Introducing the Finance Shirt Friday Team

Devin Foster, Alamanita Graves, Mel Miller, Stacey Parmenter,
Nick Williams, and Irene Paschall.  Not pictured:  Danielle Brown

If you've been out and about in Carruthers Hall lately, you've probably seen evidence of a renewed emphasis on "Finance Shirt Friday," and hopefully, you've been reminded to keep your UVAFinance t-shirt and/or polo in rotation and to recognize your colleagues on the Shout-Out board.

Who's responsible for this swell of Finance Shirt Friday spirit?  It's the Finance Shirt Friday Team!

The Finance Shirt Friday Team is a group of employees who answered the Culture Crew's call for volunteers to build team spirit within UVAFinance.

Composed of Mel Miller, Almanita Graves, Danielle Brown, Nicholas Williams, Stacey Parmenter, Irene Paschall. and Devin Foster, they're invigorated and eager to promote a fun atmosphere within our workplace.

The team says they aim to increase participation in Finance Shirt Friday, not just because of the possibility of prizes, but because it allows everyone a chance to feel camaraderie and meet colleagues from other areas.

"We want to showcase who we are as UVAFinance and celebrate supporting this family," says team member NickWilliams.

The group wants to extend the impact of Finance Shirt Friday, encouraging more participation from every area of UVAFinance and recognizing those who join in.


Team member Danielle Brown hopes getting more people involved will allow people more opportunities to connect with their work family.

The Finance Shirt Friday Team agrees, saying that it puts faces with names in and outside of your own department, encourages engagement, fosters unity, and recognizes the excellence that exists within our Finance community.

If you'd like to participate with this high-energy group, they would love to have you!

"We're interested in creative ideas to promote collegiality," says member Almanita Graves, adding, "more people make that creativity stronger -- the more, the merrier!"

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Contact any member of the Finance Shirt Friday Team if you're interested in joining the team.

Watch for more from this group around the building and in upcoming blog posts!

More information about Culture Crew opportunities can be found here. 

Don't Miss UVA Forward!

Only 75 spots left! 

THIS EVENT IS IN THE PAST

Register now on the UVA Forward site!

What do we have planned? 

 Check out this year's agenda.

See who's speaking:

Plenary Sessions

Breakouts

Fast Breakouts

Read more about our Community Focus

UVAFinance: New shortcuts in your startup menu

Thanks to our LSPs, UVA Finance team members now have four new helpful shortcuts available in their startup menu (placed there so your desktop isn't too cluttered!):

Thanks for making it easier for us, LSPs!

• Finance Help Desk:  Need to submit a ticket?   Just click and you're routed to KACE.
• Finance Remote Support: If you're away from Carruthers and need your LSP to remotely access your machine to help you, this link will be at the ready.
• UVA Network SetUp Tool:  this is the new browser-based tool that provides access to Eduroam Wi-Fi (which will eventually replace Cavalier and Jefferson)
• UVA HR & Workday:  Launch Workday with a couple of clicks
• UVA Password Reset:  Link to ITS' password help and ID lookup

 

If you have ideas for other shortcuts that might be helpful, contact Mike Hayton or Linda Estepp.

Continuous Improvement Bright Spot:

A key part of continuous improvement culture is "finding the bright spots" -- looking at who has had success making changes and operating differently. Small changes can make a big difference!
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The Issue:  Recon@ provided limited flexibility for Fiscal Officers seeking key performance measures such reconciliation completion, delinquency of accounts, and more.

The Improvement: The Recon@ team had been using Qlik for a while to manage their interaction with data.  They decided to expand this availability to all by developing a module in Qlik Sense that makes data more attainable and quicker to get.


The Solution: The new Recon@ app in Qlik's Finance Stream of the Qlik Sense hub now gives Fiscal Officers more flexibility in how they slice and dice their data.  Included in the module, users can find a data dictionary and a manual that provides supplemental instruction for navigating the app.   Users can assign this module to others in their unit who need access by contacting recon@virginia.edu with the name and computing ID of the person to be added.


The Benefits: Users can easily check on the status of reconciliation completion by area, identify delinquent projects, find assigned preparers and approvers, and more.


The Bottom Line:  Administrative oversight is easier and quicker than ever.



