Please note, due to the holidays, December paychecks will arrive on Monday, January 4. View UCLA’s paychart for more information.

December’s Holiday Dessert Faire was filled with music, merriment and plenty of sweets.

There was a heated competition among the floors in Franklin to win the title of best decorations. On Wednesday, President Yudof, Lynn Tierney, AVP Communications, and Ravinder Singh, research analyst and UCOP Staff Assembly Chair, made rounds to each floor to select their favorite.

The 6th floor came away the winners. With a focus on recycling, their decor included everything from wreaths made from old CDs and garland made from empty boxes of raisins.

The 7th and 10th floors tied for second place. Both of these floors had colorful Candy Land themes.

Enjoy the photos of the festivities below and have a happy holiday season!

Hot apple cider welcomed staff to work in the morning.

Volunteers from around UCOP served apple cider.

Lynn Tierney and President Yudof helped judge decorations.

The UCOP Singers sang carols throughout the day.

The UCOP Singers performed in the Franklin lobby in the morning and on the 7th, 8th and 12th floors in the afternoon.

Desserts served on the 7th floor fit right in with the Candy Land theme.

Colleagues visited as they ventured from floor-to-floor in the Franklin building.

Dr. Stobo, SVP of Health Sciences & Services and Vanessa Correa, Harry Mok and Donna Hemmila, all from Communications, look on as the UCOP Singers perform.

About 20 different desserts were served on various floors.

Colleagues from around UCOP rushed to taste sweets.

The 8th floor (Office of General Counsel) designed a beautiful display for desserts.

The UCOP Singers, led by Willie Archie, gave multiple performances.

The 12th floor welcomed guests to the President's conference room where they served a variety of fruit desserts.

President Yudof had a chance to talk with colleagues as he welcomed them to his conference room.

President Yudof presented Willie Archie with a certificate of appreciation for his 34 years of service at UCOP. Archie, who leads the UCOP Singers, will retire in February from his post as University Research Security Manager.

Tasty treats, festive décor and songs of merriment are just a sampling of what you can expect at this Wednesday’s UCOP holiday celebration.

What: Holiday Dessert Faire

Date: Wednesday, December 16

Time: 2:30-4:30

Location: Holiday desserts and beverages will be served in the lobby and on floors  7, 8 and 12 in the Franklin building. You’re invited to visit all floors in Franklin to check out holiday decorations and mingle with colleagues.

UCOP Singers: UCOP Singers will carol in the Franklin lobby from 8:15-9:00. The will also make their rounds in the Franklin building throughout the celebration.

Decorating Contest: Each floor in the Franklin building is encouraged to decorate for the holiday decorating contest. President Yudof and fellow colleagues will visit all seven floors in Franklin on Dec. 16 to judge the decor. Each floor has been assigned a person to help coordinate the decorating (list below). If you don’t work in the Franklin building, you’re encouraged to connect with a department or floor in Franklin to help decorate.  The most festive floor will get bragging rights, a certificate and be featured in Link. (And in case you haven’t seen, there are a few floors going all out.) Please note the decorating guidelines from Building Services below.

Floor Coordinators:

5^th Floor: Stan Kowalski, Claudia White, Mona Lee

6^th Floor: Marsha Sato, Geralyn Unterberg, Christine Brennan, Alicia Wilson, Cheryl Hyland, Venus Kirk, Charles Jackson

7^th Floor: Yvonne Tevis, Alexis Endicott

8^th Floor: Cate Hutton, Adrienne Witte

9^th Floor: Nina Robinson, Kristen Neal

10^th Floor: Karen Vecchi

11^th Floor: Jenny Gautier, Patricia Osorio-O’Dea, Linda Kane, Andrea Gerstenberger

12^th Floor: Cheryl Bennett, Jan Corlett, Brad Hayward

Holiday Decor Safety

• Only flame-retardant trees may be installed. Many local tree vendors are able to apply flame-retardant and tag trees accordingly.
• Place tree where it will not block exits, fire cabinets or safety equipment.
• Use grounded extension cords for holiday lights.
• Unplug holiday lights when unattended.
• Use flame-retardant decorations.
• Never hang decorations near ceiling lights.
• Burning candles in the building is prohibited.

For additional questions, please contact Doris Parham or Charles Jackson.

It’s been a year since the Business Resource Center formed, bringing together nearly 50 people from across UCOP with the task of creating an accountable, transparent and consistent system for processing purchase and payroll transactions.

In September, outside auditing firm PricewaterhouseCoopers took a look at the new controls and liked what it saw.

“They noted that there was a big improvement with the formation of the BRC,” said Accountability Manager Ginny Blumberg, one of six BRC team leaders who report to director Helen Valness.

In one short year, the department has achieved a lot. Not only did they get compliments for improving processing controls at UCOP from PricewaterhouseCoopers, but during that time, the department came together as a team, established consistent internal practices, and did it all without missing a beat.

Work didn’t stop to give people the chance to sit back, take a deep breath, and figure out in advance the best way to handle all the things that needed to be processed.

“The doors officially opened November 1, but we were working from the first minute,” said team leader Brad Niess. “There wasn’t that luxury of time.”

The new department had three immediate challenges. One was the unrelenting flow of transactions to process – the department handles roughly 3,000 in any given month, with the volume increasing dramatically around fiscal close.

Second, the new department members all had their own ways of doing things based on the organization and practices of their previous departments.  Third, many people at OP needed training on UC’s policies for documenting and approving financial transactions.

The BRC decided early on to approach these challenges as a team, documenting (“mapping”) and adjusting processes, training BRC staff, developing communications and outreach to the client departments, and establishing transaction protocols as a group, to ensure standard and consistent processing practices throughout the new department.

“The whole point was to standardize the transaction process and have good documentation,” said team leader Sharon Perry.
A big part of that was educating the various OP departments about how to conform to UC’s financial policies.

“We’ve taken that seriously, and really sought to make sure people know what we need,” said Blumberg, while also making sure customer needs are met.

“If you have something critical or urgent, let us know, and we’ll be right on it,”
said Supervisor Mark Lozano. “Responsibility for processing a transaction can be assigned to anyone on the team, and not just to one specific individual.”

Each team is identified by a color, but the team colors – purple, blue, gold, green, yellow and red – don’t have any special significance.

“They’re our favorite colors,” said purple team leader Gigi Stollar. “We chose colors instead of numbers or letters, so all the teams would be on the same level. All colors are equal.”

Valness attributes her department’s success to the formation of strong teams that work well, both within the teams and as a unified department.

“Everyone came in as strangers, but all of the teams have gelled really well,” she said, “Everyone is willing to pitch in wherever needed.”

The BRC is located on the 9th floor of the Franklin Building.  If you have questions about the BRC, UCOP transaction processing policies and practices, or specific transactions, you can drop by and ask in person.  Learn more by visiting the BRC website at www.ucop.edu/brc or you can email the department at: brc@ucop.edu.

Take the BRC customer satisfaction survey.