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.
With the exception of Requisitions, Receipts, Purchase Orders, Vouchers related to POs, and PCard, units may begin entering FY2010 activity.
Activity may resume on July 6 for Requisitions, Receipts, Purchase Orders, Vouchers related to POs, and PCard.
See the year end memo for upcoming deadlines (calendar is on the last few pages of the PDF).
Need info on how to make a purchase between now and July 6? Click here.
Travel-related transactions
REMINDER:
Please do NOT prepare or approve any EX documents until tomorrow when you may resume processing these types of transactions in the new fiscal year. Preparing and approving EX documents today causes problems for the fiscal year end processes that are running. (EX documents are any of these: Travel Authorization, Cash Advance, Expense Report/Employee Reimbursement.)
Sales tax changes
Update and Thank You: fiscal year end in the new financial system
The brief hiatus from the major system activities (purchasing goods and services, and paying for them), is a good time to give everyone an update on the year end closing process.
Overall the fiscal year end closing processing in PeopleSoft Financials is going fairly smoothly. There have been few unexpected errors and things are moving ahead according to plan.
Everyone’s cooperation in following the processing deadlines has been very helpful and is much appreciated. Most units have been working very hard all year to ensure problem transactions are addressed immediately. It is because of the diligent efforts of departmental staff that those year end processes which have been completed have gone so well.
The year end Cluster site visits went very well. As requested at many of these visits, the Controller's Office is preparing materials to aid units in performing on-going clean-up activities so that next year’s process runs even more smoothly for departments.
A few critical deadlines remain for this fiscal year end. The Controller’s Office will continue to communicate these deadlines to the entire community.
Based on your feedback we will begin to target procedural communications to just those people with specific roles in the system (requisition preparers, voucher preparers, etc.) or with specific administrative roles (Cluster Directors, RRC managers, etc.). We will continue to communicate with the larger EFS listserv when situations arise that affect all users or are important enough to warrant mass communication (system outages, policy changes, etc.). All communications will be posted on the Controller’s Office Web site http://www.finsys.umn.edu for those interested parties who may not have received the email version. We encourage all with access to EFS or who play a part in the financial management of a project or program to regularly visit this Web site.
We know that some things weren’t as clear as they could have been in the year end instructions and that some of the deadlines were confusing. If you have suggestions for things you would have liked to see in the year end instructions, please contact the University Financial Helpline. We’re already planning for next year and your feedback will be of great value.
Finally, we’d like to thank all of you for your hard work and assistance in completing this first fiscal year end with PeopleSoft. We know this has been an extremely difficult year for everyone. Thank you for your persistence and dedication.
Sent on behalf of the entire Controller's Office.
Carryforward balance calculation process in PeopleSoft Financials
Accounting Services has started to run the carryforward calculation processes in PeopleSoft for FY2009. You will see entries in your ChartField strings each month in statistical accounts 900101 and 900102. These entries are being made in preparation for recording and displaying the final FY2009 ending balances (carried forward into FY2010) on the carryforward page and departmental reports. (Note: this process is being run for non-sponsored ChartField strings only.) More detailed information is available here including:
Departmental Deposit journal errors
A number of Departmental Deposits (AR Direct Journals) have failed to post to GL this month. We are currently working to resolve the issue and will send a communication when the journals have successfully posted. Thank you for your patience.
Need info on how to make a purchase between now and July 6? Click here.
Pre-FY09 unclaimed EFTs through June 2008
From: Jane Pribyl, Director of Treasury Accounting, Internal and External Sales
A file listing all the unclaimed bank items for which we do not have a GL document is located here.
Please look through the file to determine if anything belongs to you. You can forward this email to the accountant in your department, if necessary.
If something does belong to you, please send an email listing the items you want to claim to Judi Bloom at bloom189@umn.edu. Judi will review your request and reply to you with further instructions on how to do a Journal Entry in PeopleSoft to claim your item(s). If you think a wire or EFT may belong to your department but you need more information, please contact Judi by phone 612-626-7746 or email bloom189@umn.edu.
This will be the last opportunity to claim Pre-FY09 items. Please review the list thoroughly and respond to Judi before July 13th, 2009. Any entries to claim these items will need to be done (entered and approved) before 5PM on July 13th, 2009.
If you have any questions, please contact Judi Bloom.
Thank you for your assistance.
The FY2010 Chart of Accounts manual is available on Training Services' Web site.
Upcoming deadlines:
JUNE 26
Last day for Voucher entry, clean-up, and approval for non-PO-related vouchers is June 26 at 2 p.m.
