The University Record, October 16, 1995
Clarification
The article “A quick look at three M-Quality teams at work” that appeared in the Oct. 9 issue was based on written material provided to the Record and did not contain complete information with respect to the Small Payments Team.
The Small Payments Quality Improvement Team was a sub-group of the Purchasing/Financial Operations Work Group, with the specific charge of investigating methods to improve the procurement of small dollar purchases. These generally involve such things as subscriptions that require an enclosure to accompany the check to the vendor, a labor-intensive process extremely susceptible to error.
By the end of a pilot project in June 1994, some 160 Departmental Charge Cards were in place in units. Since then, procedures and documentation have been continually updated by the team, which worked closely with NBD Bank.
The card has been so successful that it has been expanded to include hosting expenses with appropriate approval.
That project has led to a new product, also in collaboration with NBD Bank, a purchasing card that is being issued to University staff with procurement responsibilities.
The improved process is based on the combined efforts of the Small Payments team, staff in Accounts Payable and Travel who administered the pilot program, NBD Bank and the recently established Purchasing Card Services Group within the Purchasing Services Office.
The Small Payments team members were: Steve Royce, Purchasing Services (not M-Stores as noted in the article), team leader; Robert Reske, Hospital Finance; Jim Peters and Pam George, both of Purchasing Services; Pat O’Connell-Young, LS&A; Maria Ceo, Medical School; Sharon Sheets, then of College of Pharmacy; Sandy Patton, Architecture and Urban Planning; Virginia Wait, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science; Marty Parsons, Financial Operations; Richard Albertson, University Information Systems; and John Gialanella, Hospital Materiel Services (facilitator).
And, for the record, the members of the Abnormal Test Results Task Force at U-M Hospitals, also highlighted in the Oct. 9 issue, were: Jacquelyn Gordon, Sandy Finkel, Suzanne Johnson, Carol Mesk, Ann Munro, Sharon Redmer, Michelle Thomas and Rosanne Whitehouse.
