Accounts Payable Customer Service Improvement Project

 

 

Report to Sponsors

 

                                                                                                     

 

 

 

 

December 2006

 

 

Sponsors:

V’Ella Warren, Treasurer and Vice-President

Ann Anderson, Assistant Vice-President and Controller

 

University of Washington

Financial Management

 

 

Team Members:

Karen Long, Co-Leader,

Karen Russell, Co-Leader,

Gail Viscione

Jan Rutledge

Kathryn Harrington

Pramilla Chand

Roberta Hilton

Donna Andreason, Project Coordinator

Thomas Phillips, Project Analyst

Jeanne Semura, QI Facilitator

 

 

 

 

 

 

Accounts Payable Customer Service Improvement Project

 

Report to Sponsors


December 2006

 

 

---

 

 

 

Contents

 

1.     Executive Summary……………………………………………page 3

2.     Recommendations Summary………………………………….page 4

3.     Background…………………………………………………….page 5

4.     Results…………………………………………………………..page 9

5.     Recommendations……………………………………………..page 16

6.     Communication Plan………………………………………….page 21

 

1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

 

A.  Purpose
The goal of the AP Customer Service Process Improvement Team was to make recommendations for immediate improvements in Accounts Payable service delivery.  To accomplish this goal, the team gathered information from the AP staff about the existing processes and obtained feedback from the campus community to verify the priorities of AP customers.

 

 

B. Scope
The scope of the project to identify process improvements and changes to AP customer service delivery that could be accomplished in the near future with little or no additional resources required for technology or staffing.  The work of the Team coincided with on-going customer service improvements underway in the Accounts Payable unit.

 

 

C. Phases

      The project was designed in the USER Model Phased Project Approach:

 

Getting Ready                           July 2006

Identify Issues               August – October 2006

Gather & Analyze Data October – November 2006

Identify Solutions                      November – December 2006

Implement Solutions                  January – April 2007

Monitor & Measure                  May – October 2007

 

 

D. Results
The APCSI team provides recommendations for change based on information gathering, customer focus groups, a Catalyst survey, and analysis of these very rich sources of data.  Over 100 UW staff participated in five focus groups, and over 275 responded to the Catalyst survey.  Below we provide the team analysis and recommendations for improvement of Accounts Payable Customer Service.

 

 

2. RECOMMENDATIONS SUMMARY

 

A. Criteria for Selecting Recommendation

The team made recommendations based on analysis of the Catalyst survey results.  The survey provided a list of 17 priorities which were identified as priority changes to AP customer service delivery in the focus groups.  The survey asked that campus participants identify their top three priorities, and rank the remainder as either important or not important to them personally.  It must be noted that although we described the scope of this project as limited to processes that could be implemented in the short term without additional resources, we included several choices in the mix that are outside of scope because campus focus group members insisted that we needed to go beyond immediate fixes and start thinking about the long term - the voice of the customer in action.

 

B. Recommendations

1.      Make payment status of all AP transactions transparent to the concerned units.  Initial implementation will involve logging of all documents received in a database and access to status of all payments by AP call center staff. It may be possible to leverage existing PAS database and currently used imaging technology to provide direct access to campus units and vendors.

 

2.      Resolve the lost invoice problem. AP staff identified several process improvement opportunities during a rapid process improvement effort, including improvement of procedural clarity within AP and between AP and Purchasing.  Customers recommend that we prioritize this improvement for immediate action.

 

3.      Contact all customers on invoice discrepancies that delay payment.  Customers want to know when an invoice is not in payable status, so that they can assist the Buyer in resolving invoice problems and ensure timely payment.  This will require a reallocation of AP staff to manage a manual workaround to address this need without PAS programming.  A programming option should be considered.

 

4.      Ensure that AP staff can provide correct and consistent answers to customer inquiries.  This priority will require restructuring of AP staff positions and ongoing cross-training for AP staff, as well as improved outreach training to campus unit customers.

 

5.      Improve AP website information and navigation. Currently the website is difficult to find and provides inadequate information about critical processes such as payments to non-resident aliens.  AP resources must be dedicated to immediate improvement of both access and content.

 

6.      Replace PAS with an integrated purchasing/payables system. Although outside of the scope of this project's implementation, it was a strong and consistent message from campus that we should begin the process to identify the systems needs of the university.

 

 

3. BACKGROUND

 

 

A.     Improvement Opportunity
In response to campus customers' feedback on the need for improvement in the service level provided by AP, the Accounts Payable Customer Service Improvement project was initiated.  Supporting information was provided to the project team, including responses from the 2006 Purchasing/Stores/eProcurement Survey, the 2005 Financial Management Customer Service Survey and additional feedback from administrators interviewed by Ann Anderson and Sue Camber.  Primary concerns from administrators were lost invoices, transparency on the status of invoices and payments, AP staff problems with communication, follow-through and providing reliable and consistent information on various AP processes, and lack of a mechanism to keep unit staff updated on AP processes. 


