In attendance: Paul Anderson, Anna Bloch, Peggy Bottorff, Chris Cook, Margie Cox, Bill Fitzpatrick, Steve Grasson, Ginger Knutsen, Sue Koski, Scott Jones, Dave McCarren, Tim Miller, Chris Murphy, Eileen Prazniak, Ruth Tauber.

Absent: Lisa Huber.

The first steps for the Team are to learn about PeopleSoft, and identify implementation issues. The Team will then devise a training plan.

At the Team’s April 10 meeting, Team members were asked to prepare a brief abstract of a presentation from the Higher Education User Group (HEUG) website to share with the group. The url is:

The abstracts can be sent to Peggy or directly to the group. R1, W1, W3, W4, W5, W6 have already been completed. The others (T1, T2, T3, T4, T5, T6, W2, and R2) should be completed prior to the May 13 meeting.

In May 2000, the Chart of Accounts Focus groups identified functionality that would be useful in a new chart of accounts designed around the PeopleSoft system.

A system feature known as speed types limits the number of alpha numeric characters that a user will need to enter in order to access or point to a particular account. Other numbers, or "chartfields," will automatically be supplied by the system.

The term, "PS Fund," in PeopleSoft is roughly equivalent to the current 1-9 funds.

The term, "PS Account," in PeopleSoft is equivalent to object codes in the current Chart of Accounts. "Account" will be used in PeopleSoft to track types of expenses.

The term, "PS Department," in PeopleSoft is roughly equivalent to the 11 digit account codes in the current chart of accounts.

The term, "PS Project" in PeopleSoft is important for working with grants. When not working with grants this information will not generally be needed.

The term, "class," in PeopleSoft is a totally user defined area, valuable for customizing data for individual units.

Chartfield conversion is a web-based tool under development, which will allow a user to enter a pre-PeopleSoft account code and obtain the equivalent PeopleSoft "department."

A handout entitled PS Department Code Naming Conventions was distributed.

There will be drop down menus to assist in navigating the system. There will be identifers for lines for professional and salaried staff, similar to what we have now. This will permit the history of lines to be easily tracked. For faculty who generally do not move from one college to another or to different positions within a college, a unique identifier will be used for each person. That is, there will not be repeated faculty line numbers in different departments.

The tree structure employed by the PeopleSoft database offers great promise for customizing queries and reports. A future meeting of the PS Financials Communication & Training Team will be devoted to using queries in PeopleSoft.

1) Terminology and nomenclature: The term "department" which refers to what we now call accounts and the term "account" which refers to what we now call object codes are going to be confusing at first.

2) The structure of the chart of accounts will be different, but the speed type and chartfield tools will assist in the transition.

3) Queries and reports will differ from the current Data Warehouse, but are very flexible and powerful. A Report Team will evaluate options and make recommendations.

4) Forms will look different. Purchase requisitions and JV’s will look different. The Single Charge Miscellaneous billing and the Multi-Charge billing forms will be discussed at a future Ps Finanacials Communication /Training Core Team meeting.

5) There will be fewer paper statements.

6) Grants will look different to the user departments.

7) The BTA will change when the new budget module Is implemented.

Advantages of Moving to PS Financials:

1. The system is client centered and will permit financials to be moved off the mainframe.
2. HR and Financials will be able to talk to each other (at some point in the future).

3) The system offers real advances in ease of use due to being web-based.

• Campus needs assessment planning.

• On-line resources review/assignment.

• Review of HEUG abstracts to identify valuable ones.

NEXT MEETING:

The Team will meet on Monday, May 13, 2002 at 10:30 a.m. in 003 Hullihen.

The Team will not meet on May 29, 2002 due to the Memorial Day Holiday, but will meet sometime the week of the 29^th.

Submitted 5/2/02

Paul Anderson