Announcing lyndaCampus: a New Training Resource for the Harvard Community

Harvard's Center for Workplace Development is pleased to announce the launch of lyndaCampus, an online training resource for the Harvard community. With lyndaCampus, staff, faculty, and students have 24/7 unlimited access to the lynda.com library of high-quality instructional videos on topics including: all Microsoft and Adobe products, iPhones & iPads, business skills, web design, programming languages, audio and video editing software, and much more, even web tools like Dropbox, Twitter, and WebEx.

lynda.com has almost 2,000 courses taught by leading experts, with more added weekly. Each course is broken into bite-sized modules and with fully-searchable transcripts, so you can quickly get to what you need. Downloadable files let you follow along with the exercises as you learn, while playlists and bookmarks help you keep track of what you’d like to watch.

lyndaCampus accounts are provided free-of-charge to staff, faculty and students by Harvard Human Resources and can be created from any computer on the Harvard network by going to http://lynda.harvard.edu. Once an account is established, users can then log onto lynda.com anywhere they have an internet connection: at work to find a quick answer to a problem, at home to learn new tools, even on their smartphones or mobile devices to watch courses in the Yard or on the train.

Want to know more? Visit the Harvard lyndaCampus portal, http://lynda.harvard.edu, for our FAQs or email lynda@harvard.edu.

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Human Resources Reporting News - July 2013

Report Enhancements

HRACCDP221 - Departmental-Accomplishments (Agreements, Degrees, Languages & Licenses)                                        
The Excel output of the Degrees Report now includes Degree Discipline (Major).

HRTRNDP220 Departmental - Training Administration Profile
HRTRNDP232 Departmental - Training Administration (Costing)
The Excel outputs of both Training reports now include training room and facility information.

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

Thank you,
Human Resources Analytics and Reporting

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The New Financial Policy Website is Live!

The Financial Policy Office (FPO), within the Office of the Controller, is pleased to announce the launch of the new financial policy website, http://policies.fad.harvard.edu/.

The new website is part of FPO's overall financial policy refresh effort. Over the past 11 months, FPO interviewed and surveyed policy users across Harvard to identify the financial community's top policy-related needs. While over 70 people provided comments and suggestions, there were a few clear recurring themes:

1. Update the existing financial policy library: The existing financial policy library had aged and some policies were obsolete. Working with subject matter experts, FPO deleted or consolidated just over half of the 71 existing financial policies. Of the policies that remain, FPO has already updated and posted roughly 20 of the most frequently-used policies on the new website. The rest will be updated in the coming months and new policies will be added as needed.
2. Make policies easier to find: There's an improved search function on the new website. Updated policies are published in fully searchable web-based format, with a companion PDF version for easy printing. You can also browse policies by function (e.g., Accounting, Tax) or alphabetically by title. A growing list of FAQs help new or infrequent visitors find what they're looking for.
3. Make policies shorter and easier to read: FPO has put all existing policies in a simplified, uniform template, with crisper language and action-oriented procedures. A new Revision History section in each policy details any changes made to the policy from last August onwards..

While there is more to do in the coming months, FPO is excited to share the financial policy work done to date. Please direct questions or suggestions for future enhancements to Andrea Sexton at (617) 495-3976 or via email at andrea_sexton@harvard.edu. We look forward to working with you further to make financial policies a robust, intuitive, and valuable tool for the University.

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REACH Program Accepting Applications for Fall 2013

The Research Excellence in Administration Certificate at Harvard (REACH) program, a University-wide sponsored training series, is currently accepting applications for the Fall 2013 semester offering of the Foundations of Research Administration course. Applications for Fall 2013 are due August 2, 2013. Please apply HERE. For more details, please visit the REACH website.

If you would like to speak with someone about the program, we invite you to attend one of our upcoming information sessions. Instructors and participants will be available to tell you about the experience, the curriculum, the new streamlined online application process, and to answer any other questions you may have. These information sessions will be offered at different locations across the University, and all are welcome to attend any session. To RSVP, please click the links below or visit our website.

Information sessions have been held in Cambridge and Longwood; there is one more information session scheduled on the Longwood Campus on Tuesday, July 23rd, 10:00-11:00am – Countway Library, Minot Room.

More information about the REACH program may be found at: http://osp.fad.harvard.edu/content/reach-program, or by contacting REACH@harvard.edu.

