Return to: EFS Home or U of M Home
Please note that information on these EFS Updates may have changed since the Updates were issued.
Sponsored reports available again
The following sponsored reports are now available in Grants > Interactive Reports in FSUMPRD and FSUMRPT:
UM Sponsor Pre-Aware Transaction Detail,
UM Sponsor Pre-Award Summary,
UM Sponsor Pre-Award Overview, and
UM Sponsor Pre-Award Project Detail.
We apologize for any inconvenience.
Note regarding COA updated manual
As stated in previous emails, the COA manual on Training Services Web site was updated in January. A list of the changes made will be posted soon on Training Services' Web site shortly. We will post a link to the information as well on the finsys Web site: http://www.finsys.umn.edu as soon as it becomes available.
Requisition preparers and Procurement Specialists
Regarding the *Category/Account Code Relationship* item on Feb 24, 2009. Many of you asked for a mapping of the category codes to Account codes. Purchasing Services will be posting that information within the next few weeks. The listserv will be notified when it is available.
Return to top of page
A fix was added last weekend to prevent the Account code from being changed on the Requisition. If a different Account code is needed, change the category code to drive the new Account code.
If you think a category is mapped to the wrong Account code, contact the University Financial Helpline with your comments and suggested changes. Purchasing Services and Accounting Services will review any recommendations.
Updated link to UM Reports manual
Yesterday a link was sent to this group for reporting information. That information has been relocated on the Training Services Web site. Here is the current/correct link (the job aid has been combined with other information in the UM Reports manual) here.
Return to top of page
AFTERNOON NEWS UPDATE:
Pre-Award Reports
In addition to the Sponsored Pre-Award Transaction Detail - Expense report communicated this morning, the following three sponsored reports are not available in Grants > Interactive Reports in FSUMPRD or FSUMRPT:
UM Sponsor Pre-Award Summary,
UM Sponsor Pre-Award Overview, and
UM Sponsor Pre-Award Project Detail.
All four reports will be made available again as soon as possible.
* Reports ARE available in UMReports, see below:
Sponsored UMReports are available
Sponsored Reports - We are happy to announce that the eight delivered sponsored reports in PeopleSoft are now in UM Reports. The reports can be found under the Category called Enterprise Financials and the Sub Category called Sponsored. Please follow the link below on how to run financial reports in UM Reports here. <link broken: correct link is here>
Proposal Notes – Departmental end users are now able to view Negotiate Award notes on their Proposals/Awards. This allows the user to monitor the progress of proposal submission and award set up.
MORNING NEWS UPDATE:
Sponsored Pre-Award Transaction Detail - Expense (Report)
The report is currently unavailable and that we are working to restore the report as soon as possible. The issue impacted security so the report may not be available to the users in FSUMPRD (production instance) and potentially FSUMRPT (reporting instance) after the production refresh. The report will be made available again as soon as possible.
Access Request Form (ARF) updated
New versions of the ARF and attachments have been published. Please download an updated copy of the form each time you request access. Doing so will help avoid unnecessary delays in processing your request. These new forms are designed to collect the data required to setup requested access. Current versions of the forms are stored on the Data Security Web site: http://www.umn.edu/datasec.
OIT Data Security will no longer accept outdated versions, or previously submitted ARFs or attachments that have been altered to request additional access or changes.
When requesting additional access please indicate the new access or change(s) to be made, there is no need to re-check the access you already have.
Expense Approval Emails
Users will no longer receive emails regarding transactions that are sent back or denied by the approver of Expense transactions (Expense Reports, Travel Authorizations, Cash Advances). Users will continue to receive emails when the final approval takes place. If you expect a reimbursement, please work with your preparer to inquire about the transaction. Preparers should continue to navigate to Employee Self-Service > Travel and Expense Center > Expense Report/Travel Authorization/Cash Advance > Modify to see transactions that have been sent back by the approver.
