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Orientation for New Business and Finance Employees

Welcome

Office of the Assistant Vice President for Business and Finance, Urbana-Champaign

Welcome to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In your role as an employee with business and finance responsibilities, you will interact frequently with the staff in the Office of Business and Financial Services (OBFS). You will soon learn that OBFS is a large office with many departments and specialists in their fields. We are here to serve you and work with you to achieve the best outcomes for oversight of the business and financial management of the University's resources.

You will quickly get a sense of the complexity of the operations at the University and understand that we must comply with Federal, State, University, and Campus policies. In addition, your unit may have specific policies that you will need to know. As you gain experience and knowledge in all of the areas related to your position, you will become a valuable member of your unit and build your reputation for the future.

The Getting Started section of this site is a compilation of information useful when getting started in your role. We would like to emphasize a few things:

The OBFS organizational structure includes certain units with University-wide responsibility and others with campus-specific responsibilities. Regardless of these reporting lines, our office is here to assist you with questions you may have about any topic in business and financial services. We encourage you to start with the office that has the specific expertise you need; however, if you find yourself with an urgent or complex situation to handle, please contact our office, and we will help expedite a solution for you.

Our office works closely with the Business Managers Group (BMG) on this campus. The BMG is an independent organization, and their contact information is online at: https://wiki.illinois.edu//wiki/display/bmg/Business+Manager's+Group. We encourage you to consider joining that organization to attend helpful meetings and meet your colleagues who can also assist you in achieving success in your role.

The OBFS Web Site is a critical repository of information and the main communication tool used by OBFS units. You will appreciate the OBFS Training Center with a number of courses that are available (both web-based and in-person formats), and we encourage you to enroll in as many as possible and practice.

We hope to have the opportunity to meet you in person, and I wish you well in your new role. Our success in OBFS depends a great deal upon your success!

Sincerely,

Office of the Assistant Vice President for Business and Finance, Urbana-Champaign

Office of the Assistant Vice President for Business and Finance

Last Updated: January 9, 2019

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