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Oracle Financials update to 11.5.9 top
On Monday, November 15, the University will release a minor upgrade to the Financial applications. To minimize impact on the business community, the upgrade has been scheduled for the Veterans' Day weekend, November 11 through November 14. Systems will be unavailable on Friday, November 12. To determine what impact this might have on you, please read through the key dates for the update below and plan your work accordingly.
Systems affected by the business outage include General Ledger, Budget Tool, Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Cash Management, CSMA, Web Voucher, Web Reimbursement, PCard, ESP, CoA Validator, Bottomline, and Windstar.
This upgrade takes the University from version 11.5.5 to version 11.5.9 within the Oracle 11i suite. The upgrade is necessary to maintain Harvard's current level of support for its financial systems from Oracle Corporation beyond December 31, 2004.
The appearance and functionality of Oracle Financials will not change significantly as a result of the upgrade. Most noticeable, however, will be the format of the Personal Home Page (PHP), which provides the single point of access to Oracle systems. The current version of the PHP differentiates Self Service responsibilities like Web Voucher from Application responsibilities such as General Ledger. The new (11.5.9) version makes no distinction between types of responsibilities and lists them all as one group in alphabetical order. Click here for more details.
The upgrade will also involve "under the hood" changes to the technical architecture of the systems, including an upgrade of the database to 9i and of the application and web servers. In addition, the release will contain requested enhancements to custom applications; more details will be sent to affected users directly.
During the Oracle upgrade, the financial data warehouse and associated financial reporting applications (AWS2, HUDINI, and ad hoc access to HDWPROD, FINSTAR and UTS, as well as CREW-Sponsored reports and GMAS), will be available with data as of the close of business on November 10. The financial data warehouse and financial reporting applications will be brought down on Sunday, November 14 at 6 p.m. and will be open for reporting again on Tuesday, November 16. All scheduled reports and request sets will be available as they were before the upgrade. All data entered in the financial systems, including feeds, on November 15 will be in the financial warehouse on November 16.
Key dates
|
Date |
Business area |
Systems and/or service impact |
| Tuesday, November 9 |
Cash Management |
Any stop payment request received in Cash Management by 3 p.m. will be placed at the bank and a new check will be issued prior to the shutdown of AP. Any stop payment requests received between 3 p.m. on November 9 through 5 p.m. on November 12 will be placed at the bank, but a check will not be reissued until November 15. In the event of an emergency, please contact Michelle Sazo at 5-1647. |
|
Travel and Reimbursement |
The Travel and Reimbursement Office must receive all GE corporate card payment requests by 5 p.m. on November 8 for them to be posted by the next cycle and cut on November 15. Please note that while Oracle is down, Web Voucher travel authorizations cannot be processed. |
|
Wednesday, |
All areas |
November 10 is the last day that complete central financial processing services will be available prior to the outage. Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, General Accounting, Applications Administration, Travel and Reimbursement services (including Web Voucher Travel Authorization forms), Cash Management, and Cash Receipts will be open and fully staffed on November 12, but will operate without access to the Oracle-related financial systems listed below. At 6 p.m., the General Ledger, Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, PCard, Web Voucher, ESP, CSMA, Cash Management, Budget Tool, Bottomline, CoA Validator, and Windstar systems come down. Cutoff for ADI journal processing also occurs at 6 p.m. Systems will remain unavailable until the morning of November 15. |
| Accounts Payable | Paperwork for all approved web vouchers must reach Accounts Payable in Holyoke Center 370 by 5 p.m. All invoices received after this time will be posted on or after November 15. All invoices processed by Accounts Payable that come due between November 10 and November 14 based on their payment terms will be paid on November 10. |
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| Cash Management | All stop payments will be placed at the bank, but a check will not be reissued until November 15. All wire transfer and foreign draft requests must be submitted to Cash Management by 10 a.m. Please note that the associated web voucher must be approved in the system and all paperwork submitted to Cash Management prior to the 10 a.m. deadline. |
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| CSMA | Chart value requests must be submitted and, if required, approved via CSMA before 5 p.m. Chart requests submitted (or approved) after this deadline won't be reflected in the general ledger until after the first CSMA sweep on November 15. Cross validation rule and user security requests submitted after 2 p.m. will be held and processed on November 15. |
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| GMAS | New sponsored accounts must be posted in GMAS by 4:15 p.m. This will be the last chance to post new sponsored accounts until November 15. | |
