Thursday, April 21, 2016

Announcing University Business Intelligence

While the Managerial Reporting Project is conducting usability and acceptance testing ahead of the initial May reporting release, they are excited to reveal the name of the new reporting environment: UBI. UBI is a friendly, easy-to-remember moniker where “U” represents the University and “BI” stands for business intelligence.

Read more from Managerial Reporting.

UVA Forward Registration Now Open

Registration for UVA Forward is now open!  UVA Forward 2016 is an event designed for professionals who wish to lead, learn and collaborate.  Details and registration for the event are available at forward.virginia.edu.


Don’t forget to register for one of the workshops the next day, which will take a deeper dive into the following professional topics:

Upcoming Training Opportunities

Purchasing Year-End Procedures
May 4 from 12 pm-2 pm at 2400 Old Ivy Road, Room 189
Registration (Required)

It’s almost that time of the year! Find out what you need to do to be ready for Fiscal Year-end. A representative from Procurement and Supplier Diversity Services will review the scheduled dates and what departments should be doing to prepare.



Recharge/Service Centers: Everything you Need to Know
May 18 from 12 pm-2 pm in Newcomb Hall, Room 177
Registration

What is a Recharge Center? A recharge/service center is a unit within UVA which provides non-profit goods and/or services of a specialized nature to other UVA users on a recurring basis and charges a fee for those goods/services. Operations that are set up as recharge/service centers are designed to recover the costs of their operations, primarily through charges to internal UVA users. Both UVA revenue-generating policies and federal government policies must be adhered to in the establishment of developing cost-based rates to users . Come join us for a presentation and Q&A session to answer all your questions. You can register using the link, but it is not required for attendance.



"Is That What You Heard?"
May 25 from 1 pm-2 pm in Newcomb Hall, South Meeting Room
Registration

Have you ever come out of a meeting with a completely different view on what was said to that of your peers?  Join Darin Harris, Office of Quality Improvement, University of Wisconsin-Madison, as he provides a framework for understanding and interpreting a shared experience and how to use this knowledge to really engage with your team.



UVA Forward
May 26 from 8 am-5 pm at the Darden School of Business
Registration

The conference will feature a Showcase of OE sponsored projects, among other topics. Connect with your colleagues who have been working hard to bring them to fruition. Click here for more information.



Workshop with Darden Professor Ed Hess
May 27 from 8 am-12 pm in the Zehmer Hall Auditorium
Registration

This workshop will focus on how to create high performance learning teams culturally, and how to do fast low-risk learning experiments.



Society of Research Administrators (SRA) International: Virginia Chapter Annual Meeting
June 10 from 8 am-4 pm at James Madison University's Festival Conference and Student Center
Registration

This year’s meeting theme is "Sharing Solutions – Gaining the Edge." Presenters include Phil Boyce and Mike Ludwick from UVA OSP. Click here for more information.



Certified Corporate* Financial Planning and Analysis Professional (FP&A) Training Program and Annual Conference
October 23-26 in Orlando, FL

This training program and certification, offered by the Association for Finance Professionals (AFP) is designed for practitioners who perform or manage financial planning and analysis functions including  budgeting, forecasting, financial modeling, financial/strategic planning, and financial analysis. Although “corporate” is in the title of the certification, it is not industry specific and is applicable to finance professionals in all sectors.

The FP&A training program includes the FP&A learning system, exam registration, and 2 years AFP membership, and will be offered to UVA employees for $2,000 each. As you plan for your professional development for the coming year, this may be worthwhile.

AFP also has an annual conference. This year’s conference will be held October 23-26 in Orlando, FL, and if we have multiple attendees, the price is discounted.

If you’re interested in hearing more about either the certification or the conference, email pam5w@virginia.edu.

Opportunity to Serve on the UVA Staff Senate

We need you! There is currently an opening on the Staff Senate for the Alternate Staff Senator position representing the Finance area, The Office of the University Architect, Real Estate and Leasing Services, and State Governmental Relations.  The Alternate to the Staff Senator is encouraged to attend all monthly Staff Senate meetings and can serve in leadership positions, including committee co-chairs and coordinator positions. The Alternate’s term will start in July and runs for three years.  However, the term for Chris Doran, the current Senator for our area, ends in June 2017, so there will be an opportunity at that time as well to step forward and serve. Whomever fills the alternate role this summer will be eligible to run for the open Senator seat next spring.

Chris will be sending more information in the next few weeks, but if you have an interest now and would like to learn more than you can find at http://staffsenate.virginia.edu, please contact Chris, Mike Ludwick (retiring senator), Lynn Galasso (retiring alternate) or Kobby Hoffman (retiring alternate) with your questions.

As a reminder, all things Staff Senate can be found on the Staff Senate webpage, including an outstanding list of Staff Resources and an anonymous Suggestion BoxIf you use Facebook, you can connect with the Staff Senate that way, as well.

Thursday, April 7, 2016

Spring Fling & OE Showcase

The annual Carruthers Spring Fling picnic is scheduled for Tuesday, May 10 from 11:30am -1:00pm (rain date: May 11).

During Spring Fling, the Organizational Excellence Project Alliance will host a SHOWCASE, including poster exhibits and technology demos. Get current on project initiatives—come learn more and ask questions, network with project leaders, and also provide your feedback.

