Welcome Tanya Rahman, Senior Project Manager in Financial Planning and Analysis

Tanya Rahman,
Senior Project Manager

UVAFinance is pleased to welcome Tanya Rahman to Financial Planning and Analysis. As she begins her role as Senior Project Manager, Rahman will be at the helm of a number of upcoming initiatives, including automation of the vendor experience in Procurement and implementation of a Budget and Forecasting application.

Rahman has over 15 years of experience in project management, system improvement, and team leadership. Most recently, she was at General Electric, where she developed program management processes and coached program teams on financial, resource, tollgate, scope change, schedule change, and risk management.

She has an MBA from Lynchburg College, is a Six Sigma Black Belt and a Certified Scrum Master. After earning her degree, she joined the faculty of the City University of New York as a mathematics instructor for four years, and then went on to project management roles at Genworth Financial and Centra before joining General Electric.

Rahman has also used her skill set leading service projects in her community, including fundraisers for the March of Dimes and the Blue Ridge Community Food Bank.

Rahman cites her affinity for change as one reason she has stuck with her chosen field.

“When you work in project management, you’re constantly working on new challenges, and figuring out new ways of doing things,” she said.

Another reason she loves what she does? People!

“Efficiency and improved experience are tied to what I do,” she said, adding, “I get to create enhanced work experiences for people and improve their lives.”

When she begins a new project, Rahman said she starts by getting to know the people who are receiving the product so she can understand how the change will affect them. That starting place is the same, whether she is working with students or professionals.

“When I taught remedial math, I enjoyed seeing the students move from having a phobia of math to a place where math is something they can do and maybe even enjoy. The unfamiliar can be unsettling. In my role, I get to guide people through change, and help them get to a place where things are easier for them.”

“I enjoy seeing the transformation,” she said.

Notes from the Mayor

A collection of upcoming dates, useful info, and general intelligence you need, straight from the desk of Carruthers Mayor Stacey Rittenhouse  . . . just in case you deleted the email.

Construction Alert:  North End of Carruthers Hall

Starting Tuesday, May 23, 2017; contractors will be working to install bollards along the north end of Carruthers Hall. This project is expected to take 10 working days to complete, weather permitting. Working hours will be 7:am until 5:pm daily.

Access to the building will be limited on the north end during construction. However, north egress for emergencies will still be allowed.

Please see map below marked in red for location.

Carruthers Hall Blood Drive on May 22

The Bloodmobile will be here on Monday, May 22, from 10:00 am - 2:30 pm.  Appointments are preferred, but walk-ins are welcome.  Please sign up with Stacey Rittenhouse or go online at https://donateblood.vablood.org 

Registration is OPEN for UVAForward!

forward.virginia.edu 

When registration for the UVAForward Conference opened on May 1, there was an incredible surge of activity in the first few days.  There have already been over 200 registrants, so don't wait too long if you haven't already registered!

Go to forward.virginia.edu to see the agenda, read about the speakers, and, of course, register.  Managers are encouraged to make allowances for staff members to attend, as this event provides many great opportunities for professional networking, growth, and development.

Sponsored Programs and Procurement: Moving research forward from behind the scenes

As described in a recent UVAToday piece, George Christ, a professor of biomedical engineering and orthopedic surgery at UVA, is leading the way for UVA to participate in a consortium of other industry, government, academic and non-profit entities whose goal it is to find common denominators in the cell and tissue engineering process in order to develop improved and more consistent manufacturing processes. Christ is also at the helm of two multi-institutional efforts to develop other tissue-engineering/biomaterials platforms to support pilot clinical trials funded by the Department of Defense.

Dr. Christ says Sponsored Programs and Procurement
play a key role in moving research forward at UVA.

For Christ, who also leads UVA’s Laboratory of Regenerative Therapeutics, the long-term goal is repairing combat injuries of US soldiers. Bioprinting provides another important platform for developing regenerative approaches to muscle tissue repair.

There was only one company that could provide the technology that delivered the level of expertise and resources required for the precise cell placement and connectivity required for muscle tissue replacement in the presence of minimal bio ink:  a west-coast based company called Organovo.

As Christ explained, “they have developed an instrument and approach that is unlike any other; they have nearly 10 years of know-how, but they’re not experts in muscle like we are.  And if a company has 10 years of expertise, I don’t want to spend 10 years catching up to them; I want to collaborate on things that are of mutual interest.”

 “What we do is outside their bandwidth, but we’re really good at it, and vice-versa, so there was a natural synergy,” said Christ.

Christ proposed to Organovo that they lease their bioprinter to UVA and agree to share protected know-how with each other.

