Update to MAPP 10.03.05

Employee Responsibility – Telecommunications Resources

Air Cards

After further discussion, air cards, which provide wireless internet service to laptops, may be direct-billed to the department or reimbursed to an employee. They will not be considered in the same category as cell phones, PDAs, pagers, or home internet service, which are restricted under MAPP 10.03.05 due to IRS documentation requirements.

Since most air cards are used in university laptops for business travel or intermittent use at various locations on campus, air cards will not be considered a substitute for home internet service. It is assumed that most, if not all, employees with university-provided air cards (or university laptops that contain air cards) have their own home internet service and do not rely upon their university-provided air card for their personal internet access.

Therefore, a department may purchase an air card and directly pay for the monthly service, as it did previously, and departments do not need to pay its employees a monthly communication allowance for air card service. All other provisions of MAPP 10.03.05, as outlined in the January issue Business Notes & News, remain in effect.

Cellular Wireless Vendor Workshops

Information Technology Communication Services (ITCS) has organized some informational workshops for faculty and staff to help them make decisions about purchasing a personal cell phone, Blackberry, or similar device, if one is needed, and choosing a service plan. A vendor (T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless, AT&T, or Sprint) will be present at each workshop to answer questions about their products and services. ITCS representatives will also be available to answer questions. Attendance at these workshops is not required and there is no need to register.

All workshops will be held in room 116, PGH from 11 AM to 2 PM on the following dates:

Additional Information

Employees are encouraged to visit IT’s Cellular Web Page for assistance and helpful information or contact ITCS Customer Services, Ext. 3-1111 if needing general cellular support and/or support associated with the UH Centrally Billed Cellular Devices.
 

FY08 Mandatory Training Period Wraps Up

The University of Houston System has wrapped up its first ever, system-wide, comprehensive mandatory training program. We’d like to thank the campus community for their continued support and dedication. Almost 80% of all University of Houston employees (this includes faculty, staff, student workers, and temporary employees paid through the payroll system) completed their state and Board mandated training by January 31, 2008. Click here to view college/department statistics as of January 31st.

We would like to encourage employees to continue to complete their training, if they have not yet done so, as the courses will remain available on their UHS Training account here through July of this fiscal year.

To continue to monitor your training, you may run one of the following queries in the PeopleSoft HRMS database:

 

HR_TRN_STAT_FY08_BY_STUDENT	Status of all courses by student
HR_TRN_FY08_STATUS_BYDEPT	Status of FY08 courses by department
HR_TRN_FY08_STATUS_BYCOLL	Status of FY08 courses by college
HR_TRN_FY08_STATUS_BYDIV	Status of FY08 courses by division

We greatly appreciate your support of the mandatory training program, and we look forward to working with you next fall.

Should you have any questions, please contact the Administration and Finance Customer Service Center at 713-743-3988.
 

Choosing the Right Account

Property Management would like to welcome all employees who prepare or review purchase and/or procurement documents to attend the Choosing the Right Account training. Attendees will learn the correct account codes for inventoried items such as computers and fabricated equipment. The class will be offered Tuesday, February 26th and Wednesday, February 27th from 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. in the Kiva Room of Farish Hall.

Register online here.

The Accounts Payable Department

Historically Underutilized Business (HUB) Statistics

University of Houston HUB use for January 2008 = 13.09%

UH System Administration HUB use for January 2008 = 7.28%

UH/UHSA departments with 90% HUB use or higher that spent at least $100 in January 2008

The above percentages include HUB-eligible voucher and P-Card payments for January 2008. However, HUB subcontractor payments are not included in the monthly HUB statistics but are included in the semi-annual and annual HUB reports. For departments with more than one DeptID, all DeptID’s were combined to determine the above ranking.

HUB reports by college/division and department are posted on the web at: http://www.uh.edu/finance/pages/HUB_Reports.htm

See the HUB Vendor Directory for a list of frequently-used HUB vendors: http://www.uh.edu/hub/

You can also call Sandra Webb at x35662 or Alan Philips at x35671 if you need help finding a HUB vendor.

• Mileage in a personally owned or leased vehicle
• Parking
• Tolls
• Public transportation (i.e., bus, rail, etc.) and taxi in the Houston metropolitan area

Budget Development Module (BDM) training

Budget Development Module (BDM) training will begin Monday, March 17th and end Thursday, March 20th. Morning sessions will be 9:00 - 12:00 and afternoon sessions 1:00 - 4:00.

Training will be by division/college; therefore it is preferable that all users in a division or college attend the same session. The budget office will assign dates and times for each division and college. Training will be in UPB2 Room 224 with 19 available work stations. Manuals will be available on the budget office website a week prior to training.

Requests to add staff members requiring BDM access must be submitted by February 25th. Submit user Empl ID, responsible individual departments or placeholder department and security level (update or view) to Martha Tamez at metamez@central.uh.edu.

Feel free to contact Martha Tamez at metamez@central.uh.edu if you have any questions or concerns.

 

Petty Cash and Change Fund

Procedure to Establish, Modify, Reauthorize, Replenish, and Close a Fund

Steps to Request a New Petty Cash or Change Fund or to Modify an Existing Fund

1.      Complete the “Request for Establishment or Modification of a Departmental Cash Fund and Acknowledgement of the Receipt of Funds and/or Cash Policies and Procedures” (Addendum A) at: http://www.uh.edu/finance/Forms/050101A.doc.

