ISSUE #2 VOLUME 1 2010
FINANCE’SPROGRESSIVEROLE INBANNER…………..…...1 FINANCECOMPETENCY CENTER………....2 TUMARKETPLACE 10.0………..2 FINANCING NEW BUILDING AT TU………...………...3 PAGERS, WHATTODOWITH THEM?...…...3
THERESPONSIBILITIESOF
EFFORT CERTIFICATION .. … ...4 THE GRANTANDFUND
RELATIONSHIP…………...4
TUMARKETPLACE
WORKFLOW...………..5 NEW FINANCE SERVICE CEN-TERONMAIN...……….6
DOINGBUSINESSIN
BANNER………..……...7 ONWARDMARCH, SUSTAINAB-LIEINITITAVES……..……...7 BANNER TALK…….. ...8 XEROXHELPDESKCONTACT : UPDATE……....………….……..8 LE’TGETACQUAINTED…...9 TRAVEL & ENTERTAINMENT,
WHEREISMYMONEY?...….9 BYTESOFINFORMATION…..10 T
FINewz
P R O V I D I N G T H E L A T E S T U P D A T E S O N F I N A N C I A L S E R V I C E S N E W S T O T H E T E M P L E U N I V E R S I T Y C O M M U N I T Y
I
n this
I
ssue
Finance’s Progressive Role in Banner
W
ith the first anniversary of Banner Finance quickly approaching, the
Controller’s Office continues to play a significant role in the overall Banner
project even as preparations for fiscal year-end are beginning. Throughout
the Fall, members of the Finance team worked to support and test the
connections with Human Resources and in the winter collaboration began
with Student Accounts Receivable, Cashiering and Advancement.
With each module, there are financial aspects to be addressed. Anywhere
that Finance and another module are going to be integrated, there are stages
of development; understanding how the systems communicate, how
changes will impact each other, and what decisions have to be made to keep
the two in synch. System set-up, daily processes, and changes to business
practices are all common among the areas that require a collaborative
effort.
By this coming fall, we should have a good understanding of how
transactions coming in from the other systems, such as gifts, deposits and
tuition payments, will effect the finance modules. But it is certain that until
the last module is live, the Controller’s Office will play a dual role,
manag-ing the University’s finances and partnermanag-ing with the other Banner teams in
T
IP
OF
THE
MONTH
“Finance Competency Center..union of two areas..Finance Office.. & Admin Computer Services .”Finance Competency Center
TUmarketplace 10.1
S
ciQuest is a third party vendor package system branded at Temple as
“TUmarketplace.” SciQuest releases system updates quarterly. The latest version 10.1
was installed on March 26th, with the next version due to be installed in late June.
The newest feature for shoppers within the 10.1 version is that FOAPAL code splits are
now allowable by dollar amount, as well as the current percentage split found within
the Accounting section of your TUmarketplace requisition.
Splitting FOAPAL codes became an option in TUmarketplace in July 2009 but was
only available as a percentage split. After many recommendations, TUmarketplace can
now split your orders by dollar amounts as another option in the Accounting codes
section of the requisition. The approval process will remain the same by routing the
requisition based on the total amount of the order to all approvers within the workflow
for each FOAPAL listed, regardless of the split amounts in the requisition.
Purchasing is very excited to have this newest feature available to TUmarketplace
shoppers and hopes this adds another convenience toward your shopping needs. Please
continue to send your suggestions and recommendations to Purchasing for features you
would like to see in TUmarketplace in the future.
W
e are pleased to announce that the newly established Finance Competency Center at
Temple University will soon be located on the 10
thfloor of Carnell Hall. This center has
been created by Timothy O’Rourke, Vice President of Computing and Financial Services,
and will be under the direction of Frank Annunziato, Associate Vice President and
Controller, along with Barbara Dolhansky, Associate Vice President of Computer
Services.
The Finance Competency Center will be a union of two areas - staff from the Finance
Of-fice, headed by Paul Amrhein, as well as staff from Administrative Computer Services,
headed by Steve Hazzard. Team members from both areas include Miguel Abreu, Roy
Burton, Sherry Borden, Larry DeZutter, Al Goon, Joe O’Boyle, Tom Smith and Joan
Bettendorf.
Competency Centers are quickly becoming a trend among companies throughout the
country. The vision of a Competency Center is to allow teams of professionals to
communicate quickly and efficiently in order to identify, analyze and resolve problems
and to collaborate on work products, as well as plan and strategize.
