Managers' Association
MINUTES
Minutes of Meeting No. 9/2005 of the Managers’ Association
held on Wednesday 12th October, 2005
in the Sir George Lush Meeting Room, Clayton Campus
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Attendance
Members: Keith Allen, Geoff Binns, Margaret Dooley, Katya Harvey, Gillian Holley,
Stelios Konstantinidis, Keith Lesselyoung, Chris McCarty, Lizbeth Moon,
Anne Pirera, Milton Richardson, Elizabeth Stock, Elenore Videoin, Christine Walker
Visitors: Lynne Johnson (for Marina Tseng), Heather Bradbury (for Phil Wheatland),
Romesh Perera
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Apologies
Sue Brown, Andrew Iacuone, Kerry Jeffery, Meryl Kennedy, Glen Styles, Belinda
Towns, Marina Tseng, Adrian Whear
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Minutes of Previous Meeting 14th July 2005
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Keith Lesselyoung
Anne Pirera
Matters Arising from the Minutes
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Approved:
Seconded:
Nil
Correspondence
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In:
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Out:
Applications for membership (all accepted):
- Katya Harvey, Marketing & Recruitment Manager, Faculty of Law
- Anne Pirera, ITS Training Manager
- Michelle Ball, Finance & Resources Manager, Faculty of Arts
- Romesh Perera, Manager, Finance & Resources, Faculty of Education
Nil
Member Reports
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Administrative Heads Group: (Anne Fletcher)
Visiting academics policy review: a paper from Amanda Birmingham on the draft
‘visitors and guests’ policy has been placed on the Association web site. There
was discussion over a number of problems in this area, including
 Definition of when a person is working for Monash – there still seems to
varying interpretations on whether a visitor who is paid for giving a seminar is
‘working’ for the university.
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 Guests – defined as people who are formally invited to the University for a
short period (up to ~2 weeks) and who are paid no salary/allowances but
may have some costs reimbursed. Paperwork for guests will be devolved to
Faculties (and/or Schools). Question on whether guests can ever receive IT
access (as they would not be officially here on SAP)
 Visitors – defined as people here for a longer period (paperwork through HR
Services as currently)
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Finance Reference Group (Chris McCarty)
 Minutes of the reference group meeting are on their web site
 Reminder that the new Accounting Standards requirements will force stricter
deadlines for end-of-year transactions, especially transactions between
Monash and entities such as Monyx. There was discussion of the problems
posed by journals posted late in December by Facilities & Services or other
groups, and of late IDN’s that are not approved prior to the Christmas
closedown.
 Reminder that all parked documents must be authorized and cleared prior to
31 December. Unapproved documents will automatically be deleted from the
system.
 Discussion of problems with large commitments for building projects, where
Faculties/Departments have not been billed by Facilities & Services, because
work is not yet complete. Managers would like to see expenditure appear
against 2005 funds, rather than have large carry forwards of free funds with
known commitments.
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HR Special Interest Group (Anne Fletcher)
 Qualifications will be entered in SAP HR
 EB agreement – there was discussion over possible deletion of paper pay
slip option, and potential changes to the system for incremental progression
(whether it can continue to be automatic unless processes are initiated to
block the increment). No definite answers available.
 SGC – the system has now been fixed so that these on-costs should be
assigned to the correct fund code for staff with multiple costings
 Noted that the web site had been changed
Planning for 2006
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Meeting format. It was agreed that the current frequency and timing of meeting
should continue, and that we should retain the 2005 format of some guest
speakers and some workshop sessions.
Suggestions for guest speakers in 2006:
 Reynold Dias on budget issues
 Ron Fairchild (the new Vice-President – Advancement)
 Stephen Parker re strategic international relationships, academic staff
performance management/probation/promotions
 Graeme Webb re the audit / teaching and research nexus
 Relevant speakers about the SAP upgrade
 Peggy Daroesman re changes in the Research Office
 The Solicitors office re IP issues
 Monash Commercial and/or some of the Faculty Business Managers re
commercialisation issues
 Alternative venues. It was agreed in principle that we should try to hold more
meetings at other venues and campuses. Several of the members from the
Caulfield campus volunteered to try to find a suitable room. The Synchrotron
was also suggested.
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Other Business
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Keith Allen indicated that there will be some changes in Print Services, that may
include the closure of the Clayton printing section, but that a full service will be
maintained from the Caulfield campus, with pick-up and delivery several times
each day between Clayton and Caulfield
 Anne Pirera volunteered to share the role as Association Secretary
 Special mention was made of several long-term members who will be leaving
the University at the end of 2005, namely Sue Brown (SDU), Milton Richardson
(Faculty of IT), and Ian Macfarlane (Dept of Biochemistry). The executive and
members of the Association expressed warmest appreciation for their
contributions over the years.
The meeting closed at approximately 4:00pm
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Next meeting
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Thursday 8th December End of year function at Coco Red – notice to come
from Anne?
February 2006, date and venue to be confirmed
Confirmed as a true record:
Margaret Dooley
Acting Secretary
Anne Fletcher
Chair
Date:
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