October 2015 BAR MEETING
Clover Park Technical College
October 22 and 23, 2015
Thursday, October 22
BAMS Contract & Nelnet Processing
Ryan Pitroff from Office of State Treasurer presented along with Jennifer Fenske and Dawn
Vinberg from Shoreline, and Jon Potter from Nelnet. Dec of 2012 VISA rolled out Government
Service Fee Program for certain merchants allowing service fees. Prior to this, VISA rules were
impossible to comply with, so many merchants did not accept VISA.
VISA didn’t like the 3rd party service providers charging the fees, as they were not government
entities. OST by law is responsible for contracting with institutions and for coordinating
agencies use of electronic payments, including bankcards.
Bank of America Merchant Services chosen as the state’s vendor because of flexibility offered
state agencies. BAMS allows any processor or 3rd party service provider (such as Nelnet) as
long as that provider can authorize and settle transactions using BAMS MIDs through one of the
multiple FirstData Gateways.
Requests for new merchant IDs must go through OST. Contact Bankcards@tre.wa.gov or Tami
Taylor at 360-902-8906 or Ryan Pitroff at 360-902-8917.
Part of setup is determining what processor/gateway the 3rd party either uses or certified to. Also
to know if the college is going to participate in the Government Service Fee Program.
Takes up to 90 days for process to be completed. Once MID is issued, OST will provide the
college with a VAR sheet (info sheet about that MID) that the college will then need to pass on
to 3rd party service provider.
Issue is not specific to Nelnet. Is not charging service fee now, there isn’t currently a problem.
Shoreline is currently testing the new process. Progress has been slow. Once testing is
complete, colleges will be able to be in compliance and begin charging Government Service Fee.
Program is designed to help colleges recover merchant service charges. Can charge students an
administrative fee as part of their tuition and fees, or set it up on a per transaction basis, charged
at time card is swiped, up to 2% of transaction.
Some challenges is communicating the necessity of the fee to the end users, so it doesn’t appear
that it is just another fee to increase the revenue stream.
Shoreline is currently testing. One challenge has been that some issuing banks have a process in
place that automatically declines a second transaction in the same day on the same account
number. Hoping to go live November 10th.
Admin fee will show up as separate transaction on the students’ statement.
Nelnet is currently testing with CTC Link. Issues that have come up during testing should now
be resolved.
Each school is responsible for their own contract submission with Nelnet. 2% discount fee
already approved for all schools. Schools can make the switch anytime, do not have to wait until
CTC Link implementation. Nelnet is not a required vendor going forward.
Ryan discussed possibility of using “Square” for mobile transactions. Still violates the state
contract. BAMS offers “Mobil Pay”, a similar product to “Square”. Information is available
through Bankcards@tre.wa.gov. “Mobile Pay” is not EMV compliant currently.
The only thing the EMV compliance issue creates currently is that if you process an in-person
transaction on a chip-enabled card by traditional mag-swipe, and the customer disputes the
transaction, you will lose the dispute process. This is simply a liability shift for these types of
transactions. OST recommends considering the amount of charge-backs you have to determine
if it’s worth the expense of changing all terminals.
CTC Link
Janice Stroh from Tacoma, John Huffstutter from Spokane and Emmett Folk from SBCTC
presented, along with Tim Throckmorton (CCS) and other staff. Presentation was excerpted from
BAC presentation by David O’Neill (CCS), Lisa Hjaltalin (CCS), Andy Duckworth (TCC) and
Janice Stroh (TCC).
BAC presentation should be sent out to all, if it hasn’t already been received.
Six things to make sure “really” work before going live:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Admit & Register Students
Award Financial Aid
Disburse Financial Aid
Collect Tuition and Fees
Purchasing
Payroll
Implementation may be different, colleges need to do what works for them. System is three
pillars, but they are not free standing. Pillars must work together. Things to start doing now:
Work on relationships with other pillars (enrollment, HR, financial aid, business office); clean up
accounts to bring over the smallest and cleanest data possible; plan your crosswalks ahead of
time-understand how to use the PeopleSoft chart of accounts. Streamlining Prg-Org codes will
be very helpful when converting, i.e. math department having org codes in both 148 and 149;
will only use one code in PeopleSoft.
Important step to undertake now: understand fully the codes you are currently using, what they
do and what you need them to do. This will help determine the necessity of codes going
forward. Also should work with HR to work with departments to clean up jobs at the same time.
John Ginther inquired as to interest in having a workshop for colleges to introduce the system
more fully so that there is better understanding of how to proceed with chart of accounts.
SBCTC will try to put something together in the next month or so.
Don’t expect PeopleSoft to work like Legacy, very different system. Electronic, not paper
driven. Keep an open mind. Good opportunity to analyze your needs and set up PeopleSoft to
accomplish those needs. Expect business processes will change dramatically-prepare yourself
and staff for change. For example, no more “holds’ on accounts. If student owes money, they
simply can’t enroll without the need to go in and place holds on accounts.
Check accounts with balances, determine fi balances that have been rolled over for several years
should be written off or otherwise removed and accounts no longer needed.
Extremely important to do the testing during data conversion, prior to go-live.
