October 15, 2024 | Edition #193
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Dear Readers,
We're excited to introduce a more streamlined digest format to make important updates easier to find. Here's what’s new:
- System Fixes & Enhancements: Stay informed on updates, bug fixes, and new features.
- Financial Operations & Reporting: Key updates on financial processes and reporting improvements.
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User Experience & Resources: Enhancements and best practices for using tools and services.
- Training & Support: Access the latest training, tutorials, and support resources.
We’re committed to delivering clear, relevant updates. Feedback is always welcome!
Best,
BFS Communications Team
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Concur Notification Emails Update Live!
If you have any unassigned university card transactions, unsubmitted reports, Requests or Reports pending your approval in Concur, you should have received the first updated summary Concur Notification Email today. During this update, we decreased the frequency in which Concur Notification Emails are being sent - moving from a daily email reminder to a summary model only on the 1st and the 15th of each month. The goal of this update is to reduce the clutter in your email boxes.
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Email for Oracle Financials Cloud Notifications
Emails generated from Oracle Financials Cloud are now being sent from UCSD Oracle Financials (oraclefinancials@messaging.ucsd.edu). This change applies to workflow approval notifications and scheduled process notifications. Please review your email routing rules in case you need to modify them to account for this new email. If you have any questions or experience any issues during this transition, please submit a ticket with the Subject ‘Oracle Email Notification’.
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Internal Controls Checklist Updated
The checklist has been updated recently due to the Procure to Pay Panorama refresh announced in last week’s digest edition. Also, the Budget & Finance User Group has endorsed the addition of the Award Project Task Personnel Report as a quarterly review activity for sponsored projects. Please view and download the checklist from Blink: Best Practices for Internal Controls.
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Enhancement to the Available Fund Balance Trends Report
- The report can now be run for both ‘Closed’ and/or ‘Opened’ Accounting Periods.
- The report is set to default to 'Closed' Accounting Periods.
- Differences may appear in 'Opened' Accounting Periods that will resolve themselves when the Accounting Period closes.
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Foreign Wire Transfer Form Enhancement Coming Soon!
Integrated Procure-to-Pay Solutions (IPPS) is working on updating the Foreign Wire Transfer Request form to streamline the submission process and eliminate pain points and risk factors related to manual data entry. The new submission method is currently in the testing phase. The project team is updating Blink content and KBAs and will schedule webinars to help clients acclimate to the new process before and after launch. Stay tuned for details!
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BDP Audit Report
The BDP Audit Report provides summarized position data in the Budget Distribution Page (BDP) tool in UCPath.
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BDP Training and Office Hours
Last week the UCPath Budget Distribution Page (BDP) was launched. As a reminder, the BDP will be used to identify the faculty and staff positions to be included in a department's core recurring staffing list that will drive the compensation expense budgets in EPBCS. CBO will hold several instructor-led training sessions this month in support of the launch, although we recommend gaining access to BDP before you attend.
Starting this week, CBO will also be hosting weekly office hours on Zoom every Thursday from 11am to noon. Please bring any questions you have about BDP to this weekly meeting from October 3 through the end of the year.
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Staffing List Detail Report
The Staffing List Detail Report assists financial managers with the planning and budgeting of Core Recurring positions for both faculty and staff by comparing Budget Distribution Page (BDP) entries in UCPath against their Recurring compensation budgets from EPBCS.
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"Legacy" Concur Requests and Expense Reports
In April 2024, we transitioned to Concur 2.0 to streamline Requests and Expense Reports. As a result, "Legacy" Requests and Expense Reports are no longer supported. Email notifications and B&F Weekly Digest announcements have been sent with guidance.
If you attempt to submit a Legacy document, the system will return it. To check document type, refer to the Request or Report Header. For Legacy Requests or Expense Reports, create new documents accordingly. For more information, visit the Concur 2.0 Blink page or submit a Services & Support case. Office Hours are also available for assistance.
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Alert Regarding Concur Email Reminders!
We changed the cadence of emails to reduce the frequency and updated the messaging to provide more helpful guidance. The first set of emails went out on the 15th of the month (today!), and we were notified that some sent incorrect information regarding past due travel with future dates. We’re working with Concur on a resolution and you may disregard that notification if it references your future travel. We apologize for any confusion that this may have caused.