With this in mind, the goal of Temple University’s Finance Competency Center is to
provide a central location where team members can work together on various projects in
order to enhance business processes throughout the university. These projects will
include report writing, training, system upgrades and testing, application development and
integration, as well as provide support to the community. We will provide additional
information once renovations on the 10
thfloor of Carnell Hall have been completed.
Click on the de-partment names
below to learn about year end closing for the
Accounts Payable and
Purchasing departments.
Pagers, What to do with them?
D
on’t know what to do with that unused USA Mobility or Metro-call pager that your
department is most likely still being charged if the pager is active? Contact Tarah Morris
“Over the past few years, there has been significant construction carried out on five highly- visible major building projects.”
Get R E A D Y for the Annual Signature
Authorization Audit. You can
prepare by reviewing all persons
with current authorization using
the Signature Authorization tool in the Finance channel on the Banner tab in
the TUportal.
T
IP
OF
THE
MONTH
Temple University School of Medicine’s New BuildingFinancing New Buildings at TU
O
ver the past few years, there has been significant construction carried out
on five highly visible major building projects: The Ambler Learning Center,
Alter Hall, Tyler School of Art Building, the Medical Educational Research
Building and the Baptist Temple. The newly constructed buildings on three
of Temple’s campuses have a combined budget of $362,952,000.
Have you ever wondered how some of these projects are financed? These
projects required multiple funding sources including, the Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania, Temple University Public Bond Offerings and internal funds
and contributions.
4
Responsibilities of Effort Certification
To View the Grant Over-age report now avail-able in the Grants Man-agement folder in Cog-nos, follow the path: grantsmanagement\ budgetvariancereport\ grantoverage report
Quick Facts
D
ID
YOU
K
NOW
?
“Oral verification from the employee or Principal Investigator or others fulfilling the role of aresponsible person will not suffice as suitable means.”
Temple’s Alter Hall
Business School
W
hat is the relationship between a grant and fund, and how do they interact with one another? Let’s shed some light on this topic. A fund code identifies a set of accounts and identifies ownership of an award by an agency. The fund code is always six digits in length, and the first two numbers of the fund code represent the funding source. For example, a fund code starting with “42” represents that this funding source will be from the state (PA) or a fund code starting with a “43” represents funding that is a local/city agency. The fund code is specifically designed to provide reporting on a fiscal year. For example, if a query is run using Self Service Banner (SSB) using the fund and org, the query’s results will provide you with financial information for only the fiscal year through the time period you requested.The rules for the grant code are different and much more powerful. The grant code is a six digit number just like its child, the fund, and its first two digits will always be equal to its cor-responding fund number. More often than not, grant codes that do get established will have a one-to-one relationship with the fund number. This means that the grant code will equal the fund code. On the other hand, there are some funds (program/projects) that will have one grant code tied to many funds, and this is what we call a many-to-one relationship. Unlike the fund code, the grant code provides you with the ability to report on a grant on an inception-to-date basis, rather than a fiscal year-to-date basis. Use the grant number alone to run a query in SSB to retrieve inception to date financial information on all funds that are connected to the grant. This makes it extremely easy to financially manage large multi-year projects at once, and yet still have the ability to control each fund associated with that grant year by year.
The Grant and Fund Relationship
E
ffort report certification is an important responsibility, so when it comes to certifying an effort report, you need to be absolutely certain that you are the right person for the job. There are two types of certifier categories. The first category occurs when the responsible person has first-hand knowledge or a suitable means of verification of the work performed. This is the ideal candidate to complete certification. Typically, this is the employee or Principal Investigator. The second method can occur in the event that the named employee and/or Principal Investigator are unable to certify the pending effort report. In those cases, a proxy can be given the responsibility to complete thecertification.
If you find yourself as a proxy, make sure that you have a clear understanding of what first-hand knowledge means. First-hand knowledge is direct evidence of work performed. A proxy may have this knowledge because they actually performed the work, supervised the individual performing the work, or/and verified that the work was performed.
Suitable means of verification is what one receives as an assurance that work was performed in order to complete the certification of the effort report. This process must take into consideration other University documents and records and be able to provide such records in support of work performed. Some examples of these records might include: calendars, teaching schedules, logbooks, or payroll time records. Other means of verification, which may also be adequate, include e-mails attesting to the effort devoted based upon firsthand knowledge.
Oral verification from the employee or Principal Investigator or others fulfilling the role of a
responsible person will not suffice as a suitable means of verification. This means, that when you are given the role of certifier, you are taking ownership of the certified report and need to have
TUmarketplace Workflow
E
very day at 2:00pm, a powerful but silent engine revs up, churns a ton of
data, crunches a lot of numbers, and generates the complex network of approvals
we know as TUmarketplace workflow.