Got a bright spot to share?  Email bv8h@virginia.edu 

Keeping up with Finance Transformation

FST Moves Forward with Phase 2:  Read Melody's announcement about Phase 2: Readiness

Slides presented at Advisory Group on Wednesday, May 22.  Includes a project update, and work on Vision and Goals for FST.

Slides presented at Steering Committee on Thursday, May 30.  Furthering the discussion of Vision and Goals.

Project Portfolio Roundtable June 12

to register, click here:  at.virginia.edu//UPP-Roundtable

University Night at Scott Stadium: UVA vs. FSU

Virginia Football hosts Florida State on Saturday, Sept. 14 for the ACC home opener at Scott Stadium. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. under the lights!

This game will mark the second annual University Night at Scott Stadium when we will celebrate the achievements of UVA faculty, staff and students.

Special Offer for You!
As a valued member of the University community, we'd like to extend a special ticket offer to you for the University Night football game vs. FSU. 

Click here to purchase tickets starting at just $25 - a savings of over 50% - and then invite family and friends to join!

Thank you for your support of Virginia Football. Go Hoos!

UVAFinance: Securely delete sensitive files

Did you know?  Highly sensitive data should not be deleted in your computer's standard recycle bin.  Instead, use the Secure Deletion Shredder recently installed as a desktop shortcut on your machine.  Our LSPs added this software to align with Information Security's best practices. 

Look for this icon on your desktop:

Read more about device security at UVA.

New on Finance Matters

"Switch - How to Change Things When Change is Hard"

Brandi and Patty welcome Theran Fisher back to the podcast, this time to discuss Chip and Dan Heath's immensely useful book "Switch." As a part of his role with UVA's Talent Development department, Theran has used "Switch" to help many professionals understand how to understand and motivate themselves and their teams during times of change. Get on your elephant and listen in!

Theran Fisher

LISTEN HERE!

Resources Mentioned:

UVA Talent Development
Heath Brothers resources on Switch (and their other books, too!)
Power of Habit Podcast


Theran's previous pods:

Self Awareness and Self- Leadership
Self-Awareness and Work Relationships

The Importance of Resilience

On this edition of Finance Matters, we welcome Lisa Harris, Senior Learning & Development Consultant with UVA's Talent Development Department, back. This time, we're talking about resilience: what it is, why it matters, and how we can cultivate it in ourselves and our teams. We cover a lot of ground in 35 minutes: "embracing the suck," mindfulness, and jello shots. Tune in and learn the power of bouncing back!

Lisa Harris

LISTEN HERE!

Resources Mentioned:

UVA's FEAP Program
UVA Talent Development
Hunting the Good Stuff
Embracing the Suck


Lisa's previous pod: 

Bridging the Generation Gap in the Workforce

From Melody's Desk

Dear Colleagues,


As we move into the relatively quiet period of summer without students in Charlottesville, I’m writing with a few updates that you will be interested to hear.

First, there is good news regarding Finance Strategic Transformation. Last week, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer J. J. Davis and Executive Vice President and Provost Liz Magill agreed to serve as executive co-sponsors of FST and have endorsed our proposal to move ahead with Phase 2: Readiness. J.J. and Liz's enthusiasm for the vision we're working toward is exciting to see! You can learn more on the Online Finance Community, but in brief, these are the activities that we are planning for Phase 2, which will continue through December 31, 2019:

• Financial reporting and analytics strategy;
• Chart of Accounts (CoA) redesign
• Documentation of accounting practices and prototyping business processes;
• Assessing Workday HCM remediation necessary to accommodate Workday Financials;
• Refining the FST change management strategy
• Refining the data and IT landscape strategies
• Exploring the post-implementation support model

At the upcoming Board of Visitors meeting, we’ll share an update on Phase 1: Assessment & Planning and the plans for Phase 2. The project team will continue working through the summer to seek authorization to move forward with Phase 3: Implementation in January 2020. In the meantime, the FST project team will begin mobilizing and adding team members for Readiness, so you will hear more about this shortly

Next, I want to provide an update on several ongoing organizational changes in UVAFinance.

