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Please note that information on these EFS Updates may have changed since the Updates were issued.
Budget check issue update - impact clarification
The impact of this issue is related to pre-encumbrance and encumbrance transactions that were processed through budget check for the first time between Sunday April 26 at 12:00 p.m. and Tuesday April 28 at 4:30 p.m.
The majority of this activity was related to new requisitions or new purchase orders processed through initial budget check during this time frame.
Specific impacts of which users should be aware
Integrity of Reporting
Thank you all for your cooperation yesterday during the budget check issues in the production instance of PeopleSoft Financials. We have heard from people with concerns about the accuracy of the reports going forward. Please be assured that this is of utmost importance to the Controller's Office and the teams supporting the financial system. We are currently assessing the impact, and the actions needed to fully correct all affected data. Addressing this issue is a top priority. We'll send updates as soon as we know more.
Mike Volna and the Module Support Team
Budget Check Issue Resolved
The EFS budget check issue has been resolved. The root cause of the issue centered around a modification delivered in the April 26th release. Since the completion of the maintenance window on Sunday, April 26, all pre-cumbrance, encumbrance and expenditure transactions have not been recorded in the Detail Expense Budget ledger (KK_DTL_EXP). Examples of transactions impacted by this issue include:
Budget Check Issue
We are experiencing budget check issues in production on the Detail Expenditure budget ledger (KK_DTL_EXP). Currently, all transactions required to impact this budget ledger, encumbrances and expenditures, are not being recorded on the ledger. Although all other budget ledgers are recording activity correctly, the Detail Expenditure budget ledger is critical to various general ledger and budget reports.
Until further notice, we request that users refrain from budget checking transactions. Below is a list of the transactions and actions we are requesting be refrained:
As a precautionary act, we have held all batch budget checking processes. We expect to have this issue resolved by early this afternoon and will send out an update as soon as possible.
System enhancements made April 26
Click here for an overview of system enhancements made over the weekend (on April 26).
System Processing
A technical change has been implemented in both the PeopleSoft Financials production (FSUMPRD) and reporting (FSUMRPT) environments to improve job processing efficiency. This change will allow the system to better determine which server it should use based on processing requirements and capacity. As a result of this change there will be different Server Names in the drop down list on the Process Scheduler Request page when executing processes (see screen shot below).
Although you may still specify a server to execute a process, we recommend that you now leave the Server Name field on the Process Scheduler Request page blank. This allows the system to determine the appropriate server based on current system capacity.
Within the list of new server names, do not select PSCDB and PSOS309. These servers are for internal processing only. If you accidentally select either of these servers, the process will not execute.
Output Retention
Since the July go-live, the system has generated a large volume of file outputs as part of its normal processing. This output has been increasing since July and the system’s storage capacity is nearing its limit. In order to free up necessary space, a rolling six month retention policy will be implemented starting Sunday, May 2 for both the production and reporting instances of PeopleSoft Financials (please note that UM Reports is not affected by this change).
All output files older than six months will be removed from the servers. No data is being removed from EFS. Only the files generated from processes are being removed. Although most of the file outputs are concentrated around technical log files, report and transaction files are included. For example, if a report was generated in July 2008, the version stored in the EFS will be removed. Any copies of the report stored on the requester's desktop/computer are not affected. Since the data itself still remains in the system, the report can be re-executed using the same parameters to extract the original data requested in July 2008.
An example of a transaction related output file is the purchase order. If a purchase order was dispatched in July 2008 and the unit needs an output file from that PO today, the unit has two options:
Again, no data is being removed from EFS servers. Only the file outputs older than six months. Some processes may need to be re-executed after the clean-up if the unit requires the output file.
Budget Entry Training Announcement
Budget Entry training is rapidly coming to a close. Training Services will hold their last Budget Entry session on Tuesday, May 19, 8:30-12:30. RRC approval is required for registration. Training Services requests that the approval be sent via email to trngsvcs@umn.edu by the RRC manager of your college/admin unit. To find your RRC manager, go to the list available online at http://www.budget.umn.edu/other.htm. Once Training Services receives approval for Budget Entry training, individuals will be contacted regarding registration.
