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Welcome to the second edition of our TSAA Bulletin for 2019. I hope everyone is feeling settled and on top of tasks after what has been a very busy start to the year. It is hard to believe Term 1 is coming to an end and the Easter Break is just around the corner now.
Thank you to colleagues who have made contact with TSAA Executive members throughout this term to offer feedback and support, express concerns, show your ongoing interest and put forward suggestions. We always welcome your input as we work together as an association to support School Business Managers and Administrators in schools throughout the state.
This term your TSAA representatives have continued to meet and liaise with DoE Corporate teams and personnel on a regular basis. We have met with the Finance and Human Resources Team, Educational Performance Review and the Deputy Secretary, Rob Williams. Sharon Sutczak and myself have also had the opportunity to meet with Peter Croger from Croger Associates. Peter has been employed by the DoE to formulate a business plan for the Student System Renewal. This was a great opportunity to provide insights and comments from a school perspective. Executive members have also attended other forums and focus groups throughout this term including SAAF Meetings, Contemporary School Leaders Focus Groups, Network Meetings and an AAGSA Zoom Meeting.
We encourage all SBM's to join in their local Network Groups, this is a great way to meet fellow colleagues, share ideas, have mini PL sessions, provide support to each other and collaborate on initiatives and topics of interest. If you are organising a Network Meeting in your area please let a TSAA Executive Member know of the details, wherever possible an executive member will try to attend.
We wish all our colleagues a safe and relaxing Easter Break. Enjoy a well earned break, sharing fun times with family and friends. Happy Easter!
Cynthia Pearce
Chairperson
Notes from our March DoE Meetings
SASP update 182 & 183 - the Remote Desktop Diagnostic Tool can be found on the Finance One screen - (before you get into 2nd screen). We encourage people to use this tool as it will enable our IT people to track issues.
GST - the Finance Team are looking at providing updated training on gst; including online modules and to also identify a suitable basic course, perhaps through the PLI. This would be useful and available for both new and existing administration staff.
Qkr - update - our pilot schools are still carrying out trials with debtor invoicing using Qkr as a payment option.
Finance One login - this is part of a bigger project with no movement possibly until mid-year.
Late Payment Report - the late payment reason over holiday periods is not really seen to be a reasonable excuse as schools and principals have had ongoing communication in regard to the 30 day payment agreement with suppliers. It is the Principal's responsibility to have a delegate approve on their behalf if they are going to be absent or unavailable for any period of time. If unplanned leave is unavoidable schools should contact their Learning Services to delegate approvals to another senior staff member at your school. Requests can be emailed through to Finance to allow access. If problematic send Finance an email.
Late payment report running late! - apologies from the Finance Team for the lateness of these reports. There are efforts underway to bring this back into line asap. A good way for SBM's to keep track of unposted accounts payable invoices is to go to edi - Finance dashboard - all reports - "unposted accounts payable". It was suggested to look into an email "alert" for workflows to both the Principal and SBM. Further discussion on this.
Training for edi; the Finance Team looking into providing training on edi features and reports and also information in an upcoming SASP Update.
Split HDA - if you have staff that should be receiving HDA's for two positions; for example AST position and an AP position it is a good idea to check with HR to ensure they are receiving the correct HDA for both positions as it is hard to distinguish from the pay extract.
Carried Over Balance accruals - the Business Operations Team are currently meeting with schools. There are over 40 schools with a carried over balance of 40% or greater of their 2019 SRP payment. DoE and Treasury are looking at a possible reduction in the minimum amount that can be carried forward, this is currently sitting with the minister. BOA's have developed and are piloting discussions and forms with selected schools. Reminder spending should be aligned to SIP, strategic projects or resources.
Preferred list of charities for fund raising- the Finance Team prefer schools to use charities that list a beneficiary bank that will take payments on behalf of charities. The reason schools are not permitted to use corporate cards for payment to charities is that this is not our (DoE) core business. If it is a genuine student related activity there is potential to look at and give suggestions. Maybe ask your School Associations to run the fundraiser on schools behalf - they can use cheque book for payment to the charity. Schools also need to bear in mind that in the levy review many parents were quite vocal they did not want to participate in gold coin donation days etc. The topic of charities and fundraising may fit alongside the new levy process guidelines. Further discussion and information on this topic.
Corporate Card Training - communication has gone out to all users of cards with reminders to follow up. There is an 8 week time frame for training to be completed. It takes approx. 30 minutes to complete. This is to prompt users to understand issues that are arising with use of corporate cards. New staff that receive cards will have to do the training prior to receiving their card.