As you know, in January 2019, the position of Associate Vice President for Financial Operations (AVPFO) was posted. This position is soon to be re-launched with the revised title of Associate Vice President for Finance and Controller; the external executive search firm of Isaacson Miller (which assisted in the UVA presidential and EVP/COO searches) has been engaged to assist with this search. We will be adjusting the position description slightly to seek candidates with prior experience as a controller and in working closely with financial system implementation projects. I hope to have someone on-site in this role by early fall. I am very pleased that Judy DiVita has agreed to continue as Interim Associate Vice President for Financial Operations until the leader is on board.

I am also deeply appreciative that John McHugh continues to serve as the Interim Director of Procurement. The national search for this role will also be managed by Isaacson Miller as the executive search firm. We expect to commence this search as soon as the AVPFO winds down, with the hope of making that hiring decision shortly after the AVPFO is on-board.

As many of you are aware, in February 2019, when Jim Matteo left the University of Virginia, the functions of treasury, property and liability risk management, enterprise risk management, and university-affiliated organization (UAOs, formerly foundations) relations were moved to UVAFinance. I have really enjoyed getting to know these teams and seeing how we are all going to benefit from a closer working relationship. You may remember that I took the following actions at that time:

• Rick Schupp, the former Director of Risk Management retired in April and we launched the Director of Risk Management search toward the end of March. We hope to have a new Director of Risk Management in place by late summer.
• Julie Richardson was named Interim Managing Director of Treasury and Risk Management. In this role, Julie reports directly to me and leads the treasury and property and liability risk management activities.
• Phil Porter continues to lead the functions of enterprise risk management and UAO relations. Phil reports directly to me at this time and will eventually report to the AVPFS (described below) when hired.
• The position of Treasurer was re-structured into the Associate Vice President for Financial Strategy (AVPFS). This position is currently open and the first round of interviews are expected to occur in the next couple of weeks. I am hoping to have someone on-site in this role by the end of summer. The AVPFS will have three primary responsibilities:

• Primary oversight of a multi‐year master financial framework incorporating all financial plans and activities and highly focused on reporting and analytics.
• Implement and lead an organization to provide financial advice and support through high‐level service and solutions (including training, communications, and outreach) for schools, business units, and University associated organizations.
• Oversee and ensure the overall effectiveness of the entire UVAFinance administration.

UVAFinance was also approved to add four new key positions with the 2019-20 budget. Three positions in financial aid will allow us to better serve our students, deliver financial aid awards more quickly, enhance financial aid, and add an early decision cycle to our early action and regular decision admissions cycles. One position has been added to tax and operational contracts as we continue to see more and more academic and international activities that require special handling and review.

I also want to extend my deep appreciation to Dave Boling, who is planning to retire in the next several weeks. Dave has been a dedicated and talented leader in UVAFinance and at UVA in general and will be sorely missed. We wish him all the very best in their retirement!

Finally, I am happy to report that UVAFinance Classified and University Staff employees hired prior to December 31, 2018 are eligible for an upcoming merit increase. The Classified employee merit increases go into effective on June 10, 2019 while the University staff increases are effective July 8, 2019. For more information on the merit increases please visit https://hr.virginia.edu/academic-merit-process.

Thanks again for all your continued hard work! I hope that you each are planning some time away this summer with your family and friends.

Regards,

Updates in the Community

Batten joins the Adaptive Insights Pilot.  See what's next for this project within Finance Strategic Transformation. https://ubicommunity.virginia.edu/community/uva-finance-transformation/blog/2019/05/22/batten-joins-adaptive-insights-pilot?ru=2752&sr=stream

Do you speak Data?

"Data fluency."  It's not just a piece of jargon or a buzzword.  

It could be the biggest thing keeping you and your stakeholders from making sense of the data you share in a way that allows you to move forward collaboratively, solve problems, and fulfill your mission. 

 Check out the launch of a new series on Data Fluency in the Community Hub. 

For more help on learning the lingo of data, don't miss "What is Data Governance?"

Procurement Welcomes Ashley Matherne

Ashley Matherne has joined the Accounts Payable team in Procurement and Supplier Diversity Servies in the role of Accounts Payable Specialist.

Originally from Florida, Matherne received a degree in finance from Kennesaw State in 2015.  Before that, she attended East Georgia State College, where she played softball.  Her professional experience includes accounts receivable work at a security monitoring company.

Her new role in accounts payable agrees with Matherne.  

