If your camera rolls are anything like ours, we suspect a large portion of your photos capture your furry, feathery, or scaly animal friends. In this month’s contest, we’re asking you to share those photos!
We’re looking for the employee and pet who look the most like each other. Finance & Administration staff will vote on the entries, and whomever earns the most votes will select their prize from one of the awesome IU swag items, pictured below. We have IU-opoly, a packable blanket, an umbrella, and drinkware galore!
Submit a photo of you and your animal doppelganger to estc@iu.edu by Friday, March 10. If you’re our lucky winner, you (and your pet!) will rest easy in the knowledge that it’s not just you, but a whole bunch of other people, who think you look alike.
The Continuous Improvement Committee wrapped up their annual projects with presentations to the Senior Leadership Team on Valentine’s Day. It was a wonderful afternoon celebrating their accomplishments!
Each team, representing departments across the institution, worked for about a year on their projects in addition to their regular work.
Summaries of the three project team’s accomplishments follow.
Eliminating Duplicate AP Payments
The team evaluated the impact that duplicate invoice submission has on the institution and found that it primarily creates a lot of work for the AP team and departments. They then dug into the reasons that duplicate invoices are submitted to IU.
They found the primary root causes were:
Departments submitting invoices without checking to see if the invoice was already submitted by the supplier.
Suppliers submitting the same invoice using different submissions methods. For example, both emailing and mailing an invoice.
The team discovered that suppliers who submit invoices using their Jaggaer portal, a process called a PO Flip, had a lower percentage of duplicate submissions. Based on these findings, the team recommended that the AP team help suppliers transition to the PO Flip method for invoicing and develop best practices for invoice submission for IU departments. Both efforts are underway.
Improving Receiving Compliance for BUY.IU Purchases
This team focused on researching and collecting feedback on the receipt process in BUY.IU. The team aimed to learn why receipts are not processed for the receipt of goods or services and determined it was an institutional issue. The root issue of this non-compliance takes three forms: departments not knowing they need to log a receipt, lack of understanding about the internal control, and not knowing how to log a receipt.
The team made several recommendations to address these root causes including:
Deploying enhanced reporting
Documenting & distributing receiving best practices to RCs
Outreach to campuses and departments
Developing and deploying online receiving training
Evaluating Opportunities for Central Warehousing of Supplies
During the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) was scarce. IU established two warehouse facilities in Indianapolis & Bloomington to ensure our hospitals and researchers had the supplies they needed. Once the pandemic was over, the two warehouses were disbanded.
This Lean team focused on evaluating the feasibility of establishing supply warehouses to prevent supply chain disruptions going forward. The team interviewed staff, evaluated data structures, identified potential facilities that would benefit from central warehousing, and discovered the challenge of aligning similar supplies between units. This project is continuing into the next year as more evaluation is required in order to make a proposal. Stay tuned!
Thank you to the following staff who worked on the above projects and focus on continuous improvement every day:
In the recent months, we've celebrated the successes of our IU athletic teams. This is not something that happened overnight. It has taken practice, determination, and most importantly, teamwork. Throughout Finance & Administration, we pride ourselves on the level of commitment and professionalism that results in our team's success.
As we embark on 2023, I would like all of you to remember that during the course of each day, we will all make mistakes, fail to reach a self-identified goal, or have ideas that don't quite come to fruition - but those are opportunities to learn, not failures to dwell upon.
Hockey Hall of Famer Wayne Gretzky is quoted as saying, "You miss 100% of the shots you don't take." This is as true in sports as it is in our environment. A short-term mistake should not take your focus from a long-term success. Use a mistake as an opportunity to review a process, clarify a procedure, or create stronger lines of communication among your colleagues.
This year, I'm hopeful that each of you will find opportunities for growth, both personally and professionally. Take time to discuss cross-training with your supervisor and co-workers and seek out relevant coursework through IUHR or LinkedIn Learning. Utilize performance management meetings to celebrate accomplishments and identify those areas where you can use your skills to move the team forward.
