General observations:

1. Payments procedures and workflow, while heavily influenced by state requirements, are also dictated by the CARL system's characteristics and capabilities. LIMS3 is anticipated to have a great impact that will definitely change current procedures.
2. Payments are very detail-oriented and extremely labor intensive.
3. Payments processes are done mainly in the Business Section composed of: one LT III (Supervisor), one Library Technician II, two Library Technician I's, and one FTE student assistant. Serials payment staff include one Library Technician II and one Library Technician I.
4. Due to the deadlines imposed by state requirements, staff find this to be very stressful work. There is little to no margin for error.
5. Because of the highly structured workflow demanded by state requirements, any loss of staff significantly impacts the efficiency of the payment process and its ability to meet campus and state deadlines.
6. When the University or State payment system changes, the change also affects the Acquisitions payment workflow

Suggestions for improvement and parking lot issues:

1. Tracing checks would be made more efficient by the ability to directly access the State payment records instead of having to go through the Accounts Payable office.
2. Reduce the number of returns or make the return process more efficient.
3. Stop payment procedures are unclear once the process leaves the library. Documentation of campus/state procedures would be helpful.
4. Detailed payment procedures past the campus stage are unclear. Documentation would be helpful to understand campus/state-caused delays in payments.
5. It would be helpful in LIMS3 to have one record with the ability to see all activity, how it was received, paid, etc.
6. All information needed to authorize payment on one report to review, with flags to identify problems.
7. Procedures should be updated on the Acquisitions home page.
8. With the change in budget numbers, the Business Section (which handles payments) needs all information on one listing rather than flipping through several lists. Perhaps an easily up-dated list could be mounted on the Acquisitions web page.
9. Vendor records should be kept in a database with each field being searchable.
10. Vendor address should be free text with enough field space(s) to accommodate foreign addresses.
11. All Acquisitions staff should be provided with timely information regarding changes in accounts payable.
12. Have the ability to directly access the State vendor list, probably read-only.
13. On Faxon tape loaded invoices, with calendar year coverage, the invoices load cleanly. With any deviation from calendar year, blank spaces and slashes are loaded in the coverage field, thus requiring corrections that need to be done by hand. Can this glitch be fixed?
14. Waiting for authorization to pay electronic invoices takes too long. Can this step be omitted?
15. No payment statistics are kept on a regular basis. Should there be? What statistics should be reported, how often, and to what end?
16. Implementing LIMS III will produce a learning curve as workflows change. Retraining staff as well as documenting the new procedures will be of paramount importance.