Transcript Telephone Services Billing

The Office of Information Technology
Telephone Services
Billing Process Changes
April 2013
The Office of Information Technology
Billing Fast Facts
Telephone Services (TS) provides Installation, Relocation, Conf-Call Support, Troubleshooting, Equipment Replacement, Cabling, UTSA Call Center, Billing for Equipment
(phones) and Long Distance, and ensures all “back-office” equipment supporting
communication is managed;
• Services funded through billing for Phones/Equipment
• Two components to billing: Phones/Equipment and Long Distance (LD)
• Over 400 bills monthly
• 3500 users/voice-mails
• 5500 phones/equipment (offices, labs, conf rooms, classrooms, etc.)
• Long Distance totals about $120,000/year
The Office of Information Technology
Today’s Process
Phones/Equipment
• 360 bills annually
• Except for Academic departments, each area billed separately
• Provost moves money to a single account for all Academic departments
Long Distance
• Over 400 bills monthly
• Admin separates personal from business LD charges:
• Personal - user contacted via email w/their charges, and university must be
reimbursed by user via Fiscal Services; which is then processed. Admin must
keep a record for each user for each incident – up to 3500 x 12 = 42,000 files per
year,…for Audit.
• Business - department moves funds to account, and the bill is reconciled or
researched when issues arise, i.e., account number changes, fraud, etc.
@4800 statements/bills per year - If average only 30 minutes each, the cost of tracking,
billing and reconciliation for LD alone can easily exceed funds recovered.
The Office of Information Technology
Setting the Stage
View UTSA in 8 high-level groupings for our discussion:
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President’s Office
Academic Affairs
Business Affairs
Research
Student Affairs
Community Services
External Relations
Grants (generic)
The Office of Information Technology
Billing Cycle
We started with the Provost’s Academic departments and now bill for Phones/Equipment
annually from a Single Account. This is working very well and has reduced work-effort.
Extend and Simplify – Move to a full annual, single-bill cycle across UTSA; Phones and
Long-Distance,… patterned after groundwork by Provost.
Each group consolidates money into a single account;
• Withhold during budgeting process (recommended), or
• Departments transfer money into the account.
The benefit to Every organization is they don’t have to deal with telephone bills on a
monthly basis which saves the university money; in exchange for a one-time annual
effort.
Note: Grants - majority end in May or December, but conceptually another account when
grouped accordingly.
The Office of Information Technology
Next Steps
Billing detail ready and provided upon approval to proceed.
One annual bill in Sep/Oct to be based on equipment and LD charges from previous
year.
Alerts will be set to notify when individual bills reach certain level.
LD will Not be shut-down if an area trending to exceed.
LD reporting detail can be provided online.
If costs vary significantly, adjustments can be made in following year or can IDT* specific
department.
*IDT – InterDepartmental Transfer
The Office of Information Technology
The Office of Information Technology
Questions
April 2013
The Office of Information Technology