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Oracle and CREW FINDINI Release Details-Systems Outage and Enhancements top
The University's financial systems will be unavailable from 6:00pm Friday, March 27th until 6:00am Monday, March 30th to accommodate a scheduled release. CREW will be unavailable from 8:00pm Friday, March 27th until Tuesday, March 31st.
The Oracle Financial Applications are:
Web Voucher/Web Reimbursement/HCOM
IProcurement
Online Vendor Request Form
Electronic Shop and Pay (ESP)
PCard
General Ledger, ADI and Web ADI
Budget Tool
Accounts Receivable
Accounts Payable
Chart-Security Maintenance Application (CSMA)
Chart of Accounts Validator
Capital Project Services (CAPS)
Cash Management (CMRA)
PeopleSoft users please note: the PeopleSoft system will not be able to perform costing validation against the GL Validator due to the Oracle Financials system outage.
Enhancements to the Oracle Financial Systems
The following enhancements will be available as a result of the new release:
General Ledger: New Application Desktop Integrator (ADI) Delete program
Attention ADI users: starting March 30, 2009 any ADI spreadsheet upload which completes with a status of Warning will be automatically deleted from the GL Interface table by a new program. The program will delete the journal batch which is in error by request id number and send the submitter an email. The email will include the request id number, date uploaded, and batch name. Initially, this program will be scheduled to run at 11am and 4pm. If you need your ADI spreadsheet deleted at another time, it can still be requested via the helpdesk at 617-496-2001. The program’s timing will be reviewed and adjusted as needed.
Enhancements to Online Vendor Form
The following two enhancements to the Online Vendor Form will be available to users on March 30th:
- Vacation Rules entered in Web Voucher will now be viewable when an Approver is selected for a New Vendor or New Site request. The vacation message will appear below the 'Approver' field.
- 'Notes to Requestor': If AP or your Approver rejects your request, you will now be able to see the reason at the top of the form in the 'Notes to Requestor' field when you open the rejected request. You will no longer need to go into your 'Notifications' queue to see the reject reason.
Changes to Travel Authorization Form Application
An enhancement to improve the Travel Authorization Form process (TAF) will be introduced with the March Oracle Financials release. The enhancement is a one cent to ten dollar tolerance for all TAF invoices. University Financial Services discussed the implications of such a tolerance with RMAS and Sponsored Programs. Both offices acknowledged and agreed with the need for the tolerance given the small variances of air and rail prices from the time the fare is booked and then invoiced. This change will increase the speed of the procure-to-pay process for TAF transactions by eliminating transactions going on hold when slight price variances occur. Preparers and approvers will see a pop-up message communicating the price tolerance when creating and approving a TAF transaction. This information will also be displayed on the printed purchase order.
Human Resources Reporting: Enhancements and Changes to HRMS CREW and Database Objects top
CREW HR 5.3 Release Notes
[Production release date: 3/20/2009]
| Reports | ||
| Description | Modifications | |
| 1 | HRXFRDP204 – Departmental Transfer Report |
Update labels on Section Header, Report Output & Parameters. |
| 2 | HRJBMUL026 - Departmental - Multiple Jobs [LHT Employees] |
Change underlying views to allow all jobs for all departments to show through. |
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact the UIS Helpdesk at 496-2001 or uis_helpdesk@harvard.edu.
Thank you,
The Harvard Human Resources, Information Systems and Analytics Reporting team.
IRS Announces New Wage Withholding top
Congress has approved and President Obama has signed new economic recovery legislation that affects the federal income tax withholding on your pay for wages, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
The Internal Revenue Service released new withholding tables that may reduce the amount of income tax withheld from wages paid to U.S. citizens, permanent residents and resident aliens for U.S. tax purposes, nonresident aliens for U.S. income tax purposes may see an increase in their income tax withholding. The table changes will be updated in PeopleSoft on March 18, 2009.
The new tables, prescribed by the Department of the Treasury, reflect The Making Work Pay Tax Credit and other changes resulting from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
It is not necessary to submit a new Form W-4 “Employee Withholding Allowance Certificate” to get the automatic withholding change. However, an employee with multiple jobs or married couples whose combined incomes place them in a higher tax bracket may elect to submit a revised W-4 “Employee Withholding Allowance Certificate’. IRS Publication 919 “How Do I Adjust My Withholdings” provides additional guidance for tax withholding.
If you choose to update your federal withholding allowances, you can do so through Employee Self-Service within PeopleSoft. If you are unsure on how to navigate through Employee Self Service, refer to the job aids on Eureka.
