June 18, 2024 | 176th Edition

Fund Management Office Hours (Correction)
Every Thursday 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM 

Get your questions answered and solidify your understanding during this information-packed session. Don’t miss it!

Updated Information on OFC Roles for Departments

A new article has been published in Services & Support to provide departments with better information on the Oracle Financials Cloud access automatically assigned to employees and sponsored affiliates.

• Review KB0035165: Automatically Assigned Oracle & Concur Access for New Users (No Access Request Needed).

Also, the main article for information on OFC roles and access has been recently updated to help departments identify the positions that most likely need the OFC inquiry and reporting roles.

• Review KB0032200: How to Determine the Oracle & Concur Standard Roles Departmental Preparers Need.

Camp BFS: Save the Date!

Join Business and Financial Services (BFS) and IPPS this summer for a week of 'IN-TENTS' virtual instructor-led training at Camp BFS. We have over thirty UC Learning credited classes to choose from. Be sure to RSVP for the in-person Campfire Event hosted by University Credit Union, UC San Diego's official financial institution partner. Detailed course descriptions and registration links coming soon! 

Updated Internal Controls Checklist

The internal controls checklist has been updated to reflect the feedback received from users. Please download the latest version of the checklist from Blink: Best Practices in Internal Controls.

UPCOMING Oracle Financials Scheduled Maintenance

Oracle production environment will be down for maintenance from 7:00 PM Friday 06/21/2024 through 7:00 PM Sunday 06/23/2024.

NGN Recharges for Accounting Period June 2024

For Fiscal Year-End Closing, NGN will post twice in the accounting period of June 2024; one batch post for May payroll data, and another batch post for June payroll data. 

Departments should be aware that NGN recharges for June will be posted as soon as possible after the UCPath payroll data burst on July 2nd, and before PPM subledger closing on July 12th. 

For more information on NGN recharge billing, please visit the NGN Blink Webpage at ngn.ucsd.edu. 

Single Chart String for Gift Revenue & Automatic Transfers from Foundation

The Campus Budget Office and Advancement Services have collaborated to implement a significant improvement to streamline the recording of gift revenue on the campus ledger. As a result of this change, Requests for Funds Forms are NO LONGER accepted after June 5, 2024. All balances will automatically transfer. If a chart string is not received by June 15, 2024, the balance will transfer to project 0000000 until a chart string is provided. For more information, check out the link here!

Fiscal Year-End Closing Notes from IPPS

In preparation for Fiscal Year-End Closing, review the  AP & Concur Accruals for Fiscal Close Blink page for information on how accruals will be processed for Concur Expenses.

• Review the Concur accrual data and ensure that expenses are allocated to the correct departmental chart string values. This data is preliminary until the ledger cutoff date of July 8, 2024. Check out the KBA: How to Allocate Expenses in Concur for more information.
• “Test” expense reports: Delete unnecessary expense reports or reduce dollar amounts down to $0.00 or a penny to avoid accruing non-actual expenses.
• To view Outstanding Card Transactions for your department, visit the Business Analytics Hub (BAH). To view all available reports related to Concur Requests, Expenses and Card charges, search “Concur” in the BAH.
• Additionally: Run, review and take action on the “Uncleared Concur AP Credit Memos” report via the Department Exceptions Panorama through the Business Analytics Hub.

Business Analytics Hub (BAH) Year-End Approach

To all departments, please review the Accounts Receivable (AR) Aging report located on the BAH for outstanding invoices:

NEW: Concur Request Report

We are pleased to announce that a new report showing Concur Request data is now available via the Business Analytics Hub (BAH) report. This new report displays Concur Request details, enabling the user to review multiple Concur requests at once using various prompts. The report will help answer business questions related to the status of Requests, as well as past Requests for Travel, Event, Gift Card and Human Subject Payments, and University Credit Card Requests.  For more information on this report, review the Concur Requests Blink page. 