Although Organovo was very interested in Christ’s proposal, they wanted a thorough understanding of timeline, outcomes, and other parameters.  What was needed was a carefully-arranged agreement detailing what both sides of this partnership could expect in terms of intellectual property, timelines, milestones and more, details that Christ recognized as obviously important, but not something he wanted to have to figure out himself.

Christ reached out to Kristy Hall, Director of Contracts in the Office of Sponsored Programs, and Hall took the challenge of mapping out the internal and external partnerships that were needed to effect an agreement between Organovo and UVA. 

Close coordination between several people and departments would be required for the agreement to take shape in the time frame that Christ and his team required.

“This is a ‘non-funded’ agreement in the Sponsored Programs sense,” said Hall; “and things aren’t straightforward because the contract falls into that space between Procurement and Sponsored Programs.”

Because of that intersection, Procurement and Supplier Diversity Services and the Office of Sponsored Programs would need to coordinate on which area was responsible for what pieces of the contract and work out what risks might affect either group.

Hall conferred with John McHugh, Assistant Director of Procurement Services, and together they hashed out the concerns that would need to be addressed from each of their perspectives – things like indemnification, governing law, risk management, intellectual property and data security concerns. 

It made sense that Sponsored Programs would handle the agreement, while Procurement would help them navigate the University’s requirements for competition.

“Clearly, it wasn’t possible for any other company to compete with Organovo in this instance,” said McHugh. 

“Because we do a lot of work with research and development, though, we have guidelines in place that exempt research purchases, in some cases, from the sole source process and reduce the paperwork involved.”

Bill Shoelwer of Sponsored Programs

With that solid footing, Hall was then able to turn the negotiation of the contracts over to Bill Schoelwer in Sponsored Programs, who began crafting a custom-built agreement with lots of complicated factors in play.

Schoelwer realized right away that the stakes were high with this project.  On day two of Schoelwer’s negotiations with Organovo, the article describing George Christ and Shayn Pierce-Cottler’s research appeared in UVAToday.

“The work they’re doing is so important,” said Schoelwer.

 “I felt extra motivated based on the important outcomes at stake to make sure I did my part well.  We’re expecting there to be important developments coming out of this project, and we want to account for that in the agreement and make sure all parties’ interests are accommodated.”

According to Christ, Sponsored Programs “helped keep the pendulum in the middle” in terms of making sure both UVA and Organovo felt comfortable with the terms of the collaboration, its goals, and what happened with the resulting and potentially groundbreaking developments.

The agreement was soon completed to all parties’ satisfaction and the deal was closed within the required timeframe, and as a result, Christ and his lab are set up with the right machinery to support their minds and goals.

“There were so many collaborators who worked on this,” Christ said, adding “there’s a whole ecosystem in place that helps move these key advancements forward.”

For those collaborators in PSDS and Sponsored Programs, they’re just happy the work they do helps support UVA’s research mission. 

“These are the types of things that keep me excited about what we do every day,” said Hall. 

Schoelwer said he can’t wait to see what happens with the project.  “I’ll be checking the newspapers to see what happens,” he said. 

“I’m glad I got to be behind the scenes, enabling researchers to do what they’re best at.”

Rittenhouse, Kimata win UVA recognition

With spring comes awards season at UVA, and two impressive UVAFinance Team members are among those who have recently received recognition.

Stacey Rittenhouse, Winner of the Leonard W. Sandridge Outstanding Contribution Award

Outstanding contribution to the overall mission of the University.  Contributions that have enhanced internal or public regard for the services provided by the University.  Service that has affected students, management, employees, or the community.

Upon reviewing the above selection criteria for the Leonard W. Sandridge Outstanding Contribution Award, Lorie Strother, SWaM Contract Administrator, had a candidate in mind immediately:  Stacey Rittenhouse. 

Stacey Rittenhouse receiving notification
of her award, along with flowers and
balloons.

“Every time I leave Stacey, I feel like a boss,” Strother said.

“She always has a big smile, is totally attentive, and will even step away from her desk and come with me, so I can show her what I need.  I know that she cares about my concerns, that she’s listening carefully to that concern, and that she will follow up.”

Stacey Rittenhouse’s official title is “Business Manager,” but many know her as “Mayor of Carruthers,” an unofficial (and voluntary) position she’s held for nearly as long as her 30-year tenure at UVA.  

In her official role, Rittenhouse is in charge of a plethora of administrative duties, including procurement, reconciliations, and all matters regarding the facility.  Unofficially, she is one of those people who seems to know everything and can help with virtually any question.  During the Carruthers Hall renovation, Rittenhouse, a consummate juggler of disparate tasks, took on even more responsibilities, and kept the entire building in the loop during the construction process, as the physical surroundings changed nearly every day.

“Stacey is everywhere, doing everything,” said Elizabeth Feola, Employee Recognition Specialist.  Feola adds that out of 39 nominations from all over Grounds, only Rittenhouse and four others were chosen as winners.