Last day for non-PUF endowment estimate withdrawals (departments) is June 26 at 2 p.m.
Last day for entry, clean-up, and approval for Travel Authorizations, Expense Reports, and Cash Advances is June 26 at 2 p.m.
JUNE 30
Last day for FY09 cash deposits is June 30 at 2 p.m. Dept Deposit must be fully processed in system and dropped off at Bursar Office location by deadline.
Last day for Billing (including external) is June 30 at 2 p.m. Bills must be in Ready (RDY) status.
Last day CUFS and FFN are available is June 30 at 4 p.m. (use Data Warehouse instead after this date).
FYE Memo
The entire memo and list of deadlines can be found here.
Need info on how to make a purchase between now and July 6?
Voucher Approval Issue Resolved
The Voucher Approval issue that caused the process to fail the night of June 22 has been resolved. Voucher approvals are processing. We apologize for any inconvenience that this has caused.
HSA processing in EFS for June 16 and June 18
The processing of HSA data into EFS from the HR/Payroll system did not complete successfully on the nights of June 16 and June 18. As a result this HSA data was not visible in the financial system. This data has now been processed in financials and posted to the general ledger in the nightly batch processing of June 23rd. The HSA data in GL can be found in the following HSA journals:
HSAs processed in HR/Payroll on June 16th will be in GL journal HSA0096592
HSAs processed in HR/Payroll on June 18th will be in GL journal HSA0096593
The root cause of the issue remains under investigation at this time.
Customer Maintenance Deadline Extension, EFT Payments, Bill Entry Deadline
AR Services has processed all of the customer maintenance requests received through June 19th (the published deadline). Therefore we will continue processing customer maintenance requests as they are received. Priority will be given to those requests that are related to an EFT payment that has been received by the University in FY09. Please indicate in the comments section on the BPEL customer request form if this is the case.
Departments should continue working with Cluster Billing Specialists to have bills entered in order to ensure that incoming Electronic Funds Transfer (ACH/Wire) payments are recorded to department chartstrings for FY09. The deadline for bill entry is Tuesday June 30, 2009.
Click here if you need info on how to make a purchase between now and July 6.
Upcoming deadlines
JUNE 23
All PCard transactions for the billing date of June 22 were loaded this morning (June 23). June’s reconciliation must stop June 23 at 5 p.m. and resumes for July 6 – 7. The last day to reconcile/approve PCard transactions for the billing date June 22 is July 7.
JUNE 26
Last day for Voucher entry, clean-up, and approval for non-PO-related vouchers is June 26 at 2 p.m.
Last day for non-PUF endowment estimate withdrawals (departments) is June 26 at 2 p.m.
Last day for entry, clean-up, and approval for Travel Authorizations, Expense Reports, and Cash Advances is June 26 at 2 p.m.
JUNE 30
Last day for FY09 cash deposits is June 30 at 2 p.m. Dept Deposit must be fully processed in system and dropped off at Bursar Office location by deadline.
Last day for Billing (including external) is June 30 at 2 p.m. Bills must be in Ready (RDY) status.
Last day CUFS and FFN are available is June 30 at 4 p.m. (use Data Warehouse instead after this date).
Voucher Approval
Voucher Approval job failed last night and this morning. This will impact year end processing as vouchers have not routed to approvers since 2 p.m on 6/22. We are working to identify the issue and will communicate when it is fixed.
Approvals needed (AP & Expenses)
To ensure successful processing and payment of Non-PO vouchers and Expense Reports by the year end deadline (Friday June 26, 2009 at 2:00 p.m.), it is recommended that Approvers access the system a few times a day to review any transactions that are pending their approval. Transactions not approved cannot be paid and will have to be re-entered in the new fiscal year.
If there are any problems preventing units from taking immediate action on these transactions, please contact the University Financial Helpline at 612-624-1617 or finsys@umn.edu immediately.
Information about procurement/payables related deadlines is here.
Reminder that the PO-related payment deadline has passed (it was last Friday, June 19).
Click here if you need info on how to make a purchase between now and July 6.
Need a reminder of the fiscal year end processing deadlines?
Information about all of the fiscal year end activities can be found here.
Important Year End Deadline Change
System processing jobs failed to run last night and are currently running. The year-end PO related voucher cutoff (originally scheduled at 2 p.m. today, June 19, 2009) is extended to 7 p.m.
