Presbyterian church (u.s.a.), a corporation

The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), A Corporation is a corporate entity of the General Assembly. It was originally created in 1799. It holds funds and title to property in accordance with the 1986 Deliverance of the General Assembly, its Articles of Incorporation, and its Bylaws. In essence A Corporation is the “business office” of the General Assembly, enabling the General Assembly to conduct any number of transactions with the secular world.

Administrative Services Group - A Corporation, through the staff of the Administrative Services Group (ASG), provides the services of Finance, Accounting, Reporting, Treasury, Legal Services, Human Resources, Internal Audit, Global Language Resources Services, Information Technology, Distribution Services, Mail/Print Services, Research Services, Risk Management, and Building Services. The primary client partners of ASG are the General Assembly and its commissions, committees, and task forces, the Office of the General Assembly, and the Presbyterian Mission Agency. Services are provided on a contract basis to the Investment and Loan Program, Presbyterian Publishing Corporation, and Presbyterian Women.

Governance - The A Corporation is governed by a board of directors who are elected by the General Assembly. There are designated board directors from Committee on the Office of the General Assembly, Presbyterian Investment and Loan Program Board, Presbyterian Mission Agency, Presbyterian Publishing Corporation Board, Presbyterian Foundation Board, Board of Pensions, Presbyterian Women, Racial Equity Advocacy Committee, and the Advocacy Committee for Women’s Concerns. There are four at large directors. The Stated Clerk serves as an ex officio member.

Mission - The mission of the Administrative Services Group is to support client partners so that their ministries flourish.

Operating Principles - The following principles guide ASG’s work:

1. ASG earns trust every day by doing what we say we will do

2. ASG provides timely, factual, neutral, and prudent information to decision makers, as transparently as possible

3. ASG provides honest, timely, professional, effective business services to client partners

4. ASG demonstrates good stewardship of resources entrusted to the church by delivering services that are successful, simple, sustainable, and safe

5. ASG “has the back” of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and its staff

Funding and Expenses - Funding for the work of ASG comes from three sources: the Office of the General Assembly (OGA), the Presbyterian Mission Agency (PMA), and contracts for services (agreements with PILP, PPC, PW and a tenant lease). See the following charts for 2021 budget information.

Department	Description
*President’s Office*	The President’s Office provides support to the Board of Directors of Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), A Corporation. The President’s Office leads the Administrative Services Group. The President’s Office nurtures relationships with existing and future client partners.

Key tasks for the department:

1. Review A Corporation Policies for Racial Equity

2. Onboard CFO/COO and address ASG staffing - Carry over from 2020

3. Promotion and expansion of Global Language Resources with client partners

4. Upgrade of Financial System and related systems - Carry over from 2020

5. Provide Support to the Office of the General Assembly in Hosting the 225th General Assembly

Department	Description
*Global Language Resources*	Provides language access services generally to the six agencies of PC(USA) and Presbyterian Women, including translation of essential documents into Spanish and Korean (see 2012 GA Referral Item 16-07)

Key tasks for the department:

1. Implement linguistic quality assurance program - Carry over from 2020

2. Investigate and select custom-trained machine translation engine

3. Custom integrations between XTM and PC-Biz and Financial Edge

4. Interpreting Institute

Department	Description
*Human* *Resources/Payroll*	The Human Resources office develops and administers programs, policies and procedures designed to positively impact the effectiveness of its client partners and the working environment of their employees. Payroll processes 26 pay cycles a year for OGA, PMA, PILP, PW and ASG.

Key tasks for the department:

1. Integrate the Mission Personnel Office and Payroll functions with Human Resources. Explore ways to align and consolidate work, including OGA processes.

2. Review and streamline payroll processes to create more efficient workflows, eliminate duplication of efforts, and reduce processing times.

3. Implement proactive employee communication strategies and tools. - Carry over from 2020

4. Staff education and development, particularly Cultural Humility training and Customer Service training

5. Develop and implement training curriculum to include management training, education on “work from home” and alternative work arrangements, and an expanded online training library. Create a new employee onboarding program that goes beyond standard new hire processes. - Carry over from 2020

Department	Description
*Internal Audit*	Internal Auditing is an independent appraisal function established to examine and evaluate the activities of the Administrative Services Group (ASG), Office of the General Assembly (OGA), and Presbyterian Mission Agency (PMA) as a service.