Strother said it wasn’t difficult to find several colleagues who were willing to add their support to Rittenhouse’s nomination. 

“My experience with Stacey isn’t isolated, it’s universal,” said Strother.

“She isn’t just making me feel good about working with her, she’s making everyone’s experience great.”

Rittenhouse will be honored at the Service Awards Dinner this June, and will also be invited to lunch with the Board of Visitors, receive an engraved gift, and be nominated for a Governor’s Award.

Steve Kimata, Winner of the Alumni Association’s Distinguished Service Award

The University of Virginia Alumni Association Distinguished Service Award is given annually by the association to a classified employee who has exhibited leadership qualities that serve as an inspiring example to his or her colleagues, and whose service involves direct contact with UVA students, faculty, and alumni.

This past April, this recognition was awarded to Steve Kimata, the Assistant Vice President for Student Financial Services (and Interim University Controller), in UVAFinance. 

Kimata has a long history with finance, having also served as the bursar and the controller in the past.   An alum of UVA, a 35 year employee, and the parent of a UVA second-year student, he was imminently qualified for the award, and his nomination, initiated by Disha Venkatesan of UVAFinance, immediately garnered much support from those who have worked with him.

“I admire Steve’s management ability,” said Venkatesan. 

“He is a transformational leader who puts his employees and customers first.”

Supporters of his nomination noted the way Kimata motivates his team every day to do what they can do to change the lives of UVA students, especially those who are in financial need. They cited his strength at relationship-building, and how he challenges his staff to understand the story behind the financial aid application, the tuition bill, and the unpaid notice.  They recounted the way he advises students and parents, helping them understand their part in creating the best possible way for the student to succeed. 

“Even during the tough situations, Steve has a calming presence,” said one SFS staff member.

Kimata was honored at an Awards Luncheon at Alumni Hall on April 21.  In her remarks for the occasion, Vice President of Finance Melody Bianchetto cited many of the kudos for Kimata that poured in to support his nomination, but as she pointed out, one particular comment sums him up most aptly:

“There is one final note about Steve that everyone needs to know.  As he’s sitting here today, he will disagree with the idea that he is the person who makes these things happen.  He will say that it’s all the people who have helped him along the way, and the people who he works with on a daily basis that make things work so well.  And that’s Steve.  And that’s exactly the reason he deserves to be given the Alumni Distinguished Service Award.”

A note about nominating

Your deserving colleagues only win awards if someone like you nominates them. 

In the words of Lorie Strother, who not only nominated Stacey Rittenhouse, but also one of last year’s Sandridge winners, Connie Alexander, “There are so many amazing people here at the University.  I’m glad we have these types of opportunities to recognize them.  We just need to take advantage of those opportunities.”

Consider how you can help the amazing people you work with get some recognition.  In addition to the awards mentioned, you can also consider Organizational Excellence’s Spotlight on Excellence

 or even a shoutout on the UVAFinance Collaboration board.

New Faces in UVAFinance

Managerial Reporting Welcomes Matt Bonham

The Managerial Reporting Project is pleased to welcome Matt Bonham in the role of Communications Lead.  Matt joins UVA after ten-plus years of creative work in commercial photography, content writing, editing, marketing, photojournalism, and project management. Prior to pulling his restored vintage Airstream travel trailer to Charlottesville, he lived and worked in the Roanoke area, where he earned his Bachelor's degree in Business Administration from Roanoke College and his MBA from Averett University. He is excited to join UVAFinance and the MRP team as a communicator.  Outside of the office, Matt enjoys music, reading, writing, hiking, biking, camping, and exploring outdoors as much as possible - even though the majority of that time is currently spent on another money pit - building an adventure van.

Elizabeth Wilson Joins Sponsored Programs

Elizabeth DeVilbiss Wilson recently joined the Sponsored Programs team as a Grants and Contracts Assistant.  In this role, she will create new awards, projects, and budgets in the system, and support grant administrators and Principal Investigators.  Wilson brings a background that spans work at both nonprofit organizations and The U.S. Department of State, as well as a variety of roles related to international issues.  She has a Bachelor’s degree in History and Spanish and a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from James Madison University.  In 2015 she was selected as the Frasure-Kruzel-Drew Memorial Fellow, where she performed grants and contracts management and processing for conventional weapons destruction programs around the world.   Wilson looks forward to using her experiences to contribute to the overall goals of the Office of Sponsored Programs, and to learning more about the breadth and depth of research being done at UVA. 

Notes from the Mayor

Deputy Mayor Mariah at her post.

Welcome, Deputy Mayor Mariah Kier!

