Finance BPAC Task Force Meeting
Minutes
Meeting: Finance BPAC Task Force Meeting Facilitators: Bill O‟Brien, Tim Stoddard,
Date: October 26, 2006 Kathy Froysland,
Start Time: 9:00 AM – 3:00 PM Leslie Greenspon (Decision Academic)
Location: St. Cloud State University Recorders: same as facilitators
Cascade Room, Atwood Memorial Center
Participants: Stephanie Adams, Derek Guiher, Deb Kerkaert, Janet Knox, Jan Marble, Pat Nordick, Dave Thorn, Chris Absent: Teri Welter, Kent Smith, Paul
Vopatek, Jeff Wagner, Jerry Winans, Kathy Froysland, Marie Peterson, Bill O‟Brien, Tim Stoddard, Al Hatch
Finlayson, Roger Gillson, Dave Lund
Thursday TOPIC DISCUSSION DISCUSSION
October 26 Glacier South Room LEADER
9:00 Review of the RCFN "Soft" Implementation Kathy Froysland 1. Survey Results: Shared the results of the survey with the group. No
(115 min) for Fall Term „06 Bill O‟Brien decisions made as to what, if anything, to do with them.
Tim Stoddard Discussion surrounding:
- Some responses indicate that they thought this project was to reduce
- See Page 6 for Best Practices receivable and it wasn‟t. The project was about alignment. We are helping
students reduce stress by taking care of finances early and allowing them to
concentrate on their studies when classes begin. The work for the business
office staff and the students actually ends up being the same it is just moved
up in the process. Variances cost MnSCU money to support and maintain.
- It may appear at the local level that students were not involved in this
decision making process but they were at the state meet and confer level.
- Unforeseen positives that Bemidji TC experienced was that students got in
and made payment arrangements much earlier cutting down on traffic the 1 st
week of school.
- Seamless Issues again: Student came through one MSCTC portal, received
the “green light” for that particular institution, and assumed that they were
ok for classes for remote schools too. In fact they may be in jeopardy of
having classes dropped at one or more of the remote colleges.
- Hennepin TC issue: Student would add 1 class and pay for it and then drop
it before refund for 1st class would occur. They would add a new class but
not pay for it. The refund from class one would pay for class two and the
student would not be dropped when they assumed that they would be
dropped.
1/31/20126:09 AM Page 1 of 7
Finance BPAC Task Force Meeting
Minutes
Thursday TOPIC DISCUSSION DISCUSSION
October 26 Glacier South Room LEADER
Review of the RCFN "Soft" Implementation - Class rosters are printed and then not updated. Faculty do not know that the
for Fall Term ‟06 (continued) course was cancelled for this student and that they should not be sitting in
class. Often won‟t know until the student can‟t use D2L or Blackboard but
at least that‟s something?
- See Page 6 for Best Practices - All realize that this is not the end of this project. We need to maintain what
we have until we can get more resources to finalize all necessary items to
fully implement successfully.
- Question that came in from students: I am getting Financial Aid and I do
not want to be put on a payment plan. What do I owe? What can I pay you
so that I am not put on a payment plan? Group discussion: Move back
your late fee or payment plan date until after Financial Aid has applied.
2. RCFN Enhancement Requests
http://itsmnscu.custhelp.com/cgi-
bin/itsmnscu.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=2659
Enhancement Request Discussions:
#1) New screen coming in November: They would like it if this screen would
automatically update without having to run the AR2516CB report again. They will not
always be around to keep running that program and don’t want to have to be in order
to keep everyone on campus updated as to student status.
#2) Still Pending: Need more info …Some schools handle this by freezing
registration. Other discussion, if there were only one due date this would not be
needed. If they have gone through the steps necessary to get re-enrolled after the
due date, teacher permission, etc., we don’t think it would be necessary to stop them.
They must be serious. Once that due date had passed, if the student re-registered
they are now obligated to pay or in collections, etc.
#3) The group would like us to try re-wording use the word cancel and course
cancellations, etc. The word withdraw does have other implications and should not
be used here.
#6) The following questions were asked and answered:
6a) What will the security level be? AR_02
6b) Will it show all criteria met or just the first criteria met? All criteria.
