[labnetwork] Fab invoice payment terms & repercussions of non-payment

[Sandrine Martin]

Hello Vito,

Here are answers for us at the Michigan LNF:

1- At what frequency do you issue your invoices?
Monthly invoices are issued during the month following usage for our
external users.
Internal users are billed automatically on the same schedule.

2- How long after an invoice has been issued must it be paid?
Invoices are sent "Net 30days" for external users.
Money transfers are effective immediately for internal users.

3- What course of action do you take if the invoice is not paid?
We review unpaid invoices on a monthly basis and look at them case by case.
Some external universities have a payment process that takes more than 30
days after receipt of invoice, so we take that into account. If payment is
not completed after 60days, we will typically follow up with the financial
admin on record for the user/account, and with the user/PI as needed. The
initial follow up is done by our financial staff, and then me (user
services director) if needed.

4- Are you ever faced with having to suspend a PI's facility access?
Yes... Although in most cases, we try to establish a payment plan that
allows the group to continue using the facility while gradually paying off
their debt. Most of these cases have been industrial users and if we just
cut their access off, we know that chances to recover the balance due
become negligible. We have had good success with companies being able to
pay off their debt to us and stay in business.

5- If the answer to 4 is yes, what level of authority within your
organization is required to enforce this suspension: Facility Manager or
Director? Facility Faculty Director? Dean? Other?
Decision is made by the Managing Director, with Faculty Director aware of
the decision.

6- If you've been through a PI suspension, what was the impact on the
students in the PI's research group?
In rare cases when we have suspended an academic PI, these were groups that
had occasional usage of the facility, and so the impact was typically just
a delay for them.

Good luck with this!
Sandrine


On Thu, Jan 8, 2015 at 5:09 PM, Vito Logiudice <vito.logiudice at uwaterloo.ca>
wrote:

>  Dear Colleagues,
>
>  I would appreciate hearing about the policy in place at your respective
> facilities regarding your fab invoice payment terms. We're working on a
> formal policy here and I would value our community's input.
>
>  Specifically, I'd like to hear from you on the following points. Any
> other relevant insights are of course welcome.
>
>    1. At what frequency do you issue your invoices?
>    2. How long after an invoice has been issued must it be paid?
>    3. What course of action do you take if the invoice is not paid?
>    4. Are you ever faced with having to suspend a PI's facility access?
>    5. If the answer to 4 is yes, what level of authority within your
>    organization is required to enforce this suspension: Facility Manager or
>    Director? Facility Faculty Director? Dean? Other?
>    6. If you've been through a PI suspension, what was the impact on the
>    students in the PI's research group?
>
> Thank you much.
>
>  Regards,
> Vito
>  --
> Vito Logiudice  MASc, PEng
> Director of Operations, Quantum NanoFab
> University of Waterloo
> Lazaridis QNC 1207
> 200 University Avenue West
> Waterloo, ON           Canada N2L 3G1
> Tel.: (519) 888-4567  ext. 38703
> Email: vito.logiudice at uwaterloo.ca
> Website: https://fab.qnc.uwaterloo.ca
>
>
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>
>


-- 

Sandrine Martin, Ph.D.

University of Michigan LNF/NNIN

1239 EECS, 1301 Beal Ave

Ann Arbor, MI 48109

Cell 734-277-2365

Fax 734-647-1781

www.LNF.umich.edu <http://www.lnf.umich.edu/>

www.NNIN.org <http://www.nnin.org/>
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