May 2008 Archives

We have worked out an agreement with the law firm of Ford & Harrison to hold their quarterly legal briefings at the Carlson School instead ofthe Minneapolis Athletic club.

This briefing is normally attended byin-house legal counsel, Human Resources and Benefits Professionals, however, anyone from the University can attend. There is a $20registration fee but all University employees can attend for free.

Any questions related to this seminar should be directed to me at cole0133@umn.edu or 612-624-7209.

The first seminar will be held tomorrow inour Executive Education 2nd floor location.
Attached is a flyer that further details this seminar (see attached PDF).

Mychal A. Coleman
The Carlson School of Management
University of Minnesota
cole0133@umn.edu
612-624-7209

Many users are wondering if they need to complete an Access Request Form (ARF) to complete transactions in the new financial system. Please refer to the attachment for further details. Call Millie Reid at 626-7648 with questions.

(See: MS Word document, attached.)

Effort Coordinators (working with your financial service teams - if needed) should review cost share commitments for all of your active sponsored accounts and make sure the CS is entered correctly in ECRT prior to JUNE 1st.

Make sure the percents are accurate as well as the 'to' and 'from' accounts. Any CS fixes or additions occurring post-conversion will be handled through HRMS. You will not longer add CS using ECRT.

STARTING IMMEDIATELY: Include BOTH the CUFFS account string AND the new Chart of Accounts (COA) string on the back of All CLA Entry Worksheets sent to the CLA Payroll Office in 209 Johnston Hall.

To determine which COA string to use, refer to the CLA Fiscal Administration website at: http://www.cla.umn.edu/intranet/fiscal. Click on "NEW! FY09 Budget and CLA Mapping Workbook (updated 05.06.08)" under Quick Links. Please ask your accountant for help if you need assistance in navigating through the different columns.

AFTER 6/13/08, you will only have to use the Chart of Accounts string. Central Human Resources is working on a new entry worksheet designed to include the new financial fields in People Soft. This form will be available at a later date.

It is critical that you audit the People Soft entries made by staff in the CLA Payroll Office once the entry worksheets have been returned. Let us know immediately if you find an error so that it can be corrected as soon as possible. Items To Check In People Soft:

• Make sure the pay rate is correct
• Is the percentage of time correct?
• Make sure the appointment dates are correct
• Is the action/reason code(s) correct?
• Make sure the Suspension, Termination or Short Work Break rows are not missing (missing end rows can result in OVERPAYMENTS)

Also, we recently updated the list of required documents for NEW CLA HIRES. This updated list can be found on the CLA Fiscal Administration website at: http://www.cla.umn.edu/intranet/fiscal/payroll.html

REMEMBER: Auditing the People Soft appointments we enter for you is a crucial part of the payroll auditing process. It is the final step in making sure your employees receive the correct pay on the correct pay day.

The West Bank Bursar Office will be closing May 30th. Typically this closure would be just for the summer, but this time it is a permanent closure.

The Bursar Office has installed a Departmental Deposit box in 55 Heller Hall. NTS and technical staff are working on the programming of the box and we hope it will be ready for departments to use by June 15th. An armored courier will pick up deposits from the box every afternoon. The Bursar Office will be contacting West Bank Departments to provide training on the use of the box within the next few weeks. If you are interested in attending the training, please contact Pat Roth at 625-6525.

Effective in FY08, the special exam fee previously administered by the Office of the Registrar will now be administered by the college through CLA Student Services. A $50 per credit fee for will be assessed to all students requesting the special examination.

The fee is required and will be posted directly to the students account by CLA Student Services. Attached are the instructions and Request for Special Exam form. Additional information is also available at: http://advisingtools.class.umn.edu/manual/5_6.html

Please contact Lonna Riedinger (5-9093, LRIED@class.cla.umn.edu) if you have questions about the process.

With the recent announcement of the Retirement Incentive Option (RIO), several important changes are being made to the Employment System and HRMS that will enable tracking and reporting on RIO activity, vacancies, and hiring within the collegiate and administrative units. These changes become effective on June 2, 2008. Please see attached memo from Central OHR for Important and Required information you will need to know.

Call or email Millie Reid at 6-7648 or volkm003@umn.edu with questions.

