Q: I have to purchase snack foods for events hosted on campus. I can purchase them from Sam’s, Walmart or Costco for much less than Staples. May I do this?
A: Yes, currently snacks are not required to be purchased through Staples. However, Purchasing is working with Staples to offer snacks at a lower, more competitive cost. We will let you know when they are available. Staples prices always include delivery to campus
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Q: I have found office supplies at a lower price than Staples Advantage, can exceptions be made?
A: Staples Advantage is SMU’s exclusive vendor for office supplies and is the required source for the SMU main campus, SMU-in-Plano and SMU-in-Taos. Purchases made from other vendors with SMU funds or personal funds without prior purchase approval may not be reimbursed.
Q: What if Staples Advantage does not carry what I need?
A: Only if Staples Advantage does not have or cannot get a comparable item in the required amount of time, may another source be considered. All exceptions must be approved by Purchasing. Contact Cathy Heckman (checkman@smu.edu) for help should this situation arise.
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Q: I have specialized printing needs related to secure lab work, restricted office space, etc. How will printer optimization accommodate those needs?
A: If you feel that key information was not taken into account in assessing your printer needs, or if your printer needs have changed, contact Patrick Cullen (pcullen@smu.edu) with the additional information so he can coordinate an appropriate solution to accommodate your needs.
Q: I have a University-funded printer at home that I use for my grant work. Will toner and maintenance continue to be funded by the University? If not, can I fund it through my grant?
A: The University has moved to a network printing solution and is no longer supporting personal printing solutions, including those in home offices. Toner and maintenance can be funded through the grant if those sponsored research funds are used in a manner consistent with University policy and the award specifically includes toner or related printing costs as part of the award.
HR, like many other support services on campus, is working to increase efficiency and effectiveness in its services and programs. One area of focus is the staff recruitment process. Several changes have been implemented and additional improvements are anticipated in the coming year.
Changes include:
Organization: Recruitment has begun efforts to move toward a more robust talent-management model. Lorea Belle Seidel is now the Director of Talent Management, and the new Talent Management Team is working to develop and implement a model that enables them to remove some of the administrative work around recruitment from hiring managers, reduce the amount of time needed to hire for a role, and to provide strategic staffing consultation to business units and schools.
Forms: HR has taken an initial step to consolidate forms by developing an interactive pdf form of the job description. HR continues to explore using interim technology tools to streamline forms while the IT and Finance initiatives consider larger technology solutions that could benefit recruitment and allow for work flow on forms. Once recommendations are received from those two initiatives, HR can move forward with planning further simplification of the hiring process for managers.
Process: HR developed a process that aims to reduce intake time on recruiting issues by allowing compensation work (titles, reclassifications, and compensation) and initial recruitment work (job posting, advertising plans) to begin at the same time. Once any changes to the position (title/classification/salary) have been approved, the job should be posted more quickly. In addition, the Talent Management Team has a goal of responding to hiring managers within 48 hours of receiving recruitment or reclassification requests.
Communications: HR is asking that all recruitment and/or reclassification inquiries be directed to the recruitu@smu.edu email box. This box is now monitored by multiple HR team members so that responses can be made to inquiries more quickly.
A: As we move to managed network printing as a cost-saving initiative, an inventory was taken of all printers on campus. As each printer was counted, it was tagged either with a red sticker (non-networked printer; personal desktop) or white (networked printer; group or community). The inventory of these printer groups will be used to ensure full printing coverage as we transition to a more efficient network printer solution at SMU.