PJXtra! - FY 1999 Year-End Closing Announcements

[Katherine Reynolds <katherine.reynolds@YALE.EDU>]

I'm forwarding the following newsletter from ITS for any library staff
involved with PJX:
-Kate
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July 12, 1999	Issue 35

Project X-tra!
Yale University's Financial and Human Resources Information Systems Project
	http://www.yale.edu/pjx

To view this issue online:
http://www.yale.edu/pjx/lib/rpd/newsletter35.html

Inside This Issue:
FY 1999 Year-End Closing Announcements:

--> How AP Transactions will Appear 
--> Impacts of Change in Accrual Process
--> Statements and Reporting
--> General Accounting and User Support Services 

Summary:
>To minimize confusion resulting from changes in procedure related to the FY
>1999 closing process, the General Accounting (GA) and Accounts Payable (AP)
>departments are working together to keep everyone informed. You will be
>seeing AP transactions in a slightly different manner this year than in the
>past. The major change from previous years relates to the fact that
>typically Accounts Payable has been able to hold open the June second
>balance through the first two weeks of July. This was reflected in the
>transaction reports as AP transactions that were posted to June second
>balance. Due to the conversion processes, this year's charges through the
>first two weeks of July will be charged as July's AP transactions. Those
>transactions related to FY 1999 will be recorded to UFMIS using manual
>journal entries in ATS. These adjustments will be completed by Accounts
>Payable and General Accounting. 
>
>Note: In addition to the invoices for Fiscal 99 transactions recorded in AP
>in July, there were approximately 300 "problem" invoices (those containing
>incomplete or inaccurate information) in the system at cutover that were
>cancelled in Phase 1 in June and re-entered in Phase 2 in July. For
>cutover, GA and AP staff tried to identify all PTAEO's based on the UFMIS
>charging instructions. Those PTAEO's that could not be identified, or those
>that were not valid (usually because of date problems with grants), were
>converted to the default accounts being used by AP, according to the new
>policy for recording transactions to these accounts.
>
>How AP Transactions will Appear:
>During the month of July, transactions that go into Accounts Payable with
>Fiscal 1999 transaction dates will show up as July transactions but will
>also accrue for FY 1999. Here's how it will work:
>
>? Transactions over $5,000 (per invoice) will accrue at the department or
>account level
>? Transactions under $5,000 will accrue at the school or division level
>
>There are two exceptions to this general rule:
>1. Facilities will be accruing 100 percent of the invoices related to
>Fiscal 99 activity; and 
>2. Any Purchase Orders processed through the Walker System will generate
>Accounts Payable transactions (not accruals) in UFMIS second balance.
>
>Note: accruals will NOT show up as AP transactions; rather, they will
>appear as accounting transfers in UFMIS.
>
>In July and August, General Accounting will go in and reverse the accruals
>so that, in many cases, the department will see a charge and then a
>reversal of the accrual. For example, for charges accrued at the school
>level, the reverse will show up at the school level. For those charges
>accrued at the individual department level, the reverse will appear at the
>department level. The reversal will always appear at the same level at
>which it was charged.
>
>Impacts of Change in Accrual Process
>For funds that carry-forward balances from one year to the next, the change
>in the accrual process should not have a material effect.  However, for
>departments that cannot carry-forward General Appropriations balances, the
>change in accruals this year will mean that AP transactions under $5,000
>which were booked between 1st and 3rd balances will not appear on the
>department's GA detail charges at 2nd or 3rd balances.  During the closing
>process, a report will be generated which will list the transactions that
>were accrued as of June 30, 1999 by Source and Organization in the new COA.
> The Office of Budget & Planning will share with each unit the amount of
>their FY99 accruals that will be hitting the statements in FY00. Thus,
>centrally funded units will be able to devote their full FY00 budget to
>FY00 expenses.  This procedure assumes that for these units the FY99 GA
>budget allocation will have a closing value at least sufficient to cover
>its portion of the accrual pool. Then, during FY00 each unit will be
>allowed an approved variance in their GA account equal to their specific
>underpayment in FY99.  At the close of FY00 the sum of these approved
>variances will be posted to the reserve account. In the case where a unit
>does not have a positive GA balance sufficient to cover their share of the
>FY99 accrual pool the difference will be charged to their FY00 allocation.
>
>Statements and Reporting:
>For reporting purposes, transactions posted in FY 1999 will appear on June
