UWS Delegations Register

1. UWS Delegations Register Presentation Paul Woloch – Director Policy and Governance, UWS Ray Cauchi – Developer, (TWEEK!)

2. UWS Delegations Register University Context In general universities are very decentralised organisations: Large number of staff with delegations (e.g. research delegations involving 229 researchers) Large numbers of financial cost centres and projects Complexity and diversity of purchasing Extensive business travel Consultancy and other commercial activities Regular and extensive employment of casual staff Audit Review at UWS in 2002 pointed to the need to devise an effective mechanism to maintain track of delegates and generate greater awareness of responsibilities. Delegations included in 2009 UWS Audit Program.

3. UWS Delegations Register What is it? The Register is an online database that enables extraction of data of individuals holding delegations: Details of cost centre/project account The category of delegation held by the individual Auto extraction from the Policy schedules all relevant delegations Effective dates on which the delegate holds authority (especially relevant for acting appointments) The financial limit of any credit card A complete audit record of all delegations held currently and previously Notice that the delegate’s signature is in electronic TRIM file A notes field to describe any restriction or change to a delegation Accessible via web browser from any location

4. UWS Delegations Register What is it? The Register also: Auto generates signature forms and emails delegates about their delegation and when it changes Emails delegates when acting in positions and sends reminders on expiry Has the capacity to email cohorts of delegates Provides complete audit records of all transactions in the Register Enables the generation of tailored audit reports. Provides searching facility to identify individuals or categories of delegates

5. UWS Delegations Register Organisational Framework

6. UWS Delegations Register The Solution (conceptually) The system was designed so that it: Could be readily searched Would facilitate business processing (finance and audit especially) Could be comprehensive and accurate in its records of individuals and therefore auditable Could be kept up to date Contained cost centre, project code and credit card details Was able to accommodate acting appointments Could be intuitive and facilitate business processing Auto generated forms and notices Account code verification from Oracle financials Would result in greater awareness of responsibility and accountability Provided a reliable mechanism to handle specimen signatures

7. UWS Delegations Register Uses of the Register The Register is used for: Verifying that an individual has a delegation Providing an auditable historical record of delegations held by individuals, including any acting appointments Providing information to delegates about their delegation including cost account details over which they have authority A searchable database to establish who might have authority over a particular account or list of delegates for a particular unit Reinforcing with delegates their responsibilities with respect to the exercise of their delegations in a highly decentralised organisation

8. UWS Delegations Register Uses of the Register Examples UWS processes some 5,000 invoices per month ($2M-$5M total). Prior to Register only random manual checks were possible – now all transactions are checked. Transactions incorrectly approved can be rejected with confidence – also transaction can be quickly routed to appropriate delegate. Submission of transactions with incorrect delegate has shown marked decline in frequency since the Register’s advent. Used to scope fraud investigations to immediately define extent of potential risk/exposure – financial accounts, credit cards, staff delegations, historical record of the individual under scrutiny. Remedial actions such as suspension of delegations, monitoring etc. can be put in place quickly. Used in tandem with CAATS.

9. http://delegations.uws.edu.au/

10. UWS Delegations RegisterThe Search Engine

11. UWS Delegations RegisterSearch Results

12. UWS Delegations RegisterCreate Acting Record

13. UWS Delegations RegisterDeclaration & Sample Signatures

15. UWS Delegations Register QUESTIONS? Contacts: ray@tweek.com.au p.woloch@uws.edu.au

16. UWS Delegations Register The Solution (technically) • Built on a foundation of Open Source Software: • PHP 4 (currently operating in a PHP 5 environment via an Apache/Solaris cluster of web servers) • MySQL 4.1 Database backend utilising both MyISAM and INNODB transactional tablespaces as required. • Database abstraction via ADODB - adodb.sourceforge.net – operable with database backends other than MySQL. • Smarty templating system – smarty.php.net – abstracts the presentational code from business logic. • Implements components of the PEAR library – pear.php.net

17. UWS Delegations Register The Solution (technically) • Design Methodologies/Standards: • 3 Tier software design methodology implemented • Web Standards compliant and Accessible • WAI AA standard • CSS2/XHTML1 Transitional based layout (public site) • User-centric interface design methodology • Best practice techniques applied in database design, coding and security aspects. • Interface to Oracle Financials: • Cost and Project codes are imported to the Register from Oracle Financials on a nightly basis. • Further potential to share data bi-directionally with Oracle Financials, via data feeds and web services.

18. UWS Delegations Register General System Features • Multi-user, multi access level authentication • Ability to Email system users with attachments • Application configuration (Administrators only), including: • system email addresses • reminder email time limits • manual override of automated tasks, notification of last time of execution/failure to execute • University Divisions and Positions Management • Web page Content editing via WYSIWYG editor • FAQ/FAQ category management • Navigation management (public and admin sites) • Flexible reporting features – exporting data to CSV files.

19. UWS Delegations Register Delegations Specific Features • Centralised Delegate management; ability to pre-date expiration of a Delegate • associated automated task that deactivates Delegates nightly • Delegations creation functionality: • from scratch or by duplicating an existing record • Create Acting record • Amend existing – insert end date, extend acting record, invalidate • Automatic generation and emailing of Delegation Declaration and Approval Form • Schedule creation and management (AJAX based) • Intuitive search facilities (public and admin sites) • Ability to export search results to CSV files (admin site only) • Ability to limit search results to current (default) or all current/expired/invalidated records