Security has been a big issue, due to the significant number of different levels of security needed.
Be prepared with “crisis Management” response to requests.
Business Process Workflow: Strive for “best practice”, even if it is not how you do it now; think
about what makes sense when deciding who should do what; be prepared for a lot of change.
Spokane payroll is happy to have people come and observe their processes in order to learn how
things are being done.
Employees must have valid “combo” codes, or costs will go into a suspense account and create
significant headaches. “Combo” codes are the GL chartstrings. Timesheets are required in the
new system.
Employees will have one global employee file, so any employee working at multiple colleges
will not be able to have different information at each college. For example, if they make a
change to their direct deposit at one college, it will be changed at all colleges.
Every department ID in fund 145,147,057,060,253,357 and 999 needs a project ID and activity
code.
Revenues and expenditures in the budgets must equal. Budget must be present for every
chartstring where an expense might occur. Budget amount can be “zero”, as long as there is an
amount.
Suppliers/vendors are globally controlled. DBA’s are going away; must use legal name. W-9s
are required. Be proactive in gathering W-9s for local suppliers. New vendors will not be set up
without W-9, regardless of type of vendor. Guest speakers with a one-time payment of $50 are
no different than a new supplier for office supplies. Vendor ID does not correlate to TIN.
Future go-live dates for other colleges is being re-considered according to lessons learned from
TCC and CCS. Certain times of the year are better for go-live.
Learn the language – “PeopleSpeak”
Month-end processes will be done through batch processing.
Credit Card processing at the cashier window may change, as CTC Link will not accept credit
card swipes. CTC Link is not a point of sale system. Tacoma no longer accepts credit card
payments at the cashier window, only online. Peoplesoft will not hold credit card info, so standalone machines are problematic for processing refunds as they don’t store credit card info.
ITC Update
Michael Taylor, Clover Park gave updates on IT issues, including security, PCI compliance, data
breaches. IT is a support group, not a priority group. There to support other areas. Security is
biggest priority in IT world.
Hot Topics
International Programs-groups that send funds via EFT, lower fees than what is currently paid.
They wish to come give a presentation to group. Discussion tended to not want vendor
presentations at BAR, but to let interested schools contact them directly for individual
presentations. Whatcom is nearing implementation and will report back to group on progress.
Risk Assessment Tools-Auditors are checking risk assessment. Janelle has developed a
questionnaire to assist with risk assessment. Available for presentation to BAR 101. Example is
requirement for cash handling training for anyone who handles cash prior to being cleared for
duty; similar to requiring FERPA training upon employment. BAC discussed risk assessment as
well and would like BAR to be proactive in addressing the issue.
SAO training on uniform guidance on federal grants-interest in benefits of the training. Could
SAO do a presentation to BAR?
Update on competency based education-Columbia Basin is currently doing it for a few students.
SBCTC is assisting with processes for fee collections for 6-month, flat fee model. Bellevue is
looking at joining the consortium in January, but there are several hurdles.
Salary survey-very little direction from SBCTC, makes it difficult on colleges. Lack of
consistency between colleges. More assistance in reports from SBCTC may be helpful in
making this easier to accomplish, plus training should be provided to those responsible for
completing the survey.
Professional development funds to faculty-should they be used in accordance with FAM or
SAM, or can they be used for personal technical devices, such as an Apple watch?
BAC Report
Jennifer Strother reported on October BAC meeting. VP changes - Mary Alice is retiring from
Skagit in December, Shirley Bean is new VP at Green River, and Larry Clark is new VP at
Clover Park.
Ray White presented a report on relief efforts for ideas on the system supporting colleges with
financial challenges, some introduced by the change in the allocation formula.
The committee talked about how to make expertise available from other colleges. One idea
would be to create a website where colleges post when they have hired consultants to address
needs that may be in common.
Talked about sharing personnel for transactions when attrition occurs.
CTC Link presentation, similar to the presentation we saw yesterday. Stressed need to ensure
that colleges have sufficient bandwidth, as this is a cloud-based system.
WAC presentation included discussion on CTC Link including needing complete training on 6
pillars, need to complete data clean-up prior to go-live, and need to work on security and
permissions before go-live.
New allocation model was discussed and has been sent out to BAC.
BAC would like to have a regular report from BAR as to what we are discussing and what is on
our agenda.
Friday, October 23
Minutes & Treasurer’s report
Minutes from May meeting approved.
Treasurer’s Report - $6,500 approx. balance. This does not include expenses from our current
meeting. A couple of schools have still not paid this year’s dues.
Upcoming BAR meeting schedule
February at Bellevue, March at Clark, BAR 101 in April and May at Big Bend. Too much?
Discussion held to determine level of participation. February may become a one-day CTC Link
presentation. Still interest in having workshop in November for CTC Link; John Ginther will put
together. Thought put forth to increase length of one session in conjunction with cancelling
another so those travelling maximize their time. Conclusion is to hold workshop in
November/December, BAR in February (4-5 in Bellevue), Bar 101, April 21st Kent Station, May
12-13th at Big Bend.
SBCTC Updates
John Ginther and Denise Nguyen from SBCTC presented.
