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Plan now for a PeopleSoft system outage, October 1 - 3 top
The next update (Release 8.0) to Harvard's PeopleSoft-based HR systems will begin on Friday, October 1, when the system is taken down at 2 p.m. PeopleSoft is expected to remain down until 8 a.m. on Monday, October 4.
As with earlier releases, this is expected to have the following effects:
- Time for the workweek ending Saturday, October 2 will need to be entered before 2 p.m. on Friday. Local deadlines may be earlier.
- HIRES will be prevented from transmitting forms to PeopleSoft during the Release 8.0 weekend. The "transmit" button will be grayed out at 2 p.m. on October 1 in conjunction with the PeopleSoft access buttons. All other HIRES functionality will continue to be available during this period.
- You should refrain from running any system-based processes if you do not reasonably expect them to complete before 2 p.m. on Friday, October 1. If you have a process running when the system is taken offline, your process may be halted in the middle and it may result in an undesirable outcome. It is very important that we take the system down at the planned time in order to complete all of the work necessary for the release and to restore the system by the beginning of the business day on Monday.
System hours of operation, including anticipated outages, are available here. In the unlikely event of problems with the release, information will be posted at http://www.uis.harvard.edu/system_status/.
Sponsored reports migrate from AWS2 / HUDINI to CREW top
As part of the implementation of the new Grants Management Application Suite (GMAS) at Harvard, a set of pre-existing and newly developed sponsored management reports will migrate from AWS2 and HUDINI to the Common Reporting Environment for the Warehouse (CREW) over the Columbus Day weekend.
Effective Wednesday, October 13, selected reports will be available in CREW, including the Period Expense Report (PER) and Salary Certification report.
As of Sunday, October 10, these reports will be decommissioned in AWS2 and HUDINI. This change will not affect any of the other financial reports residing there, such as the Detail Listing.
Additional details are provided for users of these reports:
- Key cutover and blackout dates, including when to run your last reports from AWS2 or HUDINI
- How to log in and get help
- Answers to questions we anticipate you'll be asking
Last call for AWS2 / HUDINI financial reports user survey
If you have not already done so, please help the University Financial Reporting and HDW teams learn about your past HDW experiences by completing the HDW / AWS2 survey at the website below. The results will provide these teams with critical feedback (and ideas) as they discuss the scope of a potential project to move financial accounting and management reports into CREW.
Click the following link to launch the survey: http://www.zoomerang.com/survey.zgi?p=WEB2QX7KUUV7.
CREW HR report updates top
The following enhancements have been made in CREW's HR reports:
|
Report |
Business Description |
Enhancement |
| BNHNWDP017 - Department Benefit Inquiry |
Lets a user select a department and display current benefits data for active employees. |
New report |
|
HRJOBEE003 - Individual Job Profile |
Lets a department look up job information about active, future, or terminated employees in that department. |
|
COICODP033 - Inactive Costing |
Displays employees with inactive costing |
Retrofitted to enhanced HR data model or new benefits views |
| PYERNEE002 - Individual Earnings Report | Displays individual earnings information | |
| BNHNWEE016 - Individual Benefits Inquiry | Displays benefits data for an individual employee | |
| RTRMDP038 - Departmental Term Appointment | Displays employees with term appointment end dates |
Single sign-on streamlines navigation from HARVie to PeopleSoft top
Since paper pay advices ceased for most members of the Harvard workforce in August, employees are being asked to view them online in PeopleSoft. And since PeopleSoft and the Harvard Intranet for Employees (HARVie) are both PIN-protected, this required logging in twice to reach the information.
To eliminate this inconvenience, single sign-on has been implemented that spans across HARVie and PeopleSoft. You will now be able to access PeopleSoft from HARVie without logging in twice.
Here are the steps to activate single sign-on permanently from your desktop and to view your paycheck.
- Go to HARVie at http://harvie.harvard.edu/.
- At the PIN authentication screen, check the box next to "Use automatic login from this computer."
- Enter your Harvard ID and PIN to access HARVie.
- On the HARVie homepage, click the "PeopleSoft Access" link in the top-right corner. This must be done within two minutes of logging in to HARVie or the single login will become inactive.
- Use the following navigation path to view your paycheck: Self Service > Employee > View > View Paycheck.
Please help us spread the word to faculty and staff in your area who may wish to avoid the double login when entering or approving time, viewing their paycheck, or checking their benefits statements, etc.
