The Telecommunications Office maintains the telephone services for the campus community, including desktop and residential telephones. There are no charges for on-campus telephone calls. For faculty and staff, the College funds telephone services centrally and there are no charge backs to individuals or departments for work related telephone calls.

Faculty and staff who make off-campus calls from their desktop telephones and receive a monthly statement must read and certify the “Acknowledgement of College Telephone Policy” on their monthly invoice.

Purchase College provides employees with the use of desk telephones for official College related business. Access to telephone services – and the type of service to be provided (Local, Tri-State, Regional) - is provided at the discretion of their unit supervisor. Outbound calls for desk telephones can be limited to on-campus calling only, local (NYC Metro area) calling only, and in appropriate cases, nationwide and international calling.

Business / Personal Calls Defined
Business calls are telephone calls that are necessary to accomplish your job or professional activities. A call home to communicate a change in the status of your State work schedule (e.g. that you must work late because of unscheduled overtime or offices are closing due to a blizzard) is also considered a business call. Any other call that is not related to your professional activities on behalf of Purchase College, local or long distance is considered to be a personal call.

New York State Executive Order #1, issued January 18th 2007: State telephones may not be used for non-governmental long-distance calls, other than toll-free calls, collect calls and calls billed to a personal account. State telephones may be used for incidental and necessary personal calls, limited in number and duration, which do not interfere with an employee’s public duties.

Faculty and staff who make off-campus calls from their desktop telephones must read and acknowledge the College Telephone Policy listed below. All College employees must review and certify their monthly statement.

This policy describes the assignment, use and management of desk and cell telephones by employees of Purchase College, State University of New York.

All College employees must read and certify the “Acknowledgement of Desktop and Cellular Telephone Policy” on their monthly statement. 

State Audit Procedures

Due diligence is required of all supervisors and employees to ensure that employees respect and adhere to these telephone policies and procedures. State auditors have identified telephone usage as an area of potential high risk / exposure. When State auditors perform reviews of Telecommunications equipment and telephone usage, they look for areas of abuse or misuse.

Included are calls made

1) After hours late night,

2) For long periods of time,

3) To high risk area codes, (Area Codes 900, 809, 284, etc.)

4) On weekends,

5) During holidays, and

6) To frequently called numbers for excessive periods of time.

Desktop Telephone Policy

All supervisors are responsible for monitoring telephone usage within their units. Supervisors shall determine what type of telephone access is required for each employee. Desktop telephone equipment will be provided by Campus Technology Services. Monthly statements for desktop phones are paid by the College, and invoice will be sent to faculty/staff for review. The unit’s supervisor will have the ability to review usage and compliance within their unit where appropriate.

Unit supervisors are responsible for reviewing the all statements and to ensure that all invoices are certify for the desktop phone assigned to each employee. Supervisors are responsible for making sure that personnel within their unit are aware of and in compliance with this policy, and that actual telephone usage within their units falls within appropriate parameters. Each employee is responsible for reviewing his or her desktop telephone usage, and for reimbursing the College for personal calls as appropriate per the guidelines contained in Executive Order 1 (See P. 3). The unit supervisor will monitor and correct excessive telephone usage - both in terms of financial expense and the amount of time spent on the phone.

I. Desktop Phone Reimbursements

All employees assigned a desktop telephone must review/certify their monthly invoice regardless of whether reimbursement is due or not [See Attachment C].

Pay Invoices by credit card online.

1. Default is total amount due. Partial invoice payments are allowed, with any remaining balance carried forward to the next invoice.
2. To pay an invoice, the TBS system asks for: Name on Card, Card #, Expiration Date (MM/YYYY) amount, zip code.  
3. To avoid processing credit card transactions for tiny amounts of money, if your balance due for a monthly invoice is less than $5.00, that balance due amount due will be rolled forward to the next time a new invoice is generated. 
4. Payments are processed through a secure PCI-DSS Compliant 3rd party payment gateway – no credit card information is ever stored on any College servers.
5. Once payment authorization is received, the invoice is marked paid.
6. An Email confirmation of payment is sent to Faculty/Staff/.

Telephone Billing System (TBS)

The Telephone Billing System (TBS) is a self-service web application for faculty, staff, and rental clients who are receiving telephone service. The system allows you to review telephone usage, file the required monthly certification of work/personal calls, and pay personal telephone usage charges online.

For supervisors the system provides the ability to review usage and compliance within their unit.

The TBS system collects call detail data from our telephone system – the number called, date, time, call duration etc. and generates monthly telephone invoices for college employees and rental clients based on the telephone extensions assigned to them.