Please note that seats are limited to those who have not yet completed this training. If you have previously completed this training and have questions or would like additional help, come to a lab session. The lab schedule is available on Training Services' Web site.
Expense Approvers
Training Services has updated the job aid for Travel and Expense Approvals to provide more clarity on a few key steps.
While the approval process has not changed, the Travel and Expense Approval job aid has been updated with
clarified instructions on returning travel authorizations and expense reports for revision.
Sending back for revision: step 7b of the job aid stresses the need to un-check the Approve Expense box before sending the expense report back for revision.
Approving re-submitted transactions: step 5a of the job aid stresses that the approver should ensure the Approve Expense box is checked for the line before clicking Approve.
University Financial Helpline 612-624-1617 or finsys@umn.edu
http://www.finsys.umn.edu
April 26 Pre-Release Notes
Here are the pre-release notes for the April 26th bundle release. If anything changes, we will send out an update next week
Payroll Encumbrances
If there are no commitment control budget errors, payroll encumbrances will post the same night as payroll expenses. However, with each payroll run we still have commitment control budget errors which cause the payroll encumbrances to not post automatically and the entire encumbrance journal to error (sponsored and non-sponsored entries).
Please help the process by ensuring that necessary commitment control budget journals are processed when setting up non-sponsored payroll budgets.
We do have an enhancement planned to auto-generate the commitment control entry but it is slated for quarter one of FY 2010 development. Until this enhancement can be made, payroll encumbrances that error due to commitment control budget errors are fixed and posted to the General Ledger by the Friday after payroll (two days later).
Dispatching Purchase Orders issue from yesterday afternoon has been resolved.
Yesterday afternoon there was a delay in dispatching purchase orders. A batch job that distinguishes purchase order types had failed (Blanket Order, Voucher Contract for Professional Services (VCPS), Contract for Professional Services (CPS), Quick Contract for Professional Services (QCPS), Performance Contract for Professional Services (PCPS), and Purchase Order for standard goods and services).
Purchase orders are no longer suspended from dispatching. Thank you for your patience.
Dispatching Purchase Orders
Currently there is a delay in dispatching purchase orders. A batch job that distinguishes purchase order types (Blanket Order, Voucher Contract for Professional Services (VCPS), Contract for Professional Services (CPS), Quick Contract for Professional Services (QCPS), Performance Contract for Professional Services (PCPS), and Purchase Order for standard goods and services) failed. We are currently working on the resolution and will resolve as soon as possible. As a result purchase orders are currently suspended from dispatching. Thank you for your patience.
A reminder for transaction corrections
With the exception of expense transactions from the AP/Expense modules, a correction to a ChartField string for a transaction initiated in one of the modules (Asset Management, Accounts Receivable, etc.) should follow the correction process for the source module. This will ensure that reporting and subsequent transactions in the source module reflect the appropriate ChartField strings.
For example, the Capital Equipment Asset Transfer Form (UM 1556) should be used to correct the ChartField string for a capital equipment asset purchase even if the correction is within the same DeptID as the original purchase. The correcting entry in the Asset Management module will generate a journal in the GL. If, on the other hand, a journal to correct the ChartField string for an asset were to be entered directly in the GL, the change in ChartField string would not be picked up in the source module. Future depreciation entries generated in the Asset Management module would reflect the original, incorrect ChartField string.
Reminder to all with access to EFS
Occasionally clear the cache on your Web browser software. The OIT Web site contains instructions how to clear the cache on the most common Web browsers.
Reminder that the Employee Expense Worksheet (UM1612) was updated some time ago
Some units continue to use the older version. Please get a fresh copy of the form from the Forms Library on the Policy Web site or at this link.