PCard - Level 3 Data Available
PCard reconcilers, reviewers and Approvers will now be able to view the Level 3 data on the 'Reconcile Statement' Page. There would be an icon beside the currency field that could be clicked to view the details of the transactions.
Transaction Detail Report Updates
The following modifications have been made to the Transaction Detail Report for Current Non-Sponsored Funds:
GL Single Transaction Detail Query
With the change to the UM_FGL_SINGLE_TRAN_DTL Query users will now be able to retrieve Voucher, AP Business Unit, SetId, Vendor, and Vendor Name for those journals that were posted to the UMNIS Business Unit in Accounts Payable. AP information was not available prior to the update.
Income Distribution Verification Report
The UM Income Distrib Verification report has been updated to correctly display quarterly distribution and reinvestment amounts for endowments that have a split distribution. Navigation to the report is Cash Management > Investment Pools > UM Income Distrib Verification report. To run the report, enter either ECEF or EGIP in the Pool ID field on the run control page. In the Period Start Date field enter the last day of the quarter. In the Period End Date field enter the first day of the next quarter. For example, to run the report for the second quarter distribution, enter 12/31/2008 in the Period Start Date field and 1/1/2009 in the Period End Date field.
University Financial Helpline 612-624-1617 or finsys@umn.edu
The helpline is proposing a small change to service hours beginning March 19, 2009. The helpline will close for one hour per week during the business day to allow for group training related to the new financial system, customer service, and other important topics. The hours will be Monday through Friday 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., closed on Thursdays from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. This one hour service outage will allow the team to receive information at the same time rather than "as they are available". If you have concerns about this change, or about any of the services provided by the helpline, please contact Carrie Meyer, c-meye1@umn.edu, 612-625-9021.
THIS ISSUE HAS BEEN RESOLVED 1:55 p.m.:
The Voucher Payment Approval process as been suspended for a short time following an unsuccessful batch run of the program yesterday at 2 p.m. Removing the process from the batch schedule will allow the team to analyze the problem and prohibit newly created vouchers from getting trapped in the process.
This process effects any AP voucher that is currently in transit. These voucher will not be able to be posted. We expect resolution on this matter shortly.
Updated Chart of Accounts manual available
The COA manual was updated (date on cover is 1/9/09) and can be found here.
Tuesday February 18, issues logging in to PeopleSoft Financials
On Tuesday it appeared that the system was unavailable at different points throughout the day. People across the University community were unable to log in, then were able to do so, then not, throughout the day. The University's technical staff have been working to identify the exact problem and correct it. Thanks to those who called with specific details to alert us to the issue.
The Voucher Payment Approval issue from February 13 has been resolved.
Voucher Payment Approval
The Voucher Payment Approval process has been suspended for a short time following an unsuccessful batch run of the program yesterday at 2 p.m. Removing the process from the batch schedule will allow the support team to analyze the problem and prohibit newly created vouchers from getting trapped in the process. This process effects any AP voucher that is currently in transit. These voucher will not be able to be posted. We expect resolution on this matter shortly.
1099 questions
If a vendor contacts your unit with questions or concerns about their 1099, please have the vendor contact the University Financial Helpline for assistance (the phone number appears on the form).
Expense Reimbursement preparers
If you encounter an EmplID that is not active for reimbursement, please contact the University Financial Helpline to request to have it activated.
University Financial Helpline
612-624-1617
mailto:finsys@umn.edu
Momentary service outage at University Financial Helpline Tuesday 2/10
Due to a fire alarm in WBOB this morning just before 11 am, the helpline was unavailable for approximately 20 minutes. We appreciate your patience and understanding as we work through the messages left for us during that time.
Suggestions welcome regarding the finsys Web site (http://www.finsys.umn.edu). Please email comments to finsys@umn.edu.
Burn Rate Report update
The burn rate report was run as advertised here.
There were issues with the distribution of the reports. For this run (the Feb 3 run), reports will be emailed manually to recipients in PDF format rather than using the advertised process/procedure for accessing the information.
Once the manual distribution process begins, it may take a day or two to deliver all the reports. More information will be sent soon to the recipients of these reports.
