Overview
Mobile technology is a collective term used to describe various types of cellular communication technology which includes cellular phones, smart phones, personal digital assistants, ipads and other similar devices. Provision of university funds for mobile technology must meet a general need of the university. Responsibility for determining whether mobile technology is available to staff in particular units is delegated to the vice presidents. The Dean, Director, Department and/or other Unit Head will next determine if a specific employee or job classification requires the use of university-sponsored Mobile Technology.
Before purchasing mobile technology equipment or initiating a recurring reimbursement payment, please verify all requirements and guidelines listed in the Access to Mobile Technology Policy have been satisfied. The Departmentally Processed Mobile Technology Access and Payment Option Request (MTAPOR) form must also be completed prior to any purchase of equipment or before an employee allowance is processed. To view the Agreement for Mobile Technology Access and Allowance see: Mobile Technology Agreement.
The MTAPOR form is the source payment documentation. In accordance with the Access to Mobile Technology policy, the MTAPOR form must be reviewed and renewed annually for each fiscal year. The current fiscal year rates are sent out on the BA News List each year. For the current fiscal year see: Fiscal Year 24 Mobile Technology Reimbursement rates and forms (MTAPOR):
Note: Any mobile technology cover, accessory, charger, replacement or upgrade of an employee owned mobile technology device may not be reimbursed or paid with university funds since the employee mobile technology allowance is intended to "cover all costs associated with the device and service" per the employee Mobile Technology Agreement.
Departmental Processing of Mobile Technology Payments
Due to the large volume of cell phone allowances and to facilitate more efficient processing, departments should process their own payments, if possible. A new electronic form has been developed to make it easier for departments to process their own cell phone allowances.
Each Department should assign one person to manage their department's MTAPOR (cell phone allowance) payments. Employees should know who to contact in their department if they have questions regarding their allowance. The MTAPOR form requires departmental contact information. Ideally, the departmental contact should serve as the originator for the forms and each form should be routed to the processor in the department for final processing. The MTAPOR form will need to be electronically signed by the processor. See: Departmentally Processed Mobile Technology Access and Payment Option Request (MTAPOR) form.
Each department can process the MTAPOR allowance by:
- Entering individual direct pay invoices into Banner use account code (22013) and commodity code (963) or
- By utilizing the invoice upload process to create monthly payments--if there are many payments to be issued. (This is a useful process to learn as it makes it easy to pay any type of recurring monthly payment).
If you do not have access to the upload process, contact the Accounts Payable Manager (Diane Carl) at ext. 6-4235 to discuss this option.
Please note:
- Payments can be set up for the current fiscal year only.
- Allowance payments should be scheduled for payment on the 27th of each month and they will either be paid on that date or the next scheduled AP payment issuance date.
- Employees can utilize DuckWeb to set up a Direct Deposit option for employee reimbursements.
- If you are the departmental processor, please allow adequate time for allowance processing (including vendor activation and time to enter allowance payment).
- The original Departmentally Processed Mobile Technology Access and Payment Option Request (MTAPOR) Form should be retained in the Department as payment documentation.
- The renewal period is each July 1st.
Signatures: As discussed in the Mobile Technology policy, individual units are best-suited to determine if specific jobs/employees require access to mobile technology. However, overall responsibility for divisional program management rests with the vice president for that division.
The Departmentally Processed Mobile Technology Access and Payment Option Request (MTAPOR) Form has spaces for three (3) electronically authorizing signatures (beyond the employee signature). For most circumstances, the signatories should be:
- Department Head/Director and Dean, or
- Department Head/Director and Vice Provost, or
- Department Head/Director and Vice President
- Department Processor (by adding your department processor's email address to the form, the final routing of the form will be to the department processor for electronic signature and processing).
If certain delegations of authority exist, and are documented, for invoice/expenditure approval, then those delegations do apply to this form. For example, if a Vice President has formally delegated signature authority for invoice approval to his/her Chief of Staff, then that delegation carries forward to this form. See: Mobile Technology - Clarification
For any other questions about processing The Departmentally Processed Mobile Technology Access and Payment Option Request (MTAPOR) Forms or payments, please contact Carmela Kortum at ext. 6-3126.
For details on Information Services ending Telecom's cellular phone support service (on June 30, 2017) see Information Services Cellular Account Management link.