Traded Services Update
July 2017
Dear Colleagues,
Not long to go now before the summer break and I hope some well-deserved rest and recuperation time for you.
Below are a few updates and reminders for you as you prepare for the end of term and the start of the new one.
Many thanks for all of your hard work again this year
Sandra
Joining together Traded Services to schools
We recognise that recent changes to services have caused fragmentation of our administration processes, which in turn has been confusing for schools. Business Services are now being managed together with Schools & Learning Services and we plan to gradually bring the administration of these services together so that they follow a single process for booking and consistent processes for charging.
- Step one is to align the booking forms, so that all services can be booked on the same form at the same time for Maintained Schools and academies.
- Step two will be to align the charging processes for services where possible.
- Step three will be to provide a central point of contact for all enquiries relating to the administration of traded services.
From September, for Maintained schools, where appropriate we will upload charges via an internal recharge twice per year. The first charge will be for services September 2017 to March 2018 (7/12 of the annual charge) and the second; April 2018 to August 2018 (5/12 annual charge). However for services which do not remain available to the school upon conversion (Payroll for example) monthly internal recharges will continue.
Academies will be sent two invoices, to cover the contractual period; April 2018 to August 2018 (5/12 annual charge).
CIC Improvements
As part of our ongoing commitment to continuously improving the service to customers, if you raise an enquiry through the IBC Portal or ESS Lite and have it resolved, we’ll now send you an email to ask you to complete a short customer service feedback survey.
There are just four quick questions to answer – taking no longer than a minute to complete. Please take a moment to provide your views.
Staff across the Partnership have requested more opportunities to provide regular feedback on the IBC’s customer service. These new, short customer surveys are the start of an ongoing programme of work to deliver this.
Important – help the IBC to answer your enquiries before the end of term
We appreciate this is a busy time of year in schools, with many end of term activities to be completed in a short space of time. In the IBC we are preparing for change to our systems during the summer, and we want to work closely with schools staff in the last weeks of term to ensure that we resolve any enquiries raised as quickly as possible.
The IBC will be replacing their customer contact system with new technology - SAP Cloud for Customer (C4C) - to better manage customer contact, as part of wider improvements to the way we deal with customer enquiries through ESS Lite or the Portal.In preparation for the change, we are putting steps in place to manage down the volume of pending cases in our current customer contact system.
To help us deal with any enquiries before the change to the system, please start working now on the tasks that need to be completed by the end of term. We will respond to enquiries from schools within 5 working days, and will be increasing the number of outbound calls we make to help speed up the resolution time. Please include your telephone number when raising your enquiry to enable us to contact you. The IBC team aims to resolve and close your enquiries before the summer holiday.
When you are happy that your enquiry has been resolved,please close the enquiry in ESS Lite or in the Portal history. Note that during the changeover period, if there is no further activity on the case after 14 calendar days, it will be closed by the system.
System downtime
For those of you working through the holiday period pleasebe aware that prior to the introduction of C4C, the will be a short period of time during which certain services and forms will be unavailable. This shouldhave minimal impact on school staff. We will advise any downtime and disablement of services in advance, via a message posted on the IBC Portal.
Staff Leaving Dates
When completing the leaver eform the following fields appear:
- Last day of service
- Will the employee have completed a full week or term by the date of leaving?
For teachers the Burgundy Book states that teachers' resignation takes effect on:
- summer term (31 August)
- autumn term (31 December)
- spring term (30 April)
Therefore the ‘last day of service’ for teachers should be entered as 31/08/2017 and ‘Will the employee have completed a full week or term by the date of leaving?’ is marked as ‘Yes’. This will ensure they are paid to the end of term.
For support staff, if the employee has worked the full term it is recommended that they are paid until 31 August, to ensure they have received their full annual leave entitlement.
The ‘last day of service’ for support staff who have worked the full term would be entered as 31/08/2017. For the next field ‘Will the employee have completed a full week or term by the date of leaving?’‘Term only’ relates to teaching staff and ‘week’ is used for support staff. Therefore, select ‘No’ to ensure the employee is paid to the end of August rather than the Sunday.
Staff on Temporary Contracts
Don’t forget that for staff on temporary contracts, schools must still complete the appropriate leaver action to ensure the employee is not overpaid.
New Starters
Please be aware that when setting up starters for September, you will not be able to view these records until the employee’s start date.
HR Enquiries
Please ensure your IBC HR enquiries are reviewed prior to breaking for the summer. Due to volumes of staff changes during this time of year, there may be queries which require a response. Delays in receiving information could result in the late receipt of contractual documentation.
Local Banking
As the end of term is approaching, please ensure that details of all of your locally banked income has been entered using the IBC Portal's record local banking transaction.
Please remember that it is the responsibility of schools to code their income as part of their budgetary control processes, and wherever possible, this information should be entered within two working days of banking the income.
If you are unsure if you have any income that hasn’t yet been entered, please email and include either specific paying-in references (the nine digit number that appears on each paying-in slip) or the first and last paying-in reference in your paying-in book.This will enable us to carry out an overall check for you. Please put ‘Local Banking Query’ in the subject line of your email.
Purchase Order Process
Schools are reminded of the importance of following the purchase order process and in particular the need to avoid raising purchase orders retrospectively as this does not comply with the purchase to pay policy and can delay supplier payments.
Should you experience any difficulties in raising a purchase order, please raise an IBC Enquiry selecting one of the following drop-down options:
- ‘Error in process’ message: Shopping and Suppliers – Buying goods and services – Catalogue order
- Blocked vendor: Shopping and Suppliers – Supplier information (we owe supplier) – Block/unblock Supplier record
- Unable to raise capital order: Shopping and Suppliers – Buying goods and services – Shopping/eStore error message
Unable to use ‘Request supplier change’: Shopping and Suppliers – Supplier information (we owe supplier) – Block/unblock Supplier record
Supplier Queries
Schools may be able to assist suppliers with payment queries by using the View Supplier Invoice functionality.
However, if you cannot assist or where a supplier requires further information in relation to their supplier account they should be directed to the Suppliers Portal which contains advice and guidance, along with the option to raise an enquiry directly to the IBC.
Please do not raise enquiries on behalf of suppliers as this may result in delayed resolution.
Are you are Purchasing card approver?
The purchasing card team have received a number of calls asking for confirmation of the deadline for the coding, review and approval of purchasing card transactions.
The deadline is close of business on the 5th of the month, following the date of the transaction (for example, a transaction made on 20 May should be coded, reviewed and approved by close of business on 19 June).
Over the last two full months (March and April), whilst 90% of transactions made by purchasing card were reviewed; in March only 70% were approved and in April this fell to 67%.