General Ledger Unposted Journal Cleanup
As part of the effort to improve general ledger system performance, specifically with the journal batch edit and budget check processes, we will be deleting selected manually-entered (unposted) journals from the general ledger.
Journals will be deleted ONLY if they meet the following criteria:
1) Manually entered, i.e., journals starting with '000'.
2) Entered in Periods 1-6.
3) Not Posted.
This process will begin on February 16th.
Note: steps for correcting journal entries will be posted on the finsys Web site tomorrow. Check for a link from the home page: http://www.finsys.umn.edu.
This entire message is for those who are Requestors
The Burn Rate Report
Next run will be Tuesday, February 3, 2009. See the instructions for identifying and opening your report re-published here.
Vendor Locations
It appears that there are problems with some requisitions not retaining the selected vendor location code. This has been turned over the technical staff for a fix.
At this point, their recommendation is that when you enter a requisition, be sure to enter the vendor on Step 2 - Add Items and Services screen.
It appears that some of the problems are occurring when the vendor is added under Step 1 - Define Requisition, or later on the Step 3 - Save and Submit. Step 1 and 3 screens seem to be inserting the Vendor file’s default location regardless of what location you have chosen. In some cases you have already selected that default location, so your requisition does not appear to have a problem.
So, the current recommendation is to only add vendors through the Step 2 screen.
There will be an announcement on the finsys Web site when a full fix has been applied.
Web Orders, Assets
ALL Dell and Apple items in the shopping cart are coded as non-asset. The mapping from their systems to ours only allows us to code items one way. So if you are purchasing an asset, the requester needs to correct the category code as an asset category over on the PeopleSoft requisition so the receipt later will allow for the asset information to be entered by the Procurement Specialist.
Web Orders, Attachments /Comments
Web vendors (Apple, Dell, UStores) cannot receive attachments or comments on our requisitions through the EDX process they use for ordering. Do not add any attachments or comments that you want sent to the vendor to these Web type requisitions – that type of information would need to be coordinated with the vendor off-line. If the information is just internal information and does not need to pass to the vendor, it can be attached to the Web order.
January 26, 2009
Fixes installed related to Grants, Projects, and Contracts
The following fixes went into PeopleSoft Financials production over the weekend:
New job aid: How to look up the Grant Administrator or SFR Accountant in EFS
A new job aid has been created that shows how to look up the Grant Administrator or SFR Accountant in EFS. See the EFS-SP Web site at http://www.ospa.umn.edu/efs_sp/index.htm and refer to the section called EFS Training and Job Aids.
Updated nVision Reports – information for users
The nVision reports have been updated with several changes. Reports have been updated to reflect the ‘Prior Year Carryforward Balance’, as calculated on the Carryforward page. Reports have also been updated to capture the capital asset clearing accounts (168001, 168002). The dollars for the capital asset clearing accounts will now appear in the ‘Total Capital Assets Purchases‘ section of the reports. All layouts have also been updated to include Accounts Receivable.
In addition, a new nVision layout, UM_FGL_BUD_ACT_ACCT_BAL, has been created to display both current period and year to date activity on a single report.
New nVision Drills – information for users
Eighty eight new nVision Drills have been added to allow drilldown for Business Unit, ChartField1, ChartField2, FinEmplID (ChartField3), Department, Fund, Period, Project, and Program. Included in the new drills is an enhanced Journal Drill to better represent how the University conducts business. The Drill will provide the Journal ID, Journal Line #, Account, Department, Fund, Project, ChartField1, ChartField2, FinEmplID (ChartField3), Amount, Journal Date, and the Journal Line Description for those entries that have been posted.
The new Drills will be in production by January 27th and are available anytime an nVision report is run. In order to access the drills, the Excel nVision Plug-In must be installed on the PC. Note: If the plug in is not already installed, installation instructions can be found on the Training Services Web site under the following section: Financial System Access > Navigation > System Requirements. The document name is ‘How to Download and Install the Excel nVision Plug-in’.
