Bridges Advisory #55 - April 14, 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 HRMS SYSTEM WILL BE UPGRADED IN LATE APRIL. An upgrade to Maintenance Pack 4 (MP4) for myUFL Human Resources Management System (HRMS) is currently scheduled for the April 29-30 weekend. Initial testing with core users from Human Resources, Academic Personnel, and Student Personnel will begin this week. The impact of the MP4 changes on department end users is being evaluated and instruction guides will be revised if necessary.
Like service packs, maintenance packs are how major product updates are distributed. We must be current with the latest updates from PeopleSoft in order to receive full technical support and benefit from future PeopleSoft enhancements. Implementing MP4 now will result in additional support to resolve some of the long-term or persistent issues, including HR and eRecruit, Time and Labor, Benefits or Payroll systems.
Next week (exact date to be determined), Bridges will invite campus to test the HR and Payroll systems via the BETA portal as was done with the SP2 upgrade in March. When beta testing begins, please take a few minutes to test the upgraded system. It is very important that we hear from you and your colleagues; this will allow us to identify and correct any problems before the upgrade on April 29-30.
BRIDGES OPEN LABS ARE STILL AVAILABLE. UF Bridges offers three-hour blocks of unstructured practice time with instructors available to answer questions and work through any tasks or problems that you may have. No registration is required, but we do ask that participants be familiar with the system and have the appropriate user security role in order to access the system. Open Lab sessions are held at UF Bridges' Dodge Island training room at Union Street Station on Tuesday mornings (8:30 - 11:30 am) and Thursday afternoons (1:30 - 4:30 pm). Many of your colleagues find the labs very helpful - check it out!
DSA TRAINING. Additional sessions of the mandatory class for Department Security Administrators (DSAs) is now open for registration at www.bridges.ufl.edu/registration. Sessions for off-campus locations (i.e., Jacksonville HSC, IFAS units or others outside of Gainesville and surrounding communities) are being arranged and will be publicized to the appropriate employees in the near future.
PROMPTED PAYLIST REPORTS REMOVED FROM ENTERPRISE REPORTING. Delivered reports were created when Enterprise Reporting was upgraded to a new version in February. These reports are much more efficient (in setup and run time) than the old prompted paylist reports and greatly reduce the slowness seen in the system during payroll weeks. To find the delivered paylists, please navigate to Enterprise Reporting > Human Resources Information > Pay Information > Current Pay Cycle > Delivered Payroll Paylist Reports.
FINAL REPORTS AVAILABLE NEXT WEEK FOR SHORT WORK BREAK AND MINIMUM WAGE. Payroll processors and department managers will have the final data for the Florida minimum wage and short work break/return from work break reports in Enterprise Reporting next week. Bridges will post an Alert Notice when the reports are available.
TIME AND LABOR APPROVERS: PLEASE ADHERE TO PUBLISHED DEADLINES. The processing of payroll in myUFL is running on schedule and we are no longer in a transition status. Bridges has noticed that many individuals are not approving time and leave by the published deadlines <http://fa.ufl.edu/payroll/paydays-2004-2005.asp>, resulting in over- or under-payments to employees, inaccurate leave balances, or undue "cleanup" by payroll processors. Please make sure you are approving time and leave in a timely manner and, in all cases, by 10:00 AM on the Thursday that the pay period ends. Best practice is to approve time at least two times per week.
HR AND PAYROLL FISCAL YEAREND GUIDELINES NOW AVAILABLE;
GUIDELINES FOR FINANCIALS COMING IN MAY. A new
instruction guide outlines some of the Human Resources and Payroll
processes that University of Florida department administrators
must manage in conjunction with the end of the fiscal year. The UF
fiscal year ends on June 30, 2005. The guide is available on the
Human Resources home page
REMINDER TO DEPARTMENT ADMINISTRATORS: FISCAL YEAREND COMPENSATORY CASHOUT. Departments are encouraged to begin planning now for the 2005 fiscal year-end compensatory leave cash out for eligible USPS and TEAMS employees. The cash out of all accrued special and overtime compensatory leave on balance is tentatively scheduled for the pay period ending May 19, 2005.
To assist with planning for this scheduled cash out, a report is available that indicates which employees currently have accrued compensatory leave. This report is available in Enterprise Reporting for those with the end user role of UF_ER_HRPR_BEN_LEAVE:
- Human Resources Information > Benefit Information > Leave > Leave Accrual Usage and Balances by Pay Period End Date (PPE) and Department (DEPT).
FACILITATING PAYMENTS FOR VISITING TRAVELERS. The UF Travel Office will begin a new service in an effort to provide timely payments to non-affiliated travelers visiting the UF campus. This new service includes the following:
- Inputting the Travel Expense Report (TER) into PeopleSoft on behalf of the department
- Budget checking/obtaining the approval button
- Submission of the TER for departmental approval
- Disbursing the check for the traveler
The Visiting Traveler Payment form
Honoraria payments to visiting lecturers can also be expedited
through Accounts Payable to provide this same level of service.
Campus departments will need to ensure a Purchase Order is
established and a voucher for payment is entered into myUFL
5 business days prior to the lecturer's visit. An
Alternate Check Delivery form
Please contact Brett Wallen at 392-1245 if you have any questions regarding this new service or Susan Wilson at 392-1241 if you have any questions regarding Honoraria payments.
WORKLIST FOR FINANCE. Bridges has made a significant effort recently to clean out the worklists for the following areas:
- Travel and Expense Items
- Requisition items
- Worklist Notifications
- Commitment Control Worklist Notifications
- Grant Proposal Approvals
- Voucher Matching Errors
Although we have made much progress, this effort is ongoing and we need your help in identifying problem areas. Please contact the UF Help Desk (392-HELP or helpdesk@ufl.edu) if you still have old or unwanted finance-related items in your worklist.
Note: This work only applies to Finance worklist items. Bridges will resolve the HR-related items in the coming months.
ENHANCED REPORT FOR PURCHASING. The "PO Detail by Business Unit" report in Enterprise Reporting > Financial Information > Purchasing has been updated to include the Voucher Amount. Note: Report users should disregard the column final reference indicator. Also, this report does not tie to Commitment Control (KK), but a new report entitled "PO Detail with Open Encumbrance" is coming in the near future.
NEW INSTRUCTION GUIDES. Eight new or updated instruction guides are available this week for the following services:
- Asset Management: Purchasing Requisitions for Assets (New)
- Asset Management: Receiving Assets (New)
- Hiring and Job Actions: Reclassifying a Position (Updated)
- Hiring and Job Actions: UF Faculty Compliance (Updated)
- Hiring and Job Actions: Reviewing Online Resumes, Interviewing Candidates, and Making a Job Offer (Updated)
- Hiring and Job Actions: Change OPS Hourly to Student Assistant (Updated)
- Payroll or Hiring and Job Actions: Fiscal Yearend Guidelines (New)
- Purchasing: Encumbered Vouchers (Updated)
NEW RESOURCES. Three new resources are posted this week for the following services:
- Assistance section of most Services pages: Bridges Liaisons List (Updated)
- Travel and Expense: Visiting Travelers Form (New)
- Travel and Expense: Alternate Check Delivery Form (New)
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.
