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Fiscal Year End Closing Schedule Reminder top
June 30th is just around the corner--don't forget to check out the April 2008 e-News for the schedule of closing deadlines and submission information for FY2008 financial transactions! A printable list of the closing schedule is also available.
Oracle Financials and CREW Outages over the June 20 Weekend top
The University's financial systems will be unavailable from 6:00pm on Friday, June 20 until 6:00am on Monday, June 23rd to accommodate the scheduled FINDINI 3.2.5 release.
CREW Reporting Application and Ad Hoc environments will have outages as follows in order to install the scheduled CREW APP 1.5.2 & CREW FIN 3.2.5 releases:
- All CREW Reporting will be unavailable from 8pm, Friday, June 20 to 8am, Tuesday, June 24. This includes:Financials, Grants Management, Student Data Warehouse, CAPS andHuman Resources
- Financials Ad Hoc Reporting environments DWCENPRD & HDWUTS will have the same outage as CREW Reporting above.
- HR Ad Hoc Reporting on DWHRPRD, IMSUTS, and DWHRHST **WILL** be available as usual during the weekend.
- The entire CREW nightly data load for Friday, June 20 is cancelled, but will run on Sunday night, June 22.
- CAADS Hyperion will be unavailable from 9:30pm Friday night until approximately 12:00pm on Saturday
Oracle Financials FINDINI Release 3.2.5 Enhancements top
The following enhancements will be available following the FINDINI Release 3.2.5 this weekend:
HCOM
There are four new enhancements to the iProcurement/HCOM module:
- Vendor Justification/Debarment Form:The Vendor Justification Form has been incorporated into the iProcurement module. When a requisition is created, if charges with a single vendor exceed $5000 and a Federal Fund is used, the requisitioner will be required to fill out the justification information in the ‘Split Cost Allocation’ screen before submitting the requisition for approval. This online form replaces the paper VJF; however, departments must continue to retain bid documentation if competitive bids were sought. In addition, if the requisition is over $25,000, the requisitioner will be required to certify that a debarment form, signed by the vendor, has been obtained and retained. The requisitioner may download the debarment form from the screen if needed. Instructions for this process will be sent to HCOM users via the ‘HCOM Marketplace Report’ prior to release.
- Check Request Form:A Check Request Form has been incorporated into the iProcurement/HCOM module for post commitment invoices. Please note that only utility invoices only should be processed via this method; units will be notified when the form can be used for other types of transactions. The requisitioner will be required to enter the Vendor Name, Invoice Number, and Amount and will then proceed as normal for HCOM and Non-Catalog purchases. Instructions for this process will be sent to HCOM users prior to release.
- Approver Notifications: Notifications in iProcurement/HCOM have been enhanced concerning multiple/split coding for a requisition: the system will now display the account coding on the approver notification instead of the current 'Multiple'. This will allow the approver to see the coding upfront without having to go into each multiple line.
- Requisition/PO Views (Security Hierarchy):This enhancement allows users within the same hierarchy to view requisition information from all users within that hierarchy.
The above enhancements are only available to schools and departments that are in the HCOM pilot program.
General Ledger
- Treasurer’s Distribution Allocation Enhancement: In FY 2009, the Treasurer’s Distribution Allocation, MALL973 TD DECAP, will use additional object codes. It will show the GIA Earnings, TD Decap, ASA Decap, and IS Decap.
- Standing Order Allocation Enhancement: In FY 2009, the Standing Order Allocation will act on an additional object code, 4415 CO^Treasurer’s Distribution on Endow, Additional. Prior to this enhancement, object code 4415 was handled manually by General Accounting.
Coming Soon to Web Voucher!
New Vendor and Site Request Form: A new automated Vendor Request form will soon be available to those with the Web Voucher responsibility in Oracle. This will allow the user to request new vendors and new vendor sites through the Oracle application and be able to view the status of the request through Notifications. This enhancement will replace the paper process that currently exists. Stay tuned for more information in an upcoming e-News.
FY08 Reporting Year End Close Website top
The FY08 Reporting Year End Close Website is now available at: http://vpf-web.harvard.edu/ofs/frds/fy08_ye.shtml.
Since 2004 the Year End Reporting website has been providing and evolving content to help streamline reporting and end-user communications throughout the close process. The site includes key dates, steps on how to create and schedule request groups to automatically run on the close events, and performance usage tips and tricks.
This Year End we are introducing live queue and report usage updates on high volume reporting days to allow users visibility into reporting activity and provide estimates of any pending wait-times that may result due to queue backlogs.
During peak reporting periods, the ratio of the volume of reports to system/queue capacity will result in some backlogging and pending wait-times. A more serious backlog will be indicated by many reports incurring increasingly longer pending wait times.
Though queues are adjusted for maximum performance capacity, it is helpful for users to have information on demand to know what to expect. During peak reporting days starting in July live updates will refresh the site every 15 minutes.
FINDINI 3.2.5 CREW Financial Reports Enhancements top
The following CREW financial report enhancements will be available on July 24, 2008:
| CREW Financial Reports | ||
| Description | Modifications | |
| 1 | GLDTLLR172 & GLDTLLT174 |
The implementation of Absence Management resulted in an increased amount of data and complexity for Detail Listing users.
