Have something to share? Email it to askfinance@virginia.edu with instructions for it to be forwarded to the Communications Team.
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posted December 3, 2024
Please join us every Tuesday at 11am on Zoom, beginning December 3.
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Pictures from Finance Family Fun Night
posted December 2, 2024
Head over to the UVAFinance Flickr page to see pictures from UVAFinance's Family Fun Night at Carter Mountain. Neither rain nor fog dampened our spirits!
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First Quarterly Wins Report
posted November 21, 2024
The first Quarterly Wins Report is now available to view. This report encapsulates Quarter 1 of the Fiscal Year 2025 and reflects on UVAFinance's values in action. To view, visit this link.
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Create Gift Magic This Holiday Season
posted November 14, 2024
Take advantage of the interest-free Employee Payroll Deduct Program for all your holiday purchases at Cavalier Computers.
Also, check out these deals for the upcoming holiday season!
- November 18th-22nd: Save up to $100 on select Mac and iPad gifts.
- December 2nd-31st: Customers whose purchase totals $500-$999 will receive a $25 gift card. Purchases of $1,000 or more will receive a $50 gift card. The gift cards will be valid at any UVA Bookstores location on Grounds.
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Conference Room Calendar Name Changes
posted November 8, 2024
In an effort to standardize the naming convention for all conference rooms, and make it easier for users to identify a room's general location by organization, we have begun the process of changing the display names as they will appear in your Outlook calendar. This is just in your calendar, not on the physical door of the room.
You will need to update your Outlook calendar for any of the rooms listed below. The old Display Names will not work if you attempt to schedule with them. However, we have seen some inconsistency with users. ITS states: "It will take up to 8 hours for it to sync with Exchange Online. The address book (GAL) will update overnight." One strategy to try if your Outlook desktop client is still seeing the old name is to use Webmail.
Any meetings scheduled before November 1 should not be impacted.
There will be more rooms changed in the future, with a communication identifying which and the date beforehand. We apologize for any inconvenience today's changes may have had on your scheduling.
The following rooms have been changes so far and need to be updated for your Calendar invites:
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Our First Lunch & Learn was a Success!
posted October 30, 2024
 |
| Look at everyone lunching and learning! |
"Lunch & Learns" are informal, educational sessions where team members have the opportunity to share insights and knowledge gained from conferences, workshops, and other Professional Development courses. The primary purpose of these sessions is to disseminate valuable information across UVAFinance, ensuring that the benefits of professional development extend beyond the individual attendee. These sessions encourage a culture of continuous learning, collaboration, and innovation by allowing team members to share key takeaways, trends, best practices, and new ideas that can be applied to our work.
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| The number of folks in person and online was almost equal! |
Thank you to everyone who showed up! We're excited for the next upcoming Lunch & Learn session, so be sure to keep an eye out for dates so you can RSVP and attend.
If you're interested in the presentation slides from this session, check on the links under Files in the Professional Development section of the Finance Team Teams page.
Want to be considered for a presentation? Let us know by dropping a line in the chat under the UVAFinance Team Teams page, in the Professional Development tab.
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Save the Date for Our Next Lunch & Learn
posted October 24, 2024
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Adding Employee Phone Number to Workday
posted October 23, 2024
In our continued efforts to maintain an accurate and up-to-date employee phone directory, we kindly request that you update your work phone number in Workday. Ensuring that your contact information is current will allow it to be visible in Outlook, Microsoft Teams, and the UVA Public People Search Website, facilitating smoother communication.
If you are uncertain of your current phone number, the Admin Team is available to assist you in providing the correct details.
Instructions:
Go to the picture/icon in the top right corner of Workday, then click View Profile.
From the Menu, choose Contact.
Select Edit, Change my Work Contact Information. Add you phone number and click Save.
This would be a good time to verify that your home contact is current as well!
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Use It or Lose It: Time Off
posted October 21, 2024
As a little reminder, it is a good time to review your time off balances. For 2024, the Academic Leave Year and Academic Payroll Year do not align but both will have 26 periods. The last pay period of 2024 ends on 12/15/24. The leave year ends on 12/29/24. Use or lose any time off by December 20, 2024 before the Winter Break starts on 12/23/24!
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| Share by November 4! |
posted October 9, 2024
Participation is voluntary; if you would like to share your own service or that of someone in your family, please submit a picture, name, rank, branch of service, and time of service to askfinance@virginia.edu
Please share submissions by Monday, November 4.
Recognition will be shared in the UVAFinance blog and on the Carruthers Hall lobby screen.
Thank you for the opportunity to honor your service!
First Professional Development Lunch & Learn October 16
posted October 7, 2024
We hope you'll join us for our first Professional Development Lunch & Learn on October 16. Lunch will be provided to those onsite. Please RSVP by accepting the meeting emailed to you by October 11 so we can have an accurate lunch count. Didn't receive the invite? Let Brandi Van Ormer know and she'll get it to you. Thank you and we hope to see you there (or onscreen)!
UVA's Benefits Open Enrollment for Plan Year 2025
posted September 12, 2024
UVA's Benefits Open Enrollment for play year 2025 will occur October 7 - 18, 2024. The Open Enrollment website is live, and below are some details on how to prepare to choose your benefits during Open Enrollment.
- Build your benefits knowledge and feel confident in selecting benefits that optimize your family's health care spending for the coming year.
- Plan your benefits decisions prior to Open Enrollment.
- Review resources and attend virtual educational webinars, the Open Enrollment Town Hall, and in-person events.
- Connect with benefits counselors in person or online to ask questions.
- Do you know about UVA Health Employee Primary Care? This new clinic is open to all employees on the UVA Health Plan. Establish a relationship with a primary care provider or get same day treatment for non-urgent care needs. Learn more here.
- Learn how a tax-free Health Savings Account (HSA) or Flexible Spending Account (FSA) financially supports your health care.
- Make sure the benefits you chose in 2024 are meeting your needs:
- Do you have funds left in you FSA account that you can use? Visit the Fidelity website to check your FSA account balance, and the online FSA store to use your unspent FSA dollars.
