Brock’s Finance Department had a podium finish in the 2017 Quality & Productivity Awards, given by the Canadian Association of University Business Officers (CAUBO). Brock won third prize in the nation-wide event for achieving operational effectiveness.

Brock’s feat was to move its payment processing to a third party (Scotiabank), which helped the University avoid risks or delays in a range of important transactions from student refunds to expense reimbursements to supplier invoices. In doing so, Brock became the first institution in Canada to adopt e-transfer (sending money via e-mail) to students for account balance refunds, scholarships and fellowships.

As a result of the change, the full-time clerk formerly responsible for printing and mailing cheques was redeployed to other areas of need, the number of cheques processed by Brock was cut in half, and the cost savings contributed to the University achieving a balanced budget for 2017-18.

Josh Tonnos, Brock’s Associate Vice-President of Financial Services, said the advance was made possible because of the Workday Finance system that the University moved to last year.

“On May 1, 2016 we implemented a new way of processing student refunds by e-transfer,” said Tonnos. “Student preferences are evolving with technology, and Brock is committed to providing services to our students that exceed their expectations. Look for more evolutions and efficiencies as we continue to unlock the value within our new systems”.