6c) Will the information be shown in real time? Yes
#7) Is there a way to do this similar to international students? Identify students
who owe for a previous term and are registered for the current term meeting
payment criteria. Could this be added to the screen identified in #6? Have a flag
showing that they owe for prior term? This information would be very useful to
quantify. This would mainly be needed for the summer to fall transition as students
are generally allowed to register very early for fall term before they have finished
paying for summer.
1/31/20126:09 AM Page 2 of 7
Finance BPAC Task Force Meeting
Minutes
Thursday TOPIC DISCUSSION DISCUSSION
October 26 Glacier South Room LEADER
Review of the RCFN "Soft" Implementation OTHER: Derek Guiher from Normandale brought up some wording changes they
for Fall Term ‟06 (continued) would like to have happen. The group agreed that he should write these up and
bring them up at the next meeting or if necessary, have an interim meeting if a
decisions needs to be made before then.
10:55 Break
(10 min)
11:05 Directed Payment Kathy Froysland - Programming options
(70 min) Tim Stoddard o short-term
o longer-term
Some colleges are not allowing directed payments and should be per Board
Procedure 7.3.17. Part of the problem is that we don‟t have the front end. Some
schools don‟t want to allow partial payments … Either pay in full or sign up for
FACTS.
- After much discussion this item was tabled. Items and ideas brought up
were as follows:
o Do you wish to make full payment?
o There are many invoiced payments that we would not want them to
have to pay in full such as trips, etc.
o We need a different way to differentiate the non-credit courses.
o Paying in full for the non-credit courses is not in policy. Why are we
building this?
o Why do we have a minimum payment?
o If the amount due and the minimum payment equal each .
o Per Tim Stoddard, this must be done per procedure. Does procedure
need to be changed? Will this make them non-compliant?
o Pat Nordick felt this really needs a work group to dig in to it.
1/31/20126:09 AM Page 3 of 7
Finance BPAC Task Force Meeting
Minutes
Thursday TOPIC DISCUSSION DISCUSSION
October 26 Glacier South Room LEADER
12:15 Lunch and Discussion Bill O‟Brien - Bag lunches provided
(25 min) (Roger Gillson 1. Programming and Implementation Expectations for upcoming Spring,
available in afternoon Summer and Fall Term
to answer questions)
- Bill shared a project list from earlier discussions with Roger Gillson,
including some of the RCFN enhancements covered earlier today with the
task force. Pending ITS Work for Spring and Fall '07 Sessions.doc
- The task force agreed that work needs to proceed on the following projects,
within the limitations of programming resources, institution schedules,
funding, etc.:
o Draft Summer Term Guidelines
o Payment Plans – What needs to be done (programming,
communications) for Fall Term ‟07?
o Begin gathering user requirements for Payment Front End
o Determine how and when RCFN process should be “tightened
up” (i.e., tweaking pre- and post-cancellation communications,
requiring ISIR vs Financial Aid award, etc.)
2. RCFN planning for Spring Term ‘07
- Open discussion , including describing more Best Practices (see page 6)
o Jan Marble would like the code for the new screen coming out
so they can recreate it and work with the data.
o Winona uses their Veteran cohort to defer. Could this be
standardized? Tim: It is up to the veteran to bring this to our
attention.
12:40 What does BPAC (the committee) intend for Tim Stoddard - Working group proposal presented to the committee on September 14th.
(15 min) its next act?
12:55 15-minute Break - Set up by Decision Academic
(5 min)
1/31/20126:09 AM Page 4 of 7
Finance BPAC Task Force Meeting
Minutes
Thursday TOPIC DISCUSSION DISCUSSION
October 26 Glacier South Room LEADER
1:00 Seamless Student Services Leslie Greenspon, - Stakeholder discussion with Finance/Institution input
(90 min) Decision Academic - Appears to be academic and service based versus back-office processes
- Deliverable to be a report establishing terminology, describing the MnSCU
vision for Seamless Student Services, identifying hurdles, and offering
some strategies to move ahead.
2:30 Break
(10 min)
2:40 Follow-up to Seamless discussion Tim Stoddard Open discussion on impressions of the process and deliverable
(15 min) Bill O‟Brien Al Finlayson pointed out that the following ongoing Seamless projects:
o Application on Web (migration)
o Registration Redesign
o Identity Management
o Common Core Information System
2:55 AR-Billing Visioning Process Update Tim Stoddard - How does Registration & Financial Integration Model (RFIM) relate to a
(10 min) Payment Front End project?