You should receive your next summary emails on Nov. 1!
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Enhancements have been made to the following reports based on customer requests:
Project Management Dashboard, Faculty and Researcher Dashboard, and Expanded Project Summary
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The Financial Resources Budget Category has been excluded from budget summary reports. Amounts allocated to Financial Resources represent restricted amounts not authorized for spending, and inclusion of those amounts in the budgets painted an inaccurate picture of the amount available to spend. The Restricted Amount has been added to the top section of the Expanded Project Summary.
Fixed Assets Dashboard
- All reports on the dashboard now display the equipment Tag Number.
GL-PPM Reconciliation Report
- Prompts for fund type and department reporting category have been added.
- Project Type prompt is now multi-select.
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A column for Project Manager has been added to the Expenditures pages to help departments parse out work for making corrections.
- GL-PPM Details: A hyperlink now allows you to get to the Oracle Invoice screen from the Payables Invoices page in order to further research the issue.
- Expenditures Condensed page: Click on the project total to get a full GL-PPM Details report with all variances for the project.
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Resources page: A column for Project Class Code has been added.
Project Management Dashboard
- The PI/PM/TM prompt is now multi-select.
- A column for Effective IDC Rate has been added to the Sponsored Projects table on the Summary page.
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Commitment Details button now directs to the Commitments page on Transaction Details Report.
- A new table for IDC reconciliation has been added to the Variances page.
Project Overview Report
- New prompts have been added for the Financial Unit hierarchy, Project Classification, and Department Reporting Category.
Project Nickname has been added to various reports
- Project COA Lookup
- Project Overview
- Department Operations Dashboard (raw data download).
IDC Reconciliation Report Deprecation
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The IDC Reconciliation page on the SPF Accountant Panorama previously had reports for reconciliation by accounting period and by expenditure item date month. The IDC Reconciliation by accounting period provided incorrect results for awards with escalating indirect cost rates. That report has been removed from the panorama. You may continue to use the IDC Reconciliation by Expenditure Month, or check out the IDC Reconciliation table newly added to the Variances page of Project Management Dashboard.
Special thanks to everyone who submitted enhancement requests: Anne Hewett, Chelsea Van Pelt, Hazelruth Adams, Irena Kramer, Irene Xavier, Jennie Morrow, Kathy Macmaster, Katy Schoeneweis, Lindsay Root, Lisa Russon, Michele Palmer, Nancy Herbst, and Natalie Revis.
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CIPERB: Mass Billing Events are now available!
Users now have the ability to upload mass billing events to PPM Contract Events through CIPERB. This does not replace the ability to create or edit events directly in PPM. This is ideal for departments that create a lot of events for billing on a regular basis. Users can request access to the UCSD CIPERB Manage Events JR role through the Oracle and Concur Role Requests Form.
Training can be found through KB0035287 and this Video.
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Who should have Concur Access?
Only current UC San Diego employees (including student employees) and Sponsored Affiliates can log into Concur with Single Sign-On using their Active Directory credentials. If you do not have a UCPath employee ID, you will not have access to Concur.
For newly hired employees, it may take up to two weeks to gain access to Concur.
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UC San Diego Travel: Before You Go
Thursday, October 24 @ 9:00am - 11:00am
The course will include an in-depth explanation of topics covered in the Concur Travel and Expense eCourse. This course will be especially valuable for employees who travel or book business travel and want to further their understanding of travel preauthorization and UC San Diego's instance of Concur Travel booking tool. Intended for travel arrangers, delegates, travelers, and financial managers who are familiar with Travel Policy G-28 and would like to learn about more advanced Concur Travel terminology and concepts.
Topics Covered:
- Review the process to request travel pre authorization via Concur Request
- Be able to request a new University Travel & Entertainment Card
- Learn how to book travel via Concur Travel
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UC San Diego Travel: Reporting Expenses
Thursday, October 24 @ 1:00pm - 3:00pm
Intended for: Those involved in the process of trip reconciliation for business travel at UC San Diego, including travelers, preparers (Concur Delegates) and approvers.