Clear Legacy Fund Balances with a SOFI Swap

With the implementation of the Simplified Operating Funds Initiative (SOFI) in FY2016, most departments across campus now operate with SOFI as their main Core Operating Fund (13991). However, in the Oracle transition, some legacy index balances were inadvertently carried over in fund numbers such as:

• 19900-State General Fund
• 14000-Tuition
• 10950-Federal Contracts and Grants ICR
• 13050-Opportunity Fund
• 19931-Application Fees
• 19933-Federal ICR (General Fund Portion)
• 19940-Interest on General Fund Balances
• 19942-Nonresident Supplemental Tuition

The Campus Budget Office can assist with clearing these fund balances (whether positive or negative) via a SOFI swap journal. Please submit a ticket to CBO by selecting Budget & Planning > Fund Transfers/Allocations > CBO Resource Allocations and include SOFI Swap in the Subject Line. Please provide the following:

• Full Legacy Fund chart string and $ balance to be transferred
• Full SOFI-13991 chart string to send/receive the fund swap

NOTE: If there are current year expenses posting to the Project/Task linked to the legacy fund #, please process Cost Transfers prior to requesting a fund swap for the remaining balance. This may also include updating payroll, recharges and other transactions that are pointing to the legacy Project/Task so that additional expenses don’t continue to post in the future. 

Cognos and Oracle Reports

After running a Cognos report, you can filter and sort the data within the report. Click on the column you wish to filter or sort, and a control panel will appear at the top of the page:

Filtering:

• Include/Exclude <value> allows you to filter on the specific value you clicked on.
• Include/Exclude Null allows you to filter for or filter out rows that do not have a value.
• Create Custom Filter… allows you to select the specific values you want to include.

Sorting:

• Sort the selected column in Ascending or Descending order.
• Choose Edit layout sorting… to specify a sort priority for multiple columns.

End-of-Year Recommendations From IPPS: Department Actions Due before June 30, 2024

• Move Transactions from Available Expenses to applicable or new Expense Reports, complete the Report Header and Allocate the expenses to the desired chart string(s). If the trip or event does not take place until a future date, moving Card expenses to an Expense Report will ensure that the expenses are not accrued for this fiscal year and will also curb reconciliation reminders.
• To view Outstanding Card Transactions for your department, visit the Business Analytics Hub (BAH). To view all available reports related to Concur expenses and card charges, search “Concur” in the BAH.
• Submit Expense Reports and obtain all appropriate levels of approvals by the Ledger Cutoff Dates for Travel, Events and Non-Events expenses.
• Review the preliminary Concur accrual data and take any necessary actions to ensure that expenses are reconciled or allocated to the correct departmental chart string values. The Final accrual data will be run a few days after June 30th.  This data will include Assigned (i.e. assigned to expense reports) and unreconciled expenses with travel end dates and event dates prior to June 30th along with Unassigned expenses (i.e. in Available Expenses, not assigned to expense reports) with dates prior to June 30th.
• “Test” expense reports: Delete unnecessary expense reports or reduce dollar amounts down to $0.00 or a penny to avoid accruing non-actual expenses.
• Additionally: Run, review and take action on the “Uncleared Concur AP Credit Memos” report via the Department Exceptions Panorama through the Business Analytics Hub.

Financial Operations: Cash Management

Receipt formats for incoming payments have changed accordingly:

• EFT.CHECKPAYORS.TRACENUMBER.CountryCode (characters: 3.11.11.2)
• ACH.CHECKPAYORS.TRACENUMBER (characters: 3.14.11)

Summer Travel Tips and Tricks

As the summer months get underway, navigating varying aspects of travel can be challenging. Following these tips can help ease some of the frustrations for both business and leisure travel: 