AP budget checking issue is: resolved as of afternoon of 4/10
AP budget checking issue is: NOT yet resolved
Alert sent to EFS-listserv 2:13 pm:
PeopleSoft Financials production (FSUMPRD)
EFS has experienced a failure of the budget checking process that is related to AP vouchers. In turn, vouchers that are being entered will not be able to be validated by budget checking. As a result, some vouchers that need payment expeditiously will be delayed.
The ability to enter vouchers into the system and route for approval is functioning and all vouchers that are in a valid budget status are available for payment.
We are diligently working on a resolution to this issue. Thank you for your patience.
An email will not be sent when this is resolved. Instead, please watch the finsys Web site for the announcement of when this is fixed: http://www.finsys.umn.edu/news/news.html
Converted Purchase Orders
Effective April 15, all NON-SPONSORED CUFS/FFN POs which converted to PeopleSoft on July 1, 2008 and have had no activity will be closed. This means that processing against these converted orders will not be possible. Closing of the SPONSORED converted POs with no activity will follow shortly after.
Exception: SPA subcontracts and subawards will remain open.
Asset transfers and retirements displayed incorrectly on the carryforward page and reports
Solutions have been found to resolve the issue of inaccurate information being displayed on the carryforward page and departmental reports for asset transfers and retirements.
Processing for asset retirement transactions has been fixed in PeopleSoft Financials as of 3/30/09. For asset retirements processed after 3/30/09 there will be no effect on the capital asset activity or expenditure lines on the carryforward page or departmental reports (unless the asset was sold for cash). A one-time correcting entry will be made by Accounting Services to correct asset retirements made prior to 3/30/09. This entry will be made in Period 9.
Processing for asset transfer transactions has not been fixed in PeopleSoft Financials. Additional research is required to determine a solution to this issue. As a workaround, a correcting entry will be processed by Accounting Services at the end of each month to remove the effect of all asset transfer transactions from the capital asset activity and expenditure lines on the carryforward page and departmental reports. The first entry, which will be made in Period 9, will cover all asset transfers made in periods 1-9.
Please review the memo posted on the finsys Web site for further details and examples:
http://www.finsys.umn.edu/linked_files/AssetRetireTrsfr.pdf
Attention users of ChartField 1 values for University of Minnesota Foundation (UMF) funds
CF1 values beginning with “UMF” will be maintained through the UMF's Donor Management System (DMS).
The DMS process replaces the BPEL request process for all changes related to UMF CF1 values.
You must have access to DMS to change ChartField 1 values for UMF funds. The information will be updated weekly into EFS.
To change the description you see of University of Minnesota Foundation funds in EFS follow these steps:
Address questions and concerns about ChartField1 to Danielle Behling at behl0037@umn.edu or 612-624-5748.
The "toner phoners" are calling University of Minnesota departments once again trying to sell overpriced toner. Their tactics include faculty name-dropping, referring to"standing orders" you supposedly have with them, offering to send you a gift to "re-establish the relationship," etc. They will even fax you a phony copy of your "past order". Don't be fooled by them. They will invoice you for an amount that is many times what the toner is worth, and there is not much you can do about it. Order your toner from University Stores.
Accounting period close extended
Because of the system issues we have had the last couple of days, Accounting Services is going to extend the close of Period 9 until Friday morning (from Thursday morning).
Requisition preparers:
There have been many regular (Special Request) requisitions where the category was changed on the requisition to be a Professional Services category. There are several problems with this. First, a hard error stops the requisition preparer from choosing a CPS category unless you are in the CPS tab. Because there are different approvals and workflow assigned to the CPS Requisition type than the Special Request Requisition type, it is important to start over if you do a requisition on the wrong tab. Changing the category, unit of measure, etc. does not change the requisition type.
Change Request on the Manage Requisition screen – This is only used for amendments to CPS type documents that need signatures ($25,000 or more). The workflow and routing for Change Request is unique to the CPS process and does not use the special request or blanket order workflow.
Purchase Order inquiry, remaining encumbrances, and remaining pre-encumbrances
Please check out this PDF document posted on the finsys Web site for details on where to view this information.
