The U-M Shared Services Center opened on Aug. 4, and the project is beginning a second engagement process that will involve faculty, staff and future SSC employees in planning and refining the next set of services to be offered.
SSC quick facts
- The U-M Shared Service Center opened Aug. 4, 2014.
- Services now provided are accounts payable, accounts receivable and certain HR functions.
- Faculty and staff feedback during winter 2014 helped validate the processes.
- Winter implementation occurs in March and April 2015.
- Services will include statement of activity, time and leave administration, employment processing and travel and expense processing.
- Learn more and give feedback.
About 110 SSC staff members now handle accounts payable, accounts receivable and certain human resources functions for the university. Additional finance- and HR-related services will begin during March or April 2015, and will include statement of activity, travel and expense report processing, time and leave administration, and employment processing.
Engaging faculty and staff for their advice will again be done primarily at the school, college and unit level, explained Thom Madden, who leads the implementation phase of the shared services initiative.
“The advice is important for the proper design of the next set of services, particularly travel and expense report processing,” said Madden. “The SSC plans to offer travel and expense services that will include both travel booking and expense report processing, including delegates for expense reports. That helps ensure all faculty members will have the option to use a delegate if they choose to do so.”
The feedback last winter helped the project team test the processes that went to the SSC in August, and it also surfaced other faculty concerns about productivity and administrative burden. These included the usability of the Concur interface for expense processing and the long-standing $5,000 bid threshold requiring competitive bids for purchases.
The university is planning a pilot this fall of a Concur mobile app, and if it’s successful, will make it available across campus this winter. In addition, Concur plans to release a more user-friendly Web interface during the winter. The university also is currently evaluating the bid threshold.
Polly Payables
Nice article. It is delightful coming to the U everyday knowing my work is appreciated and that I’m not an errand girl for faculty (many of whom don’t even teach!). Appreciated Provost Pollack visiting us and sharing her thought on areas to expand shared services even further.
History Doctor
Provost Pollack is forcing this initiative on us. Provost Pollack is dehumanizing the work, and is moving U-M backwards. It appears to me that the workers at the Shared Services are like an assembly line from the 1900s.
If Provost Pollack is serious about cutting costs, she should start with her own bloated office.
carol clark
This is so true, it’s like comcast over here, but using benefits instead of high speed cable problems
CoE Princeton Tiger
This useless engagement process has been designed by Provost Pollack to give a perception of engaging the faculty yet our concerns and feedback have been ignored at every turn. Provost Pollack is totally disingenuous. It is clear to the faculty that Provost Pollack continues to ram Shared Services down our throats for one reason only…to advance her higher ed administrative career. We are sick of this self-serving behavior by Provost Pollack.
Deborah Lurie
Sitting in “faculty engagement” sessions over the past 6 months, has been a tremendous waste of the faculty’s and project team’s time. The entire exercise is symbolism. What input could faculty possibly have on processes related to checking account balances or paying vendors? Only professors that attend these sessions are those with too much time on their hands.
Ross Prof.
After reading the SACUA article in Michigan Daily on AST earlier in the week, I would like to know who appointed Prof. Mark Burns to represent faculty on AST? He certainly doesn’t represent me, no faculty I know voted for him, and he never sedms to answer questions anyway without being a know-it-all and ultimately passing the buck. This is another example of the administration having no respect for democratic governance by dictating a faculty rep for us.