September 17, 2024 | Edition 189

Weekly Digest Survey: Tell Us What You Think!

As the readers of the digest, we’d love to hear your input to help us make it more effective and engaging. This survey is designed to gather your thoughts on how well the digest keeps you informed and connected. 

Please take 5-10 minutes to answer our survey—focus on what’s most relevant to you and any improvements you’d like to see. Your feedback is essential in helping us make this digest useful for you. 

Link to survey: https://ucsd.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_5it0vzk3IJnSSou 

Thank you for your time and insights!

Triton Food Pantry: Donate and Make a Difference

Our campus has taken direct actions to increase food security for UC San Diego undergraduate and graduate students through the creation of a spectrum of food resources for students to explore! This means having the availability of nutritionally adequate and culturally reflective safe foods, ability to acquire such foods in a dignified way, and accessibility to prepare meals.

Join us in supporting the UCSD Triton Food Pantry in their mission to increase food security on campus! No donation is too small—one box, can, or bag can make a difference in helping students.

UC San Diego employees can set up recurring gifts through payroll deduction. Campus departments and community partners can support the pantry through food drives with prepackaged foods. You can also come by the pantry during open hours to drop off food items, or departments (on main campus) can check out the Triton Food blink page and email foodpantry@ucsd.edu to arrange a pickup.

Important: NIH Federal Financial Reports Due throughout September/October 2024

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Federal Financial Reports due in September 2024 and October 2024 are now available in the STaRT Tool. It is crucial to prioritize the reconciliation of these awards. Please collaborate closely with your SPF Award Accountant to ensure accuracy and compliance. You can access the list directly by clicking here.

To ensure timely submission of financial reports and compliance with federal terms and conditions, please review the Sponsored Projects Federal Financial Reporting Timelines.

Departments are strongly encouraged to prioritize reconciling awards that have ended. You can find a comprehensive list of all pending financial reports in the SPARCM Dept Portal. Follow these steps to access and manage the report:

1. Log in to SPARCM Dept Portal
2. Navigate to the Department Dashboard.
3. Select your Department and click "Select."
4. Display "All" entries.
5. Export the report by clicking "Excel."
6. Use the following filters to prioritize actions:
   • Waiting: Department
   • Filter by Action: Final FER awaiting departmental approval

Phasing Out Legacy Concur Documents

Earlier this year, significant enhancements were made to the Request and Expense Report forms in Concur (see the Concur 2.0 Blink page for more information). When the new changes launched on April 8, 2024, any Requests and Expense Reports that were using the old, legacy format were kept in flight, but it’s time to phase out these legacy documents.  

If you have any Requests or Expense Reports initiated before April 8 that use the legacy format, please submit, delete, or recreate the transaction using the new templates by September 30, 2024. Emails will be sent to anyone with legacy Requests and/or Expense Reports associated with their Concur profiles over the next couple weeks as a reminder. 

RMP Recharge App is now Recharge Plus

The RMP Recharge App has been rebranded to Recharge Plus to better represent the expanded functionality in (and to come) the application.

PADUA Mass Updates is Live!

The long awaited functionality for Mass Updates in PADUA is live today, September 17!  You are now be able to process mass updates for:

• Award Personnel
• Project Personnel
• Task Manager
• Project Classification
• Project Department Reporting Category
• General Projects Status
• General Projects Task End Dates

For more information, please see the KBA and come to the Financial Operations Office Hours on Friday, 9/20/2024.

Financial Operations: Coming Soon

A newly designed Merchant Template will be showcased during the Financial Operations Office Hours on Friday, 9/20/2024.

• This session will explain how to use the Merchant Receipt Template in Excel to clear the Oracle Credit Card Clearing Account Balance.
• We will cover how Departments and Financial Units can use this template to process credit card payments made via a credit card terminal or website, and for those who need to book revenue to a Chart of Accounts (CoA) without invoicing in Oracle.

Additional Merchant Template Trainings – Sign up Here:

• 9/25/2024: 10:00am – 11am
• 10/2/2024: 10:00am – 11am
• 10/9/2024: 10:00am – 11am

Also coming soon is the Customer Transaction Register report, set to be released on Tuesday, September 24, 2024.

• This new report will be demonstrated during the Financial Operations Office Hours on Friday, September 20, 2024.

Call to Action: 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.

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.

Oracle Financials Maintenance Scheduled

Oracle production environment will be down for maintenance from 7:00 PM Friday 09/20/2024 through 7:00 PM Sunday 09/22/2024.

Single Chart String for Gift Revenue & Automatic Transfers from Foundation (Kierstin Sykes, FINAL, will keep till the end of September)

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. All balances will automatically transfer.
  • Foundation gifts and payout will transfer to campus the month after receipt.
  • Regents gifts and payout will post in the month received.
• When a new gift fund is created you’ll need to submit a Gift Fund Chart String form or revenue will post to project 0000000 until a chart string is provided.

For more information, check out the link here!

Concur Access Reminder!

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. Please note that access to Concur can take up to two weeks for newly hired employees.

FY25 Core Funds Allocations Were Completed for the August Ledger

Core resource allocations from the Campus Budget Office were posted. Allocations were distributed based on the budget plans developed in EPBCS and any approved increments via the budget process.

