Recognition Review

Compiled by Kyra Worrell

LINQ
Deirdre Greene (Student Fiscal Services) received a LINQ award for the quality of Approachable on November 19, 2001. Her staff said that "Deirdre has accomplished that rarity: leaving her staff alone to do their jobs and still managing to stay involved in the process and making sure they get whatever support they need. Deirdre is always available, and she "makes sure that everyone's input is included and that everyone is comfortable before making decisions."

Pramilla Chand (Financial Services) was awarded a LINQ award for the qualities of Trustworthy and Approachable on December 10, 2001. Pramilla is very supportive of her staff - "Pramilla creates an open atmosphere as a leader. She is always on the floor helping people." Pramella is very knowledgeable in her job (she is called a "real rock" in terms of understanding processes), but "despite this knowledge she still seeks input from others and is committed to improvement."

Charles Bennett (Financial Accounting) was honored with a LINQ award for the qualities of Trusting of Others and Approachable on February 11, 2002. Charles is described as always being open and honest - that there is never any topic that is "off limits." He is seen as always willing to take time out and talk to people, and that "his approach ...is...very relaxed and has helped me to gain confidence in my abilities." Charles also understands that "in order to the best at one's job, many different skills would be needed. He encouraged not only the technical aspects of the position, but also the 'people' skills required to do a good job."

Cathy Sleipnes (Payables Administration) was recognized with a LINQ award for the qualities of Trustworthy and Approachable on February 21, 2002. Cathy is seen not only as mentor and coach for many in Payables Administration, but as a team player as well. "Cathy's willingness to take on leadership responsibilities…as well as her outstanding reputation for knowing EVERYTHING makes her a trustworthy 'most valuable player' for Payables." "Cathy makes herself available to help out where ever she is needed."

Ken Haines (Student Fiscal Services) was awarded a LINQ award for the qualities of Trustworthy and Approachable on June 17, 2002. People have confidence in Ken: "If you ask Ken to do something, it gets done." Many people interviewed pointed to his exhaustive knowledge of the Student Data Base. Ken is also seen as always calm and someone whose door is always open.

QSTEP
Bob Smith (Treasury) was honored with a QSTEP on October 16, 2001 for all four qualities: Trustworthy, Trusting of Others, Collaborative, and Committed. Bob is seen as not "just occasionally demonstrating these qualities - he lives them." Once Bob takes over any area, both his supervisor and co-workers know he will "take care of the issue thoroughly and well" because "Bob always follows through on commitments." Bob is also seen as "unfailingly courteous. If someone is talking to him, they get his undivided attention… he doesn't interrupt and his response will be thoughtful." Bob also "never misses an opportunity to encourage, recognize and support" his colleagues, truly exemplifying the spirit of Recognition.

Mei Wu (Payables Administration) received a QSTEP award on July 13, 2001 for the qualities of Trusting of Others and Trustworthy. Mei "thoroughly understands her assigned tasks; not only does she know the procedures, but understands why they are followed." Mei is also "unfailingly courteous in dealing with others - both co-workers and customers."

Gerry Acuesta (Payroll) was awarded a QSTEP on June 24, 2002 for all four qualities: Committed, Trustworthy, Collaborative and Trusting of Others. Gerry is seen as a delight to work with and a team player by both his supervisors and co-workers. "Gerry is always willing to pitch in." "When Gerry is given a new assignment, he accepts it with eagerness and dedication." "I never have to ask Gerry more than one time to do something. He never forgets and follows through right away." "Gerry highly values meeting customer needs and improving work processes."

TOPS
CAS Compliance team (Tami Sadusky, Rita Jensen, Joel Searles, Zenaida Shattuck and Jane Wiseman) was recognized with a TOPS award on July 11, 2001. The CAS (Cost accounting standards) Compliance team was created to improve the process of cost allocation practices in campus departments. An Internal Audit review found that campus departments generally did not understand federal regulations or UW policies in regards to these matters. This lack of understanding leads to costs added on to grants among other things. The team found that written communications did not seem to be sufficient to educate the different departments, and so the team developed a 45 minute PowerPoint presentation is be taken out and shared with campus administrators and support staff working with grants and contracts. These workshops have been well received and also show the state and federal auditors that the university is committed to making our grant administrative processes error-free.

The Fastrans Team (Ruchi Aggarwal and Sam Senturia) was awarded a TOPS award on October 29, 2001. The team designed, developed and implemented an Excel application that could automatically create a file to electronically submit information to the FASTRANS system and then automatically create invoices to send to customers. The team had discovered that the billing was often received late by customers, and that, though they could receive the billing information via the FASTRANS system, customers had a difficult time extracting the information sent to them by the FASTRANS system. The team was able to streamline the process using the Excel application and was able to save time for Financial Services and the customers.

Sandie Rosko, Peggy Fitzwater and Fred McWhirter were recognized with a TOPS award on November 27, 2001 for streamlining the process of transferring students' emergency loans (also called "BEL" loans) from the Student Data Base system to
the University's loan billing system. The old process was a manual process that took up
about 120 hours of staff time. The team has now almost fully automated the process, for example, utilizing computer file transfers instead of manual input, sending out automated email messages informing students of the change, and putting automated holds on the student's account on SDB. This will save hours of time for the SFS's Receivables collection staff - time that can be spent contacting and counseling student loan borrows.

The Pacman Team (Mei Wu, Mary Girgis, Randi Adair, Sue Vadman, Cora Buenafee, Carolyn Adams and Pramilla Chand) received a TOPS award on January 24, 2002 for devising a better process for on-line purchase orders for payments to individuals. The team created documentation for the new processing procedure, added foreign vendors to the on-line process and trained staff members in the new process. With the new process, the team was able to save time and improve the channels of communication between Payables Administration and Purchasing.

Express
Student Hourlies in Payroll - 4/7/02
Processing, Administration & Customer Login - 4/29/02