uws delegations register

1CPN Conference 2008

UWS Delegations Register

Presentation

Paul Woloch – Director Policy and Governance, UWSRay Cauchi – Developer, (TWEEK!)


UWS Delegations RegisterUniversity Context

In general universities are very decentralised organisations: Large number of staff with delegations (e.g. research delegations

involving 229 researchers) Large numbers of financial cost centres and projects Complexity and diversity of purchasing Extensive business travel Consultancy and other commercial activities Regular and extensive employment of casual staff

Audit Review at UWS in 2002 pointed to the need to devise an effective mechanism to maintain track of delegates and generate greater awareness of responsibilities. Delegations included in 2009 UWS Audit Program.


UWS Delegations RegisterWhat is it?

The Register is an online database that enables extraction of data of individuals holding delegations:

• Details of cost centre/project account• The category of delegation held by the individual• Auto extraction from the Policy schedules all relevant delegations• Effective dates on which the delegate holds authority (especially relevant for acting appointments)

• The financial limit of any credit card• A complete audit record of all delegations held currently and previously

• Notice that the delegate’s signature is in electronic TRIM file• A notes field to describe any restriction or change to a delegation• Accessible via web browser from any location


UWS Delegations RegisterWhat is it?

The Register also:

• Auto generates signature forms and emails delegates about their delegation and when it changes

• Emails delegates when acting in positions and sends reminders on expiry

• Has the capacity to email cohorts of delegates• Provides complete audit records of all transactions in the Register

• Enables the generation of tailored audit reports.• Provides searching facility to identify individuals or categories of delegates


UWS Delegations RegisterOrganisational Framework

Delegations Policy

Delegations Register

(Database)

Employees

Policy and Governance

Establishesrequirements

at position level

Informs decisions

Administration Controls and Linkages

College DMO (3)

Admin Divisions (3)

Research (1)

Links delegationsfor positions

to actualposition holders

Auditable Records


UWS Delegations RegisterThe Solution (conceptually)

The system was designed so that it: Could be readily searched Would facilitate business processing (finance and audit

especially) Could be comprehensive and accurate in its records of

individuals and therefore auditable Could be kept up to date Contained cost centre, project code and credit card details Was able to accommodate acting appointments Could be intuitive and facilitate business processing

Auto generated forms and notices Account code verification from Oracle financials

Would result in greater awareness of responsibility and accountability

Provided a reliable mechanism to handle specimen signatures


UWS Delegations RegisterUses of the Register

The Register is used for: Verifying that an individual has a delegation Providing an auditable historical record of delegations held by

individuals, including any acting appointments Providing information to delegates about their delegation

including cost account details over which they have authority A searchable database to establish who might have authority

over a particular account or list of delegates for a particular unit

Reinforcing with delegates their responsibilities with respect to the exercise of their delegations in a highly decentralised organisation


UWS Delegations RegisterUses of the Register

Examples UWS processes some 5,000 invoices per month ($2M-$5M

total). Prior to Register only random manual checks were possible – now all transactions are checked.

Transactions incorrectly approved can be rejected with confidence – also transaction can be quickly routed to appropriate delegate.

Submission of transactions with incorrect delegate has shown marked decline in frequency since the Register’s advent.

Used to scope fraud investigations to immediately define extent of potential risk/exposure – financial accounts, credit cards, staff delegations, historical record of the individual under scrutiny. Remedial actions such as suspension of delegations, monitoring etc. can be put in place quickly. Used in tandem with CAATS.


http://delegations.uws.edu.au/

http://delegations.uws.edu.au/


UWS Delegations RegisterThe Search Engine


UWS Delegations RegisterSearch Results


UWS Delegations RegisterCreate Acting Record


UWS Delegations RegisterDeclaration & Sample Signatures

Workspace: Email: Confirmation of Delegation Addition

This form is sent by email on creation of the record.

Check that the details of the delegation are correct as displayed on the form.

If details are correct, send the form to the delegate for signing. It can be emailed to them.

Once the delegate has signed, the delegation must be approved by an authorised officer.

If we do not already have the delegates sample signature on file, the fully approved form needs to be scanned into the Delegations Sample Signature TRIM file. If the signature is already on file, at least one of these fields will be blank.


UWS Delegations Register

QUESTIONS?

Contacts:[email protected]@uws.edu.au


UWS Delegations Register The Solution (technically)

Built on a foundation of Open Source Software: PHP 4 (currently operating in a PHP 5 environment via an

Apache/Solaris cluster of web servers) MySQL 4.1 Database backend utilising both MyISAM and

INNODB transactional tablespaces as required. Database abstraction via ADODB - adodb.sourceforge.net –

operable with database backends other than MySQL. Smarty templating system – smarty.php.net – abstracts the

presentational code from business logic. Implements components of the PEAR library – pear.php.net


UWS Delegations Register The Solution (technically)

Design Methodologies/Standards: 3 Tier software design methodology implemented Web Standards compliant and Accessible

WAI AA standard CSS2/XHTML1 Transitional based layout (public site)

User-centric interface design methodology Best practice techniques applied in database design,

coding and security aspects.

Interface to Oracle Financials: Cost and Project codes are imported to the Register

from Oracle Financials on a nightly basis. Further potential to share data bi-directionally with

Oracle Financials, via data feeds and web services.


UWS Delegations Register General System Features

Multi-user, multi access level authentication Ability to Email system users with attachments Application configuration (Administrators only), including:

system email addresses reminder email time limits manual override of automated tasks, notification of last time of

execution/failure to execute University Divisions and Positions Management Web page Content editing via WYSIWYG editor FAQ/FAQ category management Navigation management (public and admin sites) Flexible reporting features – exporting data to CSV files.


UWS Delegations Register Delegations Specific Features

Centralised Delegate management; ability to pre-date expiration of a Delegate

associated automated task that deactivates Delegates nightly Delegations creation functionality:

from scratch or by duplicating an existing record Create Acting record Amend existing – insert end date, extend acting record, invalidate Automatic generation and emailing of Delegation Declaration and

Approval Form Schedule creation and management (AJAX based) Intuitive search facilities (public and admin sites) Ability to export search results to CSV files (admin site only) Ability to limit search results to current (default) or all

current/expired/invalidated records

uws delegations register

Documents