The e-News is a semimonthly electronic newsletter for users of Harvard's financial, human resources, and reporting systems.

Oracle 11i to Bring New Look and Feel to Financial Applications in Early December  top

On December 2, 2002, users of the University financial applications will experience an updated look and feel and some enhanced functionality within Oracle General Ledger (GL), Accounts Payable (AP), Accounts Receivable (AR), Application Administration, Web Voucher, Budget Tool, AWS2, and HUDINI.

In particular, Oracle's Personal Homepage, new in Release 11i, provides users with a single point of access to all Oracle systems, including Harvard's customized vendor payment and reimbursement system, Web Voucher.

This upgrade represents significant "under the hood" changes to the technical architecture of the systems. The complexity of these changes will require a week for the project team to complete the upgrade process. To minimize the impact to the user community, the team will perform the upgrade over the week of Thanksgiving (a system outage of only three business days). In addition to the core financial applications, Bottomline, Windstar, and PCard will all be down during the upgrade since they rely on access to the CoA validator and production servers.

Although there will be some navigation changes and updated screen appearance, we expect that current users should easily make the transition to Oracle 11i without retraining. Web Voucher will change the most, but in ways that we expect people will find helpful:

1. The navigation and screen appearance has been made the same as the other Oracle applications (GL, AR) so the experience will be more seamless.
2. The screens, fields, and prompts in Web Voucher will use Harvard terminology rather than the sometimes confusing, generic purchasing terms now present in the system.

More specific information about what to expect in 11i will be detailed in the November 12, 2002 issue of the e-News. By the time 11i goes live, existing documentation will be updated in ABLE.

If there is demand, briefing sessions will be provided to present the changes and answer questions. The sessions will be optional and geared toward users who require guidance through the transition.

What to Expect: The Timeline

Users will need to ensure that all web vouchers are completed prior to the system outage. Below is a timeline for the upgrade.

What to Do to Prepare

Please take time now to plan your work around the system outage to ensure a smooth transition. Look for the details about the upgrade in the November 12 edition of the e-News. Make sure your desktop will meet the standards published at http://able.harvard.edu/other/standards.shtml. Please read the information under the anticipated changes to these standards link. In summary, it says you will need a new version of J-Initiator and the Internet Explorer web browser to work in Oracle 11i.

If you have any questions, please contact the FAD Product Management via email.

Special Note for Local System Owners

If you provide technical support for local production systems that produce feeds to, or run extracts from, the Oracle applications or that rely on the CoA validator, please note that testing will begin on October 21. The instances TESTR11i and HDWTSTRi will be available to test that these tasks run in the 11i instance and to produce the associated reports resulting from the test file.

While some of you may be contacted directly regarding this testing, it is important that individuals who support such affected systems ensure that the appropriate testing is completed. If you have any questions regarding this testing or to get access to the instances listed, please contact us via e-mail.

AWS3 Now Available in "Beta"     top

Earlier this week, a preliminary (or "beta") version of AWS3 went live to enable users to perform basic HR data lookups. Although final performance and security testing of the AWS3 reports is still ongoing, this first release will include the following lookups:

Provided to all AWS3 users (but not restricted by department-level security)

Individual Directory Listing (also called "Directory Listing: Individual Lookup"): This lookup provides a view of public data such as name, HUID, business title, employment status, and office address.

Provided to assigned AWS3 users (and restricted by department-level security)

Individual Job Profile: This lookup will probably be the most useful to you when initiating personnel actions for current Harvard staff. It contains detailed demographic, compensation, job, and employment information such as Empl_ID (HUID), date of birth, SSN, annual salary, standard hours, grade, job code, and hire date.

When looking up data about an employee, it is safest to select the "Show All Jobs" parameter, which will display current and future-dated jobs. As history is built in PeopleSoft, it will also show past jobs. To look up past jobs prior to the PeopleSoft go-live, choose the "Pre 10/01/2002 Jobs" parameter, which will access data stored in the IU.

Departmental Directory Listing (also called "Directory Listing: Department Lookup"): This lookup provides similar data for each individual as in the Individual Directory Listing, but it can be run for any HR department and/or its subdepartments. It shows the home as well as the office address of employees.

Emergency Contacts: Initially, this will be blank for most departments and employees (HMS is a key exception). Going forward, each tub can decide whether, when, and how it wants to collect this information for its faculty and staff and maintain it in PeopleSoft.

University Job Profile: This view is similar to the Individual Job Profile, but has less detail. Use it to view basic but useful job information about any current or terminated employee, including Empl_ID, total number of current jobs, job code, HR department, Empl_Class, and paygroup. It does not include compensation data.

Hardware and software requirements to use AWS3

Desktop standards for AWS3 were provided in the September 30 e-News. Some of you commented that they were quite restrictive. The project team has gone back to the manufacturer of Brio (the tool used to develop AWS3 reports) and obtained a wider range of operating systems and browsers that have been tested with Brio and found to work.