Additionally, you will soon be hearing about employee development initiatives offered within EVPFA. The Employee Services, Training, & Communication (ESTC) team hosted a series of focus groups to discuss what opportunities you would like to see related to employee development, engagement, and leadership. We're excited to share these findings in a future Town Hall.
Only by strengthening ourselves as individuals are we able to fully contribute to a successful team. Each of us bring a unique set of skills and qualifications to our respective jobs that I certainly value and appreciate. Our success within EVPFA, and across the university, is a direct result of your efforts and dedication.
Thank you for your contributions to the team. They are recognized, appreciated, and will continue to result in our future success.
"Meet Your Leaders" is a feature that helps Finance & Administration staff get to know senior management. Each individual is asked the same 8 questions. This issue, we're getting to know Baris Kiyar.
What is your job title and how long have you worked at IU?
Associate Vice President for Procurement. I just passed my 3-year anniversary with IU.
Where are you from originally and what brought you to IU?
I was born in Turkey, but have lived, studied, and worked in multiple countries. I have my MBA from the Kelley School of Business, and I had been in the manufacturing space for close to 20 years. I was encouraged to inquire about this position when my predecessor left, and I was excited to contribute to the financial well-being of the university, which ultimately impacts our students' success.
What departments are part of your unit?
Supplier Data Management (SDM), Purchasing Services, Accounts Payable (AP), Supplier Diversity, Travel Management Services, and Continuous Improvement
What does a day in the life of your position consist of?
I would say every day is different. There are administrative sides to my job - people, budgets, spending, how's the organization doing. There are also reporting elements to my position. For example, we have to report on how we are performing on supplier diversity to the Indiana Department of Administration (IDOA). There are social/connection elements to my position, where I represent my organization with both internal and external stakeholders. Depending on the day, I may be working with my team on critical projects or deliverables.
What is your favorite thing about your position?
I get to work with some fantastic people and have the ability to coach them to grow. The coaching aspect of my job is the best thing about my position.
What upcoming initiatives or projects are you most excited about?
We have a lot of standard operating procedures and a lot of training already developed. One of the elements we are excited about is getting this training out to people. Another big initiative we are working on is reporting our supplier diversity metrics by responsibility center. We recently started another push to get more people involved in IU's supplier diversity efforts.
What shows or podcasts are you streaming when you're "off the clock?"
I am not much of a podcast person these days. With my older kids, we are watching modern Star Trek episodes. With my younger kids, I play games/lego. With my fiancée, we watch comedies or more classic movies.
What's one fact about you that would surprise everyone?
The fact that I am a big music lover - especially heavy metal - both as a listener and player.
Thank you, Baris, for sharing a bit about yourself with the rest of the division!
Employee Services, Training, & Communication (ESTC)
The Training team is busier than ever and excited to share what they’re up to!
On March 9, the team will facilitate two training sessions for UITS: one focused on appropriate P-Card use and another on everything travel. These sessions will be facilitated in person at the CIB and concurrently on Zoom. We’re excited to meet with UITS, learn more about their processes, and help them get up to speed on these two topics!
Materials from these sessions will be repurposed into future training courses which will be available online via Canvas. P-Card Essentials is up first and will launch in May. Sarah Chavez is the lead developer on this course and will be visiting many groups across IU to spread the word about this new compliance requirement.
On the Travel front, Juliet Roberts is diving into development of a basic Chrome River course. This course, tentatively titled The Language of Chrome River, will introduce the basics of using Chrome River and provide users with a foundation they can build on with subsequent travel and P-Card trainings.
Angus Burke is getting in on the training development game too! Angus is tasked with reviewing the existing Getting Started in KFS Canvas course. Ultimately, this course will be split into two Canvas courses: one covering IU account structure and introducing IU finance systems and another focused solely on use of KFS. Angus is excited to dip his toes into the world of training development, video editing, and more.
On the web front, Luc Sinex continues to be a rockstar ensuring the Training and Procurement websites are running smoothly. Check out the updated Training Paths page to see some of his most recent work. Luc also continues to develop and build the Travel Support Form which will launch later this spring.
