Hua Ramer Welcomed Everyone to the Meeting. Hua Introduced the Agenda for the Meeting

Hua Ramer welcomed everyone to the meeting. Hua introduced the agenda for the meeting.

SFS System Update

Al Benzschawel gave an update on SFS developments at UW-System.

• System is continuing to work on the payroll interface. Implementation of the payroll interface probably won’t take place until after the end of this calendar year. Al stated that UW-Madison needs to make sure that we have posting procedures in place to bring necessary information back over to the legacy system so as to support those transactions that are still remaining on the mainframe.
• Madison will be doing some more testing on System’s new salary encumbrance process, once it is made available. Al reported that there is already a focus group in place that will do the actual testing.
• Al also noted that there is a UW-System Data Access committee that has ongoing meetings, and that Ruth Fruehling and Mike Hardiman are representing Madison in that group.

SFS Madison Campus Updates

SFS Year-end Closing Update

• Al Benzschawel explained that the reason Jim Hellenbrand was not in attendance at the FMM meeting was because he was back in his office at the Peterson Building, working on the SFS year-end close. Jim, and other Accounting Services staff, has been working very hard to make sure that the closing can occur as soon as possible. Al acknowledged that Accounting Services realizes that they need to make the SFS fiscal year closing happen more quickly in future years.
• Al reported that carry-over reqs are posted to the SFS, although there may still be some 161 data that needs to be posted and/or corrected.
• Project grant budgets have been posted to the SFS.
• Al reported that Jim is working on 998 entries, which are closing entries that are entered into the SFS. Al noted that there are some 50,000 of these entries. Al stated that these entries are very close to being ready to load. The entries still need to be reviewed by UW-System to ensure that they keep their numbers in synch with the figures being reported to the Department of Administration.
• Ruth Fruehling added that there are a few additional adjustments, but that these would not hold up the SFS closing. Ruth explained that these adjustments would affect a few project/grants in the Medical School, and the 142 funds for CALS. Ruth stated that Accounting Services would be contacting the DBRs of affected divisions once they have a handle on what needs to be adjusted.

Subscription Reports Update

• Gareth Green reported that the DoIT development staff is almost done with preparing to produce the WISDM subscription summary reports. Gareth explained that he has been working closely with the DoIT developers to troubleshoot those subscription requests that contain faulty criteria. Gareth reported that the majority of problems stem from either the requestor failing to use the full seven-digit SFS project/grant number, or the requestor putting an ‘A’ in front of the organization code. Gareth has been contacting those people who have used problematic criteria in their requests, so that they can correct their criteria.
• Ruth Fruehling explained that the DoIT staff didn’t build a lot of edits into the subscription mechanism, due to resource constraints, which is why the system didn’t automatically prevent incorrect criteria from being entered.

WISDM Enhancement Update

• Ruth Fruehling reported that the DoIT development staff is very close to completing all the items on the critical WISDM enhancement list.
• Ruth stated that she expects the invoice number to begin to be populated later this week for current transactions. DoIT will then look at going back and populating the invoice number for historic transactions.
• Ruth reported that WISDM is now calculating total amounts for fringe benefit and tuition remission encumbrances on the fly. Ruth explained that the detail would soon be calculated on the fly as well, allowing you to drill into the detail from the total amount. Ruth noted that ultimately this data will be actually posted, but that for now WISDM will still calculate these encumbrances. Ruth pointed out that the rates used to calculate the encumbrances are the same as those in legacy.
• Ruth stated that the next phase would be to resurrect the non-critical WISDM enhancement list. Ruth said she would be revisiting this list shortly. Ruth pointed out that a copy of the non-critical enhancement list is available on the SFS project web site, on the ‘Breaking News’ page (http://www.bussvc.wisc.edu/acct/sfs/news.html), under the ‘WISDM news’ section. Ruth encouraged people to review the list, and to send any comments to her or the SFS team.

