State University System of Florida Implements New Financial Reporting System
The State University System of Florida (SUSF) — a system of 12 Florida public universities serving more than
300,000 students — has adopted a cloud-based financial reporting tool
to assist with data collection related to bond refinancing,
state-funded projects and tuition and fee schedules.
Each year,
the university system posts tuition and fee schedules for each of its
member universities by mid-August. The schedules include "each
university's standard set of fees along with fees that are unique to
separate programs," according to a news release. Before adopting the
new financial reporting tool, the process of distributing financial
information to the universities involved several steps, including
emails, repetitive entries and constant reviews.
In an effort to streamline this process, SUSF implemented Wdesk, a cloud-based productivity platform from Workiva designed to help organizations "collect, link, report and analyze
business data with control and accountability." Wdesk has enabled the
university system to consolidate its workflow into a single application.
The
university system implemented Wdesk in preparation for the fall 2016
semester. In previous years, staff were under pressure to publish
the tuition and fee schedules by mid-August. "This year, with
Wdesk, we published the data in the first week of July, more than a
month sooner than before," said Chris Kinsley, director of finance and
facilities for SUSF, in a prepared statement.
In addition to
speeding up and simplifying the process of publishing tuition and fee
schedules, Wdesk has also helped maintain process consistency and data
accuracy, according to Kinsley. Because the system maintains a record
of data entries and changes, it makes it easier for a new person to
take over when a key staff member changes jobs.
The system's
data linking feature also ensures that data changes automatically flow
across documents and presentations. "There is huge pressure to have
accurate data," said Kinsley. "Wdesk linking helps us validate that the
numbers are correct, and I have confidence when reporting to our
students, board and state agencies."
About the Author
Leila Meyer is a technology writer based in British Columbia. She can be reached at [email protected].