Finance Program – Phase 2 Automated Workflow Working Group Kickoff Meeting June 26, 2017

Agenda Welcome Opening Remarks Recap of last meeting 5 mins Personal Development demo Personal Development (PD) Pilot highlights Proof of Concept Demo Timeline 20min Answers to Questions 30 mins Next Steps Project highlights= 4.5 min each slide

Workflow Demo - Requisitions

Finance Program Phase Two Rollout Timeline Faculty Relations Professional Development Expenses Lifelong Learning Requisitions July 17th Go Live 

Workflow Implementation Approach Crawl Walk Run Start simple and gradually add complexity “Pilot” the tools in real business situations with live transactions

Questions

Answers to Questions In terms of escalation when a PR sits awaiting approval prior to moving to the next level. It's a problem if it's moved the next level automatically in a given time frame. If a graduate student initiates a PR and the PI is reviewing it to ensure it's the right item, the pricing is correct, etc. That can take time. If the PR moves to the next level automatically, it could actually significantly complicate the process as the next person won't be able to approve it without going back to the PI to confirm the expense is allowed (see point 2). Even a department chair would go to the PI before approving something for a lab. Frequently, they would not be able to confirm how that given expense is directly related to the research. Sometimes it takes PI (budget approver) time to approve it. Worried that PI will not have enough time to action and then it will get escalated. Answer: This question requires further discussion. Project highlights= 4.5 min each slide

Answers to Questions Perhaps instead of escalating these up the chain, push unapproved items back to the previous level so they can follow up with the next in line to find out why it's not moving forward and then resubmit it when appropriate. That could be automated to happen after a fixed number of days. Answer: Unfortunately, this is not the way the application works.   Project highlights= 4.5 min each slide

Answers to Questions I'm not sure what the Task List will look like when I log into it. However, it would be very helpful if, on the summary page, the combination accounting string of the transaction along with the computing ID of the initiator were visible (this is most important), it would significantly help when we have a long list.   Answer: This is not possible because it is a summary page. Project highlights= 4.5 min each slide

Answers to Questions For research grants, if the provisional delegates will be sent the message for approval at the same time as the PI, it would help them to see who is out of town or away so they can attend to those more quickly. The managers have agreed to be included in the approval request at the same time as the account holder but it must be recognized that their task lists will be very long.   Answer: This question requires further discussion. Project highlights= 4.5 min each slide

Answers to Questions There was concern that the pilots for this process is only fund 11. While we appreciate that it is simpler, there was concern that decisions about process are finalized before other funds are brought in for testing and by that point it's too late to make changes. In the end the work in the department increases and becomes more complicated. An example of this is SAM in using position numbers for tracking. This works very well for fund 11 but not at all for fund 31.  Answer: We will run Research Accounting/Specific Purpose pilots once the fund compliance development is complete. Note: The Reviewer and Approver approval process will function the same for fund 11 and/or fund 3X transactions.   Project highlights= 4.5 min each slide

Questions

Preferences Recap Did we HEAR what you meant?