Road Show Talking PointsMay 2016
General
Q:When will the university have a chance to view the system?
A:Road shows have been scheduled on all campuses in the beginning of May. The road shows will include online demonstrations of the system functionality, such as how to create a journal, review and charge expenditures to a project, and journal inquiry. In April, an announcement with the dates, times and locations of the road shows will be sent.
A:Q: How much historical data will be moved to new General Ledger?
•For General Ledger:
–Two years of monthly summary data will be migrated to the new General Ledger for FY15 and FY16.
–Sub ledger journals (i.e. payroll, payables and all other interfaces) and individual manual journals will be converted for the first three months of FY17 to the new general ledger. You will not be able to drill down to purchasing/payables sub ledger details.
–Details for the first 3 months of FY17 and the full fiscal years of 16, 15 and prior will remain in the legacy systems and will be accessible with legacy reporting tools.
•For active sponsored projects (grants/contracts):
–Inception to date total expense broken out by natural account.
–Inception to date total amount billed.
–Inception to date total cash received.
•For non-sponsored projects (non grants/contracts):
–The net balance on the non-sponsored projects as of October 2016 is being converted.
–Details for that project for July 2016 through September 2016 would be available in legacy systems, including the RBHS Controller’s Reporting Library and the financial data warehouse for legacy Rutgers.
Q:Can you have multiple windows opened when you are in the Cloud Financials System?
A: Yes. Multiple windows can be opened in the system as this is a web based system.
Q:Will there be descriptions for the Chart of Accounts (COA) segments in the system?
A: Yes. There will be descriptions in the search fields when you select your COA string.
Q:How will fringe be charged after we implement the Cloud Financials system?
A:Fringe benefits allocations will be charged for all employees in PeopleSoft with credit given back through the Chancellors Office for those departments that have state lines.
Q:How will reorganizations be handled by the Cloud Financials system?
A:The Cloud Financials system cannot support changes across multiple hierarchies therefore reorganizations will be handled with journal entry transactions or with reporting hierarchies. Central Accounting will process all hierarchy update requests and required journal entries to move balances forward.
Q:How will Cash processing be handled in the Cloud Financials System?
A:Student accounts (SAR) transactions will continue to be processed in the Cash Register system.Banner cash processing will remain in Banner (sub-ledger) and be interfaced to Cloud general ledger.All Grants cash will be booked in the Accounts Receivables of the Cloud.All other cash will be booked directly in the Cloud general ledger or Projects module as a journal entry.
Departments will prepare and approve journal entries and send cash or checks or proof of deposit, along with a copy of the journal, to cashier’s office for deposit. These cash journal entries will be processed by Central, once verified.
Q:Can we use the REXsystem when the Cloud Financials system is implemented?
A:REXwill not be updated with the new chart of accounts information. The project team is looking to see if the Cloud Financials system has functionality that could replace some of the REX functionality.
Q:Can we do forecasting in the Cloud Financials system?
A: Forecasting will be done in Hyperion which will feed the General Ledger. The project team is looking to see if the Cloud Financials system has functionality that could replace some of the detailed forecasting functionality in REX.
Projects
Q:Are schools setting up non sponsored projects/tasks individually or will they be set up centrally?
A:It is important to have consistency in the way projects/tasks are established.Non Sponsored project types will for now be set up by central accounting. After go live, central accounting will reevaluate this process and determine if departments could set up their own projects and or tasks using project templates.
Q:Who will setup sponsored projects?
A: Grants and Contract Accounting (GCA) will handle the setups of sponsored projects in the Projects module.
Q:Can you end date a task?
A: Yes. All tasks have a start and end date.
Q:What is an Expenditure Organization?
A: The expenditure organization includes the unit, division, and organization segments in the new chart of accounts that is being charged to on the Project.This can be the same or different then the Owning Organization on a Project.
Q:Who is a project manager for a sponsored project in the Projects module?
A: After Grants and Contract Accounting (GCA) sets up an award in projects, the principal investigator automatically populates to the project manager field. However, you can override it. For Non-sponsored Projects (no award), UCO personnel will be the Project Manager. For Designated Projects, it may be business managers.
Q:How can I view which expenditures have hit my project?
