Flashpoints

Please consider donating to the crisis leave program.  This program allows any employee who earns vacation leave to donate up to five accumulated vacation days per calendar year.  The donated leave goes to a pool of crisis leave hours that are used to help an employee who is experiencing a crisis and does not have sufficient leave to cover their absence period.  Donation forms can be accessed through SAPPHIRE or the following link:

https://sapphire.bravais.com/document/1730

Please submit completed forms to the Human Resources Office.

The Payment Card Industry has strict regulations which dictate how payment card acceptance can be implemented on campus. Departments at the University of Nebraska Kearney may request the ability to accept payment cards (credit and/or debit) as a method of payment provided they meet UNK policy, state and federal laws, contractual obligations, and the rules of UNK’s banks and financial institutions.

Departments must obtain approval from the Finance Department prior to initiating or engaging in any activity where payment cards (credit and/or debit) are used. Only approved equipment, payment gateways, processes and vendors may be utilized. Please involve the Finance Department as soon as a possible when considering the acceptance of payment cards as the approval process takes time. Contact Scott Olson at 8785 or olsons2@unk.edu with questions.

There will be two opportunities for you to attend an Informational Meeting on Fiscal Year-end Procedures. Topics to be covered include budget encumbrances and balances carried forward, accrual adjustments, payroll processing, AP parked document processing, procurement card processing and more. Please contact Scott Olson at 8785 or Carrie Stithem at 8865 if you have questions. 

Monday, April 26, 3:00-4:00 PM, Ockinga Auditorium Register
Thursday, April 29, 3:00-4:00 PM, Copeland 140 Register

Training on the financial reports that are available in SAP and Firefly is available upon request. The training can assist departments in managing their budgets and demonstrate how to read and understand financial reports. Please contact Scott Olson at 8785 if you have questions.

Financial Report Training - available upon request Register

When the pandemic caused UNK to close campus last spring, many departments scrambled to find ways to apply electronic signatures to documentation when submitting bills/invoices for payment and to reconcile PCard documents. The options we started using back then are still viable today.  Most every employee that needs to apply an authorized signature (think cost center responsible employees such as Deans, Directors and Chairs) has access to Adobe Acrobat products when signed in through our SSO system.  There are two ways to electronically sign pdf documents in Adobe Acrobat that will continue to be acceptable for bills, invoices, PCard receipts and other such payment documents.

1. There is a dynamic stamp tool in Adobe that pulls the name and date from the employee login information and is currently considered a reliable way to “apply a signature” by the authorized person since they are signed in and verified through the company SSO system.
2. There is the Fill & Sign or Adobe Sign tool that acts similar to DocuSign and allows a user to sign themselves and also route it electronically to others for their signatures. This is also considered a reliable way to “apply a signature” since it must be sent to a specific email address owned by the authorized person and the finished document contains a signature panel/log showing all of the actions taken on the document. 

Should a user need assistance with the functionality of or signing into Adobe through the new SSO process, please contact Don Ray or the ITS Helpdesk.

In addition, we will also accept an email from the authorized signer when accompanied by the details of the transaction that they are approving/signing for when these or other traditional methods of collecting a signature isn’t possible.  Should you have questions about other signature options, please contact Payment Services at -8419.

It’s hard to believe, with the snow and extreme cold these past few weeks, but spring and severe thunderstorms will soon be upon us.  Nebraska’s Severe Weather Awareness Week is March 22-26.  During that week, UNKPD will be posting information on severe weather, in conjunction with the National Weather Service. 

There is generally a statewide tornado drill associated with Severe Weather Awareness Week; however, that has not yet been scheduled.  The emergency warning sirens will sound during the test. Reminder:  The sirens are designed for outdoor warning and may not be heard when indoors.  Please utilize other means of notification when indoors: weather radio, Buffalo Watch, or other phone notification. 

UNKPD encourages all departments to participate in the drill.  If not actually going to your shelter, please take the time to review tornado procedures.  More information will be sent as the drill day gets closer.

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK - A product which is issued daily, highlighting any potential significant weather in the area for the next 7 days.

WATCH - Issued when conditions are favorable for the development of severe weather in and close to the watch area. The size of the watch can vary depending on the weather situation and is usually issued for a duration of 4 to 8 hours. During the watch, people should review severe weather safety rules and be prepared to move to a place of safety if threatening weather approaches.

WARNING - Issued when severe weather is detected by radar or reported by storm spotters. Information in this warning will include the location of the storm, what areas will be affected, and the primary threat associated with the storm. People in the affected area should seek safe shelter immediately. Remember that severe thunderstorms can produce tornadoes with little or no advance warning. Warnings can be issued without a watch already in effect.

Employees and Departments/Groups of Employees can be nominated for different awards. The awards are presented monthly during the Staff Senate meetings. 

Please consider nominating a staff member or group who has demonstrated excellence.  It’s time to show our colleagues how much we appreciate what they do and why we’re so very proud to be Lopers!!

https://www.unk.edu/committees/staffsenate/employee-recognition-forms.php