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Director's NoteTom Achtor |
Director’s Note - Tom Achtor and Jenny Hackel
Our new Assistant Director for Administration, Jenny Hackel and I are teaming up on this month’s director’s note. We want to discuss some basic information about SSEC, and its policies and procedures so they are more easily accessible to you. Thus, the purpose of this month's director’s note is two-fold. First, we would like to highlight a few excellent (and sometimes forgotten) resources and policies within the employees-only section of the SSEC website. Second, we are looking for your questions to create an employee FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) section to the SSEC website to help make navigation to these resources a little easier.
Examples that create uncertainty for our staff at times are questions like, “how do I buy something?”, or “how do I book a conference room?”, or “how do I get my international visitor familiar with the Center and the campus?” It’s unlikely that any one person knows everything about SSEC or the University but ideally, everyone would know where to find answers to their questions. Here are a few examples to get you started.
Employee Guidelines
This section of the website is a virtual cornucopia of information, laying foundation knowledge for all employees at SSEC such as: explanation of SSEC’s organization and management philosophy, building hours, keys, emergency information, telephones, travel, fleet cars, how to participate in professional development, and more! Near the top of the page is even a section of questions and resources by topic. If you haven’t read through the guidelines in the past few years or ever, please take the time to do so. If you see any problems, missing updates, or inconsistencies in the document, please be sure to bring that to the attention of Kate Kaminski, Mark Hobson, or any of the SSEC Directors.
Purchasing
“How do I buy something?” “What kinds of things can I buy?” As you might expect, the answer to those questions is “it varies.” However, the Purchasing section of the website gives a detailed overview about purchasing support available at SSEC and contains forms required depending on the type of purchase. In addition to the website resource, our Purchasing guru Eric is planning to unveil a new 15-minute Purchasing 101 in person training session in the near future to help answer your most routine purchasing questions. Be aware that there are both Center and University regulations regarding purchases ... when in doubt, Ask Eric!
Accounting
This area of the website is devoted to sharing your project financial information Amanda Thornton has done some recent work to create a user-friendly set of reports featuring graphical display of historical data and an interactive ability to click to obtain further detail. To access the new reports, go to the Accounting section of the website and click on “Accounting Tools” located on the bottom left of the screen. If you need help navigating or learning about the new reports, stop down to room 339 to ask for assistance (Amanda, Soniya, Kelly, or Jenny can help).
Other significant resources
You can also find detailed assistance for travel, proposals, a hiring/visitor checklist, computer support, quality and safety, staff photos and phone numbers, professional development review information and supervisor responsibilities, etc.
Because Center and University resources are vast and needed information can be difficult to locate when you need an answer quickly, the SSEC Equity and Diversity (E&D) Committee is helping us to collect information to comprise a Employee FAQ section. This is where we need your help. What are your most pressing questions? You don’t have to be a new employee to have questions. We invite you to submit your questions either via email to any member of the SSEC E&D Committee (Chair: claire.pettersen@ssec.wisc.edu), or you are welcome to submit them to the SSEC suggestion box located outside room 448. If you want an answer directed to you specifically, please be sure to include your name and someone will get back to you with the answer. Anonymous questions are welcome also. We’ll work with the E & D Committee to collect the most commonly asked questions and post the answers online within the next few months.