For more information, refer to the Internal Revenue Service or consult with your individual tax preparer.
Find Out More About Forecasting top
Check out the latest feature from the FAD Systems Solutions (FSS) website: It's Like Having Your Own Psychic: PeopleSoft Absence Management..Now with Forecasting!
This short interactive feature provides information for managers who wish to use Absence Management Forecasting, which displays the available paid time off balances remaining for employees. The tool, introduced in December 2008, provides managers with an immediate overview of vacation, sick day and personnel day balances to better manage their personnel resources. Please note: this feature is best viewed with Internet Explorer 7 or Firefox.
FSS welcomes feedback on this feature and any other questions or comments about the website; please send these to the FSS Webmaster.
Video Sessions of Corporate Card Transition Details Now Available top
Video of the Corporate Card transition sessions held in Longwood and Cambridge March 5, as well as the corresponding PowerPoint presentation, are now available on the iSite at corpcard.fad.harvard.edu.
| Key Dates for Card Transition | |
| Description | Date |
First day to use your new JPMC cards (Please update all travel profiles with new card information (i.e. Egencia, US Air, Hertz, etc. as soon as possible) | March 17th, 2009 |
Recurring charges must be recoded to your new JPMC card | No later than |
Last day to use GE cards | March 27, 2009 |
Last day for GE direct pay (must be approved and paperwork received by Reimbursements) | No later than |
First day to submit direct pay for your new JPMC card | April 13, 2009 |
Last date for individuals and administrators to access GE account data on line | May 28, 2009 |
Rewards Program
Cardholders enrolled in the rewards program will continue to earn points for transactions until their GE cards are cancelled on March 28, 2009. After March 28, 2009, any unredeemed points will be forfeited. Redeem your points by going to: https://www.gecapitalgains.com/rewards/SignInServlet?bank_id=18601102&i18n=en_US.
Visit our Corporate Card Transition iSite for additional valuable information that will help you transition your business to the new JPMorgan Chase corporate card.
- How to activate you new JPMorgan Chase credit card (activation date March 17th)
- How to access your new JPMorgan Chase account on line
- Frequently asked questions about the transition period
Go to: http://corpcard.fad.harvard.edu.
If you don’t find the information you need:
Please contact Margarita Rivera, 495-9951, or Stacey Clifton, 495-9308, with additional questions regarding the transition.
Upcoming Releases top
FY2009 FINDINI Release Schedule
A significant upgrade to the financial applications, known as a "FINDINI release", is done every two to four months. Each upgrade introduces needed bug fixes, enhancements, and technical upgrades into Harvard's financial systems. Generally, releases are performed on weekends to assure maximum availability during the business week. Most outages occur from 6 pm Friday evening-6 am Monday morning.
Here is the FINDINI Release Schedule for the remainder of FY2009:
| Release Number | Dates | Notes |
3.2.7 |
6:00 pm Friday, March 27- |
CREW Financial Reporting Release included; CREW unavailable until Tuesday, March 31 |
3.2.8 |
6:00 pm Friday, June 19- |
CREW Financial Reporting Release included; CREW unavailable until Tuesday, June 23 |
The Oracle Financial Applications are:
| • General Ledger & ADI | • Electronic Shop and Pay (ESP) |
| • Budget Tool | • Harvard Crimson Online Marketplace (HCOM) |
| • Accounts Receivable | • Capital Project System (CAPS) |
| • Cash Management (CMRA) | • Chart Security Maintenance Application (CSMA) |
| • Accounts Payable | • Chart of Account Validator (CoA) |
| • Web Voucher | • Web Reimbursement |
| • Procurement Card (Pcard) | • Online Vendor Form |
HR Release 23
The next PeopleSoft and CREW HR Reporting releases are tentatively scheduled for the weekend of May 2-3, 2009. Check future editions of e-News for release details.
CREW Reports
In addition to the CREW Financial Reporting and CREW HR Reporting releases which correspond with the FINDINI and HR releases listed above, changes and enhancements to new and existing CREW reports are also released monthly. This schedule is as follows:
| Release Number | Dates | Notes |
5.3 |
March 14-15 |
See details above |
5.4 |
April 18-19 |
|
5.5 |
May 16-17 |
|
5.6 |
June 13-14 |
GMAS Releases
A release is currently under development for GMAS. The tenative release date is the weekend of April 25-26. Check future editions of e-News for more details.
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.
For information about subscribing or unsubscribing to the eNews notifications, visit our who gets the eNews page.