PeopleSoft Release 36: Enhancements and Outage Information

Due to HR Release 36.0, PeopleSoft and ASPIRE transmissions to PeopleSoft will be unavailable starting on Friday, September 13th at 5:00 pm until Monday, September 16th at 8:00 am. Users will see the following changes on Monday, September 17:

Absence Updates:

Cancel/Submit Prior Period Saved Absences:
Employees, both exempt and non-exempts, can now submit or cancel a saved absence request for the current month. Previously, employees could only cancel a saved absence.

This function gives non-exempts the ability to submit a saved absence from a prior period (up to the beginning of the month) that may impact their timesheet. Managers should review the non-exempt's timesheet to ensure the employee's regular hours on that day are correct in reflecting the absence. If not, the manager should correct the regular hours, if they can adjust, or contact their department's time adjuster to correct the timesheet. If the absence is approved by the manager and an adjustment is required, the absence will get flagged as a Harvard Exception.

Time and Labor Updates:

Schedule Change Upload:
A new upload is available that allows payroll processors to update multiple employees' schedule changes at once instead of manually entering each schedule change using the Job Data Change form.

Similar to other uploads, there is an Excel template to enter and upload your changes as a .csv file, and an Inquiry page to review whether each record successfully uploaded. The template and work instruction for this process is located in Eureka and can be accessed by clicking here.

To access this role in PeopleSoft, you must request the PS^PY^ALL^Sched Change Upload role through your tub's/unit's Authorized Requestor.

Payroll Updates:

New Additional Pay Form | Submit to Database:
A new form is available that allows payroll processors to submit an additional pay for an employee without having to use the Additional Pay Upload process or the Additional Pay Form (print and send the form to Central Payroll).

This new form submits directly to the database and requires each school/unit to have a preparer and a submitter. As a key control, no one processor can both prepare and submit the same form. Schools/units that use this form should designate a workflow process where one person prepares the form and another is responsible for reviewing the form and submitting it to the database.

This form follows most of the rules that the Add Pay Upload as it will not create the required FLSA blended calculation for a Bonus-in-Lieu (BIL), nor can it be used for certain taxable transactions.

Those who have the Pay Form - Gifts/3rd Party and Pay Form - Additional Pay pages will automatically be given the Pay Form - Addl Pay Preparer role. Those who have the Additional Pay Upload role will automatically be given both the Pay Form - Addl Pay Preparer and the Pay Form - Addl Pay Approver role.

When accessing the Pay Form as either the preparer or approver, be careful to select the correct links (highlighted below) as the names of the additional pay forms look very similar.

Instruction for this process is located in Eureka and can be accessed by clicking here.

Modify Add'l Comp to be Paid Report to Include Hours and Hourly Rate:
Prior to this release, the report was not selecting employees who have a valid, active additional pay where the Earnings Amount is blank but the Hours and Hourly Rate fields are populated. The report output has been modified to include an hours and an hourly rate field. The report will now have the two following fields added to the already existing ones:

New Quick Links Menus:

The PeopleSoft Home Page will have a new look starting September 16th for Harvard's benefited employees.

1. The new Quick Links - Self Service menu (center menu) enables direct access to commonly used Self Service pages with a single click.
2. This Self Service menu also displays a new Performance Management folder with links to pages that will be used for performance management. You will be directed to use these links when your school/unit implements performance management in PeopleSoft.
3. There will also be a Quick Links - Manager Self Srv menu (right side) for quick access to commonly used manager tasks, such as approving timesheets (not shown in image above). All employees, including those who do not manage others, are provided access to this Manager Self Service menu in case they temporarily need to serve as "acting manager" when their manager is on extended leave. If you are not a manager, do not use these links unless directed by your local HR office.
4. To re-access the quick links menus once you have navigated to a page, click the Home link at the top of the page.

New Manager Self Service Page: Training Summary:

Beginning with Release 36, the Training Summary page in Manager Self Service will provide managers access to training data for their direct and indirect reports. This pages allow a manager to view what training courses an employee has taken and is enrolled to attend, course content details and costing (if applicable).

A Job Aid has been posted to Eureka and is available here.

Access the Training Summary page through the PeopleSoft Menu: Manager Self Service > Learning and Development > Training Summary.

The initial Training Summary page displays all of the manager's direct reports.

• To view an employee's direct reports click the org chart icon
• To view an employee's Training Summary click on the employee's name

The Training Summary lists all current, future, and past courses the employee enrolled in:

To view details about a course, click the course details link:

Please send any questions regarding these changes to the HUIT Support Center, (617) 496-2001, or via email.

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Human Resources Data Warehouse (HR DW) Release 36 Outage Information

HR Data Warehouse will be unavailable beginning at 8:00 pm on Friday, 9/13/13 (the usual down time in the evening) through approximately 3:00 pm on Monday, 9/16/13, in order to install the DWH_36.0 release to PROD.

• AD HOC and EXPORT users will have access to all databases with exception of DWHRPRD, DWHRHST, and IMSUTS where users will be locked out until Monday, 9/16/13, 3:00 pm.
• CREW HR Reports will be unavailable until Monday, 9/16/13, 3:00 pm.
• Interactive Reporting (IRP) will return errors for reports drawn from DWHRPRD database until Monday, 9/16/13, 3:00 pm
• HR data load will be cancelled on Friday, 9/13/13, full load is scheduled for Sunday, 9/15/13
• Financial data load will take place per normal schedule Friday, 9/13/13.

If you have questions or need assistance, please contact the HUIT Helpdesk at 496-2001 or via email.

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Human Resources Data Warehouse (HR DW) Release 36 Information - HR DW Database Object Updates - September 2013

A number of database object updates are associated with the upcoming HR DW Release (DWH_36.0). Please refer to this document for a complete list of changes which are scheduled for production release on September 16, 2013.