Individual comments from the Purchasing and FM surveys indicated dissatisfaction with lost invoices, lack of transparency on the status of orders, invoices and payments, lack of communication between Purchasing and AP to resolve encumbrance and payment problems, the need for departments to be involved in issues that should be resolved between AP and Purchasing, and poor customer service attitudes by AP and Purchasing staff.

 

Financial Services staff provided cycle time data to the Team in July 2006 showing that AP had made great strides in improving the time to payment on invoices from the date received in AP.  They also provided data from their phone call logs indicating that about half of the approximately 500-plus calls received monthly are from vendors and half from campus clients and that the highest percentage of calls are about the status of payments. 

 

AP staff was already working on a Rapid Improvement Process in February 2006 when the results of the 2006 Purchasing and AP surveys were made available to them.  They had identified potential areas of improvement within their control (Type 1), changes that would require collaboration with process partners (Type 2) and additional changes that would require resources beyond of AP/process partner control (Type 3).  Major problems identified in this process were lost invoices, turn-around time, cross training for staff and communication with departments and process partners.  AP staff addressed issues within their control by initiating regular cross-training for staff and revising internal procedures for document processing, including a pilot process with Purchasing on problem invoices, and proactive outreach to department with complex or recurring payment problems.

 

AP staff had also initiated procedural changes to insure that the phones could be answered at all times during office hours thus, increasing immediate response to customer inquiries; to track check requests by logging in a database as they are received;  and to notify Purchasing by email about problem invoices requiring Purchasing intervention.

 

 

A Financial Management team was established to investigate the value of Six Sigma Analysis and to apply Six Sigma methodologies to the Accounts Payable dataset. Analysis provided a visual and mathematical tool to identify the variance in AP Customer Service experienced by customers, and also made clear that departments called the AP call center at about the 60 day mark for problem invoices, typically due to a call received from the vendor. The Six Sigma team was able to determine that invoices are essentially invisible to customers in the system from the time the vendor mails the invoice (60% are mailed directly to the ordering department and must be forwarded to AP) until the invoice is processed in PAS and a check is cut. If there is a discrepancy, or if the invoice is not forwarded directly to AP timely, the customer experiences the invoice as lost.  Additional Six Sigma analysis will allow AP to identify the core sources of these variances and provide outreach opportunities for AP customer service staff.

 

 

B.     Team Members
Members for the Accounts Payable Customer Service Improvement team represent subject matter, technical and functional experts from departments across campus. They were challenged to question the current processes and structures and assist in the identification, evaluation and prioritization of process improvements that can be implemented in the short term and make recommendations for longer term improvements. The members include:

 

Karen Long

 

Financial Services Director

          and Project Co-Lead

Karen Russell

 

Administrator, Biology

          and Project Co-Lead

Pramilla Chand

 

Assistant Director,

          Financial Services

Roberta Hilton

 

Director,

          School of Education

Gail Viscione

 

Administrator,

          School of Pharmacy

Kathryn Harrington

 

Interim Manager,

         Personal Services, UW Purchasing

Jan Rutledge

 

Assoc. Vice Chancellor for Finance & Administration,

        Tacoma Campus

Tom Phillips

 

Financial Analyst;

        Financial Services and Team Data Analyst

Donna Andreason

 

Accounts Payable Supervisor

        and Team Admin

Jeanne Semura

Quality Improvement Manager;

         Financial Management and Team Facilitator

 

 

 

C. Improvement Model
The team used the Phased Project Approach to identify the short term improvements that would best benefit our campus customers. These phases included:

 

1.      Getting Ready: (conducted in July 2006)

We confirmed the team members and established team ground rules, the project timeline, discussed focus group development and planning, identified the AP Advisory Group and stakeholders.  We then developed a WIKI to assist with team communication. We shared ideas and information in a graduate-level AP awareness seminar.  This included the AP Process, Six Sigma measurements, the AP Customer Satisfaction Survey, AP Rapid Process Improvements, AP website discussion and Wiki best practices.  We developed an action plan and communication plan and revised our team charter accordingly.

 

2.      Identify Issues: (conducted August – October 2006)

During this phase, we conducted 6 focus groups which included 105 participants across campus.  After analyzing their responses, the team composed a Catalyst Survey to be distributed across campus to communicate the key issues identified in the focus groups and to ask for their assistance in ranking their top needs

 

3.      Gather & Analyze Data (conducted in November 2006)

Once the results from the Catalyst Survey were tabulated, the team gathered to analyze the data further.  We classified the responses in categories of transparency, training, webpage, timing, accuracy and process. This greatly aided the team in the formulation of short term and longer term improvements to recommend.

 

4.      Identify Solutions: (November – December 2006)

The project team provided the Catalyst Survey results, along with their category grouping, to AP staff to evaluate the feasibility of the solutions identified and implementation of recommendations. The project team will present final recommendations to sponsors on December 11th, 2006.

 

5.      Implement Solutions: (January – April 2007)

After discussing recommendations with the team sponsors, the team will communicate the final recommendations to the Accounts Payable staff for implementation.  The team will also communicate the results of the team's assessment to the focus group and Catalyst Survey participants.  This data will also be available for viewing on a future webpage.

