Ohio University Procurement Services

Request for Proposal #: OU_022916 LLN

Name: Implementation of Oracle R12 Grants Accounting

Due: 2:00PM EST, Tuesday, March 15, 2016

Laura L. Nowicki

Ohio University Procurement Services

One Ohio University

West Union Street Office Center, Room 205

Athens, OH 45701

Phone: 740-597-3261

E-mail:

Date of issue: 02/29/15

Section 1General Information

1.1Proposal Description

Ohio University of Athens, OHIO (hereafter called The University) invites proposals for the implementation of Oracle Grants Accounting. It is expected the business processes will be redesigned in order to take full advantage of the system functionality offered by the module. The University will receive proposals electronically via the protocol described in Section 6.7.

1.2Alternates and Variations from Requirements

Wherever items or services have been specifically described, such identification is descriptive and not restrictive. It indicates the quality and characteristics that are satisfactory. If the respondent has an equal, alternative proposal, that alternative must be clearly and completely described. The University will consider alternates that meet or exceed the quality and characteristics specified. The University is not bound to accept any proposals that are not in its best interest. The determination as to acceptability of the alternate offered is the responsibility of the University, and will be based on information furnished by the respondent, as well as information reasonably available to the University. Unless the bidder clearly indicates that an alternative is being offered, it will be assumed that the proposal meets the requirements exactly as specified in this document. CAUTION TO RESPONDENTS: It is not the responsibility of the University to secure any information not identified in the respondent’s response. Information furnished may include specific references to catalogs, brochures, or other material previously furnished. Otherwise, such information must accompany the proposal.

1.3Method of Award

Awards for goods and services will be made to the respondent(s) providing the lowest responsive and responsible proposal. The University reserves the right to reject any or all proposals and is not bound to accept the lowest-cost proposal if that proposal is not in the best interests of the University. In making an award, factors such as the firm’s service capability, integrity, facilities, equipment, reputation and past performance will be weighed.

1.4Compliance with Federal, State and Local Laws

Any supplier warrants, in submitting a proposal and in the performance of any resulting award, that they have complied with or will comply with all applicable federal, state, University and local laws, ordinances and all lawful orders, rules and regulations there under. The supplier agrees: 1) Not to discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment because of race, color, creed, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, sex, age, handicap or Vietnam era veteran status, 2) That every sub-contract for any ensuing order will contain a provision requiring non-discrimination in employment as specified above, and 3) That it is not now, and will not become subject to an unresolved find for recovery under ORC 9.24, prior to the award of any contract or agreement arising out of this RFP, without notifying the University of such finding This covenant is required pursuant to Executive Order 11246, Laws and Regulations of the State of Ohio. Any breach thereof may be regarded as material breach of contract or purchase order and cause for cancellation.

Section 2Institutional Background

2.1General

Ohio University was chartered by the state of Ohio in 1804. It is a state-assisted university, with a total enrollment exceeding 32,000 students. The main campus, in Athens, Ohio, has an enrollment of approximately 22,000 students. The remaining 10,000 students are served by five regional campuses in Ironton, St. Clairsville, Lancaster, Zanesville, and Chillicothe as well as College of Osteopathic Medicine sites. The University employs an estimated 4,500 full and part-time faculty and staff.

2.2Specific History and Current Information

Operational Information

Ohio University (The University) completes financial reports in accordance with Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB). An annual financial audit is performed each year and includes an A-133 audit.

Ohio University Foundation (The Foundation) completes required financial reporting under the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB). The Foundation has an annual financial audit each fiscal year. As with most non-profits, the gifts and donations received by the Foundation are generally restricted as to spending purpose.

Dependencies

The organization plans to run the implementation of Grants Accounting concurrent or nearly concurrent with a chart of accounts (COA) redesign project; the COA project timeline is included in Attachment A. The implementation of Grants Accounting will be expected to take into consideration the new COA.

2.2.1HR and Finance System Background

Ohio University implemented Oracle HRMS and Payroll in 2001. In 2003, Oracle E-Business Suite was implemented with a new Chart of Accounts (COA) and included the following modules:

  • General Ledger
  • Project Accounting
  • Fixed Assets
  • Purchasing
  • Accounts Payable
  • Accounts Receivable

Multiple Legal Entities are setup in Oracle E-Business and only one Operating Unit exists for processing transactions for both Ohio University and Ohio University Foundation. It was decided that transactions could be processed under a single Operating Unit at the time of the Release 12 upgrade. As a result, Multi-Org Access Control (MOAC) is turned on in order to see the past activity against the inactivated Operating Unit for the Ohio University Foundation.

Multi-currencies are not currently used in Oracle. Both the University and the Foundation use a single currency, the US Dollar.

