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MEET..... the people who set up your campus center events

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Continuing an effort begun 5 years ago in the Controller’s Office, staff from Procurement and the Controller’s Office "adopted" a needy family with whom to share the holiday spirit. Beginning in October with a canned food drive and ending in December with shopping for the children from their letters to Santa, the efforts of the staff produced over 80 pounds of food and numerous gifts for the children and their mother. The Controller’s Office has received several calls from campus departments with requests for information on how to adopt a family. Anyone wishing further information is encouraged to contact Betty Tedford.

The Budget Office and Financial Analysis Office have donated food and gifts to local shelters for the past several years. This year’s donations went to Necessities/Necesidades in Northampton, an organization that provides shelter for battered women and their children.

Coordinated by Lorraine Weimann, staff in Human Resources have donated to Toys for Tots for many years. Sponsored by the Marine Corps, the program collects toys to distribute to needy children during the holidays. Lee Forrester, Physical Plant, a Marine Corps reservist, provides the link to the Corps.

The A&F Holiday party was held on December 17, 1996 and over 111 staff and their families attended. Chris Newman, Auxiliary Services, chaired the Holiday Party committee which included Kathy Gallivan, Budget Office, Cindy Hamel, Vice Chancellor for A&F Office, Valerie Duprey, Physical Plant and Lorraine Weimann, Human Resources.

The evening began in the Mullins Center Ice Rink where members of the UMASS Hockey team along with Assistant Coach Deraney managed the 2nd Annual A&F Hockey Shootout and helped youngsters (and oldsters!) learn to skate. From the beginner skater to the well schooled, everyone seemed to have a wonderful time. Kathy was the primary organizer of the skating event.

The evening continued in the Mullins Center VIP room where catering provided a wonderful buffet, staff mingled and talked and prizes were raffled. Prizes were donated by Auxiliary Services, Carroll Travel, FBS Savings Systems, McGregor Travel, Mullins Center, National Car Rental, Office of Classroom Supplies, Parking Services, Printing Services, and Xerox.

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 Paul's Page: A message from the vc of A&F

In an ongoing effort to increase customer service and streamline processes on campus, Administration and Finance has been instrumental in the introduction of a number of new "cards" to the campus community. Contrary to the objective of many banks and other institutions who inundate the mail with offers of credit cards, our efforts are not designed to entice customers to run up large balances, but are a means to facilitate a number of campus processes or to provide benefits to our employees.

Currently in the pilot stage, the new ProCard and corporate card for travel will significantly streamline the process and reduce the time necessary to purchase small items (under $500) and to pay for and reimburse employee travel expenses. The use of these cards empowers departments and their employees to be in much greater control of their activities since much of the institutional oversight previously provided by A&F units will be decentralized to the department level. Our role will shift from being the pre-audit reviewer and hands on processor of many transactions to providing policy guidance, training, systems support and post audit review. Our offices will take on the role of facilitators. We will need to insure that campus departments have the appropriate tools to carry out their new responsibilities. As a public institution, the campus must maintain the appropriate level of accountability as internal policies and regulations while being as responsive as possible to our campus customers. This is an interesting challenge which will tax the creativity of many of us to foster a collaborative approach to doing business on campus.

Employees recently received a Corporate Rate Savings Card which is for the personal benefit of university employees. In an attempt to provide an additional fringe benefit to employees, the Human Resources office was able to negotiate a program which allows employees the ability to take advantage of discounts from many establishments in the Amherst area by merely presenting the card when purchasing goods and services from participating vendors. This simple no cost benefit is an example of the university taking advantage of its large employee complement to bring real savings to all of us.

Lastly, beginning in the fall semester, students and staff will be issued new identification cards. These new cards will provide benefits to the holder depending on his or her situation. Campus departments that rely upon ID cards which are currently laden with various stickers requiring yearly updating will be able to run the new cards through a reader which scans information on the card’s magnetic strip to determine if the holder is entitled to receive service or participate in certain activities. Cardholders will no longer have to go to some office to have the card updated. This promises to be a great convenience for everyone. In addition, students and staff will have the ability to deposit money on their card which can be used to purchase goods and services from campus departments and vending machines, thereby eliminating the need to collect and deposit large amounts of cash and reducing security risks throughout the campus.

All of these initiatives have one goal in common - to provide increased levels of high quality service and convenience to the campus. We are central to this effort and are leading the movement toward a more responsive campus to meet the needs of students, faculty and staff.

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The Campus Card Office has begun implementing the All-Campus Card System. The card will use electronic readers and cash registers to verify status, campus priveleges and for purchases. Auxiliary Services has been using the new system since Fall 1996 for meal plans. During the Spring, 1997 semester, students will have their pictures taken for the new card, which will be distributed over the summer. Production of staff and faculty ID’s will begin in March, 1997. The All-Campus Card is an AT&T Campus Wide system, which has been installed in over ninety colleges and universities in North America. A new feature of the Card System will be the debit card option, available to staff and students. Next Fall, users will be able to deposit money into an account to be used to purchase food, goods and services on campus by using their ID Card at campus sales outlets or in vending machines.

