Happenings
Division 54 Announces 2023 Fourth Quarter Award Winners
Coach of the Quarter
Heather DeRita, accounting supervisor in Accounts Receivable, is the Division 54 fourth quarter Coach of the Quarter for 2023. An organized and positive leader, Heather offers her team stability and encouragement. She is knowledgeable and explains subjects in simple, easy-to-understand terms. Known for her calm demeanor, Heather is approachable and receptive to other’s ideas and generous with her time and knowledge. She leads by example and inspires staff to work as a team and strive to achieve company goals. Her focus is on the customer and providing them with superior service.
Associate of the Month – October
Division 54 is recognizing Lori Young as Associate of the Month for October. An accounting technician III in Accounts Receivable, Lori is known for being friendly, responsive and willing to help her teammates, even on her busiest days. She is reliable, consistently meets her goals and on several occasions has helped train team members. Always willing to help, Lori is often the first to volunteer to work overtime when the need arises.
Associate of the Month – November
The November Associate of the Month is Janelle Lantz, an accounting technician II in General Ledger Accounting. Since joining the department five years ago, Janelle has become an integral part of the team. She consistently meets deadlines, is happy to help her teammates and has a positive attitude. Her team can count on her to get the job done correctly. In addition to being reliable, Janelle is the go-to person for certain types of research questions and has contributed to process improvement initiatives.
Associate of the Month – December
Susan Singletary, accounting technician II in Voluntary Refunds, is Associate of the Month for December. Susan’s primary responsibility is quality control reviews, ensuring request records are accurate and complete prior to their electronic submission for processing. Susan reviews an average of 340 records per month with a high level of accuracy helping to ensure the department consistently meets its goals. She helps train new staff and continues to support their knowledge and skill development as they grow in their new roles. Susan is always willing to answer questions and explain complex topics. In addition to her quality control skills, she is valued for her efficiency, creativity and adaptability, which help her respond quickly when challenges arise.
Team of the Quarter
Debt Collection and Debt Referral Team
Team members: Aaron Arnold, Virginia Barrett, Sharon Brunson, Iris Green, Austin Hall, Stewart Harmon, Christy Hopper, Jacqueline Jackson, Julie Peel and Sanitra Rembert
The Debt Collection and Debt Referral team earned Team of the Quarter because of their dedication to providing superior customer service. Both customers and Palmetto GBA management have sent this team letters of praise noting their thorough and thoughtful performance and quick response times. Their exceptional performance is a byproduct of their teamwork and practice of sharing responsibility. The team members take turns leading and taking minutes during weekly meetings. This helps them stay on track with their goals, ensure work processes are covered and maintain open communication for feedback, questions and recommendations. Their commitment to collaboration and ability to adapt to changes and challenges ensured that they met all performance goals and received no audit findings during 2023.
Process Improvement of the Quarter
New Cognos Travel Report
Team members: Shawuana Brown, Denise Dearing, Naketia Goodman, Harper Shull, Bodeana Skinner and Keith Warnick
Division 54’s fourth quarter Process Improvement of the Quarter significantly reduced the amount of time it takes accountants to reconcile travel reports with invoices. Prior to this improvement the system-generated travel reports often did not include correct and complete information. As a result, accountants spent on average more than two hours searching for the needed data for each report. To improve the process, the team modified the parameters of the data to be pulled for the reports to include the required data. Now accountants spend on average less than an hour reconciling each report and invoice and spend 216 fewer hours reconciling travel reports with invoices each year.
