IN THIS EDITION

• Finance Office

  • Campus Wide Business Managers Meeting 

•  International Affairs Office 
  • USCIS Filing Fees 
• Information Technology Services
  • New Generative AI Offerings
  • New Payment Policy for RingCentral Desk Phones
• Procurement Services Office 
  • UT Fiscal Policy Exceptions 
  • Surplus S1 Form 
  • Miscellaneous Reimbursements 
  • HSC Hub Purchases 

FINANCE OFFICE

Campus Wide Business Managers 

The next Campus Wide Business Managers meeting is scheduled for March 26, 2024, in GEB A104 at 1:30 pm CST. The agenda will be posted on the Campus Wide Business Managers webpage the morning of the meeting.  

Individuals on the Memphis campus are highly encouraged to attend in person. For those joining via Zoom, please register using the link below. 

Zoom Registration

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS OFFICE

USCIS Filing Fees Increase April 1, 2024

$500.00 anti-fraud fee remains for first-time H-1B petitions. 

USCIS Fee Schedule will be updated on the website April 1, 2024. 

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SERVICES 

New Generative AI Offerings: UT Verse and Copilot

We are thrilled to announce the launch of UT Verse and Copilot, two chat-based, AI-powered platforms for the University of Tennessee community! These powerful tools provide a secure way to use artificial intelligence to generate ideas and content, ensuring your conversations are not shared outside UT. 

Access UT Verse and a protected version of Copilot by logging in with your UT email address and password. 

What can you do with these tools? 

• Protect your data: Have AI conversations about topics that are geared toward our internal audiences, university business, and research with the confidence that your data will not be used to train public AI models. (But, please, no protected health information or personal identifiable information.) 
• Amp up your searches: Receive conversational responses to your inquires, to which you easily can ask more questions, elaborate, and expand. 
• Revolutionize your productivity: Use them for everything from writing and editing document drafts to generating new ideas to being a study partner and lots of other tasks in between. You can even use Copilot to generate images. 
• Extract information from your documents: UT Verse allows you to upload Word documents, text files, and PDFs (≤ 4MB/file), which you then can ask it to summarize, answer questions, find specific information, compare and contrast, and lots more. 

However you choose to use AI, make sure to do so responsibly and wisely. Learn more about AI benefits and caveats, university standards, best practices, terminology, and other related campus resources at our Artificial Intelligence webpage. 

Have an AI-driven idea that you want us to help you implement? Submit a project request. 

Or ready to make an AI purchase? Request a technology review.

Get started today to see how AI can help you!

New Payment Policy for RingCentral Desk Phones

As we move to RingCentral, many users have requested a desk phone in addition to the application, which has been provided at no cost. The absorption of this option has proven to be unsustainable. Thus as of March 1, users requesting desk phones must pay the cost of the equipment and installation. The only exceptions will be for phones directly related to campus safety (ex., police dispatcher phones, lab phones, etc.) and for users who process credit card payments by phone. See the university phone policy for more details. 

New telecommunications pricing will be published soon. Until then, no additional phones will be deployed except in specific cases. To request a phone once they are available or to get RingCentral assistance, including in-person and virtual training sessions for your unit, submit a TechConnect ticket. RingCentral training is also available in the TechConnect knowledge base. 

PROCUREMENT SERVICES OFFICE

UT Fiscal Policy Exceptions

Exceptions to the University of Tennessee fiscal policies must be approved by the University of Tennessee System Administration (UTSA) Chief Financial Officer. The only exceptions are when the policy specifically states the campus Chief Business Officer (CBO) can approve the exception. Departments should seek pre-approval for any exceptions to UT Fiscal Policy. Exceptions to campus procedures require CBO approval. 

FI0105 - General Statement on University Fiscal Policy 

III. Exceptions to Policy

A. The University's Chief Financial Officer is authorized to make exceptions to the University's Fiscal Policies and Procedures. 

Surplus S1 Form

A Surplus Property Transaction Form (S1) must be completed for all equipment, furniture, and supplies transferred to HSC Surplus Property. A copy of the most recent version of the S1 form can be found at here. To ensure proper processing of the forms and removal of equipment from inventory the form must be filled out with all requested information. Information frequently missing or incorrect information provided include: 

• Building Code: 8-digit code that begins with a 5 assigned to all UT buildings and can be found in IRIS using transactions RE_BUILDINGS
• Complete item description to include Manufacturer and Model 
• UT Inv. Tag Number: 6-digit blue UT Inventory tag included with the asset in IRIS. 
• Asset Number: 7-digit IRIS asset number. 

Processed S1 forms are sent to the UTSA Controller's Office. Complete information is needed to ensure the correct equipment is removed from the department's inventory. 

Miscellaneous Reimbursements

The non-travel-related purchase of services, software, equipment, and other items needed to conduct University business should be made by an HSC department using UT funds. Employees should only make purchases using personal funds in emergency situations or purchasing miscellaneous supplies and materials when the situation necessitates the need to do so. When an employee seeks reimbursement, a receipt is required for reimbursement. The applicable UT fiscal policy is FI0525-Petty Cash. 

FI0525-Petty Cash 

Types of purchases

11. Petty cash funds should be used for emergency and miscellaneous purchases of supplies and materials from sources outside the university. These funds should not be used for purchases from central supply stores, university bookstores, or any other university department. Purchases from sources within the university are charged to departments by internal transfer. Additionally, payment to employees and independent contractors for services should not be handled through petty cash. A T-27 form or invoice from an independent contractor should be processed in accordance with FI0540 - Independent Contractors and services by an employee should be processed through payroll. 

Required Receipts 

16. One of the following types of receipts is required to support petty cash purchases. In order of preference, these receipts are (1) vendor's invoice, (2) detailed cash register or other vendor receipt, (3) un-detailed cash register or other vendor receipt accompanied by completed PETTY CASH EXPENSE (FORM T-4) without a vendor's signature, and (4) completed FORM T-4 with vendor's signature. FORM T-4 may be completed online. 

HSC Hub Purchases 

For all HSC Hub-sensitive minor or capital equipment purchases, the HSC Hub staff creates an IRIS asset record and includes a UT Inventory tag. When the departments receive their HSC Hub purchases, the department must log into IRIS and update the asset record using transaction AS02. When updating the asset record the department should add the building and room number to the asset record along with any additional information needing to be updated. 

Manage your preferences | Opt Out using TrueRemove™
Got this as a forward? Sign up to receive our future emails.
View this email online.

Hyman Building, Suite 220 62 S. Dunlap Street | Memphis, TN 38163 US

This email was sent to mnorri33@uthsc.edu.
To continue receiving our emails, add us to your address book.