Responses

IRIS/SAP User Group (Jan 20, 2006) Requested/suggested changes IRIS Team Response REACTIONS Feb 16,2006 Budget Transfer/Revision Workgroup Need ability to create a budget transfer where the sender amount is in total while the receiving amounts are broken into different funds centers creating a compound journal entry (i.e., -20,000, +10,000, +5,000, +2,000, +3,000). Would like to see final postings of budget transfers on the document journal report (FMRP_...1AX) This capability already exists. The transaction requires that the total senders = to the total receivers and that the sender must be placed first as the user has stated in the example. The validation rule was set up to insist that the sender be placed first. The FMRP…1AX report does not pertain to budget postings but rather to journal entry postings. Budget transfer postings can be viewed on the FMEDDW report. 1 2 3 There are three GR55 reports and all of them do allow a user to drill down to see a posted BT document. There is no "Original Entry" selection to choose on the drill down. The user should follow the following steps in drilling down to the posted BT document: 1) GR55 will not allow you to drill down to see a posted BT execute the GR55 Z100 or Z200 report (Z300 is for capital projects only); 2) Double click unless you choose Original Entry on the drill down on the dollar amount in the budget column (if Z200 is used, the user can drill down on selection. any column); 3) A box will appear and the user must choose the third selection from that box; 4) when the report appears drill down on the document number to see the actual BT. The SAP system does not allow Held documents to route or print because Held Need ability to print and route Held BTs/BRs in the SAP documents are user defined documents that are stored temporarily in the users work Workplace. center for processing at a later time. Held documents are not in the database and can only be processed by the respective user/work center. There are a lot of extraneous fields on FMBB that you The FMBB transaction is used by all budget users with differing requirements for have to tab through. It would be very useful to be able entering budgets. For example, Capital budgets created by the OT, needs to enter data to build a view of the fields user wants to see. This on most fields in the FMBB transaction. Views cannot be built on a transaction. The would enhance data entry. transaction is designed to accommodate all users. Would be useful to add corp and department number Corp and dept numbers are UK defined fields. UK defined fields can only be placed on as fields to complete on FMBB. In the meantime, users transactions in certain fields called user exits. The FMBB transaction does not have user should put corp and department number in the long text exits to accommodate UK defined fields. The IRIS team has already explored this issue. field. Would prefer that the BT/BR workflow be automatic like the requisition process versus current manual The BT/BR automatic workflow is a part of phase II of the IRIS project. simulation of workflow. Would like to receive mail notification for SAP Workplace without having the SAP system activated. This is workflow functionality and will be addressed in phase II. 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Unread folders and document folders in the Workplace This is standard SAP functionality and design. are confusing. When routing a document through the workplace, it depends on whether the user Trail of sent budget transfers/revisions is obscure at chooses the express mail selection or the copy selection. If the express mail selection is best. Sometimes not all forwarders show on the chosen, all recipients will not show up as being forwarded the mail. This likely will be recipient list. addressed when the Phase II workflow is developed, FMEDDW needs to allow reporting on a node of the This design of this transaction is standard SAP. FM hierarchy. Sender/Receiver order keying on FMBB needs to be fixed so it doesn‟t matter which one comes first. Currently, putting receiver then sender will allow the IRIS team is aware of this, and an IRIS programmer is looking into this. user to prepost the document but it will not allow the document to post. IRIS/SAP User Group (Jan 20, 2006) Requested/suggested changes Error message box that appears when you do a BT 13 “check” that says “No authority to post” should go away. It‟s unnecessary. Need a viewable audit trail for BTs and BRs. Currently, 14 a user can see who created the document but not who altered it or posted it. Need to be able to empty or clear out the document 15 tree “undone” folder. When preparing BRs, an unbalanced entry is allowable. If you are creating a balanced entry with income and expense the total of the BR looks doubled 16 up. Would like a summarization of the income in one field and of the expense in another field to confirm a balanced entry. When routing BTs through the object services function 17 of FMBB, the “send to outbox” flag should be an automatic default. Training should be contoured so that if a user only does 18 budget transactions they would not be required to take the full General Users course. "Tips and tricks" Ledger