• An important reminder that the process of backing out compensation inflation has been discontinued, effective FY25. All inflation has been allocated with the exception of compensation actions which fall outside of the base allocation.
• There are a total of 4 journals from CBO this year for the base and increments. Please refer to the table for details on each journal.

Please take note of the different account codes to isolate the core recurring base budget allocation for compensation and non-compensation in addition to the journal name below.

*Non-FTE

• 774960:Recurring Non Compensation Xfr
• 774950: CBO One-Time Allocation
• 774953: Other One-Time Internal Xfr

• 774961: Recurring Staff Salaries Xfr
• 774962: Recurring Staff Benefits Xfr
• 774963: Recurring Faculty Salaries Xfr
• 774955: CBO One-Time Compensation Support
• 774960: Recurring Non Compensation Xfr ($5k Non-Comp Support)
• 774950: CBO One-Time Allocation ($5k Non-Comp Support)

**Filled FTE Breakdown

***(Journal #4) Compensation Actions Which Fall Outside of the Base Allocations (Variable timing):

• Academic Merit
• Off Cycle Bargaining Unit Settlements (when applicable)
• Reclass of job codes from non represented to represented
• FM
• Pooled positions (Lecturers, Academic Students and Researchers)
• Other off cycle eligible actions (per Chancellor office requests, true up and adjustments)

As a reminder, to move allocations after the initial transfer, please coordinate with your VC office or fiscal contact.

1 Week Until the Launch of BDP! 

The Campus Budget Office is excited to announce the launch of the UCPath Budget Distribution Page (BDP) on Wednesday, September 25th. Moving forward, 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. Access will require the completion of these two short training modules on the UC Learning Center:

1. UCPath CORE: Overview 
2. NEW! UCPath CORE: Budget Distribution Page

The Campus Budget Office will also be holding several instructor-led training sessions at the end of September and into October. We recommend that you complete the online training and request access to BDP before the live sessions so you can get the most out of your attendance. If you are responsible for providing guidance on position funding entries or have oversight of compensation budgets in EPBCS for your department, please plan to attend.

Coming Soon: EPBCS SmartView Community of Practice Session

Mark your calendars for Monday, October 7th at 10 am! The Campus Budget Office will be hosting a Community of Practice session featuring a walk-through of the Budget Version snapshots taken to close out the FY25 Budget Process. 

Useful links: 

1. EPBCS Smart View Community of Practice Teams Channel
2. Zoom link for October 7th at 10 am

Approving while on-the-go from the SAP Concur for Mobile App (Marielle Vizcarra, FINAL, only for 9/17 WD)

Have you ever received an urgent request to review and approve an expense report that is in your Approvals queue, but you are not in front of your computer? That is no longer an issue! You can now approve expense reports from anywhere. All you need is your phone and to download the SAP Concur for Mobile App! For guidance on how to review expense reports from the app, please review this YouTube video. For more in-depth information on the app and how to download it refer to this Blink page.  

Financial Operations Office Hours 

Friday, September 20th @ 9:00am - 10:00am

Join the Financial Operations team on Friday the 20th for updates from Accounts Receivable, Strategic Design, 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!

Concur: Event Expenses & Other Reimbursements

On Thursday, September 19, 2024 from 9:00 AM to 10:30 AM, we will host a course that includes an in-depth explanation of Concur processes related to meetings, entertainment, and business expense reimbursements. This course will be especially valuable for employees who host meetings and events and want to further their understanding of the expense reconciliation process via Concur.

• Also, those who previously utilized MyPayments for requesting employee reimbursements for business expenses may attend this course. This course is intended for preparers, meeting/event hosts, financial managers, and entertainment approvers who are familiar with Entertainment Policy BUS-79 and would like to learn about more advanced meetings and entertainment terminology and concepts. 

Topics Covered: 

• Learn how to submit event payment requests and employee reimbursements via Concur 
• Review the process to submit event vendor payments 
• Be able to view and reconcile Travel & Entertainment card transactions 

You can access the link to the course here!

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:

• September 18: Hertz
• October 23: Marriott Hotels
• November 6: Enterprise/National Car Rentals
• November 20: Lufthansa Airlines
• December 4: CQ (Club Quarters)
• December 11: Uber

We look forward to welcoming you at these sessions!

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 

• September 12: In this week's office hours, Steven Savini, Darcy Frailey, and Brian Lattimore from OSI will provide a high-level overview of Fund Manager Coach 2.0 that will query data from the Financial Activity Hubs. We'll also introduce Brian's research on AI in organizations and invite volunteers to participate in interviews to inform his study.
  • In addition, we will demo new enhancements released this week in the Procure To Pay Action Items report.
• September 19: In next week's office hours, we will hear from members of Business and Financial Services on what fund managers need to know about the monthly ledger close process and how to read the Ledger Cutoff/Close Dates calendar.
  • When is the best time to run monthly balance reports? What does "closed for campus" vs "final closed" mean? How does the "Last Closed Accounting Period" button on some reports work? Get answers to these questions and more during next week's fund management office hours!

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:

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. 

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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