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More details on HR Release 6.0 top
As described in the previous issue, a major upgrade (Release 6.0) to the PeopleSoft HR systems is planned for later this month. Users should anticipate a total system outage for the weekend of March 27-28. The outage will begin on Friday, March 26 beginning at 2 p.m., and will necessitate early time entry for the workweek ending March 27.
The release also brings with it significant expansion of the system's “employee self service” capabilities, and a redesign of the PeopleSoft-based personnel action forms that human resource administrators use to submit personal or job data changes. Users are reminded to print out any needed backup copies of personal or job data change forms previously submitted. Once the new forms are put into production on March 29, the old ones will be inaccessible.
In addition, administrators should expect these smaller-scale enhancements in PeopleSoft:
Enhancement |
Details |
| Social security and bank account numbers partially masked |
To address general concerns about privacy, employee social security and bank account numbers will be partially masked on pay advices, paychecks, and from online display in Employee Self Service. The last four digits of each will still be visible. |
| Pay advices available via employee self-service have been made more "printer-friendly" | The layout of the self-service paycheck view has been modified so it will print on a single page in most instances. (A caveat: If an employee has many types of deductions, earnings, or multiple direct deposits, it may still require multiple pages to print.) |
| Greater online validation of timekeeping entries | Several system-based validations of hours entered through the
timekeeper screen (also called “Rapid Entry”) will be put into
place to reduce data entry errors and processing delays.
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| FAD Payroll will verify employment and earnings for employees | There will be a new PeopleSoft report implemented to let staff in FAD Payroll more routinely and easily provide income and employment verifications for employees. If an employee requires income or employment verification to buy or refinance a home, for example, they should provide the following contact information (along with their HUID) to their lender. Harvard University |
| The "addl pay" upload process has been improved to allow upload of more types of additional pay with enhanced logic for inserting rows into the system | If you are making additional pay ("addl pay") payments to a large number of faculty or staff and would prefer to use a spreadsheet to submit those payments to FAD Payroll, please make sure you use the most recent version of the template, which is now available on ABLE. |
| Hours and dollars for different kinds of pay to display on paychecks for OT-eligible staff | Time reporters will see the hours they have entered in PeopleSoft (or into local automated “time clock” systems) flow through to their paychecks and advices. Beginning on the payday of Friday, April 9, they will see regular, overtime, vacation, sick, and personal hours broken out as shown in this example. Time administrators and local payroll coordinators may wish to tell time reporters about this change, with the following caveats:
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| Greater online validation of time adjustments; more system intelligence to properly display costing information Correction: This enhancement will be implemented in HR Release 7.0, scheduled for June 2004. |
The system will block time adjustments that result in a balance of >40 or <0 comp time hours for a reporter. Beginning in July, the Time and Labor system will enforce this rule for all users. The information displayed behind the costing link has been corrected to display only the costing rows that are applicable for the HR department to which the employee is assigned and the fiscal year for which the hours are being adjusted. Currently, all historical data is displayed for all years and HR departments to which an employee is currently and was previously assigned. Note: FAD Payroll will send a printout to local time administrators in the coming weeks that shows any reporter with comp time >40 or <0 at present so that balances can be adjusted between now and July 1. This may involve charging the employee for some PTO (if the balance is negative) or asking them whether they would like to be paid or take time off by July 1 to reduce any balances greater than 40. |
| Increased access to actuals distribution data | PeopleSoft users with the role of PS^HR^TUB^Data Viewer will have their system access broadened so that they can more easily research the funding sources (the “actuals distribution”) for an individual employee paycheck. This is particularly useful when troubleshooting an anticipated extra comp payment from another department for the employee, or when researching a question of default versus actual costing for a particular paycheck. The new page to be added to this role can be reached by following the menu path Home > Compensation Employees > Maintain Payroll Data > Inquire > Actuals Distribution. |
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Revised desktop standards issued for University administrative systems top
The minimal and recommended standards for desktop components (hardware, software, etc.) that should be used in conjunction with University administrative systems have recently been updated. These combinations have been tested and certified to work by the software manufacturers.
Significant changes are a shift to Internet Explorer as the required browser for HIRES, and the limitation to the Professional version of the XP operating system. Macs continue to be supported only for HIRES and PeopleSoft Time and Labor, but not the Mac OS X operating system.
Update on the status of the new GE Capital Corporate Card top
The rollout of the new GE Capital corporate card has experienced a minor delay. A new timeline regarding the availability of the electronic profile (for current card holders) and the application (for employees who do not have Amex but wish to apply for a GE MasterCard) will be available shortly. American Express cards will not be deactivated until card holders have had sufficient time to request and receive a new GE card.
Special US Airways shuttle program for Harvard travelers top
When traveling to New York or Washington, DC on US Airways, the most cost-effective and efficient way is to purchase a ticket at the airport shuttle kiosk with a pre-registered corporate card.
Harvard employees who have not pre-registered can purchase a ticket at the Harvard rate by showing their HUID at the ticket counter. To register your corporate card for the US Airways shuttle kiosk, send an e-mail request to stacey_clifton@harvard.edu.
Booking the shuttle on Harvard's Expedia Corporate Travel (ECT) site
Travelers who wish to purchase a shuttle ticket to New York or Washington in advance through ECT may do so, but at a slightly higher price as compared to the purchase at the airport kiosk.
For an additional $13 ($5 = fee; $8 = discount for purchase at the airport), travelers may book their reservations on Expedia. Some travelers like the convenience of booking ahead because with an advance reservation, travelers may request a seat through the US Airways website 24 hours before departure.
To register for an Expedia account, send an e-mail request to fad_travelmgr@harvard.edu. For more information on Harvard's airline discounts, please visit travel.harvard.edu and click on the Exclusive Travel Discounts link.
Jet Blue and Southwest Airlines now available on Harvard's Expedia site top
Now when using Harvard's Expedia you'll see schedules and fares for the low cost carriers Jet Blue and Southwest. This is an exclusive display for Harvard that you will not see on the public Expedia.com site.
When purchasing Jet Blue and/or Southwest tickets, you will find there is a slightly different process. After selecting and reserving your flights, Expedia will instruct you to call an 800 number to finalize the reservation. Due to the unique nature of these airlines, agent assistance is required. However, the fee is still only $5 as opposed to $20 for other agent-assisted calls.About the e-News top
The Office of Human Resources publishes this semimonthly electronic newsletter for users of Harvard University's financial, HR, and reporting systems, policies, and procedures. Generally, the e-News is published on or around the 12th and 26th of each month.
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