• Plan and book ahead as much as possible: Airfare prices continue to increase and availability to decently priced hotel rooms continues to go down. Travelers are at risk of being priced out of reasonable rates if they wait too long to confirm trips. 
• Book the first flight of the day out to your destination: Delays compound throughout the day; if possible, book the nonstop flights (which potentially reduce CO2 emissions as well). 
• Stick with the same airline all the way to your destination: Airlines can only commit to their own schedules, and if one cancels, it is not the responsibility of the other to adjust your connecting flight. 
• Use the free TripIt Pro app: This powerful itinerary management app is free to UC San Diego users when downloaded from the Concur App Center (found on your Concur home page). The app provides live flight status data, airport maps, check-in reminders, and much more.  
• Sign up for mileage and loyalty programs: Be sure those program numbers are in your Concur profile. While UC’s contracts offer various benefits such as priority boarding, access to free preferred seats, and the potential for premium class upgrades at the airport (based on availability), loyalty programs can elevate some of these benefits, including possibly providing free checked bags, all of which may present travelers a significant cost savings. These loyalty programs could result in differing experiences between members and regular travelers, especially with car rentals where drivers may be able to skip excessively long lines at the airport counter and drive directly off the lot. 
• Carefully note airline schedule changes: Do not act on them immediately unless your flight is within a couple of days of the change (our webinar recording found in the travel portal on schedule changes dives into why you should allow yourself time to research your options from full cancellations to destination changes to airline switches). 
• Understand your rights and options: In the event of major cancellations or excessive delays, it's important to know what options are available to you.

SAP Concur for Mobile App

Keep Track of Expenses and Stay Productive Anytime from Anywhere. Travelers, approvers, and delegates visit the SAP Concur for Mobile App on Blink for detailed guidance on how to use the app to manage receipts and approve expenses!

CIPERB Launch & Sign Up

CIPERB (Customers, Invoices, Project Expenses Report & Billing) is a new tool that provides full functionality for individuals to manage customers under the Accounts Receivable module in the OFC application. Customer data created and updated via CIPERB will be updated in real-time in Oracle to improve customer experiences and increase operational efficiency. This initial release will focus on Customer Accounts only; the following versions will expand upon further applications.

Register for one of the following training sessions (please use your UC campus email for registration):

Financial Operations Office Hours

Friday, June 21 @ 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM

Join the Financial Operations team on Friday the 17th for updates from Accounts Receivable, Strategic Design, Cash & Merchant Services and Equipment Management, Open Q&A. As always we will have open forum discussions, any updates we might have to share with you, and general Q&A sessions. We look forward to seeing you there!

ECERT Effort Reporting Office Hours
Every Wednesday @ 2:30 PM - 3:30 PM
Come get your questions answered, system access setups, or helpful hints on the effort report certification process. 

Fund Management Office Hours

Every Thursday 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM 

Get your questions answered and solidify your understanding during this information-packed session. Don’t miss it!

IPPS Office Hours

IPPS holds weekly Office Hours to help with all of your questions related to Procurement, Accounts Payable, Travel and Entertainment, Procurement Card, and Tax & Account/Supplier Setup. This is our schedule:

ICA 1:1 Sessions

Sign up for 1:1 zoom session with ICA team members

• Payroll Financial Management team 1:1 sessions have moved from UCPath to ICA.  
  Register here for help with Salary Cost Transfers, Direct Retros, Payroll Reconciliations, UCPath Funding Transactions, Composite Benefit Rates (CBR), General Liability (GAEL) & Vacation Leave Assessment (VLA). 
• General Ledger Financial Management team 
  Register here for help with General Ledger, Capital/ Fixed Assets, Detail Code setup, ITFs, Internal Controls, Oracle Role questions and more.

Reporting 1:1 Sessions

Sign up for a 1:1 Zoom session to meet with a member of the BI & Financial Reporting team who can answer your specific questions about financial reporting and dashboards/panoramas in the Business Analytics Hub (BAH).

The Support Framework: Your Guide to Finding Help

Learning all there is to know about budget & finance can feel daunting.

The Support Framework is designed to help the Budget & Finance community, including faculty or staff with financial responsibilities, identify their resources based on the following questions:

• What can I do on my own?
• Where can I get help?
• Who can help escalate?
• How do I suggest enhancements?

Bookmark or download a copy for quick links to various resources available to you.

Each Tuesday, the Weekly Digest provides important updates related to
Budget & Finance, including Oracle Financials Cloud and Concur Travel & Expense.
Our goal is to deliver timely information that matters to you.

Not sure where to find answers? Get started using our Support Framework.

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