Oracle FINDINI 4.0.2 Release Outage Information
The University's financial systems will be unavailable from 6:00pm on Friday, June 14th until 6:00am on Monday, June 17th to accommodate a scheduled release. Important Note:This release will include a JRE update to version 1.6.0_45. Logging into Oracle after this release will prompt a Java JRE update to version 1.6.0_45. This approved update should be allowed. For more information concerning the use of the JRE with Oracle forms-based applications, see the updated JRE Troubleshooting Guide.
The following items are set to be released in the weekend of June 14-17, 2013:
HCOM
- HCOM users currently see only one link of an image. With this release, if there are multiple images, the user will see multiple links.
- The HCOM PO Summary Report has been fixed to show all results without taking additional steps.
- The HCOM Requisition & Receiving search screens have been changed from a default of 7 days to a default of 30 days.
Vendor Request Form
- The Vendor Request Form will now require a requestor to select a Country using the Search functionality.
- Vendor Request Notifications may now be 'Quick Closed' to remove them from an individual's Notification queue in Web Reimbursement.
Web Reimbursement
- The Web Reimbursement cover sheet will now show the email address(es) where direct deposit notifications will be sent.
- Web Reimbursement Direct Deposit Notifications will show multiple invoices within the email if they are contained within one payment.
General Ledger & ADI
All General Ledger & ADI users will now have a new Descriptive Flexfield (DFF) for object codes 6010, 6020, 6030, 6040, 6050, 6051, 6070, 6071, 6079, 6080, 6089, 6090, 6110, 6120, 6140, 6150, 6152. This new DFF, "Period of Work Performed", will be in Attribute 19. Users should be aware that in the "Captured Info DFF" column on ADI, they will need add another period as a delimiter at the end of those lines to accommodate the new field. For more information about the field and it's use, see the next article.
The Oracle Financial Applications are:
Please send any questions concerning the Release to the HUIT Support Center at 617-496-2001 or via email.
Change to the Process for Creating Salary Journals for Sponsored Accounts Including Training Materials and Webinar
On June 17, as part of the Oracle FINDINI release mentioned in the previous article, a new field will be added to capture the Period of Work Performed for salary journals applied to sponsored accounts. This data will be mandatory for sponsored accounts against federal awards and will be used for effort certifications and reporting compliance.
In conjunction with the new effort reporting process for sponsored research, salary journal entries affecting sponsored accounts must include the 'Period of Work Performed.' At the time of entry, the journal preparer will be asked to enter this data for qualifying journal lines depending on object code, fund, and activity. This journal entry may occur through the Oracle manual form, the ADI spreadsheet, or through a direct feed from a tub shadow system. The Period of Work Performed is captured in the General Ledger as part of the journal entry and is transferred to the ecrt system (which will be implemented in the late summer/early fall of 2013) for federal reporting.
Process Change for Salary Journal Entries
When using the ADI spreadsheet or the Oracle manual journal entry form, depending on the object code being used in the account string, the captured information window will contain a Descriptive Flexfield called 'Period of Work Performed.' The period of work performed is the fiscal quarter during which the employee performed the work being adjusted by the journal. This field must be filled out if the fund or the activity is sponsored. The preparer may enter the information in the proper format or they may select the desired period from a list.
When using the Oracle manual form, the system will check that all required information is entered and will not allow the journal to be posted if required information is missing. When using the ADI spreadsheet, the preparer must click the 'Validate Payroll Information' button to check the form. If the period of work performed is required and is missing, the preparer will receive a message notifying them that they need to enter this information.
Training Materials and Webinar
The work instruction Recording the Period of Work Performed on Sponsored Salary Journals outlining the steps needed to process sponsored salary journals is now available on Eureka. Two online simulations are also available:
A webinar demonstrating how the process works in the General Ledger application and via ADI has been scheduled for Wednesday, June 19 from 1 pm-2 pm. Users can register for the Webinar via PeopleSoft Self Service by following these instructions:
- Connect to HARVie, then select PeopleSoft, Self Service, Learning and Development, Request Training Enrollment
- Select Search by Course Name
- In the search screen, enter SPA in the Category field.
- In the course name field, type Sponsored Salary Journals
- Click Search
- The options for the Webinar, course number WBX210 will display
- Click View Available Sessions to register for the session
Policy questions concerning the changes should be addressed to ecrt@harvard.edu. If you have technical questions, please contact the HUIT Helpdesk at 496-2001 or via email.