In addition to her role at the Front Desk, Mariah Kier will also assist Stacey Rittenhouse as Deputy Mayor and with general UVAFinance Administrative Services Group (ASG) efforts.  We are happy to announce that ASG will now support the MRP team and Mariah will be the MRP team’s point person within ASG.

Mariah has been helping with Front Desk work since January 2017 and we have received fantastic reviews for her friendly personality and customer service. She recently graduated from VCU specializing in political science and International relations. 

Please congratulate Mariah the next time you see her.

  

From Melody's Desk

May 4, 2017

Dear Team, 

This April, I had the privilege of addressing attendees of the Spring 2017 Fiscal Officers of Colleges and Universities State Supported (FOCUS).  I shared with the group that one of the major changes underway at UVA is the HR transformation project we know as Ufirst.   My remarks were sparked by a book that Kelley Stuck, the new Chief Human Resources Officer who is leading this change, recommended to me:  The Future of Work, by Jacob Morgan.

Morgan describes future employees, future managers, and future organizations, focusing in particular how work will change with new generations entering the workplace. This is important, because the changes are coming quickly, and, in some ways, already here. In just three years, millennials (those born between 1977 and 1997) will make up over half of the country’s workforce (they already represent around half of the workforce in MRP, SFS, and OSP).  At about the same time, the next generation, born around the year 2000, will be coming to work, and both groups have very different expectations of communication, collaboration, and learning.

What will we do to prepare ourselves for the future state of work?

Starting with our Appreciative Inquiry process, we have begun the process of creating a culture of community, breaking down our traditional organizational groupings into a more connected, larger team:

We have re-organized our administrative, IT, communications, financial, and process improvement teams to work in a more matrixed manner.  We have a biweekly blog, where we share information about new employees, organizational successes, and finance news.  We are focused on employee engagement, collaboration, service excellence, and rewards and recognition.  We have renovated spaces to allow for collaboration, discussion, and exchange of ideas.  We hold regular gatherings, monthly UVAFinance days, and have division-wide training sessions that mix team members together. 

These are just a few steps we have taken to learn to be an organization of the future, and they are steps that have allowed this team to become more close-knit and collaborative.

I would add that we need to continue to explore, fundamentally, why we are here and how we can better enable the University’s mission to deliver exceptional education, research, and patient care . . . what role can we finance play in UVA achieving that mission?  How can we deliver on the promise to be the valued and trusted financial partner that the University community turns to first?

To do this, we will need to make an investment in time, energy and money in three key areas:

·       People:  How do we deliver training and development to current and future employees that Morgan describes as accessible anytime and anywhere, open and transparent, and collaborated and communicating in new ways?  In addition to conferences, formal educational experiences and online experiences, we have created a Management Development Program to look at specific skills needed to be a manager.  We are looking at competency-based hiring and performance evaluation.  We have partnered with a Darden faculty member to create a Leading a Lean Transformation certificate program to instill a culture and provide training on real tools to improve processes.  Next, we want to develop a curriculum to create business analytical skills.  We have held mandatory training on respectful workplaces, multi-cultural fluency, and IT security.  We regularly hold lunch and learn sessions and have developed UVAForward, an annual conference for administrative employees.

·       Processes:  How do we transform from the group that has a focus to enforce federal and state regulations to one that enables innovation, creativity, and discovery while still maintaining compliance, data integrity, and accuracy? We have implemented an incentive-based resource allocation approach to provide information and insight into revenues and expenses at the school level.  We have been learning how to eliminate waste and transform core processes.  We are getting trained on COSO, in order to develop a robust, effective, and appropriate internal controls structure.  We are updating policies and developing a template for standardized operating procedures.  We are working with IT and the provost office to develop an institutional data strategy to provide and govern the balance between compliance and transparency, standardization and flexibility.  We are beginning the process to design a chart of accounts that provides data and information as needed for an executive or board level, but also provides flexibility for data analytics desired by a dean or faculty member.

·       Systems: How do we ensure that core transactional systems can deliver functionality in a way that supports desired service delivery and support the future organizations that Morgan described as connected, adaptable, evolving, and constantly innovating? We are implementing a data warehouse and business intelligence tool, UBI, and an online support community, UBIC.  We are developing our own research administration platform and faculty portal, ResearchUVA.  We have implemented ExpenseUVA, a travel and expense management tool.  We will have WorkDay payroll and are beginning initial thoughts around labor distribution.  We are nearing the selection of a tool to take our budget and planning process out of excel spreadsheets, and partnering with IT to make minor adjustments that will have a big impact on our current financial systems.

There are lots of changes, but with change comes opportunity and uneasiness as we move to the unfamiliar, which is understandable!  It will take a careful balance of paying attention to our people, to our processes, and to our systems, to make this transformation into the “future workplace.”  