Reports in BW currently do not allow a user to 1 capture the budget as of month-end close. This is important to remember when running ledgers. If you have a transaction with multiple line items, the user can create a template in Excel, perform the entry in Excel to assure a balanced transaction, then copy it into FMBB. You can also do this with the long text. IRIS Team Response This message only appears when the user attempts to post a document they have no access to. This functionality is performing as designed. This is standard SAP functionality and cannot be changed. The folder holds 20 documents at a time and the old ones roll off when new ones are undone. We will look at a "delete all" process in the future. The FMBB transaction provides for the summarization of a balanced document through the commitment items. When both revenue and expense commitment items are entered onto the same document the total in the header section changes to read "revenue", and "expense" so the user can easily see that the entry is balanced. Only when the document is printed that the total does not distinguish between revenue and expense. This is standard SAP functionality. This is standard SAP functionality. The General User course has been reworked to provide essential information in two half day sessions rather than one class of two days. And the two half-day sessions are divided by function (Journal Vouchers and Statistical Internal Orders). REACTIONS Feb 16,2006 Agree. We are looking into freezing a budget version that will assist with this process. 2 Agreed. An Excel spreadsheet was shared with the AFO's for this. 3 A user can create a new BT by referencing an old one. This is important if a transaction was undone due to an Agreed. error. To send a copy of a BT to your SAP Workplace Outbox, check the “send to outbox” field on the second Agreed. tab of the object services function within FMBB. Distribution lists with the SAP Workplace can be created rather easily to facilitate transfer to documents Agreed. to the next level in the organization. Copying line items within a BT can be facilitated by utilizing the copy line icon at the bottom of the FMBB Agreed. screen. If you want to look at GR55 and FMBB together, activate two sessions by either using the * icon or using Agreed. /o on the action line. F4/F2 allows you to complete the current date quickly. Use of KSB1 gives you better account detail on actual transactions. GR55, report group Z200 will give budget information similar to 02B in FRS. Agreed. Agreed. Agreed. This function was created to replicate the FRS screen. 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 IRIS/SAP User Group (Jan 20, 2006) Requested/suggested changes IRIS Team Response REACTIONS Feb 16,2006 Procard Workgroup The Log Display sheet itself is not what is required. What is required is a means of retaining supporting documentation and proper approval of the procurement card purchase. Printing the Log Display sheet, attaching the support documentation and obtaining the approving official's signature meet this requirement. Yes, the audit requirements may also be met by printing and signing a copy of the transaction, or a copy of the simulated transaction, as long as the transaction is actually posted. This question is being answered with the understanding that ledgers means the Procard transactions remain on ledgers and do not fall ZFI_Procard_Detail report. Accordingly, this report is generated from a table that stores off after a designated period of time. Can a time limit all transactions as a history for each ProCard. To selection criteria for running this report be set or can the transactions be moved to a history allows the user to select transactions by choosing a specific report date or a date range. file? For example, a user may see only today‟s transaction if they choose today‟s date as the “Report Date” when running the report. No useful information contained on the log sheet. - Is it required? - Can you sign the transaction form in lieu of the log sheet? The IRIS team does not make policy decisions. When policy decisions are made by the business owners, the IRIS team does work with them to help support their efforts to Policies are being communicated via phone calls after- inform the campus. When changes are made to processes within the IRIS/SAP system, the-fact. No official notification being sent to campus information is sent to existing business listservs and often posted on the web site. It is community. not the practice of the IRIS team to communicate to users by phone to announce policy changes. It is possible that some users are made aware of existing policies/practices through phone conversation with individuals serving on the IRIS Help Desk. Final authority for procurement card policies does not reside within the IRIS team. Responsibility for implementing the procurement card process in SAP resides within the IRIS Materials Management Team. Consistent with SAP logic and functionality, not all information related to a transaction is displayed on the transaction screen. However, for many transactions related information There is no way to identify the cardholder when editing and data is stored in a manner that is quickly