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Winter Recess schedule for University financial services top
The University will be in recess during the week between Christmas and New Year's Day. The offices of the Financial Administration and the University Information Systems Help Desk will be closed from noon on Thursday, December 23 through 9 a.m. on Monday, January 3, 2005 .
Departments within the Financial Administration have issued these guidelines about related changes in processing deadlines and cutoff dates to assist with planning for the winter recess. During the winter recess, University financial and reporting systems will be available. However, please note these important caveats:
- There will be no UIS Help Desk support available should users have questions. Refer to able.harvard.edu for online help.
- Neither nightly processing of financial transactions nor nightly loads to the Harvard Data Warehouse will be performed.
- This means that financial transactions will be posted to the general ledger for the last time after the close of business on Thursday, December 23, and not again until Monday, January 3, 2005.
- Similarly, the Harvard Data Warehouse will be refreshed during nightly processing after the close of business on Thursday December 23, and not again until the evening of Monday, January 3, 2005.
Financial Administration Department |
Winter Recess Schedule Changes |
Payroll |
All paycheck dates, and related deadlines for paperwork submission, time reporting and time approval, can be found at able.harvard.edu/hr-common/payroll-calendar.pdf. Questions about this schedule should be directed to the Payroll Hotline at 5-3001. The customer service window will be open for check pickups until 12 p.m. on Thursday, December 23. There will be no one in FAD Payroll during the holiday break. If there is an emergency need during the break, tub-level HR and payroll administrators only can call 617-495-9045. Important Exception: Weekly checks for the pay period ending December 25, 2004 will be delivered to FAD Payroll for distribution on December 30, 2004 (except UOS and HMS). Other than UOS and HMS, no checks will be delivered to local departments. If you have employees who want to receive their checks on December 30 rather than waiting until after the break, you should tell them to come to Central Payroll between 10:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. on Thursday, December 30 to pick up their checks. You are responsible for notifying employees where checks will be available for pickup . If your office will be open on December 30 and you want to have checks available for pickup locally, you can claim your checks from Central Payroll between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Thursday, December 30 and from 9 a.m. to noon on Monday, January 3. Any checks remaining in Central Payroll at noon on Monday will be sent to University Mail Services, who will then distribute them to local departments on Tuesday, January 4. This announcement only pertains to the distribution of checks for weekly paid employees. Employees with direct deposit will receive their pay on January 30 and their paper advice after the holiday break. Please remind employees that they can view their online pay advices through PeopleSoft Employee Self Service. |
Accounts Receivable Contact:Kathy Hallman, 5-4598 |
Invoices to be entered by Central AR must be received by 5 p.m. Tuesday, December 21st to ensure posting prior to the winter recess. The last sweep of invoice feed files will be at 5 p.m. on Thursday December 23. Files may be sent over the winter recess, but will not be processed until Monday, January 3, when normal business operations resume.If you plan to submit an AR feed during the break, please make sure that your file extensions are unique so that the files are not overwritten. |
General Accounting Contact:Joe DeCristoforo, 5-4592 |
All journal vouchers entered by 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, December 23 will be included as part of the normal nightly processing of financial transactions and will be in the HDW on Friday, December 24. After this point, you may enter journals into the General Ledger, but they will not post or be in the HDW until Tuesday, January 4. The last sweep of journal feed files before the holiday break will be at 5 p.m. on Thursday, December 23. The next sweep of journal feed files will occur at 7 a.m. on Monday, January 3, when normal business operations resume. If you plan on submitting a GL feed during the break, please make sure your file extensions are unique so that files will not be overwritten. |
Cash Management Contact:Michelle Sazo, 5-1647 |
In order to ensure that your transactions are made at the bank and posted to the general ledger before the holiday break, please note the following Cash Management and Cash Receipts month-end deadlines for December 2004. Credit Vouchers Credit vouchers accompanied by cash, checks, or validated deposit tickets will be accepted by the Cash Receipts office until 5 p.m. on Tuesday, December 21 in order for the credit to be posted in December. Massachusetts Taxable Sales Deposits All deposit forms must be submitted to Cash Management by noon Wednesday, December 22, to be posted in December 2004. Voided Checks All checks that need to be voided and re-deposited must be received by Cash Management no later than noon Monday, December 20 for the credit to be posted in December. Foreign Currency Drafts and Wires Web Voucher payments to be made in foreign currency must be entered and approved by the tub and the related invoices must be received by Cash Management in Holyoke 453 no later than 5 p.m. on Wednesday, December 15. Note that a bank draft authorization or a wire transfer form must be attached to the front of the invoice. US Wire Transfers Web Voucher payments to be wire transferred must be entered and approved by the tub and the related invoices must be received by Cash Management no later than 10 a.m. on Wednesday December 22. Note that a wire transfer authorization form must be attached to the front of the invoice. |