OE Projects and Initiatives at the SHOWCASE:

  • HR Strategic Design Initiative: Ufirst
  • ResearchUVA
  • Travel & Expense Management
  • IT Projects: Email Consolidation and Data Center Centralization
  • Gift Processing
  • Managerial Reporting Project
  • Center for Leadership Excellence
  • Strategic Sourcing
  • Cornerstone Strategic Plan

RSVP by email to orgex@virginia.edu.

SFS: 2016-2017 Awarding Season Underway

Student Financial Services is in the midst of a marathon effort to review application materials, request additional information when necessary, assign awards to students and then notify them that their award is available to view in their SIS Student Center.  For first-year undergraduates, we have a very tight turnaround: regular decision applicants learned of their admission decision on March 25 and have until May 1 to decide whether to attend UVA. We work hard to get their awards to them before May 1 so they have all the financial information they possibly can to make an informed decision about whether to accept their offer of admission.

To get a sense of the scale of this undertaking, here are some statistics from the entering undergraduate population (as of 3/31/16):

  • 4,869 Completed financial aid applications (FAFSA + CSS/PROFILE)
  • 2,375 Preliminary awards sent
  • 1,945 Students from whom SFS needs information before processing the application
  • 247 Students with completed applications who are waiting for their award

After the middle of May (when we have also completed the same process for fall transfers), we turn our attention to the returning undergraduate and graduate students, all with an eye to having their awards complete by the time the Fall 2016 statement of term charges comes out in mid-July. 

When you factor in individual counseling sessions with parents and students who want to understand the details behind their awards, Days on the Lawn presentations, the sheer volume of applications, AND all the other regular activities... our financial aid team achieves an impressive amount of work!

MRP: Three New Team Members

The Managerial Reporting Project recently added three new team members. All three joined the team as MRP is ramping up activity on all fronts. Here is a little about them:


Shannon Marshall (left) has worked at UVA for nearly two years. He transferred to the MRP team from the Medical Center, and is the project’s newest Reporting Developer.  Outside of work he enjoys fishing, playing basketball, and perfecting his target shooting. Shannon was born and raised in Charlottesville—MRP has a few with this distinction. He and his wife have three children.

Vijay Adusumilli (center) is MRP’s QA and Testing Lead. He moved to Charlottesville after completing a Masters in Industrial Engineering at Clemson. He loves to try new restaurants, and is a self-proclaimed “food junkie.” Vijay is an avid DotA2 player—which is a strategy-based online game—and word on the street is that Vijay was globally ranked at one point. He is a proud Clemson alumnus and “forever a Clemson Tiger football fan.” Don’t worry Vijay, at UVA, we hate all ACC rivals equally.

Yue Liu (right) is MRP’s newest Technical Data Analyst. Yue is pronounced as if combining the two words “you” and “uh,” but quickly, as she instructs. “It isn’t two syllables, but is isn’t one either.” Yue has been in Charlottesville for a year and a half—she recently completed a Masters in Statistics at UVA. She loves hiking and photography, and selected Charlottesville and UVA for its beauty and weather. She also cooks a lot, so the MRP team is eager to enjoy some of her Mexican/Chinese fusion experiments.

Welcome to the Managerial Reporting Project, you three!

PSDS: Vantage Point Logistics

In October 2015, the University engaged the services of Vantage Point Logistics (VPL), a third party logistics company, to act as an intermediary for inbound freight shipped by FedEx. This allows certain vendors to utilize our pre-negotiated shipping rates with FedEx when sending items to the University, drastically reducing shipping costs. As the data in the charts linked below shows, savings to departments have averaged nearly $30,000 per month. For more information, please visit: https://public.tableau.com/profile/john.e.brister#!/vizhome/VPL/Story1.


PSDS: TravelUVA Updates


  • We have negotiated a 2% discount on United Airlines tickets booked through TravelUVA, either online or with an agent. We previously negotiated the same 2% discount with Delta. Anytime you book with United Airlines or Delta using TravelUVA you are assured of receiving the best available price. 
  • You can now add a single-use credit card when booking for guests in the online booking tool. The card does not have to be stored in the assistant's profile. Please note this is only when booking for guests. Travelers with profiles will still need to choose from a credit card stored in his/ her profile. 
  • United Healthcare Global Assistance Services now provides coverage to Academic Division employees for personal travel that occurs immediately before and after business travel 100 miles or more from home. Travelers are automatically enrolled when they make their arrangements through TravelUVA.


OSP: Welcome, Brigette Pfister!

Welcome to Brigette Pfister, the new Director for Proposal and Award Management in OSP!

Brigette received her undergraduate degree in Business Administration and Computer Information Systems from Anderson College in 2004, and graduated from Clemson University’s Master in Human Resource Development program in 2010. She also holds dual certification from Management Concepts, Inc (2006) and is a Certified Research Administrator (CRA). Prior to joining UVA, she worked in pre-award at Clemson University for seven years, and in pre- and post-award at VCU for four years.

Brigette is active with the National Council of University Research Administrators (NCURA) and was recently elected as Region III Chair-Elect. Her term as Regional Chair begins this summer.

Brigette is in the process of moving to Charlottesville with her husband, Les (who is a database programmer for Xerox) and their two sons, Robert (4 years) and Harrison (2 years). In the rare event she has spare time, Brigette enjoys music, cooking, and crafting.