Business Matters October 2015

Upcoming Business Forum

The next Business Forum is scheduled for Tuesday, November 3 from
10:00 am – 12:00 pm in HRTC 141/145. The meeting will be broadcast via Adobe Connect and can be accessed here: November Business Forum Broadcast . Please mark your calendars.

Questions? Contact finhr@ohio.edu or 740.593.1893.

Clarification on Benefits Premiums for New Hires and Status Changes

The Benefits Office previously announced a change in the benefits arrears process regarding the handling of employee missed insurance premiums due to a seasonal lay off, missed pay check, or not having enough earnings to pay all premiums. See Benefit Premium Change Regarding Arrears for full details.

To clarify any confusion, new hire and change of status (marriage, divorce, birth of a child, etc.) benefits elections are treated differently. New hires and employees with a change of status must make benefit elections within 31 days of their date of hire or the date of the status change. Such elections are retroactive to the date of hire or date of status change. Any retroactive premiums due as a result of such elections will be deducted in full from the employee’s first pay check immediately following final processing of the benefit election. For example, an employee paid on a semi-monthly basis gets married on September 1 and submits an enrollment form to change from single coverage to employee and spouse coverage on September 30. This is after the September 15 and 30 pays have been processed and received by the employee. As a result of the change from single coverage to employee plus spouse coverage, retroactive premiums would be due for the September 15 and September 30 pay as the change to employee plus spouse coverage would be effective September 1. The retroactive premiums due will be collected in full during the October 15 pay, which is the pay immediately following the final processing of the benefit election.

Questions? Contact the Benefits Office in Human Resources at benefits@ohio.edu or 740.593.1636.

Changes to PTO Accruals for Part Time Employees

As previously announced, University Human Resources completed the COMP2014 and Group III conversion projects last fiscal year. As a result of these two projects, there are 302 non-exempt administrators that are now paid on an hourly basis. Effective immediately and retroactive to July 1, accruals for PTO will be calculated based on hours worked rather than by FTE.

Approximately 30 employees who converted to an hourly pay status as a result of the COMP2014 project have been accruing PTO based on their FTE level instead of on actual hours worked. In addition, 195 administrative Group III employees who converted as a result of the Group III conversion project began accruing based on their FTE level on July 1. It is now possible to base PTO accrual for these employees on actual hours worked instead of FTE level. Using actual hours worked provides a more accurate way to accrue PTO benefits.

Additionally, effective July 1, there were changes to PTO benefits eligibility for part-time regular and term appointments allowing them to earn vacation time even if working below the full benefits eligibility threshold of .75 FTE. Ninety-five employees needed adjustments to vacation accruals due to this change. In September, a system change was implemented to correct these two scenarios retroactively to July 1, 2015.  It is important to note that the rate at which employees earn PTO will not change; rather, the method to earn PTO has changed.PTO for all hourly employees will be earned based upon hours worked rather than estimated FTE.  For some who work more than the estimated FTE, it will mean they correctly earn morePTO.  For others who may be working less than the estimated FTE, it will mean they correctly earn lessPTO. 

Although the correction will be retroactive to July 1, 2015, no PTO accruals earned to date will be reduced. If an employee’s estimated FTE was higher than the rate at which they have worked since July 1, a manual adjustment will be made so that their current PTO accruals are not reduced. They will begin earning at the rate they work after the correction. The group of 95 who have not been earning vacation time since July 1 should have received an adjustment on the biweekly September 18 pay check for any earned vacation since July 1. This has been communicated directly to all impacted employees. 

Questions? Contact the Employee Service Center at uhr@ohio.edu or 740.593.1636.

Holidays and Winter Closures

As indicated in Ohio University’s Policy #41.125 , University Human Resources annually issues an official list of holiday observance dates. Please note that Winter Break Closure (WBC) is not considered holiday leave. Refer to Vacation and Winter Closure Time for Administrative and Classified Employees for details.

Below is the schedule for holidays and Winter Break Closure dates during the years 2015 through 2017.

Holidays and Winter Break Closure, 2015 - 2017

Observance	2015	2016	2017
1: Depending on your years of service and employment type, you may be required to use one day of vacation time during the WBC. Please refer to policy #41.001 and to the Guidelines for Vacation and Winter Closure Time .
New Year's Day	Thursday, January 1	Friday, January 1	Monday, January 2
Martin Luther King Day (3rd Monday in January)	Monday, January 19	Monday, January 18	Monday, January 16
Memorial Day (Last Monday in May)	Monday, May 25	Monday, May 30	Monday, May 29
Independence Day	Friday, July 3	Monday, July 4	Tuesday, July 4
Labor Day (1st Monday in September)	Monday, September 7	Monday, September 5	Monday, September 4
Veteran's Day	Wednesday, November 11	Friday, November 11	Friday, November 10
Thanksgiving (4th Thursday in November)	Thursday, November 26	Thursday, November 24	Thursday, November 23
Columbus Day (Floating Holiday)	Friday, November 27	Friday, November 25	Friday, November 24
Christmas Day	Friday, December 25	Monday, December 26	Monday, December 25
President's Day (Floating Holiday)	Monday, December 28	Tuesday, December 27	Tuesday, December 26
Winter Break Closure 1	Tuesday, December 29	Wednesday, December 28	Wednesday, December 27
Winter Break Closure 1	Wednesday, December 30	Thursday, December 29	Thursday, December 28
Winter Break Closure 1	Thursday, December 31	Friday, December 30	Friday, December 29

Questions? Contact the Employee Service Center at uhr@ohio.edu or 740.593.1636.