 

6.      Monitor & Measure (May – October 2007)
The project team will develop assessments of new processes during implementation and evaluate the success of the implemented solutions via follow up customer focus groups and a second catalyst survey in the fall of 2007.  Campus administrator members of the project team have agreed to serve as founding members of an AP Advisory Board going forward.

 

 

Timeline


      To accomplish the task before the team, we devised the following timeline:

Date

Plan

July 18th

  • KICK-OFF Meeting

 

July/August

  • Identify Issues
  • Define Project Scope
  • Hold Focus Group sessions
       (upper & south campus)
  • Gather/Analyze Data from Focus Groups

 

September/October

  • Outreach to A&S and SOM Admin
  • Focus Groups
  • Gather/Analyze Data from Focus Groups
  • Sponsor Update (10/18/06)

 

November/December

  • Identify Solutions
  • Present Recommendations to Sponsors

 

Winter 2007

  • Implement Solutions

 

 

 

D.    Resources

Resources used by the team included:

 

 

4.  RESULTS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

 

A.     Focus Group Results
Initial feedback was gathered from focus groups and then validated with surveys made available to administrators and fiscal specialists across campus. Erick Winger provided training to the team on how to conduct a focus group session and conducted the first session. Subsequent sessions were conducted by Keli Johnson, supervisor of the customer service team in Accounts Payable. Each focus group was asked to respond to three questions: What is working well? What is not working well? And what would be your highest priority for AP process change?

 

Comments from the focus groups indicated that some clients have not yet experienced the intended improvement in services thus far implemented by AP staff, or that prior experiences still outweighed the current in assessing satisfaction. On the other hand, focus group participants and survey takers also expressed great appreciation for the services they received from various staff members and several long time UW employees indicated that AP was much improved over years past indicating the success of AP efforts to date.

 

Focus group priorities indicated that people wanted to be able to contact AP staff and get speedy and correct answers and resolution to problems without being referred to others; they wanted to be notified immediately on problems with invoices and check requests so they could participate in the correction process; they wanted to be confident that their invoices and check requests were actually received - not lost, and processed correctly and consistently; they wanted more transparency on the status of payments in AP prior to the payment posting online; and more information on how AP processes work and how to request payment for various situations, with payments to non-resident aliens being a particular problem. There was also a request that phone assistance be available between 8 and 5, Monday through Friday; people did not like getting the answering machine or waiting for a call back.  There was some plea for a reduction in paper and more email transmission of scanned documents such as RIP notices, though there was also some resistance to receiving more email and having to print out document copies at the department level.

 

 

B.     SURVEY

The survey was constructed by the Team with on prior experience or training in constructing surveys.  The first section of the survey was a series of statements about AP services developed from focus group comments.  We focused on identified areas of concern including:  transparency of information, accuracy of information provided, lost documents, timing and accuracy of payments and response to inquiries.  These statements were intended to elicit responses on staff performance in the areas of speed, accuracy, job knowledge and customer service and whether the customer was able to obtain sufficient timely information on specific transactions and general processes to do his or her own job.

 

We hoped that the statements would replicate much of the conversation we heard in focus groups both for those who had not attended and to assure those who had attended that their comments were on the table for consideration.  We also hoped that these statements would support the choices made in the second section and provide a benchmark for a follow-up survey on customer satisfaction with the improvements implemented. 

 

We asked survey takers to rate their degree of agreement or disagreement with these statements.  The second section of the survey was a selection of possible improvement actions which we asked the survey takers to prioritize.  The possible priorities included the same concerns that were addressed in the statements though for the most part there was not a direct match. Some priorities were included more than once but with different solutions embedded in them. This reflected specific contributions from focus group participants. Survey participants were asked to pick their top three priorities in order and then indicate whether the options not selected were important or not important.

 

 

C.     ANALYSIS

We received 278 survey responses with each question in the first section drawing at least 262 evaluations and each choice receiving at least 220 evaluations.  Respondents were a mix of administrators, fiscal specialists and other administrative support staff, 82% of whom have been working with AP for at least three years. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We chose to focus on the number of responses and the percentages rather than statistical inferences we were not familiar with. Percentages are of those responding to each option, not of total survey takers.  The responses for the first section were combined so that Strongly Agree and Agree became one field and Strongly Disagree and Disagree became one field for purposes of analysis.  In the second section, Priorities 1-3 were combined as a Priority, so the resulting fields were Priority, Important, and Not Important.  Every choice provided was considered a priority or important by at least 62% of those who responded and 52% of all of those taking the survey, assuming that no-response indicated no interest in the option.

 

 

D. APPLYING CRITERIA FOR CHOOSING RECOMMENDATIONS

Out of the 17 choices offered we identified those options prioritized (1-3) by at least 35% of those who responded to the particular options and 30% of all those who took the survey.  This included seven choices (C), three of which addressed the desire to be able to access payment status information either easily (C-15), through My Financial Desktop (C-17), or online (C-13).  Viewing additional payment status through PAS (C-14) was also an option but not as highly ranked, possibly due to the next most popular priority.

