session 40909 final

Accounts Receivable Communication Automation

Jackie AndersonIllinois Institute of Technology

April 20, 2016Session ID: 40909

Session rules of etiquette

• Please turn off your cell phone/pager

• If you must leave the session early, please do so as discreetly as possible

• Please avoid side conversation during the session.

Thank you for your cooperation!

Introduction

• Jackie Anderson, Illinois Tech, Chicago

• What’s the benefit of attending this session?

o Identify ways to save time and resources.

o Learn the obstacles we faced.

o Hear our solutions.

o See our results.

o Steal and implement at your university!

AGENDA

• Review student accounting issues.

• Identify the automation techniques.

• Discuss the results.

THINGS TO KNOW• Banner• TouchNet• FormFusion• Appworx

ISSUES

• Large number of students with unpaid accounts.

• TSAAREV activity AFTER billing statements issued.

• Institutional loan offers time consuming.

• Direct deposit enrollment low, volume of printed checks high.

• Returned payments manual.

• Health waivers approved but not processed in timely manner.

Topic #1

Large volume of students with unpaid accounts.

Topic #1 – Large volume of studentswith unpaid accounts.

• Active students didn’t pay till registration opened for next term

• Due date is add/drop.

• Total number of students with outstanding receivable was over 100.

Piecemeal follow up done manually

• Four letters/e-mails to students, via mail merge.

• 35+ hours per week to manage the cycle for collection monitoring.

Solution - Automate collections due diligence letters using TGRAGES – Aging Analysis Report

SOLUTION: TSAACCT delinquency codes trigger collection letter series

SPACMNT keeps recordof notifications

3 notices, automatically sent

every 30 days.

The point when account balance becomes zero during the letter series the coding falls off and the series stops.

RESULTS

• Cycle time was reduced to five minutes/week vs. 38 hours/week• Most time on process for one person is stuffing envelopes• Efficiency = 98% time saved or 1FTE

Topic #2

TSAAREV activity AFTER billing statements released.

Topic #2 TSAAREV activity after billing statements issued.

Student Accounting• Responsible for tuition, mandatory fees (including health

insurance charge).

Other Offices• Access Card and Parking Services – parking charges• Academic Affairs – graduation application fees• Financial Aid – university scholarships, federal and state

grants, federal loans• Health Services – health fee waivers• Registrar’s Office – course/lab fees• Residential Services – housing and meal plan charges

Solution – New charges added to student account trigger email notification.

New charge feeds March 3

Financial aid refund issued January 28th

Charges active January 16th/financial aid disbursed

Send notification before transaction feeds to Finance.

Add note to SPACMNT

Solution – New charges added to student account trigger email notification.

Solution – New charges added to student account triggers email notification.

PDF version is also attached

RESULTS

• Automatic communication to student THE SAME DAY as charge is added to TSAAREV.

• No confusion about new balance owed. Email indicates exactly what is owed and why.

• Reduced contact with our office. • Students started paying these charges!

Topic #3

Institutional loan offers time consuming.

Topic #3 - Institutional loan offers very time consuming

Institutional Loan Process

• Transfers new institutional loan files via ECSI File Transfer desktop icons = 2 mins

• Transfers new disbursed institutional loan via ECSI File Transfer desktop icons = 3 mins

• Downloads completed master promissory note (MPN) files from ECSI server = 4 minutes

• Sample = 121 students (sample from August 2013 MPN files on ECSI report)

• Cycle time for full process* = ((1+1+1+1+1)*5)+(121*3)= 393 minutes = 6.5 hours

Solution – Award offers trigger email notification.

Offer loan to student on RPAAWRDSend email PDF for loan offerAdd note to SPACMNT

RESULTS

• Institutional loan automation 100%!• Cycle time was reduced to 10 minutes/week vs. 4.58 hours/week • Simple check the report every morning • Efficiency = 90% time saved or 1FTE

• Awarded University Business Models of Efficiency award.

Topic #4

Direct deposit enrollment low, volume of printed checks high.

Topic #4 - Direct deposit enrollment low, volume of printed checks high.

