Business Office
Unit Annual Report
2002-2003
Kim Schultz — Associate Administrator
Jackie Nohl — Principal Cashier
Jodi Sperr — Principal Accounts Specialist
Barb Valnes — Principal Accounts Specialist
Sheila Windingstad — Accounts Specialist
1 Student Employee
Marlys Buntje — Sr. Bookstore Mgr.
Dianna George — Sr. Office Specialist
Angela Anderson — Office Assistant
Wendy Evink — Sr. Office Assistant
2 Student Employees
Donna Bauck — Director (Sodexho)
Chris Serio — Manager (Sodexho)
Aaron Wise — Manager (Sodexho)
Gremmels, Marilyn Accounts Specialist
Hoyer, Garrett Building & Grounds Worker
Kill, Jeremiah Building & Grounds Worker
Anderson, Irene Food Service Worker
Hansen, Anne Food Service Worker
Henrichs, Deborah Food Service Worker
Henrichs, Judy Food Service Worker
Howe, Wanda Food Service Worker
Jallo, Jan Food Service Worker
Johnson, Karen Food Service Worker
Karsten, Kathleen Food Service Worker
Kleinhans, Margaret Food Service Worker
Martin, Jeannine Food Service Worker
Moses, Barbara Food Service Worker
Pillatzki, Sharon Food Service Worker
Rohloff, Cynthia Food Service Worker
Shuckhart, Michael Food Service Worker
Wagner, Julie Food Service Worker
Campbell, Debbie Senior Food Service Worker
Carlsen, Margaret Senior Food Service Worker
Hesse, Julie Beth Senior Food Service Worker
Kunde, Lois Senior Food Service Worker
Leonard, Loretta Senior Food Service Worker
Michaelson, Joan Senior Food Service Worker
Rathke, Delores Senior Food Service Worker
Sauter, Janet Lynn Senior Food Service Worker
Schmidgall, Diane Cook
Seifermann, Aloys Cook
70 to 75 Student Employees
The Business Office serves the campus community as its budgeting, bookkeeping, accounts payable, accounts receivable and credit department. In addition, the Business Office provides Bursar and Cashier functions including notary services, data entry of payment documents and accounting support for the campus as a whole. The Business Office is also responsible for ensuring that all units comply with the laws, rules and policies that govern University units when purchasing goods and services from either inside or outside sources and that the proper paperwork is processed for these transactions.
On-line data entry of internal documents (IX, IV and JV) has been distributed to the various division offices and departments for entry by their staff. This has streamlined the process and eliminated duplication of effort as documents are entered one time only, rather than typed on a document and then submitted to the Business Office for re-keying on-line. The Business Office has retained the on-line entry of PV documents to provide a central Accounts Payable Department for the campus, to avoid overburdening clerical staff in the division offices and to take full advantage of the accounting expertise of the Business Office staff.
PeopleSoft is working quite well as we move forward. The upgrade to Version 8 took place in February 2003, and moved the system to a web-based format. SysControl at the Twin Cities campus has provided the necessary technical support for PeopleSoft and eliminated the need for a full-time PeopleSoft coordinator.
The year 2002-03 proved to be another successful year for the bookstore. The operations of the bookstore continued to be profitable in part because of the success of the point-of-sale (POS) system. The POS system has enabled students to charge not only textbooks, but also school supplies, to their PeopleSoft student accounts with ease, thus eliminating the need to carry cash. This in turn lessens the need for emergency loans since students are able to charge to their student account and pay at a later time. The availability of the bookstore's website has given students the opportunity to order textbooks on-line and has also given the general public the capability of purchasing UMM merchandise. These added sales contributed to the success of the bookstore.
This was the second year of our 5-year contract with Sodexho Dining Services. There have been many changes to the food service operation, the most important being the high quality and varied menu now offered to students on the meal plan. Turtle Mountain Café continues to offer grill items along with the featured items of the day. Overall, student response has been positive to the changes implemented by Sodexho.
