November 2023 Newsletter

Fiscal Updates:

• Q-drive Migration to Sharepoint
  • The Business Office will be migrating the dept. shared Q-drive ‘payroll’ folders to Sharepoint as required by ITS
  • Migration will start November 1^st at 2:00PM.  This means that the Q-drive payroll folders will no longer be accessible
  • We will share the new Sharepoint with each dept when ready (November 2^nd)

• Federal Accounts (Smith Lever, SAES Capacity)
  • FY23 Accounts
    • will remain open through 11/30/23 for expenses incurred by 9/30/23
      • Please avoid last minute spending
      • After November 30^th, no additional transactions will be allowed on these accounts – transactions may need to be moved to an unrestricted account
    • Please monitor your continuation accounts for timely cost transfer submission
    • Please contact the BO if you need any assistance
    • On December 1^st the BO will begin the FY23 close out process

• • FY24 Accounts
    • New Federal Fiscal Year (FFY) opens on 10/1/2023 (FFY24)
    • The B.O. has started communicating to PIs regarding their account number for activity related to 10/1/23 to 9/30/24.  Budgets have also started to be loaded into the accounts
    • Your department Smith-Lever budget was identified in your FY24 Dept. Budget Hearing Letter from the Dean
      • *Reminder: Every expense must be categorized in 1 or more of the 5 areas strategic areas by the utilization of sub-accounts (only exception is Regular Payroll)
        • Sub-Accounts
          • Climate (CLIM)
          • Food (FOOD)
          • Health (HLTH)
          • Landscapes (LAND)
          • (MISC)

• Spring ‘24 Payroll Pre-Encumbrance
  • Similar to the Fall Grad pre-encumbrance load, the B.O. will be pre-encumbering PA that cross into the 2024 calendar year for the following payroll types:
    • • Adjunct on 2Ls
      • Grads – all accounts
  • PE will be reflected on Dec 1^st and Jan 1^st reports

• Search Expense Account
  • The Dean has recently reached out to Dept. Head regarding approved searches for FY25 Faculty Hiring Plan.  In a follow up email, Alicia had provided an updated search cost allocation information:
    • Dean will provide an allocation of $10k per search for approved searches.  Any expenses over this amount will be funded by the department
    • Funds cannot be combined with other searches
    • While relocation is included as a part of the search costs, if the relocation exceeds the standard relocation rate, the difference above will be split 50/50 by the Dept. and the Dean, regardless of available funds in the search budget
  • When coding search costs to the department account, please use the designated sub-account number which is the last four digits of the search number

 

Concur Updates:

• Concur Single Sign-On – email notification
  • ITS will be updating the service that Concur uses for Single Sign-on.  This change will take place on Friday, October 27th, 2023 and will result in a new URL for login.  As a result, saved links directing to Concur will no longer function and need to be updated. Common places where a link may exist include:
    • Bookmarks (Browser & Desktop)
    • Websites
    • Help Guides
    • Other Travel Related Forms

• • In addition, links within existing emails directing to Concur will be permanently broken and cannot be fixed. This includes notification emails for outstanding expenses, reports, and approvals. Users will need to log into the Concur application via the new link to access existing reports and expenses. Emails created on or after 10/28/23 will have working links.  The new URL will be provided shortly after the change has been made via email and on the https://travel.uconn.edu

 

• Concur Transactions Over 90 Days Old:
  • The Business Office has recently sent out a list of transactions over 90 days old to each dept.  Please review the report for the following:
    • Old transactions should be cleaned up – submit expense report or delete the transaction if not an expense
    • Let us know any transactions belonging to inactive employees.  We will reach out to ITS so they can give access to resolve the transactions

 

HR (Human Resources) and Payroll Updates:

• Minimum Wage Increase – effective January 1, 2024 (email from 10/19/2023)
  • Connecticut’s minimum wage will increase from $5.00 per hour to $15.69 per hour beginning January 1, 2024
  • The university encourages employers to review the hourly rates of student employees as the rates will not be automatically increased.  Manual increases may be processed in CORE-CT using the Student Payroll Data/Pay Change template (UC_TBH_DC_STUD_DAT)

