New Office of Student Finance director announced

We are pleased that Tina Falkner has accepted the position of Director of the Office of Student Finance (OSF) within Academic Support Resources, effective immediately. Tina has served as the Interim Director of the OSF since May 2015. During that time, she has focused on sustaining an inclusive, engaged environment for the team and has helped build bridges between (and within) OSF and their key stakeholders.

Thanks again to the search committee, interview committee and everyone who attended the open forums to learn about Tina’s vision for the Office of Student Finance.

Analytics and Data Integration working group update

ASR’s Analytics and Data Integration working group -- composed of Ingrid Nuttall, Jeremy Todd, Emily Holt and Justin Pouliot -- is meeting regularly to explore strategic opportunities that can benefit the University, as well as ASR.  As part of this effort, the working group is assembling and participating in cross-functional teams within ASR to identify issues and possible solutions. These collaborative efforts will include EDMR, OIT, Finance and Human Resources in the future. The working group began a search and hiring process to start building an Analytics and Data team that will collaborate closely with other units throughout the University to help develop new reporting, analytics and data solutions.

Travel Policy refresher

With many ASR staff taking trips or attending conferences in the near future, Jeremy Schwanz and Debbie Henderson kindly compiled important information for University business travelers. This information includes a recap of recent changes to the University’s travel policy, helpful resources, and tips for reimbursements. The information is useful for seasoned, as well as first-time travelers.

Travel Policy Overview (view Google doc version)

The Traveling on University Business policy was updated in January 2015.  Some of the notable changes include:

• The deadline for requesting travel reimbursements has been extended to 60 days following the conclusion of travel.
• The language governing the handling of reimbursement requests has been updated to require denial of any request that does not meet documentation standards and/or is submitted after 60 days.  In the rare case of an exception to this rule, some reimbursements may become taxable to the individual under IRS guidelines.
• The definition of what qualifies as business mileage has been clarified.
• Routine updates of what travel expenses are considered reimbursable.

The University’s travel policies and resources are quite extensive, so it can be easy to overlook key components especially if you do not travel frequently or are a first-time traveler.  Some of the most common resources and policy components to be missed are:

• Resource: The University maintains many contracts for travel related services (e.g. airfare, car rentals, lodging, etc.).  For information on current contracts and how to use them, visit the Travel Services and UWide Contracts websites.  [Bonus Tip: Some of these contracts can be used for personal travel!]
• Policy: Lodging expenses not supported by a pre-negotiated conference rate are subject to per diem rules based on the travel destination.  If you are unable to make a reservation within the posted per diem, you are required to obtain an approved Request for Lodging Exception prior to travel, otherwise the reimbursement is limited to the maximum allowable per diem.
• Policy: If you travel by airline more than twice a year and earn frequent flier miles from flights paid for with University funds (including reimbursements), you are required by Minnesota State Statute 15.435 to track the accrual of miles from University business and only use those miles for future business travel.

Once travel is complete, we all want to be reimbursed for our out of pocket expenses.  Here are a few tips to help complete the Employee Expense Worksheet and get your reimbursement sooner rather than later:

• Always start with the most current version of the Employee Expense Worksheet available in the UWide Forms Library as Finance Form UM 1612.  This will ensure you have the most current mileage rates and are supplying the information required by current policy.
• Be sure to provide a detailed justification that meets the standards outlined in the Documenting Financial/Accounting Transactions policy.  A useful Justification Standards Job Aid was created to provide guidance on what information is required for each transaction type.
• Submit an itemized receipt (or invoice) for each expense over $25 (excluding meals covered by per diems).  General charge card transaction slips that only provide the total charge do not qualify as supporting documentation and will cause the request to be denied.
• Meal per diems have been setup for many of the common destinations to which we travel.  However, there are many examples where the exact city isn’t listed (e.g. the suburb of that major metropolitan center).  In these cases, look up the per diems based on the county before using the standard rate.  A city-county search is available on the National Association of Counties website to help identify the appropriate county.
• Be aware of what is and is not considered reimbursable.  Reimbursement requests that include many non-reimbursable expenses take longer to process because of follow-up questions and document corrections.
• Always remember to sign your Employee Expense Worksheet and to get your supervisor’s signature.  Reimbursement requests are considered incomplete until these required signatures are obtained.

Anyone who travels on behalf of the University is expected to be familiar with all current travel policies.  Questions regarding these policies can be directed to your unit preparer.

1095-C Health Coverage tax form reminder

If you have not received your 1095-C Health Coverage tax form yet or believe a correction needs to be made to a form you did receive, please call 4-UOHR (612-624-8647 or 1-800-756-2363, option 1), or send an email to benefits@umn.edu to let Employee Benefits know. 

ImageNow Upgrade happening Feb. 20-21

The University will upgrade its document imaging and management system, ImageNow (rebranded Perceptive Content), to version 7.1 on Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 20-21. Learn more about the upgrade.

Enrollment Policies and Procedures updated

The spring 2016 Enrollment Policies and Procedures document has been updated and published on the One Stop website. You can view a PDF here.

2016 State of the University Address

President Eric W. Kaler will give the 2016 State of the University Address on Thursday, March 3, 2016 from 1:00 to 2:00 p.m. in Coffman Memorial Union Theater. All University staff are invited to attend and can submit their questions for the President here.

Survey says...

