Let's Talk UNLV

0:00:00
Welcome to another segment of Let's Talk UNLV on KUNV. You're with co-host Keith and Renee. And sorry audience, you're stuck with me only today. Renee is still doing, we don't know what. She may be recovering from a long vacation or just doing her thing. But we're gonna we're gonna press forward. We're lucky today to have our guests We have Chris Vuitton who's our controller for the University. So Chris, welcome to the show. Thank you. Happy to be here So we're looking forward to learning more about you know That's one of those titles and also people don't quite know what the controller's office does So one of the things I would like to know is could you just maybe share just how you? Sort of came to you and RV and then we can maybe ask a couple questions just about the controller's office in general. Sure, sure.

0:00:54
So I came to UNLV in 2006. Fortunate enough to be hired by the controller at that time based on my experience in similar jobs, but with hospitals and so it was an opportunity to transition from health care to higher ed. Really grateful for that opportunity. But then when he left, I competed for that position, and now I'm here.

0:01:25
Could you just give us sort of the elevator speech for sort of what is the controllers office?

0:01:31
Sure, sure. So a lot of departments that you probably, that folks would probably be familiar with in terms of business transactions. So cashiering and student accounts, payroll, accounts payable, travel reimbursements, purchasing, and then some things that are less visible, financial reporting, analysis, some financial system support.

0:01:55
Now I know two things that were in your portfolio that were of interest to me that I had not realized. I know and you can maybe give us some insights on those, like the non-resident alien tax service as one. And then there was another one, like the loan administration. Like I never sort of connected that to the controller's office. Could you talk a little bit about what those two areas do within the controller's office?

0:02:19
Sure. Non-resident alien tax compliance is something that all higher ed institutions have to work with has to do with U.S. tax requirements for non-citizens who are here perhaps on visa status for education or for work. And it also has to do with foreign when we're acquiring things like software or other intellectual property, or having services provided within the United States by foreign organizations or foreign entities. So it's a pretty highly specialized area. Folks that may have interacted with us might be students or scholars, faculty. That's probably the main population of folks, but it's also a vendor related item, supplier related item. So my office does handle tax compliance of all kinds on campus, so W-2 reporting, 1099 reporting, all that interesting stuff.

0:03:31
The stuff I can never find when it comes time to do taxes. I'm like, where are these documents? Where are these documents? Yeah. Could you talk a little bit about the loan administration?

0:03:41
Loan administration is also involved in compliance with federal programs, federal loan programs. So the Perkins Loans Program, we have some health professional loan programs, not direct lending, some of the direct financial aid managed programs, but loan programs where the university remains responsible for collection and ongoing compliance. We do engage a third-party service provider for most of that work, so we have a staff, we have a couple of staff that are focused on that from a responsibility standpoint, but we have the services of a third-party service provider that actually handles more of the nuts and bolts of the collection and accounting on the loan programs.

0:04:37
Now, in your office, like that's a huge amount of responsibility across that portfolio. Like how big is your staff?

0:04:45
In total across all those areas, it's about 80 positions. You know, with that, at any point in time, you've got some turnovers, so we're probably usually staffed somewhere in the 70 to 80 range. During the past year when we had, you know, the budget constraints and the hiring freeze, we'd gotten down about as low as in the lower 60s. We're staffing back up now with some recruitments, but about 80 people in total spread across all those areas.

0:05:17
Now, I know I ask this of all the guests who are sort of first-timers. You know, with the pandemic, you know, we sort of had to transition abruptly to working remotely, and now we're sort of transitioning back to in-person and hybrid. So, how has the pandemic forced you or given you the to reimagine how the Controller's Office operates and how you've adjusted some of your practices?

