September 25-26, 2002 Meeting Minutes In attendance (for part or all of the meeting): J. Angerosa, D. Belt, T. Bennett, D. Bowers, S. Brady, L. Davis, J. D'Aleo, D. DeMarco, K. Dupuis, J. Fazioli, A. Ferrara, F. Gabriel, L. Gomes, R. Haelen, J.W. Harniman, L. Hartmark, J. Homburger, R. Hume, J. Lambert, G. LaRosa, K. Levison, M. Lewis, I. Lisnitzer, W. Long, K. Lowery, N. Lyons, G. Mitchell, D. Neverett, L. Neveu, J. Nolan, P. Pileggi, S. Richards, R. Schenk, K. Schweigard, K. Seitz, W. Shaut, C. Smith, C. Safford-Dingman, B. Stenson C. Webb, B. Weigman, P. Wiater, C. Young Wednesday, September 25, 2002 David Bowers opened the meeting by introducing and welcoming Dan Neverette from Alfred and announcing that Ken Schweigard from SUCF is retiring. David also announced he would be leaving early to attend a meeting organized by Dick Miller's Office for presidents representing SUNY organizations. President's Report David reviewed the various issues that were discussed by the Executive Committee on August 21 & 22 at the Three Village Inn near Stony Brook. The meeting was comprised of 2 sessions. The first focused on SUBOA organization and structure, and the second addressed issues and communications, both internal and external. The report included the following issues from the summer planning meeting. Amendments to Constitution & Bylaws (see web site) Proposed new standing committee, Facilities Management/Planning (needs further discussion) Organization, charge, and leadership of all SUBOA committees Creation of two electronic rosters: one including members and alternates only; another expanded with System people Invite DASNY to a SUBOA meeting to talk about its fee structure and services Dinners no longer at Hilton; Nick Lyons to organize outside locations Dues to stay the same; Jim Poole will do a "review audit" of SUBOA books before transfer to Brice Weigman Appointment of John Angerosa and Greig Mitchell to Pat Wiater's "SUNY Policies and Procedures Manual Project" task force David's letter on behalf of SUBOA to Brian Stenson about the proposed "Guidelines for Campus-Related Organizations" Concern about State's fiscal situation going into FY 2003-04; how to cope with a reduction; the BAP methodology possibly needing revision Status of Quality Initiative project Tuition: Ken Levison and Kim Cline drafting a position paper SUBOA's mentoring of new members and professional development efforts Constitution and By-Laws - The recommended changes were discussed and amendments voted on and approved (please refer to electronic version at SUBOA's web site for approved amendments). A discussion ensued regarding article VI language related to representation of voting membership required to ratify changes. Ken Levison's proposed language was accepted and approved. Secretary's Report A very sincere thanks was extended to John Lambert for his outstanding job as Secretary and recording of minutes for SUBOA. John Homburger asked for a motion to accept the minutes of June 18 and June 19. Motion made by Ivan Lisnitzer and seconded by Bill Harniman "Bill who?". Accepted unanimously. Treasurer's Report Brice Weigman reported that the annual dues would remain at $400 annually. Brice reported that the SUBOA treasury had $495.00 in the checking account and $13,933.66 in the savings account. Sector Meetings Comprehensive Colleges and Colleges of Technology Ken Levison reported on behalf of the Comprehensive Colleges and Colleges of Technology. The issues and concerns discussed were as follows: Research Foundation systems (OASIS) continue to be unreliable from the standpoint of performance and accuracy. Although there continues to be incremental improvements, the Research Foundation's credibility has been seriously challenged due to the extended transition time and struggle with systemic problems. SUNY Construction Fund has begun to show evidence of support for enabling more campus "LETS", but appears to continue to refute the assertion that accelerated projects can be cheaper. Skill Soft, the online professional development program, has had an increase of approximately $10,000 for the 2002-2003 fiscal year. Brockport will be sending out an adjusted invoice. Early Retirement: The general concern revolved around the pressure to participate by campus and DOB's original commitment to cover the 1st year cost of the incentive for any position held open through 6/30/04. The understanding of how positions will be reported and monitored is very unclear and ambiguous (i.e., definition of "highly selective" in filling positions). Appropriation and Contingencies: Some concern was expressed over the capacity of appropriation to handle tuition overflow and deep reserve spending. Although the ability to either maintain or develop contingency reserves has been seriously eroded and strained, each campus is