Service Level Commitments

Service Level Commitments

Departmental Objectives

The Finance Office aims to deliver superior service & support to its large & complex customer base across the University.

The primary objective for the Finance Office is to ensure that the University financial performance is delivered & sustained, and that the decision-making processes delivers best value across the University. This is delivered via a number of areas of focus:

  • Support of our customer base in the use of financial information through specialist advice & expertise (Capital & Project Appraisal, Pensions, Insurance, Procurement, Research Funding, VAT, Corporation Tax)
  • Effective financial reporting and review processes
  • Risk identification & mitigation processes
  • Cash management & maximisation

This is underpinned by the delivery of efficient & effective transaction processing through an integrated system solution with University wide standardised processes.

Service Commitments

  1. General
    • Respond to all customer, supplier & user queries within 5 days of receipt
  2. Management Accounting 
    • Ensure that all College, School & Research Institute staff are supported in drawing up their financial plans to ensure that underlying assumptions are robust and deliver best value.
    • Ensure that an early warning system is in place to help University staff in identifying any areas where performance is 'off track' vs financial plans.
    • Issue the monthly management accounts & commentary to SMG by working Day 13 in each month to allow operational issues to be debated and resolved.
  3. Financial Accounting
    • Ensure that all Sales Ledger debt is regularly reviewed and any overdue payments are actively pursued.
    • Ensure that Supplier invoices that comply with internal procedures on use of Purchase Orders and Goods Received matching are paid according to payment terms held on the supplier master files, by electronic funds transfer or cheque.
    • Ensure that all external data returns are completed on time to the highest level of accuracy. (Statutory Accounts, VAT, Corporation Tax, Funding Council requests, Statistical requests)
  4. Research and Other Services Section
    • Ensure that all staff are supported on all administrative aspects of post award research grants & contracts allowing staff to manage their resources in an effective manner. (project accounting, invoicing, salary recoups, progress reporting)
    • Ensure that Full Economic Costing is implemented and administered across the University in line with external guidelines & timings and that all staff understand the impact on their area of control.
  5. Systems Support and Development
    • Ensure that the Agresso platform is available to all users during working hours (9am - 5pm)
    • Ensure that all Agresso users receive training appropriate to their use of the system
    • Provide quick solution to any Agresso issues through provision of a help desk facility.
    • Ensure that the Agresso platform continues to meet the needs of the user group (maintenance, process improvement, report enhancement, upgrades, system administration)
    • All calls to the Agresso support desk received by 12noon will receive a response by 5pm
    • All calls to the Agresso support desk received after 12noon will receive a response by 12noon the following day.
  6. Pay & Pensions
    • Ensure that accurate payments are made to staff in line with the monthly deadlines.
    • Ensure that there is effective communication between University staff and external pension administrators on pension benefits or issues and that issues are resolved in an effective & sensitive manner.
  7. Insurance & Risk
    • Ensure that the insurance needs of the University are regularly reviewed and appropriate insurance cover is negotiated and contracted.
    • Ensure that business continuity plans are in place and regularly reviewed thereafter and that effective contingency plans are in place across the University.
    • Ensure that all claims made against / for the University are managed in an efficient manner.
  8. Purchasing Office
    • Provide specialist advice on all tendering and quotation processes across the University
    • Ensure that there is effective access to pre-negotiated contracts delivering purchasing efficiencies to the end user
    • Provide specialist advice on all aspects of contract management (technical, procedural, technical)

Complaints Procedure

Any concerns on the level of service provided should be addressed to the relevant staff member as appropriate.

Failing this, either the Director of Finance or Group Financial Controller should be contacted:

Executive Director of Finance
Gregor Caldow: Gregor.Caldow@glasgow.ac.uk

Group Financial Controller
To be confirmed