and easily available to the user. This is the transactions. You have to maintain a shadow system case for the identity of the cardholder. The user may identify the cardholder by double with cardholder names and numbers. clicking on the parked document transaction line and then clicking on the “More Data” icon. The University contract with the Procurement Card provider requires that we pay for all Disputed charges are still charged against a charges initially. Upon disputing a charge the University may be credited immediately for departments cost center. Can they be moved to a certain types of disputes and upon resolution of others. The University has not holding account until the dispute is completed. established a “holding” account for these charges so they must be passed on to the departments. Who is the final Procard Authority (i.e. Policies and Procedures)? This question is being answered with the understanding that it is related to transaction FBV0 not FV50. The User ID is there due to standard SAP functional logic. The system is developed with the concept that when a user elects to display a list of documents (clicking on document list icon) they wish to display a list of documents that they have parked. Since in the UK system ProCard transactions are initially parked by the Procurement Card Administrator this logic does not prevail. Therefore, it must be removed. To date the IRIS project MM Team has been unable to find a global setting that will increase the font size for documents printed from the ProCard process. The team will continue to look into this matter and notify all departments if a solution is discovered. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 FV50 defaults with the ID. You must remove the ID. Why is it there if you always remove it? 8 The printing default font is too small. IRIS/SAP User Group (Jan 20, 2006) Requested/suggested changes IRIS Team Response Although we understand the desire for individual preferences, the University environment dictates that the training program for procurement card processing be somewhat general. There are approximately 1500 procurement cards in use so a general approach is required to ensure that all individuals that attend training will be given sufficient information to process their transactions. The rules for posting transactions to WBS Elements are established in accordance with the terms and conditions of the grant and University accounting requirements. Although these requirements/rules are not set by the ProCard process, they are applied during the process of editing ProCard transactions. Therefore, if the transaction does not meet the edit requirements set for a WBS Element it will not post. Please direct any questions concerning the validity of a WBS Element to Sponsored Projects Accounting. The ZFI_Procard_Detail report was developed in SAP for information only and does not lend itself to the editing process. Users that do not utilize the information provided in this report may go directly to transaction FBV0 and proceed with editing transactions. REACTIONS Feb 16,2006 9 Training is inefficient – too general – need specifics. 10 WBS elements not always accepted – only work sometimes. 11 Can the ZFI screen be modified to allow editing from this screen? 12 Must edit by line item and not by grouping – can not select a group. This is a limitation of SAP functionality and is not readily modifiable. "Tips and tricks" 1 2 3 4 5 6 Bypass screen ZFI . WBS elements that are allowable can be found on the SPA web site. Print the simulation while still in the document. Print regular IDIV (journal vouchers) from document tree to include document number. Create a template from menu selection instead of recreating each time. To post all at once – save individual edits as completed then select all to post. The ZFI_Procard_Detail report is provided for information purposes only. If a user does not require this information for editing a transaction, they may go directly to FBV0 and proceed with editing. Correct Correct Correct Correct Correct IRIS/SAP User Group (Jan 20, 2006) Requested/suggested changes IRIS Team Response REACTIONS Feb 16,2006 Ledger/Reporting Workgroup Requested/suggested changes Make it more friendly (too complex to get reports; too 1 many pieces to track; some units have gone “back to shadow systems” to get accurate reports) Change instructions -- Too cumbersome to pull “By 2 Account.” Train more on pulling “By Department.” Show how to filter data. This will be considered for future training This will be considered for future training If the web report layout is small enough, you can print from the web page just as you would print from any other web page. Please remember that rows and columns can be removed from display to optimize web printing. However, if the report is too big, you currently must download to EXCEL to print this document. While SAP does allow us to develop special web templates to optimize printing, this would require significant resources, and is not currently a priority. After the completion of the implementation of Phase I of all SAP modules (11/06), we will review this request in relation to other priorities at that time. We will add more information to BW training, and to the FAQS and "Tips and Tricks" on the ability to report on multiple Funds Centers simultaneously. We also encourage all users to send any questions or requests for reports to BWRequests@email.uky.edu. GR55 is live data, so it can be a moving target. This can be a problem for reconciliations. BUT it is easier to run. Ledgers are more difficult, but are from a fixed point in time, making reconciliation easier. This will be considered for future training One approach is to produce a funds center ledger by department. This report can be sorted and totaled by commitment item, which will identify the source of funds. 