthier reviewed the customer satisfaction surveys that were completed on all the scheduled areas within the Business and Finance Division.   Bill placed emphasis on the need to include the survey results, and an action plan in the Annual Reports that are due on June 30, 2005.  Committee members were also given an opportunity to elaborate on any action plan that they could not accomplish. 

 

Jerry questioned Bill on whether he was forwarding one division report or sending reports from all of the departments.  Bill stated that he will be sending both.  Following, is the status of the summary reports based on the responses received:

 

Area	Status	Action Plan
Purchasing, Accounting Services,	·         Survey completed - 45 responses.  ·         Reports posted to website.	·         Grant information is available on-line. ·         The web reports will be updated to retrieve agency account information by a date range. ·         The organization of the department will be posted to the website. ·         Training on bidding and policies and procedures will be conducted in the Spring and Fall. ·         Will attempt to create an easy checklist of helpful information on department checklist.
Budget Services	·         Survey completed - 17 responses.  ·         Reports posted to website.	·         Smaller and more departmentally individualized training sessions are planned in order to obtain the level of support needed for the individual unit. ·         The director of Budget Services will share the workload of the office during times of heavy service requirements so that the level of service stays at a high level when it is most needed by the institution. ·         The web site will be enhanced to provide as much information as possible within the constraints of the PeopleSoft system.
Human Resources	·         Survey completed - 49 responses.  ·         Report posted to website.	·         Cross training the HR staff is a continuous process, sharing information with the staff is a priority. ·         Interpersonal skills are imperative for HR to function effectively. We will stress the continuous improvement. ·         Applicants are given the option to apply for multiple positions, but only at the applicant’s request.   Providing lists of possible applicants to department heads would violate our EOE status. ·         Payroll deadlines are published at the beginning of each fiscal year; this information is sent on the all-staff and all-faculty list serves and is published to the HR website. The communications later in the year are reminders that a specific deadline varies from the normal pattern. ·         Information sessions on policy and procedures are under development. We hope to have the first session in late July or early August. ·         PeopleSoft upgrades have eliminated automated updates of mail drop IDs; Spring Break we believe that this should be addressed at the University System level. We are now aware of the issue and have taken steps to make corrections manually.
Area	Status	Action Plan
Public Safety	·         Survey completed - 115 responses.  ·         Report posted to website.	·         The Bike Patrol is being reworked to provide greater visibility on campus during the night hours. Additional officers are being assigned to the unit and will patrol around the academic buildings as well as the residence halls. ·         The Bike Patrol is being delegated the responsibility for more crime prevention programming that will be offered to students as well as the faculty and staff. Programs are being developed this summer with the intention of having them ready to present as soon as the students return. ·         A third officer has been assigned to Investigations which will allow Public Safety to follow-up on more crimes and maintain better contact with victims. ·         Both the Parking and Uniform Division have been short on personnel most of this semester. New employees are being hired which will allow for greater visibility and increased enforcement of state law and the parking code.
Auxiliary Services	·         Survey completed - 65 responses.  ·         Report posted to website.	·         While there is a link to food service on the AE web site, improving awareness of all AE services will be explored. ·         Due to the pick up schedule of the Carrollton Post Office, all stamp metering services must cease for the day prior to 4:30pm.   The office uses the last 30 minutes of the day to close out the business functions of the office.   This will be reviewed to see if options are available. ·         Concerns will be addressed with the bookstore manger to improve service. ·         Auxiliary Services will investigate ways to make their services better known to employees and students.
Student Financial Services	·         Survey completed - 85 responses. ·         Report posted to website.	·         67% rated their experience as good to excellent. ·         Have resumed staffing requirements and reorganized some responsibilities for servicing short-term/Perkins loans.
Financial Aid	·         Survey completed - 46 responses.	Results were forwarded to the Director of Financial Aid in May 2005.

 

Bill requested that Robin Mullinix determine when the new web reports would be ready for the campus.