New Action / Reason codes top
The PeopleSoft Action / Reason codes have been updated to include five new combinations, as follows:
|
Action / Reason |
Action / Reason Code Description |
Usage |
| PAY / ADJ |
Adjustment / Decrease |
Used to reflect a decrease in an employee's pay rate |
|
TER / WKR |
Workers' Comp, No Job - DISABILITY CLAIMS UNIT (DCU) ONLY |
Workers' comp - job not kept - used only by the DCU |
TER / WCV |
Workers' Comp, Vol - DCU ONLY |
Workers' comp - voluntary term - used only by the DCU |
| RET / WKR | Workers' Comp, No Job - DCU ONLY | Workers' comp - job not kept - used only by the DCU |
RET / WCV |
Workers' Comp, Vol - DCU ONLY |
Workers' comp - voluntary term - used only by the DCU |
Helpful hints for processing job data changes and extending term appointments top
The Automated Job Data Change Form (AJDCF)
This is a reminder to double-check the HUID, employee record number, and effective date on your forms before saving them. Once they are saved, you cannot change these "key field" pieces of information.
Staff in Central Payroll are still finding a few forms that were saved with invalid record numbers (such as the default number of 99), which cannot be retrieved and processed. NOTE: The employee record number is not validated on the form when the Transfer Section of the form is used.
Also, remember you cannot change an effective date of an action via the AJDCF. If you realize you have submitted a form with an incorrect effective date, please call your Customer Service Representative and ask her to reject the form back to you. You can then delete the form and resubmit another with the correct date.
If the form has already been processed, please log a ticket in Remedy by calling the Payroll Hotline at 495-3001. A Customer Service Representative will contact you and work with you to get the date corrected.
Extending term appointment end dates
Central Payroll is still receiving a large number of AJDCFs for employees who have already been Auto Termed.
Please be proactive in monitoring and extending term appointment end dates. We suggest that you run the CREW report HRTRMDP038: Departmental - Term Appointment on the 15th of each month for the next month. To run this report for future dates, select “Other” under the Date Range, and then enter the appropriate date range.
If an AJDCF is used for a reappointment, you should allow seven business days to process the form. Payroll has a five-business-day turnaround time for processing changes, and the change must be submitted before the close of business on the day prior to the appointment end date to avoid being Auto Termed. If you know you don't have enough time to process the change, please use the Term Appointment Upload process.
If the employee has already been terminated, please contact your Payroll Customer Service Representative to have the Term row deleted.Sign up online for the MBTA pass program top
As described in this recent Resource article, the long lines at Holyoke Center and other MBTA pass pickup sites will soon be a thing of the past for Harvard employees.
Instead, those wishing to take advantage of Harvard's MBTA pass discount will sign up online and get their passes mailed to their home automatically every month. The price for the pass will be deducted from paychecks before taxes. Adding this pretax savings to Harvard's existing 40-percent discount means that many people will save over 50 percent.
Beginning September 20, Harvard employees may enroll in the new MBTA Pass Program through the CommuterChoice website (http://www.commuterchoice.harvard.edu). If done by midnight on October 1, employees can get their passes for November and beyond mailed home.
Employees may sign up after October 1, but there will be a one-month lag between ordering the pass and receiving it in the mail. In-person MBTA pass sales will continue for several months to smooth the transition.
Visit the CommuterChoice web site for more information.
Change in benefits deductions for new employees top
Beginning September 1, newly hired employees will be charged for benefits in the pay period in which the benefits coverage starts. This change will also apply to current employees who are enrolling in benefits for the first time or changing their benefit elections. This is a change from our previous practice of starting deductions for new employees and newly enrolling employees in the pay period after the benefits coverage start date.
We have made this change to improve our business processes in three respects:
- Under-collection of employee premiums given that our health and dental insurance vendors charge us for coverage when it begins rather than when Harvard begins taking deductions.
- Delays in notifying vendors about new enrollees because of the lack of synchronization between the coverage begin date and the deduction begin date.
- Technical problems in PeopleSoft that are resolved when the benefits deduction date matches the benefits coverage date.
This change means that employees will pay for a full pay period deduction regardless of when the coverage begin date falls within the first pay period. However, this change is balanced by our current practice of not charging employees (regardless of their start date) for benefits in their last pay period. This practice remains unchanged.
Please contact the Benefits Services Group at 671-496-4001 if you have any questions regarding this change.Get ready for Web-based benefits enrollment top
This fall's Benefits Open Enrollment for active employees will move to a web-based system and will be available through a link on the home page of HARVie (http://harvie.harvard.edu).
Prior to the Open Enrollment period (October 27 through November 10), employees will receive a personalized statement outlining their benefits choices and directing them to a website where they can make changes.
The Choices Benefits Enrollment Guide, which provides details about various benefits, will also be available online. Employee groups with limited or no computer access will call a new phone service center (not the automated phone system used in past years).
As with other recent and upcoming efforts to provide more employee information and self-service functions online, this change is expected to yield significant cost savings over time. Employees can expect to see more information about the new benefits enrollment in The Resource and on HARVie.
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