| PCard | The PCard sweep regularly scheduled for November 11 will be moved to Wednesday, November 10, at 4 p.m. This change will be reflected in the settlement system on November 1. | |
| Thursday, November 11 (University holiday) |
All areas | All offices are closed and financial systems are down. |
| Reporting applications | The AWS2 and HUDINI financial reporting applications, CREW-Sponsored reports, GMAS, and ad hoc access to HDWPROD, FINSTAR, and UTS are available with data last refreshed as of close of business on November 10. | |
| Friday, November 12 |
All areas | Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, General Accounting, Applications Administration, Travel and Reimbursement services (including Web Voucher Travel Authorization forms), Cash Management, and Cash Receipts will be open and fully staffed, but will operate without access to the Oracle-related financial systems. |
| Accounts Payable | Requesting emergency checks to vendors is strongly discouraged. According to University policy, this service is limited to student emergencies, mortgage checks, and gold purchases. However, emergency checks can be processed manually if authorized by the local unit Financial Dean or equivalent (on letterhead, with coding, authorizing signature, and original invoice provided) and delivered to Bill Duffy (the manager of Accounts Payable) for approval. You will be required to prepare a web voucher when the system comes back up on Monday, November 15. |
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| Cash Management | Wire transfers are unavailable and there will be no foreign drafts issued. In the event of an emergency, please contact Cheryl Margey at 5-5471. All stop payments will be placed at the bank, but a check will not be reissued until November 15. |
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| GMAS | GMAS will be available with financial data last refreshed as of close of business on November 10. No new accounts will be posted until November 15. | |
| Reporting applications | The AWS2 and HUDINI financial reporting applications, CREW-Sponsored reports, and ad hoc access to HDWPROD, FINSTAR, and UTS are available with data last refreshed as of close of business on November 10. | |
| Student Receivables Office | All emergency check requests for student refunds or stipends must be made through the Student Receivables Office (SRO) by calling Mary Jo Keaney at 5-7682 or 5-2739. Once approved by SRO, emergency checks can be processed manually if authorized by the local unit Financial Dean or equivalent. | |
| Saturday, November 13 - Sunday, November 14 |
All areas | The project team performs testing of the system update to confirm that it was successful. Any feed files sent to the General Ledger, Accounts Receivable, and Accounts Payable during the outage will not be processed until Monday, November 15. If you plan to transmit multiple feed files during the outage, be sure to use a unique file extension to avoid writing over your own files. |
| Reporting applications | Saturday, Nov. 13: The AWS2 and HUDINI financial reporting applications, CREW-Sponsored reports, GMAS, and ad hoc access to HDWPROD, FINSTAR, and UTS are available with data last refreshed as of close of business on November 10. Sunday, Nov. 14: Financial data warehouse 11.5.9 upgrade begins at 6 p.m. AWS2, HUDINI, CREW-Sponsored reports, and Ad hoc access to HDWPROD, FINSTAR, and UTS are unavailable. |
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| Monday, November 15 |
All areas | Release 11.5.9 will be in production and financial systems available to the Harvard user community. Any feed files sent to the General Ledger, Accounts Receivable, and Accounts Payable during the outage will be processed. Please note that with this release, the web address for the Financial Applications has changed. To log in, please go to the Financial Applications page (http://vpf-web.harvard.edu/applications) to access the systems via the new URL. |
| CoA Validator | Please note the URL for the CoA Web Validator will change on this date. The new URL is https://apollo6.cadm.harvard.edu:8000/pls/finprod/hugl_coa_webval.main_page. This change may affect integration between this application and local production systems. | |
| GMAS and Sponsored reporting | GMAS will be available with financial data last refreshed as of close of business on November 10. New accounts can be processed as usual. CREW-Sponsored reports will be unavailable until 1 p.m. |
|
| Reporting applications | Financial data warehouse 11.5.9 upgrade continues. AWS2, HUDINI, and ad hoc access to HDWPROD, FINSTAR, and UTS will be unavailable. They will be upgraded from version 11.5.5 to 11.5.9 overnight and will be available for reporting on the 16th with data through the 15th. |
|
| Tuesday, November 16 |
Reporting applications | Financial data warehouse upgrade to 11.5.9 is now complete. AWS2, HUDINI, and ad hoc access to HDWPROD, FINSTAR, and UTS will be available and will reflect all data entered on November 15, as well as any feeds that were processed during the previous weekend (Nov. 13-14). All systems should be working as normal. Please note that with this release, the web address for the reporting applications has changed. To log in, please go to the Financial Applications page (http://vpf-web.harvard.edu/applications) to access the systems via the new URL. |
What to expect in PeopleSoft when the GL validator is down top
The Oracle Financials system will be down from the evening of Wednesday, November 10 until Saturday evening, November 13. This time period encompasses the Veteran's Day holiday (Thursday, November 11). During this time, the PeopleSoft system will not be able to perform costing validation against the GL validator.