Thank you to all of those who participated in the recent ASR Development and Leadership survey. The responses were presented to the ASR Directors to give them a current view of staff leadership and development activities, and to find opportunities to enhance what ASR provides to staff. The ASR Engagement team will continue to work with ASR staff to look at leadership and development opportunities for ASR. If you are interested in a leadership opportunity, please contact your supervisor.

Development Opportunities	Current Staff Participation	Staff Interested	Difference
Classes, workshops, or conferences	86.8%	92.1%	5.3%
Certification, credential, or degree	37%	82.2%	45.2%
ASR committees	51.6%	67%	15.4%
Campus wide committees	47.8%	65.2%	17.4%
Led a project, implementation, work team	46.7%	52.8%	6.1%
Leadership role in organization or I/F COP	44.6%	55.6%	11%
Gave a presentation or published an article	63%	57.8%	-5.2%
Leadership program at University	10%	71.9%	61.9%
Leadership program non-University	5.6%	64.4%	58.8%

OHR’s Leadership at all Levels initiative

ASR has a couple of participants in OHR's upcoming programs for leadership development: Melissa Gaspar from the Office of Student Finance and Andrew Fields from One Stop in the January to March “Leadership Training for Individual Contributors” cohort. The programs give staff an opportunity to learn about results, vision, engagement, collaboration, and accountability. Please contact your supervisor or unit director if you are interested in participating in one of OHR’s leadership programs.

Nominations open soon for P&A Outstanding Unit Award

Nominations open on February 22 and are due by 5:00 p.m. on March 23. This award recognizes units of the University of Minnesota that are judged to be exemplary in their support of P&A staff and the critical role P&A employees fulfill in supporting the University's mission. Any unit in which a P&A staff holds an appointment is eligible to be nominated, or to apply.

Surviving the winter at work

Tips from Fast Company for increasing your happiness during the winter months that don't involve coffee, can you believe that they don't include coffee?

• Let the light in - Try to get 30 minutes of natural light daily
• Get your heart pumping - A 20-minute walk can boost your mood
• Take more breaks - I don’t know what your supervisors will think of this

Read more from Fast Company's article about surviving work in winter »

ASR Error and Incident reporting

The ASR directors wanted to remind everyone that they should be using the Error & Incident Reporting form on the ASR intranet as early and as often as necessary. The form gives ASR staff the ability to help other staff by reporting and tracking problems in a consistent manner. This consistency gives ASR an opportunity to communicate with all necessary stakeholders in a timely manner, including those across other ASR units. Errors and incidents can be reported with or without known solutions, and before or after resolutions are implemented. Please note, that for issues with immediate resolutions, there is no need to file an Error & Incident report that would interrupt that process.

You can find the Error & Incident Reporting form on the ASR Intranet. If you have further questions about this process, please contact your manager or supervisor.

Presenting FAFSA basics

On Tuesday, January 26, 2016, Larry Bloom (OSF) and Marcia DeGaetano (One Stop) shared their Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) knowledge and expertise with a room full of new financial aid administrators. Jeremy Todd and Tina Falkner attended the workshop. Larry and Marcia explained some of the lesser-known nuances of the FAFSA and dispelled a few myths, too.

They highlighted the areas where students (and their parents) often complete the form incorrectly by misinterpreting the question and ways that financial aid staff can help in the process. Filing the FAFSA is the first step for a student to be considered for receiving financial aid, and it's critical that errors are minimized. It was wonderful to see our U of M colleagues connecting with financial aid staff from around the state.

Larry Bloom and Marcia DeGaetano teaching new financial aid administrators the FAFSA basics.

Jeremy Todd and Tina Falkner engaged in the training session.

ImageNow upgrade update

The majority of the testing has been completed for the ImageNow upgrade. All of ASR's testing was completed successfully. The Office of Information Technology is testing the client installer so that there is a smooth transition. Due to this additional testing, the date for the upgrade has been moved from February 6-7 to February 20-21, 2016. There will be additional communication sent out to ImageNow users and administrators in the coming weeks regarding the upgrade and installation process. 

Save the date for the next Spring Staff Event

The Spring Development Team event is going to be held on the morning of May 18, 2016(exact times are yet to be determined) in Bruininks Hall. You should have received a Google Calendar event invite to hold the times. Stay tuned for additional details.

New templates for OUE and ASR presentations

An effort is underway to ensure that OUE branding is being carried forward on presentations given to external audiences. As a general rule, ASR staff should only use unit-specific templates for internal presentations. If there is a non-ASR audience (students, staff, faculty, etc.), staff should then be using an option that includes OUE. Please contact the ASR Communications Team if you have questions.

The new templates are available in Google Drive and on the ASR Intranet.

1095-C notices

You may have received the Form 1095-C from the University by now. This form shows if you or someone in your family was offered health coverage through the University in 2015. Keep this form with your other important tax information such as your W-2 and Form 1099. You will need the health insurance information to complete your 2015 Federal income tax return.

Draft of new Performance Appraisal available

ASR’s Performance Appraisal work group has created a draft of a revised performance appraisal and is currently gathering feedback before seeking official approval of the form. Please note, the current draft is not in finalized form format, but will be once the language is approved. The revisions provide a new rating scale and definitions for each rating; change “timeliness” to “time management;” provide separate text boxes for quantity, quality, and time management; and add competency questions to connect this form to the process for individual development plans (IDPs).

If you have questions or comments, please send them to Stacey Tidball.

Next steps: The form must go through an HR approval process during February and March. The Performance Appraisal work group will keep you updated on that process. Moving forward the IDP process will be integrated into the Performance Appraisal process.