 

The second most popular (and out of scope) priority was to replace PAS with an integrated online purchasing and accounting system (C-16).  Third and fourth involved resolving the lost document problem (C-6) and contacting AP customers on all invoice discrepancies and other payment problems immediately (C-4). The fifth priority was ensuring that all AP staff give correct and consistent answers to requests for information or instructions (C-3). Just missing the top priority, improving website information so that instructions are correct, clear, concise and easy to find (C-9) was a priority for 30% of those answering the questions and considered important by 47%.

 

The results of the benchmarking statements in the first part of the survey support the priorities selected by survey takers.  Of those statements where 40% or more takers were dissatisfied with service levels the first, third and fourth ranked statements (S), (S-23, S-24, and S-22) expressed dissatisfaction with the sufficiency and ease of obtaining information about payment status on invoices, checks and generally to manage budgets. Other high levels of dissatisfaction were with the ease of finding and navigating webpages (S-20), and receiving timely communication from AP staff when there are payment problems (S-1).

Statements receiving dissatisfaction from 35% to 40% of respondents included concern with lost invoices (S-9, S-10, S-13, and S-14), information on AP webpages (S-19), availability of training to unit staff dealing with AP processes (S-21), and the desire for AP staff to work more effectively with Purchasing to resolve invoice discrepancies (S-4).

 

Data Analysis:

 

Results of 17 Choices: Sorted by Top 3 Choices

Prepared for:  Karen Long, Karen Russell, & APCSIT

 

 

 

 

Prepared by: Thomas Phillips

 

 

 

 

File: H:\Tom's Projects\APCustomerSerivce\FinalReport2.xls

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Percent of Respondents

 

 

Top 3

Important

Not Important

Total

#

 

Choices

 

 

 

15

Provide an online site where the status of any type of AP payment (invoice, check request, credit memo etc) can be checked by UW customers.

54%

40%

6%

100%

16

Replace PAS with an integrated purchasing/payables system

46%

40%

14%

100%

6

Resolve the missing document problem (invoices, check requests, credit memos).

42%

49%

9%

100%

4

Contact AP customers on all invoice discrepancies and other problem transactions as soon as discovered.

41%

51%

8%

100%

3

Ensure that all AP staff gives correct and consistent answers to our questions.

40%

56%

4%

100%

17

Provide access to purchasing/invoice information through My Financial Desktop

38%

46%

16%

100%

13

Make payment status of all invoices and check requests easily available to requesting units

36%

60%

4%

100%

9

Improve Website information so that instructions and explanations are correct, clear, concise and easy to find.

34%

56%

10%

100%

1

Eliminate need for UW customers to shuttle between AP and Purchasing for resolution of payment problems.

28%

52%

20%

100%

8

Reduce the number of forms for AP processes and provide clear instructions on what is required to complete them.

27%

60%

14%

100%

14

Provide more information in PAS about why invoices are not paid.

26%

63%

10%

100%

5

Reduce errors in payment processing.

22%

68%

10%

100%

7

Speed up reimbursements (of out of pocket expenses) to individuals by check request.

22%

53%

24%

100%

12

Provide standard guidelines/best practices for UW customers to use in establishing unit level controls and protocols.

21%

61%

18%

100%

11

Provide periodic training on AP processes for new and current AP customers.

19%

60%

21%

100%

10

Clarify processes for paying non-resident aliens; organize consistent information on the many NRA payment situations in one website

19%

43%

38%

100%

2

Send RIP notices and correction memos electronically

18%

49%

33%

100%

 

Results of 17 Choices

Prepared for:  Karen Long, Karen Russell, & APCSIT

Prepared by: Thomas Phillips   

File: H:\Tom'sProjects\APCustomerSerivce\FinalReport2.xls

              Number of Respondents

 

 

 

1

2

3

4

5

 

Total

 

Mean

 

 

 

First Choice

Second Choice

Third Choice

Import -  Not Top 3

Not Import

#

 

Choices

1

Eliminate need for UW customers to shuttle between

AP and Purchasing for resolution of payment problems.

34

16

17

124

48

239

3.57

2

Send RIP notices and correction memos electronically.

 

18

11

13

113

76

231

3.94

3

Ensure that all AP staff gives correct and consistent answers

to our questions.

49

23

22

131

9

234

3.12

4

Contact AP customers on all invoice discrepancies and other problem transactions as soon as discovered.

42

41

14

119

19

235

3.14

5

Reduce errors in payment processing.

 

26

14

9

149

22

220

3.58

6

Resolve the missing document problem

(invoices, check requests, credit memos).

52

22

24

113

21

232

3.12

7

Speed up reimbursements (of out of pocket expenses)

to individuals by check request.

22

19

10

123

56

230

3.75

8

Reduce the number of forms for AP processes and provide

clear instructions on what is required to complete them.

29

17

17

141

32

236

3.55

9

Improve Website information so that instructions and

explanations are correct, clear, concise and easy to find.

37

23

20

132

23

235

3.34

10

Clarify processes for paying non-resident aliens; organize consistent information on the many NRA payment situations in one website

18

14

12

100

87

231

3.97

11

Provide periodic training on AP processes for new and current AP customers.

