Last Call for Fiscal Year End Deadlines!

Are you on track to end FY12 worry-free and start FY13 on the right foot? Double-check the e-News Fiscal Year-End issue for all of the dates you need to end the year right! Don't forget there's a handy, printable calendar of due dates also available!

Oracle E-Business Suite Outage and HCOM Enhancement: FINDINI 3.2.18 Release

The University's financial systems will be unavailable from 6:00pm on Friday, June 15th until 6:00am on Monday, June 18th to accommodate a scheduled release. This release will include the following enhancement to the Harvard Crimson Online Marketplace (HCOM):

As of June 18th, users will notice the following changes in HCOM:

A new field, Supplier, will be displayed in the Requisition Search screen:

A new field, Supplier, will be displayed on the Requisitions screen:

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact the HUIT Support Center at 496-2001 or dls@harvard.edu.

The Oracle Financial Applications are:

• General Ledger and ADI
• Sponsored Budget Tool
• Accounts Receivable
• Web Voucher
• Purchasing Card (PCard)
• Cash Management Reconcilation Application (CMRA)
• General Ledger (GL) Validator
• Harvard Crimson Online Marketplace (HCOM)
• Capital Project System (CAPS)
• Web Reimbursement
• Online Vendor Request Form
• Accounts Payables
• Chart Security Maintenance Application (CSMA)
• Sponsored Budget Tool
• Chart of Accounts (CoA) Validator

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact the HUIT Support Center at 496-2001 or via email.

Overview of the Oracle Release 12 Upgrade Project

Users of the Oracle E-Business suite of applications will soon be receiving regular communications, training materials and documentation about upcoming changes to certain Oracle applications.

The Oracle E-Business suite community is large and diverse. The community consists primarily of related, yet distinct constituencies:

• Receivables: Those who use the central Oracle Accounts Receivable system, including our internal Accounts Receivable staff and staff in the schools
• Disbursements: Those who use the Online Vendor Form, PCard, the Harvard Crimson Online Marketplace (HCOM), Web Reimbursement, Fedex and AP Views applications, as well as our central staff who use the Accounts Payable application itself
• Accounting: Those who use the General Ledger, the Chart Security Maintenance Application (CSMA), Capital Projects System (CAPS), the Chart of Accounts Validator and the Sponsored Budget Tool
• Security: Our Authorized Requestors who grant privileges to their respective school staff to the Oracle applications
• Cash Management: The central Cash Management Office that utilizes the Cash Management Reconciliation Application (CMRA)
• Data Feed/Extract and Ad Hoc Reporting Users: Those who feed data into or extract data out of Oracle systems, as well as those who query Oracle tables to create customized financial reports in Interactive Reporting
• CREW Financial Reporting Community: If you have access to any of the Oracle applications listed above, you may also have access to CREW, our financial reporting application

The Oracle Release 12 Upgrade Project will impact all of these areas, focusing on moving the University from Oracle Release 11i to Release 12. The new features of Release 12 support and implement many of the critical emerging business needs identified here at Harvard for maintaining current and future customers.

Summary of the Major Impacts

To find out more about the upcoming changes in Oracle Release 12, please view this short video: Introduction to Oracle Release 12 (note: alternate viewing site available here). This presentation, as well as an accompanying PowerPoint presentation summarizing the changes, is now available for your review at the project's wiki site (note you will need to log in with your HUID and PIN).

Here is an overview of what to expect as a result of the upgrade:

All Users

All users will experience an enhanced look and feel on the Oracle homepage and within several applications.

Here is a comparison of the current Oracle Homepage and what it will look like in Release 12:

Over the coming months, you will receive regular communication regarding the project. Expect the following:

• Updated documentation, including job aids and work instructions pertinent to specific application changes
• Online training, webinars, brown bag lunches and instructor-led training in specific applications
• Targeted communication to specific constituencies about the changes in your area, and regular updates in e-News
• Information about go-live preparations, including timelines of when the Oracle E-Business Suite will be unavailable and impacts on systems outside of Oracle, such as PeopleSoft, HUBS, GMAS, etc.

Receivables Community

The Receivables community will also be introduced to a new module, iReceivables that will provide a dashboard view of customer information, and allow for the reprinting of invoices making this task obsolete in CREW. This community will also receive new customer set-up standards and a new collections/bad debt policy.

Disbursements Community

The Disbursements community will experience look and feel changes with HCOM, and a new process to feed employee vendor data directly into Web Reimbursement from PeopleSoft will be introduced. This new feature will save users significant time in that you will no longer have to create employee vendors through the Oracle Online Request Form. Speaking of the Online Request Form, the form will have a new look and feel and new vendor set-up requirements, as well as new documentation requirements, primarily in the submission of W8 and W9 tax forms for vendors will be promulgated. While the Web Reimbursements application will not change in look and feel, users will no longer process reimbursement requests for non-Harvard employees in this application. All non-employee reimbursements, as well as payment for 1099 services delivered by Harvard employees, will be processed in HCOM. There will be no changes to the FedEx application, AP Views or to the PCard Settlement System. Finally, the internal Accounts Payable staff will be implementing a completely new payables application.