Update on processing issues
The system issues plaguing people for the past two days appear to have been fixed in the production instance of PeopleSoft Financials (FSUMPRD).
Thanks for the very detailed problem reports everyone provided. And special thanks to those who helped validate the fix.
Processing issues
Despite corrections made to the system last night it appears that users of the PeopleSoft Financials production instance (FSUMPRD) are again experiencing processing issues.
Individuals entering transactions are reporting that they are "getting kicked out of the system" when pressing the save or submit buttons. Approvers also get abruptly redirected to the login screen when clicking on approve (or other when taking other "approve/deny/return" actions).
OIT staff are actively working to identify and address causes of these issues. Unfortunately we do not have an expected time frame for any fixes.
Please continue to check the finsys Web site main page (http://www.finsys.umn.edu) and the System Status page for updates on this issue.
Regarding yesterday's processing issues
If you are still experiencing problems with the system, please try clearing your cache, if that doesn't solve the issue, please contact the financial helpline at 4-1617.
Processing issues in FSUMPRD
PeopleSoft Financials production instance (FSUMPRD) is experiencing problems today. Some people are not able to process transactions, some are not able to submit a transaction, some get kicked out of the system, some approvers cannot approve, etc.
The support teams are working on identifying the problem and fixing it. We will alert users of the system when the issue has been resolved.
Apologies: forgot to link to the job aid
The message from earlier today contained reference to a job aid about "When and How to use a Journal Entry (JE) to move Payroll and Fringe". That job aid has been posted both on the SPA Web site and on finsys here.
Reminder: PeopleSoft Financials will be unavailable
Due to journal entry updates from Accounting Services, PeopleSoft Financials will be unavailable on Friday, April 3 beginning at 5:30 p.m. and extending through the Sunday maintenance window (scheduled to end at 12:30 p.m. Sunday).
For reference, the maintenance window hours are posted here:
http://www.finsys.umn.edu/systemavailability.html
The reporting instance of PeopleSoft Financials (FSUMRPT)
The reporting instance (FSUMRPT) will act unusually tonight beginning at 5:30 p.m. and continuing for approximately 30 minutes. During that time the application would still be available to the end users for inquiry but any scheduled reports or processes will be delayed.
For University Endowments Owners
This message is for University endowment owners only. This message does not pertain to any endowments held at the Foundations. For all True endowments that have elected to reinvest quarterly earnings, the income is currently being reinvested back into the true endowment. The Cash Management Support Team is working on a fix that will reinvest the income into the related quasi endowment. These fixes are scheduled to be included in the May - June updates. Along with these fixes, December income distributions that were reinvested into the true endowments will be moved to the quasi endowments and will be available to the departments. September income distributions have already been corrected. For any questions regarding your individual endowment, please e-mail Jane Pribyl at priby024@umn.edu.
Processing journal entries on transactions from previous years
Sponsored
Prior to PeopleSoft, if a transaction on a project that was recorded from a pervious fiscal year needed to be moved to a non sponsored account, SFR had to process the transactions. With the new COA and PeopleSoft, SFR no longer has to process the transactions. If an academic department needs to process a journal entry on a project related to a transaction recorded in a previous fiscal year the academic department can process the journal entry.
For non salary journal entries, the only difference when processing the journal entry is the CF1 value should be YR000020XX (the XX represents the FY of the original transaction).
For salary journal entries, if an HSA can not be processed, process a journal entry directly against the salary and fringe accounts, including the CF1 value of YR000020XX. See the Job Aid called “When and How to Use a Journal Entry to Move Payroll and Fringe” for more details.
Nonsponsored
The information above addresses the treatment of previous fiscal year corrections on sponsored projects. The CF1 values of YR000020XX are available for use on purely non-sponsored transactions too but they are not required by Accounting Services when correcting previous fiscal year activity.
