Monday Matters
This week I will update you on two initiatives related to the Business Office. The first of these is the new electronic payroll and leave system. This information is important for every member of the faculty and staff, as well as many of our student employees. If you do not know about this system, please take note. It affects all of us. The second item is an update about our budgeting system. The new revision has been rolled out and I believe that those of you who deal with budgets will be pleased with the changes.
Time in a Bottle (or at Least in a Computer)
Beginning today, there are no more paper time cards or leave forms in the College. We are now integrated into the University's new Internet-based Time and Attendance Management System (ITAMS). All work time information, annual leave requests, and sick leave reports must be filled out online, approved online by a supervisor, and electronically transmitted to the University Payroll Office. Although this has a number of advantages (e.g. convenience, speed, accuracy, elimination of paper), it is important that you familiarize yourself with the system as quickly as possible. For some, accessing ITAMS will be necessary in order to be paid on time. For others, it will only be needed to report sick leave or sick and annual leave. For all of us, at one time or another we will be required to use the system.
Here's how it works. Employees access electronic payroll and leave information through our Business Office web (http://www.ed.sc.edu/Business.asp). You use your social security number and VIP password to access the system. Once in the system, you can choose from a menu of options across the top of the screen. Employees will choose "Time Entry" to fill out a time card, report annual leave, or report sick leave. (I will discuss who has to do what later in this column.) Make certain that you have chosen the correct report period and time code from the pull down menus. The date given for the reporting period is the end date. For example, if you are reporting annual leave taken on December 18, you will use the end date of December 31. End dates are inclusive so that leave taken on March 31 would be reported for the period ending March 31.
Once you have chosen the report period and time code, you then click on "Add TimeCde." A row will appear for the entire reporting period. For each day that you have a report you must enter in the hours you are reporting. Once you have verified that the information has been entered accurately, you click on "save" to retain the row. You can then enter a new row if you have additional information to enter. For example, you might have both annual and sick leave to enter. Create one row for annual leave, fill it out, save it, and add another row for sick leave. Once all rows have been entered you must click on "send for approval." This will transmit the information to your supervisor.
When a supervisor logs onto the system, she will receive a message that there is information waiting for her approval. Supervisors must review the work time and/or leave information and then confirm that this information is accurate. Once that is done the information is approved and forwarded to the Human Resources Division. It is important that employees enter their information in a timely manner and that supervisors log on in a timely manner to review and approve this information.
There is a wealth of information about the system on the ITAMS information page. You can access this via the Business Office web page. There you will find online slide shows that demonstrate step-by-step how to use the system. There is a show for employees as well as for supervisors. One of my favorite parts of the ITAMS information page is the "frequently asked questions." Another valuable link from the ITAMS page is the "important processing dates" menu item on the left side of the page. This links to a calendar that informs supervisors of their deadlines for approving and submitting employee payroll and leave information. Of course employees should have the information filled out well in advance of the supervisor's deadline.
Who uses ITAMS? All members of the faculty and staff must report sick leave using ITAMS. All 12-month faculty members and classified staff (i.e. those who receive annual leave) must report leave time on ITAMS. All employees that currently fill out timecards (including work-study students) must now fill out timecards via ITAMS. It is especially important for supervisors of work-study students to make these students aware of this system. The ITAMS system must be used to report work time (for those who fill out timecards) beginning December 8 and leave time (annual and sick leave) beginning December 16.
All the ITAMS links are on the Business Office web page. I encourage every employee to take a look at the ITAMS information page and then to test the system out using the test page. None of the information you fill out on the test page will be used, so you may try out the system on this site. Of course when you choose the link to the regular system all of that information must be valid and will be reported, so be sure you pick the correct link!
If you have any questions about ITAMS, members of the Business Office staff are ready to assist you. As always, general questions about using computers can be answered in Instructional Support and computer problems can be reported on the Information Technology work form.
Budgeting 2.0
The new version of the College budget system has been released and is back on the web. You no longer need any software other than an up-to-date browser to access the system. The Information Technology Office has added some great features. Now you can click on a category and obtain an entire listing of expenditures or revenue for that category. If you wish to obtain a restricted list, you can enter a date range to see only items for that range. This new feature should be valuable for tracking your expenses.
If you have any questions about entries in your budget, be sure to contact Steve Mattison. One of the advantages of a transparent budgeting system is that you can help out if you find an entry error. Steve is as interested as you are (or even more so) in making sure that all expenses and revenue entries are in the category where you want them to be. If you realize that you need additional categories or need to revise an existing category, let Steve know that as well. In short, we want the budget system to be a tool that works for you.
Until Next Week,
Mike