End of Fiscal Year Message from Vice President for Administration & Finance/Chief Financial Officer
Dear Colleagues,
A couple of months after I arrived at Sonoma State University I shared my early observations of campus and mentioned I am looking forward to hearing your thoughts. I want to thank those who have taken me up on this and have continued to provide feedback. The open communication helps us remain fluid in our decision making and to be effective in our services. I want to acknowledge your engagement and offer a brief update on activities in Administration and Finance, before we break for summer.
Before I speak about our near-term activities I would like to share with you my perspective on some long-term setbacks SSU is facing. We need a long-term strategy and some short-term action plans to return to our normal operations, purely from the revenue and expenditure perspective. While we discuss the need to and work out ways to right size our operation, we cannot do that without also speaking about the uplifting conviction that returning to the targeted enrollment is within our reach. Our conviction is that returning to our targeted enrollment is within reach. And right now, we need to adjust to serve fewer students. The State of California, its constituents and policymakers are strong proponents of higher education and have a long track record of supporting higher education in unprecedented ways. While the number of college bound high school graduates are projected to go down in the next few years, the number of increased applications needed for SSU to continue our desired growth plan is relatively small and achievable (about 5,000 additional applications). The other factor in this transformation is time. We project a need of about five academic years to get back to our target enrollment.
As a handful of Northern California campuses including SSU are grappling with reduced enrollment, you have also been hearing about our need to reduce expenditures, to be in balance with our revenue outlook. The budget planning process for a sustainable operation includes leaving certain positions throughout the campus unfilled until the revenue outlook improves. While that is a necessity, we also realize the need to make sure we provide tools for campus units to continue to manage their business more efficiently.
I would also like to share a few of the improvement initiatives that are coming online soon to help us be nimble and face the rightsizing of campus workforce more manageably, while continuing to balance our students’ needs.
Student Support
As we return to campus and switch to in-person mode of instruction for the majority of our instructional activities, staff from administration and finance have been working diligently to ensure students have options and availability of services to meet their needs as best possible. Below are a number of program enhancements that will be available as we return during fall: Equitable Access/First Day Complete - The Equitable Access program is designed to provide students their learning material in a cost effective, sustainable, accessible, predictable and convenient manner. Students will have their learning materials delivered to them via Canvas, prior to their first day of classes. The predetermined per unit charges will be billed through the student account, allowing the ability for students to cover them with their financial aid instead of cash purchase. Consultation with various campus groups is under way and, if approved, will roll out prior to the Spring 2023 semester. Learning Aligned Employment Program (LAEP) - SSU has opted into this newly created program through California Student Aid Commission (CSAC). LAEP offers eligible students the opportunity to earn money to help defray their educational costs while gaining education-aligned, career-related employment. The program would provide up to $220,000 for the next academic year that could be awarded to the students. Parent PLUS loan integration in PeopleSoft - Implementing a system modification to process Parent PLUS loans within Peoplesoft. The new process will integrate with the federal Common Origination and Disbursement system and automate the process from loan application through payment processing, in a much more efficient process.
Efficiency Initiatives
Concur Solutions
SSU is now live with Concur Travel and Expense Management system, an online all-inclusive travel services portal. As we return from the pandemic and get our professional lives back in order, we are likely to see an increase in our travel needs. The Concur solution implemented as part of the CSU wide business automation effort will make travel requests, reservations, voucher submissions and ultimately processing reimbursements easier and will take significantly less time from all of us. To get a quick view of the features and functions in concur go to Concur Travel Product Demo - YouTube and watch the four-minute video. For FAQs and ‘how to’ tools on SSU’s installation please visit the travel office site at SAP Concur | Financial Services at Sonoma State University.
Procurement to Pay (Purchasing and AP) automation
Continuing on business automation for efficiency and effectiveness, SSU has joined the systemwide procurement and accounts payable automation solution known as Procure-to-Pay or P2P in the first wave of implementation. This is part of the CSUBuy program we already use for procard purchasing. SSU is one of the six campuses that are working with colleagues from the Chancellor’s Office and a small team of consultants on this important initiative and SSU expects to reduce workload for procurement and accounts payable teams, minimize manual and redundant paperwork for campus department personnel and achieve greater savings through the consolidated procurement and payment efforts of our 23 campus system. SSU hopes to launch additional modules of this integrated Source-to-Contract solution in the CSUBuy program in Fall of 2023. More information about P2P is available, using your SSU login, through the CSUYou Procure-to-Pay (P2P) Project webpage.
Sustainability
Micro-Grid Project
After months of permitting delays, SSU is delighted to announce our partnership with SunPower in a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) to complete the campus Micro-Grid project that is expected to produce 4.5 megawatts of electricity, and includes a 1.5 megawatt battery bank installation at the southern edge of the campus. This project brings the SSU one step closer to our commitment to sustainability and resilience. The new Micro-Grid will generate energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The initiative is expected to reduce campus energy cost by $6.2 million over the life of the project while also serving as a back-up power source for selected vital campus operations during power outages. More information can be found at the Facilities Management website.
Desktop Deposit
The Cashier’s office has implemented Desktop Deposit to deposit checks electronically to Wells Fargo Bank which will allow us to decrease our armored transport deposit pickups from three times a week to once a week.
Additional Items
Deferred Maintenance
Our sincerest apologies for the recent back-to-back power outages on campus. As was communicated earlier, the power outages were caused by an out/end of life, out of cycle piece of electrical equipment that was installed in the mid-1960s. The campus has taken the initiative to replace and upgrade our power feeders to the campus as an urgent project and planning is underway. As we get closer to the project initiation, we will be providing further information and updates including any unavoidable power interruptions that may be necessary. Communications will be forthcoming and any updates will be made available on the Facilities Management website.
Professional Development Opportunities
As we have been returning more fully to campus, following the extended pandemic and restrictions, the work we do and the way we deliver services may never be the same. Our life has changed in many ways, and many for good. Keeping in mind our Human Resources colleagues have started exploring and promoting opportunities where our faculty and staff may avail themselves to various resources for better work-life balance, while continuing to deliver high quality, high impact services as they always have, and continue to mentor and guide those who look up to them for guidance, training, and advancement opportunities. While there are frequent email notifications announcing the up-and-coming opportunities, it is difficult to always act on those as emails arrive in our inbox. To make it easier for all of us to find information on demand and as up-to-date as possible, the team has set up a website to allow the campus community to utilize and access the information frequently. Please go to Upcoming Trainings | Administration & Finance at Sonoma State University to see the upcoming opportunities. If you have questions about any of the training offered, please reach out by emailing ssutraining@sonoma.edu.
I have very much enjoyed getting to know the campus, our students, faculty and staff in my first months here at SSU. While we certainly have challenges to overcome, we also have so much to look forward to in the next academic year. I look forward to our working together to continue to strive for the best in all things SSU.