When making a correction to a document, departments should use the Account code for the original transaction. If the issue is a matter of a transfer that didn't get done in the previous fiscal year, departments can use non-mandatory transfers with or without a CF1 value. Accounting Services does not treat previous year transfers any differently than current year transfers (all transfers are excluded from the consolidated financial reports), so there is no Account in the current COA that is comparable to the old Object/Revenue codes for previous fiscal year transfers (old 5990-99/9990-99).
Sponsored activity nightly processing (from SPA/SFR)
We have fielded a lot of questions and complaints about timing of the nightly jobs, especially how the jobs impact the sponsored reports. Each module has what is called a processing box (a series of posting and updating jobs that process nightly). The GPC processing box is scheduled to start after the Purchasing, Accounts Payable, Employee Expenses and General Ledger processing boxes have completed. Then GPC starts the Cost Collection jobs which go out and cost collects the transactions from Purchasing, Accounts Payable, Employee Expenses and manual Journal Entries from GL. Then our F&A job starts followed by a series of other GPC jobs. Lastly, but not least is the copy of Production (PRD) to the Reporting Instance (RPT) which starts at 6:00 AM. This is a very tight schedule, some jobs run long and at times we are still processing the previous day GPC processing box when the copy of PRD to RPT starts. As many of know this is problematic for report users, most of the time the expense is there but the F&A isn't as the copy of PRD started before we were done with the F&A job, etc.
After reviewing several options and working with the module support team we have a long term solution to the situation. Change the GPC processing box to begin at 7:00 pm - this would ensure the box is complete by the time the copy of PRD to RPT is made and remove the dependency that the other modules processing boxes complete before the GPC box starts.
How does this change impact the academic departments? Transactions processed on a project on a Monday in the feeder modules are cost collected into GPC on Tuesday's GPC nightly processing box run which starts at 7:00 pm and will be in the reporting instance Wednesday morning. This gives consistent and accurate data and departments can feel confident that "everything" is there when running sponsored reports out of PS Reporting Instance or UM Reports.
EFS listserv updated
This listserv was updated today to include all University employees with active access to the production instance of PeopleSoft Financials. Some people who had asked to be removed from this listserv may have been added back in.
We ask that those people with access to EFS not opt-out of the listserv since this is one of our main communication tools. Given that our first fiscal year end in the new system approaches, we ask that you bear with our occasional communications so you have the opportunity to read about what's happening, see what the deadlines for fiscal year end processing may be, learn of any system issues, etc. If you still feel you'd like to be removed from the listserv, please email finsys@umn.edu.
Training Services Assessment Change
The Training Services competency assessments will soon have a different look and feel. Effective tomorrow, April 2, all assessments will be in WebVista. (UMConnect assessments will no longer be available.) Please see the WebVista Assessment Job Aid for information about assessments.
As always, to review your personal training record, navigate to Employee Self Services (same place you view pay statements) and click on Training History/Record.
PeopleSoft Financials will be unavailable
Due to journal entry updates from Accounting Services, PeopleSoft Financials will be unavailable on Friday, April 3 beginning at 5:30 p.m. and extending through the Sunday maintenance window (scheduled to end at 12:30 p.m. Sunday).
For reference, the maintenance window hours are posted here:
http://www.finsys.umn.edu/systemavailability.html
Sponsored Financial Reporting Open House
Monday April 6, 2009 1:00-3:00 PM
AI Johnson & Minnesota Rooms, McNamara Alumni Center
Meet the staff in SFR and experience a select number of our internal processes in action as they relate to PeopleSoft. See details here.
For All University Endowments Owners
This message is for University endowment owners only. This message does not pertain to any endowments held at the Foundations. The Cash Management Support Team is aware of inaccurate market value and book value information on the participant page in the cash management module. The Cash Management Support Team is working on fixes to correct the Market Value and Book Value calculations. The team is also working
on updates to correct your endowment balances. These fixes are scheduled to be included in the May updates. These system corrections
will not change the end-user functionality or any of the previous training that individuals received. For any questions regarding your individual endowment, please e-mail Jane Pribyl at priby024@umn.edu.
