The Finance Operations Center (also known as FinOps) was created in 2023 as a result of the PEAK Initiative, and our support unit across the University of Minnesota began its formal operations in the fall of 2023. The PEAK Initiative is about people, their work, and the support services we collectively provide to the University. The purpose of the PEAK Initiative is to provide improved, consistent, equitable and cost-effective services across the University of Minnesota to help ensure the success of our teaching, research and, outreach mission. PEAK is not about reducing staff headcounts or immediate cost savings, though some cost savings are expected in the long term. PEAK is an acronym, Positioned for Excellence, Alignment and Knowledge. For more information, visit the PEAK website.
Improving Finance Operations Across the University of Minnesota
Finance staff across the University are working to make finance-related services more equitable, compliant, and efficient to better serve our faculty, staff, students, suppliers to the University, and customers of the University. View the types of financial services that FinOps provides or speak with a FinOps representative during their open office hours.
Service Level Agreements
Accounting
| TDX Form | SLA in business days |
|---|---|
| ChartField Request | 3 |
| Journal Entry | 5 |
| Payroll Distribution Entry & Retro Distributions | 3 |
Accounts Payable
| TDX Form | SLA in business days |
|---|---|
| Payment Change | 2 |
| Supplier Payment | 3 |
| Voucher Change | 3 |
| Wire Transfer | 5 |
Accounts Receivable
| TDX Form | SLA in business days |
|---|---|
| Request Funds from University of Minnesota Foundation | 3 |
| Request New Bill/Invoice | 3 |
| Request New External Sales Customer | 2 |
| Revise Existing Bill/Invoice | 3 |
Purchasing & PCards
| TDX Form | SLA in business days |
|---|---|
| PCard Expense Report Change | 3 |
| PCard Reconciliation | 3 |
| Purchase Order (PO) Change Order | 5 |
| Purchase Request | 5 |
| U Market Purchase Request (cart processing) | 3 |
Training
Training Materials for TeamDynamix Service Requests
TeamDynamix (TDX) is the service request software that Finance (and Human Resource) Operations Centers will use to manage service requests transitioning during the PEAK Initiative. On-demand job aids and training resources are available for people working in TDX at different responsibility levels.
Requesters are individuals who either have a Finance or HR request (for example, reclassification, purchase), or are responsible for creating a TDX ticket on behalf of the requester (for example, department admin, campus/college/unit HR staff member).
For those whose access has changed to view-only, refer to the training materials on the Financial Training website and look for the "View-Only Access" resources within the list of financial materials provided.
Requestor Finance
There is no "wrong way" to fill out a service request for FinOps. Read the questions that appear on the service requests and answer them to the best of your ability. If you don't know a piece of information, that's ok! Tell us what you do know and we'll take it from there.
- Finance Service Request Process Overview (~3.5 minute video)
- Finance TeamDynamix (TDX) Orientation for Requestors (~4 minute video)
- Purchase Request (~8.5 minute video)
- Purchase Order (PO) Change Order (~4.5 minute video)
- Supplier Payment (~8 minute video)
- How to Pay a Supplier Invoice (1 page pdf)
- PCard Reconciliation (~6 minute video)
- Payroll Distribution Entry & Retro Distributions (~13 minute video)
- How to Request a Bill (external sale) (1 page pdf)
Shopping in U Market?
If you have shopped in U Market and have a cart of goods to assign to the FinOps Center, assign the cart to the ID "finopsumarket". This will create a Service Request in TDX for the FinOps purchasing team to grab the cart and complete the processing (just as your local requisition preparer did prior to moving to being supported by FinOps).
FinOps Leadership Team
The Finance Operations Center is a unit within the Controller's Office, which is part of University Finance. The director of FinOps, Carrie Meyer, reports to the University Controller, Mollie Viola.
Each team has groups of people that work in portfolios (groups of University colleges and departments), and each portfolio has a supervisor.
The FinOps Center can be contacted via your service request ticket, or [email protected].
Special Instructions
How to alert FinOps that your JE is for month end
When submitting a request for a month end transaction, in the Title field for the service request, enter “MONTH END” followed by the title of your request.
Example: MONTH END, fall 2023 tuition distribution
The team that handles journal entries will monitor for these requests and attend to them first as the deadline approaches.
Requestor Information on FinOps Service Requests
Some areas have people in a support role complete FinOps service requests in TDX on behalf of others. This practice seems to work well but it can mask the true requester.
Having information about both the creator and the requester recorded in the service request, when they are different people, is helpful as people track their own work or requests, and it's useful for FinOps staff who need to communicate when questions arise.
When someone creates a service request on behalf of another person, they can specify the actual requester in the "Requestor" field (it defaults to the person who created the request). TDX captures the creator information in the history of the service request if the Requestor field is updated. The creator can still check on the status of the request, FinOps can still update the creator through TDX, and so forth.
Options to provide the true requester's contact information are: use the Requestor field, type identifying information in the Title field or any available description field, or include the information in an attachment to the request. The preferred method is to update the Requestor field.