Changes to State of Ohio Withholding Rates

As announced previously, the Ohio Department of Taxation issued new employer withholding tables to be used for payrolls after August 1, 2015. The new tables take into consideration the income tax rate reductions that went into effect when the Budget Bill was signed into law on June 30, 2015. The new tables will be used for the remainder of 2015, and for future years, until changed by the legislature. For more details, please see the announcement on page 2 of the September Business Matters .

Questions? Contact Payroll at payroll@ohio.edu or 740.597.1474.

Accounts Payable Mailbox

When sending invoices to the AP mailbox for payment ( accounts.payable@ohio.edu ), please include the company name and PO number in the subject line. If the payment is a rush, please note RUSH in the subject lineas well. It is also very important to only send one invoice attachment per email as this will help to ensure that your payments are prioritized and handled quickly.

Questions? Contact Accounts Payable at accounts.payable@ohio.edu or 740.597.6446.

Lodging and the CTA Card

In addition to airfare, lodging may also be booked on the CTA card in Concur or with an ALTOUR agent. A pop-up message will appear when using the CTA card at checkout in Concur . Please note that as hotels typically require a credit card at check-in, a physical credit card must be presented to pay for the transaction at the site. 

Questions? Contact financecustomercare@ohio.edu or 740.597.6446.

New  Concur Training Available

Beginning in October, a monthly Concur training will be offered to all OHIO employees. This training will provide an overview of how to use Concur for booking travel, creating expense reports, creating itineraries, adding delegates, submitting and approving expense reports, allocating expenses, and setting up substitute approvers.

Currently there are six sessions scheduled. Please visit the Concur Training Registration page to register.

Questions? Contact financecustomercare@ohio.edu or 740.597.6446.

New FY 2016 P2P Roadshows Scheduled

Procure to Pay (P2P) has scheduled FY 2016 Roadshows to include discussions on contracts, updates to policies in progress, and generalized P2P topics from “What’s New” to “Why Do You Do That?” These Roadshows have been refreshed so please join us by registering at:

• P2P Roadshow
• Contract Roadshow
• Policy Roadshow

Questions? Contact financecustomercare@ohio.edu or 740.597.6446.

What's the difference? Employee Service Center vs Finance Customer Care

Update on Loading FY 2016 Budget and Fund Balances

Operating Fund Balances were loaded at the beginning of September, with an entry date of July. Planning Units can find Operating Fun Balances in Natural Account 033940. Feedback was provided by the Budget Partner Group relating to the new allocation template and these modifications were reviewed and plan to be implemented for next year.

Questions? Contact your Budget Planning & Analysis contact or email budgetplanning@ohio.edu .

FY 2017 Budget Calendar and Timeline

During August and September, the FY 2017 Budget Calendar and Timeline was reviewed and discussed at constituent group meetings, including the Budget Partner Group, RC Strategy Group, and the Budget Planning Council. Budget Planning & Analysis (BPA) has now published Fall Planning Assumptions, along with associated planning templates and guidelines. A training session occurred on September 30 to review the published materials and answer questions. Planning Unit Forecast Development will continue through October 30, 2015.

Please reference the BPA website communications and materials for more details.

Questions? Contact your Budget Planning & Analysis contact or email budgetplanning@ohio.edu .

Chart of Accounts Redesign... The Results Are in

The Chart of Accounts (COA) project has far reaching impact to the University, in particular the campus units. Several approaches have been used to assess the current state COA usage in order to prepare a recommendation for the new COA. With the completion of the user survey sent in September, the project team has completed the assessment phase of current usage, challenges and the needs of the University community.

Campus Wide Survey Results: High Level Summary

The next project milestone is the four future state design sessions to develop a draft COA design document. The first two sessions were held on September 21 and September 22 with the core project team. The focus of these meetings was to determine the proposed segment values. A meeting has been scheduled for October 6 with the RC Strategy and RC Technical Groups to review the proposed segment values and discuss the order of the segments. The second two design sessions will be held in mid-October and will begin determining segment values and business rules to support the new COA.

Once the draft COA design document is complete, University stakeholders will have an opportunity to review and provide feedback. Demonstrations are planned for early 2016. The feedback shared during the demonstrations will be used to help finalize the new COA design. Communication regarding demonstration dates and times will be posted on the COA website (which will launch in October) as well as in Compass Points and in future issues of Business Matters .

Questions or feedback? Contact the Chart of Accounts Project Team at coa@ohio.edu .