The course provides an overview of UC San Diego travel policy and procedure, including summarized guidelines, resources, and information about online tools.
In this course, you will learn about Concur processes for prepaying travel and claiming expenses after the business trip occurs in accordance with Travel Policy G-28.
Topics Covered:
- Arranging for prepayment of fees, such as registration
- Making deposits, such as for hotels
- Reporting expenses
- Claiming travel reimbursement
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Important: NIH Federal Financial Reports Due Sept - Oct 2024
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Federal Financial Reports due in September and October 2024 are now available in the STaRT Tool. Departments must prioritize reconciling awards that have ended. Please collaborate with your SPF Award Accountant for accuracy and compliance. Access the list here. Review the Sponsored Projects Federal Financial Reporting Timelines for submission deadlines. To manage reports, log in to the SPARCM Dept Portal, navigate to the Department Dashboard, select your department, and export the report to Excel. Use filters to prioritize pending actions.
Follow these steps to access and manage the report:
- Log in to SPARCM Dept Portal
- Navigate to the Department Dashboard.
- Select your Department and click "Select."
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Display "All" entries.
- Export the report by clicking "Excel."
- Use the following filters to prioritize actions:
- Waiting: Department
- Filter by Action: Final FER awaiting departmental approval
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Supplier Spotlight Virtual Series
Join the Central Travel Office for the popular annual “Supplier Spotlight” virtual series. These sessions have always been a great way to learn more about contracted benefits to travelers and ongoing supplier updates. Additionally, giveaways are planned (presence at session is required).
Below is the schedule so far and we will update our site with other suppliers and content as they come in:
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Share Your Feedback on Fund Manager Coach
We want to hear from you! The Fund Manager Coach team is seeking your input on our new AI-powered resource designed to support fund managers, grant managers, research administrators, and grant analysts. Take our short survey to share your thoughts on how we can improve Fund Manager Coach to better meet your needs. This survey is open to all, even if you have not used Fund Manager Coach yet.
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NEW & UPDATED VERSION OF THE DATA GLOSSARY IS NOW LIVE!
Over the past six months we've been working on cleaning up and remediating the BI & Financial Reporting Data Glossary. Its previous version was outdated and had many missing/duplicated fields. All the definitions have been cleaned up and vetted by Subject Matter Experts.
This Data Glossary contains definitions for all the fields contained in the Budget & Finance Financial Reports. There you can look up any column that you might need information about, which will help you understand the report you use better.
If you find something in a report that is not defined in the Data Glossary, please submit a ticket here.
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All Fund Management Office Hours recordings and FinOps video content has been moved to Mediaspace. Mediaspace is a UCSD-owned and managed video repository protected by single sign-on. Cloud recordings of your Zoom meetings are automatically saved there, which streamlines content management (no downloading/uploading).
We have leveraged a really great AI transcription software called Notta to generate summaries of everything that was discussed in the recording, including timestamps. Those summaries are included in the description of each video, and Mediaspace's search functionality then allows users to search for any keywords that might be found in the descriptions.
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Fund Management Office Hours
Every Thursday 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
At this week's office hours, Alison Kibble Koshi, Assistant Director of Travel and Expense, together with Kelsey Moon, Travel Program Manager, and Marielle Vizcarra, Senior Travel & Expense Analyst, will present and answer questions about the University's Travel Program, Triton Travel, as well as the mobile apps that will help with business travel.
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Financial Operations Office Hours
Friday, October 18th @ 9:00am - 10:00am
Join the Financial Operations team on Friday the 18th for updates from Accounts Receivable, Solutions, Cash & Merchant Services, and 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!
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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.
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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:
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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).
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General Ledger Financial Management team
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Register here for help with General Ledger, Capital/ Fixed Assets, Detail Code setup, ITFs, Internal Controls, Oracle Role questions and more.
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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).
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We are here to support you during Office Hours!
Finance office hours are informal sessions where personnel from Business and Financial Services and department volunteers are available to assist users who have access to our finance systems. View Full Office Hours Schedule.
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The Support Framework: Your Guide to Finding Help
Learning all there is to know about budget & finance can feel daunting.
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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:
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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.
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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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