As a reminder, the two-week “Circuit Breaker” is approaching next week (Sunday, Sept. 27 through Sunday, Oct. 11, 2020), and during this time many buildings on campus may be closed and unable to accept packages for delivery.

We expect that you are already aware of how your department may be impacted during this time and have planned accordingly. Your department may choose alternate delivery options, as outlined here.

If we receive calls for help from carriers attempting to deliver packages to a closed building, we will instruct them to deliver the package to the receiving department (801-581-7409). From there, it can be picked up by your department in Will Call or it will be subsequently delivered to your department once your building has reopened per your request.

Travel & Reimbursement Services is seeing many reimbursements violating policy.  Please review the policy below to make sure you are complying in order to avoid delaying the reimbursement.

Policy Rule 3-010A.

One common violation is a missing approval from the Director or Department Chair on reimbursements over $1,000. We are fixing ePR so it will automatically add this approval step which simply requires the Director or Department Chair’s name or UNID to be put in.

Policy R3-010A, III.C.4

Reimbursements in excess of the established maximum, currently $1,000, require two approvals – the person’s supervisor and the director or department chair, along with an explanation of why preferred procurement methods were not used.

Another violation is sales tax reimbursement for non-business meals.  We are not able to reimburse sales tax without a Dean or VP approval. 

Other common missing items:

• Missing proof of payment receipts
  • Has to show payee is out of pocket
  • Final transaction receipts from online orders – shipping details required for Amazon orders
• New Membership requires VP, Dean, or Director approval

We love to hear from our users! The following two FIL reports are now available to answer unmet needs from our campus customers.  These two new reports (one for Projects and one for Activities) were created to bring back descriptions on journal lines from UShop and ePR.  These descriptions are not found in Management Reports.  Please keep your suggestions coming using our ASK US form. Selection Criteria for these reports include:

•  Begin and end on Journal Date

• Begin and end on Account Range

You need Management Report security to run these reports.  They are located in the JOURNAL DETAIL folder. They are titled:

• Journal Line Detail – Activity

• Journal Line Detail – Project

Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the Purchasing department’s in-person trainings will be available online through Zoom until further notice. If you have any questions, please contact Purchasing.

Click on the links below to register:

• Purchasing Card Training
• Procurement & Payment Basics
• Multi-Stage Bid/RFP Training

The COVID-19 Supplier Guidance document has been updated to alert and inform suppliers who may be working on campus or otherwise visiting any university properties.  The document details required precautions to follow to minimize the risk of the coronavirus and prevent its spread to our students, employees, patients, and other visitors.

Please provide a copy of the Supplier Notice to any and all vendors, contractors, consultants, and service providers who may be required to be on campus as part of their work.  Similar but separate documents are used by Facilities for their contractors and also by the University of Utah Hospital.  The COVID-19 Supplier Notice may be found on the Purchasing Department website, or by following this link.

Purchasing, along with General Stores and Receiving, have been partnering to source scarce PPE and sanitizer items for departmental purchase.  Currently stocked are:

• Hand Sanitizer – sizes 4 oz to 1 gal
• Disinfecting wipes and sprays
• Procedure masks
• Face covering, reusable
• Face shields
• Nitrile gloves
• Touchless thermometers
• Other PPE related supplies

We anticipate that many of these items will continue to be in short supply with wildly varied pricing and will have vendor allocations this year.  Multiple buyers have worked tirelessly to obtain the best prices currently available. 

Prior to returning to campus, we recommend that you order soon or during July to allow for allocations or items temporarily out of stock.  

For orders placed with General Stores, please ensure someone is available to receive orders in your department or place the order for WILL CALL at General Stores. WILL CALL orders should be picked up within 5 days of order.  

Please contact General Stores directly if you would like to place an order.  Some items may not currently be available; however, we will actively source and fill orders as soon as possible.  If there are PPE items you would like to purchase that aren’t currently stocked, please call to discuss.

Departments are encouraged to initiate plans where possible to conserve PPE resources while maintaining student/faculty/staff safety.