I am confident that the UVAFinance Team is up to the challenge.

ExpenseUVA Online training Custom-built by Outreach & Compliance

If you call Procurement and Supplier Diversity Services (PSDS) these days, you’ll hear the friendly, reassuring voice of Jack Jensen on their automated answering system. PSDS adopted the automated system around the same time as the ExpenseUVA launch, in order to more quickly route callers to the right team member to help them. Jensen’s recorded voice gives callers a few quick options to choose from to receive specialized service.

It was fairly easy to choose who should be the voice on the other end of the line. Jensen, a Training and Development Specialist in Finance Outreach and Compliance (FOC), is practically the voice of UVAFinance: he’s recorded hours upon hours of “tips and tricks” training to help financial professionals across grounds, and, for the hundreds who have already accessed the online, on-demand training for ExpenseUVA, it is Jensen’s voice that explains the approval routing process and guides them through the process of uploading receipts.

When the Travel and Expense Team contacted FOC about developing training for the thousands of users who would use the new expense system, the most immediate issue was how the small team could deliver training to so many.

“Not only were there a vast number of potential users,” said Jensen, “but also, there were so many different ways people could use the system: different roles, different school-level policies, reimbursing expenses, reconciling T&E cards . . . the list goes on.”

It was immediately apparent that in-person instruction would not only be hard to deliver due to the size and scope of the audience but also, given that the system was a “switch on” system with a go-live date weeks in the future, it would be an ineffective training method.

Jack Jensen working with Captivate, the program that allows
him to record narration and onscreen movements simultaneously.

Patty Marbury, UVAFinance Training Lead, put it this way: “We needed the training to be ‘just in time’ training – users need their how to’s at the moment they’re doing the task. We couldn’t be training people six weeks before go-live; they’d forget everything without a chance to immediately get in the system and begin entering expenses.”

Marbury added that another priority was providing training that was always available as a reference because different user groups wouldn’t be accessing the system all at the same time, and many users, such as infrequent travelers, would not access it routinely.

Another reason the instructor-led training model wasn’t the best choice is that many departments have their own processes and requirements when it comes to reimbursing expenses and it would be impossible for trainers to know what they are and be able to deliver effective live training.

Online training made a lot more sense, and when he began to develop the training, Jensen decided to draw from his 14 years of high school teaching experience. As a high school algebra teacher, he had “flipped” his classroom. Instead of the traditional lecture/homework model, Jensen had recorded his lectures as required watching for his students at home, leaving in-person class time as an opportunity for students to work through their algebra problems in class, asking questions and receiving Jensen’s one on one assistance.

Jensen found his flipped classroom accommodated a wider array of learning styles and allowed his students to actually understand the material more. The ability to pause instruction, to replay a portion, to both hear the instructor’s words and visually see the lesson being explained, when coupled with having someone close by when it was time to do the work, was just what many of Jensen’s students needed in order to gain a greater understanding of the subject at hand.

The flipped classroom model is also being used more widely with adult learners, so Marbury and Jensen recommended this approach for the ExpenseUVA training.

For ExpenseUVA, Jensen’s online training consists of a thorough catalog of all the information any user would ever need, organized carefully by topic and by user role. Accompanied by in-person assistance from each school/unit’s Ambassadors, as well as prompts and guides within ExpenseUVA, the training is an audiovisual walkthrough of the entire expense management process.

Developing the training was no small endeavor.

Months ago, using Chrome River’s existing training as a baseline, Jensen began the process of learning not only the Chrome River software, but also UVA’s expensing process. For weeks, working from his carefully written scripts, often from his makeshift ‘recording studio’ (a reclaimed broom closet in Carruthers Hall), he spent long hours recording voice-over guidance for every single step that anyone using ExpenseUVA could take, matching video screen capture of the process to his narrative, and making many adjustments along the way as the system took its final shape.

All in all, Jensen produced around five hours of online training, broken up into bite-sized pieces and accessible to users on demand. To date, over 340 people have accessed the online training. User response has been overwhelmingly positive; learners appreciate both the ease of finding the information they’re looking for and the fact that Jensen’s sessions are “easy to listen to.”

That easy, conversational tone is intentional, but not easy to deliver, says Jensen.

“I want the audio to sound like I’m sitting next to you, walking you through it, not like I’m reading out of a manual. When I write my scripts, I’m not writing an academic paper, I’m trying to have a conversation with someone,” he said.

Producing the training for an extraordinary, large-scale rollout like ExpenseUVA is just one example of the training efforts led by Finance Outreach and Compliance. FOC also developed and delivers a regularly-scheduled “Finance Fundamentals” course that is required training for anyone with finance system responsibilities, training for ResearchUVA as well as research administration, TravelUVA, the Integrated System, and much more. In addition, they routinely host Brown Bag sessions for finance professionals across Grounds.

