Director's Report 3

Director's Report May 2001

Contents:

Introduction

Current Activities

Communications

Chart of Accounts Information

Next Steps

Report from the Project Director
Tracey Leger-Hornby

Introduction

The PeopleSoft Financial modules implementation is progressing on schedule. The Financial Project Team has finished prototyping the system in preparation for upcoming tests. This team--approximately sixty people from the Controller's Office, the Budget Office, Purchasing, and ITS--has been working on the system since last fall.

In prototyping the system, the team performed many different, representative transactions, testing the set up of the system and the various business rules that were decided during the fit/gap process completed last fall.

Current Activities

The Project Team has written over thirty technical and functional specifications for the refinement of the system. There are many interfaces between the older, legacy systems and the new PeopleSoft software. These perform such tasks as moving information between the current student information system and the new financial system. The specifications also incorporate new processes for loading budget data and invoice information from outside vendors who submit them in electronic format.

The ITS technical team has also been working to install software updates and new software upgrades. Despite the fact that the system is still in a test mode, we must regularly install updates to the software to stay up to date with the latest technology, and to comply with tax and other regulatory changes.

The functional team is in the process of documenting the work accomplished during the prototyping period, recording each procedure that was tested and evaluated. This will form the basis of the system-test procedures and eventually the documentation for day-to-day use of the system in the future.

Communications

In the next few weeks the PeopleSoft Project Team members and the Steering Committee will meet with many individuals in the Brandeis University community to share information on the new system and some of the changes to the ways in which the financial offices will do business in the future. We have begun a series of brown bag lunches to inform those people who deal with financial data on the progress of the project. Later, general sessions will share information with others interested in the workings of the project. Look for notices in the weekly Human Resources email announcement list and on the PeopleSoft website.

Chart of Accounts Information

The Brandeis University chart of accounts (COA) is the list of all financial accounts used by Brandeis defined by codes for such information as: fund, department, program, project, grant, etc.

In the PeopleSoft System, the parts of the chart of accounts are called chartfields. There are five:

	Account
	DeptID
	Fund
	Program
	Project/Grant

Account

This four-number field encodes a detailed breakdown of account types (such as assets, liabilities, equity, revenues and expenses) For example, tuition, supplies, and salaries all have account codes. In FRS (our legacy system) these were SL sub codes and GL account control codes.

DeptID

This five-number field identifies campus operating units with personnel or operating budgets. For example, The VP Academic Affairs and the Department of Biology have DeptID codes, a biology class does not. In FRS (our legacy system) these are under account number.

Fund

This two-number field identifies the way in which an item is funded. For example, it will identify unrestricted and temporarily restricted funds and various sponsored programs. In FRS (our legacy system) these are identified by the third through sixth digits of the account number.

Program

This five-number field identifies the funding source. For example, endowments and restricted gifts have program codes. In FRS this was the GL account number with a leading digit.

Project/Grant

This six-number field identifies projects and grants. A project or a grant is defined by reporting needs or campus policy. Some examples of projects are department remodeling and new building construction.

Next Steps

In the next several weeks and months the Brandeis University community will hear more and more about the new system. We encourage you to read through this web site, particularly the FAQ, to ask questions via email (PeopleSoft@brandeis.edu) or telephone (Tracey Leger-Hornby, extension 6-4573 or the PEAK Project Help Line, extension 6-PEAK), and to attend one of the upcoming question and answer sessions.


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