A:In Projects there is a dashboard which list transactions and there are inquiry reports that you can use to see what transaction have hit your projects.
Q:Can I add documents to my projects?
A: Yes, there is a tab which allows you to add any documents to a specific project.
Q:Will there be a notification sent when an expenditure has been charged to a project?
A: No, however, after you login to the system, there is a dashboard which you can use to see information about your projects.
Q:Will a Principal Investigator be able to view a project?
A: Yes as long as they have been given the role in the system.
Q:What is the raw cost?
A:Raw cost is the expenditure amountbefore applicable F&A or burden cost is applied.
Q:What is burden cost?
A: Burden cost is the raw cost (expenditure amount) plus F&A. System will calculate the F&A for sponsored projects, if the project is non sponsored, then the raw cost and burden cost will be the same.
Q:Can a Unit, Division, Organization (UDO) other than the owning UDO charge my project?
A: Yes, other UDOs can charge your project. If the charge is a mistake, the owning UDO can createproject adjustment to fix it.
Q:What is a Task?
A: A Task is the process of breaking down a project into more manageable parts. Tasks are created to track specific activities within a project that are not covered by the Expenditure Type, Business Line or Location. Every Project must have at least one Task. Tasks will be standardized and approved by the Project Control Committee. Members of this committee are being identified.
Journals
Q:Can someone have the role of both a preparer and approver?
A:Yes. A user can be ‘Finance Approver/Supervisor’ for another person and at the same time create journals, which will be routed to his/her approver. Preparers will not be able to approver their own journals.
Q:Can you send batch entries to an Approver - or will they get one by one notifications to approve each individual journal?
A: Approval is always for an entire Batch, not individual journals in the batch.Batch journal functionality is new at Rutgers and allows users to create individual like journals associated to a single batch.
Q:Can I add an attachment to a journal?
A:Yes you have the ability to add attachments to a journal.
Q:How does an approver get notified that there is a journal to approve?
A: The approver will receive a workflow notification and an email in ERP Cloud which contains preparer and journal batch details, along with hyperlinks/buttons for possible actions such as Approve or Reject.
Q:Can you see who prepared and approved a journal?
A: Yes. You will be able to see who prepared/approved a journal in the journal history.
Q:Will a journal timeout if an Approver does not approve the journal?
A:There is a timeout feature on journal approval.
Q:Can a preparer withdraw a journal?
A:A Preparer has the option to withdraw a journal as long as the journal has not been approved.
Testing
Q:What are the dates for the System Integration Testing (SIT) and User Acceptance Testing (UAT)?
A: The dates for SIT and UAT are as follows:
- Systems Integration Test Cycle 1 session (SIT 1) - will run from 4/18/2016 to 5/13/2016
- Systems Integration Test Cycle 2 session (SIT2) - will run from 6/20/16 to 7/22/2016
- User Acceptance Testing session (UAT) - will run from 8/22/2016 to 9/16/2016
Q:What is SIT1?
A: System Integration Testing Cycle 1 (SIT1) is the first round of system testing. SIT1 begins on April 25 and will continue for four weeks.
Q:What will be tested in SIT1?
A: SIT1 will include all conversions, interfaces and reports that are available and testing of seeded standard security roles. There will be test scripts which provide step-by-step instructions for testers to complete the test iterations.
Q:Who will participate in SIT1?
A: Testers have been identified by the Advisory Group to help the Cloud Financials Implementation project team execute testing. Testers will receive an invite to attend a Kick-off meeting to be held on April 18th, 19th and 22nd. Two meetings will be held on Busch campus and one meeting will be held in Newark. Testers will only need to attend one of the sessions.
Security/Access/Roles
Q:How will we get access to the system?
A: The project teamis in the process of identifying the roles and security needed in the system. There will be a data collection effort for role mapping which assigns system-based security roles to employees. This activity determines what employees are able to do and see in the new system. The project team will be working with the chancellors’ and SR VP’s offices to identify which roles/access a person should be assigned.
Training
Q:Will there be training?
A: Yes, training will be available for all new systems, including Oracle Cloud Financials systems. Training will include classroom instruction, as well as on-line tutorials. More information on the training details will be communicated in the next couple of months.
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