- Did your benefits elections in Workday match what you spent in 2024? Log into Workday and review your benefits.
- Are you adding a new dependent to your health plan in 2025? If so, have your dependent required documentation ready to upload into Workday during Open Enrollment. You will not be able to submit your benefits elections if you have added a new dependent to your health plan without providing the required documentation.
- Have you used all your preventative services for health, dental, and vision? Regular checkups help track changes in your health over time, allowing for early detection of potential issues
- Review your medical claims and pharmacy on the Aetna website.
- Review your dental claims on the United Concordia website.
- Review your vision claims on the Davis Vision website.
Mark your calendar!
- September 12: Webinar: Makes the Most of Your Retirement Savings
- Register for 2 pm webinar
- Register for 6 pm webinar
- September 17: Webinar: Dealing with Market Volatility: What You Need to Know
- Register for 11 am webinar
- Register for 1 pm webinar
- October 2: Open Enrollment Town Hall - 12 noon - 1:30 pm (Virtual)
- Register for Open Enrollment Town Hall
- October 2-3: Benefits and Well-Being Expo - College at Wise, Chapel of All Faiths
- Oct. 2: 1 - 5 pm
- Oct. 3: 8 am - 12 noon
- October 7: Open Enrollment is live in Workday
- October 9: Benefits and Well-Being Expo - Newcomb Hall, 3rd Floor, 8:30 am - 2 pm
- October 10: Benefits and Well-Being Expo - UVA Health University Medical Center, Education Resource Center (ERC), 7 am - 3 pm
- October 15: Benefits and Well-Being Night Shift Expo - UVA Health University Medical Center Cafeteria, 10:30 pm - 1 am
- October 18: Open Enrollment Closes at Midnight
For more information, check out the Open Enrollment website, which is now live!
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New UVA Employee Primary Care Clinic
posted September 10, 2024
All UVA employees and team members of the UVA Academic Division and the University Medical Center enrolled in one of UVA’s Health Plans have a new primary care and same-day care option at UVA Health Employee Primary Care clinic. We understand that sometimes finding a care provider can be a challenge, especially for our newer employees, so having this clinic for our UVA community is meant to make healthcare more accessible and help address your primary care needs.
The clinic is open five days a week and is staffed by an expert team of physicians and APPs.
Services Include:
- Preventative care and wellness visits (100% covered by UVA Health plan)
- Treatment of illnesses and mild injuries (including same-day appointments)
- Immunizations
- Medication management
- Chronic disease management (diabetes, heart disease, etc.)
- Pregnancy testing and counseling
- Lab testing and point-of-care testing (strep, flu, Covid, etc.)
Location & Scheduling:
The clinic is located on the third floor of the Collins Wing in the West Complex of the University Medical Center at 1300 Jefferson Park Ave. Validated parking is available in the Lee St. and 11th Street garages. Valet parking is available at the front of the West Complex.
The clinic is open five days per week Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m., and available for same-day visits. To request an appointment, log into MyChart or call 434.297.4082.
Who is Eligible:
The Employee Primary Care Clinic is an exclusive benefit for faculty, staff, and team members enrolled in one of UVA’s Health Plans. An existing relationship with a UVA Health provider is not required to be seen. Currently, the clinic is unavailable to dependents (spouses and children) on the UVA Health Plan.
Other UVA Healthcare Options
This clinic is available to UVA Academic faculty, staff, and UVA Health team members. If you are unsure where to be seen for a healthcare need, please review the Employee Clinics Comparison Chart for guidance.
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| That was fun; let's do it again! |
posted September 10, 2024
We had a lot of positive feedback from the Carter Mountain event last year, so we're planning to host another this November. Please save the date for a UVAFinance Family Fun Event at Carter Mountain Orchard from 4 -7 pm on Thursday, November 14. More details will be shared as they're finalized.
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Practical Design Thinking Techniques for Innovation Session from OE
posted August 29, 2024
Design Thinking is a people-centered approach that allows us to collaboratively explore problems, build a shared understanding, ask the right questions, generate innovative ideas, and iterate solutions to achieve our goals.In this interactive session, you will discover how our team at Tufts University has adapted Design Thinking frameworks for our community. You’ll learn how to apply these methods to enhance problem-solving abilities and gain practical strategies for facilitating large and small-group ideation.
- Presenters: Ryan Evans - Principal Service Designer, Tufts University Technology Services and Colin Gerrity - Design Strategist, Tufts University
- When: September 23, 2024, at 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.
- Where: Zoom/Online - Access information will be provided to registrants
UVA WELCOMES HELEN FAITH AS ASSOCIATE VICE PROVOST FOR ENROLLMENT & STUDENT FINANCIAL SERVICES
posted on August 13, 2024
Helen Faith will be joining UVA to serve as Associate Vice Provost for Enrollment and Student Financial Services beginning August 19. Through her interviews with leaders in SFS and other UVA stakeholders, Helen emerged as a student- and colleague-centered leader who is prepared to help SFS build on its strong tradition of excellence, collaboration, and care. She is ideally suited to lead the essential work of SFS, ensuring that a UVA education is within reach for all Virginians who earn their place at the University.
Faith is a national leader with more than two decades of experience in aid and enrollment services at two- and four-year institutions, most recently as the Director of Student Financial Aid at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In that role, Faith provided leadership to staff in all financial aid operations, grew annual institutional need-based undergraduate aid by more than $20 million, and launched a full-need, no-loan aid program for Wisconsin residents receiving Pell Grants.
Faith brings experience from key roles at the University of Wester States, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland State University, and the University of California, Santa Cruz. Long active in regional and national professional organizations, she served last year as national chair of the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators. Helen earned a Master of Science degree in educational policy, foundations, and administration from Portland State University, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in literature from the University of California at Santa Cruz.
Join us in welcoming Helen as she becomes a part of the incredible team in Student Financial Services and helps to advance the University's mission of service to the Commonwealth.