Office of the Controller (UCO)
External Reporting
Please join us in welcoming Sadie Schmidt to the External Financial Reporting team and congratulating her on her promotion to Senior Accountant. Sadie previously worked with the Cash Accounting team in UCO. She earned both her undergraduate and graduate (M.S. in Accounting) degrees from the IU Kelley School of Business. We are extremely excited to have Sadie on our team. Congratulations, Sadie!
Principle Accounting
We would like to welcome Bob Rogers to UCO where he will serve as the Principal Accountant for Treasury. Prior to joining UCO, Bob worked for 5 years with IU’s Capital Projects and Facilities department. Bob is a CPA and has a BS in Accounting and Finance, a Masters in Finance and a MBA from IU’s Kelley School of Business.
Bob and his wife, Christina, welcomed their first child, son Vincent, in June 2022. Since spring of 2021 they have moved from Indiana to California to New York for Christina’s medical school rotations and they currently reside in Queens. Bob is a big fan of hiking and traveling and loves spicy food, decent beer, and strong coffee complemented by the current seasonal Oreo. We are very happy to have Bob as part of the UCO team!
Office of the Treasurer
Insurance, Loss, Control & Claims (INLOCC)
Members of the INLOCC Loss Control Unit constructed a “North Pole” fire house for the Saturday night parade through the City of Bedford. The float focused on fire safety during the season of lights.
Parade favors, including plastic fire hats, squeezable fire hydrants, chip clips, and suckers, were handed out to the crowd. A special thanks goes out to our elves played by Linda Braunlin and her daughters and Trevor Owens who played Buddy the Elf.
Inspector Chuck Cohenour played the Grinch and was a favorite of the children in the crowd.
It should be noted that any resemblance to the actual grinch was purely coincidental😉
Riding atop of truck 243 was Sparky the Fire Dog played by Inspector Mandy Owens.
Financial Wellness and Education (OFWE)
The Office of Financial Wellness and Education has seen some exciting changes and growth over the past couple of months! In January, we welcomed the largest group of new student financial educators in program history, as well as two new graduate assistants and an operations assistant for the Higher Education Financial Wellness Alliance (HEFWA).
The student financial educators (SFEs) will spend the spring semester learning about the office, financial wellness, personal finance, and more! The knowledge and skills gained in training will prepare them to lead presentations across all IU campuses, table at upcoming events, and conduct one-on-one consultation with other IU students. We’re having a wonderful time getting to know them and are very happy to have them on our team!
Top left to right: Ethan Cho, Gracie Fisher, Sam Farbstein, Henry Venker.
Bottom left to right: Logan Hooley, Surabhi Karambelkar, Austin Woolston, Ella Boehme, Hannah Wang.
Not Pictured: Krish Sobti, Sri Nihanth Vuddanti
We, in conjunction with the IU Graduate School, also gained two graduate assistantships that were filled over the holiday break. At the beginning of the semester Anoushka Divekar and Eric Agyemang-Dua Jr. joined the team and have hit the ground running!
Anoushka Divekar
Eric Agyemang-Dua Jr.
In the past two months, Anoushka and Eric have taken over all appointment and presentation scheduling, created campus resources that will be vital to in-need students, helped create a training program from scratch, and are working to revamp existing content. They continue to amaze and we’re incredibly grateful to have them.
We thought things couldn’t get better, and then they did! Peter Bye joined our team in February to act as the operations assistant for HEFWA. Peter immediately dove into learning all things HEFWA (no small feat!), improved membership experience, and has already been instrumental in planning the 2023 HEFWA Summit. We’re delighted Peter has joined our team and know he’ll continue to wow us as time goes on!
University Bursar
Congratulations to Sara Hawk on her promotion to Assistant University Bursar for Sponsor Processing. Sara has been with IU since October 2016. We’re confident she’ll do a great job in this new role!
Amanda Bartlett has also been promoted! Amanda is now a Bursar Specialist. She has been with IU since November 2008. We know she will excel in her new role just as she has in her past positions within the Bursar’s office.
