The mission of the Business Services department is to provide services that: enable faculty and staff to manage resources effectively; facilitate the process by which students achieve their educational goals; and ensure financial stability for the District through sound fiscal operations. The Business Services team is committed to supporting the campus with: ongoing communication and training; effective and efficient systems and procedures; and strategies for generating revenue and saving costs. The Business Services team strives to achieve high standards of service and to meet the needs of the District and community.
Business Services is located on the third floor of the Student and Administrative Services building on the main campus. The department consists of fourteen individuals representing 14.0 full-time equivalent employees. Student employees are also employed by the department. The department consists of the following positions: • Director of Business Services 1.0 FTE • Payroll Supervisor 1.0 FTE • Payroll Technician 2.0 FTE • Account Clerk Senior 8.0 FTE • Accountant 2.0 FTE Business Services is responsible for administrative and business operations such as accounting (including auxiliary and foundation), budget development, planning and monitoring, cashiering, accounts receivable, grant reporting/monitoring, purchasing and accounts payable, financial aid disbursements, and payroll. The goal of the department is to provide a strong foundation of administrative and financial services to college students, faculty, and staff. Business Services ensures that the student-learning mission of the District is achieved by providing services that support effective and efficient implementation of the institution’s core foundational processes.
The Business Services department has many strengths that benefit the District and allow better focus on the student and ensuring student success. The staff is knowledgeable, experienced and excels at being accessible to everyone in-person and through remote methods of communication. They are highly motivated to serve students, faculty, and staff in the most effective ways possible, including training the campus community on administrative procedures and processes. The processing of financial aid for students and payroll for District staff allows these groups to focus on activities that ensure student success.
The Business Services department supports the college in meeting its Strategic Direction and Priorities by focusing on how the services provided affect the student's experience at Butte College. By providing assistance to the campus community with their business and financial needs, supporting faculty and staff in ways that allow effective management of resources, smoothing the administrative process by which students achieve their educational goals, and ensuring financial stability for the District through sound fiscal operations, Strategic Goals 2.a.1, 2.b.2, 2.d.1, and 2.d.2 are promoted.
A survey was conducted through the office of the Vice President of Administration in 2015 and 2016. The survey relating to Business Services included questions for both staff and students. The survey included questions on the current processes that are performed and the satisfaction of the customer. After comparison with prior surveys, the results of the evaluation indicated two primary objectives for follow up:
Business Services will help the institution achieve success by being responsive to financial research requests and provide fiscal leadership that reflects and supports the District's strategic initiatives. Business Services is working towads improving upon the following goals:
The Business Services team will continue to provide a strong foundation of administrative and financial services to college students, faculty, and staff.
Business Services will provide staff development and training to continually improve the performance of high-quality, diverse staff, dedicated to business operations supportive to the mission of the College.
The team will continue to foster a spirit of teamwork, unity, pride, and professionalism in the workplace.
Business Services will utilize technology to become more efficient, including the streamlining current processes.
The cross-training of Business Services staff on administrative and financial operations will ensure process improvements continue.
Strategy 1 - Campus communication
Develop additional and more effective methods of communicating and educating the campus on various budget issues, such as restricted grant processes, purchasing issues, and payroll items. Hold various workshops and communicate issues through existing planning committees.
Effective communication is the key to reaching the campus community. Conducting forums, workshops, and working with standing committees is an important element of strategic messaging.
Staffing:
Primary Concern: Continued cross-training of employees will benefit the Department both current and long-term.
Training:
Primary Concern: The Business Office purchasing process has resulted in survey findings that indicate that improvements can be made. Customer service trainings offered by the Training Place have provided basics that employees can build upon. A business process mapping of the purchasing process that leads from requisition setup to check issuance to vendor will enable Business Services staff to review processes that can be improved to increase efficiency for Business Services, district departments, and external vendors.
ERP Utilization:
Primary Concern: It appears that there are portions of the District's ERP system which are not currently being utilized. Use of these areas may improve District efficiencies and reduce delays and information bottlenecks. Review of the ERP system, specifically in areas related to Self Service functions, Student Accounts Receivable modules, and Budget Development will be reviewed to determine feasibility of implementation. Decisions will be based upon degree of implementation difficulty, level of resources necessary for implementation, as well as percieved improvements to current administrative procedures.
The Business Services area has just recently reached fully staffed levels. Maintaining staffing is essential for maintaining present service levels to internal and external customers.
The significant increase in grants over the last few years has increased the amount of transactions that the Business Office processes. Technology grants and other CCCCO grants and restricted funding sources have significantly increased the revenue and expenses of the District. The Business Services team currently has 1.35 FTE funded by these restricted sources (in 6 areas ranging from 0.1 FTE in Transportation to 0.5 FTE in Career Pathways). A reduction in grant funding could lead to a negative reduction in Business Services staffing.
| Original Priority | Program, Unit, Area | Resource Type | Account Number | Object Code | One Time Augment | Ongoing Augment |
| Description | Supporting Rationale | Potential Alternative Funding Sources | Prioritization Criteria | |||
| 1 | Business Services, Foundation support | Operating Expenses | 11-000-280-1-672000-55100 | 55100 | $2,880.00 | $13,464.00 |
| Raiser's Edge and The Financial Edge software support and training | Employee turnover has eroded the knowledge of the Foundation support software by users. This request will include a 1-time cost ($2,880) to review how the College is using the software to meet it's goals and objectives. Recommendations will be included on how to better use the software. A 3-year ongoing contract ($4,488 p/yr) will allow all users of the software to receive unlimited remote training during the period. This will ensure that employees have the proper skills to effectively use the software to support the District and Foundation. |
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