A business continuity plan is essential to the operations of the Controller's Office to minimize risk to employees and operations as a whole.
Objective
Finalize Implementation Of Kuali Business Continuity Plan
We are required to continue to make payment to employees and vendors regardless of interruptions to general operations. Therefore, we seek to work with other departments to implement a plan to maintain required operations when general operations of the campus are not operational and/or accessible.
KPI
Finalize Implementation Of Kuali Business Continuity Plan During Fiscal Year 2014
In 2013, the goal was to implement the new business continuity plan during the fiscal year. We came up just short of that, so we will seek to finalize the implementation of Kuali Ready's business continuity plan. With a plan in place, The Controller’s Office will be able to remain operational in the event SHSU general operations had to shut down.
Result
Plans Developed
All departments under the Controller's Office developed business continuity plans. The Kuali implementation was delayed some during the year to get the assistance of a consultant. We meet with the consultant to make sure we were on the right path for all areas. Additionally, payroll and general accounting have tested the ability to generate payment documents remotely.
Action
Test Validity Of Plans
At this point, the plans are in place and we have begun testing our operations to ensure we can continue operations off-sight if necessary. Fiscal year 2015 will test the validity of our planning.
Goal
Develop A Strong Employee Development Process
For the past two years, the Controller’s Office has helped improve departmental capabilities for budget and finance along with increasing the training programs offered. In 2014, we want to take this another step by developing programs that allow us to make consistent training programs through Talent Management along with programs that are unique to each department. Financial Services purchase a laptop cart with 10 laptops so that trainings can start taking place within devisions and departments. This will help us customize those trainings to these areas.
Objective
Provide Executive And Department Staff Tools Necessary To Making Short-Term And Long-Term Decisions
The use of dashboards is quickly becoming the general tool used by executive administration to obtain information quickly and answer questions. This information also has to be comparable to previous years so that projections can be made. Nothing like this is currently available at SHSU. Additionally, departments currently have to access multiple reports and customize them on their own to create comparable data. This can be remedied by comparable reports along with a dashboard setup.
KPI
Additional Reports Developed By The Controller's Office
We are striving to have at least two new reports per department to assist the university community with answering questions about their funding and operations.
Result
Reports Developed; Dashboard In The Works
We developed multiple new reports during the year to help with the administering of SHSU budget and funding. These reports include NCAA report using attributes; General Ledger Activity by fund and period for financial aid; Quarterly Designated Research Expense activity; PI fund budget report to monitor these are budgeted appropriated; and Awards by College report for College Administration.
Action
Continual Development
While we have a strong reporting structure, it is for the most part reports based on screen structures from Banner. In the coming year, we want to break from this and truly develop unique reports for divisions and departments.
Objective
Develop & Document Processes For Employee Development
Make sure all offices under the Controller's Office has developed and documented a process for training employees.
KPI
Plan Documents
Each office should be able to provide their plan for employee development from all sources. This will include proof that trainings occurred with it documented in Talent Management.
Result
Implemented
For the fiscal year, every department developed a training plan and budget. We also started using Talent Management to track training along with conference. Staff that normally do not receive conference training are expected to attend SHSU professional development classes. The Controller's Office also puts on a day long training each year that everyone attends.
Action
Yearly Update
Since this plan is in place, we need to continue it with yearly updates and evaluation to make sure employee development meets the needs of the staff and their ability to perform well at SHSU.
Goal
Facilitate Continuous Improvement In Controller Office
Facilitate continuous improvement in Controller Office Processes across the University.
Objective
Evaluate & Improve Controller Office Operations For The Campus
Continue to evaluate and improve effectiveness of the Controller Office operations for the campus to reduce departmental time needed to carry out financial functions.
KPI
Implementation Of New Processes
Evaluate the new processes added during the 2013-14 year to determine whether SHSU improved the use of university resources. This would include implementation of e-procurement & payable systems and payment methods through the Bursar Office.
Result
SciQuest
We are in process of implementing SciQuest for the campus. This will include eProcurement and ePayables reducing the work for campus. From April to Present, we have had regular meetings to discuss the implementation and on July, 25, 2014 we did the first requisition to invoice test.
Result
PerfectForms
During the course of FY2014, we released our first form, the FO-19 form, to campus for general use. Our second form, the Alcohol Request Form, is in test at this time. We have other forms in development to continue with automating request through automated workflow forms.
Result
GPP & Website Improvement
During the past fiscal year, the Bursar Office in conjunction with multiple offices in Enrollment Management, Academic Affairs and Information Technology developed and implemented the Guaranteed Price Plan. This implementation coincided with a website update to improve information to students.
Action
More New Processes
As we go into FY15, we will continue to improve with SciQuest and PerfectForms. We will also add in operation changes for travel and general accounting. For travel, we want to continue to make the travel process more efficient. This will be done by adding in a travel card operations and contracting with Corporate Travel Planners. For General Accounting, we will evaluate our bank operations along with how departments submit journal vouchers.