Key tasks for the department:

1. Complete Risk Assessment for Internal Audit Plan

2. Develop Internal Audit Plan for 2021

3. Complete 2021 Audit Plan

4. Complete 2022 Audit Planning

Department	Description	Number of Staff
*Legal Services and Risk Management*	The Legal Office provides legal advice and support to the Board of Directors of the A Corporation, the boards of client partners, and the General Assembly, as well as to client partners’ staff organizations. . Risk Management designs and administers an effective insurance program for General Assembly entities and Presbyterian Women, and incorporates Risk Management procedures for the General Assembly entities.	5 FTE

Key tasks for the department:

1. Review and streamline A Corporation policies

2. Enhance Legal Services presence on A Corporation webpage - Carry over from 2020

3. All staff training on anti-harassment training in 2021

4. Review Ethics Policy for staff and client boards and determine if updates are needed. Prompt all A Corporation staff to take ethics training and sign Attachment 1 by year-end

5. Manage insurance program renewals

6. Finalize a Domestic Property Plan

Department	Description
*Research Services*	Research Services assists the Church in making data-informed decisions.

Key tasks for the department:

1. ASG Customer Service Reviews - Carry over from 2020

2. Commissioned Ruling Elder national study

3. Develop agency specific research goals with PMA and OGA

4. Update of Church Trends website

Department	Description
*Information Technology Support Services (IT)*	The Information Technology Support Services office provides supports for all applications, systems, and hardware (PC’s, Macs, phones, printers, etc.) used by employees of PCUSA. The department is responsible for maintaining and supporting an onsite data center and physical building-wide network.

Key tasks for the department:

1. Migrate existing SQL Server 2008 database to new server - Carry over from 2020

2. Manage Payment Card Industry Compliance

Department	Description
*IT Application Development*	IT Application Development provides technical expertise for PC(USA) by developing and maintaining business applications, databases and websites. Automated solutions are created in collaboration with our clients to solve complex business challenges.

Key tasks for the department:

1. Upgrade programming language to Python 3.0.

2. New PC(USA) website to incorporate PMA, OGA and A Corp website - Carry over from 2020

3. Support PC(USA) agencies by creating and enhancing websites, applications and databases.

Department	Description
*Finance and Accounting*	Finance and Accounting provides financial services and leadership and support to each ministry area, client partners, and the board of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), A Corporation.

Key tasks for the department:

1. Financial Edge/Expense Management (Web Invoicing) user Training - Carry over 2020

2. PNC Corporate Credit Card Online Processing

3. Reduce Checks being mailed to 100 Witherspoon St. by promoting Payer Express and Lockbox usage.

4. Integrate Hubbard Press into Payer Express

5. Close Lockboxes: One Store and PDS

6. Student loans review, revisions, and writing of new processes - Carry over from 2020

Department	Description
*Building Services*	Building Services staff maintains the Presbyterian Center to ensure a safe and comfortable work environment for staff, visitors, and tenants

Key tasks for the department:

1. Brick Repairs (East Elevation) - Carry over from 2020

2. Limestone Patching (North Elevation) - Carry over from 2020

3. Replace air handling unit #8 (fourth floor mech room; and unit #9 (fifth floor mech room)

4. Replace Roof Area 1 (3rd floor west)

Department	Description
*Presbyterian Distribution Service/The Hubbard Press/Mail Print Services*	The Distribution Center disseminates for PPC, OGA, PW, and PMA Program Areas. Hubbard Press prints and distributes Offering Envelopes, Pledge Cards, Attendance Pads and other stewardship items used by Churches. The Mail/Print Center processes incoming and outgoing mail for the Presbyterian Center and manages printing and bulk mailings.

Key tasks for the department:

1. Obsolete Inventory Reduction. - Carry over from 2020

2. Work on eliminating pallets that have too many titles on them. Need to organize skids and utilize any available picking location to reduce using equipment to pick orders.

3. Focus on cross training all staff positions.