Dr. Watt delivered a presentation on the work of the FES Committee and outlined their findings and recommendations with regard to faculty effort reporting and the new system.  He began by describing present FES problems such as the difficulty of parsing out faculty time, the cultural context of the DOE at the university, and the inaccuracy of the DOE due to emphasis first on research time percentages (resulting in other percentages being “backed in” for teaching and service). Dr. Watt then outlined why faculty effort must be tracked (for CPE reporting, compliance with Circular A-21, and evaluation of faculty productivity).

Much of the FES Committee’s work focused on determining what features in the present FES System must be preserved in the new SAP system. Along with meeting reporting requirements and supporting evaluation efforts, the present system is valuable in budgeting and forecasting and that value must be preserved in the future. The committee included subcommittee work on Distribution of Effort, Payroll, Salary Variations, Track Variations, Budget and Forecasting, and Compliance, Consistency, and Forecasting.  Dr. Watt shared the committee’s recommendations resulting from the study and review of these areas.

Members of the Coordinating Committee reviewed each of the recommendations, posed questions, and discussed the feasibility of each for Phase One implementation. Because SAP does not feature a faculty effort system, everyone will need to consider enhancements and interfaces and how best to meet the identified requirements for FES, along with the clinical enterprise’s need for mission-based financial statements (monthly profit and loss reports).