Accounting Community

The Accounting community will see a look and feel change in the General Ledger application, and new functionality to allow for copying journal entries will be introduced. Users of the Chart of Accounts Validator will also experience look and feel changes, as well as a new URL to access the tool. Those who work with the Sponsored Budget Tool will use a new way to upload budgets directly into the General Ledger using ADI. ADI itself and the Chart Security Maintenance Application (CSMA) will have no changes. There will be a small change as to how to print using the Capital Projects System (CAPS).

Security and Administration Community

Authorized Requestors will be given instruction on how to add new responsibilities in certain applications.

Cash Management Community

There will be no changes for users of the Cash Management Reconciliation Application (CMRA), used by staff in the Office of the Treasury Department.

Data Feeds/Ad Hoc Reporting Community

Those who feed data into, extract data from, or query Oracle tables for Ad Hoc reporting will receive regular communications on how to test their information in the Release 12 environment to validate their data.

CREW Financial Report Users

Most existing CREW financial reports will be retrofitted to work with the Release 12 Oracle data; a few reports will no longer be necessary due to changes in Oracle Release 12. CREW financial reports will also be unavailable during the latter part of the upgrade in November.

On June 13, the financial managers who attended the Financial Manager's Forum were provided an update about all of the anticipated changes by project leadership. An email from University Controller Maureen Forrester will updated to all users of Oracle E-Business Suite applications provides an update about the project.

How to Get More Information

Oracle E-Business Suite users are urged review the presentation noted above and to look out for future communications. The Oracle Release 12 Project staff also strongly encourages your questions and comments throughout the project. Please send your feedback to the Oracle Release 12 upgrade mailbox at oracle12_upgrade@harvard.edu. You will receive a response within three business days.

CREW HR Report Spotlight - HRTRMDP038 - Departmental Term Appointments

Effective 6/18/2012, a modified HRTRMDP038 - Departmental Term Appointments report will be available.

This report now contains supervisor id, supervisor name and supervisor email address. In order to access this report, you must have the following roles:
HDW^PUB^TUB^Reports User
HDW^HR^TUB^Reports User
HDW^HRUNV^TUB^Job No Comp

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact the HUIT Support Center at 496-2001 or dls@harvard.edu.

Thank you,
Human Resources Analytics and Reporting

Important Notice for Users of Oracle Forms Based Applications and JRE Plug-In Updates

Certain Oracle E-Business Suite applications must use the Java Run-Time Environment (JRE) Plug-In in order to work successfully within Oracle. These applications are:

• General Ledger
• Accounts Payable
• Account Receivable
• CAPS
• Cash Management Reconcilation Application(CMRA)
• Chart Security Maintenance Application (CSMA)
• Sponsored Budget Tool
• Applications Administration

The current version of the JRE Plug-In is version 1.6. In the near future, version 1.7 will be released. The Oracle corporation has informed customers that version 1.7 of the JRE Plug-In is not currently compatible with the applications listed above. Users are urged to disable any auto-update of the JRE Plug-In feature they may have installed on their machines to avoid this problem.

The JRE Plug-In Troubleshooting Guide, available on the FAD applications website, has been updated with the latest information concerning the JRE Plug-In and the steps you can follow to determine the following:

• How to determine what version of the JRE Plug-In is installed on your workstation
• How to disable the auto-update feature, if you are currently using it
• How to uninstall version 1.7 and re-install version 1.6 if your machine is inadvertantly updated to version 1.7 sometime this summer/fall

A Note About other Applications that May Require version 1.7: It is possible that some users may use an application either within Harvard or from an external vendor resource that may require the use of version 1.7 when it is released. If you try to access another application that uses version 1.7 in the future, or use an application that requires a lower version than version 1.6, you may not be able to access the resource. If you encounter this problem, please see the JRE Plug-In Troubleshooting Guide for instructions on how to disable and re-enable version plug-ins. Please note that you may require assistance from your local desktop support personnel with this issue.

HUBS Fiscal Year-End Update: The End of Budgeting Season is Upon Us

Schools/Units have submitted their final FY13 budgets in HUBS. The HUBS Team is working with the Office of Financial Strategy & Planning to coordinate the posting of the final budget balances to the Oracle General Ledger and the Harvard Data Warehouse (HDW). The current plan is to post all final budget balances before the July close. A communication will be sent to the Tub Finance Offices when this is done. As reminder, the names of the budget balances in the HDW are as follows:

• Plan-Q1/Q2/Q3 Forecast is named Forecast in the HDW
• Budget-Final is named Operating Budget in the HDW
• Budget-Corporation is named Corporation Budget in the HDW

A big thank-you to the 113 users who completed the recent HUBS Annual User Survey. Your feedback is used to improve HUBS. It is also a bit of a report card for us on the services we provided to you during this past year. We will circle back to you sometime this summer with the survey results.

It’s been a pleasure supporting you during the FY13 budget cycle.