Procurement Services
Purchasing
Tally Thrasher, Executive Director of Purchasing, is leaving IU to pursue an opportunity at the University of Michigan. Starting in March, Tally will serve as Michigan’s Chief Procurement Officer.
Tally began her journey as a member of IUPUI’s Surplus team. After a reorganization, she joined the Purchasing team and quickly worked her way up the ranks. She has been a key member of the IU community during her time here. From contract negotiations to system implementations, Tally always worked to support the staff, faculty, and students of IU. We have no doubt she’ll do great things at Michigan! Congratulations, Tally. We’ll miss you.
Public Safety
The recent violence at Michigan State University has left many wondering how to respond in the face of an emergency. Indiana University has resources and information available to help you stay safe and know what to do in a crisis. Check out this story from IU Today to learn more.
A warm welcome back to IU Public Safety to Rebecca Keough, Executive Administrative Assistant; Emily Herr, Organizational Planning Manager, and Nathan Herr, Laboratory Safety Manager in Environmental Health and Safety.
Emergency Management and Continuity
Welcome to Liz Reimink! She joined Emergency Management and Continuity as director for IU’s northern district which includes IU Northwest and IU South Bend. Reimink will be responsible for emergency planning and preparedness for both campuses. She will also support campus leadership during incidents that occur in or around the area, conduct training for students, staff, and faculty, and act as a liaison to university leadership when necessary.
Severe weather is a hazard for Hoosiers, and it’s important to know what to do when it occurs. A storm becomes severe when it can produce hail that is at least an inch in diameter or wind gusts over 58 miles per hour, either of which can cause property damage and be dangerous. Severe storms can also spawn tornados and dangerous lightning as well as heavy rain that can cause flooding. Review these tips to stay safe:
Check the forecast regularly. Stay informed about severe thunderstorm watches and warnings.
Sign up for IU Notify. Update your profile to include your cell phone number to receive text and email messages in the event of a storm.
If a warning is issued, move to the lowest level of the building and look for the innermost room with no windows. Stay there until the warning expires or you receive an "all clear."
Practice your plan. March 12-18 is Severe Weather Preparedness Week in Indiana with a statewide outdoor siren test occurring on Tuesday, March 14.
Indiana University Police Department
The IU Police Department's cadet recruiting drive ends on March 3. So far, this effort has resulted in 81 total applicants across the state. Please encourage interested students to apply to the program on jobs.iu.edu by searching for job number 303039.
The IUPD recently conducted a Little 500 tabletop exercise with our partners at the IU Student Foundation to ensure we are ready for the safety and security of this year's event, which will take place in April.
Celebrating the amazing accomplishments, both professional and personal, of our EVPFA colleagues!
Kudos
A good farewell to Gary Palmer, University Budget Office, on his retirement. Gary worked at IU for 32 years and retired as the Database Manager for UBO. We hope you relax, enjoy, and have fun on this new journey, Gary. We will miss you!
Huge THANK YOU to the UCO Tax, Payroll, & Customer Service teams for yet another successful and BUSY tax season! UCO Tax files over 150,000 tax forms over the course of 6 weeks and then the questions flood in. Not to mention all the testing that is done to all the systems to ensure correct data. Thank you all for your diligent hard work!
Kudos to Vanessa Freeman, Purchasing, for completing her Certified Professional Public Buyer (CPPB) certification.
A big thank you to Barb Doster, Natalie Kremer, and Amanda LeFaure from University Bursar for their role in getting the new Account Resolution Team up and running. They’ve all learned and contributed a lot over the last 60 days or so!
A hearty “great job!” to Juliet Roberts, ESTC, for publishing the Travel Quickstart video. This short video is interactive and lets the viewer decide what topics they want to watch. Nice work learning and executing this Kaltura functionality for the first time!
Laury Flint, IU Public Safety, was recently elected as vice president of the Mental Health America-Monroe County Board of Directors. Flint has served as a board member of the organization since 2019 and most recently served as the board's secretary.