3 Why do we need to “Download” to Excel just to print ledgers? It takes too long to reformat ledgers. 4 5 6 7 There is room for error in the download as far as „timing‟ and which clerk is assigned to get specific types – e.g. General Fund, Grants, Endowments, Capital – Plant Fund, etc. GR55 from R3 or BW Bex– Which program is better to help with “Reconciliation” Issues? Provide explanation on when to use one or the other. Detail Drill-down - “KSB1” – only learned by Chance in R3 Aggregation by Dept by fund source 8 Timing on Period Close for Month end is unpredictable. Timing for these first few months has been dictated by processing issues that have We don‟t receive timely communication from IRIS arisen. We are working to communicate better. In the future, notifications will be done via team. Hear by word of mouth… email and on the on IRIS web site. Does it matter that we know how much left at end of Month? The answer is “YES” and now we don‟t know. GR55 is available before the month is ended, ledgers available after month has ended. We have to work on fund balance analysis NOW. We Both are accurate, but may represent different points in time. can‟t give ACCURATE reports to our Dean‟s/ Directors/ PI‟s, Dept Chairs, etc. Help is needed soon! Fix the naming convention from the extract to Excel – pick some consistent format, e.g. year, month, account, We do not have the option to change the default file name from the "15-digit string". etc. Now the download gives about a 15-digit string of However, users can change it when they export to EXCEL. meaningless numbers and characters. If you are referring to the free characteristics and selection variables at the top of the EXCEL spreadsheet, we do not have the ability to eliminate that information from the file exported from BW. However, all EXCEL functionality is still in the document, so you can delete the rows from the resulting EXCEL spreadsheet if you wish. We will add more information to BW training, and to the FAQS and "Tips and Tricks" on the ability to refine your report output prior to printing. FI training continues to be available. 9 10 11 Printing - I seem to be printing more useless pages in the extracts than those I can use. How can we reduce the invaluable print outs? Training is needed for the departmental account management staff. 12 IRIS/SAP User Group (Jan 20, 2006) Requested/suggested changes Improve the Process for Communication to share 13 “shortcuts”; e.g. this screen number or this „T-code‟ is good for… Use the Q&A page on IRIS to give more current info; 14 (not updated recently) + provide a newsletter 15 IRIS Team Response It is hoped that this user group will be one avenue for this type of communication. REACTIONS Feb 16,2006 16 We will continue to provide as much information as possible using as many means as is feasible. Simulations have been provided for many of the most common transactions and users Simulations haven‟t been used much… are encouraged to make use of them. Time (system in/out) required to „play‟ on getting the GR55 - Z100 is for funds center actual vs. budget (FRS Ledger 1,2,3 (except 3-5),5,8,9 data is too great; we don‟t understand the different data and 78. GR55 - Z300 is for capital project (FRS ledger 7 except 7-8. KSb1 is for actual and where it is, (e.g. Co, FI, FM, GM) for different types only, and CJI3 is for capital project actual vs. budget. ZAFD and Zgl_trbr1_fund is for of accounts: GR55, Z-100 (Ledger 2, 3) ; ZAFD fund (FRS map accounts) Zgl_trbr1_cum is for endowment and loan fund which is (Ledger 'O') similar to FRS screen 18. Provide “Learning” Manual: make it Step by Step, 1-23; Some used simulations to get more information, but most have not (Have now learned to print the simulations now; in the beginning, couldn‟t print.) Provide more info on use of „cue cards‟ Explain why there are so many # of options on path to get to same place; i.e. we don‟t understand why some are embedded in drill-down. Improve system response time on drill-downs; one person reported a 12-minute response time for her reports. We are used to seeing a „view‟ of available balance in FRS on screen 19. Now we have to execute a report just to get the cost center balance. Too much “print” is required to reconcile the ledgers; we are many months away from relying on just screen information unless there is something like Quicken bank reconciliation tool. “Online Reconciliation T-code” would be great. “Views” on front screen – now we run report Specific training demos are a must!!! We need large group Q&A session with FI experts . Our Quick Reference Cards (QRCs) provide step-by-step instructions for the most commonly used transactions. If you visit the myhelp.uky.edu website, there are instructions for using each of our help documents. This is a characteristic of SAP, that many choices are provided to support the same function. Unlike FRS screen 019 where the data was already there, SAP (R/3) reads the transaction data and then calculates the totals. In addition, if you also select criteria such as the commitment item pools then it has to filter through and organize the results as requested. It's something similar to allowing different selection choices on screen 019 in FRS, to get various aggregations of data. Because of this more time will be taken to run the report. Consider downloading to Excel for reconciliations. Agreed. Need more info from user. We have already begun to pilot these sessions. The plan is to offer them to a more diverse audience in the near future. 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 At the AFO meeting we discussed the need for views to be created for the unit budget and subcode summaries in BW so that each person running a BW report for the budget process won't have to recreate a unit budget or a subcode summary report on their own and save the A user has recently volunteered to help with this. view. Since our timeline to enter the budget and balance will be constrained, having views available to users would facilitate their ability to balance, cut down on frustration, and reduce repetition. Will these views be created? Also, you mentioned that commitment item groups are in the process of being developed so that we can put personal services, COE, etc. together. This will greatly facilitate the process when we develop the narrative. These Commitment Item groups are being created to facilitate this. When will this be added as a variable on the BW ledger report so that we can develop our revised 2005-06 financial budget narrative data? 26 IRIS/SAP User Group (Jan 20, 2006) Requested/suggested changes IRIS Team Response REACTIONS Feb 16,2006 "Tips and tricks" The BW and FI Teams will work to get "Tips and Tricks" posted on the IRIS Web site, separate from FAQS. The BW Team will revise their web site to be more "user friendly". There will be additional BW training and open labs scheduled in the near future, with emphasis given to problem areas identified by this User Group. We ask users to send suggestions for "Tips and Tricks", and changes to BW training, open labs, etc. to BWRequests@email.uky.edu. See #1 above. See #1 above. See #1 above. See #1 above. 1 Use KSB1- Create specific “Layouts” for detail print 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 GR-55 ( At bottom- next to last row; Screen is close to results from KSB1) Use Dept. Group = hierarchy aggregation “Further Selection Criteria” = box at top in KSB1 Create “Variants” for your specific requests. Change the Boolean Logic; = [ range from and to] See #1 above. < >. Include or exclude rows by “criteria BEX – More sessions for getting to know “data” Filters ≈ Drilldowns (rows) ≈ drill across (columns) We need to communicate with each other and with IRIS team to better understand “Data.” BEX training contines to be available. As more features are available, more training will be offered. See #1 above. See #1 above. IRIS/SAP User Group (Jan 20, 2006) Requested/suggested changes IRIS Team Response REACTIONS Feb 16,2006 Requisitioning Workgroup Show vendor-when choosing a vendor, have the name The vendor name field is not available in this transaction. display instead of/in addition to the vendor number We are only using the Item note field and item text field on the req. The item note is similar to the notepad in FRS and will not follow through to the PO. Item text is available and will follow through to the PO. These fields are unlimited in size. Purchasing will create a field reference guide to be distributed in requisition related classes. This is a user specific setting and not all users will want one year. Also it is a resource issue as this information is stored on each computer not in SAP. Changing the default is being taught in the Requisition class. 1 2 Clarify the uses of each text field-what do you put where, now many characters are allowed in each field 3 4 5 Change all user defaults to 1 year so the Req #‟s stay longer than 1 week 6 7 8 9 10 11 Purchase orders should have a tab for “payment” Payment information is not available on the PO. It can be viewed through the invoice. reflecting the check number and the amount Invoices should be scanned/made available to the Document Imaging may be included in a future phase of IRIS. The amount charged can originating department. Departments need a way to see be viewed through the purchase order history tab and clicking on the invoice. the final changes/charges. A Purchasing / AP quick reference guide is available at Provide clarification of when to use a DAV vs. a http://www.uky.edu/Purchasing/quickrefguide_2.pdf. These were given out during Requisition. training. Automated DAV entry Online DAV's are being considered in phase II activities A reverse PO is used when multiple payments are made and the payment is different on Clarification of “reverse PO”. each