General Stores Contact Information:

• Ordering Email:  csr@stores.utah.edu
• Website: https://fbs.admin.utah.edu/stores/
• Phone: 801-581-8671

Thanks to our colleagues in HR and UIT, we are pleased to announce a new report has been developed to allow administrators to pull detailed student level data for graduate tuition benefits (GTB) related to RA’s, TA’s, GA’s and GF’s for a specific department or rollup.  Given the recent updates to the Research Overhead funding distribution methodology, this report may prove to be particularly useful for areas that want to understand their tuition benefit obligations, among its other possible uses.  We encourage you to explore this tool.  Below are directions showing you where to go to find the report and general instructions regarding how to run it.

Directions to find and run the GBT report:  CIS → Financial Information Library (FIL) → Financial Aid Folder → TA/GA/GF/RA information by org

1. Log into CIS
2. Go to the Financial Information Library (FIL/HRIL) reports
3. Go to the Financial Aid folder  and find the report named TA/GA/GF/RA information by org

How to Run the Report:

1. Insert your five-digit Dept ID (i.e. 00286)
2. Select the √ checkbox if you would like the report to include rollup information
3. Insert an account term*.  

*Vital Information for Account Term:  Account terms are represented by four-digit number codes.  For example, Spring of 2020 is “1204,” Fall of 2019 is “1198” and Summer of 2019 is “1196.”  These four digits serve a purpose, that is, to identify the century, year and semester for the query to call appropriate data.  As a rule of thumb, always begin a semester code with a leading “1,” which represents the century (0 = 20^th and 1 = 21^st)  After the “1,” the next two digits identify the year “20” for year 2020 and “19” for the year 2019.  The last digit identifies the semester – 2 = Winter, 4 = Spring, 6 = Summer and 8 = Fall.

Report Results:  The query results will give you the student level data for the department indicated coupled with amounts and descriptions outlining the waived benefits.  Also, the results identify what dollar portion, between 0 to 100 percent, belongs to what assistantship/fellowship category (i.e. TA/GA/RA/GF).  Multiplying the percent by the “Item Amt” will calculate how much to allocate to each assistantship/fellowship category.  The data results work remarkably well for pivot tables.

The President’s Cabinet has extended the current travel restriction for all university-related business travel for faculty, staff and students through September 1, 2020.  Travel Planners are asked to distribute this information to all University Travelers.

Business-related trips between now and September 1, 2020 should be cancelled, unless you have obtained a fully approved exception. Exception approvals should first be granted by the cognizant Dean or Vice President, and then screened for extraordinary final approval from one of the following:

• Main Campus Academic Affairs Travel: Sarah Projansky, AVP for Faculty, sarah.projansky@utah.edu.
• U of U Health Academic Travel: Ed Clark, AVP for clinical affairs, ed.clark@hsc.utah.edu
• U of U Health Hospitals and Clinics Staff Travel: Sarah Sherer, Senior Human Resources Director, Sarah.Sherer@hsc.utah.edu
• Main Campus Staff Travel: Chris Bone, Senior Human Resources Director, chris.bone@utah.edu

NOTE: Exceptions to this restriction should be approved at least one week prior to departure.

As global and domestic conditions become more clear, we will continue to update travel restriction information.

The University of Utah is required by statute to participate in a risk pooling arrangement administered by the Utah State Division of Risk Management (DRM). Effective July 1, 2020, DRM changed the U’s property insurance deductible from $1,000 to $2,500 per occurrence. 

Go to the U Risk & Insurance Services website under the Property section for tips to prevent loss or damage to U property. If you have questions please contact U Risk & Insurance Services or ext. 1-5590.   

The goal/threshold for Evidence of Review (EOR) has been increased from 80% to 90% completion. The volatility of these times may add a level of vulnerability to your activity and project funds. Please take extra care in monitoring these transactions.

Tips:

• Run the report twice, once for activities and again for projects    
• Make sure you’re marking the intended month (or all months)   
• Confirmation that you have marked correctly is seen in the ‘Status’ column on the far right.
• A name and date stamp mean it is marked but *None* means it has not been.