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In order
to better serve our customers, one of our current staff members moved into a
role to handle the operational side of the Controller’s office. As the
University continues to grow and expand, there was an increasing need to have
an individual who is dedicated to improving the operations with the Office of
the Controller and within the University. This position will be coordinating
the Peoplesoft Upgrade which involves rolling out Peoplesoft functionally to
the campus as a whole and will conduct as extensive review of our business
processes in order to continue to improve our operations.
In October
of 2006, the State of Georgia issued new travel regulations. These new
requirements resulted in significant changes that affected our employees
reporting of travel expense reimbursement requests. A series of live
workshops was conducted in order to ensure that our employees were aware of
the impact of the changes and they were trained on completing the new travel expense
reimbursement form.
As part of
the Peoplesoft V8.9 upgrade, our staff has been required to participate in
several workshops and meetings. We have successfully completed all tasks
that have been required so far. A series of clean-up work has been required
for the past several months. These clean-up tasks are being done on a
monthly basis to ensure that our data stays clean for the upgrade.
As a
follow-up to the Customer Service training received in May 2006, there were
several opportunities identified to strengthen customer service values
throughout the Division. One of the suggestions was to conduct regular
departmental staff meetings. Beginning in the Fall of 2006, the Office of
the Controller began having regular, monthly, departmental staff meetings.
These meetings give department heads an opportunity to share and communicate
changes, new processes or information to the staff. It also gives the staff
an opportunity to share concerns and ask questions. The meetings are very
informal and have proven to be a good time to sit down and focus on the
events of the month. Typically the meetings are held the first Friday of
each month. Since the meetings are at the beginning of the month, we are
able to discuss and plan for the upcoming month as necessary.
In June
2007, the Office of the Controller participated in several workshops hosted
by the Office of Budget Services. These workshops were held to discuss the
changes concerning new fund codes. The Office of the Controller developed a
new form and written procedures for processing Expense Transfers. This new
form and process was presented by the Controller’s office at these
workshops. Having an identified method for transferring expenses from one
account to another will be essential as we implement the new fund codes.
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