Bridges Advisory #52 - March 18, 2005
Printable versionThe University of Florida is committed to keeping you informed as we continue our transition to the new myUFL systems. To help you with the transition, each week you will receive a Bridges Advisory.
myUFL PORTAL NOT AVAILABLE ON SUNDAY, MARCH 20, 6:00 AM to 9:00 AM. The myUFL portal and all systems within it will not be available on Sunday, March 20, 6am to 9am, for required database maintenance. Users who log on during this time will receive a page informing them of the maintenance work. Thank you for your cooperation.
UPDATE ON LAST WEEKEND'S SP2 UPGRADE. The SP2 upgrade was the most significant upgrade to the myUFL systems since the initial "go-live" in June, and the first related to the Finance systems in particular. Other upgrades have been applied to the portal, infrastructure or database and are less visible to the end user.
Bridges posted a number of Alert Notices this week to notify users of unexpected changes that resulted from the upgrade. Updated instruction guides were posted when appropriate. We continue to investigate and resolve problems and appreciate your patience. Hundreds of hours of testing were done by core and end users, but these issues were not identified as problems prior to the launch. Bridges and the central offices will refine the testing procedures to prevent these issues in particular and work to reduce the number of unexpected changes in the future.
What can you expect in the future? All the known issues related to Finance are currently being researched or worked on by PeopleSoft because we are now up to date with all the necessary updates and patches, namely SP2 and MP1. UF's top priority is Commitment Control (KK).
A minor upgrade to the financial systems will be performed as needed and appropriate. These upgrades are based on PeopleSoft's release of various enhancements and "fixes." In general, each upgrade takes about 6-8 weeks with the last two weeks for testing.
CHANGES TO TRAVEL AUTHORIZATIONS. The recent SP2 Finance upgrade provides users with the ability to remove the budgetary encumbrance when a Travel Authorization is denied. However, this only works if the "Return to Employee upon Denial" checkbox is selected.
Background and Old Process: Beginning in October 2004, managers were told to not select the ""Return to Employee upon Denial" checkbox when denying a Travel Authorization (TA) or an Expense Report (ER) to prevent Commitment Control (KK) implications; there were cases when KK did not update. As a temporary solution, the Travel Office manually reversed the KK entries using the Budget Check "Delete Previous Activity" process; this would allow an originator to delete the transaction without receiving a "Commitment Control Entries Exists......" error message.
New Process: In order for a TA to properly go through budget checking, a manager must select the "Return to Employee upon Denial" checkbox for a TA then PeopleSoft will automatically reverse the KK entries as follows:
- Navigate in the myUFL portal to Manager Self Service > Travel and Expenses > Manager Approvals > Select Travel Authorization
- Click "Search" button from the list of values
- Select the TA number
- Scroll to the bottom of the Summary Page
- Check "Return to Employee upon Denial" checkbox
- Enter a comment then click the "Deny" button
This SP2 change will automatically reverse the Commitment Control entries and allow a person to freely delete a TA.
NEW INSTRUCTION GUIDES. Eleven new or updated Instruction Guides are available on these Services pages:
- Directory: Update Your UF Business Email Address (New)
- Directory: Update Your UF Business Mailing Address (New)
- Directory: Update Your UF Business Physical Location Address (New)
- Directory: Add a New UF Business Mailing Address (New)
- Enterprise Reporting: Delivered Reports - Bursted (New)
- General Ledger and Budgets: Correcting Voucher Budget Errors (New)
- Purchasing and Payables > PCard: Reconcile Transactions (Updated)
- Purchasing and Payables > Vouchers: Encumbered Vouchers (Updated)
- Time and Labor: Viewing and Changing Time Worked (Updated)
- Travel and Expense: Listing Meals on Travel Transactions (Updated)
- Travel and Expense: Submitting a Cash Advance (Updated)
- Travel and Expense: Travel and Expenses for Approvers (Updated)
For frequent updates about the project, subscribe to the UF Bridges pagelet in the myUFL portal. For a quick tutorial on how to use myUFL, please sign on to the portal and click on Help > How to Use myUFL.
For more information about myUFL systems, visit the Bridges Web site.
For help or support in using the new systems, including the portal, contact the UF Help Desk at 392-HELP or helpdesk@ufl.edu.