>Rainbow statements. Transactions posted in FY 2000 will be available via
>the data warehouse and web reports. Commitments on AP transactions that
>show up in July (those not yet posted as actuals) will appear as July
>commitments. 
>
>What You Will See on June 1st Balance (Rainbow) Statements in UFMIS:
>? AP transactions for invoices processed in June
>? AP cancellations for invoices still outstanding at cutover (6-20-99)
>
>What You Will See on June 2nd Balance (Rainbow) Statements in UFMIS:
>? ATS transactions at department level for individual AP accruals greater
>than $5,000
>? ATS transactions at school level for the sum of invoices less than $5,000
>? ATS transactions to accrue any charges from Facilities
>? AP transactions for Purchase Orders from the Walker system
>
>What You Will See on July and August Statements (via data warehouse):
>? Individual invoice transactions for anything that came in after June 30
>? Individual Invoice transactions for invoices still outstanding at cutover
>(6-20-99)
>? JSA reversals for ATS accruals made in UFMIS
>? Commitments on anything recorded in July but not yet posted
>
>Source Codes:
>To identify where a transaction came from, the system assigns source codes.
>? For Phase 1 (prior to July 1, 1999) AP transactions, source code is
>20500AAP (followed by 3-digit batch number)
>? For Phase 2 Oracle transactions, source code is OAP (followed by the
>date) (followed by a sequence number)
>? For Journal Staging Area transactions, source code is YExpenseAdjust
>
>Note: Monday, July 12 - training classes began for web statements and
>reports. Once a user completes training, his/her user account is activated
>and access to the live application is granted. The new interactive web
>reporting environment will be the primary means of accessing reports for
>the purpose of monitoring and reviewing activity and reconciling
>transactions. During the week of July 19, training begins for Management
>Plan development using Oracle Financial Analyzer (OFA).
>
>General Accounting and User Support Services:
>GA Services has developed extensive support processes to help everyone
>through the transition period.  User Support Services, a unit within GA
>Services, has responsibility for ensuring that the General Accounting
>processes meet the needs of the community at large. Together with the
>School and Department Accounting Services, User Support will provide
>guidance on Chart of Accounts and related accounting issues to school and
>department business offices. Other support mechanisms in place include the
>Help Desks, SWAT Team (expert staff members who will be on-call for
>support), and a larger group during the initial implementation period.
>
>Important AP Reminder: During the first few weeks of July, Procurement
>staff will be involved in cutover, training, and implementation activities.
>It is critical during this time frame to minimizing any non-urgent
>communications to Accounts Payable and other central units. Departments are
>urged to use the Web Query tool whenever possible to lookup the status of
>an invoice. E-mail is another option. For resolving an issue not related to
>a purchase order, the best method is to send an email to
>linda.haigh@yale.edu. For invoice issues related to purchase orders, email
>rodney.brunson@yale.edu. Linda and Rodney research each problem and reply
>to the user. 
>
>Certain issues, particularly those related to training, should not be
>directed to AP phones. These include:
>
>? Issues related to training -- (Central campus: contact
>maggie.mcdonnell@yale.edu; Med School: contact john.beecher@yale.edu)  
>? Issues related to system response time -- call the Help Desk (Central
>Campus: 2-9000; Med School 5-3200) 
>? Other application-related issues -- call the Help Desk (Central Campus:
>2-9000; Med School 5-3200)
>
>For more general information on the role of General Accounting (GA)
>Services, see http://www.yale.edu/pjx/lib/rpd/newsletter32.html
>
>
>Questions? Contact the following individual(s) for additional information:
>Financial Planning and Management: Walter Mullen (walter.mullen@yale.edu) 
>Procurement: Frank Denig (frank.denig@yale.edu) 
>General Accounting: Julie Grant (julie.grant@yale.edu) 
>Human Resources/Payroll: Chuck Paul (charles.paul@yale.edu) 
>Facilities: Mary Varga (mary.varga@yale.edu) 
>Technical Infrastructure: Indy Crowley (indy.crowley@yale.edu) 
>Training/Communications: Maggie McDonnell (maggie.mcdonnell@yale.edu)
>Policy/Procedure development: Marilyn Gondek (marilyn.gondek@yale.edu) 
>
>For the most up-to-date information, remember to visit the Project X web
>site at http://www.yale.edu/pjx
> 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
Kate Reynolds, Training & Staff Development Officer 
Yale Unversity Library 
120 High Street, New Haven Connecticut 06520 
http://www.library.yale.edu/jobs/training.htm 

"I swear to you, on my common woman's head, 
The common woman is as common as a common loaf of bread 
...and will rise." 
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