- Link to current RFIM documents: H:\BPAC\AR
Visioning\ar_visioning_sessions_061406_comb.doc
- Tim and Bill mentioned they will be discussing RFIM and the visioning
process with MN Online on November 16th.
3:05 Setup Next Task Force Meeting - Next meeting date: If FUG only has a one-day agenda, the BPAC task
(10 min) force could meet on Wednesday, December 6th.
Otherwise, Thursday, December 14th
- Next meeting time: 9:30 AM – 3:00 PM
- Next meeting location: SCSU
3:15 Adjourn (room scheduled until 3:30)
1/31/20126:09 AM Page 5 of 7
Finance BPAC Task Force Meeting
Minutes
RCFN Best Practices
#
1. Information Phone Line – does not allow listeners to leave messages, directs listeners to where information is posted/located (student handbook, website, etc.), and lists
a website to go to as final resort to post a question. (Jan Marble, MSU, Mankato)
2. Form Letter – used in response to e-mails. (Jeff Wagner, SCSU, and others)
3. Late Fees – wait 2-3 weeks after applying Financial Aid before charging payment late fees. Optional fees prior to Fall Term ‟07.
4. Signed Letters – a warning sent to all students on Candidate List, an explanation version sent to students whose class registrations were dropped.
5. Winona deferred students who had checked in to housing.
6.
Tasks/Follow-up Items Assigned as Action Items
Origination Description Assigned to Status
# Date
1. 10/26/06 Seamless Issue: Student came through one MSCTC portal to review class Pat Nordic needs to Open
registration or online account, received the “green light” (passed criteria not to discuss further with
have class registrations cancelled) for that particular institution, and assumed Teri Welter and
that they were ok for classes for remote schools too (classes at multiple sites Roger Gillson.
are grouped together for viewing ). In fact they may be in jeopardy of having
classes dropped at one or more of the remote colleges.
2. 10/26/06 Derek Guiher from Normandale brought up some wording changes they would Derek Guiher Open
like to have happen. The group agreed that he should write these up and bring
them up at the next meeting or if necessary, have an interim meeting if a
decisions needs to be made before then.
3. 10/26/06 At some institutions, the $300 tuition & fee down-payment was reduced by an Individual MnSCU Open
application fee, resulting in the cancellation of class registration. These need institutions
to be separate processes.
4. 10/26/06 Determine actual date for December BPAC Task Force Meeting. Marie to Marie Peterson, Bill Open
finalize FUG agenda with her planning group to determine if one- or two-day O‟Brien
agenda. If one-day, BPAC task force should meet on Wednesday Dec 6 th at
SCSU. Else, Thursday Dec 14th at SCSU.
1/31/20126:09 AM Page 6 of 7
Finance BPAC Task Force Meeting
Minutes
Attend? Task Force Members: College/University:
√ 1. Stephanie Adams South Central TC
√ 2. Derek Guiher Normandale College
3. Paul Hatch Hibbing College
√ 4. Deb Kerkaert Southwest MSU
√ 5. Janet Knox Hennepin Technical College
√ 6. Jan Marble Mankato State U
√ 7. Pat Nordick Minnesota State Community & Technical College
√ 8. Dave Thorn Winona State University
√ 9. Chris Vopatek Central Lakes College
√ 10. Jeff Wagner (morning only) St Cloud State U
√ 11. Jerry Winans Bemidji State U
Attend? Office of the Chancellor Representatives: Title:
√ 12. Kathy Froysland ITS - Finance Support Analyst
√ 13. Bill O'Brien Finance Division – Project Manager
√ 14. Marie Peterson Finance Division – Campus Assistance
√ 15. Tim Stoddard Assoc. Vice-Chancellor Financial Reporting
16. Teri Welter ITS - Finance Business Analyst
Attend? Additional OOC/ITS Invitees: Title:
√ 17. Al Finlayson ITS - Integration Analyst
√ 18. Roger Gillson (afternoon only) ITS – Supervisor Software Development
√ 19. Dave Lund ITS - Finance Business Analyst
20. Kent Smith ITS - Finance Support Analyst
1/31/20126:09 AM Page 7 of 7