HR Web and PeopleSoft Financials 9.0
With the introduction of a new enterprise-wide financial accounting system, PeopleSoft Financials, to Emory University and Healthcare, there are ripple-effect changes felt by Emory’s existing enter-prise-wide systems. The changes range from updates to behind-the-scenes transactions, to slight business process modifications, all the way to obvious daily transaction-level differences. One of the applications experiencing the ripple-effect is HR Web.
Credit for some of the impacts on HR Web is partly due to the fact that HR Web is also a PeopleSoft application—folded into Emory’s overall PeopleSoft HCM (Human Capital Management) system since 1999. However, the majority of the changes experienced by HR Web users can be attributed to the simple fact that every area in University and Healthcare has some level of fiscal accountability, and is therefore impacted by Project Compass.
Implemented in September 2009, PeopleSoft Financials 9.0 replaced University and Healthcare’s separate accounting systems (FAS and CODA). The PeopleSoft Financials system standardizes and automates the financial management process for Emory. Just like HR Web, PeopleSoft Financials is a web-based application (no installation of software needed on your local computer).
What This Document Provides
To assist with Emory’s transition to PeopleSoft Financials, this document includes overview of the following:
PeopleSoft Financials Basics
Emory’s new common classification language: Chart of Accounts HR Web page changes
HRAF changes
HR Web Changes Resulting from Project Compass
Access to PeopleSoft Financials is granted to Emory employees depending on job role and responsibilities. A list of the PeopleSoft Financials modules used at Emory, along with a high level description of how each module is used, is provided below.
General Ledger
The General Ledger (GL) serves as the core of the Financial Management System. PeopleSoft delivers multiple ways to enter journal entries into the GL, including journal generator, direct entry, standard journals (journals that can be used on a repetitive basis), flat-file import, and spreadsheet upload. The majority of journal entries are created by journal generator, which transforms sub-module transactions (AP, AR, etc.) into journal entries.
Accounts Payable (University) and Purchasing
The Accounts Payable (AP) application is used to enter vouchers (online or batch), make payments to vendors and to reimburse employees for work-related travel or other expenses.
Travel and Expense
Travel and Expense provides employees with online access to enter and approve expense reports and travel authorizations.
Accounts Receivable and Billing
Accounts Receivable (AR) and Billing (BI) are used by most Emory University and Healthcare departments to key all non-Grant and non-patient billing information directly into PeopleSoft. Some Billing teams may perform miscellaneous external billings (outside of PeopleSoft) on behalf of their departments, divisions, or sections.
Asset Management
All University and Healthcare owned capital assets are recorded in PeopleSoft through the Asset Management (AM) module and its connections with the other PeopleSoft financials modules. Assets are automatically fed from the AP module directly into the AM system, and are posted to the General Ledger.
Project Costing
The Project Costing functionality is used to create a new project and provide project life-to-date reporting.
Commitment Control
Commitment Control enables the controlling or tracking of expenditures/revenues actively against predefined, authorized budgets.
Grants
The Grants module enables the controlling and tracking of funds related to sponsored research, pre-award activity (excluding grants.gov submissions), and post-award grant activity.
The Basics of PeopleSoft Financials—The GL Chart of Accounts
New Emory Business Units
PeopleSoft Financials leverages “Business Unit” values for more specific organizational and accounting breakdowns than allowed in FAS and CODA. To take advantage of this feature, multiple Business Unit values now reflect the entire University and Healthcare organization. All active employees are assigned to a Business Unit based on their company and pay group.
An example of where you might notice this change is on an employee’s Job Data page. Instead of the Job Data page displaying “EMORY” as every employee’s Business Unit, specific Business Units such as EMUNV (Emory University) and HCTEC (HealthCare – The Emory Clinic) display.
New Chart of Accounts
Regardless of which accounting system is used by a company, a list of all account names and numbers used by that company is referred to as the “Chart of Accounts”.
Emory’s new Chart of Accounts (COA) not only includes all account names and numbers used by University and Healthcare, but also includes additional classification categories referred to as “Chartfields”. Each time a financial transaction occurs in PeopleSoft (including Payroll transactions), a combination of ChartField values tracks the transaction. To manage which Business Units are allowed to use specific ChartField values, each Chart-Field value is assigned to a SetID. The SetID identifies whether the value can be used only by a specific Business Unit, or can be shared across multiple Business Units.
ChartField Names and Descriptions
Things to Remember
ChartFields can only be updated in PS Financials. However, updates are shared nightly with HR Web. The SmartKey ChartField is included in the COA to make entering and processing financial transactions easier. A SmartKey is the custom version of a Combo Code that also contains additional ChartFields needed by the PS Financials system. The Combo Codes used in HR Web are simply effective-dated ChartField combinations.
Account: Classifies assets, liabilities, fund equities, revenues, and expenses.