This system will provide staff and students with a single campus ID card which can be used to access a variety of campus services including Dining Halls, Check authorization, Library check-out, Security access to exterior, doors, computer rooms, and Purchases at bookstores, snackstores, vending machines

In September, 1996 Travel Administration introduced the First Bank VISA Corporate Card Program. No fee corporate cards are issued to employees as a payment vehicle for reimbursable travel expenses. The objective of the Corporate Card is to provide employees with convenience, security and flexibility while traveling on University business and to reduce travel and administrative costs.

• World wide acceptance

• ATM cash withdrawals will virtually eliminate the need for cash advances

• Car rental insurance coverages at no charge

• 24 -Hour Customer Service

Human Resources has announced a Corporate Rate Savings card specifically for University of Massachusetts Amherst employees. Card holders are eligible for discounts on merchandise or services at 23 area businesses simply by presenting the card at time of purchase.

• restaurants

• fitness/health/personal care

• travel/hotel

• realty & household purchases

• auto & bicycle purchase and services

• retail stores

Financial Services is pleased to announce the development of the University of Massachusetts Procurement Credit Card (ProCard). A benchmarking study done in FY93 showed that 77% of campus purchases were for under $500 yet represented only 8% of purchase dollars expended. After careful research and analysis by a quality improvement team, the ProCard was born. This procurement tool is designed to simplify and streamline purchasing consumable supplies costing less than $500. Purchases can be made by authorized cardholders, by telephone or in person, by charging the purchase to the ProCard. The cardholder receives a monthly statement which is reconciled against the cardholder’s receipts. The ProCard eliminates the need for vendor codes and purchase orders for eligible purchases. The ProCard is a MasterCard backed by the First National Bank of Chicago, has been in use in selected pilot departments since as early as last July. The program should be expanded to campus-wide use in September.

• "Through the use of the UMASS ProCard, the Physical Plant was able to purchase a critical computer component, necessary to keep our in-house system running, from a firm in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and have delivery of the part within 24 hours. No paperwork—Just one telephone call!" Joyce Lak, Purchasing & Warehouse Manager at Physical Plant

• "I believe that the ProCard has literally saved days, if not weeks, for the class of purchases for which it is now used. We are absolutely ecstatic about the card." Bruce McCandless, Director, Office of Research Affairs

For more information, call Jake Bishop at 5-0361.

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Last week, when a friend suggested that I and my husband join them for dinner at the Northampton Brewery, I accepted because my husband is just beginning to brew his own beer, and I thought it would be interesting for him to sample some locally produced brews. While I have never learned to appreciate beer, I knew the Brewery had a fine reputation and that we would all enjoy ourselves. I must say that I was more than a little pleasantly surprised by the dinner selections available.

We started out by sharing a couple of platters of "poppers," which are jalapeno peppers split length-wise, filled with cream cheese, coated with a spicy batter and finally deep-fried. Anyone who loves spicy food should give these a try, and one order is just enough to whet the appetite if shared with a dinner companion. For dinner I ordered chicken rollatini, which was wonderfully moist and stuffed with spinach and mozzarella. My husband had the cashew burger, which he enjoyed and said that it had a good "nutty" flavor. My friend, who is a vegetarian, was delighted that she could order a version of the jambalaya that did not include the traditional additions of seafood and sausage. The special tomato soup, ordered by her husband, was redolent with basil and had a strong, fresh tomato flavor.

I wish I could comment on the beer, which everyone but I drank, but suffice it to say that several kinds were sampled and that they seemed very pleased with their selections. For wine-lovers like me, I urge you to give the Brewery a try. The atmosphere is lively and the service is friendly but not intrusive. I know we all had a fantastic time.

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MEET... The People Who Set Up Your Campus Center Events

The grand opening of the new Events Office in Room 819 of the Campus Center took place on Thursday, December 12th. The new office will be home to the Scheduling Office, Catering Sales, and Conference Service Sales in an effort to provide "one-stop-shopping" to all customers. These three offices had been previously scattered in different locations in the Campus Center, making it difficult and time-consuming for customers who needed to use the services of all three offices for one meeting. Elizabeth Dale, Director of Business and Facilities Services at the Campus Center said "now, a customer can reserve a room, plan a dinner menu and schedule a conference all in one visit."

The Events Office was created as a result of a CQI team from Administration and Finance charged with studying the process for students reserving meeting rooms and catering services within the Campus Center/Student Union Complex. Interviews with customers lead to a broader base of customers for the study as well as the need to create a "one-stop-shopping" concept.

The project took a tremendous amount of teamwork from all areas of the Campus Center as many offices had to be relocated to make the space available. Meredith Schmidt, Associate Director of Hotel and Facilities Services, coordinated the project and stated that it took the cooperation and commitment of everyone to make this happen. The office number is 577-1234.

Last year, 16% of A&F employees contributed to COMEC. In this campaign, A&F contributors increased to 20 % and the total giving increased by 21%. These contributions made it possible for many of our neighbors and co-workers to receive such critical services as housing and food for families in crisis, shelter for women and children in abusive situations, home care for the elderly and programs for our youth. Thank you. Together ... we are making a difference.

A&F is on the internet. Find us at http://www.umass.edu/af. From here, you can link to those A&F divisions whose home pages are up on the web as well - Human Resources (A&F’s web pioneer) and Auxiliary Services. Coming soon you’ll be able to link to Facilities Planning, Campus Services and the Physical Plant. A&F’s homepage is still under construction, so feel free to send comments and suggestions to admfin@admin.umass.edu.

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