Upgrades to the Finance and Human Resources systems initially installed five years ago now provide additional tools to improve the efficiency of transactions and level of service provided to the campus through electronic commerce. After a period of implementation planning and evaluation, the Finance Office is now ready to provide these improvements to the campus. Both the University and its faculty and staff will significantly benefit from the improved efficiency, effectiveness and convenience of these electronic payment tools.

Changes in Payments Disbursements
As of March 1, 2006, reimbursements and expense advance disbursements to faculty and staff currently utilizing direct deposit for payroll checks will also be deposited directly into the default bank account noted for payroll. The default account is defined as the last account listed on the payroll advice of direct deposit. Any faculty or staff currently taking advantage of payroll direct deposit that wish to utilize a different account for this type of disbursement or are unclear regarding which account is noted as default in the Banner system should contact Marci Walden prior to February 15, 2006.

Just prior to issuing any reimbursement or expense advance deposit, an e-mail notification will be delivered reflecting the pertinent payment information and the intended date of the deposit. This e-mail notification is merely a courtesy notice to inform the recipient of the action taken by SPU. If you receive such an e-mail, please verify that your bank has processed the payment correctly on the noted deposit date.

Changes in Payroll Disbursements
The new e-mail notification system described above for reimbursements and expense advance disbursements will also be used for payroll direct deposits. As of March 1, 2006, printed payroll advices of direct deposit will no longer be produced for direct deposit payroll users. Rather, faculty and staff taking advantage of direct deposit will receive an e-mail notification that the payment has been created along with a link to the login page for the SPU employee Banner webpage where the details related to the payroll remittance are available. The link will take the employee directly to a Banner login screen to assure the security of employee’s payroll information. Please see the Banner Training section below for information on planned training sessions for faculty and staff that are not familiar with logging into the Banner web pages. If a printed copy of the pay information is required, faculty and staff can print the Banner web page reflecting the details. Once again, the e-mail is a notice of SPU’s action and it is strongly suggested that recipients also verify that their bank processed the deposit correctly.

Additionally, the Finance Office would like to take this opportunity to encourage all staff and faculty who are not currently utilizing direct deposit to strongly consider doing so. There are many compelling reasons to consider this a better option for employees, as well as the University. Here are a few benefits to consider:

• Immediate access to funds on the day of deposit. No lines to stand in for pick up or deposit. No concerns regarding the effect of vacations, holidays or inclement weather on getting checks deposited in your bank.
• Incentives by many banks to utilize direct deposit including waiving various fees on accounts.
• Increased ease of distributing funds to multiple accounts, such as savings accounts.
• Increased privacy due to the lack of paper remittance handling.
• Significant reduction in potential fraud due to lost or stolen paper checks.
• Savings for the University regarding unclaimed checks and required government reporting.
• Savings of nearly 50 hours/month in cumulative staff processing time.
• Paper and check printing/processing costs.

Direct deposit has become a common practice among most organizations for payroll processing and with the continued improvements in e-commerce it is becoming common for other payment-related items. Beginning March 1, 2006, faculty and staff electing to maintain paper check payments over direct deposit for paychecks will be required to pick up their check directly from the Finance Office during normal business hours. Since the majority of faculty and staff utilize direct deposit and the distribution of their pay information will be via secure web access, individual signatures and identification will be required to release paychecks to individuals in order to provide comparable security for both payment types. Please take advantage of this direct deposit opportunity to avoid the delay in getting your pay check and sign up now for the direct deposit payroll option.

Banner Training
The Finance Office is coordinating several Banner orientation training sessions for those who are not familiar with using the Banner Information System to view employee-specific information. Several sessions will be provided during the last two weeks of February and will be noted on the Finance Website (www.spu.edu/depts/finance) and announced via e-mail broadcast.

For information on how to sign up for direct deposit, please contact Carol Clement (281-2533) or visit the departmental website noted above to obtain the forms and instructions.

Please feel free to contact me directly at extension 2319 with any questions on the changes noted above or on direct deposit in general.