Departmental Deposit Report
The Department Deposit Report has been modified to present accounting distribution lines in the order that they were entered online by the preparer. Additionally, a problem has been fixed in which the control total was miscalculated under rare conditions.
PCard Purchase Detail Report
This report now includes the distribution information for the distribution details for each PCard transaction.
New PCard Views and Query
The delivered PeopleSoft Financials records for procurement card data contains the 16-digit procurement card number along with the user’s name and other sensitive data. Because of the sensitivity of the data, the users were not able to use the delivered records in queries. The purpose of this customization is to provide procurement card data views that mask the procurement card number and remove other sensitive data. These views have been added to the query tree for general inquiry access, allowing for reporting and public queries to be developed providing the user with information that is not available through inquiry. One may use query: UM_DPO_PCARD_TRANS_BY_BARCODE. The query will allow the department to lookup procurement card transaction information that has posted to their accounts.
Requisition Approver Page
The approver page has been modified to include relevant information for the approver to review. The new categories included are Contract ID, Category Description, and Vendor Name.
Procurement Specialists: Allow for the ability to update the due date on a Purchase Order Change Order
The Procurement Specialist needs to be able to extend the due date (end date) of the purchase order, especially in the case of blanket orders and CPSs. In the past, once there is activity against a purchase order, the due date field can no longer be updated. This modification allows this field to be updated.
Requestors: Purchase Orders for hotel accommodations for guests of the University
When creating a Requisition for hotel accommodations for a guest(s) of the University, it is appropriate to select the Blanket Order tab. Use the start date and end date of the guest's stay as the start and end date of the contract. Then matching will happen only against the dollar amount of the PO.
Requestors: Changes to U Stores Orders
Once a U Stores Purchase Order is created, the requisition transaction cannot be changed or canceled.
If the request is to change the quantity or cancel the order, contact U Stores customer service (612-624-4878). If the order can be changed, U Stores will update their system. You will then have to contact your Procurement Specialist to do a change order for the same changes. The Dispatch method should be set to PHONE so the system does not dispatch the change order to U Stores.
If the request is to change ChartField string values, the Procurement Specialist can change the U Stores PO to correct these as long as the order has not been vouchered. The Dispatch method should be set to PHONE so the system does not dispatch the change order to U Stores. The electronic voucher process references the PO so it uses the changed ChartField string values from the PO.
Requestors: Denied Requisitions
If you have a denied Requisition, the requester must make some kind of change to the Requisition and then click Save and Submit. This allows the Requisition to go back through approvals. If no changes are made and just the Save and Submit button is clicked, it will not route back through approvals.
If the denied Requisition is no longer needed, be sure to have the Requisition canceled.
Requestors: Request for Procurement Specialist to Record Assets Form
This is the form completed and submitted to a Procurement Specialist to identify assets that must be received in the Purchasing Module by the Procurement Specialist. There were changes to this form last fall and some people are still using the old form. Be sure to always get a fresh copy from either Purchasing Web site or the Forms Library.
Ensure you are always using the most current version of the form.
Requestors: Direct Order for Web Vendors
Most orders for Dell, Apple, and U Stores are expected to be submitted through the Web Tab option. If the Requisition preparer chooses to enter the order through the Special Request tab and bypass the Web catalogs, it is the preparer’s responsibility to make sure that the order is submitted to the right location for the vendor -- not the default location that has the dispatch method of EDX. Also, without using the Web order catalog, the requester is responsible for verifying the correct prices.
Requestors: Unit of Measure Tip
The Blanket Order Requisition has logic that sets any Unit of Measure chosen by the Requisition preparer as an Amount Only type and sets the quantity back to 1 for the lot. So, even if you choose 10 hours of service, the system will set this as 1 Lot and Amount Only receiving.
Receivers: Receipts
Receipts are for the actual amount of goods or services physically received. Do not enter a receipt transaction for an entire order unless that is the amount that was physically received. Entering a receipt for more than what was physically received is authorizing payment for items not actually received yet.
