Avoiding the Pitfalls of Electronic Effort Reporting Kathy

Avoiding the Pitfalls of Electronic Effort Reporting Kathy Phillips Manager, Sponsored Projects Accounting University of Colorado at Boulder

Why go Electronic?

Old Paper System n n Distributing approximately 3, 000 PERS each semester Estimated 1, 000 duplicates printed and re-mailed l l l n n n Lost or misplaced PERS Corrections/re-certifications Past Due notices Mailed to wrong HR org Returned to wrong address Thrown away… Room full of file cabinets at ARC 30 boxes of paper forms & 1 box of microfilm containing records from the 1980 s at distribution center Manually enter data into PERS subsystem

Y go E cont’d n Health Science Center l Higher risk n n VA Clinics Institutional base Salary cap

Buy vs Build n Started looking at vendors Beta versions l Didn’t handle cost-sharing l Difficult to build payroll interface l Complicated l

Buy vs Build n Paper system was cumbersome, but the basics were already in place: Data retrieval/interfaces l Cost-sharing database l SO SIMPLE! Just take our paper system and make it electronic!

Red Flag #1 System administration office had a SIX MONTH window to complete the e. PERS project.

Red Flag #1 cont’d n Everything relegated to “Phase 2”

Red Flag #2 n “Project Creep”

Red Flag #3 n Put it in the Portal

In addition n Many major new initiatives coming down from new president l Gift Funds Management n n l l l l Interface from Foundation Certification requirements Expenditure control Reporting system Expense system Fixed Asset system Petty Cash Policy Personal Technology Policy Mandatory training

Result

Major Pitfalls n Not enough time was allowed Sufficiently test the system l Get “buy-in” l Adequately train staff n Rolled out for summer semester l Support systems not in place l

Pitfalls cont’d n Only the employee can certify (Phase 2) l Students l Terminated employees l

Pitfalls cont’d n Problems with the Portal Can’t just link directly to e. Per l No tab l Non-faculty had to subscribe to the channel l

Pitfalls cont’d n Problems with PET’s Employees with multiple positions l e. Per much more complicated l Inflexible totals l

Pitfalls cont’d n Problems with e-mail Inaccurate email addresses l Many don’t use their CU email l Send them to SPAM l Students/retirees can keep email for life l

Helpful Feedback No shortage of brilliant, creative, cooperative faculty members n More than willing to provide their opinions and valuable feedback. . . n

Helpful feedback cont’d n “I don’t know what this means, and I don’t WANT to know what this means. ”

Helpful feedback cont’d n “With all due respect, I submit that this is the very worst of the worst of bureacrat-eze and the worst of computereze combined into one abysmal couldn't-possibly-be-worse nightmare. ”

Helpful feedback, cont’d n “I've done it, but I feel like a lab rat who has just been run through a maze”

Helpful feedback cont’d n “I don't know precisely what I certified but I have certified it correctly. Is this how things started at Enron? ”

Helpful feedback cont’d Researcher overseas after successfully certifying: n “So now I have either resigned myself to becoming a model prisoner at Canon City or need to call the American Embassy and check on the status of the extradition treaty between the US and Austria. ” n

Some Bright Spots n n n n Increased awareness of effort reporting/compliance issues Less manual entry Reports – data less static Updates happen nightly Automatically calculates salary over cap as cost-sharing Recertifications Auto reminders

Bright spots, cont’d Easier for those off campus to certify n Wave of the future n Eventually will work through the bugs n

Ready for the Demo!