Payroll

What is the program’s mission statement or statement of purpose? Why does the program exist?

The Eastern Illinois University Payroll Office mission is to facilitate accurate and timely payment of all employee types. The team of payroll professionals is dedicated to providing exceptional customer service while serving the needs of the University, through pleasant and effective communication.

How does the program mission align with the university mission?

The Payroll Office supports the University mission by providing payroll services to the academic and student services areas of the University. Administering this extremely crucial supporting function enables the University to provide superior education and broad opportunities for all students.

Whom does the program serve?

The Payroll Office serves all employees of the University by paying accurate salaries and wages on a timely basis. The Payroll Office also serves other outside entities such as CMS, SURS, and many other vendors, by providing accurate and confidential information as required by statute.

What are the services provided? How do these services align with the university mission and program mission?

The Payroll Office strives to make customer service one of the most essential services provided. Customer’s that enter the office are met with a warm greeting and helpful smile. The payroll staff ensures every customer leaves with answered questions. Along with customer service, the Payroll Office focus is to make certain accurate and timely payrolls are produced. In doing so, the Payroll Office is accountable for managing the payroll schedules, earnings, deductions, federal and state taxes, and time reporting, as well as the reconciliation of all payrolls. Along with collecting mandatory and voluntary deductions, as well as certain university fees, the Payroll Office, in turn, provides the proper disbursement of said monies. The Payroll Office is in control of issuing all employees Form W-2, wage and tax statement, meaning it is provided online and those without online consent are properly addressed and postmarked by January 31st of each year. The Payroll Office monitors and collects all applicable child support orders, state and federal garnishments, and federal tax levies, along with tracking Illinois State Offset deductions. The Payroll Office coordinates two annual meetings for fiscal year end and calendar year end. The meeting involves coordination with many offices on campus including: Benefits, Employment (HR employment, student employment, and graduate student employment areas), Budget, Accounts Payable, Accounting, and IT Services. The Payroll Office testing of the Banner HR system is also an important function that directly impacts the entire campus. Before a new version is implemented the Payroll Office coordinates with IT to create testing timelines for cloning and implementation dates, oversees all testing progress, and analyzes test results before final notification is given to proceed with implementation. Coordination with the above offices mentioned has to occur to guarantee their processes will be accepted into the new version.

The Payroll Office indirectly supports the University’s mission by providing payroll services to all employees. Those employees in turn are employed all throughout the university to directly help the student-faculty relationship and provide outstanding academic services.

Describe the program’s origins (e.g. year established, purpose, expectations).

Payroll has always existed in some form and dates back to the very beginning of the University. In the beginning, the State of Illinois paid all employees based upon information provided by the University. Gradually over time, the University inherited payroll processing of certain funds. This procedure took place until the mid-late 90’s, when the Payroll Office at the University started doing the entire payroll independent of the State.

How has the unit changed or adapted over time?

Technology has had a colossal impact in the changing of payroll over time, most significantly in the distribution of payroll monies. In the beginning of the University, a cashier would have been available to disburse cash to each employee for payment. As the finance industry progressed, banking services changed and helped the University to provide more efficient services for the employees. After cash disbursements, check disbursements were implemented. This new process provided a more accurate and effective way for the University to track the funds being disbursed. Currently, the Payroll Office takes advantage of electronic funds transfer (EFT) as the primary method for disbursing funds to employees. Not only does EFT provide cost savings to the university, because fewer checks are being printed, it also provides an extra convenience to the employee, by removing the process of a paper check.  

If needed, provide supplemental comments to help the reader understand the program’s history and relevance to university mission.

Provide data, if available, on the numbers of students, faculty, staff, or others served by the program during the past four years. If no data are available, please estimate the numbers served annually.

Number of W-2’s issued:    

2010: 6,215

2011: 5,836

2012: 5,713

Total Number

of Wage Disbursements:        (Via Check)      (Via Electronic)

2010:   73,566                         2010: 3,976     2010: 69,590  

2011:   69,469                         2011: 3,260     2011: 66,209

2012:   66,987                         2012: 2,725     2012: 64,262  

Number of disbursements of certain voluntary and involuntary deductions:

Total               

2010: 1,480    

2011: 1,408    

2012: 1,300                

Does the program offer any co-curricular opportunities for students (e.g., internships, RSO support, service-learning activities)? Please describe.

The Payroll Office’s purpose is to support, not to directly interact, with academic programs. The office provides accurate payroll for the management of the academic function. When feasible, the office hires student employees to assist with administrative functions and provide the payroll staff with any project support as needed.

