In UPAY- Status is Everything
"What is the status of my payment?" University Payables, better known as UPAY, receives this question a dozen times a day. UPAY makes all of the University's non-payroll payments to vendors, University students, non-employees (honoraria and reimbursements), and employees. In fact, in FY15, UPAY processed 122,641 Travel and Expense Management (TEM) documents, 427,000 P-Card/T-Card transactions, 9,396 Vendor setups, and paid 154,620 Purchase Order (PO) invoices!
TEM documents and Vendor Information forms are processed on a "first-in, first-out" basis, using the date of receipt in UPAY as the measure. For over two years, UPAY has posted on the OBFS website the processing dates for TEM and Vendor IDs. However, there was no visibility on the status of the PO invoice payments.
Transactional Goal
Jim Martinie, Senior Director of University Payables, and his staff responded to Mike Bass's Transactional Transparency challenge by adding the 'Purchase Order (PO) Payment Processing' information to the Payables Processing Status on the OBFS website. PO invoices are processed in the order of the vendor invoice date and paid according to the PO payment terms.
Customer Impact
Adding this information means that customers have a better idea when the payments are going to be made and allows them to actually see the processing dates, which are updated daily, for TEM Documents, Vendor Information Forms, and Purchase Order Invoices.
Customer Feedback
UPAY Customer Service (and staff) received requests for clarification of the TEM postdates. UPAY responded by creating the Determine When UPAY Receives an Expense Report (ER) job aid. This job aid explains the dates and times that TEM documents are received by UPAY. There has been a significant reduction in the number of phone calls and emails since the PO invoice date has been posted.
What's Next for UPAY?
UPAY's mission is to provide accurate and timely payment processing and support services for their customers. As they continue to fulfill their mission, there are plans for the Phase 2 Initiative to incorporate interdepartmental visits, outreach, and demonstrate various University Accounts Payables job functions. Wow…UPAY! These are some exciting times!
For more information about the Payables Processing Status or UPAY's other services, please visit Who To Ask or check out the UPAY Umbrella Task Chart.
For questions about the Initiative, please contact Kandra Miller, Assistant Director of University Payables and the UPAY Transparency Initiative's Guiding Coalition liaison, at kmiller3@uillinois.edu.