If you have questions, please contact the HUIT Help Desk at 617-496-2001 and ask the attendant to log a ticket to the HDW-Tech group.

Thank you,
Human Resources Analytics and Reporting

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Human Resources Reporting News - (HR DW) Release 36 September 2013

New Parameter - Action Reason Code Lookup

HRJOBDP005 - Departmental - Action Report
HRJOBDP242 - Departmental - Action Report (No Comp)

As part of Release 36 a new Action Reason Code Lookup Parameter will be available on both Departmental Action Reports, allowing users to make selections on specific Action Reason codes.

The Action Reason Code Lookup Parameter works best when used in conjunction with the Action Code Parameter. When using the Action Reason Code Lookup Parameter we suggest that you first make selections on Action Code.

The Action Code will then be passed to the Action Reason Code Lookup and will restrict your results accordingly. Note that if no selections on Action Code are made then the Action Reason Code Lookup will return all results.

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

Thank you,
Human Resources Analytics and Reporting

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Electronic Submission Tracking and Reporting (ESTR) is Online!

On June 26, Harvard completed a University-wide roll out of ESTR; the new Institutional Review Board (IRB) application submission and review system. All human subjects research applications at Harvard must be submitted for review through the ESTR.

We listened to our researchers and reviewers, and delivered a system which:

• Improves efficiency and reduces administrative burden by eliminating the prior paper processes
• Offers clear and consistently available information about protocol review status and determinations to research investigators
• Provides ready access to organized, currently approved electronic documents associated with a study, along with storage for archive, version control and tracked changes
• Enhances Harvard's ability to remain in compliance with evolving federal regulations

Any questions about ESTR? Contact your IRB office (Longwood Medical Area and University Area), or the ESTR help desk at ESTRhelp@harvard.edu

Updates about the system, reference materials, and information about training sessions are always available at estrsupport.fss.harvard.edu.

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Update on the ecrt Effort Reporting Project

As reported in last month's e-News, this Fall Harvard will switch from the current paper based effort reporting system to the Huron ecrt software. There are several important items to be aware of during the next weeks and months, please see below for a high-level summary. If you have any specific questions, please contact your local school level representative on the HERSCI (Harvard Effort Reporting and Salary Certification Initiative) committee.

Important points to keep in mind:

• The new electronic effort reporting system, ecrt, will be going live in October 2013
• The new system will be used for the FY 13 annual certifications and quarterly non-faculty/staff certifications starting in FY 14
• Only federal awards will be certified, and non-federal as required by the sponsor
• Faculty will electronically sign their own FY 13 annual effort statements (anticipated release date in early November 2013)
• Monthly certification changes
• The staff (non-faculty) project based certifications will switch from monthly to quarterly beginning in July 2013
• June 2013 will be the final month for the CREW monthly staff certifications
• July and August certifications will be available in CREW but these reports will be for informational purposes only and do not require certification
• All future certification reports, beginning with Quarter 1 of FY14 (July 2013-Sept 2013) will be electronic in the ecrt system
• Training for the ecrt roles of Grant Managers (GMs), department Primary Effort Coordinators (PEC) and Tub Effort Coordinators (TEC) will commence in October 2013, and registration will be available via PeopleSoft. Look for an email within the next week or so with registration details.
• More information on the ecrt implementation, including training and go-live preparation announcements, will be forthcoming over the next several weeks

Questions concerning the new Effort Reporting system should be directed to the ecrt mailbox at ecrt@harvard.edu.

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HCOM Marketplace Changes Coming in October 2013

Next month, when users of the HCOM access the Marketplace area, they will see a new look a feel for the HCOM Marketplace. Note that the functionality currently available to end users, including time-out cart recovery, will not be changing. The HCOM Marketplace will simply display an updated look and feel.

Here is a screen shot of what users will see in late October:

As you can see from the above screenshot, users will be able to easily access Marketplace punchout vendors and perform catalog searches as usual. The main change is the tabs that currently appear across the screen.

Prior to next month's release, existing documentation and online simulations will be updated, as well as a new simulation explaining how to navigate within the new Marketplace.

Please send any questions about the new marketplace to the Office of Strategic Procurement.

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Administrative Application Training Tip of the Month: Accounts Receivable: How to Reprint a Customer's Invoice

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, How to View Payments or Credit Applied to a Transaction in iReceivables? View all of the monthly tips by clicking on the Training tag below.

This Month's Tip: How to Reprint a Customer's Invoice in iReceivables

End users can quickly look up customer and reprint an invoice in iReceivables. Here are the steps:

1. Log into iReceivables and select Invoice from the drop down menu. Make sure you have the invoice number handy.





2. Enter the invoice number, check off the Show All Sites and Search by Customer Name/Number checkboxes, and click Go





3. Select the invoice number from the list [note that, in this public example, customer name and address are obscured; the actual customer name and address will appear in iReceivables]
   
   



4. The invoice screen will open displaying the invoice; click on the Printable Page or the Activities button
   
   



5. From the next screen, you can print the invoice as well as export the information.

Important Note: Currently, there is an important timing issue that people should be aware of when re-printing invoices. Currently, invoices are not being emailed or printed to customers if someone does a print invoice from iReceivables before the custom print job is run. This bug is expected to be fixed in the Oracle October release next month.

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 scheduled for September 13-16, 2013. Please see article 1 for details.

The CREW HR 36.0 Release is scheduled for September 13-16, 2013. Please see article 2, article 3, and article 4 for details.

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_35) was deployed over the weekend of August 16-19. Please see last month's 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.

The next HUBS release took place during the last week of August. Please see last month's 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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