Does the program contribute to the delivery of academic programs (e.g., providing professional expertise, serving as adjunct faculty)? Please describe.

If needed, provide supplemental comments to help the reader understand the internal demand for the program. Note any clarifications or special circumstances (e.g., curriculum changes made by another program) that should be considered when reviewing the above data.

Is the program accredited or approved by a recognized external agency or otherwise certified to meet established professional standards? Provide an executive summary of and link to the program’s most recent accreditation or certification report, if available.

The Payroll Office has four employees with a combined 98 years of customer service experience, with over one-third of those being a combined 36 years of payroll experience alone. Two employees are alumni of the Eastern Illinois University Lumpkin School of Business, with Bachelor’s degrees in Business Management. Our Procedures and Systems Analyst has been ranked one of the highest rated authors on Ellucian Commons, which is the software company where Banner is purchased.

Is the program required to meet any regulatory or legal requirements? Is the program subject to any special auditing requirements?

The Payroll Office is subject to a number of regulatory and legal requirements. Federal, State, International, and Social Security taxes are subject to change on a calendar year basis. The Payroll Office confirms that those changes are included into the Banner HR system. State mandated deductions are subject to change on a fiscal year basis, and the Payroll Office ensures those changes are in place for the new year as well. The Payroll Office annually provides W-2’s to all employees to meet Social Security Administration guidelines. The Payroll Office is subject to audit by the State Auditor General’s office.

What are the most important outreach or public service activities supported by the program?

The Payroll Office’s function is to support the University’s functions that do support the community and region. However, as time allows, our office tries to be as involved in our communities as possible. On behalf of EIU and the Payroll Office, the staff has done a number of charity drives to help benefit the Crisis Pregnancy Center, the Mattoon Food Bank, as well as helped various churches by supporting toy and winter clothing drives. The Payroll Office also tries to attend local chamber events in support of the University. One employee is on her community’s local booster club and helps assist in a number of athletic events to raise funds to benefit the club. One employee has also been the president of a local celebration festival in her community, which donated profits to a local family in need of medical support. One employee has also been the former PTO President and former leader of 4-H Clover Buds in her community.

How do the local community and the region benefit from the program?

If needed, provide supplemental comments or data sources to help the reader understand the external demand for the program.

What are the two or three more important measureable outcomes tracked to assess program quality? Does the program conduct an outcomes assessment, and if so, what has been the impact?

Program quality can be tracked by the outcome of our annual audits, whether conducted by an external organization or our internal auditor. Another way the Payroll Office measures outcomes is by the consistency of correct and prompt payrolls. The office consistently reviews its processes and ensures that the most effective approach is being taken to complete the process. The Payroll Office also audits and ensures accuracy of all manual processes to ensure flawless manual submission of any information.

What are the two or three most effective best practices that the program has implemented? What benefits have been gained from implementing these best practices?

The use of technology has been one of the most effective practices the Payroll Office utilizes. The office uses Banner HR extensively to assist in calculating payrolls, tracking employees, ensuring the proper deductions and earnings are set up for employees, monitoring time and leave reporting, and distributing the payroll electronically.

The use of report writing has also helped the Payroll Office operate more sufficiently. Several reports have been created so that the payroll staff may analyze the outcomes and guarantee more accurate payrolls.

Training is also provided by the Payroll Department to various departments and new employees. Presentations are given at all new employee orientations to help instruct the employee on what payroll requirements need completed. Training is also done with departments to ensure that adequate information has been provided so that they may inform and train their employees on how to complete their time and leave reporting requirements.

What external recognitions (e.g., awards, accommodations, professional certifications, references in trade publications) have the program and its staff received in the past three years?

The annual audit has produced an unqualified opinion for the past three years.

Is the program active with any regional, national, or international professional organizations?

Our Program and Systems Analyst is actively involved in the Ellucian Commons Discussion Board.

Note any presentations, publications, or offices held in the last three years.

If needed, provide supplemental comments or data sources to help the reader understand the quality of program outcomes.

Note any special benefits (e.g., personnel support, equipment, permanent improvements) that the program has received in the past three years from its grants and other sponsored programs.

How does the program benefit from donor gifts (e.g., scholarships, endowed chairs)? Does donor support provide a significant percentage of the program’s overall funding?

As an internal service function, the Payroll Office is not in a position to receive gifts. The Payroll Office serves as a liaison for the University to receive gifts by offering payroll deduction of Foundation donations. Employees can choose to pledge donations to the foundation and the Payroll Office will deduct the amount contributed from their pay on a one-time basis, or over several pay periods.

