In this issue our Innovations section is all about LEAN – what we’re doing, why we’re doing it, where we’re doing it and what we hope will happen next. We have reports from many areas of Financial Management and Treasury, from the Humanities shared services center and the Operational Efficiency Initiative (OEI) that is bringing LEAN concepts to academic and non-FM departments campus-wide. And here's an update on what the FM leadership team is up to:
Last December, Student Fiscal Services was contacted by our neighbor across the street, the School of Social Work. Their students were worried about educational debt and wanted to know more about loan forgiveness.
On March 18th, UW hosted the inaugural Pac-12 Finance Officers Forum. The idea of this group came about at last summer’s National Association of College and University Business Officers meeting in San Francisco, where a group of west coast schools met to explore the benefits to be gained from meeting periodically to share best practices and brainstorm solutions to common problems. Since no one from UW was in attendance to argue otherwise, the group decided to “volunteer” UW to host the first gathering.
In alignment with UW’s 2Y2D strategic direction, Student Fiscal Services is making a major commitment to sustainable business practices by eliminating paper reports produced by the Student Database (SDB).
It was Tax Season recently, and many students were looking for their 1098T or trying to understand the information on this tax form. What is the 1098T? Where do I get a copy? What information do I need from the 1098T to file my tax return? These are common questions that Student Fiscal Service hears every day from students.
In the fall of 2009, the Real Estate Office began its relationship with LEAN – over lunch. A year and a half later, the relationship is going strong and I sat down to chat with REO Assistant Director Steve Kennard about it.
Shared services business centers are a response to the impact of the economic downturn at universities across the country. Universities hope to become more efficient and effective with business services while allowing department administrators to fully support course and programmatic work for faculty and students.
Did you know that $16.2 million dollars worth of private scholarships flow through the UW student data base system every year, and that we receive 8,852 private scholarships annually? That’s a lot of scholarships and a lot of money! Somehow, like magic, that money gets from the donor/sponsor to the student to Student Fiscal Services, where it is applied to the student’s account, often to pay for tuition.
What is OEI? The Organizational Effectiveness Initiative (otherwise known as “OEI”) was launched by Provost Mary Lidstrom in the fall of 2010, under the umbrella project of “2 Years to 2 Decades” and the related Sustainable Academic Business Plan effort. In light of declining state funding and challenging economic times, Provost Lidstrom recognized the need to adopt a new plan (the Sustainable Academic Business Plan) to position UW for success over the next twenty years.
In January of this year, Associate Vice President and Controller Ann Anderson joined the new Purchasing Express LEAN team and Associate Controller Jeff Follman joined the Accounts Payable Lumberjacks LEAN team. I talked with them about what they've learned by being on the inside of a LEAN team:
Since last December, Financial Management and Strategy Management have continued to say thank you to peers by presenting 2 QSTEPS, a LINQ Award, 10 Team Spirits, 2 CARE Awards, and 18 Bravos! Way to go!!! Remember to check out the RQT website (http://f2.washington.edu/teams/rqt/home) for some information on ways to say thank you for the great work you see around you and also to view some pictures from previous award events. Recognize excellence by saying Thank You to someone today!
In this issue our Innovations section is all about LEAN – what we’re doing, why we’re doing it, where we’re doing it and what we hope will happen next. We have reports from many areas of Financial Management and Treasury, from the Humanities shared services center and the Operational Efficiency Initiative (OEI) that is bringing LEAN concepts to academic and non-FM departments campus-wide. And here's an update on what the FM leadership team is up to:
Last December, Student Fiscal Services was contacted by our neighbor across the street, the School of Social Work. Their students were worried about educational debt and wanted to know more about loan forgiveness. 
On March 18th, UW hosted the inaugural Pac-12 Finance Officers Forum. The idea of this group came about at last summer’s National Association of College and University Business Officers meeting in San Francisco, where a group of west coast schools met to explore the benefits to be gained from meeting periodically to share best practices and brainstorm solutions to common problems. Since no one from UW was in attendance to argue otherwise, the group decided to “volunteer” UW to host the first gathering.
In alignment with 
It was Tax Season recently, and many students were looking for their 1098T or trying to understand the information on this tax form. What is the 1098T? Where do I get a copy? What information do I need from the 1098T to file my tax return? These are common questions that Student Fiscal Service hears every day from students.
In the fall of 2009, the Real Estate Office began its relationship with LEAN – over lunch. A year and a half later, the relationship is going strong and I sat down to chat with REO Assistant Director Steve Kennard about it.
Shared services business centers are a response to the impact of the economic downturn at universities across the country. Universities hope to become more efficient and effective with business services while allowing department administrators to fully support course and programmatic work for faculty and students.
Did you know that $16.2 million dollars worth of private scholarships flow through the UW student data base system every year, and that we receive 8,852 private scholarships annually? That’s a lot of scholarships and a lot of money! Somehow, like magic, that money gets from the donor/sponsor to the student to Student Fiscal Services, where it is applied to the student’s account, often to pay for tuition.
In January of this year, Associate Vice President and Controller Ann Anderson joined the new Purchasing Express LEAN team and Associate Controller Jeff Follman joined the Accounts Payable Lumberjacks LEAN team. I talked with them about what they've learned by being on the inside of a LEAN team:
Since last December, Financial Management and Strategy Management have continued to say thank you to peers by presenting 2 QSTEPS, a LINQ Award, 10 Team Spirits, 2 CARE Awards, and 18 Bravos! Way to go!!! Remember to check out the RQT website (