attempting to address it as best they can. The path of the campus related agency agreements (documents) still remains unclear, although our concerns and those of the campus agencies now appear to have been heard through recent changes. The status of the M&R funds for the 6th year are still unclear, but there have been indications that at the Fund is trying to work out a transition solution for extended funding. There is some indication that the Office of Capital Facilities may be re-established within SUNY. Administrative Systems Project: Direction of this project is clearly to amend and upgrade legacy systems. Although standardization of organization codes and structures is a serious concern, there is acknowledgement that campus code structure can be accommodated through translation tables. University Centers Ivan Lisnitzer reported on behalf of the University Centers. The early retirement process appears to be as clear as a cloudy sky. The issues and concerns are essentially the same for everyone: Who pays for sure? Justification for filling! What does "very selective" mean? The group expressed concern over whether DOB would honor their original commitment to pay the 1st year cost for the individuals retiring where the position would be kept open through June 2004. Campus Related Entity Agreements - The general impression about the campus entity agreements seemed to be that there had been responsiveness to respective concerns as addressed by the Business Officers in a memo to Brian Stenson on September 4 from David Bowers. State University Construction Fund - The Fund is showing more willingness to support more campus "LETS", but resources will continue to be reviewed by SUCF to ensure campus has expertise and resources. M&R Funds - Again, the 6th year of the 5-year Capital Plan appears to support continuing M&R funding, although it still remains unclear how these funds will be made available. Construction management campuses may be able to hire construction managers. GRI - The status on GRI funding appears to be included in Bonding. NYSERTA - No evidence of collaboration on major projects, although funds are available. SEVIS - The compliance system for INS seems to be a work in progress. Requirements have not been defined yet, and there have been long delays in obtaining Social Security numbers. Tuition & Tuition Policy - Final rule making was pulled at last Trustees meeting for both professional programs and community colleges. OASIS - There have been some incremental improvements. Still relying heavily on overnight and weekend batch processing. KPMG still working on limited basis. IFR interface is still problematic. Administrative Systems - The main concern from initial discussions focuses on the standardization of the Chart of Accounts and adaptability at campus level through translation tables. DASNY Bonds - The question was raised as to who monitors the opportunities for refinancing. TAP - There have been some recent disallowances at a couple campuses regarding retaking courses and self-reporting high school diplomas/graduation dates. The afternoon session concluded with Tracy Bennett introducing Bill Harniman to the group after ten years of wondering who this guy was "from Delhi". Welcome, Bill! Vice Chancellor's Report: Brian Stenson Early Retirement - Brian started his report by addressing the Early Retirement Incentive. Efforts have been successful in loosening up restrictions of the program. Positions will not be controlled at the specific line level. There is no information to confirm or deny the State will be picking up the 1st year cost; the term "very selective" was not quantified; DOB will be more rigorous on non-faculty positions; we may hire at lower grade levels when filling support staff; still includes all funds (less critical with no position cap); expect DOB to monitor filled lines; 1st year cost should be full cost of ORP and 1/5 cost of TRS. Revenue/Budget - State receipts are down $1/4 billion on 1st quarter projections. Year to year revenue is down $1.25 billion; there is still a $700 million reserve from 2001-2002 year-end and can only be used if 2002-2003 fiscal year ends in deficit; next scheduled reporting will be end of October/beginning of November. All expectations/speculations lead to continuing bad fiscal news. Budget Deficit (2003-2004) - The lowest projection is $2.3 billion gap and the highest $8 - 10 billion, the latter released by Joe Bruno. Budget 2003-2004 - The Budget Director's call letter was sent out this week. It is not asking for additional cuts (not binding after October re-projections); DOB call letter is essentially benign (flat). There has been some positive acknowledgment related to an increase in tuition, including a rational year-to-year plan. The BIG question is "how much do we get to keep?". DOB is looking at DASNY