Data Views Update

• Ruth Fruehling announced that the SFS detail and summary accounting views are already available. Ruth noted that she had already authorized all of those people for whom she had received forms before she went on vacation. Ruth asked that if you are interested in being authorized for the views, but haven’t sent her back your authorization form, to please do so.
• Ruth reported that there are a couple of changes coming to the views in production. The Major Lines will be put into the data views, as will be the GL Journal ID code. Ruth explained that the GL Journal ID could be useful in identifying certain kinds of transactions. Ruth felt that as people get more oriented towards using WISDM and the SFS, this code might be used more frequently.
• Ruth reported that the ESIS_AWARD data view is still being worked on, with an estimated production date of sometime in October.
• Ruth stated that she would be looking at the FMR reports over the next months. Ruth said there are currently about 40 people on campus who get approximately 150 of these reports. Ruth stated that she would be working one on one with these people to determine how they can best replace these reports.

WISDM Expert Certification Update

• Gareth Green reported that he has been receiving a steady stream of completed exams. Gareth stated that he will wait until after the September 13th deadline, and then begin grading exams and sending out certificates. Gareth noted that he will be contacting anyone who does not pass the certification exam in order to work with them on the areas of WISDM that they are still having trouble with. Gareth reaffirmed the intention of the SFS team to eventually certify all people who take the exam.
• Gareth also announced that the SFS team would be looking to establish some kind of ‘brown-bag lunch’ series for the Divisional WISDM experts. Gareth explained that the team saw these meetings as providing an opportunity for WISDM users within the various Divisions to ask questions of the SFS team and to network with their counterparts in other parts of campus regarding WISDM and the SFS. Gareth stated that the SFS team also felt that this would be another avenue for getting information regarding WISDM and the SFS out to users on campus. Gareth promised that more information would be forthcoming once the SFS team had a chance to nail down some of the logistics of this program.

Technology Support Committee Update and Presentation

• Cathy Holmes introduced a new WISDM add-on tool that had been developed by the Technical Support Committee of the SFS SPC. This new tool, named ‘TAFY’ by its developers, allows searches across multiple fiscal years. Cathy stressed that this tool is intended to supplement WISDM, not to replace it. Cathy also noted that TAFY is running off of SFS data, which makes it the first tool that the Tech Support group has developed that is completely SFS-based. Cathy pointed out that this means that TAFY uses SFS codes and terminology exclusively.
• Cathy noted that Ruth Fruehling has agreed to be the contact person on TAFY, and that questions and comments should be directed to her.
• Cathy walked through some of the features of the new tool:
• TAFY does have mouse-overs (that work only on PCs) on the ‘Account Number’ and on the ‘Transaction Date’ (showing the transaction description).
• TAFY does show totals, in addition to the transaction detail.
• Negative numbers for sales credits in the revenue column are displayed in green to help prevent confusion. Clicking on the ‘explanation’ link will give the user more information about the sales credit issue.
• There is a ‘view in Excel’ option from the TAFY screens. Cathy noted that there are actually more data fields in the Excel spreadsheets than could fit in the main screen display, and that people should be aware of this when using the tool. Cathy pointed out that there is a ‘See results in Excel only’ box, which, if checked, allows you to bypass the main screens and to display directly in Excel.
• Cathy asked that if there are columns of data that do not currently display on the main TAFY screens that you feel should, please give the SFS team the benefit of your feedback.
• Cathy announced that TAFY will be added as a link off of the RSP web page, and that it should be available on Monday the 16th.
• Cathy reported that the Tech committee has been working with another subcommittee of the SFS SPC, the Reconciliation committee. The result of this collaboration has been the development of a new tool to be used specifically for reconciliation. Cathy explained that this tool looks for unusual dollar amounts and unusual codes. The Tech group has presented this tool to the Reconciliation committee, and Maggie Roth will be bringing the reconciliation tool back to the SPC for their approval. Cathy stated that they would be looking to roll this tool out sometime in the next 4-6 weeks.
• Cathy stated that the Tech committee would also look to convert the already existent add-on tools to work off the SFS data views.

Q&A

Al Benzschawel asked if everyone knew when the last Accounting Control Ledger Statements would be going out. From the response by the attendees, it was clear that everyone understood that September’s ACLS would be the last to be distributed.

Next SFS FMM Meeting – November 12th

Fmmin 09/10/021