Accounts Payable Contact:AP Customer Service, 5-8500 or Pat McSheffery, 5-9273 |
Approved vendor invoices to be posted in December must reach Accounts Payable in Holyoke Center 380 by noon Wednesday, December 22. All invoices received after this time will be posted in January. All invoices already in the Accounts Payable system that come due between 12/23/04 and 12/31/04 based on their payment terms will be paid on 12/22/04. Approved vendor invoices that need to be paid by January 1, 2005 (rent, utilities, etc.) must reach Accounts Payable in Holyoke Center 380 by 5 PM Friday December 17th. |
| Travel | Direct pay reimbursements that were received by the Travel office by close of business on December 9, 2004 have already been processed. These payments will be reflected on the GE Capital Card statements for December. Direct pay reimbursements that have been received subsequently are also being processed, but these payments will not be reflected until the January statement. Other reimbursements (typically to employees) that are received by the end of the day on Tuesday December 21, 2004 will be processed for payment in December. |
| Office for Sponsored Research | OSR will be closed December 24 through January 4. There will be no one in OSR during this period. If the researchers you support have any proposals with deadlines that fall within these dates, please make sure you have the materials to us no later than 5 p.m. on Thursday, December 16. Naturally, earlier submissions are welcome. If this is impossible, please contact your Preaward Administrator or Beverly Simmonds (5-1253) so we can plan accordingly. A list of our staff and their departmental assignments is located at vpf-web.harvard.edu/osr/contacts.shtml. Our goal during the coming weeks is to address as many pending items as possible before the break. Knowing whether there are proposals lurking out there would help us serve you better. If you anticipate submitting proposals immediately following the break with early January deadlines -- i.e., with a deadline during the first week in January -- please contact your Preaward Administrator now so they will be prepared to turn your proposal around quickly in the new year. The last day to set up new accounts will be on December 23. Account set up will return to business as usual on January 3, 2005. GMAS financial data and CREW sponsored report data will reflect close of business on December 23, 2004 and will not refresh until January 4, 2005. As of January 4, 2005 the financial and CREW sponsored data will reflect changes from close of business January 3, 2005 and will return to business as usual thereafter. |
| University Business Systems Services (formerly Applications Administration) | Chart of Accounts requests Non-sponsored - After the last "sweep" at 5 p.m. on December 23, the CSMA application will be available for users to submit requests, but those requests will not be routed or loaded to Oracle until business resumes on January 3, 2005. Sponsored - December 23 will be the last day to post new accounts in GMAS and have them reconciled in the GL. Sponsored CoA changes entered into GMAS after close of business on December 23 will be sent in the first file of the new year and processed on January 3, 2005. Cross validation rule requests will be accepted during the break (i.e. our email accounts will be up and working), but they will not be processed until Monday, January 3, 2005. Oracle and PeopleSoft user security requests will be accepted during the break (i.e. our email accounts will be up and working), but they will not be processed until Monday, January 3, 2005. |
| Student Financial Services | The offices of Student Financial Services (Harvard University ID Services, Student Receivables, Student Loans, and the University Financial Aid Liaison Office) will shut down at noon on Wednesday, December 23 and will reopen at 9 a.m. on Monday, January 3, 2005. The deadline to request stipend checks before the winter recess is 2 p.m. on Friday, December 17. Refund requests will be accepted no later than 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday, December 21. The Harvard University ID Office will accept ID production requests through noon on Wednesday, December 22, 2004. |
PCard Contact:John Bostwick, 6-2958 |
Here is the schedule for the end-of-calendar-year sweeps: Due to the Christmas and winter recess holiday, the PCard sweep originally scheduled for Thursday, December 23, will be moved to Wednesday, December 22, 2004 at 4:00 PM.Also, the sweep originally scheduled for Thursday, December 30 will be moved to Monday, January 3, 2005 at 3:00 PM. The January 3 sweep will be run at 3:00 PM so that the associated transactions can be booked to December 2004. |
| University financial and reporting systems including AWS2 / HUDINI, and Ad hoc access to HDWPROD, FINSTAR and UTS, as well as CREW | During the winter recess, University financial and reporting systems will be available. However, neither nightly processing of financial transactions nor nightly loads to the Harvard Data Warehouse will be performed. |
When and how to report and approve time during the Winter Recess top
Due to Harvard's winter recess, it is necessary to shift the deadlines for the submission of paperwork and the reporting and approving of time. Below is a summary of important deadlines. For a full schedule, please see the Payroll and Time & Labor Closings Calendar (which includes closing deadlines for personnel actions).