reserves and we can expect System Administration to be reviewing DIFR, IFR reserves and all fund balances in the near future. This practice will continue through the year. The Board of Trustees did not act on final enactment of new tuition rates for professional programs; in order to move forward it must happen by October 14, 2002. This raised questions of how to deal with the new professional rates that have already been collected. Counsel is reviewing. All cash enhancements are being considered by State; example: sell State tobacco settlement money for one-time cash redemption. Campus-Related Entities Task Force Expect to make presentation to Finance Committee in November with decision in December. The following ongoing issues were still lingering concerns: Required memberships Prohibition on College Council Members Will have to phase in timing of annual reports audits for financial reporting SASA - The hope is to expand Auxiliary Services to NACAS requested list. List was intentionally broad to be responsive and all-inclusive. Grandfather provisions are still there and will work them out. This will have to be reviewed by State Comptroller's Office. Expectation is on October presentation to Trustees with decision in November/December. SASA - Issue of piercing corporate vale - we want to be as close as possible without piercing vale. Suggested representation of business leaders must consider 1/3 to ½ representation for students. Budget Timetable Expected to review HEPI Index for Fees in December Executive Budget has until February 1 to release document; it will probably be in January Budget may be silent on tuition but built on expectation Business Systems Basically 5-year plan. All systems being reviewed, not just financial. Most of this year getting basics in place. One objective is to have security common to all systems. Outside analysts analyzing finance/HR systems inventory. CASA is being reviewed to determine whether it remains the same or changes Concerns on standardizing; chart of accounts particularly need to be addressed. Been through the standardization issue - approach should be sensitive to campus input. It is also important to make sure campus human resource folks are on committee. Nick Lyons and Kevin Seitz are part of working group; a lot of detail work is anticipated at the Payroll Officers, Purchasing Officers and Human Resource Directors work group level. Within 3 weeks Business/HR issues will be documented by analysts documenting edits and business rules. Imaging and APC are being looked at as well. Imaging is being used for internal processing. Hope to transfer image technology to campus in future. System is looking at BAP. Best way to tweak is to look at enrollment management implications. Clearly if tuition increase is dislocated the BAP incentives will be dis-incentives. Projections The campuses are being asked to spend time on disbursement and revenue projections. It has been used extensively in trustees/president's evaluations/presentations. Web Based SUNY Policies & Procedures Manual Initiative (FERPA Issues) - Counsel's Office is researching these issues. Will it be in public domain vs. treated as internal document? Is software expected to be borne by System? Concern was expressed over ownership/responsibility of updating old, out-dated policies. Are there rule-making decisions that need to be addressed as part of the updating process? Key to updating - owners will be assigned responsibility and software will maintain historical log. SUNY Policies & Procedures Manual and Internal Control Presentations. Material/presentation was made by Pat Wiater. [See web site for presentation content and details.] Some areas are very detailed, i.e. Signing on to SNA? Links to forms (exhibits) New internal control initiative from DOB - not clearly stated yet. It was recommended that redundant effort pertaining to internal control initiatives should be reviewed for coordination with System Administration and DOB. System wide risk management survey issued by Office of University Audit is creating some confusion as well. Standing committee/ad hoc committee were reviewed by Tracy Bennett with the membership. He updated the list with some new chair assignments and liaison assignments. His expectation is to revitalize the committee activities by getting as many members as possible to make a commitment. His objective is better reporting and more focus on assigned issues. HIPAA Peter Pileggi presented the HIPAA project overview and announced that Steve Smith is SUNY's new Privacy Officer. System has hired Phoenix as an Expert (consultant) to coordinate scope of project. 