SmartKey: SmartKeys are a valid sequence of combined ChartField values that reduce the amount of data
entry required when transacting in PeopleSoft.
Department: Department represents the detailed breakdown of University or Healthcare organization
structures. University and Clinic numbers have changed; however, most Hospital departments have re-mained the same.
Operating Unit: Represents a rollup of clinic and hospital organization structures that require a balanced
financial statement and have to track the “due from” transfers in the Operating Unit Affiliate.
Program: Defines a set of ongoing general activities that do not have strict start and end dates. Fund: Used for balancing journals and tracking the “due from” in the Fund Affiliate. Can also be used to
Experienced HR Web users will notice changes in the fields presented on many of the screens associated with general updates, special updates and viewing activities.
HR Web’s page changes stem from Emory’s new Chart of Accounts (see page 3). Specifically, field values that have changed include:
Account Business Unit Department SetID
SmartKeyNEW!
For illustrative purposes only, the field changes are organized into two types: Search Page Changes (See Example A)
New Fields and Existing Field Value Changes (See Example B)
Search Page Changes
The following HR Web search pages include the ability to search by Department.
HR Web Page Changes
Page Name What’s New
Location Change Department values Reporting Change Department values Retire Employee Department values Terminate Employee Department values
Reports Department values
Example A—HR Web Search Page Things to Remember
The SmartKey ChartField is included in the COA to make entering and processing financial transactions easier. ChartFields can only be updated in PS Finan-cials. However, updates are instantaneously shared with HR Web.
HR Web Page Changes
(continued from previous page)New Fields and Existing Field Value Changes
The following HR Web pages include fields with values that have changed, or have been replaced, or are new, as a result of being tied to the PeopleSoft Financials system:
Page Name What’s New
Faculty Data Department field values (view only) Pay Rate Change Department field values (view only) Leave of Absence (LOA) Business Unit field values (view only)
Department field values (view only)
Employee Pay Location Department field values (in the Primary Dept ID field)
Job Summary A message/flag indicates whether an employee’s Department is set to a default, or set to an Account distribution at the employee level (view only)
SmartKey (view only)
Grant-specific fields (view only) Additional Pay Department field values (view only)
Business Unit field values (view only)
Physician Activity SmartKey replaces CODA segments and FAS Account Codes Account ChartField replaces FAS Nominal
Department ChartField replaces FAS Sub-Account Earnings Distribution (See page 6 for Earnings Distribution details)
Alexis Gunther
Earnings Distribution
The “Earnings Distribution” page (Emory HRWeb > Special Update > Earnings Distribution) has been redesigned to accommodate behind-the-scenes process changes related to PeopleSoft Financials Commitment Accounting, and follows changes to the HRAF.
Field values are generated from the new Chart of Accounts
Grant-specific fields conditionally display depending on the ChartField string Changes to the Current Distribution
A radio button indicates whether this is a department default. If it is not a default, then it is an Appointment. SmartKey displays Grant funding
end date displays (only if distribu-tion is to a grant)
Changes to the New Distribution ‘FAS?’ checkbox has been removed
Grant funding end date field and sequence number displays (when applicable) Employee, Record, and Department fields are set automatically
Includes SmartKey field and Department Smartkey default radio button.
HR Web Page Changes
(continued from previous page)Carson Johnson
The Earnings Distribution Page Redesigned
Things to Remember
Changing the Department SmartKey Default radio button from “No” to “Yes” displays the following warning message: "Selecting this button will clear all distribution lines below. Do you want to proceed?" “Yes” removes all appointment SmartKeys and populates the row with department-level
default data.
“No” retains the original data and distribution information.
Changing the Department SmartKey Default radio button from “Yes” to “No” removes the default SmartKey and allows you to enter data in the Effective Date, SmartKey, and Percent fields.
The HRAF (Human Resources Action Form) has been updated to align form field entries with the new department budget data needed by the PeopleSoft Financials Commitment Accounting processes.
The HRAF is divided into five sections. The sections and their respective changes are highlighted below and on the following page.
HRAF Changes
Things to Remember
All Emory University Employees belong to the same Business Unit “EMUNV”.
HRAF Section What’s New
Personal Information The following fields have been removed:
Disabled Vet, Disabled, Employee Signature, Date Job Information The Holiday field has been removed.
Job Earnings Distribution The following fields have been removed: Earnings Code, Acct #
The following fields have been added:
Default to SmartKey?, Enter SmartKey Distribution(s) Employment Information The BAS Group field has two new options:
PHY, VAM
The following field has been added: Financial Attestation Signer
The following fields have been removed: Expected Return Date LOA, Campus Phone
Mail The following field has been added:
HR Rep Level (1, 2, 3)
The following fields have been renamed: “Primary Department #” to “Department #”
