For a groovy vibe, check out some of the Balanced Scorecard work happening in your area.   It might be a bit funkier than what you are used to, but don’t freak out cause there is heavy flower power when it comes to using the Balanced Scorecard around here.

The Balanced Scorecard is a related set of information tools that serve a variety of purposes, one of which is providing a way to collect, measure and interpret results to improve and grow an organization.  Unlike traditional systems and metrics that only look at the financial bottom line to determine the viability of an organization, the Balanced Scorecard provides a balanced view.  It basically says that there are four perspectives that indicate the health of an organization:

(A) Customer: Are customers happy?  Are their needs being met?  Will they do business with us again?  Will they provide us a good reference?

(B) Operational excellence:  Are current processes efficient and effective?  How does our operation compare to our peers?

(C) Learning & growth:  Does the organization support a culture that promotes employee growth and learning?  Is the organization open to change?

(D) Financial:   As a public institution, do we meet our financial obligations?  Are we good stewards of funds?

Did someone say measurements?  Nobody likes being measured!   It’s a drag and a downer, but in this challenging economy, where the UW’s budget is under intense scrutiny, being accountable and transparent is more important than ever.  But don’t worry; it’s about measuring process and business outcomes, not individuals.  If you’re still freaked out about that, plan to attend the Quality Awareness or Process Improvement class.

You’ll learn that measurements are never punitive, and instead are a way to show that today’s business is getting done and there is a framework for future success.

It’s like driving your VW micro-bus, dude...can you imagine driving without a dashboard?  How do you know when you’re out of gas or if something is wrong with your engine?  Without a dashboard to tell you how fast you are going, you might get pulled over by the fuzz … what a bad trip!  

If you want to score some real information about Balanced Scorecard, just ask your metrics coordinator,  Jeanne Semura (FM) or Susan Freccia (Treasury).  You could even sock it to LuAnn Stokke and Vincent Lau, the metrics “gurus” for Finance & Facilities.  They’ll help to explain all of the lingo like: Strategy Maps, Strategy Scorecards, Dashboards, Initiatives, targets, and leads/lags.

Peace

GrantTracker won’t bring you to Nirvana, but you will get up-to-date grant and contract information to manage existing and new awards.
In February, Grant & Contract Accounting (GCA) launched GrantTracker, a new, expanded online system that UW researchers and staff can use to track post award budget information. 
(http://www.washington.edu/research/gca/budget/granttracker.html)
Kudos have been pouring into GCA as campus welcomes the update, which was designed to reduce the amount of time to close budgets, provide information in a timely manner, and decrease the number of requests for information to and from GCA.
Unlike the previous system, which was limited to receivable budgets only, all GCA budgets are now displayed online. All sub-budgets related to a parent budget are visible, and the administrator of a sub budget can view parent information at the summary level (not including detailed expenditure transactions).
GrantTracker shows more budget information, adds search functionality and displays invoices online. Using GrantTracker, campus can submit requests and send attachments to GCA, and track the history of previous requests and attachments.

GCA welcomes questions and ideas for changes to GrantTracker; send to gcagt@u.washington.edu.

In the fall of 2008, a complete redesign of the Risk Management website served as the pilot project for the new F2 web development process. By December, along with a record-breaking snowstorm, the Office of Risk Management received a special holiday treat: a new website. Check it out at http://f2.washington.edu/treasury/riskmgmt/home!

The new site is the product of many months of collaborative planning by a departmental work group sponsored by Becky Bullock, and including Yong Lee, Jeff Slater, Elena Williams, Carolyn Wenzl, Felicia Carnes, Katrina Day and Angie Kritenbrink, the team leader and project manager for the website project. Once the group established organizational, navigational and content guidelines, staff throughout Risk Management contributed content.

The RM website moved to the new F2 web address, and a different technical system to create and maintain it was implemented. F2 Web Manager Dan Druliner, and Nigel Heinsius of Creative Communications, helped provide initial training and resources for self-guided study of the new system, called Drupal. Since Drupal is easy to use for those who don’t have a lot of web experience (though there are plenty of bells and whistles for expert developers to play with), it saved Risk Management the cost and time of purchasing extra software and training.

The basic look and feel of the website, and the system behind it, are managed by F2. This made it easy to implement changes along the way during the development phase, and will continue to make content updating by RM staff a breeze. In addition, members of the F2 Web Developers team helped to test the site and provided valuable feedback before it went live.

Since the new site went live in December, RM staff continue to notice improvements in efficiency. Program Coordinator Garrett Stronks, who processes insurance certificate requests, notes that “more requests are coming from the website, which makes it easier to turn around and get a certificate out.” The page regarding insurance certificates was redesigned to make information more navigable for customers, with information about each type of certificate now in table form. The Equipment Insurance portion of the site has also been given rave reviews by customers for improved navigation and clarity. Visually speaking, the old, text-heavy site had been designed about a decade ago; the new design is easier on the eye, more in line with current user expectations, and will be consistent for sites across F2.

Ultimately, improved systems and a collaborative team spirit led to a greatly improved website for the Office of Risk Management. If RM’s experience as the pilot project is any indication, we anticipate smooth sailing during the remainder of the F2 web development process.

Here’s the skinny: One of Grant and Contract Accounting’s (GCA) most manual processes, setting up new accounts in FAS, has taken a step in the right direction. The second phase of this project was launched in January of this year. It allows the Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP) to send award information electronically to GCA. It’s totally far out!

The previous process required someone from OSP to use a dot matrix printer, print six carbon copies of a cover sheet, and walk down the award documentation to GCA every day. What a drag! But those are the old days, man. Without the collaboration between OSP, GCA and the Office of Research Information Services team, this wouldn’t have happened!

