ESG_Power_Apps_Project_Elements_(2).pdf

ESG Power Apps Project Elements

Contract

A non-profit will sign a one-year contract with the City of Pittsburgh to receive reimbursements up to a specific dollar amount for HUD-approved homelessness support expenses. There is a unique number assigned to each contract. Some non-profits have multiple, concurrent contracts. During the one year contract period, the non-profit will submit a monthly reimbursement request where they detail the amount of money spent on specific elements of homelessness support and provide documentation for the dollar amount they are claiming (line items). In other words, a single contract will have multiple reimbursement requests up to a pre-established dollar amount for the active period of the contract. The unique ID of a contract is assigned by the City of Pittsburgh Controller’s Office, and can be accessed through the JDE application (and could be extracted to a spreadsheet). The contract ID is a required field that the vendor will be identified by moving through the workflow. The contact info for the

Contract/Non-Profit could also be found in JDE. A non-profit should only view and eddit their own contracts/reimbursement requests and no others.

Reimbursements

Each reimbursement request must be tied to a contract so the total amount of money approved on that contract can be tracked by both the non-profit and the approvers. Each reimbursement request under a single contract must have a unique ID. It would be preferable for each reimbursement request to have a unique ID across the system, depending on what would be easiest for best practice and issue tracking.

All reimbursement requests for the same contract should be together and co-located with supporting documents. They should be able to submit multiple files per line item. When a reimbursement request is submitted, it must go through a series of approvals by the City of Pittsburgh Office of Management and

Budget (OMB). Therefore, the submission of a reimbursement request will kick off the workflow. There should be a fail-safe for the case where the reimbursement to be submitted exceeds the ceiling of the contract. The non-profit should receive an error message informing them of this, and it should prevent submission of the request (but allow the request to be edited until under the ceiling of the contract).

A reimbursement request is an itemized list that must be approved line-by-line. The documentation for each line item must be provided. There are categories and subcategories for itemization, see the table below. It is possible for there to be multiple entries under the same category and subcategory (Example:

Multiple utility bills like gas and electric, etc.)

Reimbursement Categories (36 unique subcategories)

Type of Assistance Category Sub-Category Budgeted

Amount

Homelessness Prevention Financial Assistance Rental Application Fees

Security Deposit

Last Month's Rent

Moving Costs

Motel Stays

Utility Deposits

Utility Payments

Other Costs (Agency and Consultant

Salaries and Fringe)

Project Management)

Subtotal - Financial Assistance $ -

Services Agency and Consultant Salaries and

Fringe

Legal Services

Subtotal - Services $ -

Rental Assistance Short-Term

Medium-Term

Rental Arrears

Utility Arrears

Subtotal - Rental Assistance $ -

TOTAL –

Homelessness

Prevention

Rapid Re-Housing Assistance Financial Assistance Rental Application Fees

Security Deposit

Last Month's Rent

Moving Costs

Utility Deposits

Utility Arrears

Utility Payments

Subtotal - Financial Assistance $ -

Services Agency and Consultant Salaries and

Fringe

Other Costs (Agency and Consultant

Project Management)

Legal Services

Subtotal - Services $ -

Rental Assistance Short-Term

Medium-Term

Rental Arrears

Subtotal - Rental Assistance $ -

TOTAL - Rapid

Rehousing Assistance

Homeless Management

Information System (HMIS)

TOTAL - HMIS HMIS $ -

Workflow

The workflow is the approval process for a single reimbursement request. The OMB Planner is the liaison between the Non-Profit and the rest of staff involved in the approvals process. By law, the City of

Pittsburgh must respond to all reimbursement requests within 30 days. The portion of the process that this workflow covers is completed by OMB. The later part of the process is completed by the Controller’s

Office. Since the later part of the process takes on average 5 days, this workflow must occur within 25 days. Any line items that have not been approved within the 25-day period will automatically be

REJECTED, so that the rest of the line items can move forward. At the 25-day mark, there will be an auto-close of the workflow: whatever items that have been approved will move to Step 7, all other items will be marked REJECTED with the reason, “APPROVAL TIMEOUT”.

STEP ONE: The OMB Planner is the first to review the reimbursement request. When a reimbursement request is submitted, an email is sent to the OMB Planner. This email should only allow for the OMB

Planner to review the reimbursement request form. Each individual line item must be reviewed by the

OMB Planner. The City would like the states of “APPROVAL”, “REJECTION”, and “ISSUE” to happen line-by-line on the reimbursement request. No line items should be in the ISSUE state when the Entire

Request advances to review by the OMB Financial Team.