Specifically, here are the results people can expect if they process the following types of transactions during this time period. We recommend that these transactions be peformed prior to November 10 or after November 13, and we apologize for any inconvenience.
|
Task |
Result |
|
Rapid Time Online Entry |
No costing data will save regardless of whether it was previously used. |
|
Rapid Time Upload |
No costing data will load regardless of whether it was previously used. The session will have a status of SUCCESS. |
Adjust Time Page |
You will not be able to use combinations that have not been previously used. |
| Employee Costing (Dept Budget Page) Online Entry | You will not be able to use combinations that have not been previously used. You will receive an error message upon saving that refers to the GL validator. It will appear as if the data has been saved, but it has not. |
Costing Upload |
You will receive an error message on the inquiry page that the GL validator is down for any new combinations. |
| Additional Pay Page Online Entry | You will not be able to use combinations that have not been previously used. You will receive an error message upon saving with a reference to the GL validator. It will then appear as if the data has been saved, but it has not. |
| Additional Pay - Upload | You will receive an error message on the inquiry page that the GL validator is down for any new combinations. |
| HIRES Interface | No costing data will load regardless of whether it was previously used. The job data will transmit, but the employee will have no costing data. |
| Quick Hire Forms | You will not be able to use combinations that have not been previously used. |
| Off Cycle Checks Payline Transactions | No new combinations can be created. |
Sponsored research update top
As of October 12, 2004, the Office for Sponsored Research along with the sponsored community embraced the new Grants Management Application Suite (GMAS). GMAS is the system of record for sponsored research activity across the University.
Along with the implementation of GMAS, all sponsored reports were migrated from AWS2 and HUDINI to the new Common Reporting Environment for the Warehouse (CREW).
For more information on the GMAS Project and CREW Sponsored reports, please visit: http://oas.harvard.edu/gmas.
Important information due to the Oracle Financials upgrade to 11.5.9:
November 11 - 13: GMAS and CREW will be available
- Financial data will be as of close of business on Nov. 10
- GMAS will not process new accounts or modifications to accounts
November 14: GMAS will be available; CREW will be unavailable as of 6 p.m.
- Financial data will be as of close of business on Nov. 10
- GMAS will process new accounts and modifications to accounts
November 15: GMAS will be available; CREW will be unavailable until 1 p.m.
- Financial data will be as of close of business on Nov. 10
- GMAS will process new accounts and modifications to accounts
November 16: GMAS and CREW will be available
- GMAS and CREW return to business as usual
A new Convenience Copier Program top
A message from Jay Bounty of Harvard's Office of the Controller follows:
I am pleased to announce the establishment of a new campus-wide Convenience Copier Program to satisfy all of the convenience copy needs across Harvard at a significant savings over current arrangements. This program is the result of extensive review and analysis performed by a University-wide advisory committee and reflects our desire to provide the community with opportunities to reduce administrative costs and to maximize funds available for teaching and research.
The goal of the Committee was to achieve maximum purchasing power and higher service levels in the convenience copier area by reducing the number of vendors throughout the University from over ten to two.
Through this program we will realize a significant reduction in our convenience copy costs (from a University wide average of 3.5 cents per copy to under 2 cents per copy) and will improve the levels of customer support and service across the University. These benefits will be realized immediately as copiers on monthly rental agreements are replaced and over time as existing lease commitments expire. The annual University-wide savings is estimated at between $1.5 and $2 million once the program is fully implemented (a 40% reduction from our costs today).