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posted on August 13, 2024
DAY OF CARING: Wednesday, September 18, 2024
Contributed by Stacey Rittenhouse
As we have done in the past, UVAFinance is planning to participate in the United Way Laurence E. Richardson Day of Caring this year. It is a great time to get out of the office and work with your co-workers on projects that benefit local schools, nonprofits, and faith-based organizations throughout the city and surrounding counties.
This year's Day of Caring is scheduled for Wednesday, September 18, 2024. Project selection day is August 21st. If you are interested in participating, please let us know as soon as possible. We need the number of volunteers from UVAFinance participating in order to pick the project(s). Please also let us know if you are willing to travel to a surrounding county if projects in Charlottesville are not available.
Please reach out to Stacey at set8t@virginia.edu to let us know if you will participate and if you will travel outside of Charlottesville.
As always, thank you for your willingness to participate!
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FINANCE TEAM UPDATE FROM THE FINANCE SOLUTION CENTER
Knowledge Article: Flag Case Content for Salesforce Knowledge Development
The use of Salesforce amongst Finance, Human Resources, and Student Financial Services permits us an ability to provide a soft handoff to the customer. When you identify a FIN case that would better be supported by one of these teams, you can create a request to have it transferred to an HR or Enrollment case, and reassigned to the corresponding support center.
Knowledge Article: Redirecting Salesforce Cases to HR and SFS
There may also be times when you feel that the handoff to your team was incorrect and/or unnecessary. This can be the result of a training deficit, knowledge deficiency, or lack of attention to detail. Our team is committed to reducing these types of errors through our quality control process. We encourage you to flag items as incorrect escalation or existing knowledge not utilized so that we may improve our service moving forward.
Knowledge Article: Flagging Cases with Improper Routing or Knowledge Not Utilized
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posted on July 23, 2024
CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT STORIES: Challenging the Status Quo
Finance Systems & Data Support: "Our mentality since the formation of this team has been that everyone's ideas should be listened to and discussed. Our team realizes that we are all empowered to question how and why we do things and to make suggestions for process changes that lead to better results and time savings. As we look at how to solve problems that are presented to our team, we often discuss ideas with other team members to see if anyone has a better idea than ourselves, or to get feedback on the ideas we've come up with."
Financial Planning & Analysis: "The budget team has a shared Teams thread where we post questions, jokes, updates, etc. This free space allows team members to question why we do things the way we do... and a lot of times we change course as a result."
Workday Support: "We meet as a team weekly to collaborate and strategize. The work is divided between the members of the team based on strengths rather than based on functional area. We work with each other to cross train and this allows the team mobility to bring new ideas to the group."
Sourcing: "There is a concentrated effort to ensure buyers in the weekly meetings feel comfortable enough to ask questions and bring opinions when we are considering a continuous improvement change. The best ideas for improvement come from those doing the work. Stakeholder engagement is a subject mentioned frequently - ensuring we are inclusive with casting a wide net in obtaining internal and external feedback on ideas. When concerns or conflicting ideas are raised, participation is praised. The end product will only be better with a diverse team operating in an environment that embraces input."
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posted July 19, 2024
CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT STORIES: Challenging the Status Quo
Financial Planning & Analysis: "The team is challenged daily to find better, easier, and more effective ways to develop and implement new improvements. This is just the mindset FP&A lives by and does without reminders."
Communications: "We're open to different ways of doing things to suit the organization's needs. We've changed the way we list open positions and promote them based on hiring needs. We've helped leadership see that they can try out new ways of showing data that is both meaningful and digestible."
Strategic Sourcing Team, Services & Athletics: "In order to try and encourage team members to challenge the status quo, first building a level of connectedness and allowing for open, honest communication was foundational. During team meetings, we have tried to promote opportunities for the team to acknowledge the current environment and to meet it with new ideas, innovation, and opportunities for efficiency. We are a newer team to UVA but with a lot of great depth of knowledge outside of the institution, and we want to elicit that from the team at large to improve areas of Strategic Sourcing."
Business Systems: "We review all of our open requests/activities at least once a week as a team, and discuss our strategies for handling them from a technical change perspective. Many requests have history for how something has been done, or various change resistances in the past (which may or may not still be relevant), so we always challenge the team to think about what makes sense now, whether or not we can support the choices we make, and how we can best help our customers accomplish their ultimate goals (which isn't always what they asked for directly)."
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posted July 8, 2024
CONTINUOUS
IMPROVEMENT STORIES: Challenging the Status Quo
Payroll: “We focus on cross-training team members so we
can have a fresh perspective on duties or tasks. We are transparent about what
enhancements are in progress and what cannot be changed.”
Financial Planning
& Analysis: “Due to OFPA’s
routine engagement with units on budget planning and analysis, we more or less
operate on a ‘question everything’ basis. We share information with each other
and seek one another’s input on a variety of matters that help us improve not
only our skillset, but those of the units that we serve.”
Travel &
Expense: “We meet bi-weekly for team
meetings and 1:1s. We have a close-knit team who trust each other. Everyone
brings ideas to the table, and we have a relationship where no one is afraid to
question, disagree, or provide alternate opinions.”
Treasury: “As part of daily working sessions related to the
central bank operational charge, we reviewed and documented all historical
processes related to debt. As we progressed, questioning why we did something
the way we did and whether it was correct and should be improved for the
future, became integral in our decision making. That questioning arguably
became one of the most important parts of the project.”
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CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT STORIES
posted June 24, 2024
Chief Financial
Officer: Cross-entity partnership with
Med Center Accounts Payable for invoice intake.
Fixed Assets &
Cost Recovery: Implemented a new
recharge center process, a new ETF allocation methodology and a new inventory
reporting.
Strategic Sourcing:
Conducted a brainstorming/strategy session for
commodities in Services & Athletics for better category management.
Workday Support: Reassigned over 500 expense reports with
recommendations for security updates.
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CONTINUOUS
IMPROVEMENT STORIES
posted June 18, 2024
Change Enablement
& Continuous Improvement – Training: Re-launched improved Lean training program.