The RIO is a one-time opportunity for voluntary retirement for eligible employees. RIO will provide 36 months of medical and dental subsidy following an employee's last day of employment. Informational sessions (http://www1.umn.edu/ohr/benefits/events/index.html) will be held weekly during the eligibility period. If you cannot attend one of the scheduled informational sessions, you can view a UMCONNECT presentation online.

Faculty and P&A at http://www1.umn.edu/ohr/policies/departure/academic-rio/index.html

Civil Service and Radio and Television Broadcast Technicians at http://www1.umn.edu/ohr/policies/departure/csbroad-rio/index.html

There have been many changes to the EFS/PeopleSoft training schedules since the original plan was rolled out. Class schedules have been altered, determination of which classes are needed for different roles have changed, and in some cases Training Services converted instructor-led classes to on-line tutorials. It is very important to check your training schedule periodically and especially before going to a training session to make sure you have the latest up-date information for your scheduled classes.

To check your instructor led training class registration: Go to One Stop for staff, then to the Employee Self-Service section and click on the Training Registration\History link (you will need to log-on).

To review online tutorials that you have been registered for:

• Go to One Stop.
• Click on "My U Portal" (you will need to log-on) and then click on the tab labeled "My U Courses and Teaching." You can also initiate tutorials from this location.

If you have questions about your training schedule, please have your supervisor contact Millie Reid in CLA Human Resources (6-7648/volkm003@umn.edu)

The UM Foundation deadline for year-end transfers to CUFS is June 12 at noon. Please review your CUFS accounts in advance to avoid TIP charges for June month-end, and transfer funds where needed.

Reminder that TIP is charged on deficits of $15,000 or more over 1856-xxx total and 1898-xxx total. For questions please contact Rose Pederson (6-7611, r-kerb@umn.edu.)

May 30

• West Bank Bursar Office is closing permanently
• CLA Payroll cutoff for the 05/26/2008 - 06/08/08 pay period, 4:30 pm
• CLA Payroll cutoff for the 06/09/2008 - 06/22/2008 pay period, 4:30 pm
• CLA Payroll cutoff for Faculty Merit increases for BJ term faculty

June 12

• Deadline for June 30, 2008 transfers from UM Foundation to CUFS, 12:00 Noon

June 19

• CLA HR/Financial Meeting, MPC Seminar Room, 50 Willey Hall (West Bank), 10:00 am start time

June 27

• CLA Payroll cutoff for the /23/2008 - 07/06/2008 pay period, 4:30 pm

- Go to One Stop.

- Click on "My U Portal" (you will need to log-on) and then click on the tab labeled "My U Courses and Teaching." You can also initiate tutorials from this location.

The UM Foundation deadline for year-end transfers to CUFS is June 12 at noon. Please review your CUFS accounts in advance to avoid TIP charges for June month-end, and transfer funds where needed.

Reminder that TIP is charged on deficits of $15,000 or more over 1856-xxx total and 1898-xxx total. For questions please contact Rose Pederson (6-7611, r-kerb@umn.edu.)

- CLA Payroll cutoff for the 05/26/2008 - 06/08/08 pay period, 4:30 pm.

- CLA Payroll cutoff for the 06/09/2008 - 06/22/2008 pay period, 4:30 pm.

- CLA Payroll cutoff for Faculty Merit increases for BJ term faculty

CLA Fiscal Administration is pleased to announce that Scott Appelwick has been hired as the new Assistant Director for Financial Services. Scott comes to us from the United Way where he has been working as a controller since 2004. Scott has also worked as a controller at the College of St. Catherine and in budget planning at Hamline University and received his accounting degree from the University of Minnesota. Scott's primary responsibility will be in working with the Financial Service Team leads, the Procurement Specialist and Payroll Manager. Scott will start his appointment on Monday, June 2 and will have an office in 209 Johnston.

We are also pleased to announce that Pandora Aaron has been promoted to Assistant Director for Reporting and Analysis. Pandora has been increasingly taking on more and more responsibility in CLA Fiscal Administration, including many of the duties previously held by me in my former role. We are very excited to be using Pandora's expertise in reporting and analysis to further the goals of the college.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me at kdewanz@umn.edu or 4-2339.

Just a reminder to those units that have 21st Century Graduate Fellowship Funds, that you will receive the "Match" to your funds directly to the associated EFS spending accounts during July 2008. The match amount you will receive can be found on the fund statement in DMS by drilling down over the "spendable amount" dialog box. Add the spendable amounts received for the months of April 2007 through March 2008.