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ADI Users: Extra Period Needed for Salary Object Codes

ADI Users should note that there is now a new field in several payroll object codes. The field is for the sponsored community use, but all ADI users must accommodate the new field with their use of the following payroll object codes: 6010, 6020, 6030, 6040, 6050, 6051, 6070, 6071, 6079, 6080, 6089, 6090, 6110, 6120, 6140, 6150, and 6152. An extra period is needed at the end of the Captured Info DFF column in ADI. For example, this is how the period delimiters for object code 6120 should now appear with HUID and Emp Name data filled in:

Please contact the HUIT Support Center at 617-496-2001 or via email for technical questions concerning ADI.

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HCOM Marketplace Outage July 19-21

The HCOM Marketplace will be unavailable to users from Friday, July 19, 10:00 pm to Sunday, July 21, 12:00 pm. Please note that this outage affects only the Marketplace; users will still be able to login to HCOM and create Non-Catalog and Payment Requests. Approvers will be able to approve, edit, reject and forward Requisitions awaiting their review.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding the Marketplace outage, please contact the HUIT Support Center at 617-496-2001 or via email.

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VPF; ABLE Web Pages Outage July 21

The Vice President for Finance Website (http://vpf-web.harvard.edu) and the ABLE Website (http://able.harvard.edu) will be unavailable to users Sunday morning, July 21, from 5:00 am-9:00 am for scheduled maintenance.

If you need to access an administrative application during this time period, all systems should be available. Users should go log into HARVie to access PeopleSoft and CREW. Users of Oracle applications should access the Eureka Learning Essentials Financials Page at wiki.harvard.edu and select the Login link found on the right-hand side of the page. Additionally, users can access GMAS at http://gmas.harvard.edu. HUBS users can access the application through a login link that has been provided at the HUBS page on Eureka.

If you are concerned that the anticipated outage may impact your ability to access the applications on the morning of July 21, it is recommended that end users bookmark or favorite HARVie and the Eureka Essentials Financial pages listed above in their web browser so there will be no problems accessing the applications.

As always, please send support questions to the HUIT Support Center at 617-496-2001, or via email.

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Administrative Application Training Tip of the Month: General Ledger ADI: How to Resolve the "Action Required" Message on ADI Worksheets

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.

Miss last month's tip, Accounts Receivable: How to Retrieve the Back of an Invoice Statement when Reprinting Invoices? View all of the monthly tips by clicking on the Training tag below.

This Month's Tip:How to Resolve the "Action Required" Message on ADI Worksheet

When a user completes an ADI Worksheet in Excel, the worksheet needs to be uploaded into the General Ledger. In order for the worksheet to be uploaded, there must be an active connection between the General Ledger and ADI. If there is no connection, a user will receive an "Action Required" message. This means that the user must re-establish the connection between Excel and Oracle in order to upload the spreadsheet.

Step 1: Check to make sure there is an established connection

Before uploading the spreadsheet, a user can verify that there is an established connection between the spreadsheet and Oracle by following these steps:

1. From the ADI Worksheet, double-click in either the Category or Accounting Date fields:
   
   



2. If there is an established connection between Oracle and ADI, the correct select screen will display. In this example, the user double-clicked on the Category field and the Category pick list displayed, and you will be able to proceed with uploading the spreadsheet:
   
   



3. If there is NO established connection, an Action Required box will display:
   
   

Step 2: Re-establish the connection

To re-establish the connection, follow these steps:

1. Save your current worksheet.
2. Close Excel.
3. Return to the Oracle E-Business Suite homepage.
4. Access your General Ledger Responsibility.
5. Select either the Create Actuals Worksheet or the Create ADI Original Format Worksheet and download a new spreadsheet. (The Create Actuals Worksheet has two headers. The Create ADI Original Format Worksheet has a single header.)
6. Copy the information from the saved worksheet into the new worksheet, which has an established connection with Oracle.
7. Upload the newly-created worksheet into Oracle.

As always, please send support questions to the HUIT Support Center at 617-496-2001, or via email.

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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 tentatively scheduled for the weekend of October 18-21, 2013. Details will be provided in an upcoming issue of e-News.

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 tentatively 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.

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 has upgraded to Version 11.1.2.2 of Oracle Hyperion Planning on June 1, 2013. Please see the June e-News for more information.

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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.

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