Financial Assistant Workload

By: Doug Belliston

Financial Assistant Task Force: Susan Bettis, Al Merkley, Mike Nelson, Pamela Castillo, Ron Woods, John Gardner, Doug Belliston, Rebecca Waldron, Penny Morrell, Denise Haney

Ancient History Issue of assistant work overload came up

last year at this retreat FAT Force formed! (Financial Assistant Task Force)

Discussions, Focus Group Expectations for standard employee category,

increased pay! No standard job description possible; of 239

Survey responses, 239 unique combinations

What was learned by the Task Force? Technology skills often lag; person not

matched to skills needed Financial Services does not train well

“Good technicians, lousy trainers!” Implementations/upgrades must be better

paced (Fast Track, Extensity, Cashnet, Bob, AIM, Star,

Y Jobs, ePAF…) Financial duties not receiving desired level

attention

What was learned by the Task Force? WORK WITH US!

Involve users in design! Remember yours is not the only system! Let us learn on what we will use! MAC is here to stay and we are vocal!

What was learned by the Task Force? Time itself has allowed people to build

familiarity and get over the hump Help Desks along the Extensity model Mentored and peer-to-peer training Reference Guides Many infrequent users—make tools very

intuitive Pace implementations-don’t bury us

What was learned by the Task Force? Plan for organizational resistance

Lack of knowledge breeds insecurity and sense of embarrassment

Lack of confidence in new systems perpetuates shadow systems—often beyond their true need

Better Training! Which led to the Financial Assistant Survey

Remember the Survey….?FT/PT Employee Name:

College:

Phone: Department/ Center/Area:

Email:

Enter D, S, DS, or N D=Do Personally S=Supervise Task DS=Do Personally & Supervise Task N=Not applicable

Want or Need More Training? Y/N Y=Need Training N=Adequately Trained Other Comments?

PurchasingInitiate Purchase RequisitionsReview/process Purchase Reqs for othersInitiate CPOsMaintain P-CardMaintain P-Card receiptsMaintain COD (Convenience) Checks and supportApprove Others' P-Card transactionsArrange/negotiate independent contractorsInitiate Fast Track purchasesReview/process Fast Track for othersStewardship for Petty Cash or Change FundsProcess AP UploadsMaintain Signature Card, Bookstore Card, and supportOther: Other:

% Time for Financial Duties - 239 Respondents

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

1-9% 10-19% 20-29% 30-39% 40-49% 50-59% 60-69% 70-79% 80-89 90-100%

Percent of Time

Nu

mb

er

of

Fin

an

cia

l A

ss

ista

nts

Assistant Time Commitments

How many things do people do?

Avg. Number of Duties Per Person When:

Does Tasks, 15.1

Supervises Tasks, 2.0

Both Does & Supervises Tasks, 4.8 21.8 Financial Tasks

Per Person

How many tasks do people have?

Time Committed vs. Tasks Covered

19

14

56

1

10

17

2

9

4

10

13

1112

9

3

8

2

10

13

4

1

4 4

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

20

Under 20% 20-39% 40-59% 60-79% 80-100%

Time Commitment

# P

eo

ple

1-10 11-20 21-30 31-40 41-50# Of Tasks:

How is supervision handled?

Task Supervision

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%

100%

Bio Ag

Engineering

Faculty Center

Fine Arts

Graduate Studies

HHPHumanities

Law School

Marriott School

Nursing

Physical & Math

Religion

SAASStudent Life

Do andSupervise

Supervise

Do

Leveraging Tasks Within Areas

Major Area Specific Task

% Supervised or Done/

SupervisedAccounting/Reporting Perform balance sheet reconciliations 37%Accounting/Reporting Enforce/Monitor research accounting procedures 35%Accounting/Reporting Enforce/monitor University policy 32%Accounting/Reporting Administer accounting for sponsored research 31%Accounting/Reporting Enforce/monitor financial procedures 30%HR/PR Kronos-monitor, adjust hours 46%HR/PR Kronos-obtain work supervisor approvals 46%HR/PR Review and input time cards 43%HR/PR Admin sick/vacation entry, reconciliation 35%HR/PR Administer student hiring and changes in ePAF 32%Purchasing Initiate CPOs 43%Purchasing Maintain Signature Card, Bookstore Card, and support 41%Purchasing Review/process Purchase Reqs for others 39%Purchasing Stewardship for Petty Cash or Change Funds 36%Purchasing Initiate Purchase Requisitions 35%Purchasing Maintain COD (Convenience) Checks and support 34%Purchasing Maintain P-Card receipts 31%Travel & Extensity Organize/process Extensity documentation 42%Travel & Extensity Enter Extensity reimbursement data input 42%Travel & Extensity Plan travel for self and others 38%

Note: Tasks with greater than 30% supervision of others or combination

How Things Are Done - By Area

Accounting, Financial Statements and BobAcross 16 Tasks - 132 People Partipate, Avg. 75