Oracle EBS Issues
Here is the latest status on the outstanding issues with the Oracle E-Business Suite:
| Business Process |
Affected Application(s) |
Description |
Status |
Accounting-To-Reporting |
General Ledger ADI |
ADI journal upload issues: items remain in the interface table, thus eventually import to the GL in error, causing users to have to reverse out their entries and re-upload. This is a sporadic issue encountered by a few users. |
Work-in-Progress: work towards a solution is ongoing and will be implemented as soon as it is ready |
| Procure-To-Pay |
General Ledger |
Payments w/ No Accounting. We have identified 22 Payments where the accounting entries linked to Payment are not creating, thus are not in the GL |
A work around to prevent this issue is in place.
Critical Fix: issue found after initial stabilization. Work towards a permanent solution is ongoing and will be implemented as soon as it is ready |
| Procure-To-Pay |
General Ledger |
AP Payments are transferring to the General Ledger in Detail |
This issue has been resolved as of May 25, 2013. |
Please send any questions concerning the Oracle Release 12 Update to the HUIT Support Center at 617-496-2001 or via email.
CREW, Interactive Reporting, OBI and Ad Hoc Environments Outage Information for DWF_4.0.2
Here is the outage information for the CREW, Interactive Reporting, OBI and Ad Hoc environments during the CREW FIN DWF_4.0.2 release, for Friday, 6/14/13, 8:00pm through Sunday, 6/16/13, noon :
- CREW application (both Financials and HR) will be unavailable for duration of the outage window.
- DWCENPRD database will be unavailable for ad-hoc and export users for duration of the outage window.
- Interactive Reporting Portal will be unavailable on Friday, 6/14/13, 8:00pm through Saturday, 6/15/13, 2:00pm.
- Financial data load will be cancelled, while HR data load will run on Friday night, Friday night, 6/14/13. Special financial data load will be scheduled for Saturday night, 6/15/13.
If you have questions or need assistance, please contact the HUIT Helpdesk at 617-496-2001 or via email.
Latest on the HUBS Upgrade
On June 4th HUBS was released to users with the latest version of Oracle Hyperion Planning, Version 11.1.2.2. The impact to most users was minimal except for Smart View users. All users can find the changes that come with the new version on the Release Notes page in the HUBS Wiki.
The HUBS Team is researching a few Smart View issues that users have reported. Updates about the issues will be communicated to the individuals who reported the issues and to all Smart View users via email as appropriate. The HUBS Team will also continue to update information in the HUBS Wiki.
Users should send any questions, comments, or concerns to hubs@harvard.edu.
Administrative Application Training Tip of the Month: Accounts Receivable: How to Retrieve the Back of an Invoice Statement when Reprinting Invoices
The Center for Workplace Development is pleased to continue our new feature of e-News, which will provide a tip each month for working with administrative applications. Want to share a quick tip with your colleagues, or want to ask for a tip to be published about your favorite application? Contact the Oracle mailbox.
This Month's Tip: Accounts Receivable: How to Retrieve the Back of an Invoice Statement when Reprinting Invoices
After the Oracle Upgrade last November, the re-printing of a customer's invoice now takes place in the iReceivables application, and the former CREW functionality no longer exists.
While it is convenient and easy to reprint a customer's invoice via iReceivables, the back of the invoice, which includes payment options for the user, is not reprinted in iReceivables. Users can now obtain a copy of the language found on the back of the invoice at Eureka, in this Adobe Acrobat reprint.
Miss last month's tip, Oracle Keyboard Equivalents for General Ledger; Accounts Receivable? View the online tip here. To view all of the monthly tips, click on the Training tag below.
As always, please send support questions to the HUIT Support Center at 617-496-2001, or via email.
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 is scheduled for the weekend of June 15-16, 2013. Please see article 1 for more information.
The Oracle Financial Applications are:
CREW FIN and HR 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 FIN CREW reports include financial, budget, receivables, grants management, and sponsored reports. Types of HR CREW reports include HR operational, affirmative action, benefits, compensation, costing, earnings, job, pension, service credit, security and training reports.
HR (PeopleSoft) and CREW HR Release 36
The next PeopleSoft Release (HR 36) is tenatively scheduled for September 2013. Details will be provided in an upcoming issue of e-News.
The CREW HR 36.0 Release is tentatively scheduled for September 2013. Details will be provided 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 |
| 9.06 |
6/15/13 |
|
| 9.07 |
7/19/13 |
|
Sponsored Systems Releases
- GMAS release (1_34) was deployed over the weekend of April 13-14, 2013. Please see the April e-News for more information.
HUBS Releases
The Harvard University Budgeting System (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 will be upgrading to Version 11.1.2.2 of Oracle Hyperion Planning on June 1, 2013. Please see article 5 for more information.
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.
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