Financial Strategy:
Restructure of Business Systems/Services helped
us realign to provide additional value.
Risk Management: Increased the cross UVA event planning details.
Workday Support: Implemented plan to review and respond to Salesforce cases at the end of each day.
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CONTINUOUS
IMPROVEMENT STORIES
posted June 12, 2024
Change Enablement
& Continuous Improvement – Communications: Partnered with reporting and leadership
team to make continual improvements to quarterly reports and BOV materials.
Financial Planning
& Analysis: Streamlined the
collection of the 2-year and 1-year tuition and comp fee rates using
Smartsheet.
Procurement
Operations: Streamlined our vendor statement
reconciliation status, pulling more people into the process and setting up
guidelines and expectations/prioritization.
User Success: Implemented a quality assurance and improvement review program.
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CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT STORIES
posted May 28, 2024
Change Enablement & Continuous Improvement: Revised project management templates and reporting dashboards to provide a cross-finance view of projects.
Financial Planning & Analysis: Partnered with SFS & IRA to improve the Graduate Commonwealth Annual Financial Aid Report.
Payroll: We worked with the impact team to enhance the memo codes used to generate the Medical Center PTO Payouts at termination.
Treasury: Implemented a new accounting method for internal loans. Improved the daily cash report to include the MC's daily cash and IIP balancees.
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CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT STORIES
posted May 14, 2024
Business Services: New focus on achieving Tier 2 SLA for response time in Salesforce cases.
Financial Accounting: Validation review committee process has been developed and begun meeting to assess and implement system validations that prevent errors.
Payroll: Developed the Payroll Senior Specialists and created knowledge articles on key topics for easy reference.
Travel & Expense: Outsourced the sending of emails for aging T&E transactions to Card Integrity. This was a highly manual process for the T&E Team.
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PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT REQUEST PROCESS AND FORM
posted May 14, 2024
Contributed by Patty Marbury
Recently we have had a lot of questions about the process for requesting professional development in UVAFinance. It’s great that so many people are thinking about and pursuing opportunities for professional development. We wanted to make sure that the process for requesting participation in these opportunities is clear.
Here are answers to many common questions: Professional Development FAQs | UVA Finance
Of course, you're always welcome to reach out to the Training Team via askfinance@virginia.edu.
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CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT STORIES
As you are already aware, we are focusing on a specific value, one at a time, through our Culture Roadmap FY24 initiative. In Q1, our focus was on Service Excellence, and in Q2, it was Collaborative Partnership. This quarter we are focusing on Continuous Improvement. Enjoy the next round of values-based behaviors from the UVAFinance Team as we share them. (Scroll down a little further if you'd like to catch up on the Collaborative Partner or Service Excellence Stories.)
- Business Intelligence: Streamlined our UBI development scripts.
- Financial Accounting: Started SpaceBase implementation (new lease accounting system)
- Payroll: We changed the process of how we track and process ACH bank rejects and cross-trained a group of people to be able to provide coverage when others are out.
- Strategic Sourcing: Updated publicly accessible contract boilerplate.
We've heard you! Expanding access and options for behavioral mental health services is important.
To kick things off for Mental Health Awareness Month, we are introducing Talkspace, a new mental health service available to members of the UVA Health Plan. Talkspace is a convenient digital platform offering private and confidential sessions with a licensed mental health provider. Whether you're dealing with stress, identity struggles, chronic issues, trauma, or any other mental health concern, Talkspace can connect you with the support you need.
With Talkspace, you can:
- Receive counseling, therapy, and medication services from the comfort of your device, when you need it, where you need it
- Connect with thousands of licensed, insured, and verified therapists and prescribers
- Access support for a variety of needs, including anxiety, depression, eating disorders, substance use, and more
Counseling and therapy services are available through live sessions, usually within days of scheduling.* Talkspace Psychiatry allows you to schedule video appointments with a licensed provider specializing in psychiatric evaluation and medication management, typically within two weeks of booking.
Access additional services such as Talkspace education and self-help tools, including meditation, journaling, reflections, and positive thinking exercises to support your well-being.
We encourage you to explore Talkspace and take advantage of this valuable resource for mental health support. Moving forward, we will continue to explore avenues for other resources to help you be at your best. Your well-being is important to us, and we're here to support you every step of the way.
To register and find a provider, visit the Talkspace website.
*Appointment scheduling is based on availability and preferences.
BUSINESS PROCESS DOCUMENTATION
posted April 25, 2024
As a part of post-Finance Strategic Transformation stabilization, the Change Enablement & Continuous Improvement Team has assembled a top-notch team of experts to help UVAFinance areas standardize their processes. This is important in order to equip our teams for success despite the multitude of systemic changes we've recently undergone.
Would your team benefit from help creating documentation toward improving understanding and confidence in Workday and other systemic processes? Let Dan Hoogenboom and Derrick Carter know! They're a one-stop-shop for documenting and improving work processes so that you can save time, reduce waste and frustration, and retain the necessary knowledge your team will need as we move forward.
We'll share more about this initiative in upcoming posts, so watch this space for more info!
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STAFF SENATE ELECTIONS IN JUNE
posted April 22, 2024
The Staff Senate is holding elections in June, and I am requesting the names of staff members who would like to run in the election. UVAFinance has two open seats:- 3-year term (person who garners the greatest number of votes)
- 2-year term (person who garners the second greatest number of votes)
WHAT IS THE STAFF SENATE?
The Staff Senate is comprised of approximately 69 members who represent over 7,500 staff at UVA. We serve as a collective voice for staff, helping to shape programs and policies. The Staff Senate communicates directly with senior leadership at UVA.
As a senator, you will have the chance to provide your coworkers a voice in University governance, share staff perspective with University leadership, collaborate with staff from across grounds, gain a deeper understanding of the University, hear about upcoming University initiatives, and share your input, and even help shape University programs and policies.
WHAT WOULD I DO?
Senators attend monthly Staff Senate meetings and are encouraged to serve in a leadership role on the Staff Senate or to participate in a working group. You will spend, on average, approximately three hours a month, depending on your level of involvement.
