Making the Switch from Paper to Online Bills

The switch from paper bills to online bills does not change Cornell Policy 3.19, which describes, among other things, the responsibility of each unit to "implement and review procedures to identify patterns of abuse in which the [university] is paying for an individual's personal use of a college telephone."

 

Having said that, departments and units can consider if the switch presents an opportunity to modify local practice to take advantage of the paperless delivery and increased access to information.

We've put together a list of tasks people have been accomplishing under the old system, and some suggestions for how to get the same things done now that we're online.

 

Distribution & Approvals

Make copies of reports or sections of reports for various managers.

Use the viewing access tool to give those people access to the data they need. Once you've set them up, they can view them by themselves, on their own schedule. Remember that everyone will be able to access their own bills without any action on your part. You use the viewing tool to give them access to departmental reports.

Distribute all individual CIT Services Reports.

Nothing! All faculty and staff will have access to their own CIT Services Report automatically. It's there online whenever they want to look at it or download it to their own computer.

Distribute all individual CIT Services Reports. People sign and return. You track by hand or in Excel. You file the paper copies.

Send monthly e-mail to everyone reminding them to follow the approval procedure your unit chooses in the online world.

Distribute only some of the individual CIT Services Reports (based on dollar amount of toll calls). People sign and return. You track compliance by hand or in Excel. You file the paper copies.

Smaller units: Review Subscriber Summary Report for the NetIDs that meet your requirements. Send e-mail to those people telling them to follow the approval procedure your unit chooses in the online world.

Larger units: Download the Export Format: Subscriber/Service Summary & Totals Report, sort on Charge Type and Cost. This will put all the toll calls together. Send e-mail to selected people telling them to follow the approval procedure your unit chooses in the online world. Use the Excel spreadsheet to track compliance without re-entering any data.

 

Request Service Changes & Corrections

To submit changes (name or account number), make a copy of the Services Verification Report and submit with changes to the NCS fax number.

Small number of changes: Send e-mail to ncs-os@cornell.edu specifying changes.For example, 'change the billing for phone number 555-5555 (associated with subscriber ID 9990999) from account A to account B.' NCS will contact you if they need additional information.

Large number or complex changes: Download the Export Format: Subscriber/Service Summary & Totals Report. Using Excel, insert columns as needed, clearly labeled 'changes or corrections.' Delete rows with no changes. Send the file to ncs-os@cornell.edu as an e-mail attachment.

 

Reconciliation

Compare current month with previous month Department Totals Report.

Open two windows on your computer.

or

Download the Export Format: Subscriber/Service Summary & Totals Report and combine spreadsheets. (Capture and schedule once to get it delivered every month.)

Use Services Verification Report to reconcile OCCs against Request For Services.

Do the same thing online. No printing needed. (Capture and schedule once to get it delivered every month.)

Review reports for staff changes, account corrections, physical location changes, etc.

Do the same thing online. No printing needed. (Capture and schedule once to get it delivered every month.)

 

Retention & Information Retrieval

File hard copies of all bills and reports for many months or years for audit purposes. Fill up multiple filing cabinets.

CIT will archive all information for six years. You will have access to 13 months of data. You can maintain information for your purposes for longer than that by saving reports or the export files to a CD or hard drive, or by continuing to print and file paper copies.

Manually enter Services Verification Report data into Excel or other spreadsheet or database.

Download the Export Format: Subscriber/Service Summary & Totals Report. No typing. Cool. (Capture and schedule once to get it delivered every month.)

Use report to respond to inquiries from staff: 'What is this charge?' or 'this xyz has changed to abc.'

Run whatever report you need, when you need it, for any of your accounts or departments. Real-time. No filing. No paper copy (unless you want it).