Current Pay Scale (June 1,2023-December 31,2023)	Effective January 1, 2024
Class I – $15.00	Class I – $15.69
Class II – $15.15-$16.35	Class II – $15.84 – $17.04
Class III – $16.40 – $18.35	Class III – $17.09 – $19.04
Class IV -$18.40 – $33.70	Class IV – $19.09 – $34.39

• Changes to the Pay Confirm Schedule in November:
  • Pay Confirm will be Wednesday November 8th (instead of Thursday November 9th)
  • There will be no access to CORE from Wednesday, November 8th through Sunday, November 12th
  • Pay confirm will be Wednesday November 22nd (instead of Thursday November 23rd)

• Faculty Overload Workflow
  • Faculty Overload Forms should be sent to cahnrbo@uconn.edu for the Dean’s signature and should be sent from the Business Office to the Provost for approval. If initiated in the department, the approved form should be sent back to the admin.

• I-9 Update
  • As a reminder, the USCIS released a new version of the Form I-9 on 8/1/2023.  The previous grace period of using the old I-9 form ended on 10/31/23.
  • As of 11/1/23, all Form I-9s must be completed on the current version of the form.  Form I-9s signed on/after 11/1/23 will only be accepted on the current version of the Form I-9.  You can ensure you are using the current Form I-9 version by visiting our website (Form I-9 | Payroll Department (uconn.edu)) and clicking on the “Download Form I-9” button in the “Forms & Instructions” box.

• Spring 2024 Payroll Deadlines
  • Graduate Students
    • Offer letter sent to the student by Nov 1^st
    • Smart-HR Deadlines
      • Business Office Deadline: Friday, December 1st
      • University Deadline: Friday, December 15^th
    • Please note: since 2024 is a leap year, the end date for an academic year appointment will be 5/21/24 (instead of the usual 5/22)

• • Adjunct Faculty
    • PageUp Deadline – was Thursday, October 26^th, please submit asap
    • Smart-HR Deadline
      • Business Office Deadline: Friday, December 15^th
      • University Deadline: Friday, December 26th

• Graduate Assistant Payroll
  • Graduate School Timely Topics
    • Thursday, November 2 at 2pm – Graduate Admissions: Reading and Reviewing Applications in the Slate Reader
    • Thursday, November 9 at 11am – Information for New Graduate Faculty Advisors
    • Thursday, November 16 at 11am – SCOTUS Decision on Race in Admissions and Impacts on Graduate Admissions

 

CAHNR Internal Professional Development Opportunities:

The CAHNR’s Dean’s Office is committed to providing opportunities for faculty, staff, and graduate students to expand their professional knowledge and skills. Throughout the year, the Dean’s Office will organize workshops and offer training, that will help the CAHNR community grow. Workshops and training will focus on fostering employee understanding and abilities in both hard and soft skills, such as in communication, HR/Payroll competency, and creativity.

As Professional Development Opportunities are finalized, they will be listed on our website here. Please be sure to check regularly for new learning opportunities and other about upcoming events.

• Business Office Workshop – We have renamed the B.O. Open Hour to B.O. Workshop.
  • Thursday, November 9^th – from 11:30AM – 12:30PM virtual only
    • Topics: Post-Award Overview
    • Please email CAHNRBO@uconn.edu to receive the invite with Teams link
  • If you have any questions about the upcoming session, or if you have anything you would like to know more about

• CAHNR Admin Meeting
  • Wednesday, November 15^th – from 2:00PM – 3:30PM, Young 209 with a virtual option
  • If you would like to send your question(s) anonymously, please use this form: https://businessoffice.cahnr.uconn.edu/admin-meeting-questions-2/

 

Shout Out:

• Welcome
  • Tara Craig, Administrative Program Support 1, PVS
  • Nicole Rambone, Administrative Program Support 1, KINS
• Good Luck
  • Jamie Williams, CAHNR Business Office
  • Matilda Murray, Plant Science and Landscape Architecture

 

Fun facts about this month in history:

• November 3, 1956 – The Wizard of Oz is televised for the first time
• November 5, 1935 – Parker Brothers markets the board game Monopoly
• November 25, 1920 – The first Thanksgiving Day parade is held in Philadelphia, PA.