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Do You Know Your Fiscal Year End 2009 Deadlines? top
It's only six weeks before the end of FY09! Don't forget to check out the fiscal year-end issue of e-News for the schedule of closing deadlines and submission information for FY2009 financial transactions! A printable list of the closing schedule is also available.
E-Verify Functionality Coming to PeopleSoft top
Important information for those departments who receive new federal contracts.
- What:
- Beginning June 30, 2009, departments who receive new federal contracts with the requirement to use the federal E-Verify system will need to verify the employment eligibility of employees assigned to these new contracts. This will be completed by the HR departments of the school that receives the new federal contract. In order for the University to accurately track and report on employees who have been run through the E-Verify system, a new functionality has been created on PeopleSoft. HR users who are responsible for completing the E-Verify checks will use PeopleSoft to record the date and verification number for each person verified.
- The E-Verify page in PeopleSoft can be used for both entering verification data on an employee and looking whether an employee has already been verified.
- HR Departments must request security access to this page; it will not be automatically assigned to existing HR users. Please contact you HR Authorized Requestor to the request the role: PS^HR^ALL^EVFY^EVERIFY
- Learn More:
- For a quick overview of the government’s new E-Verify process (e.g., which employees are applicable, when does it need to be done, etc.) please review this quick reference:
- Visit the Eureka task page to view detailed information about the new PeopleSoft page at: Eureka>Personnel Action>Update E-Verify
- Bottom Line:
- Provides an easy and quick method for storing E-Verify data within PeopleSoft.
Questions regarding Harvard’s compliance in using E-Verify may be directed to Bill Cain in Employment Services.
Be Sure to Monitor Your Fiscal Year End Appointment End Dates top
As was done last year, the Auto Term process for 6/30/2009 terminations will be run on Saturday, 6/27/2009 due to the high volume of employee records that have a 6/30/2009 appointment end date.
Tubs/units should monitor their upcoming appointment end dates and ensure that those with a 6/30/2009 date that are going to be extended have the new appointment end date inserted before the 6/27/2009 process runs.
Schools/units can use the Auto Term Extract and Upload in PeopleSoft to extend employees whose appointments will be extended. Appointments can also be monitored by running the CREW report HRTRMDP038: Departmental - Term Appointment
- In cases where an employee has been auto-termed in error, you must contact your Customer Relations Team cluster to have the termination row removed to reinstate the employee.
Reminder Regarding the Notice of Change in the Posting Date of the July 2, 2009 Bi-weekly and Weekly Payrolls and FY2009 Year-end Payroll Accruals top
Notice of Change in the Posting Date of the July 2, 2009 Bi-weekly and Weekly Payrolls
In order for the University to comply with financial statement reporting requirements, the weekly and bi-weekly payrolls for Thursday, July 2nd will be processed in the first close of FY2009; the general ledger posting date will be June 30, 2009. These payrolls are both for time worked in June which should be reported in FY2009. The weekly payroll includes the pay period Sunday, June 21 through Saturday, June 27 and the bi-weekly payroll includes the pay period Sunday, June 14 through Saturday, June 27. All entries, which include regular payroll, vacation payroll, overtime, bonuses (those with an effective date of 6/27/09 or before) and supper money payments, on the two files will be posted. Employees will not be affected by this posting date change and will still receive their paychecks on Thursday, July 2nd as scheduled.
FY2009 Year-end Payroll Accruals
The weekly payroll to be paid on July 10th and the bi-weekly payroll to be paid on July 17th include amounts for June 30th which need to be reflected in our FY09 salary expense. In order to accomplish this payroll will be booking accrual entries to reflect the salary expense associated with that day. The entries will debit the appropriate salary object codes and credit accrued expenses, object code 2190. The amount of the accruals will be estimated based on 2/5th of the amount paid for the period 6/21/09 – 6/27/09 for the weekly payroll, and 2/10th of the amount paid for the period 6/14/09 – 6/27/09 for the bi-weekly payroll and will be posted by individual employee. The accrual entries will then be reversed in July, resulting in only the July portion of the expense to remain in FY10.
New Records Management iSite Helps You Maintain Records and Control Costs top
In today’s economic climate, we can all use help in developing strategies to manage expenses and maximize efficiency. The Harvard University Archives’ Records Management Services has launched a new iSite to provide guidance and resources that support Harvard offices and departments in the current economy.
Features include:
- Instruction on keeping and destroying records
- Advice on maintaining compliance
- Options for records storage and suggestions for controlling costs associated with records storage
- Guidance on managing the records of separating employees
- Tips on preparing for office moves and clean ups
- Announcements of upcoming workshops on all these issues
Please visit the iSite to learn more; RMS encourages you to bookmark the address: http://isites.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=k58901.
RMS is committed to assisting University offices and departments to control costs, improve efficiency, and meet compliance obligations through high-quality records management practices. We provide professional guidance, customized training, and other services to University offices at no cost.