• Students eligible for refunds, but didn’t have direct deposit.

• Checks were printed by AP and then mailed by our office.

• If a student set up direct deposit, we would void the check and then issue the credit via direct deposit.

• Wasting paper, ink, and time.

Solution – Created dummy bank code to automate direct deposit setup

Initial refund uses detail code associated with a dummy bank account.

Once direct deposit is set up, we process a void on the student account, and issue refund through direct deposit using a detail code associated with the bank.

Mapped detail code to hit the new fund with dummy bank account.

• TSRFRND runs and will add RPDD to all students.

• TouchNet refunds run.

• Accounts without direct deposit remain RPDD.

• RPDD triggers an email to the student to set up direct deposit.

• If direct deposit is set up, we VOID the transaction and add RPDD again, running the TouchNet job.

• If there is no direct deposit, then we issue a paper check that goes to Accounts Payable (RRFD is set up to hit REAL BANK FUND).

• Accounts Payable runs the check job and receives this report:

• ONLY CHECKS to the bank print!• Dummy will sit till we cancel and run refunds again.

RESULTS

• Saved on expenses for check paper and ink (ADD $ per check and ink per person).

• Saving carbon footprint by reducing the amount of voided checks. • Quicker refund access for students when issuing to direct deposit. • Refunds issued are 98% via direct deposit.

Topic #5

Returned payments manual.

Topic #5 – Returned payments manual.

• Returned payments processed by cashier daily.

• Download the bank files and update the student account with return payment.

• Email the student about the payment, including reasons for return and amounts.

• Add notes to SPACMNT to document communication.

• Update TouchNet to ensure accounts were prevented from being used in the future (NSF codes).

• During peak times in term, this could take a few hours to process from beginning to end.

Solution – Used logic to map bank statement files to post returned payment automatically.

PNC Bank File:

Solution – Used logic to map bank statement files to post returned payment automatically.

Email is sent and recorded on SPACMNT:

RESULTS

• Automatically posts the return to TSAAREV.• Sends communication to student and adds a note to the account. • Return posted within 24 hours of PNC notification to IIT.

Topic #6

Health waivers approved but not processed in timely manner.

Topic #6 - Health waivers approved but not processed in timely manner.

Every student at IIT is enrolled in the student health insurance when registered for 1 billable credit hour.

Here are the numbers for fall:• Total # students assessed health insurance: 7,786• Total amount assessed to student accounts: $11,204,054.00

In order for our office to receive payment for the term, we need to send out accurate statements that show waivers were processed for students approved by Aetna. • Total # students approved with health waiver: 3,541• Total amount to waive off student accounts: $5,095,499.00

• ISSUE: Staff member was processing waivers by HAND! 3,000+

• Total time to download a file, go to a student account, copy attributes, add waiver code, and save took 2 minutes/student. This equated to 15 work days at 7.75 hours to ONLY process waivers (no disruptions).

• During peak times of year and just before deadlines, staff would work 10 hour days to accommodate all questions on health insurance and process waivers after the office closed.

• Billing was inaccurate because fees were still on student accounts.

Solution – Created a process to download and process files from Aetna overnight and update SGASADD.

Process runs to update SGASADD off the AETNA waivers approved.

Solution – Created a process to download and process files from Aetna overnight and update Banner.

RESULTS

• The automation resulted in $1.8M more in payments by add/drop compared to Fall 2014. We were able to have 2,901 waivers processed on student accounts this fall compared to 1,926 last year – increasing the number processed on student accounts by 150%.

• Eliminated need for 1 FTE to work overtime to process waivers.

• Files transmitted to and from Aetna daily, without worry of weekend or peak season interruptions.

Summary

All these projects were completed with these easy steps:

• Step 1: Ask what is impacting staff.

• Step 2: MAP the EXISTING process.

• Step 3: Find the bottlenecks in the process and redesign.

• Maximize existing systems to save resources.

• Engage the right people – ask who is doing the work what they need.

• Get buy-in from stakeholders.

Questions & Answers

Thank you!Jackie Andersonjander20@iit.edu

Please complete the online session evaluation form.Session ID 40909

session 40909 final

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