Faculty Association Committee Minutes

Members Present:

Ronnie King, Robert Schupp, Chiu Choi, Crystal Owen, Bobby Waldrup, Verna Urbanski, Rama Rao (Chair), Robb M. Waltner (secretary)

Meeting was called to order at 12.15 pm

Discussion of Banner issues with Floyd Hurst, University Controller; Hemendra Shah, Payroll Office, and Joann Campbell, Academic Affairs.

The meeting began with a general question about Banner problems. Hurst stated that there were no outstanding “across the board” issues related to Banner. Issues now are individualized and require troubleshooting at the individual level to resolve. To date, there have been problems with Optional Retirement Program (ORP) contributions, split ORP contributions (payments to more than one vendor), and problems which occur when changes are made to change vendors but contributions are not modified for several pay periods. He estimated that approximately 25 people are still impacted. Hurst stated that terminations are working correctly but final payments may be slow. Other issues related to Banner are best defined as “labor distribution issues” such as when all OPS personnel were assigned to the Provost or Vice-Presidents. Reforms have been made to correct these kinds of situations. Another example was the confusion about organization codes which occurred when people were paid from several different funds. Reform of the hiring process to add index numbers on Personnel Action Forms (PAFs) will resolve this problem.

Campbell stated that the main problems with Banner have occurred for two reasons:

	1.	The campus was not aware of all the issues to be addressed with Banner implementation.
	2.	A new administrator for state health insurance was brought on board exactly at the time that UNF migrated.

Hurst stated that as of the last payroll, most problems have been corrected. There is a recurring issue on campus with hourly employees who do not consistently complete and submit timesheets for approval by the required deadlines. Campbell added that there have been some examples of “human errors” such as when double deductions were required at a certain time of the year for some faculty…yet the deductions were not completed on time.

Hurst also stated that beginning with next pay period a summary e-mail was to be mailed to all campus employees. This .PDF will contain name/address/and pay stub information. This information can be used as an “official document” for employees who need to verify employment or income with banks, etc. This document will require login using a userid and a system-generated password. King suggested he would like to see an alternate provided to system-generated passwords for this document. Hurst said he would look into this.

Subsequent questions from committee members—

	1.	King provided the example--if paid for teaching and by grants during summer in the old payroll system, two deposits were made. At some point, these payments become one deposit in Banner. Why? Answer: Banner allows paying one person from multiple accounts; the former payroll system could not do this. Campbell noted that such changes may be seen during the change from one term to another.
	2.	What is the reason for the e-mail/PDF summary? Answer: A) Some personnel need an official record of employment/income for mortgage application, etc. B) Some campus personnel simply refuse to print or cannot print data from Banner.
	3.	Schupp requested a simple and more convenient way to check the current deductions for insurance and other benefits to confirm accuracy and coverage levels when a pay stub is generated. Answer: Campbell will look into this request.
	4.	Schupp also requested a way to receive gross pay information that coincides with one’s contract. Answer: Campbell will look into this request.
	5.	Rao requested a way to download financial information from Banner to a spreadsheet. It appears that this functionality is not available, but Hurst will look into the possibility.
Note: Banner problems can be reported by e-mail to banpay@unf.edu.

Members decided not to have a meeting of the committee in August. For the fall meetings, the committee chair will send an email requesting available dates/times from members to draw a schedule. It was proposed that we begin the cycle of guests from the administration over again beginning with Vince Smyth, the Director of Auxiliary Services.

Meeting adjourned at 1 p.m.

Minutes submitted,

Robb M. Waltner