The engine begins by converting our Signature Authorization (SigAuth) matrix
(some 1,200 signers) into an extensive set of rules (currently over 5,600) that
uniquely define each approval point. These points form a roadmap that guides
requisitions through the approval steps that lead to Purchasing.
Since every requisition needs at least one approver, the engine performs a
comprehensive gap analysis by cross referencing SigAuth with the entire Banner
fund/org table to determine where any gaps exist. The engine then spans the gaps
by tugging at the SigAuth boundaries, twisting and bending until every fund is
covered by an appropriate signer. With over 1,700 gaps, it’s quite a stretch.
A rigid, one-size-fits-all workflow could not possibly accommodate the needs of
so diverse a community as ours. Each school and college has its own approach
to approval, and its own valid business reasons for doing it their way. Simply
put: they’re all different, and they’re all right!
To answer the many and varied requirements of the Temple community, the
engine supports a number of special effects, including consecutive approvals,
alternative approvals, previews, drops, hosts, joins and passes.
For example, one school requires its PIs to approve requisitions on their grants,
but also assigns an administrative person authority over all grants in that school,
so that the admin can approve when a PI is unavailable. This admin would be
characterized as a JOINer in the workflow, someone who would accompany
each PI as an alternate (OR) approver. As new grants and PIs enter the system,
the admin would automatically JOIN them in their respective approval nodes.
In a converse example, another school requires central administrative approval
for all grant requisitions, except for Dr. Smith, who prefers to approve her own.
In this case, the admin approver would have broad authority, and Dr. Smith
would have authority specific to her grants, as well as a PASS, so that, once
approved by Dr. Smith, requisitions bypass the administrator on their way to
Purchasing.
With so many variations and special cases, and changing daily with each new
fund and signer, the workflow must adapt continually to its dynamic
environment. So, every day at 2:00pm, a powerful and tireless engine does it all
again.
If you have any questions about your workflow, please contact Bonnie Tyler at
“Each school and college has its own approach to approval.” TUmarketplace rejection detail can be viewed under the comments tab of the returned requisition.
D
ID
YOU
K
NOW
?
Q
UICK
F
ACTS
!
Temple University Student Activity CenterNew Finance Service Center on Main
T
o better serve the Temple community, Accounts Payable and Computer Business
Services, Grant Accounting and Cost Analysis are now offering access to familiar
functions in one new location called the Finance Service Center. Employees can visit the
Finance Service Center to take care of the following finance and computer-related
functions:
Accounts Payable Services
Pick up checks
Drop off all travel, check requests, and invoices
Obtain assistance with Accounts-Payable-related functions
Computer Business Services Functions (under the Purchasing department):
Pick up requested site license software disks such as Microsoft Work-at-Home
Software
Obtain assistance with purchasing-related requests, computer configurations, and
software licensing inquiries
Submit requests for hardware maintenance through SOMA
Coming soon
– Try out computer equipment prior to purchase in the Computer
Showcase Center
Grant and Contract Accounting and Cost Analysis
Hours available by appointment. Please contact the appropriate staff member to
schedule an appointment.
Obtaining Service
The location, hours, and contact information for the Finance Center are provided below.
Employees are welcome to visit or call for service.
T
IP
OF
THE
MONTH
Checking the boxmarked “Budget Transfer Rights” will provide the ability to prepare budget transfer journals through Self-Service Banner. “Direct Pay Invoices are stand-alone documents, unrelated to any purchase order .”
Finance Service Center
Location:
Main Campus
1938 Liacouras Walk, Suite 303
Hours:
Monday through Friday
8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Phone:
Accounts Payable : 215-204-7372
Computer Business Services: 215-204-6700
Grant Accounting: 215-926-2062
Cost Analysis: 215-926-2059, 2060
Onward March, Sustainable Initiatives
A
t the beginning of November 2009, Alpha Office Supplies Inc., and
Staples Business Advantage successfully implemented delivering orders to
Temple University in reusable, corrugated polypropylene totes replacing the old
paper corrugated boxes which wasn’t in line with the University’s sustainable
initiatives.
Temple University is the first organization to participate in this new delivery
system that will eventually be offered to all Staples Business Advantage
customers.
