A Payroll Advisory Team was formed earlier this year to bring ORS, school employers and vendors together to look specifically at the retirement reporting process. The team meets quarterly, and has met twice this year (February and May of 2007). The purpose of the team is as follows:
• Collaborate with employers/vendors on customer service initiatives and priorities
• Discuss the impact and test new solutions before implementing changes to reporting process
A few of the exciting things that have been worked on together by the team to put into production so far are:
- Wage Code 09 opened up for "all wages without hours" instead of just being able to use for "longevity"; Went into effect May 1, 2007
- Extended access for employer reporting web site; Have extended access for a number of weekends. Have also extended the weekday start time from 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m. Additional times and dates expected to come in the fall of this year.
- New electronic TDP agreement submission (FTP - file transfer protocol) to replace diskette process expected to be in place no later than September 4, 2007.
The new team includes employees from reporting unit payroll offices, payroll software vendors, a Michigan School Business Official (MSBO) representative, and Office of Retirement Services (ORS) representatives. To ensure cross-representation, the reporting units selected for the team include:
• Different payroll vendors
• Representation from small as well as large reporting units
• Members from geographic locations across the state
• K-12, ISD and University representatives