Limited remodeling and redecorating will take place the summer of 2003. The remodeling will include the purchase of a new dishwasher, food service production equipment, shelving, supplies and various other items that will ensure that UMM continues to meet prescribed safety standards and requirements.
Kim Schultz is now managing the Business Office and overseeing the Food Service and Bookstore operations. Plans are in place for the UMM campus to begin using the on-line purchase order (POT). This will help streamline the purchasing process, facilitate the processing of payment documents and bring the Morris campus more in-line with the University system as a whole. The Business Office will continue to offer support to departments as they make the conversion from paper documents to on-line document production in Financial Forms Nirvana (FFN).
Summer 2003 has also marked the beginning of electronic billing for student tuition and fees. After a great deal of effort by staff on all 4 campuses, the first electronic bill for the Morris campus ran on July 7, 2003. The electronic billing worked well with only minor glitches. UMM also began receiving electronic payments at the same time. Until October 2003, students will receive both paper and electronic bills. After that time there will only be electronic bills unless a student can provide evidence that they are not capable of receiving their bills electronically. Paper, printing and postage costs will be eliminated and will provide a substantial savings to the University.
A direct deposit system for student credit balance refunds has been developed and is scheduled for implementation in July 2003.
The bookstore will again be facing some significant changes in the upcoming fiscal year 2003-04. The major change will be in updating the current POS system to a new Windows based POS system. This change will require employee training and implementation, but should allow the bookstore to further streamline its services and improve customer service. Another change will involve the retirement of long-time bookstore manager, Marlys Buntje, who is planning to retire in June 2004. This will result in some staffing changes and possible restructuring.
Sodexho USA has now completed two years of service to the Morris campus and continues to provide students with an excellent dining experience.
UMM has purchased new equipment from Blackboard, Inc., that will scan U Cards for students on meal plans. The new equipment has improved card readers and a customer-viewable screen that will indicate the meal plan of the customer and the balance remaining. This feature should prove to be an invaluable tool for students wishing to make the most economical use of their meal plan.
A major change in service will take place with the beginning of the 2003-2004 academic year. For the first time, breakfast will no longer be served in the Food Service building, but will be available at Turtle Mountain Café (TMC). This change will provide a morning meal in a more intimate atmosphere and in a more central location for students on the way to or from early morning classes. It will also eliminate the need for full-time cooking staff in two locations (i.e. Food Service and TMC), which will result in a substantial cost savings for Food Service. Full-time cooking staff will begin their workday at mid-morning and be available through the busy noon and evening meals. This will provide higher quality service for students and increase customer satisfaction, while continuing to provide the University with savings in labor costs.
A significant investment in food service equipment in the deli area, hot line, TMC and catering is expected to result in future cost savings in maintenance and repair costs while enhancing and improving the quality of meals and the dining experience overall.
Sodexho also hopes to provide a more appealing atmosphere in the Timber Room and Peoples Room to entice more on-campus use for small group lunch/dinner meetings and other gatherings where food will be served. Catering could be provided much more economically and at a lower cost to customers if such events were held at the Food Service building as the necessity to transport food across campus would be eliminated along with the associated labor costs.
Fall 2003 will also see the purchase of new U Card equipment for the Morris campus. The new equipment will be in-line with what is currently being used on the Twin Cities campus and will provide students with a high-quality University of Minnesota identification card that will have many uses on the Morris campus and limited usage on the other three campuses. The U Card office will be obtaining new office furniture that will better accommodate the U Card equipment and help provide improved student service.
The Cougar Cash card will be starting its third year of use on the Morris campus and continues to work well. Students are able to add dollars to their Cougar Cash cards at any of three cash-to-card machines and then use their cards in various printing and copying machines located on the Morris campus. Incoming freshmen and transfer students receive their first Cougar Cash cards at no charge along with credit towards their first $3 in printing costs.