This change allows PO related vouchers to be processed in FY 09 as long as they are entered, approved and posted- and no errors- by 7 p.m. tonight, June 19, 2009.
Salary and Fringe Encumbrances
The salary and fringe encumbrances did not get zeroed out on Wednesday , 6/17, as planned. We are working to correct the balances by the end of the month. Thank you for your patience.
XML and XMLS Vouchers
In conjunction with today's deadline for PO related vouchers for units sending XML and XMLS files, this is a reminder that the last day for Non-PO voucher files for FY09 is June 25th.
Fiscal year end tips on handling requisitions and POs
U Stores purchase orders (1) entered before the June 19 deadline OR (2) called into U Stores after the June 19 deadline do not have to be re-entered into PS in FY 2010.
If you need to re-enter a FY09 order in FY10, once FY10 is open for entry, you can avoid sending the vendor another purchase order (causing duplicate shipments and invoices) by having your Procurement Specialist expedite the order and change the dispatch method on the PO to 'phone'.
Upcoming fiscal year end processing deadlines
The full calendar and details are in the fiscal year end memo for FY2009:
JUNE 19
The last day for entering, changing or approving all Requisitions, Purchase Orders, and PO-related Vouchers is Friday June 19. Details about the procurement and payables deadline are available here.
Need to make a purchase after the deadline but before the new year is open in the system?
Procedures for making purchases during the nine business days when POs may not be entered into the system are available here.
JUNE 23
All PCard transactions for the billing date of June 22 will be loaded by June 23 at noon. The last day to reconcile/approve PCard transactions for the billing date June 22 is July 7. June’s reconciliation must stop June 23 at 5 p.m. and resumes for July 6 – 7.
JUNE 26
Last day for Voucher entry, clean-up, and approval for non-PO-related vouchers is June 26 at 2 p.m.
Last day for non-PUF endowment estimate withdrawals (departments) is June 26 at 2 p.m.
Last day for entry, clean-up, and approval for Travel Authorizations, Expense Reports, and Cash Advances is June 26 at 2 p.m.
JUNE 30
Last day for FY09 cash deposits is June 30 at 2 p.m. Dept Deposit must be fully processed in system and dropped off at Bursar Office location by deadline.
Last day for Billing (including external) is June 30 at 2 p.m. Bills must be in Ready (RDY) status.
Last day CUFS and FFN are available is June 30 at 4 p.m. (use Data Warehouse instead after this date).
Fiscal year end procurement and payables activity details
Details of the deadlines can be found here. (pdf)
Requisition, PO, and PO-related payments deadline June 19
Please read the details here. (pdf)
Reminder for PO closings: see page 10 of the fiscal year end memo (published 5/29/09), not all POs that are open will automatically be rolled to the new fiscal year. The following POs will not be rolled over to FY2010
Purchasing between June 19 & July 6
If your unit has the need to procure goods or services during the nine business days between June 19 and July 6, please refer to the special year end process memo. (pdf)
Legacy system reminders
CUFS and FFN will be decommissioned as re-scheduled from last winter. The last day these systems will be available is June 30, 2009 (the original date was December 31, 2008). After June 30, transactional data will continue to be available in the Data Warehouse (https://dw.umn.edu) in the DWFS database. Contact the University Financial Helpline if you need assistance finding information in the Data Warehouse.
DocuWare (the legacy imaging system) is still functioning and may still be accessed to look up images related to CUFS activity. It must be accessed via the Web client. After reading this message, try this URL if your bookmark appears to be malfunctioning.
Remember to log in with your Internet ID and Enterprise password (MKey will *not* work).
NOTE: When accessing the site, you may be directed to a warning Web page that states, "There is a problem with this website's security certificate." The site is still secure. Click on the link that states, "Continue to this website..." This message appears because we haven't paid the fee to continue the third party security certification on the site.
Once you are past this "certificate warning" page, you should be in DocuWare and able to use it via the Web as usual.
Carry Forward amounts now display on Final Budgeting reports
Carry Forward amounts were not displaying on the following reports in the UM Budgeting Module:
1) UM Final Budget Entry Rpt - Fund
2) UM Final Budget Entry Rpt - Prog
This issue has been now corrected in production and the reporting instance. All Carry Forward amounts that exist are now included in the calculation of Available Balance.
Fiscal year end information can be found here: http://finsys.umn.edu/accountingsvs/fyeprocedures.html
Tomorrow, June 12, at 2 p.m. is the last day for Foundation bills (documentation at the Foundation and approved).