One exception would be an order for leased equipment. Purchasing may recommend receipt of the entire order. For example, a unit may have an agreement with the vendor for 5 years, but the product is physically received all at once at the beginning of the lease.
Receivers: Receipt Exceptions
All vouchers should have a receipt to authorize the payment and allow the system to match against. There are only a few situations that would be an appropriate use of the No Receipt Override. An example of one of these rare situations might be a PO Line that is for a down-payment or a deposit. These are amounts we need to pay before we physically receive the product.
Caution: it is even more critical to not override the “No Receipt” error message on assets. Overriding will cause duplicate assets to be created on the Asset module.
Tip for anyone with entry access: Have you encountered a “parse error” in EFS?
Many of us have encountered a parse error during our transaction entry/processing adventures in PeopleSoft Financials. But causes the error? Most commonly:
Clarification on accounting period closes in the General Ledger
As previously noted, accounting periods in the General Ledger will be closed according to the schedule published here: http://www.finsys.umn.edu/fss/msg_acctg.html -- on the morning of the 7th business day following the end of the month. For Period 7, this will be February 10th.
Many inquired "what time of day" the deadline is to ensure transactions post to the period that will close. The time depends on which approvals are required:
Helpline service interruption on the morning of Monday January 26
To better assist callers during the upcoming budget preparation process, the University Financial Helpline staff will be attending training on Monday January 26, 2009 from 8 a.m. until noon. During that time the 612-624-1617 number will not be answered. Callers may leave a message or email finsys@umn.edu. Staff will monitor the finsys@umn.edu account for issues that need immediate attention.
About this listserv
This listserv is used as the primary tool for communicating important information about the financial system. These are the types of messages you can expect to see sent to this listserv:
Interested parties may subscribe on request by sending an email to finsys@umn.edu.
Update on closing of General Ledger accounting period 6
Accounting period 6 is closed in the General Ledger.
Accounting periods in the General Ledger will be closed according to the schedule published here: http://www.finsys.umn.edu/fss/msg_acctg.html -- on the morning of the 7th business day following the end of the month. For Period 7, this will be February 10th.
Update on Closing of General Ledger Accounting Periods
All General Ledger periods (through period 6) will be closing the morning of January 12th.
Starting with Period 7, GL periods will be closed according to the normal published schedule here: http://www.finsys.umn.edu/fss/msg_acctg.html -- on the morning of the 7th business day following the end of the month. For Period 7, this will be February 10th.
As a reminder, departments are responsible for monitoring manual journals they have created to ensure that they are fully processed (posted). Once a period is closed, it will not be re-opened to allow for further processing of a manual journal; the journal will need to be re-created with a date in an open accounting period.
Now in PS Production: UM Sponsored Pre-Award Transaction Detail – Expenses
Detailed expense transaction listing. This report is run by project and expense dates (begin and end) can be specified if desired.
Reporting and Visibility of the Asset Clearing Accounts
At the inception of PeopleSoft it was determined that the Asset Clearing accounts (168001 and 168002) would not be considered as encumbrance amounts or used in the Carryforward Calculations.
As of 12/31/2008 all activity on the Asset Clearing accounts (168001 and 168002) will now be recorded and reported as Pre-Encumbrance and Encumbrance amounts. As a result, the Asset Clearing accounts will now be visible in the Account Budget Status report (PeopleSoft and UM Reports) and the Budget Status by ChartString report (PeopleSoft and UM Reports). Furthermore, the Carryforward calculation and Carryforward page will now take into consideration the amounts posted to these accounts.
This change will provide visibility to Asset Clearing account activity that has been committed but not yet capitalized. In the past, the amounts would not be visible until the Assets had been capitalized and transferred to the corresponding Capital Asset Account. By adding these accounts to the reports and Carryforward amounts, users will have visibility to amounts on Requisitions, Purchase Orders and Vouchers prior to the Capitalization process.