Remember that in addition, the monthly spendable amounts are added to the available balance in the fund, so your plans for use of fund payout should include both the monthly spendable being added to the fund available balance, in addition to the annual match to the EFS account.

If you have further questions about the match funds, please contact: Rose Pederson (6-7611, r-kerb@umn.edu.)

The UM Foundation deadline for year-end transfers to CUFS is June 12 at noon. Please review your CUFS accounts in advance to avoid TIP charges for June month-end, and transfer funds where needed.

Reminder that TIP is charged on deficits of $15,000 or more over 1856-xxx total and 1898-xxx total. For questions please contact Rose Pederson (6-7611, r-kerb@umn.edu.)

Reminder: The Department of Economics will be moving to a new building, beginning the week of May 21-23, 2008.

New address for Economics:
1925 4th Street South
4-101 HMH Hall
Minneapolis, MN 55455
All phone numbers will stay the same.

Organizational Effectiveness Office of Human Resources Summer 2008 Professional Development Offerings

Career Planning

Are you thinking about brushing up on your networking and interviewing skills? Looking for new opportunities in your work? Or do you wonder what you can do to build your career resilience during times of change?

Employee Career Services can help you! We offer workshops that will help you explore possibilities, reflect on options, and gain specific skills for action. Take the opportunity to consider the possibilities in a casual setting with other University employees.
(See attachment for further information.)

Carlson School of Management Leadership Series

Free to all employees!

Topic: Management by Objective - Improving Performance

• Date: May 23, 2008
• Time: 8:30 am -12:30 pm
• Where: 1-114 CSOM

Please RSVP to Jessica Tafalla at: jtafalla@umn.edu

HR Pros Training

We have worked out an agreement with the law firm of Ford & Harrison to hold their quarterly legal briefings at the Carlson School instead ofthe Minneapolis Athletic club.

This briefing is normally attended byin-house legal counsel, Human Resources and Benefits Professionals, however, anyone from the University can attend. There is a $20registration fee but all University employees can attend for free.

Any questions related to this seminar should be directed to me at cole0133@umn.edu or 612-624-7209.

The first seminar will be held tomorrow inour Executive Education 2nd floor location.

Mychal A. Coleman
The Carlson School of Management
University of Minnesota
cole0133@umn.edu
612-624-7209

May 16
CLA Payroll cutoff for the 05/12/2008 - 05/25/08 pay period, 4:30 pm.

May 22
Joint CLA Financial/Human Resources Meeting, 9:00 a.m., 102 Fraser Hall

May 30
CLA Payroll cutoff for the 05/26/2008 - 06/08/08 pay period, 4:30 pm.

May 30
CLA Payroll cutoff for the 06/09/2008 - 06/22/2008 pay period, 4:30 pm.

June 12 

Deadline for June 30, 2008 transfers from UM Foundation to CUFS, 12:00 Noon

Important Employee Benefits Information:
Health Care Savings Plan for Civil Service Employees

Effective August 1, 2008, all civil service employees who leave the University with 10 or more years of service and 200 or more hours of vacation will have the full value of their vacation bank paid to the Health Care Savings Plan instead of to the employee in cash.

See attached for further information.

Possible Retirement Incentive Program

A retirement incentive program is currently under serious consideration at the University of Minnesota. Formal adoption of this program would require approval by the Board of Regents. University Administration is seeking approval from the Board of Regents at their May meeting.

If the program is presented and approved, one of the provisions currently being discussed would provide for three years of continued university subsidy under the university medical and dental coverages. Eligibility criteria for the plan currently under discussion includes the normal requirements for retirement as well as certain other provisions. Another design feature that may be part of the program is the use of a "window of opportunity" feature during which eligible faculty or staff could request to participate in the program. Finally, other elements under discussion are mutual agreement of retirement date between the employee and his or her unit, and a final date of program eligibility, which would most likely be not later than June 14, 2009.

For those employees covered by collective bargaining units, University Administration has begun conversations with union leadership in the hopes that all eligible employees at the University will be able to access this program should it be approved.

The University may decide not to offer an incentive program at this time or may modify the elements under consideration asmentioned above. Every effort will be made to finalize a decision regarding this program as soon as administratively possible, and eligible participants will be notified of that decision and the terms of the program in as timely a manner as possible.