The system that GCA uses to process grants is called the System for Electronic Research Accounting (SERA). It’s an extension of the system that departments use to prepare proposals and what OSP uses to review them.

The next phase of this project is called eAward. This will consolidate the information that OSP, GCA, researchers and their campus departments need to manage their grants in one place.

The first phase of this project was launched in July of 2008. It streamlined the advance budget request process by allowing departments to submit their requests electronically.

Catch you on the flip side!

The Student Fiscal Services (SFS) Accounting Unit Process Improvement Project was formally kicked off in November 2007 and the project wrapped up in June 2008 and it feels ooh soooo good!! Some of the impacts include a projected annual cost saving of $31,700, improved internal controls, and a great foundation for future operational measures. Here is a closer look at some of the accomplishments:

Training

The accounting staff often had different methods of completing tasks, which led to inconsistent work and communication problems. Additionally, available resources and tools were not being fully utilized. Based on this need for uniformity, the process improvement team implemented a series of training sessions.

Procedures

With staff turnover and reorganization, documentation was saved in various locations or lost when the primary process owner moved on. The solution was to identify the core processes, and then adopt a standard document format and location for storage. Currently, 80% of the procedures have been documented and the rest will be completed by the end of this year.

Bank Reconciliation

There are a total of five accounts that SFS reconciles between the General Ledger (GL) and the Bank Statements. There are a total of 10 to 15 million dollar deposits and one to five thousand transactions a month. Reconciling the Bank Statement against the General Ledger account manually was a tedious process. In order to streamline this process, the computing staff developed a “Reconciliation Module” within the SFS Database to automate the reconciliation process. The automation process eliminated the potential for manual data entry errors through automated data transfers. It also allowed the accounting staff to focus on higher value activities (e.g. research and resolution) and to reconcile and resolve variances in a timely manner.

Budget Reconciliation

Budgets need to be reconciled on a regular basis to ensure that the charges are accurate. All discrepancies need to be detected, investigated, and resolved. There are a total of 40+ budgets that SFS reconciles and each one was handled differently. The solution was to develop a standard template in Excel so that the individual budget reconciliations could have a common format. In addition, the staff members also had a centralized place to enter the summary data for each reconciliation so that a manager could get up-to-date information.

Journal Voucher Automation

The high volume of Journal Vouchers (JVs) being created in the Accounting Unit brought about a need for a more organized and efficient process. A “Journal Voucher” module was developed that allowed staff members to create a JV and then send it by email to be processed. The electronic journal vouchers not only reduced the reliance on paper forms, but it provided better internal controls.

Cashier Activity

The cashiers in Customer Service used to fill out multiple paper forms to balance at the end of the day. This manual process contributed to errors in calculations and missing data, which the Accounting Unit was responsible for resolving. To address this problem, a “Cashier Module” was created that allowed the cashiers to directly enter their information. The module did all the calculations automatically and provided a better audit trail.

Electronic Funds Transfer (ACH) / Wire Deposits

In the past, there were often problems with identifying Electronic Funds Transfer (ACH) or Wire Transfer payments from vendors in a timely manner. This resulted in subsequent reconciliation issues. The Computing Unit created a system for those involved in this process that helped with the identification of payments. The results of this process improvement were a quicker turnaround for depositing payments to UW department budgets, a more timely reconciliation of the SFS budgets involved, and fewer outstanding reconciling items per month.

This would have not be possible without the support from the SFS Managers: Sandie Rosko, Jeff Petersen, Tess Domingo-Herrera and the tremendous team work from staff: Arlene Lalas, Colin Sachs, Dick Simmons, Jaeson Albritton, Joanna Medina, Mailin Chua, Mark Brady, Norm Englund and Shannon Corcoran.

Overall the process improvements have helped to save money by reducing labor, paper, and storage costs. Internal controls have also improved since there is more transparency and better audit trails. Ooh sooooo groooovy! The Accounting Unit is totally jazzed and is now enjoying the fruits of its labor.

“If you're going to UW Tower, be sure to wear some flowers in your hair...
If you're going to UW Tower, You're gonna meet some gentle people there.”

Like those coming to San Francisco in 1967, UW departments flocked to the Tower from the far flung reaches of Seattle – some from campus, others from downtown, still others from Northgate. Some of us came willingly - seeing the chance to be a part of something big, something beautiful. Would it be the next “Human Be-In” – a place to gather the great talents and minds of the University and harness our creative resources? Yeah, man! But for the Real Estate Office, the call to gather at the Tower was not one we answered promptly. After being here a few months, however, the benefits of togetherness are beginning to emerge.

We can now work closely with our process partners in Planning and Budgeting, the Attorney General’s (AG) Office, Treasury, and Risk Management. Rather than a conference call or bus ride to the U-District from downtown – meetings take place in person, often informally. A quick exchange in the elevator lobby or while standing in line to use the communal microwave (ok – this isn’t UTOPIA) can answer a question or move projects along without the need for lengthy meetings. Leases needing AG approval can be walked upstairs rather than sent by courier, which saves time and money and improves turn-around time.

Many of the properties we manage are located in the U-district – some in the shadow of the Tower itself. Closer proximity to our buildings and tenants allows us to be more responsive and available to serve our customers. Issues that arise at the Roosevelt Buildings or the U-District Building can be addressed promptly and in person with the property manager and impacted UW staff.

The past four months seem like a haze. I recall our neighbors in Planning and Budgeting welcomed us warmly on our first day in the Tower back in November, with offerings of free food and drink. The cookies seemed harmless enough, tasty and sweet, but months later I am feeling all warm and fuzzy about being here and it makes me wonder…