20

14

11

140

49

234

3.79

12

Provide standard guidelines/best practices for UW customers

 to use in establishing unit level controls and protocols.

21

18

10

144

42

235

3.71

13

Make payment status of all invoices and check requests easily available to requesting units

31

27

29

147

9

243

3.31

14

Provide more information in PAS about why invoices are not paid.

24

25

11

144

23

227

3.52

15

Provide an online site where the status of any type of AP payment (invoice, check request, credit memo etc) can be checked by UW customers.

58

43

33

98

14

246

2.87

16

Replace PAS with an integrated purchasing/payables system

80

16

17

97

35

245

2.96

17

Provide access to purchasing/invoice information through My Financial Desktop

43

24

23

110

38

238

3.32

 

 

 

Results of 26 Questions

Prepared for:  Karen Long, Karen Russell, & APCSIT

Prepared by: Thomas Phillips

File: H:\Tom's Projects\APCustomerSerivce\FinalReport2.xls

 

 

Percent of Respondents

 

 

Disagree

No Opinion

Agree

Total

No

Questions

 

 

 

 

 

 

1

AP staff initiates timely communication with me when there are problems.

41%

12%

46%

100%

2

AP staff provides accurate responses to my questions.

19%

17%

64%

100%

3

AP staff provides timely response to my telephone/email requests.

27%

14%

59%

100%

4

AP staff work effectively with Purchasing staff to resolve invoice discrepancies for my department.

35%

33%

32%

100%

5

RIP (rapid invoice process) notices are received before payments are made.

24%

36%

41%

100%

6

AP staff receive and process all check requests sent by my department

17%

24%

59%

100%

7

Check requests are processed quickly

26%

24%

50%

100%

8

Check requests are processed accurately

10%

22%

68%

100%

9

Lost check requests are a problem for my unit

50%

35%

16%

100%

10

All invoices sent to AP by vendors and my department are received and processed.

40%

19%

41%

100%

11

Invoices are processed quickly

42%

17%

41%

100%

12

Invoices are processed accurately

17%

18%

65%

100%

13

Lost invoices are a problem for my unit

36%

27%

38%

100%

14

Duplicate payments are a problem for my unit

47%

28%

25%

100%

15

Credit memos are processed quickly

12%

69%

18%

100%

16

Credit memos are processed accurately

5%

69%

26%

100%

17

Payments to non-resident aliens are processed quickly and accurately

13%

68%

19%

100%

18

Payments to foreign vendors are processed quickly and accurately

14%

68%

17%

100%

19

The AP webpages clearly describe AP processes

39%

34%

27%

100%

20

The AP webpages are easy to find and to navigate

46%

30%

24%

100%

21

Training for campus unit staff new to AP processes is available and sufficient

38%

47%

15%

100%

22

Information on university systems enables me to track my payments and manage my budgets adequately.

42%

17%

41%

100%

23

Sufficient information about the status of invoice payments is easy to obtain when needed

54%

15%

32%

100%

24

Sufficient information about the status of check request payments is easy to obtain when needed.

46%

30%

23%

100%

25

Special payment instructions that I provide for specific transactions are followed.

27%

33%

40%

100%

26

Sales tax and use tax rules are clear and taxes are correctly charged to my transactions.

34%

36%

30%

100%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Raw Data for 26 Questions from AP Customer Survey

Prepared for:  Karen Long, Karen Russell, & APCSIT

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Prepared by: Thomas Phillips

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

File: H:\Tom's Projects\APCustomerSerivce\FinalReport2.xls

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Number of Respondents

 

 

 

1

2

3

4

5

 

 

Mean

 

 

 

Strongly Disagree

Disagree

No Opinion

Agree

Strongly Agree

Total

No

 

Questions

1

 

AP staff initiates timely communication with me when there are problems.

28

86

34

108

19

275

3.01

2

 

AP staff provides accurate responses to my questions.

5

47

47

154

22

275

3.51

3

 

AP staff provides timely response to my telephone/email requests.

17

57

38

142

21

275

3.34

4

 

AP staff work effectively with Purchasing staff to resolve invoice discrepancies for my department.

24

73

90

75

14

276

2.93

5

 

RIP (rapid invoice process) notices are received before payments are made.

14

51

99

99

13

276

3.17

6

 

AP staff receive and process all check requests sent by my department

9

37

66

135

24

271

3.47

7

 

Check requests are processed quickly

15

56

66

109

29

275

3.29

8

 

Check requests are processed accurately

5

22

62

150

37

276

3.70

9

 

Lost check requests are a problem for my unit

35

102

95

31

12

275

2.57

10

 

All invoices sent to AP by vendors and my department are received and processed.