Tomorrow, June 12 at 2 p.m. is the last day for PUF endowment estimate withdrawals (departments).
June 19 is the deadline for requisitions, purchase orders, receipts related to POs, clearing match exceptions, PO-related voucher payments. A more detailed document explaining the procurement deadlines will be sent later today or early tomorrow.
June 19 is the deadline for Customer maintenance requests (UM Worklist/BPEL form deadline for AR/Billing).
The issue with Dell's ordering Web site has been resolved.
Dell ordering issues
Dell reports that its ordering mechanism is again experiencing issues--these issues affect all of Dell's business customers, not just the University of Minnesota. Some customers are unable to "punch out" and some get errors when trying to access the Dell site. U of M staff would see these errors either when beginning a requisition, trying to click on the Dell link from the Web tab or once they have shopped and are attempting to return to PeopleSoft to complete the order. Technicians from Dell and the University are working to resolve the issue.
All University Endowments including University PUF:
A manual journal entry recording third quarter income distributions has posted to the general ledger in May. The amount recorded in your accounts should represent approximately 95% of the total amount that will be generated by the Cash Management module.
The endowment system was brought down at the end of March in order to fix system problems in the Cash Management module. The fixes went into production on May 31 but delays are being encountered due to conversion issues that need to be addressed prior to running the fixed processes. We expect all conversion issues to resolved by the end of next week. Once the endowment system is back up (and the March market values are updated) the manual journal entry will be reversed, and the third quarter income distribution will be processed through the Cash Management module. Then all April, May, and June transactions will be processed by date order.
Fourth quarter income distribution will be posted to period 13 through another manual journal entry. The Cash Management module will generate a journal entry that will automatically post to period 1 in FY10. The Treasury Accounting group will reverse the entry and post it to period 13, FY09. The system transaction and the manual journal entry that will be posting to FY10 period 1, should net to zero.
If you have any questions regarding these PeopleSoft transactions, please e-mail Dan O'Connor at d-ocon@umn.edu or Greg Schooler at schoo024@umn.edu. We apologize for any inconvenience.
This messages does not pertain to any endowments held at the Foundations.
From Accounting Services
Period 11 has been closed in the General Ledger (GL).
Final information through Period 11 will be available in the Reporting environment tomorrow (Wednesday).
Fiscal year end reminders
There is a calendar of deadlines for FY09 transaction processing contained on the last pages of the annual year end memo.
Upcoming deadlines:
Last day for FY09 Foundation bills is June 12 (documentation needs to be at the Foundation and approved).
Last day for FY09 PUF endowment estimate withdrawals (departments) is June 12.
Last day for FY09 requisitions, purchase orders, receipts related to purchase orders, clearing match exceptions, and payments related to purchase orders is June 19.
Note: Please be aware that on June 19 everyone must stop processing requisitions, purchase orders, receipts related to purchase orders, and payments related to purchase orders until the new fiscal year is available. FY10 will be opened for these transactions on July 6.
How do you purchase urgently needed items during this data entry pause? A list of options is posted here.
Dell ordering fixed
The Dell ordering problem from the past few days has been resolved. Dell ordering through the Web tab of a requisition should again be functioning normally.
Requisition Recon
Due to the need for more analysis on the requisition reconciliation job, the process will not run this weekend. An update will be published at a later date regarding the job run.
Payables: redundant Match Rule exceptions eliminated
A change was made to eliminate the following two Match Rules:
The internal controls these rules enforced are covered by other rules (U250 and U260). Eliminating these redundant rules enables the Match process to run more quickly.
Chart of Accounts updates for FY2010
A supplement to the Chart of Accounts manual is now available. Please take time to review this new information. These updates are for FY10, effective July 1, 2009. The supplement is available on Training Services' Web site and is dated June 1, 2009. Follow this link.
Dell ordering problems
<RESOVLED as of morning 6/5/09>
Some requisition preparers attempting to order from Dell (through the Web tab) have received error messages when attempting to connect to Dell's Web site. Teams from Dell and the University have been working to resolve the issue. The issue appears to be intermittent and may not affect all requisition preparers.
Correction
Yesterday we sent a message directing people to a new query (Reporting encumbrance activity on asset accounts 168001 & 168002). We had a couple of extra letters in the query name. The correct name is: UM_FGL_ENC_VW_BY_DEPTID. Before attempting to run the query, know that there was a small hiccup in making it available in the reporting instance--it is there, but it won't appear when you search for it. Until this is fixed, contact the Helpline and we can run it for you. Also be aware that this activity does not impact every department, so if the query returns zero results for your DeptID(s) it is a good result.