"Accounts payable is a better fit for me," she says, adding that she enjoys the inclusive and prestigious atmosphere she's found at UVA.

Matherne and her family moved to Charlottesville when her fiance Anthony Davis joined the UVA Athletics staff.  They and their three-year-old son Tre' are enjoying Virginia and its natural beauty very much so far.   The family enjoys sightseeing together and playing video games.

Hess brings Hyper-Learning to UVA Forward 2019

Ed Hess

The Digital Age will transform how we live and how we work. The pace and magnitude of the changes that are coming will require Humans to continuously learn, unlearn and relearn at the pace of technological change. That learning will have to be fast and high quality. That is Hyper-Learning.

Achieving Hyper-Learning will require many organizations and many people to adopt a New Way of Working – new mindsets, behaviors, and processes. This talk with Darden Professor, Ed Hess, will explore that New Way of Working and the types of teams that will be necessary to optimize Hyper-Learning.

- Session Description for "Hyper-Learning: Human Excellence in the Digital Age," scheduled for UVA Forward this June

Have you registered for UVA Forward 2019?  Registration is open now! 

 If you're interested in staying relevant in your career and meeting the needs of your stakeholders, consider Ed Hess's breakout session, "Hyper-Learning:  Human Excellence in the Digital Age" offered at UVA Forward this June.

Hess is Professor of Business Administration, Batten Faculty Fellow and Batten Executive-in-Residence at the Darden School of Business.  He's the author of 12 books, over 130 articles, and over 60 Darden cases dealing with growth, innovation and learning cultures, systems and processes.  The common theme of his work is high individual and organizational performance.  

"We are on the leading edge of a technology tsunami - the convergence of Artificial Intelligence, the Internet of Things, Big Data, Virtual and Augmented Reality, Nanotechnology, etc. -- that will transform how we live and work," says Hess.

And that, he says, requires the fast, high-quality learning he calls Hyper-Learning.

Hess's concept of hyper-learning is fascinating and has galvanized groups ranging from students and executives to the United States Navy and government entities.

Although those of us in academia are used to a certain amount of "transformation" and change, Hess's concepts are more comprehensive and come from a more human angle.   A Hyper-Learning organization, he says, involves a major transformation at the very foundation of the existing system, including changes that address cultural, structural, managerial, and leadership models, as well as changes to processes in order to enable the uniquely human capabilities that can't be matched by technology. 

"A new type of organization will be needed in many cases -- a community of people that is more humanistic, people-centric, and designed to enable the highest levels of human emotional, cognitive and behavioral performance."

Check out Hess's session and the entire UVA Forward 2019 schedule here: https://forward.virginia.edu/

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For more on Ed Hess and his work, see the following: 

https://www.darden.virginia.edu/faculty-research/directory/edward-d-hess/

https://ideas.darden.virginia.edu/authors/edward-d-hess/

https://www.darden.virginia.edu/batten-institute/research/publications/humility/

VHEPC welcomes Chris Gerner

VHEPC's Chris Gerner and a new friend he made while hiking.  

The Virginia Higher Education Procurement Consortium and Procurement & Supplier Diversity Services are pleased to welcome Chris Gerner to the role of Senior Data Analyst.

Gerner, who has been on board since the end of April, is located at UVA and works with VHEPC colleague Ryan Balber to negotiate better purchasing contracts for VHEPC's 15 member entities.

A Hoo with a bachelor's in Mathematics/Economics, Gerner also has a master's in data analytics engineering from George Mason University.  Gerner comes to Charlottesville most recently from George Mason University, where he was a procurement data analyst for over six years.  His experience also includes data analysis roles with GEICO and Inova.

"As the Director of VHEPC, Ryan is all about data and data-driven strategy, so this position was a great opportunity for me," says Gerner.

"I feel really grateful to be here learning the programs, delving into things and helping our member schools and the taxpayers."

Gerner has been surprised at how much UVA has changed since he graduated in 2005.

"It's been interesting," he says.  "The last time I was here, I was broke with no car, and now I'm a 'real adult,'" he laughs.

His former dorm may have been replaced by a new one, but he still finds Charlottesville a great place to be, especially as he is an avid hiker.

To read more about VHEPC and its benefit to UVA and other member institutions, check out this blog article, or read about VHEPC on their website.