17

93

52

99

12

273

2.99

11

 

Invoices are processed quickly

20

94

46

96

16

272

2.98

12

 

Invoices are processed accurately

6

41

50

157

21

275

3.53

13

 

Lost invoices are a problem for my unit

20

77

73

81

22

273

3.03

14

 

Duplicate payments are a problem for my unit

21

108

77

57

12

275

2.75

15

 

Credit memos are processed quickly

11

23

189

46

4

273

3.03

16

 

Credit memos are processed accurately

4

10

190

66

5

275

3.21

17

 

Payments to non-resident aliens are processed quickly and accurately

9

27

187

45

6

274

3.04

18

 

Payments to foreign vendors are processed quickly and accurately

10

29

186

39

8

272

3.02

19

 

The AP webpages clearly describe AP processes

21

87

93

71

3

275

2.81

20

 

The AP webpages are easy to find and to navigate

27

100

82

61

4

274

2.69

21

 

Training for campus unit staff new to AP processes is available and sufficient

19

85

130

34

7

275

2.73

22

 

Information on university systems enables me to track my payments and manage my budgets adequately.

20

95

46

105

7

273

2.94

23

 

Sufficient information about the status of invoice payments is easy to obtain when needed

34

113

40

78

9

274

2.69

24

 

Sufficient information about the status of check request payments is easy to obtain when needed.

36

91

83

56

8

274

2.67

25

 

Special payment instructions that I provide for specific transactions are followed.

23

51

91

96

14

275

3.10

26

 

Sales tax and use tax rules are clear and taxes are correctly charged to my transactions.

21

71

96

71

10

269

2.92

 

 

 

E. RECOMMENDATIONS

We would like to emphasize that all issues discussed in focus groups or addressed in the survey were important to the campus community, and should not be ignored, however the team recommends the following priorities for immediate action:

 

1.      Make payment status on all AP transactions transparent to the concerned units.

Campus units need this information to respond to their vendors on payment status and to manage their budgets.  Currently they find out that an invoice has not been paid when it does not appear on the BAR.  The best solution would be to provide this information in an online format so that departments and vendors could search for payment status themselves. 

 

A manual workaround for immediate implementation is for all received manual invoices, check requests and credit memos to be logged in a database available for the customer service call center to access when they receive an inquiry.  A technical solution that meets other AP needs may be available at some future date, but an interim solution might be to assign staff time to scanning documents into a database that is published online.  AP currently uses a document logging module of the PAS program that could be adapted to a similar purpose. This might also be made accessible to vendors and reduce the number of calls received checking on payment status.

Providing more information through PAS would address invoice issues, however check requests would still not be visible, and this is an area of significant concern which would require a different solution.  There were focus group requests to have scanned invoices available through My Financial Desktop, however MyFD data is only reflects the information available after the payment is made.
              
2.  Resolve the lost document problem. 

Invoices are lost and sometimes must be sent more than once by vendors or campus unit staff.  Duplicate invoices can result in duplicate payments.  These problems are time consuming for busy staff and unnecessarily delay payments to vendors.  Not all sources of this problem have been defined, but points of contribution include PAS automatic flagging functions, departments that receive invoices and forward them to Purchasing as Attachments, vendors who may have the wrong billing address, unnecessary passing of documents through UW Mailing Services between AP and the departments, and transfer of documents between AP and Purchasing to resolve invoicing problems. 

Outreach to campus units and vendors on correct invoicing procedures and where to forward errant invoices is part of the solution.  Improving processes between AP and Purchasing is also part of the solution. Given the volume of mail (15,000 to 20,000 invoices per month) monitoring all mail entering the critical area could be a gigantic job, but may be necessary to improve the service to customers.  The lost document problem seems to be totally within the control of AP and process partners.  Solving this issue is a critical priority.
 
 

 

 

 

 

3.  Contact all customers on invoice discrepancies that delay payment. 

Currently, when payments cannot be made due to ATAs (Authority to Adjust variances between purchase requisition approved by buyer and invoice received from vendor), the invoice is sent to the Buyer for resolution, but the department purchasing/fiscal staff is not informed by AP or Purchasing staff.  If they look the transaction up in PAS, they may not be able to see that a problem exists and may not know a problem exists, until they hear from a vendor.  Six Sigma analysis results indicate that the vendor will inquire after 60 days - this delay to resolution is too long. 

 

The team recommends that AP staff initiate communication with the campus departments as well as Purchasing Buyers on all ATAs on a timely basis so the department personnel can participate in the resolution.  Focus group participants suggested scanning problem invoices and emailing them to the department and Buyer concerned.
 


 4.  Ensure that all AP staff can provide correct and consistent answers to customer inquiries. 

Campus unit staff needs to know which unit or sub-unit is responsible for various aspects of the purchasing to payment process including what their own responsibilities are.  At the same time, unit staff must have confidence that they are receiving correct information from any person they communicate with in the AP office, and that they will get the same information from everyone.
 

This priority is about providing training as well as information to campus units.  Every call is a training opportunity.  In the focus groups it became apparent that there are two major customer groups’ generalists including staff from smaller units and administrators from larger units and specialists from larger units.  Generalists may need to master a wide variety of administrative responsibilities, but only perform them occasionally.  The specialist develops a networking and knowledge base and workarounds for getting things done through frequent encounters with the same issues.  AP staff must be aware of this difference and able to provide information tailored to both groups through the web, personal consultation or outreach.  
 