As each new monthly invoice is posted, an individual email notification will be sent to each faculty, staff, and rental client receiving telephone service from the College.

Faculty, staff, and rental clients can use the TBS to:

 View paid an unpaid invoices

• Review detailed call history by monthly invoice  (Extension, day/time, #called, city, state, charge) 
• Complete the required monthly certification of personal/work-related calls (employees.)
• For office phone extensions, a check box to identify personal/work is provided for each call.
• For work-related calls, amount is subtracted from amount due.
• Rental clients (including staff/faculty phones in residential apartments) do not have the option to declare work/personal calls, and are expected to pay the invoice in full.

Calling Cards

As an alternative to reimbursing the College for personal calls, we encourage employees to consider using their personal calling cards when they make personal calls. Whether you use a calling card or not, all employees are still required to certify their monthly statement [see Attachment C].

Desk Telephone Controls

To comply with State Regulations, the following controls have been implemented to guard against misuse of State telephones for non-State and personal calls.

1. Each month, CTS sends a statement of local and long distance telephone calls, by extension, to faculty/staff to their purchase email address. Supervisors are expected to review the statement of their staff, ensuring invoices are review and certify for personal/business related telephone calls as appropriate per the guidelines contained in Executive Order 1 (See P. 3).
2. In addition, CTS monitors telephone activity reports for detection of abuse. If, in the monitoring process conditions arise that cause concern, the Director of Campus Technology Services will bring the issue to the Unit Supervisor suggesting that the Supervisor review the activity with the employee involved and ensure the college is reimburse for personal phone calls as appropriate per Executive Order 1 (See P. 3).
3. All telephone activity using desktop or College-owned cellular phones is subject to audit procedures at any time.
4. All College employees must review their statement [Attachment C] each month to certify that the calls made were for official College business and that the charges are just and proper. The monthly statement must identify any personal phone calls that were made. To avoid processing credit card transaction for small amounts of money, if balance due for a monthly invoice is less than $5.00. The balance due and amount due will be rolled forwarded to the next invoice. All charges includes actual cost of all personal calls as appropriate per the guidelines contained in Executive Order 1 (See P. 3).

II. CTS handling of Telephone Reimbursements

Campus Technology Services will processes telephone reimbursements as follows:

1. Since individual College units are not charged for telephone usage, reimbursements for personal calls made using Desktop Telephones will be deposited into the CTS Telecommunications IFR account to offset the cost of providing telephone service to the campus.
2. If it is a reimbursement for personal calls made on a College-owned Cellular Telephone which is paid by the unit through its procurement card, CTS and Purchasing will issue a quarterly “Refund of Appropriation” to credit the state or IFR account that the cell phone is charged against.

III. Cellular Telephone Policy

Purchase College recognizes that it is important for key service personnel and administrators to be available 24x7x365 so that they are accessible in the event of emergency, off-hours, or while they are working in the field.

Purchase College provides two options for employees who fall into that category:

• Option 1:A College-owned cell phone charged to the Unit Supervisor’s Procurement Card
• Option 2: A Quarterly reimbursement allowance to defray the ongoing cost of official College business calls made from a personally owned cell phone. 

Quarterly-Cell-Reimbursement-Request

If a supervisor determines that an employee has a need for a cellular phone, the College encourages the use of Option 2, a reimbursement allowance. The College makes this recommendation due to the time involved in tracking personal calls, ensuring that monthly paperwork and reimbursements are submitted in a timely manner, and due to the overhead and audit requirements associated with College-owned phones.

Appropriate Use of Cell Phones

Cell phones should NOT be used as a replacement for a desktop telephone. Calls made using a cell phone are significantly more expensive than calls made using desktop land lines. Use a desktop phone whenever possible, and only use the cell phone when no desk telephone is available.

When you are trying to contact someone, call the desk telephone number first before resorting to the cell number.

Assigned cellular telephones should be used for official business-related activities. Personal use of an assigned unit shall be occasional, incidental, or for emergencies.

Each employee assigned a cellular telephone shall be primarily responsible for the security and maintenance of the unit, and must immediately report theft, loss or vandalism.

The responsibility for assigned cellular telephones cannot be transferred to another employee. When an employee to whom a cellular telephone has been assigned terminates employment, the unit must be returned to their supervisor in appropriate working condition, prior to the employee’s last day at work.