In 2006, Employee Self Service functionality was implemented for:

  • Payslips
  • Personal Information (i.e. Name, Home Address, Phone Numbers, Campus Address)
  • Federal and State Tax Forms (state tax forms are simply a link to the paper forms)
  • Employment, Salary and Absence History
  • W-2 Wage and Tax Statements (including School District Tax)
  • Faculty/Staff Directory

In 2014, Oracle E-Business Suite was upgraded to 12.1.3. The Cash Management module was implemented as part of the upgrade process as was Oracle Subledger Accounting (required in R12). Only very limited new functionality was introduced as part of the upgrade and included two new functions in Employee Self Service:

  • Manage Payments
  • Disability and Veteran Status Tracking

Ohio University has, as part of the system roadmap, a plan to implement the following functionality in each year indicated:

  • Employee Absence Tracking - 2015
  • Manager Self Service - 2015
  • Oracle Advanced Benefits – 2015
  • Grants Management (Post Awards)/Scope and Decide on an Effort Reporting Solution (the University would consider using Oracle Labor Distribution for Effort Reporting) – 2016
  • Compensation Management – 2017
  • Planning & Budgeting – 2016-17
  • Development and Learning Management 2016-17
  • Performance Management 2016-17
  • Recruitment – 2016-17
  • On-Boarding 2016-17
  • Expense Reimbursement - 2017+
  • e-Procurement Solution – 2017+
  • Supplier Management– 2017+
  • Services and Contracts Management - 2017+
  • Sourcing Solution– 2017+

2.2.2Current Usage of Modules

A description of how the modules are being used is presented below.

General Ledger (GL) – The GL collects detailed balances for COA segments. Minimum rollups and parent-child relationships exist in the current configuration.

No validation rules have been established in our current production environment, but this functionality is incorporated into the COA redesign project.

A single financial HR Organization (Org) Hierarchy is used currently for operating accounts and a second HR Org Hierarchy was created during the R12 upgrade in order to get the burdening to function in the Project Accounting module. This was the recommended solution from Oracle Support to deal with the particular issues experienced during the upgrade.

Defined flex fields (DFFs) are used extensively for reporting. The COA redesign will utilize the parent-child hierarchy and eliminate the need for many of the reporting DFFs.

Subledger Accounting (SLA) – No accounting derivation rules have been setup. Transaction level detail in SLA is the same as what is reported in the GL. There may be a desire, with the implementation of Grants Accounting to setup accounting derivation rules to translate grant activity at a higher level in the GL. This option will need to be explored during the planning and decision making phase of the implementation project.

Projects – This module is currently being used to track activity related to both sponsored (grants) and capital projects. The setup of this module is heavily weighted towards grants. Defined flex fields (DFFs) are extensively used within Projects to facilitate the management and reporting of grants. Projects is currently used to generate revenue and billings. Auto-accounting is configured in the current setup of Projects for Costs, Revenue and Receivables. The consultant will need to assist the University in reviewing these processes and making sure that best practices are implemented that meet business needs and take advantage of the functionality provided by the Grants Accounting module.

Accounts Payable (AP) – Basic functionality is used; however, there are extensive interfaces with the University e-procurement system, SciQuest, and the University travel expense reporting and purchasing card system, Concur (details about SciQuest and Concur are included in the Third Party Applications section). Future functionality includes Purchasing Card functionality for single use credit cards. As part of the COA redesign project, these interfaces are being updated to accommodate both the new GL account structure and the Grants account string.

Purchasing – Basic functionality is used. Oracle Purchasing is exclusively used for the capital projects process. There are extensiveinterfaces with the University e-procurement system, SciQuest. As part of the COA redesign project, these interfaces are being updated to accommodate both the new GL account structure and the Grants account string.

Fixed Assets – Currently use only basic functionality. Capitalization of fixed assets is currently a manual process with the intent to move this to a more automated process with the use of the module functionality.

Accounts Receivable – Basic accounts receivable functionality is used. The University does bill grant sponsors through the Accounts Receivable module.

Cash Management – This was a new module for the University with the Oracle R12 upgrade. Currently, the reconciliation process with cash accounts occurs in the module. The processing of AR invoice payments and the corresponding cash deposit process will need to be reviewed for potential changes to CEMLI related objects or process redesign needs.

Third Party Applications

The following third party and custom applications are considered critical to business processes across the University. These systems willbe impacted by the implementation of the Grants Accounting module.

  • Concur – Used for travel arrangements, travel advance tracking, business and travel expense reporting, University purchasing card transaction processing. Transactions are posted through a custom interface to the invoices table in Oracle Payables and then standard Oracle functionality is utilized to interface the accounting transactions to GL and projects/grants. As part of the COA redesign, the Concur module and the invoice interface are being updated to accommodate both the new GL account structure and the Grants account string.
  • SciQuest – The University e-procurement system. Interfaces with GL and Projects for funds checking, AP for invoices, Purchasing for purchase orders. As part of the COA redesign, the Concur module and the invoice interface are being updated to accommodate both the new GL account structure and the Grants account string.
  • CashNet– This serves as the primary receipting system for the institution. Interfaces with Oracle Receivables through the custom Miscellaneous Receipts process. All receipts come through this system, so impact on Grants Accounting would need to be determined.
  • PeopleSoft – Used as the primary system for student registration and enrollment management, as well as, student accounts receivable. Interfaces with CashNet, GL and Projects. Scholarship and other financial aid transactionactivity from this system is preprocessedthrougha custom transaction interface prior to utilizing standard Oracle Transaction Import functionality in GL and Projects. Financial aid activity is posted to Projects asmiscellaneous transactions. As part of the COA redesign project, the OU transaction interface is being updated to accommodate both the new GL account structure and the Grants account string and interface table.
  • WorkForce – Used for entry of employee timecard information, both hours worked and costing information. WorkForce data interfaces to Oracle HRMS prior to the processing of the biweekly pay. As part of the COA redesign project, the WorkForce software is being updated to accommodate both the new GL account structure and the Grants account string.