CLA Civil Service and Bargaining Unit employee annual reviews, covering the period April 1, 2007, through March 31, 2008, are due to the college by Friday, May 9, 2008. The form and instructions may be found on the CLA HR website at: www.cla.umn.edu/intranet/hr/CSBUAnnualReviews.html

Also, CLA HR is currently working out the final details related to the Civil Service In-Range Salary Adjustment Program for FY09. Information will soon be going out to Chairs, Directors, and department administrators. An important part of this process is for each employee to have a completed annual review for 2007-08. If an extension for CS/BU reviews is needed, please contact Gayle Gabrielski at 5-1805 or gabr0074@umn.edu. Please share this information with the appropriate supervisors of civil service and bargaining unit staff members. Thank you.

Please note that the CLA HR e-mail address has changed.

The new address is: clahr@umn.edu.

Please use this address for all employment related matters.

Graduate Research Partnership Program (GRPP)
Appointment dates for the 2008 Graduate Research Partnership Program (GRPP) fellows are 5/26/08-8/3/08.

The fellowship is a $4,000 award that will be paid via payroll (job code 9561.) CLA will cover $3,500 of each award with the department cost-sharing the remaining $500. The funds will be transferred to your department's Graduate Research Partnership Program account (xxx-1809).

Departments must notify selected students and submit a report of the departmental selection process to the college (see: http://www2.cla.umn.edu/admin/gradprog/grpp.htm)

CLA DOVE Summer Research Fellowships
Appointment dates for the CLA DOVE Summer Research Fellowships fellows are 5/26/08-8/3/08.

The fellowship is a $4,000 award that will be paid via payroll (job code 9561.) CLA pays the full amount of the award. The funds will be transferred to your department's main 1000 org unless you inform us otherwise. Award recipients have been notified by the college.

CLA DOVE Recruitment Package
CLA DOVE Graduate Scholar Awards: The $5,000 top off packages for non-selected DOVE nominees should be disbursed to the student via payroll (job code 9561) during the academic year 08-09. These fellowships augment other financial packages (TAships or other fellowships) that the student may have received.

CLA pays the full amount of this award. The funds will be transferred to your department's main 1000 org unless you inform us otherwise.

Questions related to graduate student support funding should be directed to:
Jennifer Reckner (4-9815/Reckner@umn.edu).
Fellowships are taxable income and for foreign students there may be additional implications related to tax treaties between their home country and the United States.
Students should consult the University's Office of Human Resources' Web page about Graduate Taxable Fellowships: (http://www1.umn.edu/ohr/payroll/gradfellow/index.html).

General information about graduate student pay and taxes is available at OHR's Graduate Assistant Employment Web page at: http://www1.umn.edu/ohr/gae/.

Just a reminder to those units that have 21st Century Graduate Fellowship Funds, that you will receive the "Match" to your funds directly to the associated EFS spending accounts during July 2008. The match amount you will receive can be found on the fund statement in DMS by drilling down over the "spendable amount" dialog box. Add the spendable amounts received for the months of April 2007 through March 2008.

Remember that in addition, the monthly spendable amounts are added to the available balance in the fund, so your plans for use of fund payout should include both the monthly spendable being added to the fund available balance, in addition to the annual match to the EFS account.

If you have further questions about the match funds, please contact: Rose Pederson (6-7611, r-kerb@umn.edu.)

The UM Foundation deadline for year-end transfers to CUFS is June 12 at noon. Please review your CUFS accounts in advance to avoid TIP charges for June month-end, and transfer funds where needed.

There is another mapping spreadsheet now available for Area Managers and people working on department budgets for FY09 The FY09 Job Codes and PeopleSoft Mapping sheet is available on the Office of Budget and Finance webpage. This file is located at: http://www.budget.umn.edu/FY09docs/FY09_Jobcode_Account_Mapping.pdf.

This file has also been added as another tab in the FY09 Budget & CLA Mapping Workbook found on the CLA Fiscal Administration webpage (http://www2.cla.umn.edu/admin/fiscal/default.html).

CLA Fiscal Administration will offer two open lab sessions to help people complete their FY09 Budget & CLA Mapping Workbook as presented in last week's CLA Financial/HR joint meeting.

