Job Descriptions

Thank you for joining the business department! Below are the descriptions for each of the jobs that need to be taken care of within the department.

● BUSINESS MANAGER
The title of "business manager" should always be a shared responsibility between 2 people on the business staff. Due to the many different magazine functions that the business staff is responsible for, it is critical to maintain a multi-manager system.

Business Manager 1: This business manager will be in charge of paying bills and receiving payments to the Wisconsin Engineer from paid advertisers and other funding sources.  This business manager, working closely with the editor(s)-in-chief, will be responsible for writing an annual budget and maintaining a financial logboook (which includes collecting receipts, invoices, payments, etc. to keep track of expenses). It should be noted that the advertising department keeps track of advertisement payments and that the business department simply collects and deposits the payments. Finally, this business manager will also be responsible for managing all grant writing activities to generate more revenue for the magazine.

This business manager will write approximately 2 checks a week, but this will fluctuate.  The procedure for receiving and paying invoices is as follows:
1.         Receive an invoice/receipt.
2.         Record check in Excel file and check file.
3.         See if the invoice or receipt is reasonable and decide where in the budget it belongs.
4.         Write the check and record the check number and date.
5.         Initial and file the invoice/receipt.
6.         Mail the check to the vendor or deposit check at UW Credit Union.

The business department must file an annual non-profit statement with the state.  This statement can be developed in conjunction with the annual budget and financial statement.  As mentioned above, the magazine has a checking account with UW Credit Union, but the staff may consider opening an account with the University.  Cash may be left in the Student Leadership Office’s safe.

This business manager must also work closely with the advertising department on receiving and verifying checks and payments for advertising space.  He or she will also communicate with the editor-in-chief to write the annual budget and financial statement, due in May at the annual board meeting.  As a last resort the faculty advisor should be consulted regarding problems.

Business Manager 2: This business manager will be in charge of coordinating all volunteer activities for the magazine. Each semester, it is required that students who take the class for credit must partake in 3 hours of volunteer activities. This business manager will be responsible for creating volunteer opportunities, making arrangements to have staff members work the events, and recording the total number of volunteer hours each staff member taking the class for credit accumulates throughout the semester. This business manager will also be responsible for managing both the on-campus and bulk mail distributions of the magazine. This responsibility includes maintaining both the campus distribution database (for on-campus distribution) and the Wisconsin Engineer Magazine circulation file (for bulk mailing).

This business manager should also supervise two subcommittees – one for writing funding proposals, representing the magazine at Polygon meetings, and organizing the annual trip to the ECMA conference and one for organizing and running fundraising events.  Several major funding proposals are written each year—an ASM travel grant and Polygon open floor and “normal” grants.  In addition, each spring there is an ASM operations grant deadline for the following year.  The polygon representative needs to attend Polygon meetings, which are every other Thursday evening, to keep track of what is happening with the funding proposals.  Recent fundraising activities have included working for Per Mar Security and selling Pizza Hut pizza on campus at lunchtime.  Other ideas have included distributing Pizza Hut coupons and selling national magazine subscriptions.

Training—Business Manager
The initial training for the position is fairly quick, but like the other departments, a semester training period is recommended.  The assistant manager could be groomed to take the manager position.  Assuming no prior knowledge, the topics should include how to:
1.    Take invoices and pay them
2.    Keep a ledger and perform bookkeeping
3.    Balance the checkbook
4.    Become proficient and efficient with spreadsheets
5.    Transfer check writing privileges
6.    Functions of the subcommittees

Continuity and Consistency
It is important to prevent loss of knowledge from one business manager to the next.  The current Business Manager should announce their last semester with the magazine as soon as possible so any interested people can be trained.  Business Managers should keep these points in mind:
1.    Announce your last term.
2.    Help your colleagues train your replacement.

● Pizza Sale Manager

We typically start our pizza sales in late October and run thru November for the fall semester, and from early February thru March for the spring. We try to schedule the sales so that 1 pizza sale is held every week (usually on a Wednesday since historically this has been the day when we’ve seen the highest sales) for 5 consecutive weeks. Job responsibilities include:

1. Reserving dates/locations to hold the sale.

         Provide info for Chemistry, Social Science, ECB, ME Building, etc.

2. Coordinating volunteers from the magazine staff to work each sale.

The best way to get volunteers signed up for the sale is to use our custom made pizza sale website: http://www.engr.wisc.edu/wiscengr/cgi-bin/pizza/ps.php. (In order to gain administrative access to this site, you’ll need to contact one of the web department heads.) This is a great tool to help you get people signed up for the sale, so be sure to take advantage of it and advertise it heavily to the class! Organization is critical to ensuring that you’ll get enough people to work the sale. Typically, we try to have at least 2 people working per shift. Our usual shift times during the day are: 9:55-10:55, 10:55-11:55, 11:55-12:55, 12:55-1:55.

3. Arranging pizza deliveries.

In years past, we have tried a number of different pizza establishments (Gumby’s, Pizza Hut, Little Caesar’s, etc.) and have found that Gumby’s is often the most convenient for our needs. IMPORTANT: When ordering pizzas, be sure to indicate that you are buying pizzas for a NON-PROFIT STUDENT ORGANIZATION!!! If you don’t say this, you will be charged for tax and that will cut heavily into your profit margin! Historically, we have ordered the following set of pizzas for our sale (all large size): 18 pepperoni, 17 sausage, 5 cheese. These pizzas are to be delivered in 2 shifts – half at 10:15AM and the other half before the lunch rush at 11:30AM. For these shift deliveries, specify that you need 9 pepperoni, 9 sausage and 2 cheese pizzas at the first shift, and 9 pepperoni, 8 sausage and 3 cheese pizzas at the second shift.

         Getting soda and ice for the cooler. (Optional)

4. Supervising/working on sale days.

5. Cleaning up after the sale.

6. Managing the cash box.