Since the implementation of the reusable totes, Temple has saved approximately
4 tons of corrugated boxes from the University’s as well as environment’s waste
stream and landfills. Temple is proud to have helped influence the health and
T
IP
OF
THE
MONTH
When traveling to aforeign county, make sure you
complete the currency conversion on Oanda.com. “It is imperative to contemplate the entire access this appropriate for the individual to perform their function. ”
Doing Business in Banner
T
he Banner Finance Access Request Form is the beginning point for doing any
business in Banner Finance. It is imperative to contemplate appropriate access entirely
for relevant individuals to perform their function. As a reminder, here are a couple of
important points:
Checking the box marked “TU Marketplace Only” in section C on the form
will result in the individual being able to prepare a requisition. No access to
Self-Service Banner or COGNOS is included.
Leaving all of the boxes in section C unchecked on the form is requesting the
standard access which will include access to Self-Service Banner, COGNOS
reporting (with NO access to compensation detail) and, by default, access to
TUmarketplace.
Checking the box marked “Access to Compensation Detail” will provide the
same access as noted above, but will include compensation detail through
COGNOS. This will provide drill down capability to view individual payroll
data within the fund. This feature is either completely on or completely off,
i.e., you cannot provide compensation detail for one fund but exclude another.
Checking the box marked “Budget Transfer Rights” will provide the ability to
prepare budget transfer journals through Self-Service Banner.
The Finance Access Request Form can be found on the portal under the Staff Tools
tab in the Employee Form section within Controller’s Office.
Xerox Help Desk Contact: Update
T
IP
OF
THE
MONTH
“Purchasing provides accounts payable with the most crucial pieces of information it needs to pay an invoice.”Banner Talk
I
n an effort to assist the Temple Community with transitioning to the new lan-guage of Banner, we present “Banner Talk.” This is a section that will appear in each addition of FINewz to provide definitions and clarity to various terminology associ-ated with the new system and its individual modules:
“Direct Pay”(Check Request/Request for payment)
Direct Pay Invoices are used to pay for certain goods and/or services not ordinarily han-dled through the Purchasing Department or ordered on a Purchase Order. All requests must be fully supported with original documentation and proper signature au-thorization. Examples of direct pay categories are (if p-card is not accepted): Membership dues and fees, subscriptions, postage, etc…
“Regular Orders”
A regular order is a document sent to a vendor authorizing shipment of a product and/or service at a specified price and terms. The purchase order creates a legally binding contract which cannot be changed without the consent of both parties. This agreement encumbers budget funds for a specified FOAPAL. When invoices are received in accounts payable, the invoice is processed against the purchase order which reduces the encumbered budget funds.
“Blanket Orders”
A blanket order is a Purchase Order that is valid for a specified period of time and authorizes multiple orders during that time period. Blanket Orders are not
encumbered.
“FOAPAL”(Fund, Organization, Account, Program, Activity,
Location) - This is comparable to the FMS center number and account combination.
Temple has saved approximately 4 tons of
corrugated boxes from landfills since the
November implementation of the office supply reusable delivery tote program !
A
s noted in a previous LISTSERV notification, Xerox has taken an
additional measure to provide enriched customer service to the consumers
under Temple University’s Xerox multifunction unit (copier) agreement by
revising its service/supplies Help Desk telephone number to 888-747-7816
which allows for more expeditious and personalized responses. Temple’s
Xerox team is currently updating the labels on the units.
Meanwhile, when a Temple client calls to the current number, the Xerox
Help Desk representative will provide the new number - for future
calls - and process that caller’s request.
Let’s get Acquainted!
J
oin Grant Accounting in welcoming Anthony
Jenkins as the newest member of the Grant
Accounting team. Tony spent the last two years at
American University in Washington, DC where he
was a Senior Accountant for Grants & Contracts.
Prior to joining American University, he worked
as a Program Analyst at the National Institutes of
Health. Tony holds a bachelor’s degree in
Business Management from West Virginia University and will graduate in May
from Hood College with an MBA. Tony will be working with grants and
contracts funded from the City of Philadelphia, private foundations, and industry.
Q
UICK
F
ACTS
!
Using Grant Number in Self Service Banner Queries Self Service Banner queries
are fiscal year based (July –
June). As many grants cross fiscal years it is necessary to add the GRANT number to your query to 1) insure you have the total budget; and 2) include all expenditures from
inception to date.
D
ID
YOU
K
NOW
?
Grant Accounting’s New
Addition
ANTHONY JENKINSOF GRANT ACCOUNTING
“..our goal is turn the reimbursement around within 3-5 business days from the time we receive it in our office .”
Travel & Entertainment, Where is my Money?
