About Us

Our Mission

AST serves as an extension of fiscal staffing for College of Arts & Sciences schools, departments, and centers by completing specific business processes and providing expert advice in support of each unit’s educational, research, creative, and outreach endeavors. 

Our Vision

To be a trusted partner to all units in the College of Arts & Sciences.

Our Values

Courteous
Collaborative
Consistent
Correct

• Consistently offer prompt, thoughtful, and accurate responses to all inquiries and requests
• Maintain efficient and accurate data entry
• Create user-friendly avenues to track the progress of requests from unit submission to ticket resolution 
• Provide up-to-date instructions, training, and links to help units gather complete and accurate information when submitting requests to AST
• Provide intelligible and timely updates on University, College, and AST policies and procedures
• Create opportunities for units to give feedback and participate in AST process improvement initiatives

AST's operating model starts and ends with unit action:

1. Units decide what they need. The responsibility for initiating transactions and submitting all required documentation rests at the unit level. Depending on the units’ accepted processes, a request can be initiated by unit staff members, chairs, faculty, or other employees.
2. Units transmit requests to AST. Specific intake forms are available on our website for different transaction types. Upon submission, the forms route automatically to UW Connect, where they are assigned unique “ticket” numbers. Unit staff can track their tickets in My Requests.
3. Requests are distributed to AST members based on transaction/request type.
4. AST processes requests. Team members maintain frequent correspondence with participating units regarding the progress of transaction requests.
5. Units run appropriate reports to reconcile budgets. While AST is a center of expertise in transactional policies and processes, all budget reconciliation rests in the units. Similarly, it is the unit’s responsibility to double-check that all financial or payroll data that AST has entered on their behalf has been done correctly.

• Follow all AST submission and ticket-tracking guidelines
• Provide complete, timely, and accurate information when submitting a new request
• Regularly check AST-referenced resources and notifications for updated instructions, checklists, and policies