WANT TO LEARN MORE?
For more details about joining the Senate, please feel free to email me or call Patrick Wood, who is happy to talk about his experiences on the Senate. You can also contact other Senate representatives in our organizational unit.
Please also visit our Join the Senate webpage for more details about serving on the Senate and the Our Work page to learn more about the type of projects the Senate works on throughout the year.
SALESFORCE BEST PRACTICES OFFICE HOURS
posted March 26, 2024
Tuesday, April 9, from 9-10 am is the next Office Hours session for Salesforce. If you're like most of us, you probably have some questions about what you can do in Salesforce and/or how to do something you've never quite figured out. Office Hours sessions are guided by the submission of questions from our users, so be sure to share yours on this post in Salesforce.
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posted March 25, 2024
The UVAFinance Finance Week 2024 schedule has been posted online. Please note that some events require registration (Memorial to Enslaved Laborers Tour and Headshots).
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SHARE OPEN UVAFINANCE POSITIONS
posted March 25, 2024
Please share any/all of our open UVAFinance Team positions with your networks! Here are our openings: https://uvafinance.virginia.edu/resources/join-our-team
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COLLABORATIVE PARTNER STORIES
posted March 5, 2024
Payroll Team: Worked to streamline the quarterly entry for Executive Payments. Previously, these amounts were entered with generic work tags, and reclassified to the correct work tags after the fact. Beginning in Qtr. 4, 2023, we were able to add the correct work tags when entering the contributions. There are still a few issues to resolve, but this saves entering the data twice.
Change Enablement/Continuous Improvement Team: This is the focus of our entire team! I'm particularly excited about the partnership with the T&E team and Workday Support team and the work of implementing the new two-expense approver process. From engaging stakeholders to drafting communications, this process was successfully launched on January 8th.
Training Team: Jack has developed a resource with business process workflows, approvals, and roles that was very well received by fiscal administrators. Linda handles all UBI training/questions, working with the Business Intelligence Team.
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LEAN IN DAILY WORK CLASSES
posted March 5, 2024
Based on Lean concepts, this class provides practical, easy-to-implement strategies to make your current processes more efficient. Upon completion of the class, you will gain skills to help you
- Use the 5S strategy for organization to help with identifying and eliminating waste and continuously improving processes.
- Document how you do your work using the Standard Work approach.
- Manage work through tools such as a Kanban Board.
- Implement time saving ideas to improve efficiency and increase productivity.
Lean in Daily Work - In Person class - 3/21/24, 9:00-10:30
Lean in Daily Work - Virtual class - 3/27/24, 9:00-10:30
Lean in Daily Work - In Person class - 4/1/24, 10:30-12:00
Lean in Daily Work - Virtual class - 4/10/24, 10:00-11:30
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COLLABORATIVE PARTNER STORIES
posted February 28, 2024
CE/CI Training Team: Danielle has been working with the Finance Systems Support team on updating Account Certification training/documentation/resources -- on hold for Account Certification project work, which she is also involved in.
OFP&A: Working with Financial Ops and Business Intelligence to build a new Qlik App that, for the first time, will tie out UVA's state expenditure reporting to Workday expenditure reporting and allow real-time state appropriation tracking to prevent Finance from correctly reporting all fiscal year expenditures on time.
Fixed Assets Team: A University department had an urgent requisition submitted that needed a PO created before the end of business to meet some grant-associated deadlines. PSDS did not receive the email for the urgent request until 11:30 AM - request was via email as the vendor still had not finished the vendor registration process. To meet the deadline group communications were setup that allowed the vendor registration team to finalize registration into our systems, the department to submit the requisition, for this to get routed through required approvers including the fixed assets team, and this all happened within a four-hour period!
Procurement: Worked with Andrew McGehee to more accurately identify those costs incurred by PSDS in meeting the needs of other departments across Grounds so that such costs can be appropriately recovered.
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NOTE: These instructions only apply to those of you who will need to reserve hotel space when working in Carruthers.
First, a quick recap of how to access FM:InteractGeneral Login Process:
- In order to access the FM:Interact you must be on Grounds OR be logged onto one of the Cisco VPN profiles.
- If you have never logged onto the UVA FM:Interact system you will need to set up your password by going through the Password recovery process. Simply put, once you initiate the password recovery it will email you a link to create a password. (The system is not behind Netbadge and you will need to create a password.)
The following steps show you how to reserve a hoteling space once you have gained access.
Select Reserve Hoteling Space
Choose:
- The future Date & time for your reservation (You can only reserve one day at a time currently)
- Which Floor (First or Second)
- Then select the Floor Plan tab
Note: the dark green stations require approval and are based upon availability.
The station you select will show a yellow border around it
You will see the cubicle # listed next to Room. Click Save.
You will receive a confirmation of your reservation.
You can review your reservation(s) from the Home page. You can make changes to your reservation with the Edit button, or cancel your reservation by selecting the checkbox and Cancel Reservation
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This is a friendly reminder to submit your Professional Development Requests as early as possible.
We recommend that you discuss and plan your professional development for the year with your manager, then submit your request(s). When you submit a request, it goes to your manager and then to the Senior Leadership team. The Senior Leadership team meets weekly to review all requests. If the request is approved, you will be notified, and at that point, you can proceed with registering, scheduling, etc. If the request is denied, your manager will be notified and will discuss with you the reasons for the denial.
Not all professional development opportunities require submission of the form. If an opportunity is less than ½ day AND there is no cost associated with it, then do not submit a form. Many LinkedIn Learning courses and some courses offered by UVA Human Resources or other UVA departments meet these criteria. Otherwise, the form must be submitted.
See the following Quick Reference Guide (QRG) for guidance in completing the form:
UVAFinance Professional Development Request Form QRG
Please be sure to complete all fields, including estimates for travel costs, if any. If you need to update the form after you have submitted it or have other questions please contact AskFinance@virginia.edu.
