The last part of the year places big pressure on the Dean’s Office (DO) Administration often deals with aiming for the finish – the cycle must be completed before the end of the year.

In the best case scenario, the salary reviews will be complete. The financial books will close and the 2016 budget will be entered into the system. Activity reports will be finalised. All grading reports for the year will be submitted, partly so as students will have their grades registered during the correct period, but also because registration is a financial transaction.

Furthermore, it is the case that all of us want to “tidy up” a little bit before the new year. This is usually evident from the marked increase in expenses, remunerations a travel invoices throughout December.

In the spring, KTH received its environmental certification. Revisions will be conducted on an ongoing basis to make sure that we continue with our improvement work and follow the established management plans for meeting the environmental goals in place. An internal audit was carried out in November, in which ITM performed well – we only had a few small deviations that will now be rectified.

The time frame for this year’s salary reviews has been tight. Many of us have worked to pull off the “impossible” feat of having the new salaries paid out in December. It is fun being able to say that good cooperation and communication within the school and between the parties made sure that ITM was finished on time. In the best case scenario – if all of KTH has done well – payments will be made on 23 December.

We have recently seen the arrival of a new colleague, Anton Lagerbäck. Anton will mainly be working with academic appointments. There has been a huge need for support in this area. The process and working methods at KTH have been altered, which has meant a great deal of to-ing and fro-ing for completion. It is now the ambition that, with the help of Anton, we can get the ball rolling without disruptions and with shortened processing times. So a very warm welcome to Anton!

Throughout the year we have worked on creating routines for how to manage the School’s purchases of between SEK 100,000 and 500,000. The routines must follow those set by the state but also the KTH guidelines at the same time as we need smooth processing for everyone involved. But most of all we should be able to be happy with the product/service we buy, despite the bureaucracy that it entails.

Now we are heading towards the end of the year and with this, the financial books for 2015 will close. This time of year is the most intensive for our financial team. Whilst the rest of us go on Christmas vacation, the pressure is on in the “workshop”, with all systems go for finalising the year. Nevertheless, over recent years, this work has gone ahead without a hitch. Currently, our accounts maintain a high standard, which means that comprehensive work must be done, but it is managed without any surprises.

For many years there have been requests and demands from the organisation and the School’s financial team to create a project leader report – and now we’re there! Over the first quarter, each person responsible for a project will receive follow up reports each month, directly to their email. To be able to carry out this follow up, a budget is of course needed for the respective project. All new projects have one of these, as do the majority of older projects. It will be interesting to receive feedback on these reports from those of you who are project leaders.

Work to create the School’s Annual Report for 2015 is in full swing. It will be the seventh year in a row in which the School issues a report. This years’ report focuses upon “Impact –research’s cooperation/influence in society”.

During 2015, DO’s focus areas have been:

*                           Environmental certification
*                           Working environment measures
*                           Management course (returns on 16th March)
*                           Fine-tuned accounting with monthly follow ups
*                           Project leader reports (financial)
*                           Purchasing and procurement routines
*                           Information online, e.g., “information from management”
*                           Health and wellbeing initiatives
*                           Stress project (seminar for all the heads of school and lecture for all members of staff)

A big thank you to all of my colleagues for this past year! I am proud to be the Head of Administration at ITM and I am grateful to have you all as my colleagues. You always do your best, no matter what!

From everyone at DO, merry Christmas and a happy new year!

Christina