Changes to Account Definitions for Non-Capitalized Equipment
For FY10 the Account code definitions will no longer distinguish between non-capital equipment purchased for less than $500 and non-capital equipment between $500 and $2,500. Accounts budgeted using 720100 General Office Supplies should be used for supply purchases only and accounts budgeted using 750100 Non-Capital Equipment should be used for equipment purchases for less than $2,500. Because this definition change impacts only small dollar purchases you are not required to make changes to FY10 non-sponsored budgets that have already been input into PeopleSoft (but you can if you want to do so).
Payables: Change to the daily batch schedule to remove the morning execution of the Matching process
On a daily basis at 9 AM, 2 PM, and overnight the Matching process is run. Over time, the performance of the Matching process has degraded to a point where it now easily runs 3 to 4 hours before completing. While it is running, all unmatched PO vouchers are inaccessible for maintenance as they are being processed by Matching. Users of the system are effectively unable to access and work PO vouchers during the majority of the business day. While a fix to the poor performance of the Matching process is being developed, a decision has been made to suspend the morning execution of the Matching process. As a result, PO vouchers will be available each day through 2 PM for resolving any Match Exceptions resulting from the overnight run. PO vouchers will continue to be unavailable after 2 PM while the afternoon Matching process is run. This change in schedule will have no impact on the ability to enter a PO voucher. Additionally, it will have no impact on the maintenance or entry of non PO vouchers.
Reporting encumbrance activity on asset accounts 168001 & 168002
Prior to October 24th of 2008, no encumbrance activity was recorded in EFS for accounts 168001 and 168002. A configuration change was made on October 24th to begin recording these encumbrances on any new activity, however; requisitions and purchase orders for capital equipment created prior to October 24th of 2008, which have partial or no invoice/receipt activity, will not reflect the encumbered amount on the standard University reports. In order to provide visibility to the impacted transactions, a public query (UM_FGL_ENC_VW_BY_DEPTID -- name corrected 6/3/09) has been released to capture this encumbrance activity on a department level. The query can be accessed via the query tool in the EFS Reporting instance and will prompt by business unit and DeptID. The results of the query can be used to supplement the results provided by the standard University reports relative to encumbrance activity. <06/03/09 NOTE: there was an issue moving this query to the reporting instance. If you search for the query and do not find it, contact the University Financial Helpline and we can run the query for you.>
PO Recon
The PO Recon job did run over this past weekend. A planned job that did not run was the Requisition Recon job. The Requisition Recon job is expected to run this coming weekend. The Requisition Recon job is a clean-up process that targets requisitions. Starting July 1 these two jobs will both be run monthly with the PO Recon job running first and then the Requisition Recon job second. See related item emailed to this listserv/published May 27 on the finsys Web site: http://www.finsys.umn.edu/news/news.html#May27
The Production instance of PeopleSoft Finanacials is now available.
Internet Explorer 8 may not be compatible with PeopleSoft Finanacials.
Do not install the update. If the update has already been installed, use Mozilla until testing has been completed.
Endowments: Use of CF1 value for Target Income Distribution
Is the income from your Endowment being deposited to a target ChartField String? Does that ChartField String use the CF1 value to identify the participant ID or the foundation account for that revenue? Use of CF1 can aid in reporting and budgeting for FY2010. Following the instructions in the Endowments: Target Income Distribution job aid to change the income distribution setup to use the appropriate CF1 Value.
Reporting instance down
The reporting instance of PeopleSoft is down (FSUMRPT). It appears that the server crashed.
Production is still functioning. We will update you as we learn more.
Budget preparation: Detailed Budgeting Page Errors
People have been getting errors on the Detailed Budgeting page. The errors may occur when people attempt to either refresh or validate their budgets. The error displays the following message:
THE BUDGET PROCESS JUST RUN HAS ENCOUNTERED AN UNEXPECTED ERROR. IT DID NOT COMPLETE THE PROCESS REQUESTED FOR THIS DEPTID'S BUDGET. PLEASE CONTACT YOUR TECHNICAL SUPPORT PERSON.
We are actively working to try to eliminate the circumstances that cause this error. The circumstances that cause this error are that the system is set to bring back an error message if the job does not complete in two minutes. The jobs in the past two days have been waiting up to 10 minutes in a queue before they start to process. Once they complete, there is no message returned to the user that the job is finished.
