FY06 Year End / FY07 Financial Reporting



Click here for a complete list of closing schedules.

 
 
Messages from the Financial Reporting Team:
 
 
   
  Year End Reporting Calendars, Tips and Tricks.

Using CREW Functionality to Streamline YE Reporting

Putting it all together: A Day in the Life of a YE Reporter

What else you can do (and what else you should know)

  • Performance hints (such as, deleting reports you no longer need and using as many chart parameters as possible...)

   
 
 
   
 

July 2006

 

  
   
     
 

* JUN-06 journal entries entered into the General Ledger system Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday, during the first three closes, will post on Monday evenings and be available for reporting in the HDW on Tuesdays.

The University is closed on Tuesday, July 4th for the holiday. No journal vouchers will be posted to the GL on that day. JUN-06 journals entered after 6:30pm Monday July 3rd until 6:30pm on Wednesday July 5th, will be posted to the GL on Wednesday July 5th and be available in the HDW on Thursday, July 6th.

 
     
     
 

August 2006

 

  
   
     
 

Tub-level year-end entries - including depreciation and pledge balance adjustments - are recorded by General Accounting after the fifth JUN-06 close in August. To effect these changes the JUN-06 period is re-opened and these entries are posted. Other than those limited changes, the JUN-06 balances will be final as of the August 1st date, which will be in the HDW on August 2nd.

For a complete listing of Closing Deadlines for Financial Systems Transactions, please refer the May 10th eNews @ http://vpf-web.harvard.edu/training/enews/html/06may10.html

  
     
 
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  Streamline YE Reporting Using CREW Features and Functionality  
     
  Request Groups, chart of account Selection Sets and Events-based scheduling are some of the features of the Common Reporting Environment for the Warehouse (CREW) that can help automate reporting which is especially useful at Year End. Step-by-step tutorials on how to use these features are available on ABLE at http://able.harvard.edu/crew/  
     
  Background information on the Financial reports migration to CREW and new functionality you can expect to see there is available at http://vpf-web.harvard.edu/ofs/frds/fin_crew.shtml  
     
 
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  Closing Periods in the Detail Listing  
     
  “Year End Date Periods” in the Detail Listing reports limit the data retrieved to just the transactions/journals of each individual close. For instance, if you want to check to make sure all of your first close journals posted accurately, choose the "First Closing (mm/dd/yyyy - mm/dd/yyyy)" date period to limit results to just what posted in the 1st close.  
     
 
 
     
  The updated FY06 YE Close Period dates will be displayed in the date name starting July 1. Until then, the FY05 dates will still be shown. In other words, when the new fiscal year opens on July 1, the new dates become activated. This does not preclude setting up and scheduling reports in advance! Upon the first nightly refresh after July 1, the dates will automatically update all scheduled reports.  
     
 
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  Scheduling Detail Listings Using Year End Closing Periods and Scheduling Events  
     
  Combine using Close Periods and Scheduling "Events" so Detail Listings capturing YE Journals automatically execute after each or any of the five close periods.  
     
 
 
     
 

Choose the "Once On Event" schedule dropdown and choose the close event that corresponds with the Detail Listing close date. To rapidly replicate a report for each close, from the CREW Home page:

  • click the "Resubmit/Recycle" icon of original report,
  • click the "Change Parameters" button to navigate to the Parameters page,
  • change the Report Period to "Second Closing" choice,
  • click the Schedule button when finished,
  • on the Schedule page, choose "2nd JUN Close" from the "Once On Event" dropdown,
  • click the Schedule button to complete.
 
     
 
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  Creating Request Groups  
     
  A Request Group can be comprised of any number and any combiniation of reports that are scheduled to run together. For example, a Detail Listing report where the report period is "Most Recent Month" and a Summaries Actual and Budget report where the report period is "Prior Fiscal Year" can be grouped together and scheduled run after each close using the "Repeat On Event" year end close dates.  
     
 
 
     
  Any report request on the HOME page can be made part of a group. When creating new reports specifically to be part of group, choose the Schedule page option of "Schedule Later". On creating new groups, the default schedule status is Schedule Later. Click the clock icon of the group to apply a new schedule.  
     
     
 
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  Using Selection Sets  
     
  Use Selection Sets to set up various combinations of chart segment values that are then applied to multiple reports. For instance, a department adminstrator may want to see their Tub and Org activity in a Budget Variance report, a Fund Summary report, and a Summaries Actual and Budget report. So, they would set up a Selection Set to include their Tub and Org values and then apply it to all three of the reports to ensure the same segments are being captured in each report.  
     
 
 
     
 
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  Putting it all together: A Day in the Life of a YE Reporter  
     
  Department and financial adminstrators manage budgets, funds, and operating expenses. For a given tub and org, one might want to see fund balances, summaries of object code expenses against budget, and a detailed look at expenses. Using selection sets, request groups and events-based scheduling can assist in automating repetitive actions and help ensure consistency in report submissions.  
     
 
Step 1:
 create a Selection Set that includes the chart segment values you want report results on  
 
Step 2:
 apply the sets to the reports that will display the report results in the way you want to see them  
 
Step 3:
 create a group with these reports  
 
Step 4:
 schedule the group to run on the year end closes  
       
 
Selection Sets + Request Groups + Events Scheduling = Streamlined Reporting
 
     
     




     
 
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  The number of reports executed on the days following the June closes is triple the average number of reports executed on the days after any other closing period. In order to handle this volume, the Harvard Data Warehouse team institutes special mitigation measures at year-end. There are also a few things you can do to improve system performance for yourself and all of the reporting community.  
     
  Preserving Server Space by Deleting Reports  
  Delete the reports that you no longer need to save disk server space. If you routinely save report output, once this is done, delete the report from the CREW HOME page. Remember, report requests will automatically purge from the system seven days after its completion date. (hint, set up request groups and schedule them. Delete the groups that have completed and the next scheduled issuance of the group stays active.)  
     
  Schedule, Schedule, Schedule!  
  Scheduling your report to run overnight instead of during working hours is your best guarantee of having your reports on hand when you get to your desk in the morning. This practice is particularly recommended for summary reports like the Change In Net Assets and Summary Actuals that take longer to execute. (hint, use events-based scheduling options to have reports automatically execute after the closes.)  
     
  Use the narrowest possible parameters  
  Broad parameters cause the system to have to work harder to return your results. The harder the system works, the longer it takes to get you your results. (hint, use selection sets to set up chart values once and then apply them to multiple reports.)  
     
 
 
     
  What the HDW and Reporting Team Does to Assure Performance:  
     
  Real-Time Monitoring for Bottlenecks – Every 20 minutes during working hours, HDW and the Financial Reporting Support team receive an auto-generated report of the average amount of time reports are in pending status. If the time exceeds 20 minutes, immediate analysis is conducted against running reports to identify possible bottlenecks. This year, the Financial Reporting Support team will also be posting “traffic” updates on the their year-end website throughout the day to inform users about any wait times they may experience.  
     
     
 
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  What Else to Remember at Year End:  
     
  Posting Journals to the Correct Period  
  During the month of June, the period of JUL-06 will also be open and will be the “default” period. Be careful to select the proper period (JUN-06 or JUL-06) when you enter a journal.  
     
 
 
     
 
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