2.      Prepare a justification memo approved by the appropriate College/Division Administrator, which includes:

a.       Detailed explanation of need for cash fund

b.      Justification for the infeasibility of alternative methods of procurement

c.       Estimated activity level

d.      Name of proposed fund custodian and description of safeguarding methods

3.      New fund custodians must complete online Petty Cash and Change Fund training prior to requesting a petty cash or change fund.

4.      Send the completed Addendum A, justification memo, and proof that the new fund custodian has completed online Petty Cash and Change Fund training (if applicable) to Anne Montgomery in the Treasurer’s Office (emontgomery2@uh.edu or mail code 2009) for consideration.

5.      The Treasurer’s Office will review the justification and approve or disapprove the request based upon the individual facts and circumstances. A copy of the Request for Establishment form will be returned to the requesting individual indicating approval or disapproval. A copy will also be sent to General Accounting.

6.      If the request is approved, the department will submit a voucher to Accounts Payable with the following information:

a.       Payable to the UH Cashier’s Office (vendor ID 0000007916, address 141)

b.      Invoice equal to fund custodian’s name and type of fund (Example: John Doe petty cash).  Note: The Invoice field will hold up to 30 characters.

c.       Invoice Date equal to today’s date

d.      Voucher Comments: indicate purpose of voucher (Example: Establish petty cash fund for $500 in the Physics Department with John Doe as the fund custodian.)

e.       Amount equal to the approved petty cash or change fund amount

f.        Account 10102 (Petty Cash) or 10103 (Change Fund)

g.       Department’s local fund cost center

h.       Backup documentation: Addendum A approved by Treasury

7.      Department notifies Anne Montgomery (emontgomery2@uh.edu) of the voucher number.

8.      The check may be cashed at SFS provided 24 hours advanced notice is given to SFS for any check greater than $2,000.

Steps for Annual Reauthorization of a Petty Cash or Change Fund

1. Complete the “Request for Establishment or Modification of a Departmental Cash Fund and Acknowledgement of the Receipt of Funds and/or Cash Policies and Procedures” (Addendum A) at: http://www.uh.edu/finance/Forms/050101A.doc

2. Make a copy of the fund’s Overage/Shortage Reports for the past 12 months and the most recent Audit/Review Report prepared by General Accounting or Internal Audit.

3. Send the completed Addendum A, Overage Shortage Reports, and Audit/Review Report to Anne Montgomery in the Treasurer’s Office (emontgomery2@uh.edu or mail code 2009) no later than July 1.

4. Reauthorization will be subject to review of these documents and evaluation of the previous management of the cash fund.  The Treasurer’s Office will notify the department and General Accounting if the cash fund is authorized to continue.

5. If authorized to continue, the fund custodian will be enrolled in online Petty Cash and Change Fund training for the next fiscal year and must complete this training by December 31.

Steps to Replenish a Petty Cash Fund (Change Funds are Not Replenished)

1.      Submit a voucher to Accounts Payable with the following information:

a.       Payable to the UH Cashier’s Office (vendor ID 0000007916, address 141)

b.      Invoice equal to fund custodian’s name and type of fund (Example: John Doe petty cash).  Note: The Invoice field will hold up to 30 characters.

c.       Invoice Date equal to today’s date

d.      Voucher Comments: indicate purpose of voucher (Example: Replenish petty cash fund in the Physics Department.  John Doe is the fund custodian.)

e.       Amount to be replenished (i.e., amount purchased with the petty cash fund)

f.        Expense account(s) that describe the purchases made with the fund

g.       Department’s local fund cost center

h.       Backup documentation: Receipt for each purchase that totals the amount to be replenished (see MAPP 05.01.01 for petty cash transaction and receipt requirements)

2.      The check may be cashed at SFS provided 24 hours advanced notice is given to SFS for any check greater than $2,000.

3.      When do you replenish a petty cash fund? If one of the following is true:

a.       If the amount disbursed from the fund since the last time it was replenished exceeds $50, replenish the fund on or before the last day of the month.

b.      On or before the last day of the fiscal year, replenish the fund to its original amount no matter how much was disbursed since it was last replenished.

c.       If the fund will be closed, replenish the fund before it is closed to restore the fund to its original amount.

Steps to Close a Petty Cash or Change Fund

1. Complete the “Request for Establishment or Modification of a Departmental Cash Fund and Acknowledgement of the Receipt of Funds and/or Cash Policies and Procedures” (Addendum A) at: http://www.uh.edu/finance/Forms/050101A.doc

2. Make a copy of the journal entry to deposit the petty cash or change fund back to the department cost center where it was withdrawn.

3. Send the completed Addendum A and copy of the journal entry to Anne Montgomery in the Treasurer’s Office (emontgomery2@uh.edu or mail code 2009), who will notify General Accounting that the fund has been closed.

ePAR Project Update

The ePAR Project is moving along very well. Form development is near completion for the Employee Status form and the Additional Pay form.

The Employee Status form will be used for the following actions:

Terminating employees, placing or returning employees on leave of absences, and retiring employees.

Re-occurring and non-recurring additional pay items that have non-work related earnings codes like cell phone allowances.

Hire new employees, and rehire previous employees.

Data changes, re-classifications, pay rate changes, etc.