[23] in UA Financial Policy Review Committee
Re: SAO involvement
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Alex Dehnert)
Wed Jun 24 01:01:38 2009
Date: Wed, 24 Jun 2009 01:01:12 -0400
From: Alex Dehnert <adehnert@MIT.EDU>
To: Rachel Meyer <remeyer@mit.edu>
CC: ua-fprc@mit.edu
In-Reply-To: <20090624003125.8ytklwwnqf7cwkg4@webmail.mit.edu>
Rachel Meyer wrote:
<snip>
>
> Along the same lines... a more technical issue (compared to the policy
> concern)
> is the mechanics of dealing with all of this money flowing around. (ie
> submitting receipts, getting checks, quantity processed, processing speed,
> etc.) I guess the way this applies to policy is that since groups are
> required
> to have internal finances the system should work for them.
Jed indicated to me earlier that there were plans underway for more
electronic submission of vouchers, which could change how fast things
are, etc. a lot. I've mentioned to him (and more recently Catherine
Hursh) that it would be awesome if student groups with more elaborate
internal systems / record keeping (eg, ESP) could integrate their
systems with SAFO.
The workflow I was envisioning for ESP, at least, was that teachers and
admins would submit their expenses with an internal webform, with fields
specific to us (like program name), the treasurer would approve it, mark
it as ready to be forwarded to SAFO, and the servers involved would
somehow communicate.
In the UA, this might involve indicating a line item from the budget,
getting committee chair approval, and then the treasurer would approve
it and forward it on. This would make things like end of semester
reports of actual expenses way easier, which would be nice. (At the
cost, of course, of some development work on the UA's side --- SAFO
would probably never be able to make something general enough for every
group's desires, and I doubt I'd want them to spend the time on it...)
For most groups, this wouldn't be useful functionality, maybe, but for
some groups it would be really awesome...
>
> I can't think of anything else right now, but they probably have some ideas
> themselves...
Uh, probably. *sigh* I'm too lame...
>
> -Rachel
>
> ps - Jed is out of town right now for a couple of weeks, but Kerri is
> around (as
> far as I'm aware) although she's probably a tad busy closing out the fiscal
> year.
I believe he gets back on July 2 (check his auto-responder...), and
Kerri leaves about the same time for a few weeks' vacation.
>
> Quoting Alex Dehnert <adehnert@MIT.EDU>:
>
>> Hi folks,
>> SAO (in particular, Jed and Kerri) has indicated interest in
>> working with us, and has asked how we can cooperate.
>>
>>> I am eager to think with you about the
>>> relationship between the Student Activities Office and the work of this
>>> committee. My instinct is that there is ample opportunity for
>>> collaboration
>>> and coordination here.
>>
>> I indicated that I would be happy to meet up with them to discuss
>> their thoughts, and that they should feel free to add themselves to
>> ua-fprc-listeners, give input, and come to our meetings. Are any of
>> you uncomfortable with that or otherwise opposed? Do you have other
>> ideas how we can cooperate?
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Alex
>>
>
>