O
nthe face of it, the T & E reimbursement process seems simple enough. An employee travels on company business. The employee accumulates some expenses and when she returns, she fills out an expense reimbursement report, which her manager reviews andapproves. It is then sent to Accounts Payable so the employee can be reimbursed for her expenses. While it does normally work this way, a small percentage of the time it does not and you may be wondering why. When the T & E arrives in accounts payable, our goal is turn the reimbursement around within 3-5 business days from the time we receive it in our office provided it is a “clean” reimbursement. It is our responsibility to review all “approved” T& E expense reports and investigate each one to make sure you are in compliance with our travel policy, which is located at Travel Policy.
To avoid delay in receiving your reimbursement, it is important that each travel form is com-pleted in its entirety, such as supplying your TUid number; please do not write your social security number on this form. In addition, all forms related to travel, entertainment, or business expense must be sent to the Accounts Payable department within thirty (30) days from the time you return from your business trip. Accounts Payable must verify that expenses are within reason, in accordance to the Temple travel policy, and in addition to some of the following criteria:
Travel is reimbursed for official Temple business only. Each traveler is expected to find the most cost effective and reasonable means of travel.
Entertainment is allowed only for official Temple business on a pre-approved basis. Meals are reimbursed only when traveling on official Temple business. Personal meals are not reimbursed.
Documentation – all transactions when traveling on official Temple business must be properly documented for business purposes.
Purchase Restrictions – Miscellaneous expenses of less than $300.00 each for books, supplies, and other miscellaneous items, if not specifically prohibited in the travel
Training Opportunities
Cost Analysis Brown Bag Sessions
June 8th
(Main Campus)
and June 10th
(HSC)
Grant Accounting ~ Banner Basics for Grants (Must have prior access to Banner)
May 12th 9am-12pm and 1:30pm-4:30pm
(Main-Wachman, 756)
May 18th 9am-12pm and 1:30pm-4:30pm
(HSC-MRB-112)
June 15th 9am-12pm and 1:30pm-4:30pm
(HSC-MRB-112)
June 17th 9am-12pm and 1:30pm-4:30pm
(Main-Wachman, 756)
NOTE:
All sessions are listed on the Human Resources Training website. Please
take a look to register for upcoming sessions.
TUmarketplace training or Banner Basics for Grants training can be scheduled for
individual groups of 20 or more. Contact Purchasing or Grant Accounting to request
your group training.
Please visit the Controller’s Office website at www.temple.edu/controller for access to
policies and procedures, information and the employee directory.
FINewz
May 2010 Contact Information Cost Analysis costanalysis@temple.edu Grant Accounting grntacctg@temple.edu Purchasing purchase@temple.edu Accounts Payable accountspayable@temple.edu General Accounting Finance Competency Center Financial ReportingBytes of Information
“All Soma contracts run on a fiscal year basis i.e., 7/1/10-6/30/11. ”O
perating System - Do not purchase the Windows Home Operating System unless youare planning to upgrade to the Windows 7 Enterprise Operating System available through Temple’s campus agreement. If you are planning to purchase a computer with a Windows Home Operating System, please be advised that the Home version is intended for residential use only. The Windows Home Operating System does not provide enough security, nor can Temple manage security rules, updates and patches. If there is a specific reason as to why you have selected the Windows Home Operating system, please place a note on your TUmarket-place request. Otherwise, select the Windows 7 Professional Operating System when config-uring your computer. If you have any questions, please contact Computer Business Services at 215-204-6700 for assistance.
Maintenance Contracts - If you currently have a printer or computer under a maintenance contract with SOMA, please submit your contract renewal by June 1st to ensure that you receive continuous coverage. LaserLife - If you are currently using the SOMA LaserLife cartridge program, in order to maintain LaserLife coverage for your printer, you will need to purchase at least one LaserLife cartridge per fiscal year, per printer. Click on the following link for information regarding pricing for maintenance contracts and LaserLife toner car-tridges.
All SOMA contracts run on a Fiscal Year basis (i.e., 7/1/2010 – 6/30/2011).
Windows 7, the new Microsoft Operating System, is now available to eligible faculty/staff via the Microsoft Work at Home Distribution Program. The version available to Temple
University is Windows 7 Ultimate. Each person is entitled to one (1) copy. Additional details can be found on our website.
When purchasing an Adobe or Microsoft software license, consider acquiring the
corresponding Upgrade Plan. The Plan will entitle you to any upgrades released during the Upgrade Plan Term at no additional charge.
When considering purchasing Adobe products, review the available bundles to see if it is more cost effective to purchase a bundled product vs. individual licenses. For a full listing of available Adobe bundles, refer to our website.