Endowments Labs
Training Services and Treasury Accounting are partnering to offer Endowments labs. Participants should bring their MKey and will be assisted on a first-come, first-served basis.
We suggest that the department obtains the information from the vendor and completes the form. The vendor only needs to complete and sign the IRS W9 form.
The current Vendor Authorization form and instructions should be obtained from the forms library.
Questions regarding vendor set up can be sent to disbsvcs@umn.edu.
Employee Expense Worksheet
The Employee Expense Worksheet (EEW) and instructions were recently updated.
Adjusting FY08 Carryforward Amounts using Journal Entries
Carryforward amounts from FY08 were mapped from CUFS to “history” ChartField strings in EFS. In some cases, these are not the ChartField strings that contain the current financial activity. Departments that need to move the carryforward balance of a “history” ChartField string will need to create an FY 09 journal entry. The full memo can be found here, and the spreadsheet mentioned in the memo can be found here.
NOTE: The descriptions of the codes on the memo are reversed (the codes themselves are correct). The Transfers out should be 61xxxx/NMTO, and the transfers in should be 60xxxx/NMTI.
Chart of Accounts changes for FY10
Fund and Account code revisions approved for fiscal year 2010 are now available. These new codes are valid effective July 1, 2009 and can be found here.
Highlight from the Financial Inquiries manual
Has my voucher been paid?
Navigate to: Accounts Payable > Review Accounts Payable Information > Vouchers > Voucher.
Start on page 39 of the printed manual or page 43 of the PDF found here.
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Period 8 for the General Ledger has been closed.
Vendor Authorization Form (VAF) 1679 Annoucement
Instructions for completing the VAF, a PDF, and an Excel version are now available in the forms library.
The latest version of Adobe Acrobat Pro provides a solution to the problem of not being able to save the VAF PDF form. The University has obtained subsidized licenses to this version of the software. The instructions on purchasing and downloading the software can be found here.
UM Reports: Save to Excel -- you asked for it, so it has been put back!
The Save to Excel button has been restored for the Transaction Detail for Current Non-Sponsored Funds report on UM Reports. Blank spreadsheets will still occur if the report pulls a large amount of data or takes an extended period of time to run--the fix for this is being investigated.
Financial Inquiries: Do you know how to find where will a PO ship?
Navigate to: Purchasing > Purchase Orders > Review PO Information > Purchase Orders and follow the instructions starting on page 17 of the Financial Inquiries materials (physical page 21 of the PDF document found here.
Proposed service outage for University Financial Helpline
The proposed service outage for the University Financial Helpline was Thursdays for an hour, from 12:30 to 1:30 pm, for group training. Comments received from our customers were strongly in favor of the helpline team continuing to build knowledge and skills related to the function and use of the new financial system, and other relevant topics. However those who commented were also strongly in favor of not having the helpline out of service during any business day. Given these comments, we will continue to be open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. Be aware that we may schedule occasional service outages for special situations. We will provide warning of these rare situations as far in advance as possible via this listserv and the finsys Web site.
AR (Accounts Receivable) Update Program
The AR Update program has not run successfully since Thursday, February 26th. Therefore, invoices, payments and merchant/credit card transactions have not been posted to Accounts Receivable since February 26th.
This has been escalated to a critical issue and the module support team is working to resolve this problem.
Account Code to Category Code Mapping
Purchasing has posted the mapping of the Account Code values tied to their ePro Category Codes at
http://purchasing.umn.edu/docs/efs/Acct_Cat.xls
This is an Excel Spreadsheet that can be resorted as you wish.
It is critical that requisition preparers choose the appropriate category for their purchase. The preference for a specific account code should not cause the requisition preparer to choose an inappropriate category code. Our future spend analysis plans mentioned at the recent FSUN meeting will be based on these categories.
The plan is that Purchasing will update this spreadsheet after each fiscal year – probably the first week of July.
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