For further information or assistance contact RMS at rmo@hulmail.harvard.edu or 5-5961.
New PIN System Release (v2.5)! top
A new version (v2.5) of the PIN System will be released on June 10, 2009. The PIN team would like to share details of the new release with all users of the PIN System.
What's New?
This release is focused on increasing the usability of the PIN System. Apart from some minor cosmetic changes, the system will incorporate 2 major, new features. Both features are in response to user feedback / requests.
Support for multiple screen resolutions (BETA)
The team will BETA test a solution that will improve usability for users when using the most popular mobile devices we see accessing PIN-based applications. Users using a traditional browser will see no changes as a result of this feature. However, if you access a PIN-protected website using one of these devices (new ones will be added over time) the PIN site that will be presented to you will look like this:
Enhanced Sign-on
Users have expressed frustration that they start each morning by logging into multiple applications by repeatedly entering the same login/PIN information. At the same time, application owners have struggled with displaying collections of information from multiple PIN-based websites to their users who have to login multiple times to see it all. To make this simpler here’s what the new experience will be like:
a) Once a user logs into an application, as long as you do not exit your browser, you will be able to access any other PIN-based application. See letter c for an important caveat.
b) You no longer have to select the “Auto-login” button for this behavior. However, there is a check box on the page (“Remember me”) that will let you stay logged in even after you exit your browser window, with the caveat expressed in letter c.
c) Certain applications may decide to reduce or increase this access time, and some may require you to always re-enter credentials. After having typed your credentials into the PIN application, if you spend more time to access another application than the access time specified by the application, PIN will ask you to re-enter your credentials.
The PIN team strongly encourage users to make sure you click Logout and/or close your browser when you leave your computer. This will ensure that the PIN System will ask for a username.
EBPS/HUBS Project Update: Access to the New Budgeting System Rolling Out to More Schools top
May and June are exciting months for the Enterprise Budget & Planning System (EBPS) Project. On Wednesday, May 13th, the Tub Finance Office of the Graduate School of Design went live on HUBS Reporting. They join the four schools who are already live with the whole system: the Graduate School of Education, Harvard Business School, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, and the School of Public Health.
Looking ahead to June, a number of additional Tub Finance Offices will go live on HUBS Reporting. As of Monday, June 14th, the following TFOs will have access to HUBS: HRES, DIV, FAS, HKS, HLS, HMS, SEAS, JCHS, AAD, FSS, HUAM, & President’s Office. The rest of the Wave 2 Tub Finance Offices and all Wave 2 local Planners will go live in Winter 2009.
To find out more, visit the EBPS Project iSite. If you are interested in looking at some of the user documentation and online simulations, visit Eureka, the Center for Workplace Development's Learning Management System.
GMAS Release and Updates top
Release 1_20
The GMAS Team is pleased to announce the following enhancements released on May 9th:
- Display invalid code combinations of fund and activity
- Multi-PI system-to-system (S2S) applications
- Backup team owner for standing teams
- Harvard’s subagreement indirect costs (HUIDC) are editable in a segment revision
- Harvard University Standard Invoice (HUSTIN) improvements
Enhancement details plus more new features and bug fixes are described in the Release Notes.
What’s in the “works” for GMAS?
Stimulus Funding
A working group named the GMAS/Operations Stimulus Task Force, comprised of members of each central sponsored office and FSS, meets regularly to discuss system changes needed to manage proposals and awards generated by The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA):
- On April 1st a new school specific question, Does this proposal include funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA)?, was added to GMAS to track initial, competing renewal, and supplement requests submitted.
- Design work to add a new ARRA question at the segment level to track awarded stimulus funding is underway and is expected to be released in late June.
- Enhancements to support financial reporting requirements and subrecipient monitoring are anticipated as well…stay tuned for more ARRA developments.
Letter of Credit (LOC) Project
The GMAS Letter of Credit module provides tools for OSP to record and report federal expenses, thus ensuring Harvard remains in balance with agency systems. A new Letter of Credit module is currently in development and expected to be released in September, 2009.
Federal Funding Accountability & Transparency Act (FFATA)
With a goal of increasing system-to-system submissions, we continue to stay on top of new requirements like FFATA. FFATA introduces changes to eight Grants.gov forms, resulting in a new version of each form. The new versions are in development with an expected release date in late summer.
For more information regarding above, contact Andrew Malone. As usual, for help using GMAS contact the help desk at contactgmas@harvard.edu.
Upcoming Releases top
FY2009 FINDINI Release Schedule
A significant upgrade to the Oracle 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 |
3.2.8 |
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 24
The next PeopleSoft and CREW HR Reporting releases are tentatively scheduled for the weekend of September 12-14, 2009. See future editions of e-News for more information.
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 |
5.5 |
May 16-17 |
|
5.6 |
June 13-14 |
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GMAS Releases
There was a GMAS release on May 9th. See details above.
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.