LEAN FLUENCY COURSE
posted February 6, 2024
This course provides an overview of Lean concepts and terminology. Upon completion of the course, participants will be able to describe the basics of Lean principles, vocabulary, and tools.The course incorporates three phases of learning:
- Phase 1 - pre-workshop activities including watching 5 brief videos, creating a process map, and completing a learning guide.
- Phase 2 – 2 ½ -hour facilitated virtual class.
- Phase 3 - post-workshop activities to reinforce concepts discussed in the class (should take about 1-2 hours to complete).
Date/Course link:
COLLABORATIVE PARTNER STORIES
posted January 31, 2024
The Payables Team: The Payables team, specifically the settlement team, collaborated well with both Student Financial Services, Financial Accounting, and Payroll to facilitate off-cycle payments over the December holidays. This involved not just working additional hours, but collaborating and problem-solving with members of all teams to ensure alignment and clarity in the way forward. As a result, the Vice Provost reached out directly to thank us for our efforts.
The Business Intelligence Team: In our recent Adaptive report survey, a user from Darden had communicated the need to have a gift hierarchy in Adaptive to incorporate into reports where applicable. We collaborated with FP&A on this need and the group agreed that this would be beneficial to all Adaptive users. We have developed, tested, and moved this to production.
The Financial Reporting Team: Has had the Med Center Finance team over here a couple of times to attempt to make them more of a part of UVA Finance as we have to report consolidated numbers, including theirs. Trying to over-communicate to make the process better.
The Travel & Expense Team: The T&E Team worked closely with the Strategic Sourcing team to complete the local lodging RFP. This was a large project that took nearly a year to complete.
The OFP&A Team: Members of the OFP&A team began collaboration with the Treasury teams and members of the Financial Reporting team on the Central Bank Operational Charge as directed by the VP for Finance, CFO. The teams have been engaging regularly over the past 3 months to remediate issues outlined in the charge, most notably internal loans. Collaboration has extended to several unit representatives (Business Ops, Facilities Management, and School of Medicine) to review the outlined internal loan remediation process and to vet the proposed new accounting process for internal loans.
The User Success Team (AskFinance): We had a group meeting with the team in accounts payable to identify common issues that T1 might support as well as gaps in knowledge. We also engaged with the Financial Reporting team over the past quarter to bolster knowledge resulting in nearly 20 new Tier 1 knowledge articles.
The Business Services Team: Worked closely with the Communications Team on the BOV quarterly report. We are very thankful for them. They are experts in InDesign and Illustrator and very patient.
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As you are already aware, we are focusing on a specific value, one at a time, through our Culture Roadmap FY24 initiative. In Q1, our focus was on Service Excellence. This quarter we are focusing on Collaborative Partner. We expanded the invitation for these activities to managers who supervise others. Enjoy the next round of values-based behaviors from the UVAFinance Team as we begin to share them this month. (Scroll down a little further if you'd like to catch up on the Service Excellence Stories.)
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SERVICE EXCELLENCE STORIES
posted January 19, 2024
Devon Stribling, Procurement Category Manager: Devon's communications are timely, and professional, and provide a clear explanation as to why additional information is needed (in response to contract/purchase requests). The department requestor has a clear understanding as to why they need to provide additional information with links to applicable policies and/or procedures. He has created boilerplate responses to the many subjects buyers need to answer regularly and has made these part of his 'signatures within Outlook'. His work has been recognized and shared as a best-known method to all of the buyers, with the goal in helping us find additional bandwidth through more efficient communications.
Meredith Dixon, Senior Business Analyst: Meredith found a way to "scope" the details from the source ticket email from Workday to accommodate which was causing the business assets team customers confusion without the needed detail. Meredith went above and beyond to find a resolution.
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UVAFinance Project Dashboard
posted January 11, 2024
The Change Enablement & Continuous Improvement team is responsible for developing, managing, and tracking a continuous improvement/effort portfolio that addresses both internal UVAFinance and the broader University finance community needs. This also includes facilitating operational priority planning efforts requiring transparency throughout UVAFinance.Visit the dashboard here.
SERVICE EXCELLENCE STORIES
posted January 4, 2024
Linda Estepp, Local Service Partner: We were having difficulty getting the correct authorization to QlikView desktop and Linda's extra effort with UBI support lasted late into Friday evening to a final resolution for the customer. A great collaborative effort by the UBI team and business systems support to create a clear patch of authorization for the needed resources.
Linda Vannatta, Director of Treasury Operations: collects as much information as possible to limit the back and forth of emails.
Reshma Gali, Budget Analyst: Reshma was asked by another team member within OFP&A to assist with the submission of the institution's 6-year plan to the Commonwealth. Specifically, she was asked to analyze/project the financial aid calculations, including formula integrity, and provide charts for visual representation of the data. Since this was the first time participating in the submission, she asked solid questions to ensure that she understood the task and engaged stakeholders in SFS to ensure she had the needed information for the projections and ensure their stamp of approval for quality assurance.
Logan Hobbs, Compliance Manager: The P&T Department was having difficulty with the kiosks in the parking garage. They wanted to reinstall the kiosks but the card readers had expired per PSI-DSS. Logan reached out to T2 to decide on a compliant solution. After many meetings, T2 found a solution that was P2PE and PCI compliant. Logan helped T2 to find a solution for us and had to work through communications issues between T2 and P&T.
Carlos Rodriguez, Payroll Cost Allocation Analyst: I wanted to take a moment to provide my positive feedback on Carlos's help. Being new to the University of Virginia as a 100% remote employee in the Dallas, TX, area, and having on-boarded at the end of March 2023, I am fortunate to have the opportunity to work remotely, but the flip-side is I don’t have the venue to walk over to a colleague’s desk and ask for help! This did not deter Carlos one iota in “being there” to help me in a perplexing situation. He responded to my reply to an answer I’d received on a ticket I’d sent to AskHR with the subject line, “Subject: Workday "Create Payroll Account Adjustments" Error - Does not populate Pay Component Earnings.” He demonstrated a high degree of effective professionalism in reaching out to me on my phone and scheduling a Zoom meeting so that we could be concise and not trade multitudinous emails. He helped interpret what I needed to accomplish and took the onus with me to submit the PAA correctly. The issue was not my knowing how to do the PAA; it was a Workday glitch. With his accesses, he took the wheel and got it done for me so that I would not have to agonize with getting this done timely. His tremendous patience and persistence when I admitted that I left out some instructions spoke volumes about not only his professional competence but also his empathy and great “customer service.” Carlos ticks every box on how to help your colleagues and customer service base by going above and beyond. Kudos and my gratitude!