It is important to note that this change will only capture those transactions that were entered on or after 12/31/2008. There is an additional effort underway to provide visibility to those amounts that were entered on Requisitions and Purchase Orders prior to 12/31/2008.
Additional Notes to Report Users:
Account Budget Status Report - Current Non-sponsored Funds
Data posted to the 168001 and 168002 accounts will now appear in the Capital Asset section for the Pre-Encumbrances/Encumbrances column, Revenues/Expenditures column, Recognized/Obligated column and Unrecognized/Unobligated Budget Balance column.
Budget Status by ChartField String - Current Non-sponsored Funds
Data posted to the 168001 and 168002 accounts will now be captured in the Net Expenditures calculations.
Carryforward Calculation and Carryforward Page
The Carryforward calculation will now capture and report account 168001 and 168002 as Capital Asset Activity section for the Fund Balance column, Available Balance column and the Budget column where applicable.
Long processing times
The system is currently experiencing long processing times. This is due to the number of concurrent running processes. Although we are working to remedy the issue, users should refrain from executing a process more than once as this only increase the backlog.
Purchasing "burn rate" report
The previously communicated burn rate report fix will take longer than anticipated (estimate not yet available). The issue is that recipients of the report get an email telling them there is a burn rate report but when the link is clicked on, there is no report. The burn rate report is system-generated and identifies blanket orders or CPS contracts that are within 90 days of their expiration date or have 25% or less of the total dollars remaining. When the fix has been made users have to access the Report Manager and search for the requester ID to get the report.
Finsys Web site changes
The http://www.finsys.umn.edu Web site was moved today from an old Controller's Office server to the University's central web hosting service. During the transition something went slightly awry. Some accessing the Web site see it as expected. Some see the University's Central Web Hosting home page instead. Until this can be corrected, any "finsys" Web page can be accessed by removing the "www" portion of the URL. For example, http://finsys.umn.edu/ will take you to the home page. Or http://finsys.umn.edu/fss/announcements.html will take you to the Alerts and Announcements page.
Sorry for the interruption!
Carryforward Calculations for '08
Accounting Services has completed loading the CUFS Period 14/15 (PeopleSoft 914/915) transactions and has run the final carryforward calculations for FY08.
EFS Maintenance Windows
Doublecheck Your Internet Explorer Version
The Financial Helpline is reporting that some users are unaware that they should be using IE version 7, not IE 6. A problem was identified with IE version 6 after the switch was made to LDAP/M Key authentication. You can also use a current version of Firefox.
Also, remember to disable popup blockers in your browser.
To read information on browser requirements and pop-up blockers click here.
New Job Aids
A new job aid for procurement specialists Asset Receiving Procedures (9-29-08) and a revised budget journal job aid Accounts and Amounts (revised 9-23-08) have been added to the Training Services Web site.
PCard Reconciliation Tutorial Transcript Available
A complete transcript (pdf) of the PCard Reconciliation online tutorial is now available to download from the main course page in WebVista.
System Access & U-Stores Tutorial
Completing the U-Stores tutorial does not automatically grant access to the financial system. One must still complete an Access Report Form and receive an M Key. If you have lab personnel in your area, please let them know this.
Go-Live Kit Contents Moved
The Go-Live Kit, which was previously on the EFS Web site homepage, has been removed. The financial system access, navigation, and system requirements information is now located on the Training Services Web site.
Sponsored Accounts Edit Errors
Some users are getting edit errors on transactions when they’re using a sponsored account. To avoid this, be sure to enter PCBU and Activity along with the rest of the ChartField string when trying to process against a Project ID. Otherwise, users will get an invalid chart string error.
EFS Maintenance Windows
- The regular EFS maintenance window for production (FSUMPRD) is 3:30 a.m. until 12:30 p.m. each Sunday.
- The reporting instance (FSUMRPT) is brought down at 4:45 a.m. until 5:45 a.m. Monday through Saturday to "clone" the information for production purposes. On Sundays, this window is 4:45 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.