If you get this error, wait 10 minutes and then search again on the page. After the 10 minutes the job should have completed and lines will have been processed.
Remember, the Budget Office is running the batch refresh job periodically, so you should rarely have need to run the refresh job yourself. As always, remember to save your work prior to running refresh or validate so that no data is lost.
May 29th weekend year-end clean-up: PO Reconciliation
As part of the year-end clean-up process the PO Reconciliation process
will be executed starting at the end of business on Friday, May 29th. Since
this process impacts a large number of transactions, users may experience longer than normal processing times.
The PO Reconciliation process will set eligible orders to a PO status of
COMPLETE. Eligible orders are defined below. A PO Budget Checking job will
then be run. Once an order is set to COMPLETE it will not be reopened for
change orders. POs affected by the PO Reconciliation job are:
Quantity Orders: PO Reconciliation will pick up any Quantity orders that
are fully vouchered, even if there is remaining money. It will include
those POs that were manually set to Final on the voucher.
Amount Only Orders: PO Reconciliation will pick up all Amount Only orders
that are perfectly matched (all funds, down to the penny).
Expense document year-end clean-up
Instructions for taking action on expense documents with report statuses
of "Approvals in Process" and "Submitted for Approval" can be found here.
Get fresh copies of the forms each time you use them
Some people are forgetting to use the most recent version of Purchasing forms. If you need to submit a New Location Request form, be sure to get the new version. The last revision date is 5/21/09 and has a submit address of purchase@umn.edu. This updated form is available here (xls). Do not use the old form--it has the wrong submit address so Purchasing has missed a few of these. Also, please use the most current copy of the Professional Services Information Sheet (PSIS) for your CPS requisitions. This form can be found here (doc).
Vendor maintenance status
Due to the unusually high volume of vendor set-up requests, it is currently taking 3 to 5 days to set up vendors. Thank you for your patience during this very busy time.
Payroll encumbrance amounts are off in PeopleSoft Financials
PeopleSoft Financials does not reflect all salary and fringe encumbrance amounts from HRMS. The amount of data being sent from HRMS to Financials is overwhelming the process used to post the transactions to the GL and some rows are simply not being processed. This means that many ChartField strings in Financials are showing the wrong encumbrance amounts for salary and fringe. There will be a process run to zero out all payroll encumbrances (salary and fringe) that remain in the GL before the end of this fiscal year. The Module Support Team is investigating long-term fix options for this issue. Meanwhile, the "actuals" amounts in Financials are correct. The most accurate payroll-related encumbrance report is in UMReports, the HR & Payroll reports category, "Current Month YTD Encumbrance Payroll Summary."
New procedure to deposit accounts payable related vendor checks
Depositing Vendor Checks (sponsored and non-sponsored accounts) and Depositing Refunds of Sponsored Employee Expense Over-payments
Sponsored accounts
In February 2009, Sponsored Financial Reporting (SFR) sent out a communication called Payments Received for Sponsored Projects in Academic Departments. This procedure included how to handle payments from a vendor/subcontractor related to expenses on a Sponsored Project. For those departmental deposits made against the sponsored project as a negative expense through March 31, 2009, SFR has processed a correcting journal entry resulting in the expense being picked up by the projects module. SFR will process corrections for any other deposits made between April 1st through May, 18th by this Friday, May 22nd.
Please refer to the newly published process as outlined by Disbursement Services for proper handling of sponsored vendor/subcontractor refund payments.
Update to the fiscal year end memo/calendar
The system allows the University to specify a different open (or close) date for each accounting period in each module. We know that for FY2010, the "open" dates for period 1 will be different across the modules. For example, the General Ledger will open for FY2010 activity on July 1. However, the Purchasing and ePro modules will not be open for FY2010 activity until July 6.
The calendar included on the last pages of the fiscal year end memo states that period 1 for FY2010 will open for Requisitions and Purchasing on two different days. This is incorrect--Requisitions and Purchasing will be opened for FY2010 on July 6.
The year end memo and procedures contain a lot of important information for all employees entering transactions into the University's financial system, including special year end procurement information. View the memo here.
Dell/Apple orders
When entering a requisition for a Dell or Apple order (using the Web tab), please note:
Account code 720105 (Office Supplies)
The definitions for the expense Account values for office supplies, non-capitalized equipment, and capitalized equipment will be changed to remove any restrictions or references to a $500 threshold between office supplies and non-capitalized equipment. The short and long descriptions of the Account values will not change because they do not reference the $500 threshold. The only change to the Accounts themselves will be to update the definitions that are listed in the COA Manual on its next publication in June. Changes effective July 1, 2009 for FY2010.