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REQUIRED SEARCH COMMITTEE TRAINING
posted January 4, 2024
The UVA Employment Equity Training Module is a requirement for participation in search committees. Successful completion of the Employment Equity module is required by all members of recruitment and selection processes in support of promoting more effective and objective selection decisions.
Completion of the Employment Equity module is required every two years. If you go to the link below, you will see green check marks next to the sections if you are current on training.
The training is available online at: http://employmentequity.virginia.edu
The module should take approximately 25 minutes to complete. We recommend that you review the support resources provided throughout the module. You are encouraged to return, via the provided link, to the module and the resources should you have questions as you progress through your recruitment and selection processes.
The Office for Equal Opportunity and Civil Rights (EOCR) is available to you as a resource. Contact them at employmentequity@virginia.edu or 434-924-3200 if you have questions, or visit their website for in-depth information related to these processes at https://eocr.virginia.edu/recruitment-and-hiring.
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NEW FEATURE FOR CONFERENCE ROOMS
posted January 4, 2024
We now can host TEAMS meetings in our conference rooms (only those configured for Zoom Rooms). There is now a TEAMS icon on the conference room controllers which allows you to launch the meeting. You can also choose to join the scheduled meeting for the room.
IMPORTANT NOTES:
Either way, one will need to have the TEAMS meeting ID & Passcode to join or start the meeting, and
You must still invite the conference room to a scheduled meeting, just as we do for Zoom Room meetings.
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SERVICE EXCELLENCE STORIES
posted December 4, 2023
Mandy Eames, Finance Supervisor, Data & Technology: Mandy prioritizes service excellence - while she indicates the urgency of the problem that is being solved, she provides an alternative with supporting justification for consideration. She also makes herself available to further discuss.
Jacob Mair, Senior Director of Accounting & Financial Reporting: Jacob coordinates, communicates, and manages the audited financial statements for the entire UVA enterprise. He collaborates with our discreetly presented UAOs as well as the medical center and the APA. He seeks to understand while holding entities accountable.
Danielle Hancock, Senior Training & Development Specialist: Danielle was a leading member of the Customer Experience working group and as such, committed to presenting to the leadership team and then developing content and facilitating Lunch and Learns on Service Excellence for the quarter.
Ben Tolson, Business Systems Analyst: Ben provided a final demonstration to the core Fiscal Admin team in helping to launch the portal. Ben did an excellent demonstration and use of the portal for the team.
Mohammed Eitta, Senior Accountant, Capital Equipment: Mohammed was tasked with leading an APA auditor around the University to verify capital equipment selected in sampling. Mohammed did an amazing job planning and coordinating the 25 selections from the auditor to accommodate times for stakeholders. Before the inventory verification, Mohammed confirmed equipment by collecting pictures from stakeholders and optimal times of availability to assist. Mohammed took all of these requested times and mapped out a plan that would have the least amount of impact on stakeholder schedules. Not only did Mohammed show the auditor all 25 pieces of capital equipment, but he also did it in a way that caused minimal disruption for stakeholders. Mohammed was flexible to their needs.
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SERVICE EXCELLENCE STORIES
posted November 28, 2023
Mike Hayton, LSP: Michael took on leadership and service excellence in the writing and communication of a UVA Finance Blog post around the use and cautions of using ChatGPT-like services with university data.
Joyce Gredler, Senior Capital Equipment Accountant: Joyce Gredler always follows through on commitments. She handles all the sponsored program property reports for UVA. Most of the time OSP, the PI, or the government agency gives Joyce some lead time on submitting these reports. With the conversion to Workday and some of the delays in sponsored programs, that lead time has evaporated to only a day or two. Countless requests have come through this quarter (and last year) with a day turnaround. Joyce always confirms that she can meet the deadline and delivers as communicated.
Kevin Crabtree, Strategic Sourcing Director: Arranged an in-person meeting with UVA Branding and Licensing to thoroughly vet their needs and concerns.
Reshma Gali, Budget Analyst: Reshma facilitated a number of mass journal uploads during the year-end process (June) to remediate expenditure function for a number of PV and RS units, as well as a number of journal transfers during the year-end adjustment period in July to ensure units received FY23 funding commitments in the appropriate fiscal year. This involved engagement directly with units to confirm details and a few late evenings, but she followed through until completion and had a direct impact on the FY23 outcomes for many units.
Amanda Meares, Senior Financial Analyst: Amanda worked with the Saleforce team to create a dashboard to monitor our team cases and have it sent to management each week to replace a manually created tracker sheet making the process more efficient to free up time for other tasks.
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posted November 28, 2023
Addie Coe, the current leader of the Business Solutions and Data Analytics team, will be taking on additional responsibilities in Accounts Payable in the wake of Amanda Lockhart Davis’s recent departure. Addie has graciously agreed to assume these duties temporarily and her experience and “can do” attitude will ensure that process improvement initiatives in payables will stay on track. We appreciate Addie's commitment to UVAFinance and are confident that she will excel in her expanded role.
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posted November 17, 2023
We had a great evening at Carter's Mountain! Thanks to everyone who attended, and an EXTRA big thanks to everyone who helped plan the event. See pictures on our Flickr album.
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posted November 9, 2023
About the Thanksgiving Meal Match
A division of UVA’s International Studies Office, the Lorna Sundberg International Center organizes a Thanksgiving Meal Match to match a local family with UVA's international students, scholars, and their families for a Thanksgiving meal. This unique opportunity allows local families to showcase American hospitality and share Thanksgiving traditions while learning about their guest’s culture.