Denise updated on GASB 68. DRS prepared the Participating Employer Financial Information
(PEFI); shows the proportionate share percentage for each college. OSA: calculated estimated
the net pension liability (NPL). OFM calculates the state portion for the CAFR. SBCTC
calculates the portion for each individual college. Does not go into AFRS. Requires calculations
for net pensions liability, pension expense, deferred outflows and deferred inflows. This takes
effect for FY 14/15. Only PRS2/3 and TRS 2/3 are required to amortize any increase/decrease in
the proportionate share. Calculations will always be 1 year behind. Our accounting system does
not have the GLs needed for GASB 68. All entries are done and tracked manually for future use.
After CTC link implementation, GLs will be added.
Tuition waivers – work with Brian Myhre/Senior Budget Analyst.
Correct monthly error reports
SMART checklists – review and identify errors you can fix throughout the year; track your
interagency & interfund payables/receivables. OFM has earlier deadline for interagency
payables/receivables.
Not all SMART entries were entered into AFRS.
Disclosure Forms – all fields need to be filled out; on federal pass thru disclosure, make sure you
put the contract #s for each entity; provide explanations for variances on federal direct form;
loans disbursed to students are not a pass thru to subrecipient; incorrect CFDA #s, amounts affect
the SEFA.
Primary recipient get awarded directly from a federal agency: report on the state disclosure form
to go on the schedule of expenditures of federal awards. Subrecipient received\s pass thru from
another state agency. For pass thru, use object S.
John talked about SMART entries not all being entered into AFRS. This was simply due to the
volume of entries. In 12/13 there were 1,161 entries; in 13/14 there were 1,383, but in 14/15
there were 2,125 SMART adjusting entries submitted. 276 of those entries were not entered. If
you have entries that didn’t get entered, you will have to track them and account for them on
your financial statements. If immaterial, they can be ignored, but risk of lack of internal controls
on audit could be risk.
Investing – According to Treasurer’s Office, colleges are required to make investment decisions.
Investment firm can recommend legal investments but college must make decision. Cannot let
investment firm make decisions for you.
FAE – In April 2010, BAC recommended to WACTC to move to single inventory system. BAC
tasked OFC to move inventory to Megamations. Goal was for a single, centralized system of
web-based access to staff anytime, anywhere. 24 districts are using MM for facilities
maintenance. 24 districts that have converted to version 2.5 have inventory updated. No
districts used MM for financial reporting (depreciation), 2 districts are working with SBCTC to
develop depreciation schedule that meets the financial reporting requirements and standards. As
of December 31, there will be no more technical support for FAE due to retirement of key staff.
Work has started to synthesize data between MM, CS, 25L and PS with the goal to require entry
of key data only once. Contact Guy Hollingbury to arrange for data conversion, verify the
results of the depreciation schedule against your existing report. Contact Carmen McKenzie to
designate MM 9instead of FAE) as your source of data for the facilities warehouse. If colleges
don’t switch to MM by December 31, there will be no technical support for FAE, so if something
crashes, colleges will be dead in the water as far as asset management is concerned.
John discussed issues regarding CTC Link accounting. Tuition distribution distributed from an
agency fund. In CTC Link, it will be distributed at time revenue is reported. Workgroup will
have further discussions regarding set up and processes of building fee and how it should be
recognized and distributed with the new accrual based system and the difference in reporting
requirements between GAAP and AFRS.
GL Combination Edits: Required chartfields for all transactions – Account, operating unit, fund
code, department, class, state purpose. Unavailable finance codes are 601001-601999 (Salaries),
602001-602999 (Benefits), 613020 (Payroll Processing), and 999010-999030 (Statistical).
Classes not used include 100 (requested all classes ending in 0 used only for rollup reporting),
and 500 (requested all 5xx).
Funds used with project (Funds must have associated project) – 145,147,057,060,253,357,999
(LT Obligations??) Limited Revenue Accounts (Revenue accounts used with Fund 149) –
345001 (Tuition) and 340500 (investment Income).
Fund 4/5 Series Accounts cannot use following accounts – 366000 (611000)-interagency reimb,
366009 (611010)-SA, 366019 (611020)-SB, 366029 (611030)-SC, 366039 (611040)-SE, 366049
(611050)-SG, 366059 (611060)-SJ, Delete (611070)-SK, 366069 (611080)-Sn, 366079
(611090)-SP, 366099 (611110)-SX.
Finance transactions cannot use HCM departments – 98500-99999.
Projects Required (Projects may only be used with following Funds –
145,147,057,060,253,357,999 LT Obligations.
COP discussions will be added to BAR 101
Mentoring and Campus Visits
Mentoring list is online, Charlene will be working on updating. With CTC Link mentoring will
be more vital. Susan Dresser discussed the need for being able to lean on each other. Susan’s
administrative retreat consisted of visits to other campuses to learn how other colleges do things
and were very pleased with the hospitality of other campuses and they learned a great deal.
Bellevue staff reported they learned just as much from the visiting people as the visitors learned
from them, so it was mutually beneficial.
Meeting adjourned at 11:21.