By this date and time |
This must be completed |
Monday, December 6 at 5 p.m. |
Approve time and labor for:
Paper deadline for: weekly check of 12/17 |
Thursday, December 9 at 5 p.m. |
Paper deadline for: Monthly (12/23) |
Friday, December 10 at 5 p.m. |
Time entry deadline for:
Paper deadline for:
|
Monday, December 13 at 5 p.m. |
Approve time and labor for:
Paper deadline for:
|
Thursday, December 16 at 5 p.m. |
Time entry deadline for:
|
| Friday, December 17 at 5 p.m. | Time entry deadline for:
Approve time and labor for:
|
| Monday, December 20 at 5 p.m. | Approve time and labor for:
Paper deadline for:
|
| Thursday, December 23 at 5 p.m. | Paper deadline for: Teaching Fellow 1/14 |
| Friday, December 24 at 5 p.m. | Time entry deadline for: biweekly check of 1/7 (for first week of 2-week period) |
Friday, December 31 at 5 p.m. |
Time entry deadline for:
|
The normal schedule will resume immediately after the winter recess, with a time entry deadline of 5 p.m. on Friday, December 31 and time approval/adjusting to be completed by 5 p.m. on Monday, January 3.
Paydays for overtime-eligible staff will be adjusted as follows:
This group |
Will pe paid |
Clerical/technical workers |
Thursday, December 23 (last business day prior to normal 12/24 payday). This pay will be for the period from 12/05 to 12/18. |
Student and non-student temporary workers |
Thursday, December 23 for the workweek ending 12/18. |
Service and trades workers |
Thursday, December 23 for the workweek ending 12/18. |
Many users have also asked which time types to use when reporting time over the winter recess. Here are some guidelines for clerical/technical workers.
Date |
If you do not work |
If you work |
What you are entitled to if you work |
12/23 a.m. Note: The morning of December 23 is regular work time. |
VAC, PER, or Comp Time used |
REG | Your regular hours |
12/23 p.m. |
HOL |
HWK | Time-and-a-half for those hours. You have a choice of being paid for the holiday at your regular rate in addition to the time-and-a-half for hours worked, or you can take this time at a later date. If you choose to be paid for it now, report your hours worked as HWK and also report the time as FHP. |
12/24 |
HOL |
HWK | Time-and-a-half for those hours. You have a choice of being paid for the holiday at your regular rate in addition to the time-and-a-half for hours worked, or you can take this time at a later date. If you choose to be paid for it now, report your hours worked as HWK and also report the time as FHP. |
| 12/27 | HOL | REG | A floating holiday to be taken later |
| 12/29 | HOL | REG | A floating holiday to be taken later |
| 12/30 | HOL | REG | A floating holiday to be taken later |
| 12/31 | HOL | HWK | Time-and-a-half for those hours. You have a choice of being paid for the holiday at your regular rate in addition to the time-and-a-half for hours worked, or you can take this time at a later date. If you choose to be paid for it now, report your hours worked as HWK and also report the time as FHP. |
Notes: The grid above refers to HUCTW and nonunion, overtime-eligible, clerical/technical employees only. For exempt employees, temps, or service/trades workers, please refer to the relevant personnel manual, union contract, or your local HR office.