If a corporate card payment has been rejected / flagged as not appropriate and it is a legitimate expense the card holder can claim back reimbursement from their school. However Finance had to 'draw a line in the sand' with implementing this rule. Warning emails have been sent out to users in the past. There has been an increase in compliance levels.
The New Travel policy was released in recent weeks; a training module will be released very soon which will be aimed at assisting with implementing the policy. The main points are; more clarity on approvals, listed travel approvers, one of the underlying messages if an employee is travelling on DoE business the travel costs are to be met by the DoE.
Emphasise travel should be approved in advance. If travel is regular there should be a management practice in place around this and then Managers are able to sign off post travel.
Claiming accommodation - employees must be staying in commercial accommodation. Allowances are now included in the policy now making it much easier to find. Module will include rates which will automatically update. Private travel extensions at beginning or end of trip have also been tightened up on, more limited circumstances. Bass Strait travel still requires a travel warrant.
Auto allocation of receipts - the Finance Team asked for feedback; do schools want to go this way with debtors. The system can be automated to allocate bpay receipts. This will eliminate the time taken on 'unallocated lists'. It will also eliminate end of month backlog and bogging down the system. SBM's may still need to do some re-allocating however this would be minimal. Currently the Biller code on invoices does not reference number of invoice.
TSAA Website; https://tassaa.schoolzineplus.com/
Employment Management System (EMS) – Search and Appoint Hints and Tips
There are situations where sometimes an applicant doesn’t appear in the Search results. This may be due to a number of factors. Below are some hints and tips on finding the right applicant at any one time.
Search Options
Once you have signed into EMS and completed the mandatory filed under Search and Appoint you will come across the Search Option section. The Search Option section is not mandatory and therefore may get overlooked but this section is very useful in finding particular applicants. Below outlines what each option filters:
- No Search options: this is the default search and will return applicants that match the search parameters entered in the previous fields e.g. Sector, Municipality.
- Show me previous applicants that I have appointed: based on the search parameters you have entered, this option will return applicants you have previously successfully appointed to the register role type selected.
- I have an applicant in mind: this is a specific name search.
Note: if the applicant has not registered for the role you have selected, they will not return in the search results.
- Show me similar applicants to an applicant: by selecting this option and entering a particular applicant name, the system will consider other applicants with similar work preferences and return the details in the search result.
Inactive and Unavailable applicants in results
Inactive and Unavailable tick boxes need to be used in conjunction with the above. You might use “I have an applicant in mind” but their profile might be inactive or unavailable and will not show if you do not ticket the appropriate box.
- Include inactive profiles: applicants who have not logged into the system or had any activity for 7 months will have a status of ‘inactive’. Being inactive does not indicate that an applicants details are invalid or expired. It is still possible to offer appointments to these applicants.
- Include unavailable applicants: an applicant can indicate they are unavailable in their application.
- When an applicant is appointed and the process is completed in the Employment Management System (EMS), their unavailability is updated to reflect the duration of fixed term or relief appointment. Appointments to these applicants can still be offered, however you should be aware that they have other obligations.
If the applicant that you are searching for still isn’t appearing in the result this may be due to:
- An incomplete application by the applicant; or
- Expired Registration with: Teacher Registration Board or Registration to Work with Vulnerable People.
If you require further assistance there are step by step QRG’s on the EMS help page that can be found at: https://intranet.education.tas.gov.au/intranet/CSD/HR/Pages/EMS.aspx
If you have any furthur questions in regards to finding an applicant on EMS or other gerneral questions regarding EMS please contact Vacancy and Staffing Services on recruitment@education.tas.gov.au.
VEM Approvals
Please ensure when you action your VEM approval that you thoroughly read the approval details.
If an approval states a contract is to be generated for one term only, please adhere to the dates approved.
Also, ensure you use the position number related to the VEM in your IOA – this is important to reflect correct costing details in your SAWM profile.
Have you marked our Conference Dates in your diary? Our Conference is on Monday 26th and Tuesday 27th August at the Hotel Grand Chancellor in Launceston.
We have rooms on hold for conference delegates – for them to book these rooms they will need to phone Lynda Coombe from reservations on 03 6311 1055 or email reservations@hgclaunceston.com.au and to advise they are booking for the ‘TSAA conference delegate’ rate. Credit card details will need to be provided upon booking for guarantee of room. Booking reference for these rooms is #304475.