Kudos to Amanda Coats and Sara MacMorran from SDM for creating and deploying a bot to deactivate over 21,000 stale BUY.IU supplier records. Way to go!
Another successful RTVS Financial Statement Audit managed by Adam Hadley and Shannon Bloom from UCO. This year’s audit was completed not only with zero audit findings, but also moved up the submission date an entire month and created combined financial statement submissions this year! These changes not only created efficiencies but also reduced overhead related to the audit itself. Thank you both for all your hard work on this small but mighty audit!
Big thanks to Linda Yake, University Bursar, for keeping the office up to date during first spring due date. We appreciate all you do!
Kudos to Justin Jerles and Pam Ayres, both within University Bursar, for taking on and learning new tasks and rolling with the punches that come with learning new functions!
Shout out to John Brumley and Margot Burke, UCO, for a successful State of Indiana 100R filing! The timing of this reporting requirement is tight with all the other year-end deadlines and we appreciate the quality efforts that go into all your work.
Jason Lett in UCO Capital Assets recently completed the training to become Lean Six Sigma Green Belt certified. Way to go Jason!
Thank you so much Joy Maddox & John Sparks for another successful cost proposal submission to the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)! This cost proposal results in approximately $150M of unrestricted dollars for the university and is critical to research funding. Thank you both for your excellence in not only the compliance surrounding this unique area of cost accounting but also your efforts in building efficiency to the process. Well done!
A team of one - a shout out to Maggie Harrell, UCO, for the process narratives she’s helped to coordinate in her time as Internal Controls Manager! To date, over 65 process narratives have been created or are in final draft form, 2 Accounting Standards have been developed, and a university policy has been updated. Amazing work, Maggie!
A big thank you to all the UCO staff who helped with this year’s Federal Single Audit with RSM! The timing of this audit is a tough one coming right off the main audit, and we appreciate everyone’s effort on this one.
Shoutout to Angus Burke, ESTC, for completing his first training development exercise. We can’t wait to put your talents to work on IU content!
Big thank you to Ha Nguyen and Kelley Martin in UCO Cash Accounting for another successful round of unclaimed property reporting! The tracking of the data itself, reissuing checks, and keeping up with the reporting compliance requirements for all of the states is no small feat. Thank you both!
Service Milestones
Congratulations to these Finance & Administration staff celebrating a service milestone this quarter! Be sure to give them a shout the next time you talk to them.
Staff Member
Department
Years of Service
James Snyder
IU Police Department
35
Eric Lyons
IU Police Department
25
Kathy Cochard
Office of the Controller
20
Kim Stuart
Treasury Operations
20
Cheryl Bennett
Trave Management Services
15
Amanda Botts
IU Police Department
15
David DeForest
Capital Finance
15
Kristi Jones
Financial Shared Services
15
Shari McMasters
Financial Shared Services
15
Amanda Coats
Supplier Data Management
10
Derek Toschlog
Purchasing
10
Seth Wagner
Enviornmental Health & Safety
10
Mindy Bonifas
Financial Shared Services
5
Wendy Conner
Environmental Health & Safety
5
Nathan Cornett
IU Police Department
5
Lewis Mason
Environmental Health & Safety
5
Angelica Perez-Camacho
Accounts Payable
5
Ali Piovesan
Accounts Payable
5
Brice Schlueter
IU Police Department
5
Bradley Seifers
IU Public Safety
5
Julie Thomas
Insurance, Loss, Control & Claims
5
Celebrations
Do you like adorable baby photos? Great! We have a bunch to share with you this issue. Check out the slideshow below to meet babies and puppies that have joined the EVPFA family since our last issue.