- "A day's pay" means one-fifth of the employee's pay for the week.
Reminder: Extra hours for a holiday worked are not paid automatically. If an employee works a holiday, they should report HWK to be paid at a rate of 1.5 times their normal pay for the holiday hours worked. The employee is also entitled to their regular pay for the holiday, or they may take time off at a later date.
If the employee wishes to receive pay for the time, they should report HOL for all hours not worked as well as FHP and HWK for all hours worked. If they wish to take the owed time at a later date, they should report HWK to receive pay for the hours worked. At a later date, when the time is taken, they should report HOL with a comment that it is time owed for working on the holiday.Improved search results now available in PeopleSoft top
Up until now, a PeopleSoft search displayed the following results. In an effort to improve usability, we have added a number of additional fields to the search results making it easier and quicker to select the job record you want. Beginning on December 13 th (after HR Release 9), search results will now also include employee status, employee class (long description), department description, job description, and paygroup, as shown in the "After" screenshot, below.
Before |
|
After |
NOTE: If an employee has both current and future dated records, the current data will display. For example, if today is December 15 th and the employee was terminated on 9/1/2004 and will be rehired 1/3/2005, the search results will show an Employee Status of Terminated until Jan 3 rd. |
Time & Labor changes effective December 12th top
HR Release 9.0 also brings with it the following changes in Harvard's time reporting codes (effective immediately), and a new process to examine each student worker's FICA status on a weekly, rather than monthly basis, beginning in January.
Time & Labor Changes Effective December 12th
1. Paid Parental Leave (PPL) Time Reporting Code added to HUCTW and Overtime Eligible Non-Union workgroups
A new Paid Parental Leave (PPL) time reporting code (TRC) has been added for these groups. This code should be used to compensate employees for Paid Parental Leave in place of the more generic Paid Leave (PAL) time reporting code that currently exists. This code was added to capture better data on use of parental leaves by Harvard employees. This time reporting code is mapped to the Parental Leave (PAL) earnings
code.
2. Modification to Work Study Rules
Work Study students are not expected to work overtime or receive overtime compensation on their work study awards. If a student reports a combination of regular hours and work study hours in a given week and the total hours exceed 40, the work study hours will be converted to overtime last.
3. Paid Leave TRC added for Temps not eligible for OT (TEMPNOOT) and Temps who are eligible for limited benefits (TEMPOTBEN) workgroups
At the request of Labor and Employee Relations, the Paid Leave (PAL) TRC has been added for these workgroups. This TRC should be used to compensate Extended Part Time Employees (EPEs) for paid leave time. The paid time off an EPE receives is not considered vacation time and therefore is not considered wages that the University would be obligated to pay out upon termination. This time reporting code is mapped to the Regular Pay (REG) earnings code.
4. Excused Absence TRC added for Trade Union Employees
The Excused Absence (EXC) TRC has been added for trade union employees. This code is most often used to compensate employees when weather or building related emergencies force the closure of a building and thus prevent employees from being able to come to work. This time reporting code is mapped to the Excused Absence (EXC) earnings code.
"FICA Flip" process automated, to be run weekly
Students who are registered half time or more at the University and whose primary relationship with the University is that of a student are not subject to FICA taxes. Currently, a process is run on the first Sunday of each month to review each student employee's FICA status against their registration status and appropriate updates are made to the FICA status in PeopleSoft. Subsequently a manual process is then performed to flip the object codes for employees who have had FICA status changes so that the subsequent fringe benefit charges will be accurate.
As of the first of the year, this process will be run weekly instead of monthly and the updating of the object codes will be automated. The object code updates will occur at the same time as the FICA changes rather than as a subsequent manual process.
About the e-News top
The Office of Human Resources publishes this monthly electronic newsletter for users of Harvard University's financial, HR, and reporting systems, policies, and procedures.
It contains:
- updates on projects underway to build or improve University administrative systems;
- information about new University policies, procedures, and forms;
- reminders about upcoming deadlines and cut-over dates;
- tips and tricks for working more easily or productively.
We welcome questions and suggestions for improvement from readers. If your questions are of general interest, we will answer them in future issues.
Please send comments, questions, or suggestions for improvement by email to us at: admin_systems_enews@harvard.edu