List two or three key relationships that the program maintains with external constituencies (e.g., community colleges, other universities, government bodies). How do these relationships advance the university mission or otherwise benefit the university?

The Payroll Office does maintain relationships with various state agencies such as, the Comptroller’s Office, Offset Unit, CMS, SURS, and the Department of Healthcare and Family Services: Division of Child Support Services. The Payroll Office also works closely with the state appointed external auditor while conducting annual audits. The Payroll Office must also stay in communication with the Social Security Administration to provide them accurate and timely information.

If needed, provide supplemental comments to help the reader understand the resources generated by the program. Note any clarifications or special circumstances (e.g., revenue pass-throughs) that should be considered when reviewing the above data.

Provide an executive summary of and link to any metrics or benchmarks that the program tracks to measure productivity.

What initiatives has the program implemented to enhance staff productivity (e.g., access to training, workflow improvements)? Briefly describe the costs and benefits of these initiatives.

The Payroll Office has greatly used technology to improve its processes. The Payroll Office has automated several processes, such as, issuing checks and direct deposit statements, providing online step-by-step training guides, time reporting and leave reports from paper to web time entry, automated terminations of student and graduate jobs, and W-2’s are now available online. For a most recent example, a time and cost saving process implemented is the addition of mailing addresses on the student’s earnings statements. Therefore, reducing the time it took to label each earnings statement before mailing them to the campus department. This automated process saves on the cost of supplies and labor to complete the task. Also, several reports have been created to provide improved and enhanced access to information, resulting in more efficient ways to ensure accuracy. The Payroll Office has been able to downsize its staffing from six full time employees to only four full time employees. With the use of technology and putting forth the most efficient strategy in executing the payroll process, it has made downsizing acceptable.

If needed, provide supplemental comments to help the reader understand the productivity of the program. Note any clarifications or special circumstances (e.g., accreditation requirements, curricular changes, program restructuring) that should be considered when reviewing the above data.

If needed, provide supplemental comments to help the reader understand the costs associated with the program. Note any clarifications or special circumstances (e.g., expenditures made centrally or externally, expenditures made on behalf of other units) that should be considered when reviewing the above data.

One full time employee is paid from University Service Fee (231201). Two full time employees are paid from Business Services Revenue Bond (331101). One full time employee is paid from Payroll Appropriated Funding (131310).

How does the program seek to distinguish itself from similar programs at other institutions?

The Payroll Office embraces technology capabilities as more become available. Banner HR and the use of Ellucian, a world renowned software company, have greatly improved our processing and accuracy. Other institutions rely on home-grown software systems or older models of software, which in turn creates more work for their institution. By utilizing Ellucian, and the network of Banner HR users, it provides us with the most up to date information and help at our fingertips, as well as reducing a lot of the “foot” work for our program. Although the Payroll Office seems in line with other Illinois public universities, our use of technology set us apart from others.

Note any unique and/or essential contributions that the program makes to the university.

Provide any program-specific metrics that help to document program contributions or program quality. Examples of some commonly used program-specific metrics may be found here.

If needed, provide supplemental comments to help the reader understand the program impact on the university mission.

Provide a link to or listing of the program’s goals and/or strategic plan.

What role will the program have in the implementation of the university’s strategic plan (provide link to strategic plan)?

In the next two or three years, what best practices, improvements in operations, or other opportunities to advance the university’s mission are likely to be implemented?

The Payroll Office continually looks to the future and brainstorms on processes that could be improved and/or changed to benefit the outcome of the payroll process. The Payroll Office will continue its use of technology to better perform payroll functions. The use of reports will continue to be refined and new ones created to help us analyze the payroll process and assure accuracy. The automation of certain processes will help create more convenience for all employees across campus. For example, automation of certain timekeeping procedures will soon be implemented and save large departments across campus time from manual submission of employees’ hours and benefits used. The Payroll Office also has expectations of implementing W-4 (Employee Withholding Allowance Certificate) and direct deposit submission from paper to online. Overall, our main goal is to be as efficient as possible with the given resources provided. As laws and regulations continue to change the Payroll Office will continue to advance certain processes and procedures that are currently bound by law. One example is providing paper earnings statements to all employees while they could be viewed and utilized online only to save costs. Continuing to think outside of the box and expand our knowledge of payroll and the impact our processes have on the University will be our primary objective.

If needed, provide supplemental comments to help the reader understand future opportunities for the program.