0:05:42
So I think like pretty much everybody, that transition happened overnight out of necessity. And, you know, having had conversations with folks prior to that around level of interest in dabbling in remote work or hybrid work. I think it was one of those things that folks always thought possible but had reservations about at the same time, not really having had a blueprint of how it works, you know. I think the transition went remarkably well for us. I think folks really stepped up there. And I think the tools that we had, as both as a campus and as a system, really are what made that happen. You know, having lived through the transition to workday and as challenging as that was back in 2017, it was, you know, right away a blessing for us because it really enables that electronic transaction processing that we didn't really have in our legacy, in our former systems. In terms of re-imagining, I think one of the stories I share for folks is, you know, there was always a lot of interest in the pandemic ending quickly and folks' things getting back to normal, right? We were only taking a short break and we were going to be right back. When we first came, you know, when we were first trying to bring folks back to campus, it was actually January of 21, and so we worked with the cashier's office to have that office staffed in person and be prepared to open. In the course of it, we encountered a situation where we had to rethink that, and it actually had us take a step back and think a little bit more about what does service really mean for most of our units. We think of wanting that personal connection and being able to make that connection as our service, but it was also the rethinking was here we are in an environment where, you know, we think we're providing service by getting people in the office, but in fact, having people come to the office may not be what those folks want. So it was walking through the things that over the course of the 12 months or 9 months prior, what had we not been able to transition to an electronic environment? the office for and then how can we convert those things to electronic also because we're recognizing that the real best service we can provide is giving people a way to complete their work without having to come to the office at all. So it's kind of asking the question in these units that we're working in, that was student accounts and cashiering, but accounts payable, payroll, purchasing. It's like, do people really want to come to our office to do their work? Do they, if it's a necessity to come to our office, is that actually providing service or is it really the case that folks want a way to do that work without ever having to come to our office? Do they want it online? Do they want it another way? So trying to go through and identify what do we have left that we can't accomplish electronically

0:09:19
and how to fix that. And then I'm imagining that a lot of these departments on campus who rely on your office for the processing and support are looking to say, okay, well, hey, if, you know, if the controller's office is able to work remotely, you know, we want to follow that lead. So it's certainly, I think, great to hear you talk about, you know, reimagining, you know, what things can we continue to do remotely and, you know, what things do we probably necessarily need to come into the office to do. So how has your office sort of still be present on campus versus working remotely or working maybe in a hybrid status a couple days in, a couple days off, or how do you approach that?

0:10:14
So in the student services area, in the cashier and student accounts area, we do have that office open. We have all the offices open, but that office is pretty fully staffed on a regular basis. And so we are there so that we're present. You know, it is the case that we still have most of the work being done electronically around the peak of, you know, semester startup, final payment deadline, that sort of thing. It was a little bit busy as usual, but not even there, still not quite as much. In the other areas, we have all the offices are open. There's staff on campus every day. We do have a much more of a mix of hybrid schedules there where most folks are in the office fewer days than they're remote. But in all cases, the offices are open so that if somebody does come in, you know, we can work with them. And folks, whether they're in the office or not, have the ability to connect with folks online, one-on-one, you know, face-to-face interactions. So I think that was one of the, for me, that was one of the significant changes that happened during the initial transition transition to remote work was folks getting over the historical reluctance to use the online conferencing tools that put you in a face-to-face kind of environment over our screens. And I think one of the things we've heard from a lot of folks doing that is that they've actually connected with folks that way more and seen folks that they've historically only ever talked on the phone with and that sort of thing because it's so much easier. I think it's, you know, things are not, things are still, you know, transitioning and so we're, you know, back to a little bit of both, but I think because our offices are, there's a lot, you know, our offices are often the Campus Services building, it's not the most convenient for folks to come visit. It's convenient because there's always plenty of parking available, but if you're walking over it's not necessarily the most convenient to come visit us. So being able to connect with people over our web communications, our web conferencing, and being able to find ways to complete transactions without paper and without folks having to come in is still a top priority for us.

0:12:55
And have you seen an increase in productivity since we've sort of gone to this more hybrid approach for how we conduct business and really leveraging technology more, in particular within Workday?