5 campuses are conducting an in depth HIPAA analysis to develop gap analysis and identify road map towards compliance. The results will be shared with all campuses system-wide, leading towards an April 2003 deadline for compliance plans and remediation. There are no system resources available for remediation. Keep your eye on the ball - potential for big impact. Documentation in place for working in earnest on plan. Approach is preemptive analysis. This process will be assisted with web site information Q & A as well as support from the Phoenix consultant. Construction Fund Bob Haelen made the following comments: Sub campus construction advisory committee members representing SUBOA were acknowledged: John Angerosa, Steve Brady, Leif Hartmark Fund is coordinating right tools and procedures for determining campus "LETS". They are attempting to expand the certificate for campus "LETS" within applicable laws. Responsibilities to administer a campus "LET" project will be determined by Fund. Fund will continue internal review of planning and design side and determine scope of project for the Fund and campus. Bond issue coming up in October for educational facilities. GRI/NYSTAR/Hospitals got delayed. Jim Biggane expanded the Fund's presentation with the following comments: 90 projects are currently underway. Generally good competitive pricing; bid results have been averaging about 4 - 5% under market. Design for new 5-year program beginning to introduce construction managers. Change orders have been averaging about 5%. Status of new 5-year program - review is taking place. What we need vs. what we can afford. Trying to keep in sync with budget process. Status on Capital Facilities Office. Not sure, but there has been some discussion regarding reinstatement of office. Jim indicated that implications/plans for complying with Green building commission (i.e. Executive Order 111) will directly impact new building code requirements and drive up costs in terms of design and construction (just getting into cost impact on projects). SUCF remarks concluded with David Bowers giving retiring Ken Schweigard thanks for his long service and dedication in support of the campuses. Research Foundation Update - Frank Gabriel From an operations standpoint, the Research Foundation had a relatively positive year. Handouts included the Operations Report for August 2002; the proposed Financial Plan for Fiscal Year 2002-2003; and the Executive Advisory Council on Oracle Issues and Information. Unspent awards up 18% Indirect recovery up 18 - 19% Indirect cost rate of return was 20.8% Ending 2002 with total campus allocation exceeding $90 million .4% paid on positive cash balances - .3% charge on negative balances in 2002 Inventions: majority @ Stony Brook Accounts Receivable dropped due to full implementation of OASIS Expect grant/expenditure activity to hit $100 Million, or 9.5% increase in 2002-2003 ORACLE Where to start? Research Foundation continues to have problems with ORACLE system performance. Staff use of system takes minutes and is frustrating. Part of the problem has been linked to ORACLE codes and level of security on system. Real problem is not within screens but, rather, it takes 30 seconds plus to go from screen to screen. Looking at reducing security redundancy to help responsiveness of system. A fix (patch) was implemented in accounts payable module on 9/25, which significantly improved performance. Payroll encumbering problems continue - continue - continue. Encumbering in old system was real time; under the new system, updates run on weekends. Encumbering is MAJOR PROBLEM! INACCURATE BALANCES continue to be a problem! Data retrieval and reporting continues to be problematic. Discovering reporting system problems sometimes takes hours. Cost of ownership System not responsive Access to ORACLE tables is causing problem Additional staff is not necessarily the answer Customized more than what we would have liked to Very costly to add/change/delete Working with quick encumbrance module to enhance system performance System patches are low quality containing and/or perpetuating more problems New Oracle release - not sure if we will go with it! A-133 Audit - no material findings were reported Annual audit. No material weaknesses were reported. The financial audit had clean management report. Annual Meeting - Ken Levison 14 Members - 29 have signed up, including spouses Vendors support - $19,000 in sponsor support has been raised for EACUBO meeting Ken indicated this year's EACUBO conference has some strong programs and timely issues Before concluding the meeting, Bill Long, the CEO of College Auxiliary Services at New Paltz, asked to speak on the following local campus entities/related concerns: Excludes residence hall activity Flexibility/liability issues not clearly addressed Looked at case by case and not from comprehensive view towards activities; tend to be prescriptive. Meeting adjourned at 12:19 p.m. Respectfully submitted, John R. Homburger, Secretary Back to Minutes/Reports