Do76%

Do/ Supervise18%

Supervise6%

PurchasingAcross 13 Tasks - 144 People Partipate, Avg. 97

Do67%

Supervise9%

Do/ Supervise

24%

How Things Are Done - By Area

Human Resource and PayrollAcross 9 Tasks - 119 People Partipate, Avg. 88

Do66%

Supervise14%

Do/ Supervise

20%

TravelAcross 5 Tasks - 143 People Partipate, Avg. 97

Do62%

Supervise28%

Do/ Supervise

10%

How Things Are Done - By Area

BudgetAcross 3 Tasks - 99 People Partipate, Avg. 71

Do

81%

Do/ Supervise

14%

Supervise

5%

CashieringAcross 2 Tasks - 105 People Partipate, Avg. 52

Do57%

Supervise14%

Do/ Supervise

29%

Distribution of Duties by College

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Bio Ag

Engine

ering

Facult

y Cen

ter

Fine A

rts

Gradu

ate

Studie

sHHP

Humanitie

s

Law S

choo

l

Mar

riott

Schoo

l

Nursing

Physic

al & M

ath

Religion

SAAS

Stude

nt L

ife

Acctg/Reporting Budget Cashiering HR/Payroll Purchasing Travel & Extensity

Assistant Time by CollegePhysical & Math - 29 Respondents

8

5

4 4

8

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10-20% 20-40% 40-60% 60-80% 80-100%

% Time Dedicated

# A

ssis

tan

ts

Fine Arts - 21 Respondents

8

5

8

0123456789

10-20% 20-40% 40-60% 60-80% 80-100%

% Time Dedicated

# A

ssis

tan

ts

Engineering - 16 Respondents

4

2

6

4

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

10-20% 20-40% 40-60% 60-80% 80-100%

% Time Dedicated

# A

ssis

tan

ts

Humanities - 15 Respondents

1

6

3

5

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

10-20% 20-40% 40-60% 60-80% 80-100%

% Time Dedicated

# A

ssis

tan

ts

Assistant Time by CollegeBio Ag - 17 Respondents

5

2

6

4

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

10-20% 20-40% 40-60% 60-80% 80-100%

% Time Dedicated

# A

ssis

tan

ts

SAAS - 21 Respondents

8 8

4

1

0123456789

10-20% 20-40% 40-60% 60-80% 80-100%

% Time Dedicated

# A

ssis

tan

ts

Student Life - 27 Respondents

8

7

3 3

6

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10-20% 20-40% 40-60% 60-80% 80-100%

% Time Dedicated

Marriott School - 21 Respondents

7

5

1

4 4

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

10-20% 20-40% 40-60% 60-80% 80-100%

% Time Dedicated

Training Needs

% # Area33% 40 Accounting - Develop custom BOb Queries27% 33 Accounting - Use standard BOb Queries16% 19 Accounting - Use Adobe to add comments to emailed reports15% 18 Purchasing - Initiate Fast Track purchases14% 17 Travel - Plan travel for self and others13% 16 Purchasing - Initiate Purchase Requisitions13% 16 Travel - Enter Cliq Books travel reservation requests12% 15 Travel - Enter Extensity reimbursement data input11% 14 HR - Administer student hiring and changes in ePAF11% 13 HR - Administer Y - Jobs (Staff, Admin, Faculty)10% 12 Accounting - Receive, review emailed monthly reports9% 11 Accounting - Prepare Journal Entries9% 11 Accounting - Prepare summary reports for management9% 11 Accounting - Review statements and identify problems9% 11 HR - Post student jobs electronically9% 11 Purchasing - Arrange/negotiate independent contractors

% Requesting Training(122 Total Respondents)

Training Requests

Purchasing (58% of 103 Requests)

Initiate Purchase

Requisitions, 15

Arrange/ Negotiate

Independent

Contractors, 11

Maintain P-Card

and Receipts, 17

Initiate CPOs, 9Initiate Fast Track

Purchases, 18

Travel and Extensity(95% of 59 Requests)

17

Enter Extensity

Reimb. Data, 15

Organize/ Process Extensity

Documents, 8

Enter Cliq Books Travel Reservation Requests, 16

Training Requests

HR and Payroll (80% of 70 Requests)

Administer student

hiring and changes

in ePAF, 14

Establish Student

Contracts, 9

Kronos-monitor,

adjust hours, 9

Post student jobs

electronically, 11

Administer Y-J obs

(Staff , Admin,

Faculty), 13

,

Accounting, Finanical Statements, and Bob(63% of 181 Requests) Review

emailed monthly

reports, 12

Prepare mgmt summary

reports, 12

Add comments via

Adobe, 18Use standard BOb Queries,

33

Develop custom BOb Queries, 39

Budget and Cashiering had 19 total training requests.

Conclusions? Assistants seem to be adapting to the many

changes; less vocal frustrations Role of assistants must be considered within each

area—job descriptions, internal controls, duties vs. skills, specialization or generalist

Financial Services needs much better training approach and follow up

System tools are needed—help desks, reference guides, peer-to-peer training

More?