Custom Applications Used in Addition to Oracle E-Business Suite (EBS) Impacted:

  • Payroll Expense Distribution System (PEDS) – This custom web application is used to post detail costing data from payroll run results and send transactions to the GL and Projects modules. The system also is used to make costing changes and generate revised transactions to GL and Projects. As part of the COA redesign project, PEDS is being updated to accommodate both the new GL account structure and the Grants account string.

Data from PEDS is utilized as the basis of the university’s effort reporting process. Depending on the scoping for an effort reporting system there could be changes needed to this application. This would need to be considered as part of the project.

Effort reporting for grants is currently a manual process but there is a desire to review options related to automating effort reporting and certification. The University would consider using Oracle Labor Distribution as a solution for the replacement of PEDS and a solution to automate effort reporting and certification if there is not a need to customize the application significantly to meet business requirements. Effort reporting and certification will be a decision point as to the potential solution, timing of the implementation and whether or not an Oracle solution is used or the custom application will need to be modified.

  • OU Financials Interface - This system preprocesses transaction files from university feeder systems prior to utilizing standard Oracle Transaction Import functionality in GL and Projects. Some feeder systems include PeopleSoft (mentioned above), mail systems, TMA, BSR Advance, etc. As part of the COA redesign project, the interface is being updated to accommodate both the new GL account structure and the Grants account string and interface table.
  • LEO Research Management System– A custom application, developed in house, for the creation and management of the pre-award process. The system provides electronic proposal approval routing, contains subsequent awards received, and prepares annual internal reports on grant and contract activity. Tracks proposals through submission, review and award process and maintains the official record. Some award setup is performed in the LEO system that has the potential of being leveraged for award setup purposes in Oracle Grants Accounting. However, this process needs to be evaluated to determine if there is a need/desire to interface award information from LEO to Oracle.

2.3Chart of Accounts Redesign Project

In the summer of 2015, the University engaged Navigator Management Partners LLC to partner on a Chart of Accounts (COA) redesign and implementation project. As of the date of this RFP release, the design of both the General Ledger account string as well as the Grants Accounting account string have been finalized. Details regarding the new account segments and combinations include:

General Ledger Account Segments:

Entity-Source-Organization-Activity-Function-Object

All segments are defined as alphanumeric; however, our intent is to use numeric values for all child values and alphanumeric for the parent values.

Segment / Length / Description / Oracle Identifier
Entity / 2 / Represents major reporting components of the organization and owns assets, liabilities and fund balances. / Balancing segment
Source / 6 / Identifies the source of funds (examples include unrestricted and restricted sources of funds).
Organization / 6 / Defines where the transaction is occurring such as a college or department.
Activity / 4 / Allows departments to track and report internal purposes for spending. Values are defined at the planning unit level. (Segment was added to assist in eliminating “shadow” systems for monitoring and reporting.)
Function / 2 / Defines government and accounting purposes for spending. Values generally follow the NACUBO and A-21 Function Codes.
NACUBO functions are used to compare data among higher education institutions and used to prepare University and Foundation annual financial statements.
A-21 function codes are used to group various costs into direct and indirect cost pools for the purpose of calculating indirect costs on sponsored projects.
Object / 6 / Defines the purpose of a financial transaction and delineates the values for Assets, Liabilities, Fund Balance, Revenue and Expense. / Natural Account

Grants Accounting Segments:

Project-Task Award-Expenditure Type

Segment / Length / Description
Project / 5 / Project number to be assigned sequentially by the system
Task / minimum of 2 digits up to 6 digits / Represents work breakdown structure (tasks and subtasks)
Award / 7 / Award numbers will use number ranges to identify certain types of awards. This format will need to be determined as part of implementation and assignment of values.
Expenditure Type / Standard / Expenditure types are expected to include both the GL object code and the description. This format will need to be determined as part of implementation.

Due to the volume of core business processes occurring in third party and custom systems, the list of Configurations, Extensions, Modifications, Localizations and Integrations (CEMLIs) is extensive and complex. The University is planning to address changes necessary to CEMLI objects for both COA and Grants Accounting at the same time. The testing of the changes, will be worked on jointly between the COA and Grants Accounting implementation teams.