“The training team in FOC is charged with designing, developing, and in some cases, delivering training on finance processes and systems for all UVA employees,” said Marbury.

“We are always happy to help,” she added.

UVAFinance will continue to help with additional ExpenseUVA training by hosting in-person lab sessions post go-live, where users can bring in their first travel workbooks or T&E Card reconciliations and work through the process with assistance. FOC and the Travel and Expense Team made the choice to offer these sessions after go-live as a way for users to get live support when entering expenses and to reinforce the online learning.

Sometimes, all users need to feel better about change is a reassuring voice explaining clearly what the next steps are and how to navigate the process, and as long as there is change, FOC will gladly be that reassuring voice, whether that is in-person or online.

ExpenseUVA and ExpenseUVA training can be accessed online at http://www.procurement.virginia.edu/pageTravelandExpense

To view training offerings from Finance Outreach and Compliance, visit foc.virginia.edu

Notes from the Mayor

A collection of upcoming dates, useful info, and general intelligence you need, straight from the desk of Carruthers Mayor Stacey Rittenhouse . . . just in case you deleted the email.

Door Access to Sponsored Programs

As of Monday, April 17th, the door at the top of the stairs on the south end of the building leading into the Office of Sponsored Programs is locked to visitors. Access will be set up the same as the SFS doors downstairs. During business hours, no code will be required, before and after hours, a code will be required. All employees in Carruthers will have access to this door with their ID. Signage has been added to make this clear to visitors.

UVAFinance is a Fragrance-Free Workplace

UVAFinance is promoting a fragrance-free environment to protect our employees’ health. We ask for your support and cooperation in promoting a fragrance-free workplace, effective immediately. Fragrances from personal care products, air fresheners, candles, and infusers have been associated with adversely affecting a person’s health including headaches, upper respiratory symptoms, shortness of breath, and difficulty with concentration. 

UVAFinance recognizes the hazards caused by exposure to scented products and we are promoting a fragrance-free environment for all employees to keep a safe and healthy workplace environment. This applies to all UVAFinance employees:

• All offices and spaces used by the staff will remain free of scented products. The use of air fresheners, candles and/or infusers are not permitted in the workplace. 
• Employees will be mindful of strong scents including personal care products such as cologne, perfume, aftershave lotions, scented lotions, fragranced hair products and/or similar products. All employees are responsible for promoting an environment where employees respect one another and their place of work. 

Moving to a fragrance-free workplace will involve making some changes; please bring any concerns to your manager’s attention and we will work with you to find solutions.

Thank you for helping to maintain an environment where all employees respect one another and their place of work!

Spring Fling is Coming!

Fried chicken, veggie burgers, potato salad, chips, cookies . . .  are you hungry yet?  Don't forget to mark your calendar to join UVAFinance colleagues for these treats and more at Spring Fling 2017 on May 3.

Click to Enlarge

UVAFinance Doesn't Feed the Phish!

That phish never stood a chance!

There was a remarkable difference between an ITS phishing simulation conducted in UVAFinance this March compared to one held last fall.

Total “phishy” messages sent: 245

Number of people who clicked on the email link (only): 4

Number of people who clicked on the email link and then entered a password: 2

Spring rate of Phishing success: .8%

Fall rate of Phishing success: 30%

What made the difference?

Between last fall and spring, 99% of UVAFinance employees completed the “SecureUVA: Best Practices to Avoid Hacking and Phishing” led by Jason Belford, Chief Information Security Officer, and Karen McDowell, Information Security Analyst, both of ITS.

UVAFinance held five on-site SecureUVA training sessions, hosted a webinar, and recorded the webinar and made it available as an online training module for UVAFinance staff in Employee Self-Service.

Protecting the University’s data (and personal data) is extremely important and becoming more difficult. “Phishing expeditions” like the ones conducted by ITS, along with thorough training, allows users of technology to learn to identify potential scams.

UVAFinance is vigilant in our efforts to keep our systems and information secure through taking part in training efforts like SecureUVA.

If you are a member of UVAFinance and would like access to the online training module to complete the training requirement or to be able to refer to as a refresher, please contact Patty Marbury at foc-training@virginia.edu.

More information on SecureUVA and phishing prevention is available here.

Innovative Research & Development RFP Process Presented at Regional Conference

At this year’s National Association of Educational Procurement’s Annual Meeting, conference attendees were treated to a breakout session given by Kristin Floyd, Senior Buyer in Procurement and Supplier Diversity Services (PSDS). 

Kristin Floyd, Senior Buyer, PSDS

Floyd’s session, “Research RFP: Procurement Collaborates with the Research Community,” detailed the unconventional Request for Proposal (RFP) issued by UVA to research and development (R&D) vendors in April 2016.