Sergeant Amanda Botts and Officer Robert Botts, IU Police Department, welcomed their second child, Nora, to the family on November 8, 2022. Nora's big sister, Ella, enjoys her new role being a little helper for mom and dad and loves talking to and playing with her baby sister. Indy also loves being a fur brother and looks forward to the day Nora can throw him his ball. Congratulations to Sara Hawk, University Bursar, on the birth of her first child. Emory Rae was born November 19, 2022.Priscilla Laird, Travel Management Services, and her fiancée, Jaden, welcomed their daughter on December 7. Emilia Marie Vincent weighed in at 7 lbs., 8 oz. She and Bubbles have become fast friends. Welcome to the Travel family, Emilia!Congratulations to Lance King, University Budget Office, on his new baby! Huxten Laverne King was 7 lbs. 6 oz. and 20.75 inches long. Lance, mom Michelle, nana Ann King (from UCO), and 2-year-old big brother Brixten welcomed him on December 14, 2022. Congratulations to Belinda Arthur, UCO, for the birth of her 4th grandchild! Caleb Michael Arthur came into the world on December 19, 2022 at 7lbs., 19.5 inches. He was welcomed by big brother Hudson. This was Belinda’s 3rd grandchild born in 2022. Congratulations to Shannon Bloom, UCO, and her family who welcomed the newest addition to the family, Beauregard. According to Shannon it’s “B” or “Beau” for short—easier to say when he has a hold of the laundry.
A Bernese Mountain dog, Beau LOVES SNOW! B is 4 months old and weighs 50 pounds. He is expected to reach 120+ pounds when full grown. He is full of energy and lives up to the breed’s primary trait: “Stubbornese.” He loves to be with his pack and the Blooms have loved every minute with this adorable guy. Congratulations to Anna Jensen, UCO, and her family for their new addition, Ginger Rose. She joins her dog brothers Elvis and Bentley who are reluctantly tolerating her. Ginger Rose is a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel just like her brother Bentley.
Cost: Free if buying tickets in person, $1 per online reservation
Join the Office of Financial Wellness & Education and the Center of Excellence for Women & Technology at the IU Cinema on March 2 for a free screening of $avvy, a film that explores the historical, cultural, and societal norms around women and money. The screening will be followed by a Q&A and end with awarding 4 lucky students a $200 scholarship!
Bring your KFS, Chrome River, P-Card, or BUY.IU questions to this open office hours session and a member of the Financial Training & Communications team will assist you.
Bring your KFS, Chrome River, P-Card, or BUY.IU questions to this open office hours session and a member of the Financial Training & Communications team will assist you.
Learn how Lean Leadership differs from traditional management and supports a culture of continuous improvement. This session is offered by IU Human Resources.
Bring your KFS, Chrome River, P-Card, or BUY.IU questions to this open office hours session and a member of the Financial Training & Communications team will assist you.
Join your Finance & Administration colleagues for some afternoon softball and cheer on the Hoosiers as they play the Nebraska Cornhuskers. We'll share more information about the event, and a calendar hold, soon.
Finance & Administration Town Hall
Wednesday, April 19, 3:00 - 4:00 p.m.
The next F&A division Town Hall is scheduled for mid-April. Join us to hear updates on budget, office moves, and more. Contact the Financial Training & Communications team at estc@iu.edu if you did not receive the calendar hold.
Financial Training Office Hours
Friday, April 21, 1:30 - 3:00 p.m.
Bring your KFS, Chrome River, P-Card, or BUY.IU questions to this open office hours session and a member of the Financial Training & Communications team will assist you.
In the recent months, we've celebrated the successes of our IU athletic teams. This is not something that happened overnight. It has taken practice, determination, and most importantly, teamwork. Throughout Finance & Administration, we pride ourselves on the level of commitment and professionalism that results in our team's success. 
We would like to welcome Bob Rogers to UCO where he will serve as the Principal Accountant for Treasury. Prior to joining UCO, Bob worked for 5 years with IU’s Capital Projects and Facilities department. Bob is a CPA and has a BS in Accounting and Finance, a Masters in Finance and a MBA from IU’s Kelley School of Business. 
We thought things couldn’t get better, and then they did! Peter Bye joined our team in February to act as the operations assistant for HEFWA. Peter immediately dove into learning all things HEFWA (no small feat!), improved membership experience, and has already been instrumental in planning the 2023 HEFWA Summit. We’re delighted Peter has joined our team and know he’ll continue to wow us as time goes on! 