0:13:09
Yeah, for sure. I think that we'd achieved, we'd seen a lot of that already with the workday business processes. I think, you know, there's always, there's still room for improvement on some business processes. I know we're still looking for, there's still in a few areas, some forms that we haven't found a way away from yet. So we're looking at how we might convert those at least to electronic forms. You know, we're in the process of rolling out a ticketing system, you know, work order type system for financial services that has the ability to take in, you know, requests through online form approaches. So we do have some things coming down the way that will help in that regard, too. Definitely some increase in productivity with the hybrid work and the remote work just from folks being able to more easily schedule back-to-back meetings, back-to-back, you know, when you don't, when your connection is online, it's a little easier to get from A to B in that way. So, folks, I think, took the opportunity to, you know, to use some of what otherwise was time they just spent getting from point A to point B and use that time to increase productivity. So, yeah, I think that's been effective. Again, I think we worked through – we had – because there were some tightening of the belt expense-wise, there were some reductions in the volume of activity that aligned itself, it was coincidental, but it aligned itself almost precisely with the reduction that we had in staffing levels over that period as a result of the hiring freeze and folks just transitioning into ordinary turnover. So, you know, without that efficiency, I think it would have been a little more challenging.

0:15:10
And I know you mentioned some new things on the horizon, like this ticketing system. Could you talk a little bit about some of the new things underway through the controller's office to further improve efficiency or to better support how we do business on campus?

0:15:26
Well, I think one of the things we hear and we know, we're working on updating our website. It's been, that was due for an update before the workday transition. With the workday transition, we knew there were things that needed to happen. I think we tried to address the most significant top-of-mind items, but there's a lot that still needs to be updated there. So, that's a top priority for us at this point. The ticketing application is one. I think we're looking at some additional invoice automation. You know, we still, with Workday, we can work with an electronic invoice once it's in the system, but we don't receive most of our invoices electronically. So someone is still having to scan that document. When they scan it, you know, it doesn't, we don't have automation around that scanning. So the document gets scanned, but someone still has to manually initiate that transaction in the system. So, we're looking at tools that would help with that scanning and capturing some of the data there. Not visible, but certainly important in our folks' areas in terms of time that they have to invest that you wouldn't see, but record management. So looking at electronic record management right now, we still have heavy reliance on paper. I think with Workday that there are certain things that will work their way through to a retention point where it's all in the system, but there are other documents still that we are responsible for that will never be – that aren't in Workday. And so, having those resolved, I think those are some of the key ones. So, there's just always ongoing with Workday. Workday, as you know, twice a year, new releases. With that, some new functionality and, you know, always working on reporting enhancements and things of that nature.

0:17:39
So, yeah, I know, you know, going back to 2017, when, you know, the announcement came out, we were switching to Workday, there was a lot of anxiety, there was high expectations for, you know, the efficiencies in Workday and the tracking. And so, from your perspective, how has Workday lived up to the hype or the expectations?

0:18:04
I'm really pleased with how Workday worked out at the end of the day. It was like any system transition, it's not easy. And I think there's probably always more on the wish list than you might immediately get. I think the good thing there, we work We work as one of eight campuses that live in the single instance of workday. So we have a large group of people all over the state that the system has to work for, but it gives us the opportunity to learn from each other at the same time. And so the benefit there is that it only takes one person to come up with the idea and then everyone else can benefit from it in terms of enhancements we might implement. But workday delivering new functionality every six months is helpful. The systems, you know, every system implementation has a transition period. It's good to get through that and start to benefit from what you have in there. So, we still have a long way to go, I think. There's a lot of data in the system. I think the reporting side, the developing tools that will let us benefit from the volume of data that it's collecting, I think, is where we need to

0:19:34
go next. Indeed. I guess another question is, how does your office keep its sanity, you know, during the pandemic as we were transitioning backwards to all the fluctuation in budget forecasts and projections and redoing the financials? So, you know, how did you all sort of stay level-headed through all that process and as we still undergo all these different scenarios that we're planning for?

0:19:59
I would say, you know, most of the areas that report to me are more involved in completing transactions, the actual business transactions. So probably while that affects me like it does other departments on campus, other units on campus, I think the unit that was probably more directly affected by that continually planning exercise around forecasting and budgeting would be the financial planning and analysis unit, financial planning, budget and analysis unit under Dr. Barber. So like other units and certainly part of the business affairs unit, we work through that like everyone did. I would say, you know, it was encouraging to get back to campus and have the activity that we have on campus in the fall here and see folks walking around and encouraging, you know, that just to see the recovery there.

