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New CREW Committed Funds Report Available as of 8/18/2008 top
APCMFND219 – Committed Funds Report
Ever wonder what happened to that purchase that should have shown up on the Detail Listing by now but was just too much trouble to track down? Now you can look to the Committed Funds report to track the status of Purchase Orders (including Web Vouchers) that have been approved, but have not yet posted to the General Ledger for payment.
The Committed Funds report will help you to know if you’ve already promised funds against another purchase so you don’t overspend on them.
Background:
Harvard Crimson On-Line Market Place (HCOM) is a new purchasing application being introduced by the University’s Strategic Procurement office. Pilot users of HCOM identified the ability to report on open purchase orders as an important need.
The Committed Funds will also display Web Vouchers that have been approved, but not posted to the GL, as well as Electronic Shop and Pay (ESP) un-posted purchases.
Report in a Nutshell:
The Committed Funds report can been thought of as a companion to the Detail Listing which shows the “before” to the Detail Listings “after” posting status. If a transaction line is on the Detail Listing, it should not be on the Committed Funds report, and vice-versa.
Note, since a Purchase Order (PO) can be comprised of many transaction lines each in a different status, separate lines of a single PO can show up on both the Detail Listing and the Committed Funds report.
Users of this Report:
Any user who has access to the Detail Listing report has access to the Committed Funds report.
What to Know:
Data Issues/Concerns:
Until now, pre-posted Purchasing/AP data has not been available to the CREW reporting community and has mainly been used by central specialists via ad hoc/Brio reporting. In allowing greater visibility into this data, the Committed Funds report revealed several data quality issues in testing. Though all data issues were corrected, once the real users and experts of the data begin to use the report, it’s possible other anomalies may be uncovered. Please contact the help desk at 6-2001 to report any issues so they can be addressed as quickly as possible.
Performance:
Once in CREW, check out the “What’s New” blurb in the Report Catalog (by clicking on Report Code, APCMFND219) for guidance on using date periods for faster run time performance.
Questions? Who to Call:
The Help Desk at 6-2001. Your call will be routed to the CREW Reporting Team for resolution.
Warning: ***SPAM*** Email Claims it's from JPMorgan Chase Bank top
A PCard holder recently reported receiving an e-mail allegedy from JPMorgan Chase asking them to "update and verify your information by clicking the following link:...".
Although the email appears to be from JPMorgan Chase, it is not. It has been designed by fraudsters with the intent to trick you into providing private information about yourself and your accounts. This is known as "phishing" and the numbers of persons who fall victim to this scam is unfortunately rising.
It is not JPMorgan's practice to:
- Send e-mail that requires you to enter personal information directly into the e-mail
- Send e-mail threatening to close your account if you do not take the immediate action of providing personal information
- Send e-mail asking you to reply by sending personal information
You should never reply to, click on, or enter any information if you receive a suspicious e-mail.
JPMorgan Chase actively investigates each of these attempts and work hard to stop any further unauthorized emails from being sent.
Questions? Please see the PCard transition iSite: pcard.fad.harvard.edu
CREW Grants Management Report Enhancements top
In the Segments Report (GMPRJCT084). released July 19, 2008, you can now find:
- Two new columns displaying an award's Total Authorized Direct and Total Authorized amounts for the Current Budget Period
- A new option on the date range parameters to filter dates for the Next 60 days
- A fix to the expenses and income query -- this query was incorrectly including amounts coded to invalid code combinations, this has been fixed
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact the UIS Helpdesk at 496-2001 or uis_helpdesk@harvard.edu.
The Enterprise Budget and Planning System – The Foundation for Successful Financial Planning top
The Harvard financial community has lauched an important project to improve its enterprise budget processes through implementing a robust, flexible, and web-based budgeting tool.
The Enterprise Budget & Planning System (EBPS) project was born out of a University-wide budget process assessment conducted in the fall of 2006. The assessment yielded the strong recommendation that the University implement an enterprise-wide budgeting system that would streamline its budgeting process and facilitate a more robust approach to financial planning. After analyzing five leading software solutions, Hyperion System 9 Planning was selected to satisfy the University’s requirements.
The business objectives of the Enterprise Budget and Planning System are:
- Replace Excel as the primary budgeting tool for the Tubs
- Simplify the process for distributing templates to local users, managing drivers, and consolidating results
- Provide the same reports currently available via Budget Tool and CREW, in the context of the annual budget process
- Provide for mission critical tub-specific adjustments to the EBPS solution
- Establish a framework for future enhancements, including business intelligence, calculation and validation, etc.
The Project received approval to begin in March of 2008 and will extend until stabilization is complete in 2010.
The Hyperion Planning system includes many enhancements and improvements over the existing budget tool to support the fiinancial planning process:
The Project will be implemented in three phases:
- Phase 0: General Design Sessions and creation of a prototype database
- Phase 1: Implementation at 5 "Wave 1" schools—The Harvard Business School, Harvard Medical School, Harvard School of Public Health, the Harvard Graduate School of Education and the Radcliffe Institute
- Phase 2: University wide implementation
The Project has just completed Phase 0. Six general design sessions were held between April and June 2008; each 3-hour session combined requirements assessment, prototype solution design and product overview topics. The culmination of this effort was the creation of a prototype database established to present design concepts – different ways of meeting business requirements within Hyperion Planning – with data, webforms, tasklists, and reports that reflect Harvard dimensionality and business processes.
The Project is now moving forward with Phase 1. The Project Team is meeting individually with each of the Wave 1 schools in “tub-specific design sessions.” The goals of these sessions are to:
- Establish roles and responsibilities for the upcoming implementation
- Gather tub-specific requirements for the Hyperion application
- Match tub-specific requirements against the emerging baseline design of the system
- Communicate current Tub business process to the project team
- Discuss training approaches and requirements
The outcome of these discussions will result in the establishment of a final University-wide design and implementation of the Hyperion 9 Planning System at the Wave 1 schools in the late fall and winter, to facilitate the creation of fiscal year 2010 budgets. This implementation will include installation of the system and training end users at each Wave 1 school.
Lessons learned from the Phase 1 implementation will be applied in Phase 2, as the Hyperion 9 Planning system is rolled out to the rest of the University.
To find out more, visit the EBPS iSite at http://ebps.fad.harvard.edu.The iSite provides extensive documentation and a recorded simulation of the prototype system built in Phase 0 of the Project. If you have additional questions about the project, email the Project Team at EBPS-Project@harvard.edu. Updates about the project as it moves forward will be published in future issues of e-News.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:
- 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.
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