payment. Although there are other instances this is clearest deciding factor. This will be included in the Advanced Purchasing class. Easier way/clarification of returning requisition to “box” Return to your inbox, click on the requisition to highlight and click the replace icon. for approval Variants can be set up in the document overview but there are list displays view the Customizing document overview (i.e. sorting reqs in requisitions and/or PO that were reviewed in the Purchasing classes and will be groups/folders) emphasized more in the Advance class. The department is a custom development that can viewed by clicking on the funds center Show department # on all reqs (and procards) in the requisition. The department cannot be displayed on the current pro-card transactions. "Tips and tricks" Scan quotes instead of faxing to purchasing; also can 1 email electronic quotes. This cuts down on paper and saves time. 2 This is something we can incorporate into the advanced class Copy old reqs into new req to avoid reentering the data This is something we can incorporate into the advanced class IRIS/SAP User Group (Jan 20, 2006) Requested/suggested changes IRIS Team Response REACTIONS Feb 16,2006 Grants Management Workgroup 1 2 Most people are not aware of variant needed to use screen S_ALN_01000003 (like FRS 023 screen) More description on line items needed. Request more details visible on initial screen without requiring drill down. Increased Communication – notifications of changes, tips sent out to all users. Users experiencing problems with setting up grant groups. Some grant account numbers have been changed without notification to user. This was sent out via the IRIS list serv in a grants management update and is/was available on the IRIS web page in the News to Use section Insufficient information. If this is S_ALN_0100003, this is an SAP delivered report and cannot be altered. Whenever possible, use the grant ledgers in order to obtain the needed reports. What line items? Which transaction? If this is S_ALN_0100003, this is an SAP delivered report and cannot be altered. The users should use the grant ledgers in order to obtain the needed reports as much as possible. Communication is being disseminated through the IRIS list servs when possible. Additional training in Grants Analysis was provided, but users were unable to re-register if they had already taken the class. Some accounts had to be changed due to conversion issues. These account changes should have been communicated in a more timely manner. 3 4 5 6 "Tips and tricks" When using S_ALN_01000003 screen (for reconciling grants): A) click variant (large square w/ 3 small squares on right top corner – next to clock). B) delete created by name C) click right pointing arrow on variant row D) click on Ranges tab 1 E) enter R000000 to R999999 F) click on far left box and double click on “exclude range” G) click on clock (execute) H) again click on clock (execute) I) click on Variant named “DIRECT EXP” J) Enter grant number (execute) Send copy of PADR with any IDIV that was delayed 2 due to account setup Use GL account list on OSPA website which list direct expense allowed on grant (*): 3 http://www.rgs.uky.edu/ospa/resources/sponsoredclass .xls Request that the revamped Grants Analysis class reopen to those who took it in the Fall. New Report Transaction - GMAVCOVRW (like FRS 019) – click on variant and choose /UKDEFAULT This is being taught in the revised Grants Analysis class. This is being communicated through the Sponsored Projects Accounting office and the revised Grants Analysis classes. Agree, we need to publish this on the IRIS site as well. This is being communicated through the revised grants analysis classes. Staff that would like to re-register for a class should contact the IRIS training team. The prior record for that class will be removed and the individual will then be able to register. We offered twelve sessions in early January. All but two of them were cancelled due to low enrollment. We will offer more sessions in the future as resources are available (rooms and instructors). This is being taught in the revised Grants Analysis class. 4 5 IRIS/SAP User Group (Jan 20, 2006) Requested/suggested changes IRIS Team Response Security roles provided to users are determined by the Area Security Officers. The system is available seven days a week except for infrequent periods of planned maintenance. REACTIONS Feb 16,2006 General Comments 1 2 3 4 5 6 use of student workers-limited access? System op over the weekends Provide a way to see available balance on fund centers without running a report (a similar screen to Use GR55, report group Z100. s_aln_01000003 for ledger 2,3,5) Logs out of system too quickly A user will be "timed out" if there has been no activity for 60 minutes. Efforts are continually being made to improve system response time. The single greatest Response time too slow impact on the R3 transactional system is when it is being used for reporting that should be accomplished in BW. When initially taught, classes included information on the existing systems. After the new Differential training – new hires vs. existing employees systems go live, only current processes are taught.