Program codes that require FinEmplIDs
Accounting Services wants to help clean up stray balances in ChartField strings that are not allowing transactions because of a FinEmplID combo edit violation. The few system anomalies that resulted in the incorrect ChartField strings have been resolved but the combo edit is making clean-up difficult.
Please check your activity on Programs where a FinEmplID is required to see if you have a balance on a ChartField string that does not include a FinEmplID value but should.
One way to identify these strings is by using the "Chartfield String Budget Status for Current Non-Sponsored Funds" report, grouped by Program and Fin EmplID.
If you have a balance in a problem string, please contact Emily Larson at e-lars@umn.edu for detailed instructions.
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Budget Strategies - EFS Tip
When preparing budgets for ChartField Strings for fiscal year 2010 don't forget optional/conditional values (CF1,CF2, FinEmplID) can be used for greater detail in your budgeting. In some situations the program value has a description containing "EmpID" or "EI" which indicates that the FinEmplID value will be required for all expense transactions entered during the fiscal year. If your unit wants to make use of this option, now is the time to decide. If your unit does not want to require the use of the FinEmplID, make sure to budget for a program value that does not require the FinEmplID.
If you wish to make use of the option to require FinEmplIDs for expense transactions but cannot find a program value with "EmpID" that is appropriate for your needs, a new program value can be requested by completing the BPEL form Initiate and View New Program Request. This form can be found here.
Matching
The Matching job failed yesterday around 1 p.m. due to the power outage. As a result, vouchers that were in that process are now stuck. The process is being worked on currently. The matching job will not be able to run until this is fixed. When it is fixed, all vouchers that are currently stuck will be processed. We apologize for any inconvenience.
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PeopleSoft Financials inaccessible the afternoon of May 20
Due to a campus-wide power outage, PeopleSoft Financials has been inaccessible for a portion of this afternoon. The system should now be accessible to end users (2 pm). We have been unable to access email until now to send an update to the listserv.
System availability for the holiday weekend (Memorial Day)
At this time there is no special maintenance activity planned for PeopleSoft Financials on the holiday weekend. The production and reporting instances of the system will be unavailable during the usual maintenance windows as listed here: http://www.finsys.umn.edu/systemavailability.html
Both production and reporting should be available as usual on Monday May 25.
OIT maintains a system status page that alerts U staff to any unplanned or unexpected outages: http://systemstatus.umn.edu/view/Main
Plant or Agency information on UM Reports
There are two ways to get Plant or Agency fund data to appear on the UM Reports.
One way is to first run the report without the Plant and Agency funds, then on the report under the date and time information there is a link to "Include Plant and Agency" funds. Clicking on the link triggers the report to be run again with the additional fund codes are included.
The other way is to input any specific Plant or Agency funds in the Fund prompt and the report will pull back the data for those funds (where in the past it would return nothing if this was done). There are not edits on the Fund code prompt so you can put in any Current Non-sponsored, Plant, or Agency fund (or series of these funds) and it will pull the activity. If the fund prompt is left blank (to retrieve all funds), then you will have to use the first method listed above to add in the Plant or Agency funds.
Plant or Agency information in PeopleSoft reporting
Most units are using the UM Reports, but if you are using the versions of the reports in PeopleSoft, there is a button available once you're at the spot to run the report--click on the button saying "include plant and agency" funds. Keep in mind that in PeopleSoft if you don't click the check box for Plant and Agency, you cannot select any of those funds for your report. If you do click on the button, then you can run the report for a specific Plant or Agency fund. Just a reminder, in PeopleSoft you cannot run a range of funds as you can in UM Reports, so it is "all" or "one".
Fiscal year end memo
The fiscal year end memo will be posted on the finsys Web site this afternoon (May 20). An email will be sent to this listserv as soon as it is posted.
Budget Status reports now allow reporting on Agency and Plant funds
The Budget Status reports for non-sponsored funds now offer the ability to run the report as they have in the past for strictly current non-sponsored funds, or run the report to also include Agency and Plant funds in the results. The new capability applies to both PeopleSoft and UM Reports on the Web versions of the following reports:
Fiscal Year End memo for 2009 will be distributed this week to this listserv and posted on the finsys Web site.
There appear to be two problems related to categories and assets: one is on requisitions and one is on purchase orders.