Official desktop standards for AWS3 will be published on ABLE shortly, but users with Windows 98 should be able to use AWS3, as well as those using the versions of IE needed for PeopleSoft (5.0, 5.5, or 6.0).

In addition to an operating system and browser that falls within the desktop standards, you will need the Brio software plug-in (called Insight) to use AWS3. This software plug-in is designed to be self-installed by each user, but if you have concerns about trying it yourself, contact your local IT or desktop support organization. The procedure should take less than five minutes. Here is a summary of what you'll need to do.

In future issues, we'll notify you when reports are released and describe in more detail how data security works in AWS3.

Registration for AWS3 Training is now open

Contact your local registrar (listed at http://vpf-web.harvard.edu/ training/ #Register) to sign up. We have plenty of seats available in both the two-hour lecture and the optional (but recommended) hands-on lab. Dates, times, and locations for training are listed at: http://vpf-web.harvard.edu/ training/ hrcourses.pdf.

Remember that to participate in the lab, you'll need to:

1. have attended the Understanding HR Data and AWS3 lecture courses, and
2. have a valid, activated user role in the AWS3 system, your Harvard ID, and your PIN. The lab will focus on helping you perform lookups in the production system, and run reports when they are made available.

Please call the UIS Helpdesk at 6-2001 if you experience problems using the system, or your local HR authorized requestor (http://able.harvard.edu/ other/ hr_auth_requestors.pdf) if you suspect that you don't have the reporting or data security you need.

New Checks for Semimonthly-Paid Employees    top

On Friday, October 11, employees who are paid semimonthly (administrative/professional and clerical/technical staff) will receive their first checks or direct deposit advices from the new PeopleSoft systems.

These checks will look different than checks produced from the old payroll/personnel system (IDMS) and will contain more information. Because PeopleSoft calculates and reports payroll information differently than did IDMS, and because of changes made to benefits deductions, some amounts may be slightly different.

An explanation of the format and calculation changes to the new paycheck was included in the Big Red Publication (titled We weren't kidding … the new system is ready), which was sent to all employees at their office addresses in early September. If you have misplaced it, this publication is archived online at http://atwork.harvard.edu/pdf/hrproj-paycheck.pdf.

If you have a question about your new paycheck, please refer to the table below:

Important note:

Employees who have part of their pay direct deposited to a Harvard University Employees Credit Union account, and receive the remainder as a check (i.e., it is not deposited automatically to a bank account), will receive two separate envelopes: one containing the advice for the Credit Union deposit, and one with the check. This is because of the way the printing and check sorting processes work.

Since the check and advice will be in separate envelopes, it is possible that they will be in separate mail deliveries, so that an employee might receive their advice in the morning and check in the afternoon. Payroll coordinators should be aware of this in case employees are alarmed. Please help us spread the word.

Expanded Viewing Access for Tub Data
Viewers and Process Managers    top

In response to users' comments, we have modified PeopleSoft security so that users with the roles of Tub Data Viewer and Tub Process Manager can now view the default schedule, default costing, and Time and Labor group for time reporters in their tub. You've told us that having a way to quickly look up this data will allow you to troubleshoot stabilization problems locally.

Here are the navigational paths to these pages:

To View Default Costing
Home > Define Business Rules > Define Commit Accounting(US) > Setup >
Department Budget Table

To View Default Schedule
Home > Define Business Rules > Define Time and Labor > Enroll > Assign Work Schedule

To View Time and Labor Group Assignment
Home > Define Business Rules > Define Time and Labor > Enroll > Maintain Time Reporter Data

How Holiday Pay Will Work in
Time and Labor    top

Overtime-eligible employees (HUCTW or nonunion clerical/technical staff) who work on a holiday are entitled to time-and-a-half for that day, as well as their choice of an extra day's pay (defined as one-fifth of their regular pay for the week) or a floating holiday to be used later within the fiscal year.

Until December 31, 2002, PeopleSoft will automatically pay employees who work on a holiday an extra day's pay (that is, one-fifth of their regular pay for the week, in addition to time-and-a-half for the holiday worked). This means that an Additional Compensation form will not be necessary for employees who choose to be paid for their extra day.

If the employee chooses to take the floating holiday off instead, action must be taken in order not to pay them for the extra day. The tub will need to submit a Temporarily Reduce Pay form (http://able.harvard.edu/ forms/ temporarily reduce pay.xls) to FAD Payroll, indicating that the employee's regular earnings should be reduced by one-fifth of their regular pay for the week. If this is not done, the employee will be overpaid: They will receive, in addition to their time-and-a-half, both a day off and an extra day's pay. The Temporarily Reduce Pay form is valid for use with overtime-eligible employees.

The first holiday for which this system will be in place is Columbus Day, October 14. This process of automatically paying the extra day's pay will end on December 31, 2002. Beginning January 1, 2003, the employee may use the Time and Labor system to choose whether to take the floating holiday or the extra day's pay.

Types of "Groups" on Hiring Form    top

When hiring an overtime-eligible employee, it is necessary to enter a Time and Labor group for that person. This information should be entered in the Group ID field. Group ID is not a required field, because exempt employees do not need to be enrolled in a Time and Labor group. Here are the different types of "groups" listed on the New Hire form and the information they require.