 

Training for Purchasing and Budgets will be scheduled in the Fall and Spring.  Bill questioned if training should be merged with Budget Prep and Reporting. Patsy and Tricia agreed.  Two major training sessions may be more efficient, but smaller sessions may be more productive.

 

Bill suggested that a subcommittee review the frequency of Customer Satisfaction Surveys.  The committee is to be chaired by Patsy Barr with Stephanie Rooks, Tricia Durrough and Dan to serve.  “Have we done all that we can do”.  Mike suggested that a we consider sampling the population by linking a survey to a certain number of responses. 

 

On the Human Resource survey responses, one respondent wanted to have a listing of all the applicants.  Bill had Robin pull-up the “teachga.org” website.  It listed all of the jobs by county.  Stephanie stated that there is software available that enables an applicant to apply for multi-positions.  The cost is approximately $4,000.00.  Bill suggested that Robin and Stephanie review the resources that are available and come up with a solution within the next two months for automating Applicant Tracking. The Medical College is importing their application data into PeopleSoft.  Upon further discussion it was determined that the request made was for 'all relevant' applicant listings and was really a request made in order to avoid posting an open position. Not posting an open position is not allowed so the request cannot be honored.

 

Jerry also suggested that some people have difficulties accessing the right department form the B&F website.  We all know that Auxiliary Services oversees the Bookstore, Meal Plan, Summer Camps, but the student doesn’t know it.  Bill suggested that Robin, Jerry and he will get together and coordinate changes to the website.

 

Jerry also added that Bob Swanson has done a good job on working with the faculty in identifying future books as well as expanding web books.

 

 

 

Public Safety survey responses cast a concern on the perception of safety during the evening.  Bill questioned Tom Mackel on what our plans were to improve.  Tom responded the key period of concern was during evening class time (between the hours of 6:00 - 9:00 p.m.).  The staff was being expanded and their mobility was being increased to include all terrain vehicles and bike patrols.  Bill requested that Tom layout a comprehensive plan on what is being improved – include what is in our control, education programs and residence hall programs.  Bill also requested that Tom draft him a memo related to the traffic buildup related to the traffic light on Maple Street and West Campus Drive.

 

In completing the survey responses to the web-site, Bill suggested that the two IT Audits that BITS and B&F have recently undergone be added to the web site. Dan will work with Robin in getting these audits added to the survey web-site.

 

4. Division BPR efforts in process:

 

 

KRONOS – Bill stated that there hasn’t been much USG support for this system as the cost has increased from what was quoted a year ago.  The item will be kept as active until we hear otherwise.

 

Document Management – Robin developed a manual template that was distributed to each member.  Jerry requested that each department perform the following steps:

 

• Route it through each area of your department
• Identify what documents fulfill series definitions by placing a checkmark in the column labeled “Title”.
• Prepare a master list using the template provided.
• Determine storage location.
• Determine a scheme for box labeling.

 

Dan stated that the Purchasing Department has already sent some documents to American Document and Securities and that they have developed a scheme.  It may need modified since this is a division effort.  Bill requested that Dan work out the issues on Boxes, legends and forms by 10/1/05 with the goal of having a process in place by the next fiscal year.  The ultimate goal is to be able to identify on one list the identification of the document, the location of the document and the retention of the document.

 

Tom Mackel provided input on the Hiring Process involved in Public Safety as it involves streamlining three different groups.  With 10 weeks required for Academy training, the length of time in the current process can take between 4 to 5 months.

 

In conclusion the following items are to be addressed:

           

-          Annual Reports must include feedback from Customer Satisfaction surveys.

-          Communication Strategy:  Part of process and procedures that sub-committee will address – Patsy to address.

-          B&F Website Redesign – Jerry to lead.

-          Human Resource to investigate software and provide options on job applications.

-          Review existing processes and determine what is worthy of BPR for next year.