Floyd shared with a packed room how, a year ago, she solicited responses from R&D vendors in various categories of goods and services, and, rather than awarding a contract to a single vendor, UVA sought to award contract vendor status to as many vendors as possible.

The aim of the innovative approach was to reduce the administrative burden on departments, to eliminate single-source documentation, all while satisfying competitive requirements and automate vendor setup in the e-commerce Marketplace.

During her presentation, Floyd shared the reasoning behind the novel approach.

“We realized we were receiving so many sole source justifications for research because the items researchers need are so specialized, often custom made. There just weren’t enough existing contracts to satisfy researchers’ needs,” she said.

And, since the sole-source justification process is rather convoluted, especially from a principal investigator’s perspective, PSDS decided to be flexible, accommodate the needs of researchers, and add value to purchasing services. They streamlined both the documentation and award process and required vendors to provide a high level of customer service, a warranty/guarantee on goods and services, and meet discount guidelines.

Results of the new approach have been excellent, as PSDS has seen a steady increase in the percentage of spend with R&D contract vendors, corresponding with a steady reduction in cost per transaction with those vendors.

As a part of her session, Floyd found herself giving an impromptu lesson on Lean concepts, as she shared with the audience how she used some of the skills she learned in her UVAFinance Lean classes to work on this project.

Many of the audience members shared with Floyd that they considered doing the same thing, but that they hadn’t figured out how to execute the process, and how to collaborate with peers, as UVA had with the Virginia Higher Education Procurement Cooperative, to allow for enhanced negotiations and cooperative access to contracts.

Conference promotional materials touted the session as an opportunity for listeners to “learn from someone who dared to reimagine their procurement process.”

As for Floyd, she says she’s glad the message resonated with the audience.

“Doing business with all vendors is a different mindset than we’ve historically had, but it’s worth thinking about how we can do things differently to serve our stakeholders better,” she said.

For more information on PSDS’ R&D Program, contact Kristin Floyd.

Ufirst Update: A Recap of What's New and Upcoming

The Ufirst Project team continues to work hard to improve the way HR is experienced at UVA. The key in all of their recent activities has been focusing on the UVA community and gathering insights from subject matter resources (SMRs), a group of more than 150 people representing all areas:

• Hosting Workday Initial Design Sessions: the Ufirst Technology team and UVA SMRs have been meeting with the system implementer to discuss system requirements.
• Collecting insights of another SMR group on the topics of talent management, recruitment, employee relations, and more.
• Meeting with HR professionals and SMRs from all areas to address the Human Resources Business Partner design.
• Conducting a customer feedback and engagement survey to determine the needs of HR professionals and customers.

You can read more about current efforts on the Ufirst website. Check out the latest news, sign up for the Ufirst newsletter, and much more.

You’re also invited to attend the Ufirst Information Fair on Thursday, May 9, from 12:00 pm to 5:00 pm (come and go). Attendees will be able to view a demonstration of the new, cloud-based technology, learn more about future-state services, position descriptions, and organizational chart, and much more.

UVAFinance has three Ufirst area representatives who are happy to answer your questions and direct you to more information: UVAFinance HR Consultant Ashley Feero, Voice of the Customer Lynne Schwar, and Change Champion Brandi Van Ormer).


Still not sure what Ufirst is all about? Check out the video on the Ufirst home page!

The Art of Sponsored Research: Kelly Morrison Joins Sponsored Programs

The Office of Sponsored Programs’ new Director of Pre Award, Kelly Morrison, has over ten years of experience in the field of research administration at the department, school, and central administration levels, experience that makes her leadership a great asset to OSP.  She also has an abiding love of and interest in art and art history, which gives her a unique perspective on the research enterprise.

According to Morrison, working with sponsored research is a lot like interpreting artwork. 

“When you look at a work of art, it’s important to try to understand it in context of history and the artists’ intentions.  If you try to interpret it separately from that context, you won’t get the most complete understanding,” Morrison said, citing one of her favorite artists, Roberto Matta, a Chilean painter whose works were deeply influenced by political turmoil. 

“It’s the same thing with sponsored research: if you’re looking at an agreement, you have to understand it in the context of the scope of work, the budget, and all of those other key elements to get the complete understanding you need.”

The Earth is a Man - Roberto Matta
http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/artwork/117188

This holistic understanding may be one of the drivers of Morrison’s proven successes in the field of research administration.  Most recently the director of the Office for Sponsored Research at Northwestern University’s Evanston campus, Morrison oversaw $850 million in proposals and $230 million in awards each year, including large-scale, multi-institutional awards, master agreements with industry as well as the sponsored programs portfolio of Northwestern’s campus in Doha, Qatar.

