Brown Bags for FSUN members during cutover

The Financial Systems User Network (FSUN) will be hosting three brown bags during the Upgrade cutover. All three of these brown bags will be available to see in person or online. FSUN members can register online at z.umn.edu/fsun.

April 13, 2015 Uniform Guidance

Nicole Pilman, Uniform Guidance Implementation Coordinator, will be speaking from 1-2 pm on Monday, 4/13/15. This brown bag will be held at Anderson Hall RM 270. Some topics to be discussed include:

• Background on purpose of Uniform Guidance
• Overall implementation plan of Uniform Guidance
• Status of federal rollout of Uniform Guidance
• Uniform Guidance terms with greatest impact to University
• Review of proposal and sub award PI Quick Guides

April 14, 2015 Effort Certification 101

Don Hammer, a Grants and Contract Professional in SPA, will be speaking from 10-11am on 4/14/15 about Effort Certification. It will be held at Anderson Hall RM 270. Some topics to be discussed include:

• Basic Introduction: Effort 101
• Updated salary cap information
• Three email warning policy around effort certification
• Q&A

April 14, 2015 Accounts Receivable

David Laden, Director of Nonsponsored Accounts Receivable, will be speaking from 1:30-2:30pm on 4/14/15. It will be held at Molecular and Cellular Biology RM 2-122. Some topics to be discussed include:

• Accounts Receivable tips and reminders
• Best practices
• Accounts Receivable monitoring
• Collection process
• How up-front EFS entries affect the entire Accounts Receivable process.
• Upgrade changes

Purchasing during cutover

Plan ahead - make April purchases now

People will not be able to record purchasing transactions in the financial system during the cutover period of The Upgrade. For the upgrade to Finance, EFS transaction processing must cease on April 8. Specific deadlines for transaction processing are here: http://controller.umn.edu/upgradecutover. 

All faculty and staff with purchasing responsibilities must work together to review their area’s business needs and calendar for the entire month of April to ensure you have ordered the any equipment, adequate supplies, and needed services ahead of time. Order before the April 8 deadline, and have enough on hand to last through April 22 to be safe (April 22 is a few days after the planned April 20 Go Live for The Upgrade).

The good news: the University's Purchasing Card (PCard) can be used to buy things during the cutover period. 

If emergency purchasing needs arise during cutover and the supplier does not accept PCards, contact Purchasing Services at 612-624-2828.

Since approvers need time to review and complete the purchase process, make your orders in advance (orders must be fully processed in EFS on April 8; your unit may have more specific directions for you so please check with your local finance staff). 

How to prepare

During cutover for The Upgrade the financial system will be unavailable for ordering. Here are questions every department should ask:

• U Market: Do we have enough office or lab supplies to last through the period? Shoppers will be able to shop within U Market during the cutover period but no carts can be pulled into EFS until after Go Live. Requisition preparers in EFS cannot pull carts into EFS until Go Live on April 20.
• Equipment: Is there a need for new equipment in April? Can we get it ordered before April 9 or can it wait until after April 20?
• Professional Services: Will all approvals be obtained before the contract’s start date, if it falls between April 9 and 20?
• POs: Should a PO or blanket order be created for suppliers that will not accept a PCard OR for purchases that do not comply with the PCard policy? 
• Purchases $50,000+: Has Purchasing Services been contacted for orders requiring a bid? Do any existing POs that total $50,000 or greater need additional dollars added to them?
• PCard: Does someone in the department have an active PCard to use in case of an emergency?
• Payments: Does the department need to pay any PO suppliers during the cutover period? (In which case, get payment transactions entered into EFS by the deadline. The University will ensure all scheduled payments that have been fully processed in EFS are made to vendors in a timely manner.)
• Speakers and entertainers: If you have a speaker or entertainer scheduled to appear between April 9 and April 20, work with your unit finance staff to ensure payment terms are known and payment transactions entered into the system by the deadline. If the speaker or performer agreement states that the University must provide payment on the date of the appearance, you will need to take steps to produce the check prior to any payment processing deadline.
• Patients, research, or lab animals: Take action to ensure critical supplies like patient care items, oxygen, dry ice, or food and bedding for lab animals are on hand.

Chartfield Updates - A Change for the Better

ESUP's update to the ChartField Request form process will be, “a welcome change that replaces

an outdated process," according to Anne Heugel, Business Analyst - EFS Module Support, who has been at the University for 14 years.

The current process used to request new or updates to ChartField values happens in the Business Process Execution Language (BPEL) tool, a system outside of PeopleSoft. ChartFields are the building blocks of the University’s Chart of Accounts and the Chart of Accounts is the backbone of the financial system. The news that the BPEL tool was being eliminated from the ChartField Request process caused cheering at a recent meeting of departmental finance folks.

Currently, around 400 University employees manually update and make changes to ChartFields in BPEL, route the changes for review, and then manually re-key the new information into the PeopleSoft Financial system. The process requires off-line spreadsheets to track requests and record updates, which is inefficient. 

ChartField values including workflow attributes and submit them for approval. Being able to process Chartfield requests and updates in PeopleSoft will be much easier and less frustrating for departments across the University."

For more information about this process or others coming to the Finance part of ESUP, visit the Potential for Change by Module in EFS web page. Please email questions to esup@umn.edu.

Sneak Peek: Financial WorkCenters

The Finance work stream recently released a sneak peek on Financial WorkCenters. The video explains how the University's financial community will use the new Financial WorkCenter functionality coming with ESUP. If you haven't yet seen this sneak peek, check it out! (And remember, all the videos and sneak peeks are on the Program's website.)