Tips for Timekeepers    top

Use a Special Time Type for Work-Study:
When reporting time for students funded by College Work-Study, remember to use WST as the code for hours worked, rather than REG.

Be Careful of Concurrent Jobs:
Keep in mind that employees (particularly temporary employees) may have more than one job. The first or primary job held is denoted by Empl record 0, the second concurrent job by Empl record 1, etc. As a timekeeper, your access allows you to report time for any of these jobs. To make things even more confusing, temporary workers often hold concurrent jobs with the same job title (such as Temporary Overtime-Eligible).

When you begin to enter time for a worker, the sytem will default Empl record 0. Please make sure that you are entering hours for the correct job. If the job titles are identical, your time administrator (http://atwork.harvard.edu/hradmin/ related docs/Local contact grid2.pdf) should be able to tell you the job for which you should be entering time.

Working with Time and Labor    top

Many of us have now been working with the Time and Labor system for two weeks, and calling the UIS Helpdesk for assistance. With hundreds of calls now logged, a pattern has begun to emerge:

• About one quarter of the calls are because a reporter is "missing" from a Time and Labor group. Root causes include a missing value in the Group ID field for a new hire (causing the time reporter to be put into the NOSEC (no security) group, pending an assignment) or the misassignment of a time reporter. In either case, your local time administrator should be able to investigate these problems and get them resolved.
  
  
• About one quarter of the calls relate to mistaken "cross-reporting" or "cross-approval" of time for concurrent jobs. Again, your local time administrator should be able to clarify which job your department "owns."
  
  
• About one quarter of the calls have to do with idiosyncratic behavior of the system, such as deleted rows continuing to appear, system freezes, etc. In most cases, these problems relate to your desktop being overloaded, and are resolved by:
  • clearing your browser's cache, and/or
  • closing down IE and relaunching it, and/or
  • rebooting your system.
    
    

  You can clear your cache by selecting Tools > Internet Options > Clear History in IE. This is a quick fix that often resolves desktop performance issues.

Clarification on Effective Date for
Terminating Employees    top

Please note that when terminating employees, the effective date for the termination should be the day after the last day the employee works. The system will then automatically subtract one day when it fills in the Termination Date and Last Day Worked fields. If the last day worked is entered as the termination effective date, the employee will not receive pay or benefits for that day.

HR Training Added    top

In response to the community's request for regular offerings of PeopleSoft training for new hires now that most of the go-live training "push" is over, we have scheduled classes (http://vpf-web.harvard.edu/training/hrcourses.pdf) for October through December, 2002. There are plenty of seats available in almost all classes. Contact your local register (http://vpf-web.harvard.edu/ training/#Register) to sign up.

Changes to Student Data    top

FAD Payroll has reported that a number of personal data changes on student employees have come into their office. While changes to a student employee's job or employee data (e.g., their job code, a termination, or an addition of a job) should go through FAD Payroll on the appropriate PeopleSoft-enabled form, changes to a student's personal data should go from your registrar to Student Receivables. FAD Payroll will ensure that the forms that have already been sent to them will be returned to Student Receivables, as appropriate, for entry.

Also, please remember that Home Address for an employee -- whether student or not -- means where the employee is currently living. The address the student comes from (usually their parents' home) is the Permanent Address.

Action / Reason Codes Updated

Please note that the Action / Reason codes on the atwork.harvard.edu/hradmin website have been updated as of October 10, 2002. Please be sure to refer to this revised list when coding personnel actions in PeopleSoft.

Telecommunications Services Payment
Paper Revised    top

In consulation with the financial deans, Harvard's policy on payment for telecommunications services has been revised. This revision expands the options for processing telecom service payments to all Accounts Payable and Travel and Reimbursement systems, with the stipulation that a business purpose must be provided at the local level. The revised paper is available at: http://vpf-web.harvard.edu/documents/pdf/ ACTTS Telecommunications 10-1-2002.pdf.

Great Question of the Week    top

Question

How can I help staff in my department figure out where their paycheck went? This is a question I get quite often from students and other temporary employees.

Answer

Paychecks and pay advices are distributed by Central to each employee's "Mail Drop ID." (Local units have their own products for subsequent distribution of checks and advices, often using the Check Address printed on the front.)

Beginning on Friday, October 11, authorized tub-level HR and financial officers will be able to look up the Mail Drop ID in PeopleSoft using their recently expanded data viewing capability, which has been added to these user roles: PS^HR^TUB^Data Viewer No Comp; PS^PAY^TUB^Reports User; PS^HR^TUB^Data Viewer; and PS^PAY^CTR^Data Viewer.

Once logged in, Tub Data Viewers and Payroll Reports Users (local payroll coordinators) should follow these steps:

To research the street location of a Mail Drop ID, use the following steps:

If an employee wants to change this information, please have them complete a Personal Data Change form.

About the e-News   top

The Financial Administration publishes this semi-monthly 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: fad_communications@harvard.edu