For Requisitions
The problem appears to be that if the Modify Accounting Line button is used to modify ChartFields across many lines, the Category field on that screen loses its link to the Item table. It seems to be asking for an Asset Business Unit / Profile when the Category being entered is a non-asset. This has been submitted to Module Support for research and resolution.
The Workaround for Non-Asset Requisitions that request asset information
For now, the best option is to use the delta symbol (
it looks like a triangle) at the left of the line to open up the ChartFields and enter information line by line, and not use the Modify Accounting Line button to add or update ChartFields on the requisition. The problem seems to be isolated to that Modify Accounting Lines button.
For Purchase Orders
The problem appears to be again that the item category link is not recognizing the order as an asset. So, even though you have used an asset Category, the Pending link is not available to enter the asset information.
The Workaround
For now, the Procurement Specialist can do a change order to the PO line. Click into the Distribution line and open the Asset Information tab. Enter the Asset Business Unit and Profile (same as Category Code) and save the change. This should allow the asset to be received.
A note about the delta symbol, for those who are curious
is the capital letter delta in the Greek alphabet. It is used in equations to denote an incremental change in a variable, thus the reason the programmers at PeopleSoft selected "that thing that looks like a tent" or "that triangle thing" as the symbol for changing a requisition or purchase order.
Match overrides, closing vouchers, populating the match workbench
Match Overrides
An issue has been identified with Match Overrides. The problem occurs when some but not all lines are overridden. The result is a PeopleCode error and the remaining match exceptions are not viewable. To avoid this error, either:
Click the <Search> button.
The search results will display match exceptions for your cluster. To resolve match exceptions, use the Match Exceptions Matrix, which can be found in either the Vendor Payments or Procurement Specialist reference manuals.
The search criteria can be saved by selecting the <Save Search Criteria> link. Name your search and then click <Save>.
To used the saved search criteria, select it from the Used Saved Search drop down menu at the top of the page.
CLARIFICATION added 1:00 pm 5/18/09
Canceling a voucher: There is no such thing as canceling a voucher. Depending on the Post status and payment, a voucher may be able to be deleted or closed. For information and criteria on deleting and closing vouchers, please refer pages 55 - 57 of the newest version (4-23-09) of the Vendor Payments reference manual.
Finalizing a voucher: There is a header level finalize icon and line level finalize icon(s) on the invoice information page of a voucher. Selecting the header level finalize icon releases any remaining encumbrances for the PO for the lines that are associated to the voucher. Selecting the line level finalize icon only releases the remaining encumbrances for the PO line associated with the corresponding voucher line.
Accounting Period 10 Closed
Period 10 has been closed in the General Ledger (GL).
Final information through Period 10 will be available in the Reporting environment tomorrow (Wednesday).
Correcting or Deleting TAs
Effective Monday 5/11/09, Expenses approvers will notice a new <Send Back> button on the Approval List page (Manager Self Service>Travel and Expense Center> Approvals>Approve Transactions). This new send back button is primarily used to send back outdated (stuck) Travel Authorizations to the preparer. Then the preparer can modify it or delete it. Click here for full instructions.
The system is slow again
Users of the PeopleSoft Financial system can experience slowness during the days leading up to the 10th of the month. This has normally been due to lots of people performing their PCard reconciliation activity. People are reporting system slowness or frustration with long waits for processes to run again today. Be aware that the Budget Checking process is working today, however, there is a large backlog of processes which takes time for the system to work through. One thing people can do is to make sure that the budget checking "button" is only clicked once instead of multiple times for a transaction. It may be helpful to keep this in mind any time the system appears to be slower than normal--definitely keep it in mind during the week leading up to the PCard deadline. The Business Process Owners and the Module Support Teams are working on making the system performance/slow processing situation better for everyone.
Tip: If it times out a journal may have already been created.
Even if the system times out on GL Journals, a
journal probably has been created with a Journal ID. The user will have to perform a
Journal Inquiry to find out what the Journal ID number is. And of course,
they should check the process monitor to see if the process has completed.
Tip: Need to figure out if a budget line is established for a Project?
Here is one place to search for information on which budget lines/Account codes are established for use on a Project:
Grants > Awards > Project Budgets
Consult the training materials available on Training Services' Web site for more helpful information.
Entering ChartField strings for cost share accounts
Cost share ChartField strings must include both the non-sponsored Fund-DeptID-Program that the expense is being cost shared from, as well as the PC Business Unit-Project-Activity that is being cost shared to. The system will not allow the use of the CS value in the Cost Share field without both Program and Project in the ChartField string.