While at Northwestern, Morrison provided support and advisement to its interdisciplinary research centers, led functional development and implementation of enterprise systems and reports that supported the research enterprise, facilitated Northwestern’s participation in several cross-sector Manufacturing Innovation Institutes, and led the redesign of cost sharing management across all Northwestern’s campuses. 

Her experience developing systems to support the research enterprise will come into play quickly at UVA, as she will play an important role in developing ResearchUVA into a pre-award system.

Coming from New York City and having spent the last ten years in Chicago, Morrison’s transition from urban life to UVA and Charlottesville has been an adjustment, but not an unwelcome one.

“In terms of the surroundings, it’s so beautiful here, no matter where you walk or drive,” said Morrison, adding that the unique culture at UVA has also been interesting to learn.

“There’s a commitment here to the idea of lifelong learning,” she said, observing that OSP is part of that larger context.

“That also applies to where we are in OSP – we’ve undergone a tremendous period of growth and change, and there’s so much more to do.  There’s an appetite for organizational change here, and a focus on research in a deep and meaningful way.”

Morrison already has some critical goals in mind to take the department into the future.  From compliance to customer service, she’s developing a list of priorities that center around people, processes and systems.

“The pre-award team is a very lean group with a large volume of work coming through,” she remarked. 

“I am so impressed with and grateful for all the work they’ve done while this position was vacant.”

As Morrison and the team transition into their future state, Morrison says her focus will be on establishing the appropriate infrastructure to support them and their work, and assuring both a high level of compliance and customer service. 

Although her work will be focused on ensuring institutional compliance, standard operating procedures, adequate staffing, and establishing processes and best practices, you can bet Morrison will be using the unique insights she has honed through her years as a thoughtful consumer of art:

“Ask questions, seek to understand the context, think about it critically, and interrogate it – just as you do with art.  There’s always a connection.”

ExpenseUVA: As Go-Live Approaches, Ambassadors are Paving the Way

ExpenseUVA, the online expense management system, is set to go live April 17.  The rollout of this system will affect everyone who gets reimbursed for expenses incurred in the course of doing University business, as well as everyone who makes University-related purchases with a Travel & Expense Card. 

As you might imagine, that’s a lot of people. 

How do you roll out a new program to nearly 4,000 users? 

The Travel & Expense Team in UVAFinance, along with its partners in ITS, will tell you that it takes a lot of work and a lot of support and collaboration from partners in schools and business units.  

For several months, a group of over 60 representatives from each area called Ambassadors have been trained in the system, have participated in testing of the system, and have been working within their area to help tailor a rollout plan that fits that school or unit’s specific needs. 

Using the Ambassador model means each school/unit has its own plan that makes sense for its particular needs. 

SOM ExpenseUVA Ambassadors Unique Braxton and Ben Baer
answer questions at one of their many training sessions.

“We have been working to prepare the Ambassadors and provide them with resources so they can provide the best level of support to meet the needs of their areas,” said Dolores Hildebrand, Assistant Director of Procurement and Supplier Diversity Services and ExpenseUVA project lead.

“We’re so impressed by the way our Ambassadors and partners in the schools and units have taken ExpenseUVA and run with it,” she adds.

“We definitely couldn’t do it without them.”

Here are just a few stories of how a disparate group of schools and business units have handled the uniquely-structured rollout of ExpenseUVA.

School of Medicine: Training the trainers (and training, and training, and training)

With over 40 departments and faculty and staff based everywhere from McKim Hall to the Ray C. Hunt building and many points in between, ExpenseUVA Ambassadors Ben Baer and Unique Braxton of the School of Medicine (SOM) had their work cut out for them from the beginning.  

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Advancement: Providing refreshers after go-live

Westley du Pont is one of the first to admit that if she doesn’t have the opportunity to practice a new skill she’s been taught, she’ll forget it pretty quickly.   Because she knows most people are in the same boat as she is, du Pont, Administrative Staff Assistant in University Advancement and ExpenseUVA Ambassador, decided early on that she wanted to pay special attention to the part of the rollout that came after go-live. 

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Darden: Many travelers, lots of questions

There’s a significant amount of travel occurring amongst the faculty and staff of Darden Business School. Between the admissions and career development group and the faculty, who are involved with global student programs and research conferences, travel expenses are a significant portion of the expenses processed by Beth Van Hook’s office.

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Thank you to all of the ExpenseUVA Ambassadors, subject matter experts, and fiscal whizzes out there who have partnered with the Travel & Expense Team to make this rollout as pain-free as possible.  Your efforts will make all the difference, and you are much appreciated!

For more information on ExpenseUVA, an Ambassador Database, access to training, and much more visit Procurement and Supplier Diversity Services’ Travel and Expense site.