0:21:06
And, you know, just like I just made sort of a common error, thinking that this is within the controller's function. What are some other sort of misconceptions about sort of what's in the controller's portfolio versus maybe financial analysis and planning or other areas on campus?

0:21:27
I think there tends to be, you know, two areas that get melded together very closely, human resources and payroll. And so I would say I don't usually try to, my goal is not normally to make sure folks know the difference, it's to understand what they're trying to do and help them get it done, regardless of whether that's in my area or not. So I don't, I usually, my encouragement is to have folks just address the problem and if it means collaborating with another unit, we do that and try not to make that the focus of the issue. But HR and payroll are two areas that get blended together very frequently. Accounts payable and purchasing do also. Unfortunately, those both report to me, so that doesn't come up that way the same. But financial aid and student accounts and cashiering is another. So student accounts and cashiering is handling more of the billing and collection of the student account, third-party payments on accounts. We handle the disbursement to the student account. So the application of the aid to the student account. But then things kind of get handed off to student accounts for further processing.

0:23:02
So could you talk a little bit about the importance of compliance across all of this, all the business that the university engages in and how your office keeps us in the right place in terms of when we're audited and things of that nature.

0:23:19
Yeah, hopefully in the right place. That's, that's, that is the goal. I think that's kind of the origin of the controller title is the compliance element, you know, the financial, the internal control. And so, you know, you can imagine with federal regulations, state regulations, border regions, the Board of Regents, campus, there's a lot of layers to compliance here. Compliance in and of itself is something that's more than just financial. And so, my focus tends to be on financial transaction processing and compliance as it relates to that. So, you know, when as an organization that receives federal funds, I think there's a heightened level of attention that we get as a result. There's specific audits that are completed, and each federal awarding agency has the opportunity to dig into that report when it gets issued and ask for additional information. And so it's, you know, as we participate in those programs, you know, the compliance element is critical to being able to maintain our participation in those programs.

0:24:38
Well, I know I've been, my office has been the beneficiary of that approach from you. And I know my whole default when I talk to my team is, well, let's just email Chris and ask Chris for, and then Chris will make sure we get to the right place and bring the right mix of people to the conversation to resolve it. So I know I greatly appreciate that approach. And I know it works. It has worked for us. And I appreciate that.

0:25:10
I'm always happy to help. I always enjoy getting involved.

0:25:14
Now, I want to get you out of here on this last question. So, if you had sort of a crystal ball and you could make any wish come true, sort of from your lens, what would you do to improve how we operate at the university or how your office interfaces with various offices or support various offices of the campus?

0:25:34
I think that the opportunity for folks to work with each other, collaborate, looking for opportunities, folks looking for opportunities to get involved with something on campus, another unit solving a problem, or just things like faculty senate, faculty senate committees, working with others on campus to better understand what's outside their own area in particular and find out how, kind of just make sure that we're meeting the needs of the campus. You know, I mean, that's what we're here for. Folks don't come to UNLV because they think we have a great controller's office. You know, students come to UNLV for our academic programs and organizations engage with us for research and those core programs. So just making sure that we're meeting those needs and looking for ways to support the organization and its mission. That's ideal to me. And having our folks being able to get out and interact with others and be visible and available. I think that's the kind of thing I'd hope for.

0:26:56
Well, thank you for joining us. And I know that our listeners are going to benefit greatly from this session. And thank you for demystifying sort of some of the misconceptions about what's in the controller's office, what the controller's office does. And in particular, thank you on behalf of all the university stakeholders for keeping us in compliance and out of trouble and having the infrastructure to continue to bring in all these different funding and to be able to better support students through our business process.

0:27:27
Thank you for tuning in to this week's episode of KUNV Let's Talk UNLV. For my co-host Keith, I'm Renee. For my co-host Keith, I'm Renee. Tune in next week, Wednesday at 12, on KUNV 91.5 Jazz and More. That's a wrap!

Transcribed with Cockatoo