The Convenience Copier Program centers on a cost-per-copy program with IKON Office Solutions. We expect that this program will satisfy the majority of convenience copy needs for Central Administration, Schools, and departments. Under this program, the University will enter into a campus-wide agreement with IKON there will be no leases, term commitments, approvals, or bill processing required on your part. As existing rental and lease commitments expire, convenience copiers will be replaced with state-of-the-art Canon equipment based on historical volumes and expected usage requirements. Once a new machine is in place, a department will be assessed a flat rate charge for actual usage of 1.98 cents per copy, which includes service, maintenance, and all supplies (except paper and staples). In those cases where IKON is not able to satisfy the specific, unique business needs of a School or department, a leasing option (through Xerox Corporation ) will be available.
IKON and Patty Farmer (University Information Systems) will administer the Convenience Copier Program for the University. They are already working on a detailed program implementation plan and you will receive additional information within the next few weeks regarding transition to the new program.
In the meantime, please do not renew any existing copier leases or enter into any new lease or rental commitments. If your existing copier lease is at or near the end of its current term, if you are considering obtaining a new copier, or if you have any other issues with existing convenience copiers, please call Mike Bloomfield at (617) 998-4566 (8-IKON) and he will be able to assist you. Patty Farmer from University Information Systems at (617) 495-2541 (5-2541) and Tara Spann in the University Procurement Office at (617) 495-5431 (5-5431) are also available to answer any questions you may have about this program.
We are very excited about this new program and are confident that it will provide you with a better convenience copier service at a significantly reduced cost.
Staples continues to be a preferred Harvard vendor top
A second message from the Office of the Controller:
I am pleased to announce that the Office Supplies Advisory Committee has again selected, and senior management has approved, Staples Business Advantage as a Harvard vendor partner. The extensive bidding and negotiation process undertaken by the Committee resulted in a 30% price reduction for the top 300 items purchased by Harvard (excluding paper) and a 10% price reduction from current prices on higher volume general office and mailroom supplies. These new lower prices will be effective on November 1, 2004.
The paper market has exhibited unusual volatility this year, and the nation's largest paper suppliers have indicated that demand continues to grow, inventories are down, and the costs of raw materials and transportation have been increasing. All of these factors have placed upward pressure on paper prices throughout 2004, and we are now faced with an unavoidable price increase on all cut sheet paper effective November 1, 2004.
We have been able to negotiate a favorable price of $21.99 per case (currently $19.00) for Staples non-recycled white paper (item #135848), which is recommended for everyday use on all standard inkjet printers, laser jet printers, and copy machines. Purchases can be made directly through Staples at (877) 826-7756 or www.stapleslink.com, or through the Electronic Shop and Pay (ESP) pilot system.
Purchases of recycled white paper can be made either through Staples (item #492072) at the new price of $24.72 per case (currently $23.95) or, for large purchases (minimum 40 cases per order), directly through Lindenmeyr Munroe at $23.50 per case (currently $22.70) by calling (508) 528-9823 ext. 250.
I encourage each School and department to review its current paper requirements and, where appropriate, place orders for cut sheet paper at the existing (lower) prices before the end of October. We have spoken with both Staples and Lindenmeyr and they are prepared to accommodate these requests.
I would also like to take this opportunity to encourage everyone to continue supporting Staples and our other Harvard vendor partners. The Procurement Management Department routinely compares vendor partner pricing against competitors to verify that we offer you the best overall value for Harvard's buying patterns and service requirements. Our analysis continues to demonstrate that the use of Harvard vendor partners will realize overall savings of between 10% and 37% when compared with purchasing through other suppliers. While it is always possible to find specific lower-priced items in the marketplace, supporting our vendor partners has proven to yield significant long-term, University-wide benefits in both cost reduction and improved service levels.
As always, if you have questions or concerns in these areas, please do not hesitate to contact Eileen DeVincent (eileen_devincent@harvard.edu) regarding the Staples partnership, or Dan Hart (dan_hart@harvard.edu) about the Lindenmeyr paper program.
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