Bridges Advisory #90 – 16 Dec 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.
Voucher Approval Process. In an effort to improve the current business processes, ensure appropriateness of expenditures and strengthen internal controls, the MyUFL Accounts Payable module will be reconfigured to require centralized voucher approval before making a payment to the vendor. This will be accomplished by moving the system approval function of the voucher to the Central Disbursement Office or delegated sites.
Departments will continue to input vendor invoices into the MyUFL Accounts Payable module but some business process changes will be required. Essentially these changes will require that any vouchers requiring central approval will be budget checked online by the department. To make certain this process works smoothly please ensure that voucher documentation is submitted timely to the appropriate disbursement approval office. Vouchers will not be approved in the system until complete supporting documentation is received in the proper approval area. Email notification will be sent to the initiating departmental voucher processor when the voucher is approved. The details of these changes can be found at the following website: http://fa.ufl.edu/uds/voucher-workflow.asp
Fringe Calculation. To assist in the proposal process, Bridges will be rolling out an enhancement that will provide a fringe calculation based on the employee’s actual expenses over the last 30 days. The fringe amount will display on the Personnel Detail page and will include all employer paid expenses. Employees with multiple jobs will have the fringes separated by Job. This will reduce the effort by grants personnel who must manually calculate the expenses and will ensure the University uses a common approach for each fringe calculation.
New Financial Activity Reports Available December 23 – Register for Training Today. Sent on December 14, 2005, from Jimmy Cheek, Senior Vice President for Agriculture and Natural Resources and Ed Poppell, Vice President for Finance and Administration, to the Dean, Directors and Department Chairpersons
To provide UF managers with useful and readily available financial information and to assist departments in reconciling their financial data, we are pleased to introduce a series of reports designed by UF Bridges – working with staff from Finance and Accounting and other members of the university community. These new reports, combined with guidelines provided by Finance and Accounting, will streamline the reconciliation process and help department fiscal managers verify financial activity.
The new reports will include:
Monthly Financial Summary (Appropriations and Cash)
Transaction Detail
Payroll Cost Distributions
Projected Payroll Cost Distributions
Open Encumbrance
KK to GL Summary Comparison.
Finance and Accounting, in collaboration with Training and Organizational Development, will be providing training sessions to assist departments in learning more about the reports and the business practices surrounding their use.
Overview sessions will begin in January and are designed to give a thorough explanation of the new financial activity reports and business guidelines. It is expected that department and fiscal administrators who will use the reports in their jobs will attend an overview session. Additionally, each overview session will begin with an “executive summary,” which may be appropriate for UF executives who are interested in learning more without attending the entire overview session. To register for the overview sessions, including the “executive summary,” please visit www.hr.ufl.edu/training. Interested employees are asked to register for the “Department Reconciliation Overview” session (course number PST 131).
For employees who want or need additional training after they have attended an overview session, hands–on training also will be available. Some general hands–on sessions have been made available for registration; however, these hands–on sessions also are available at the college–level upon request. A “Train the Trainer” session will be held on January 26 for those college representatives who wish to conduct the hands–on sessions in their environment. Please contact Training and Organizational Development at mailto:training@ufl.edu for more information about the “Train the Trainer” session or to arrange a college–level workshop.
Purchasing & PCard Upgrade. Purchasing bundles 3 – 10, implemented on December 16, 2005, will affect how PCard transactions are reconciled and approved. Transactions will now be loaded with a status of “initial”, and will eliminate the selection criteria screen simplifying the selection criteria and reducing work effort. The actual approval process does not change.
Updated Instruction Guides. The web based training and instruction guide for PCard reconciliation is available on the Purchasing website:
- Purchasing > Online Reconciler/Approver Training (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.