The team recommends that AP provide continuing education to AP staff to ensure consistent and accurate job knowledge and provide complete information on AP processes and staff responsibilities in an online format.  This should be task related, not attached to specific individuals (i.e., In processing check requests AP staff complete the following steps...).  Campus units should know what they themselves are expected to do and can expect from others, and where to help themselves before they call AP customer service.  The team also recommends that the AP customer service team look for and promote outreach opportunities to provide on-site unit-specific training and also general training meetings, perhaps on a quarterly basis. 

 

 

 

 

5. Improve AP website information and navigation. 

The AP website presents a challenge to campus staff.  A comment from an administrator says it all:

 

"There's a website? Typing 'Accounts Payable' into the University web search box brings up many listings for the PAS web pages, directory listings for Harborview and UWMC Accounts Payable, and the financial management newsletter, but no way to find AP information.  If you happen to think of Payables Administration, you can get to the Financial Services page with a list of links.  From the Administrative Gateway (the Index of Last Resort), and from the Purchasing homepage you can click on Payables Administration and get to Paying for Merchandise and Services."

 

The team recommends that the name Accounts Payable be reinstated in place of or in addition to Payables Administration and that the Accounts Payable web pages be coded so that they pop up first when those words are entered in the UW web search box function.  Much of the web information on AP processes is excellent, however, information on complex subjects needs to be clarified and carefully rewritten with both the specialist and generalist customers in mind. 

 

Particular areas of confusion include payments to non-resident aliens, payments to foreign vendors and state sales tax.  While these were not areas of dissatisfaction for large numbers of survey respondents, they are the source of considerable irritation to those who must deal with them, as we heard in the focus groups.  The web pages should function as the basis for outreach and unit level training on all accounts payable processes and be the first resource of choice for those with questions on AP Processes.

 

 

      6.  Replace PAS with an integrated purchasing and payables system. 

In spite of introductory comments in the focus groups and survey about identifying improvements in the short term, this priority was strongly expressed by many participants in both the statement and option selections available in the survey and in free-form comments.  This option is outside of our goal of recommending high-impact improvements that could be made in the short term however we cannot ignore the interests of those who took the time to participate in focus groups and respond to our survey.  We recommend that the project sponsors investigate options for procuring a new system and do a serious analysis of the costs and benefits of doing so and advise the campus community on these considerations.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5. IMPROVEMENT PHASE - NEXT STEPS


A.  PRIORITIES FOR AP CUSTOMER SERVICE STAFF IMPLEMENTATION


1. Make payment status on all AP transactions transparent to the concerned units. 
Current Options:

·                     Logging of all received invoices, check requests and credit memos in databases available to AP call center staff responding to inquiries via email and telephone

·                     PAS programming to clarify payment status codes - does not deal with check requests, and would require resource prioritization by the PAS programmers based on agreement by the shared systems group.

·                     Database to web page - online access for campus units to information about invoices received in AP. A newly developed 'PAS Databridge' holding all PAS data elements in a SQL database could provide the basis for this with a fairly low resource investment

 

2. Resolve the lost document problem.
Financial Services has restructured payment processing to ensure that all processing takes place in the AP area, rather than in multiple areas of Financial Services as was the case in the past.  This physical change, as well as processing policies for AP staff, such as making sure that all invoices and check requests are logged and batched within 48 hours of receipt in AP, should improve AP ability to track invoices as they are received in the office.

 

AP has also initiated a Missing Invoices Pilot program with Purchasing to identify processing failures that occur once the document enters the building.  When departments flag a purchase requisition for attachments, they often send the invoice to the Purchasing Dept. as an Attachment.  The pilot effort identifies documents as invoices and ensures that they are forwarded to AP for processing.   Proactive outreach to departments and vendors to identify reasons for the misdirected invoices from those sources is recommended. 
 
3. Contact all customers on invoice discrepancies that delay payment
Reallocation of .5 to full FTE of AP staff resources to notify departments of invoice discrepancies by scanning and emailing problem invoices to campus unit personnel as well as the Buyer upon identification of an invoice discrepancy that must be corrected before payment is made. Volume of these types of invoice discrepancies typically averages about 75 per day.  With current systems this will be a manual process:


1.  Log invoice into Document Logging discrepancy batch.
2.  Scan invoice and retrieve image to attach to email.
3.  Enter PO number into PAS to retrieve unit personnel and Purchasing Buyer

     names and locate email address for each.
4.  Using a template notification, attach document image and notify unit personnel

     and buyer of the invoice discrepancy that needs to be corrected before payment

     can be made by AP.
5.  Save email to logging file.



Until such time as new technology is available to make invoice discrepancy issues more directly visible, this manual workaround will allow the department unit personnel to be notified of a payment problem upon identification in AP.   This will respond to a prioritized request from campus that they be informed when invoice problems are identified so that they can assist in corrections and expedite payment to the vendor.  It will be critical for Purchasing and AP staff to identify an efficient and clear methodology to implement this option.
 