Cellular Telephone Use While Driving

It is illegal to operate a motor vehicle in New York State while using a cell phone without a hands-free device. New York State strongly encourages its employees not to use hand-held cellular telephones while driving a motor vehicle, and to use care while using any cellular telephone while driving.

Cell Phone Controls

Any employee assigned a College-owned cellular telephone or who receives a reimbursement allowance for his or her personal cell phone and who fails to comply with the State University’s desk/cellular telephone policy may have her or his privileges suspended or revoked and may be subject to disciplinary action.

1. If it is determined that call volume does not warrant the expense of the cell phone, the unit supervisor may terminate the reimbursement authorization or ask the employee to return the College-owned phone at any time.
2. If cellular telephone usage is extremely high and not due to excessive personal calls, their supervisor may contact the service provider and upgrade the service plan.
3. Each College Officer/Supervisor must annually re-authorize all employees who are receiving a reimbursement allowance for a personally-owned cell phone. This reauthorization must accompany the supervisor’s estimated encumbrance for cell phone reimbursement allowances at the start of each fiscal year. (See P. 8)

College-Owned Cell Phone Inventory

The Director of CTS will maintain a current inventory of all College-owned cell phones. This inventory will include manufacturer, model, calling plan, telephone number, and the name of the employee to whom it is assigned.

Option 1: College-Owned Cellular Phones

The acquisition of cellular telephones and service plans shall be in accordance with the State University of New York Administrative Procedures Manual Item 300 Purchasing and Contract Procedures. The equipment and billing for cell phones will be charged to each unit’s procurement card.

Supervisors may request College-owned cellular telephones for specific employees where there is a demonstrable need for immediate or off-hours access. This is typically for service personnel who are in the field and away from their desk, on call during non-business hours, or for key supervisory personnel.

All requests for cell phones must be made and approved in writing by the sector Officer using the “Cell Phone Authorization Form” [See Attachment A]. The Cell Phone Authorization Form requires a brief justification for assignment of the instrument, specifies what type of service(s) are needed (Voice/text/data), the calling plan to be provided, and the type of cellular instrument to be provided.

An annual roster of campus cell phones will be provided to each College Officer for review. Each College Officer will review his or her roster periodically to ensure compliance with this policy.

To Obtain a College-owned Cellular Phone for an Employee

1. The employee’s supervisor will submit a “College Cell Phone Authorization Form” [See Attachment A] to the appropriate College Officer, who must sign the form before a cellular phone can be purchased and assigned to the staff member.
2. The College Officer will notify the requestor and CTS that an authorization for a cell phone or reimbursement allowance has been approved and to whom.
3. The supervisor will contact CTS and provide their Procurement Card information to purchase the device and service plan. Since there are many different types of instruments available, the supervisor should also indicate how much they want to allow for the initial purchase of the instrument.

Billing for College-owned Cell Phones

Monthly bills for College-owned cellular phones will be automatically charged to each unit’s Procurement Card.

Verizon Wireless and Nextel Communications have set up Web sites for employees and their supervisors to review detailed monthly billing information. CTS will provide an ID/Password to each supervisor and employee for access to the appropriate Web site.

All employees with College-owned cellular phones and supervisors who authorize College-owned cellular phones for their employee(s) are required to review the monthly statements to ensure that the utilization is appropriate.

Employees with College-owned Cellular Phones must submit a Monthly College-Owned Cellular Telephone Usage Statement [Attachment D] to The Telecommunications Office SS0007 certifying that the calls made were for official College business and that the charges are just and proper. The monthly statement must identify any and all personal phone calls that were made using the cell phone, and the submittal must include a reimbursement to the College for personal calls as appropriate per the guidelines contained in Executive Order 1 (See P. 3) at a rate of $0.45 per minute.

Reimbursement checks should be made payable to “Purchase College, State University of New York” and forwarded to the CTS Office in the basement of the Social Science Building SS0025.

Please note that a Monthly College-Owned Cellular Telephone Usage Statement must be submitted whether any reimbursement is due or not.

Option 2: Quarterly Reimbursement Allowance for Personally-Owned Cell Phones

Supervisors may request that specific employees receive a monthly allowance for their personally owned cellular phones where there is a demonstrable need for immediate or off-hours access. This is typically for service personnel who are either on call during non-business hours, in the field and away from their desk, or for key supervisory personnel.

The personally-owned cell phone must be for the exclusive use of the employee, and in his or her possession at all times. Recognizing the prevalence of “Family Plans” that are often held in the name of a significant other, the personal account does not need to be in the employee’s name, as long there is a cell phone instrument for her or his exclusive use.

