Audit of the University of Massachusetts Lowell Overview of Audited Entity

This section describes the makeup and responsibilities of the University of Massachusetts Lowell

Overview

The University of Massachusetts (UMass) Lowell is one of five campuses (Amherst, Boston, Dartmouth, Lowell, and the Chan Medical School in Worcester) in the UMass system. The UMass system was established under Section 1 of Chapter 75 of the Massachusetts General Laws and is overseen by a president. Each campus is overseen by a chancellor. The president and a 22-member board of trustees provide governance to the UMass system. UMass Lowell is a member of the Massachusetts public higher education system, which consists of 15 community colleges, nine state universities, and the five UMass campuses. It is located at 1 University Avenue in Lowell, with a satellite campus in Haverhill.

According to UMass Lowell’s website,

The chancellor works in close collaboration with the University of Massachusetts Trustees, the University of Massachusetts President’s Office, the UMASS Lowell faculty, staff and students as well as community leaders in government, business, education, and the nonprofit sector to ensure that the campus is a vital and engaged partner, an effective leader and a responsible steward of the state’s mission for public higher education.

During fiscal year 2021, UMass Lowell had a student population of approximately 14,855, a faculty employee population of 783, and a nonfaculty employee population of 999. During fiscal year 2021, UMass Lowell had $474,927,000 in revenue, which included $133,768,000 in state appropriations, and $463,883,000 in expenses.

According to UMass Lowell’s website,

The University of Massachusetts Lowell is a nationally ranked public research university committed to excellence in teaching, research and community engagement. We strive to prepare students to succeed in college and to become lifelong learners and informed citizens in a global environment. UMass Lowell offers affordable, experience-based undergraduate and graduate academic programs taught by internationally recognized faculty who conduct research to expand the horizons of knowledge and sustainable practices. The programs span and interconnect the disciplines of business, education, engineering, fine arts, health, humanities, sciences and social sciences. The university continues to build on its founding tradition of innovation, entrepreneurship and partnerships with industry and the community to address challenges facing the region and the world.

Unified Procurement Services Team

In January 2020, the UMass system established the Unified Procurement Services Team (UPST). According to the website for the Office of the President of the UMass system,

The Unified Procurement Services Team (“UPST”) is established and under the direction of the Chief Procurement Officer and is responsible for the implementation of the Standards applicable to the University’s campuses and the President’s Office. . . .

The Unified Procurement Services Team (UPST) was created to provide purchasing, accounts payable, bid execution (sourcing), contracts, and supplier management services to the University of Massachusetts and our partner/ supplier community. We are professionals gathered from all the various UMass campuses to provide high-quality service while driving transaction efficiency.

We manage an average of $1 billion in third-party spend annually, and 17,000+ suppliers/partners.

The UPST also administers the UMass Bank Card Program, which is described below, for the UMass system.

UMass Bank Card Program

The rollout of the UMass Bank Card Program started in October 2020 and finished in January 2021. This UMass Bank Card Program transitioned the UMass system away from using a procurement card administered through Citibank to using a bank card administered through U.S. Bank.

According to the UMass Bank Card Use Standard,

The purpose of the University of Massachusetts Bank Card program . . . is to offer a payment method for those vendors that do not accept a Purchase Order, a mechanism for emergency purchases, and a payment method in lieu of employee Travel reimbursement. . . . The UMass Bank Card is a commercial credit card. The card works in much the same way as your personal credit card except the monthly statement amount is paid for by the University. Each card has specific spending limits and card controls.

The UPST issues these bank cards to employees who are first approved by their UMass Lowell department supervisor or manager and have, according to the UMass Bank Card Use Standard, “a frequent need to make purchases on behalf of their department.”

After the transition from the procurement card to the bank card, the UMass Bank Card Program created a new process for reviewing cardholders’ bank statement reconciliations. Previously, for Citibank cardholders, the process consisted of submitting all reconciled bank statements and supporting documents¹ to UMass Lowell management, who then kept these documents on file. The new process for U.S. Bank cardholders is to upload all reconciled bank statements and supporting documents into the UMass system’s online bank card transaction repository.² According to the UMass Bank Card Use Standard, the steps the cardholder must take include the following.

1. After the cardholder reconciles their monthly bank statement, they fill out the bank card form in the UMass system’s online bank card transaction repository. This opens a requisition, which is a folder that contains any supporting documents, within the bank card transaction repository.
2. The cardholder then uploads the bank statement and any supporting documents to the requisition.
3. The cardholder submits their requisition to their UMass Lowell supervisor for approval. (Both of these actions occur in the bank card transaction repository.) The bank card transaction repository timestamps the requisition upon its submission. The requisition, which should be submitted within 30 days of the bank statement date, is considered complete after management approves it, at which time the bank card transaction repository timestamps the requisition again.

During the audit period, there were 511 UMass Lowell cardholders, whose spending on items and services totaled approximately $4.1 million.

Cybersecurity Awareness Training

UMass Lowell has a formal cybersecurity awareness training policy in place that requires all staff members to complete an initial cybersecurity awareness training upon hire and an annual refresher training thereafter. UMass Lowell provides cybersecurity awareness training through a web-based, third-party platform. UMass Lowell’s chief information security officer customizes the training to staff members based on their department and job responsibilities. The cybersecurity awareness training platform records and tracks the assignment and completion status of each staff member’s initial and annual cybersecurity awareness trainings.

1.   Supporting documents consist of various documents relevant to a particular reconciliation or transaction, such as invoices, receipts, purchase logs, travel authorizations, general ledger screenshots, etc.

2.   According to the UPST’s “Upload Bank Card Statement and Receipts in [the UMass system’s Online Bank Card Transaction Repository]” document, the bank card transaction repository is “for Bank Card transactions, statements, and receipts. Statements and supporting documents are archived within [the bank card transaction repository], where they are available as needed by the Department, Financial Services or Grants, and Auditors.”

Date published:	April 19, 2024