4.  Ensure that all AP staff can provide correct and consistent answers to customer inquiries. 
Develop a customer service team to provide a highly professional communication and outreach/training service to campus units.   The team will proactively identify practices and procedures that result in delayed payment (such as the decision to have vendor invoices mailed to department addresses instead of the AP office, which often results in payment delays).   The team can use data analysis from the PAS database to identify campus unit customers who would benefit from outreach training and consultation.
 
Work that AP has initiated since the project started including significant efforts to cross-train all customer service staff in investigation and analysis of payment problems is having immediate impact.  By expanding the number of people who are available to answer the APCS 543-4500 call center line, the percentage of answers by a live person has improved, and AP will continue to build that capacity. 
 

Weekly trainings to update staff, either by in-house process owners or by inviting process partners and customers to staff meetings, will provide a rich source of regular training and information for all staff.  By consolidating all payment processes into one team responsibility, we have eliminated hand-offs and migration of paperwork that limited or delayed knowledge of location or identification of problems in the past.
 
5.  Improve AP website information and navigation
Recommendations are being implemented and a more functional website should roll out after first of the year.  AP will work with Purchasing, which is also revamping the Purchasing/Stores website, to provide links and cross-over information wherever possible in order to create a seamless information source for customers and vendors.
 
6. Replace PAS with an integrated purchasing and payables system
Clearly, this is outside the scope of the project and the AP Customer Service Team abilities to implement.  We were careful to explain to customers in the focus groups that this was the case.  However, we include it because the customer concern was very strong - everyone recognizes that our systems cannot provide a purchasing experience similar to what staff uses in the corporate world and at other universities.  It is time for the UW to begin serious scoping of 21st century technology needs.  Current options include a major vendor package such as Peoplesoft or SAP; joining the Kuali Project, a university consortium to develop open-source software programs for university operations; or for C&C to build a UW specific program as they did in the past with our current heritage systems.
 



B. PROCESS PARTNER NEXT STEPS

Purchasing has participated with Accounts Payable on numerous cross-functional teams and improvement efforts in the past few years.  Purchasing management is strongly committed to serving the needs of campus clients and working in collaborative harmony with AP. 

 

Next steps for Purchasing will be to work in tandem with AP to implement the improvement phase of this team project.  Initially, we will focus our efforts on the following stated priorities:

 

1. Resolve the Lost Document Problem 

To further reduce the incidents of lost invoices, and to maintain consistency, Purchasing will review and modify as necessary, current internal procedures in this area.  A formal definition of an attachment and an invoice has recently been shared with the campus via a PAS flash notice. Additional client outreach is recommended in this area as well.  The pilot effort initiated by AP (described in section 5. 2.) seems effective as is the new action plan of logging-in manual payment requisitions.

 

      2. Contact all Clients about Invoice Payment Problems

Purchasing fully supports AP's proposed changes in resolving most invoice discrepancies via email communication and scanning invoices instead of sending hardcopies to Purchasing. Resolving invoice problems electronically will eliminate much lost time and it will relieve a currently cumbersome procedure.  Purchasing will establish an appropriate internal team to work with AP in concert on this project.

 

 

6. CAMPUS COMMUNICATION PLAN

 

Modeled very closely on the USER project communication plan found at: http://www.washington.edu/user/commplan.html

 

A. Communication Goals

·                     Actively seek University-wide input

·                     Keep the project team, AP staff and the University community well-informed

·                     Promote project accountability

·                     Align the project with the priorities of the community

 

B. Inputs to Project Team

The AP team will improve services that support people as they carry out the University of Washington mission. To be successful, the project will have to actively reach out for ideas and opinions. The project will gather input in the following ways:

 

·                     Everyone is encouraged to send email to the project team

·                     The AP team will actively gather information from the University community using focus groups, surveys, outreach to administrative groups and other methods.

·                     The AP team will learn from other UW service teams through solicitation of presentations and consulting services.

·                     The AP team will maintain and use a WIKI site to keep the team informed and encourage team participation

 

C.  Outputs from Project Team

The AP team has a responsibility to keep the University community informed by providing communication:

·                     To the University community and beyond through web pages and UWeek articles

·                     To service users through timely meetings, announcements, training, and other methods

·                     To the Project Sponsors through status reports

 

D. Project Web Pages

The World Wide Web provides an outstanding medium for distributing information. The AP web pages will be one of the most important tools for achieving communication goals, including:

·                     AP current processes and procedure descriptions

·                     Announcements of updates and where to find information

·                     A mechanism for getting feedback

·                     A portal for ongoing training opportunities for new staff, experienced staff and vendors

·                     Project team coordination through WIKI Links to plans, documentation, schedules and announcements

 

E. Status Reports to Project Sponsors

·                     Results of focus groups, team analysis and survey

·                     Results of Catalyst survey and recommendations for actions to be taken.

·                     Issues that require resources beyond scope of the project  

 

7.   PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT AND REPORTING

 

·        Project report to Sponsors and Participants for review and comment.

 

 

 

 

8. TABLES AND STATISTICAL ANALYSIS

 

Please click here for data summation in tables.