Please email any questions to hubs@harvard.edu.

HCOM Summer Series Webinars Recordings Now Available-New Webinar to be Offered!

A big thank-you to the more than 150 participants who joined the University Financial Services, Financial Systems Solutions and the Center for Workplace Development for the first two HCOM Summer Series Webinars.

The PowerPoint presentations for both Webinars: HCOM Reporting and Fiscal Year-End Best Practices and FY13 Preparation, are now available at Eureka.

Webinar recordings are also now available:

• FY12 Year End Accounts Payable Processing and Tips and Tricks for Preparation: if you or any of your users were unable to attend the Webinar this simulation will walk you through some of the key AP Year End deadlines and Tips/Tricks
• HCOM Audit Reports: for users with the HRVD^HCOM^Audit Reports responsibility, this will give you an overview of all the HCOM Audit Reports
• CREW Committed Funds Report: Walks you through how to run the CFR and interpret the different columns
• Quick Tour of Reports for Year-End: Gives users a high-level overview of HCOM reports that are useful for fiscal year-end
• HCOM Reports: Overview each of the existing HCOM Reports available to all HCOM users

As additional content becomes available it will be posted to Eureka.

New HCOM Webinar: Modifications to HCOM Transactions, Wednesday, June 27th, 12:00 pm-1:30 pm

Sometimes your purchases do not always go as planned--the vendor ships the wrong item, you order the wrong piece of equipment, you make a mistake, goods get damaged, etc. In this webinar, the HCOM and business processes for modifying a requisition, approved purchase order, closing vs. canceling a PO and managing the credit memo and return processes will be highlighted. At the end of our session, users will be able to answer the following questions:

• How can I close a purchase order or line or my purchase order?
• What is the difference between canceling a purchase order and requesting that the order or line be closed?
• What do I do if I need to send goods back to the vendor? Should I receive?
• I have a credit memo - what do I do with it?
• I made a mistake on my requisition/purchase order. How can I fix it?
• How can I reroute my requisition if my approver went on vacation before approving my order?

There will be time for questions and answers.

the HCOM Summer Series will continue on July 24th with a webinar on available Eureka resources (online simulations and job aids) and how to look up payment status and requisition inquiry. The series will wrap on August 29th with a webinar devoted to the HCOM MarketPlace. This session will provide tip/tricks for making the most of your Marketplace experience (understanding icons, advanced searches, different types of punchouts).

Registration Information

Register for the session through PeopleSoft Self-Service:

1. Open a web browser and access HARVie.
2. Select PeopleSoft from the drop-down menu.
3. Navigate to Self Service > Learning and Development > Request Training Enrollment.
4. Once at the search screen, do the following:
   1.Select Search by Course Number.
   2.In the search screen, enter CWD in the Category field.
   3.In the course number field, enter WBX203 for the Modifying a HCOM Transaction Webinar.
   4.Click Search.
   5.Click View Available Sessions and select the session to enroll
   

Please take advantage of this opportunity to learn more about HCOM!

Eureka Outage June 22, 2012

The Center for Workplace Development's learning management system, Eureka, will be unavailable for scheduled maintenance on Friday, June 22, from 12:00 pm-5:00 pm.

Users who access training documentation and online simulations will want to note this outage in their calendars and plan their training time accordingly.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact the HUIT Support Center at 496-2001 or dls@harvard.edu.

Upcoming Releases

FINDINI Release Schedule

A software release 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.

The next FINDINI release, 3.2.18, is scheduled for June 15-18, 2012. Please see article 2 for more information.

The Oracle Financial Applications are:

CREW FIN Releases

The Common Reporting Environment for the Warehouse (CREW) is a reporting system that draws data from a variety of sources which are updated on a nightly basis. Users can submit report requests for immediate processing or schedule reports to automatically run on a recurring basis. Types of CREW reports include financial, budget, receivables, HR management, benefits, costing, payroll, pension, security, grants management, and sponsored reports.

The next CREW FIN release, 3.2.18, is scheduled for June 2012.

HR (PeopleSoft)

PeopleSoft Version 9.1 was implemented on April 23, 2012.

HDW HR Release 33

The HDW HR 33.0 Release is tentatively scheduled for September 2012. Details will be available in an upcoming issue of e-News.

CREW Reports

In addition to the CREW Financial and CREW HR releases which correspond with the FINDINI and HR releases listed above, changes and enhancements to new and existing CREW reports are also released the 3rd weekend of each month.

Release Number	Dates	Notes
8.6	6/16/2012

Sponsored Systems Releases

• The next GMAS release will be in July 2012. Please see last month's e-News for more information.
• A HIRBERT release was deployed in Feburary 2012. Please see the April 2012 e-News for more information.

HUBS Releases

The Harvard University Budgeting Sytems (HUBS) is a set of web-based Oracle Hyperion Planning applications used for budget data entry, estimates, annotations, reporting, and submission associated with the annual budget and planning cycles.

HUBS 2.1 was released May 18-20, 2012.

About the e-News

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.