Participants in the reimbursement allowance program will receive quarterly reimbursement checks through the Purchasing and Accounts Payable office. Participants must submit a copy of their monthly cell phone bill to the Purchasing Office to obtain their quarterly reimbursement allowance.

This submittal is the Personal Cell Telephone Reimbursement Request Form [Attachment E] along with the cover page of the monthly statements showing the employees name, phone number, and statement date. The submittal is intended to demonstrate that the individual still has the phone in active service, it does not need to (and should not) include the detailed call log portion of the monthly statement.

To obtain a Cell Phone Reimbursement Allowance for an employee

1. Each fiscal year the employee’s supervisor will submit a “Cell Phone Reimbursement Allowance Request Form” [See Attachment B] specifying for what services (Voice/Text/Data) the employee is to receive a reimbursement for. The form must be approved and signed by the appropriate College Officer.
2. The College Officer will notify the requesting supervisor that an authorization for a cell phone or reimbursement allowance has been approved and to whom.
3. The supervisor will ask the employee to read and sign the ‘College Cellular Phone Use Policy.’ [Attachment B]
4. At the start of each Fiscal Year, the unit supervisor will submit to the Purchasing Office:
5. A Purchase Requisition for “Estimated Encumbrance for Cellular Telephone Services” to cover the cost of all cellular phone reimbursements for their unit
6. Attached to the Requisition must be a copy of the fully executed annual Personal Cell Telephone Reimbursement/Allowance Form for each employee who is authorized to receive a reimbursement.
7. Supervisors are NOT expected to review monthly statements for employees who choose the Monthly Allowance option for a personally owned cellular phone. However, supervisors are expected to periodically assess whether the monthly allowance continues to be appropriate in each case where it is granted.

Obtaining Quarterly Reimbursement Allowance checks

The Purchasing and Accounts Payable Office will issue quarterly reimbursement checks (the maximum reimbursement frequency) for employees authorized to receive a cell phone allowance. Reimbursements will not be entertained for any statement submitted more than 12 months after the service was provided (the minimum reimbursement frequency).

To obtain a quarterly reimbursement employees must submit a copy of the Personal Cell Telephone Reimbursement Request Form [Attachment E] to the Purchasing and Accounts Payable Office along with the cover page of each monthly cell phone statement showing the date of service, carrier, subscriber name, address, and cell phone number. Regardless of the amount due, the employee will receive the standard reimbursement rate authorized by their supervisor for each monthly cell phone bill that is submitted. The check will be made payable to the authorized employee and mailed to his or her home address.

Monthly Cellular Telephone Usage Statements are NOT required for employees using the Reimbursement Allowance Option. However, supervisors are encouraged to regularly assess whether reimbursement continues to be appropriate throughout the year and supervisors have the right to terminate reimbursement allowances at any time for any reason.

Acknowledgement of College Telephone Policy

Purchase College / State University of New York

Users of College-owned desk and cellular telephones must read, understand, and comply with the Purchase College State University of New York Desk and Cellular Telephone Policy. By using the telephone, you agree to comply with all rules, regulations, and policies of Purchase College and any applicable local, state, federal and international laws, guidelines, and regulations. This responsibility exists regardless of what monitoring mechanisms may be in place. Violation of these policies may lead to suspension, loss of service or privilege, and may lead to even more serious sanctions.

Do not consider desk or cellular telephone bills private or secure because the bill contains your name and billing address. Purchase College, State University of New York has the right to monitor telephone bills and usage to determine if misuse or abuse exists.

Users must review their desk and cellular telephone bills and remit reimbursements for any personal calls at the end of each quarter.

Payments [check or money order] made payable to Purchase College for desk/cellular telephone reimbursement should relate to the monthly period for which the reimbursement applies and should be accompanied by the Purchase College, State University of New York Desk/Cellular Telephone Monthly Reimbursement Report.

Desk or Cellular telephones may not be used to defame, harass, intimidate or threaten any other person(s).

Do not allow others to use your phone, as you will be ultimately responsible for payment of charges.

 

Purchase College / State University of New York

College-owned cellular phones should NOT be used as a replacement for a desktop telephone. Calls made using a cellular phone are significantly more expensive than calls made using desktop land lines. College-owned cellular phones are only to be assigned to employees where either:

1. a) The employee must be accessible and normally works in the field and is not near a fixed land line
2. b) The employee is engaged in providing a critical or emergency service for the College community and must be accessible at all times

I,  authorize to receive a state-owned (Supervisor’s name) (Employee’s name) cellular telephone for their use in conducting official business for Purchase College. I have communicated the College’s policy governing the use of cellular telephones to him/her, and he/she has agreed to comply with the policy.