The REJECTION of a line item should be accompanied by a note that explains why it was rejected

The ISSUE of a line item by an OMB Planner should initiate a conversation between the Non-

Profit Representative and the OMB Planner, after which the OMB Planner can choose to either

APPROVE or REJECT the line item. Information on what informed the change to either APPROVE or REJECT must be provided.

STEP TWO: After each line is reviewed, the OMB Planner can then Approve the Entire Request and advance it to the Financial Planner

STEP THREE: The OMB Financial Planner will go through the same line-by-line items (even those rejected by the OMB Planner). The OMB Financial Planner will also have the actions of “APPROVAL”, “REJECTION”, and “ISSUE” for each line-by-line on the request form. No line items should be in the ISSUE state when the Entire Request is approved by the OMB Financial Teammate and advances to the OMB

Manager.

The REJECTION of a line item should be accompanied by a note that explains why it was rejected.

The ISSUE of a line item by the OMB Financial Teammate should initiate a conversation between the OMB Financial Teammate and the OMB Planner. The OMB Planner may need to reach out to the Non-Profit Representative as part of this conversation. After which the OMB Financial

Teammate can choose to either APPROVE or REJECT the line item, and should include information on the decision either way.

STEP FOUR: After each line is reviewed, the OMB Financial Planner can then Approve the Entire Request and advance it to the OMB Manager.

STEP FIVE: The OMB Manager will go through the same line-by-line items (even those rejected by the

OMB Fiscal Team). The OMB Manager will also have the actions of “APPROVAL”, “REJECTION”, and

“ISSUE” for each line-by-line on the request form. No line items should be in the ISSUE state when the

Entire Request is approved by the OMB Financial Teammate and advances to the Controllers Office.

The REJECTION of a line item should be accompanied by a note that explains why it was rejected.

The ISSUE of a line item by the OMB Manager should initiate a conversation between the OMB

Fiscal Team Member and the OMB Manager. The OMB Planner may need to reach out to the

Non-Profit Representative as part of this conversation. After which the OMB Manager can choose to either APPROVE or REJECT the line item, and should include information on the decision either way.

STEP SIX: A package of information should be prepared to handoff the reimbursement request. The Non-

Profit will also receive a copy of this package for their records. The package includes the following items:

1. Cover/Batch Sheet

2. DI which details the subrecipient, summarizes the expense amount and appropriate account line number

3. The requisition form with subrecipient signature

STEP SEVEN: A package of information should be shared via SharePoint to the Controller’s Office Team

(ending our workflow).

Workflow Team

There are three groups within OMB that are a part of this approvals process: the OMB Planners, the

OMB Financial Planners, and the OMB Administrators. Ideally, the same OMB Planner would be assigned to every reimbursement request related to a single contract to maintain a consistent point of contact and working relationship. This is the same case for the OMB Financial Planners. The OMB Admin team will have two roles: they will be a part of an escalation when there is a major issue or delay in the workflow, and they will reassign the other Teams on jobs as needed.

Planners: Amanda Rineer, Brandon Wilson, Jody Davin, Kelly Russell, Megan McElhaney, Joshua Rolon

Fiscal Team: Michael Knight, David Hutchinson

Administrators: Elizabeth Daniels-Totten, Whitney Finnstrom, Kevin Pawlos, David Hutchinson

Are they grouped under office 365?

These groups will receive a reminder to their Inbox when item(s) have been sitting in their queue for more than 48 hours. The reminder email will detail some identifiable factors about the request(s) that need addressing.

Dashboards

The Dashboards have 3 purposes: to allow for the non-profit to update their Contact information, to allow the non-profit to see an overview of all their contracts, and to allow the non-profit to monitor the approval process of individual reimbursement requests.

The Home dashboard will pull static data like the Contract Unique ID, the Total Approval Amount, and the Start and End Dates. The dynamic information will be the total amount of money approved from the reimbursement requests that are tied to the contract.

The Contract dashboard will have progress tracking for all reimbursement requests tied to the contract.

Any action that needs to be taken on an issue with a line item will be noted here. The progress of the approval, the date of submission, and the ability to start a new request will also feature here

There will be action buttons on the two dashboards that allow for updating the non-profits' contact information, starting a new request, reaching out to their OMB Planner liaison, and potentially a resource library.