Business Office’s Automation Plan Earns Award

UT Dallas scored a runner-up award among five finalists in the 2009 Southern Association of College and University Business Officers best practices competition.

The competition recognizes schools using a business technique or methodology that has been proven to reliably produce desired results. UT Dallas was honored for successfully implementing a treasury management system that automates bank reconciliations, which streamlines the University’s receipts.

Bank reconciliation is the process of comparing and matching figures from accounting records against those shown on a bank statement. UT Dallas’ automated system cuts the time to complete this task down from a month to three business days.

The Business Affairs’ Finance Division launched the automation project during the first half of fiscal 2009 as part of the University’s Lean initiative, which focuses on streamlining processes to make them as waste-free and effective as possible. It also addresses the UT Dallas Strategic Plan’s eighth imperative of reducing costs and applying metrics to track efficiencies.

“UTD’s growth requires effective and high-quality administrative functions. If these functions grow organically, some administrative services may suffer. Lean projects like the bank reconciliation automation help build the effectiveness and high-quality business processes required for the University to stretch and grow,” said Wanda Mizutowicz, controller and associate vice president of Finance.

Automation project managers Reda Bernoussi, who is assistant controller, and Karol Miller, UTD’s treasury and state accounting manager, worked closely with the Bursar’s Office and various departments receiving payments, including the Callier Center and the Center for BrainHealth, to streamline the University’s receipts and automate the bank reconciliation.

“This helps create efficiencies in the University’s treasury processes, which in turn helps keep tuition affordable and enhances the quality of treasury services provided to students,” Bernoussi said.

The five finalists were:

• Oklahoma State University – Grand prize.
• The University of Texas at Dallas.
• Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi.
• The University of Alabama.
• University of Virginia.