More info… |
| 2 | BDBDVAR149 – Budget Variance |
The Fiscal Year, Start and End month date period parameters are being replaced with a single date parameter similar to the CINA Flex and other financial reports. This change means that currently scheduled Budget Variance report requests must be modified (after the release on the 24th but before their next scheduled run) in order not to complete in error. To modify requests in a scheduled or schedule later status, from the CREW Home Page:
More info… http://vpf-web.harvard.edu/training/enews/html/2008-05.html#article6 |
| 3 | APCMFIND219 – Committed Funds |
This new report will be released to production in early July. Look to the next eNews article for the latest update. Use this report to:
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Human Resources Data Warehouse and Reporting News: HRMS Updates: Enhancements to CREW HRMS Reports top
CREW HR 4.6 Release Notes
CREW HR Release 4.6 will be deployed into production on 6/20/2008.
| Reports | ||
| Description | Modifications | |
| 1 | HRCMPDP217: Departmental – FTE Salary Comparison Report |
- New report released into production. - The purpose of this report is to allow end users to view and compare employee’s compensation information across two years. - This report displays employees who have an active job with an effective date as of MM/DD/YYYY (first comparison year) and an effective date as of MM/DD/YYYY (second comparison year) as selected. - The parameters used in this report include: Department ID, Employee Classification, Pay Group, 1st Comparison Date, 2nd Comparison Date. |
| 2 | HRCMPDP020: Departmental – Compensation Rate Change |
- New (current and historical job) data elements have been added to the report. - Enhancements made to PDF (action details) that displays historical job attributes. - New parameters have been added to the report: -See Business Purpose and Detailed Description for more details about report functionality. |
| 3 | HRU55CI096: Union Admin – Union Membership |
- Report criteria changed to limit to only those active employees who have a union code. - Attribute label changes; additional attributes; function updates. |
| 4 | HRJOBDA031: Pay Periods Audit – Weekly Temp (WTM) Payroll |
- Technical bug – fixed: Empl Rcd no longer joins to payroll objects. - Pay Group no longer sourced from OPY_PAY_CHECK_F_SV. |
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact the UIS Helpdesk at 496-2001 or uis_helpdesk@harvard.edu.
Thank you,
The CREW Human Resources (Information Management Services) Reporting teams.
CREW Grants Management Report Enhancements top
The following Grants Management report enhancements will be available on June 24, 2008:
- Accounts Receivable:
- A 'Comments' field has been added to the report to display the comments entered in GMAS for a receivable.
- Subagreements:
- This report has been modified to exclude the names of Central Administrators once their role has ended on active segments. For closed segments where there is no active Central Admin, the last Central Administrator(s) is displayed.
- Interest Policy:
- The FY09 interest rate (4.3%) has been added to the Interest Rate parameter list. This is also the new default value. If you need another interest rate you can select it from the list.
- Unreconciled Accounts:
- A 'Final Figure Comments' field has been added to display the comments added in GMAS.
- The Account End Date parameter now accepts both YY and YYYY year values.
- The 'Exclude Training Grants' checkbox has been changed to a ‘Training Grants’ radio button. So you can now choose to include, exclude, or select only Training Grants. The default value is to include them. **NOTE**: If you have an existing request in CREW for this report that excludes training grants, you need to open the request and re-select 'Exclude' Training Grants. An email will be sent out to all the users that this applies to.
- An 'Active Accounts Only' checkbox has been added to the report parameters. It is checked by default.
New Website Launched for FAD Systems Solutions top
FAD Systems Solutions (FSS) has launched a new website at http://vpf-web.harvard.edu/fss.
The site includes the following features:
- Financial Applications Information: a major focus of the site is financial systems information; a page has been added for each of the 21+ financial applications supported by FSS, including Oracle, PeopleSoft, Sponsored, Custom-built and Reporting Applications. Information about system features, access, training and documentation are included, as well as the ability to log into the application.
- The FSS News Blog: Check out the premiere spotlight article on CREW (see more details in next article below). The News blog enables the user to search news articles by category, month and keyword. If you would like to subscribe to FSS news feeds, you can click on the "Get RSS Feed" button. Users can also share articles via email or by adding links to social bookmarks sites such as del.icio.us.
- Systems Status and Planned Outages Alerts: The site provides updated system status information and details of any upcoming planned system outages.
- The FSS Client Services page provides even more information about system access and includes the lists of authorized requestors for Oracle, PeopleSoft and GMAS applications.
- The site also provides general information about FSS including the list of all FSS analysts a page devoted to upcoming projects.
- 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.
FSS invites your questions/comments about the site: click on the Contact Us link found at the bottom of each page to submit your feedback.
By the Numbers: The Growth of CREW top
As stated in the previous news article, the first spotlight news item on the new FSS website is devoted to the CREW Reporting Application--its growth, volume, report run times and error rates.
Did you know that over 420,000 report requests were made in FY2006, and more than 645,000 CREW report requests are expected by then end of FY2008? Did you know that over 98% of all reports run in less than one hour and have no error rates?
The article features a user-friendly summary of the one of the most-used financial and HR applications at Harvard. Please visit the spotlight article at the FSS website and send along your feedback.
About the e-News top
The Center for Workplace Development publishes this electronic newsletter for users of Harvard University's financial, HR, and reporting systems, policies, and procedures. The e-News is generally published on or around the 15th of each month.
It contains:
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.
For information about subscribing or unsubscribing to the eNews notifications, visit our who gets the eNews page.