Frequently Asked Questions: Financials Implementation
1. What is the benefit of PeopleSoft?
PeopleSoft has many benefits. First of all, it’s recent technology. Our current systems are old, not maintained or supported by the vendors who sold them, and are running on hardware that is becoming obsolete. With PeopleSoft we collect more, and more valid, data. PeopleSoft provides data editing the means we don’t get so much of "garbage in/garbage out". Reporting is made more available to the users. They can run their own reports, and put them in current desktop tools, like Excel. We reduce data redundancy. The same data isn’t replicated across several systems, because PeopleSoft is _the_ system.
2. For those of us who print our account numbers on our envelopes will we need to order new envelopes?
No. Continue to use the old ones until you run out.
3. What do people do when they need to print new envelopes in November?
When you need to order new ones, use your new ChartField combination, or print them with both your FAST account number or ChartField combination.
4. Will we be able to get to information by vendor in the GL Inquiry Pages?
In GL Inquiry pages, you will be able to "drill" back to account detail that contains the vendor name. You will not be able to search by vendor.
5. Will the system generate POs?
Yes. You create a requisition, and a process that runs in the system turns those requisitions into POs.
6. Will employees be able to buy things without creating requisitions, going through Purchasing?
Yes, but according to APL 30, purchases except those listed in the APL should be made through a purchase order or through the Purchase card. You will have a way to create requisitions for those purchases that happen outside of the purchasing process, such as subscription and license fees that renew. It’s called a Confirming Invoice requisition.
7. Will there still be Petty Cash?
Yes.
8. Will Benefactor change?
Benefactor itself will not change. There will be an interface to move financial information from Benefactor to PeopleSoft just as there is to move financial information to FAST.
9. What is the limit for automatically approved requisitions?
The answer depends on the campus. The limits are set by the individual campuses.
10. What is receiving? Is it physical or systematic?
Receiving, when we are talking PeopleSpeak, is a process, a task within PeopleSoft. You "receive" (take possession of) your order, then in PeopleSoft, "receive" the goods.
11. Will invoices be mailed directly to offices or to payables?
Each campus will have one or more offices where invoices will be mailed.
12. How long will match exceptions remain in the system, and how long will they remain after being resolved?
Match Exceptions will remain in the system until they are resolved. Once they are resolved, they remain until the next Match cycle runs (later that day).
13. Will we be able to do partial requisitions? One person start it another finish it?
Yes. You will be able to start it, then put it on "hold" for someone else to finish it.
14. How will reports be distributed? By paper? Electronically?
In many cases, you will be able to run your own reports. Reports can be emailed, saved as spreadsheets and shared on local drives, shared via webpages or distributed by paper.
15. Who will have access to reports?
Access to GL Inquiry Pages, which replaces WebFAST will be given to all of those people who have WebFAST now. These pages will have more information and will serve, we hope, 95 percent of the Financial reporting needs. Access to other reports will depend on your "role" in the Financial systems. People who create requisitions will have access to different reports than those people who create journal entries on line.
16. Does creating requisitions take more time than paying the bills?
At first, yes, because you will be learning a new task. Once you get used to it, there will not be a significant difference in the amount of time it takes.
17. Will e-procurement change?
Yes! It’s getting even better! We will be implementing "e-Store" which will be one site where you can access, to start with, Boise-Cascade and Fisher. The plan is for more vendors to be added to make this more useful in the future.
18. Will we still be doing check requests?
Yes.
19. When do the processes run?
There are many different processes. Some, like the posting of journal entries will run once a day, at night. Another, the process that moves requisitions to purchase orders will happen several times a day.
20. Is there a batch way to enter invoices?
There is a way to enter many invoices at once.
21. Will purchase cards change?
No.
22. How will we see the data for FY 2005 for the six months in the system prior to Go-Live?
WebFAST will still be available to view the prior six months before Go-Live and past years of data that have been loaded into WebFAST. How long WebFAST will be around has not yet been determined.
23. When will training start?
Starting in late summer, we will be offering a class called "How Business is Changing." This class describes the various things that will be changes as we move into PeopleSoft financials, and includes new things too. In early November, the campuses will start holding classes on creating requisitions and creating journal entries, etc.
24. What does December look like? Should we have all our work caught up or save some?
Don’t save work! Get caught up if you can. There’s always more to come along.
25. Can I get a Hard copy of the requisition?
26. Will POs as we know them go away?
27. How will Utilities be paid? Standing order?
28. Will everyone use Requisitions on PeopleSoft? Will no one use paper forms?
29. Will we still order from Central Supply at UM the way we do now?
30. Will IDOs change?
31. Will anything about the cash receipts we put in ISIS change?
32. What does it mean in your "Changes" document that invoices will be sent to a central office? Won’t be continue to receive our own invoices?
33. Will we be able to tell by looking at the GL Inquiry pages who created the journal entry?
34. How are requisitions approved?
35. When Expenses becomes self-service, what happens to the receipts? How do we verify the data entered?
36. Will there be one purchase order form for the system or will each institution have their own?
37. What happens with packing slips? Do we keep them? Mail them to the Accounts Payable office?
38. Is a requisition doesn’t pass the budget check, will it stop the requisition from being processed?
39. If the budget check doesn’t stop the requisition, does this mean that the approver will have to check the account using GL Inquiry pages before approving the requisition?
40. Will vendors’ email addresses be available somewhere so that we can email a vendor and asked questions about products?
41. How will student refunds be done? Will they continue to go through Accounts Payable?
42. Can we do batch invoices?
43. Will we continue to get reports from Student Receivables like we do now so that we can verify the cash receipts entered?
44. If we have to pay a referee, for example, how does the check get created? Do I create a requisition and it skips the purchase order?
45. What kind of support will be available for Go-Live and after?
46. How will encumbrances as the result of requisitions happen?
47. Could you provide a "sneak preview" for us…perhaps a document that shows some screen shots of how requisitions and journal entry will look?
48. How will we log into Financials? Will we have a new website and a new signon and password?
49. Will the bookstores continue to create own purchase orders?
50. Will those using the Bookstore software have to continue to do double entry for credit memos or to correct invoices?
51. When using self-service Expenses, how will the user know which chartfield combination to use?
52. Who approves the expenses reimbursement request?
53. What financial data will be in PeopleSoft at Go_live?
54. How will we correct a requisition or purchase order if we see that something on it isn’t going to be right?
55. How will we receive part of an order? We rarely get the whole order at once!