The open lab sessions are meant to be a working session where we can assist with questions and where you can work with the tools we've given you to sort out your accounts and to determine what post-budget adjustments will be needed once we convert to EFS in July. We will NOT have the computers configured for you to do your CUFS entry. This is strictly for you to determine where to budget in CUFS and where your accounts will be in the new system. It's also been designed to be a drop-in session so you can come complete your worksheets and get your questions answered one-on-one and leave when you are complete.

If you plan on attending one of the open labs please be sure to save your copy of the FY09 Budget & Mapping Workbook as well as an materials you've already starting working on to your H: or S: drive as we will be using the terminal server to log-in and access your files. As a back-up you can also email a copy of the files to yourself to access at the computer lab.

• What: FY09 Budget & CLA Mapping Open Lab Sessions
• When: Friday, May 9 from 9:00 - 10:30 a.m.
  Monday, May 12 from 1:30 - 3:00 p.m.
• Where: 30 Jones Hall (CLA Language Center Lab)

Questions: Deb Ludowese (4-1008 / ludow006@umn.edu)

Summer Research Support

Effective summer 2008, all summer research support is subject to the discretionary approval by the chair of the department and by the associate dean for faculty of the college. Requests for summer research support should be submitted at least one month prior to the start of the pay period desired for the summer support. A new request form can be found on the CLA Faculty Events and Announcements web page.

FFI: http://www.cla.umn.edu/intranet/faculty/events.html


Post-Tenure Review Survey

Vice Provost Arlene Carney has requested that colleges prepare a summary of post-tenure review outcomes for their academic units. A blank survey form was emailed to department Chairs/Directors and unit administrators last week.

Please complete all three pages of the survey and return them to Gayle Gabrielski by e-mail (gabr0074@umn.edu), no later than Friday, 9 May 2008.

If you have any questions about the survey, please contact the Faculty office.

The Department of Economics will be moving to a new building, beginning the week of May 21-23, 2008.

New address for Economics:

1925 4th Street South
4-101 HMH Hall
Minneapolis, MN 55455

All phone numbers will stay the same.

• May 9 - CLA Payroll cutoff for the May Session (5/26/2008 - 6/13/2008)
• May 9 - CLA Payroll cutoff for the 13-week Summer Session (5/26/2008 - 8/22/2008)
• May 9 - CLA Payroll cutoff for the Summer Term, non-Summer Session (5/26/2008 - 8/22/2008)

Carlson School of Management Leadership Series - Free to all employees!

Topic: Management by Objective - Improving Performance

• Date: May 9, 2008
• Time: 8:30 am -12:30 pm
• Where: 2-207 CSOM

OR

• Date: May 23, 2008
• Time: 8:30 am -12:30 pm
• Where: 1-114 CSOM

Please RSVP to Jessica Tafalla at: jtafalla@umn.edu

We have worked out an agreement with the law firm of Ford & Harrison to hold their quarterly legal briefings at the Carlson School instead ofthe Minneapolis Athletic club.

This briefing is normally attended byin-house legal counsel, Human Resources and Benefits Professionals, however, anyone from the University can attend. There is a $20registration fee but all University employees can attend for free.

Any questions related to this seminar should be directed to me at cole0133@umn.edu or 612-624-7209.

The first seminar will be held tomorrow inour Executive Education 2nd floor location.
Attached is a flyer that further details this seminar (see attached PDF).

Mychal A. Coleman
The Carlson School of Management
University of Minnesota
cole0133@umn.edu
612-624-7209

May 9
Deadline for annual reviews of CS/BU staff

May 9
FY09 Budget & CLA Mapping Open Lab Sessions, 30 Jones Hall (CLA Language Center Lab), 9:00 - 10:30 am

May 9
CLA Payroll cutoff for the May Session (05/26/2008 - 06/13/08)

May 9
CLA Payroll cutoff for the 13-week Summer Session (05/26/2008 - 08/22/08)

May 9
CLA Payroll cutoff for the Summer Term, non-Summer Session (05/26/08 - 08/22/08)

May 12
FY09 Budget & CLA Mapping Open Lab Sessions, 30 Jones Hall (CLA Language Center Lab), 9:00 - 10:30 am

May 16
CLA Payroll cutoff for the 05/12/2008 - 05/25/08 pay period, 4:30 pm.

May 30
CLA Payroll cutoff for the 05/26/2008 - 06/08/08 pay period, 4:30 pm.

June 12
Deadline for June 30, 2008 transfers from UM Foundation to CUFS, 12:00 Noon