- “Thanksgiving opportunities for international students offer a traditional American experience” – The Cavalier Daily
- Hosts sign up here: https://bit.ly/IC-2023HostThanksgiving
- Any questions: email intlctr@virginia.edu
SERVICE EXCELLENCE STORIES
posted November 7, 2024
These examples of the UVAFinance value of Service Excellence were provided by UVAFinance Directors as a part of our FY24 Values Focus (see the Cultural Roadmap on our site). We'll share a few stories every week all quarter long! (Scroll down on this page for more!)
- Mark Anderson, Director of Business Intelligence: Mark collected input on needs and then led the effort by the Business intelligence team to build a School Dashboard that consolidates meaningful data and analytics in a user-friendly QLIK UI.
- Andrew Sallans, Director of User Success and Services: In response to stakeholder requests for more visibility into the status of their Salesforce cases, Andrew led an effort to imagine, develop, and deploy the AskFinance Customer Portal.
- Reshma Gali, Budget Analyst: Reshma has worked closely with diverse units to get institutional endowment funding budgeted and transferred. She has adjusted her approach effectively based on the stakeholder.
- Michelle Gregory, Finance Manager, Data & Technology: We had a request from numerous Adaptive users asking for a way to download detailed data from Adaptive more easily. Michelle investigated several possibilities and mocked up beta solutions so that the FP&A team and selected users could see the pros and cons of each and understand system limitations that we have to work with. Through this process, the end users understood that what was delivered to them was the best possible option given the constraints.
- Dawn Wood, User Success Agent: When a supplier payment is held up, Dawn does a detailed investigation of where it is held up and attempts to identify what the blocker is that needs attention. She will reach out to related departments as needed. She also takes the opportunity with the supplier to address other outstanding case issues to save them time and potentially resolve other cases as well.
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posted October 25, 2023; Contributed by Danielle Hancock
This quarter UVAFinance will focus on the value of building collaborative and trusted relationships. At this point, everyone should have been given access to take the DISC behavior assessment and most have had the opportunity to debrief the results both individually and with your team.Using the knowledge you gained about your personal DISC behavior style can play a role in how you interact with customers. The infographic included here illustrates some of the ways you can use that knowledge to understand and work with your customers (click on the infographic to see it up close!).
- Azamat Akhmedov, Senior Compliance Analyst: Azamat was helping a Romanian student who had a difficult foreign national tax situation. The student arrived from Germany after living there for a year, so it was unclear whether to use the German or Romanian tax treaty. Azamat researched this ambiguous issue and provided helpful counsel to the student.
- Krisztina Kiss, Finance Data & Tech Analyst: Krisztina is excellent at following up on Salesforce or Jira tickets to make sure we fully understand the user's requirements (stated and unstated) before we begin work on any new reports or enhancement requests. She fully documents the requirements and shares them with the user.
- Alison Hyler, Financial Analyst: Regularly engages with challenging stakeholders such as OSP with poise, kindness, professionalism, and grace. Most recently, Alison worked with the Workday Support team to implement a process for "stuck" grant payments that have been billed. Workday limitations will not allow the reversal of these payments for reissuing or canceling without errors. After working closely with the Workday team, Alison created documents to illustrate the resolution process and explained it at length to management and then again to the OSP team several times.
- Patrick Wood, Procurement Specialist: The Football team had charter plane issues for the return trip back to Charlottesville from TN (the first game of the season) that required for UVA to find and use the services of another vendor. Athletics texted Patrick Wood and myself at 7 AM on a Saturday morning needing an agreement with a new charter plane vendor reviewed and executed ASAP. Patrick redlined the agreement and got it fully executed before 11AM on Saturday.
- Thomas Schneeberger, Workday Finance Senior Analyst: Thomas was responsible for the creation and management of our FY2023 year-end task list and calendar. This task required more than just identifying and documenting Workday closing-related steps. Thomas spent a considerable amount of time working with others in and outside of Finance to ensure what year-end activity and cutoffs were applicable to each area. It was because of Thomas' service excellence that our year-end processes ran extremely smoothly.
- CC0484.DN001967.FD005.FN034.BU16 - FI-Business Systems Support (Scott) – computers, software, systems, technology (note: some of the largest expenses, like Workday, have been deemed institutional expenses and are going to a non-Finance cost center).
- CC0486.DN001967.FD005.FN030.BU16 - FI-Change Enablement & CI (Angela) – employee training registration fees and materials, and travel for professional development and training.
- CC2033.DN001967.FD005.FN030.BU16 - FI-Business Services (Andrew/Stacey) – contracted services, supplies, legal, printing, consultants, publications, security, membership fees, shipping, and all other general operating costs.
If you work in Carruthers and you/your group are interested in participating during this event by being at one of the trick-or-treat stations, by sponsoring one of the craft stations, or by decorating your area, that would be much appreciated and I would love to speak with you! Please feel free to respond to this message or to email Elodie if you have any questions or if you would like to be part of the planning, setup, or execution of this Halloween event.
Wednesday, October 4, 2023
8:30am – 2:00pm
Newcomb Ballroom, third floor
Schedule your flu vaccine appointment!
Thursday, October 5, 2023
7:00am – 3:00pm
Education Resource Center, UVA Health
Schedule your flu vaccine appointment!
Active Attacker Prevention, Response, and Notification Training
Career Navigation for Staff: Help is Available!
posted September 20, 2023
The Career Navigation Center at UVA is dedicated to guiding UVA staff through their next career steps. They offer resume help, coaching, and presentations to your team, among many other things! Check out their webpage for resources and available services.
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Benefits Open Enrollment Presentation at Carruthers
posted September 20, 2023
Date: Tuesday, September 26
Time: 1:30pm – 2:30pm
Location: Carr-1 and Carr-2
Zoom Link: https://virginia.zoom.us/j/99850668681?pwd=QWVnbURNZ1dQQXJiem5iNC85RFRPZz09&from=addon
All Carruthers departments are invited to attend.
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