For more information about the financial system (EFS) upgrade, visit http://z.umn.edu/finance. If you have questions about coming changes as a result of ESUP, please email esup@umn.edu.

ESUP Question...Will I still be able to use DeptID after the ESUP systems launch?

This article is part of ESUP’s ongoing series addressing rumors and questions about the program. Please email us at esup@umn.edu with any questions or rumors you’ve heard.

I heard that with the conversion to ZDeptID from Entity Codes, I will lose the ability to pull detailed information down to the department level. Is this true and will I be able to use DeptID?

One of the main reasons for moving to the ZDeptID value is to enable better reporting at the department level, so yes, you will absolutely be able to use DeptID for reporting. As part of the upgrade work, many HR business processes have been redesigned. As a result, certain reports need to change in both form and function. Details about specifics of what is happening in the reporting world for HR will be available soon.

Until the details are available, it’s important to understand the background of Entity and ZDeptID: 

• ZDeptID is the name of the field used to roll-up departments (DeptIDs) in the financial system (PeopleSoft Financials, or “EFS”). DeptID values are rolled up to (or grouped by) ZDeptID values in Finance using a tree structure, similar to a simple organizational chart.  Entity Codes perform the same roll-up function in the human resources system (PeopleSoft HR, or “HRMS”). Both HR and Finance use the same set of DeptID values to indicate department, and they will use the same set of ZDeptID values for roll-ups after the upgrade.

• The Entity Codes of today are based on the old financial system (CUFS) values for departments and were never converted to the “new” financial department structure and values. The ZDeptID values built in EFS in 2008 were not mapped to the Entity Codes in use in HR. There were good reasons for not mapping them at the time EFS was implemented. People have since found the use of the two terms and two sets of values confusing, especially since they don’t map nicely to each other.

As part of ESUP, collegiate leaders responsible for the HR and Finance functions are working together to reconcile these two sets of values to come up with a shared value that represents both the HR and Finance roll-ups. The roll-up value for both functions will be the same going forward and will reside in a field called ZDeptID. This will enable better reporting for departments, as combined Finance and HR data will then be more easily reported on at the department level, as well as being easily rolled up to a college, campus, and University level.

Teaming Up with ESUP - Finance Work Stream

According to Gina Danyluk, an Academic Health Center cluster director and ESUP Finance Functional Steering Committee member, an effective team is one that, "has a common goal with well-defined expectations of team members and an organized approach to achieving the goal.” Gina’s co-lead on the Expenses Workgroup for Finance is Lisa Luhman Bass, a business analyst on the Module Support Team. Lisa described an effective team as one where, “it's important to listen to everyone's point of view and to be respectful. As a member of a team no one person is greater than the others.”

Gina and Lisa make a great team on Finance because they’re able to appreciate what the other person brings to the table, along with the ability to see differing points of view. This ability came into play when the issue of pcard purchase approvals arose. The current process includes a forced reconciliation process, which will not exist once My Wallet is introduced. The exclusion of forced reconciliation was a concern for both Central and local managers. Gina and Lisa’s hard work, and the determination of their team, allowed them to come up with a proposed solution: notifications and reporting to different constituencies related to pcard transactions. For example, alerts will go to cardholders of pending transactions to be reconciled, while reports will be created for unposted transactions and sent to department managers.

Gina and Lisa make great co-leads, but they want to make sure that credit is given to their dedicated team members.

Announcing Changes in Finance/EFS - Part Three: WorkCenters and Issue Selection

In this three-part series, we are exploring some of the changes for Finance or the Enterprise Financial System (EFS). Part One covered ChartField values, Workflow, and Approval changes. Part two covered PCards and Combo Codes.

As mentioned in Part One and Two, for EFS this effort is an upgrade of the existing system. In general, we don’t expect or plan on massive changes to financial business processes. Nevertheless, we are taking this opportunity to make some changes and address major points. So far, after reviewing the proposed changes to EFS, stakeholder representatives and financial advisory groups have welcomed the new procedures and approaches coming with ESUP.   

For more information about the planned changes see Potential for Change by Module in EFS.

What’s one big new thing that will be in the Finance system (EFS) after the upgrade?

This is just one of the new features available to the University, as a result of changes made to PeopleSoft: WorkCenters. PeopleSoft now offers WorkCenters for many functions. For example, voucher preparers (payments) will have one screen they can go to that amalgamates functionality from many different places in the system: which transactions have errors and need attention; queries and reports the preparer might need to find things; transactions in progress/status; a link to create new transactions; and so on. End users of the system from departments and colleges helped determine which features and links to include in these WorkCenters. Finding things in the system should be much less complicated and stressful for busy unit support staff. Think of it as a control center for the common and necessary tasks for a role. Instead of having to remember a whole bunch of different system navigation, it’s all gathered in one place. Watch for a sneak peek from the Finance team, coming soon, about WorkCenters.

How did these specific issues get identified or selected to be addressed as part of the upgrade?

Vice President Pfutzenreuter chartered a functional steering committee for this effort made up of college and department representatives. When this upgrade project began, the finance community members on the functional steering committee reviewed and prioritized the list of EFS end user pain points that had been identified at that time. The resulting list guides the work of the entire finance system upgrade.

What’s happening next?

Teams will be working on: 

• retrofitting or removing existing modifications, 
• replacing certain online activities with new PeopleSoft functionality, 
• resolving how to address critical pain points, 
• collaborating with the other work streams where there is an impact on or integration needed with the finance system, 
• collaborating with technical staff to address changes made to the technology infrastructure, and 
• drafting job aids and training materials related to the changes being made.

For more information about the planned changes, see Potential for Change by Module in EFS.