The employee has agreed to reimburse the College at the end of each month for any personal calls made using this cellular phone at the rate of $0.45 per minute whether those calls are within plan minutes or not.

The employee has acknowledged that failure to comply with these policies could result in the phone being revoked and other disciplinary measures.

 

Submit this form to the Purchasing and Accounts Payable Office.

Personal Cellular Telephone Reimbursement/Allowance Form

Purchase College / State University of New York

Cellular phones should NOT be used as a replacement for a desktop telephone. Calls made using a cellular phone are significantly more expensive than calls made using desktop land lines. This reimbursement/Allowance program should only to be assigned to employees where either:

1. c) The employee must be accessible and normally works in the field and is not near a fixed land line
2. d) The employee is engaged in providing a critical or emergency service for the College community and must be accessible at all times

I, (Supervisor’s name) authorize (Employee’s name) to receive a quarterly  reimbursement allowance for their personally-owned cellular phone for the period, that is to be used to conduct official business for Purchase College. I have (Date range) communicated the College’s policy governing the use of Cell telephones to them, and they have agreed to comply with the policy.

The employee agrees to submit the cover pages of their monthly cellular telephone statements to the Purchasing and Accounts Payable Office to obtain his/her allowance reimbursement check on a quarterly basis.

The employee has acknowledged that failure to comply with Purchase College Telephone Policies could result in disciplinary measures.

 

Submit this form to the Purchasing and Accounts Payable Office. 

Quarterly Desktop Telephone Usage Statement

Purchase College State University of New York

1. Instructions on Completing This Form: Please send this form at the end of each quarter to the CTS Office (Social Sciences Building SS0025) along with your credit card authorization, check or money order made payable to Purchase College for any personal calls.

NOTE: All employees must submit a quarterly report whether or not a reimbursement is due to Purchase College. If no reimbursement is due for personal calls made during the period (see P 3, Executive Order #1 for guidelines), insert a zero in item II.B. Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.

I certify that:

1. I have reviewed a copy of the desktop telephone bill for the period below to determine if any reimbursement is due for personal calls.
2. The amounts represented on this report reflect reimbursement for personal calls.
3. All calls not reimbursed are just and proper calls relating to official State University business.

Name: __________________________________

Department: ___________________________

Signature: _________________________

Date: ______________

 

1. DESKTOP TELEPHONE REIMBURSEMENT

 

Monthly College-Owned Cellular Telephone Usage Statement

Purchase College / State University of New York

1. Instructions on Completing This Form:Please send this form at the end of each month to the CTS Office (Social Sciences Building SS0025) along with your credit card authorization, check or money order made payable to Purchase College for any personal calls.

NOTE: You are to submit a report whether or not a reimbursement is due to Purchase College. If no personal calls were made during the period, insert a zero in item II.B. Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.

I certify that:

4. I have reviewed a copy of the cellular telephone bill for the period below to determine if any reimbursement is due for personal calls.
5. The amounts represented on this report reflect reimbursement for personal calls.
6. All calls not reimbursed are just and proper calls relating to official State University business.

Name: __________________________________

Department: ___________________________

Signature: _________________________

Date: ______________

Account No: ______________

1. CELLULAR TELEPHONE REIMBURSEMENT

 

Quarterly Personal Cell Telephone Reimbursement Request Form

Purchase College / State University of New York

Cell phones should NOT be used as a replacement for a desktop telephone. Calls made using a cell phone are significantly more expensive than calls made using desktop land lines. This reimbursement allowance program should only to be assigned to employees where either:

1. e) The employee must be accessible and normally works in the field and is not near a fixed land line
2. f) The employee is engaged in providing a critical or emergency service for the College community and must be accessible at all times

My signature below certifies that this Reimbursement Allowance is for conducting official business on behalf of Purchase College, and that I have read and agree to comply with the College’s policy governing the use of cellular telephones.

 

I have attached the cover page for each monthly cellular telephone statement showing the date of service, carrier, subscriber name and address, and cell phone number.

I understand that I will be reimbursed at the standard allowance rate for each approved service type that was in effect at the time that the service was provided.

Submit this form to the Purchasing and Accounts Payable Office.

Purchasing and Accounts Payable Review

I have reviewed the authorization documentation on file and the attached submittal and approve the issuance of a Reimbursement Allowance Check to the above employee:

 (PAP Reviewers signature date)