August 10 Tuesday Tips
Friday, August 14, 2020
Tip #1: Office of Institutional Research: DawgCheck [WSC]
DawgCheck is an online tool for students, staff, and faculty to help assess and respond to COVID-19 cases at UGA in an effort to keep the campus community safe. DawgCheck consists of a reporting function which must be used by anyone who has received a positive COVID-19 test result, as well as a symptom checking tool which is strongly encouraged for all members of the UGA community to use before coming to campus. More information about this tool can be found on the DawgCheck website and FAQ page!
Tip #2: Training & Development: Fall Course Schedule [WSC]
Professional development classes for UGA faculty and staff are now available for the 2020 fall semester (August – December) through University Human Resources Training & Development. Registration for classes is through the Professional Education Portal and can be searched by course title, keyword, or subject. After registering, links and instructions for participating in virtual classes will be emailed directly from Training & Development at least one day before your class begins. Training & Development also provides team development workshops for units and career development consultations for staff members. Please contact Training & Development with questions and visit the Training & Development website for a complete list of current courses and additional learning resources for you and your team!
Tip #3: Phase 3 Return to Campus: Telecommuting and Flexible Scheduling [WSC]
Deans, Department Heads, and Directors have been advised by University Human Resources that they have the latitude to work with their faculty and staff to devise and implement flexible work schedules and telecommuting decisions internally for phase 3. Units should complete telework agreements with employees to be maintained at the college/unit level. Individual forms should be signed by August 31. While HR will not be approving each plan, units will be required to submit a teleworking summary for their faculty and staff to HR by September 18 for documentation and tracking purposes. This will assist unit leadership and the University to evaluate the percentage of faculty and staff utilizing an alternate schedule.
Please remember that this is different from the Telecommuting Policy that went into effect on August 10 when the University returned to full on-campus operations. For more information, please refer to the August 6 Weekly Status call or contact your designated HR Liaison.
Tip #4: Training: New Employees
With the start of the new academic year, comes the start of new staff and faculty! There are many resources that can be utilized to smooth their transition to UGA such as the folder of Quick Reference Materials for Employees in the Training Library. The Share hyperlink at the top of the selected training can be used to copy the link from the training library and share with others. Although essential travel is currently only permitted, the Quick Start for Faculty Travel (With Use of a Delegate) document could be particularly helpful. Please remember that with the June policy change, Delegates can no longer submit Travel Authorizations on behalf of the traveler, only create/edit.
Tip #5: Budget Management: Quarterly Review and BPSS Static Reports [WSC]
The Budget Management Quarterly Amendment Review will occur on September 25, December 18, and March 26, 2021 for the upcoming year. The fourth quarter review date has not yet been determined.
The BPSS Static Report information will be available beginning Saturday, August 15. This will provide a static cube and have a variety of reports, such as the Chartstring Budgets, Salary Data, and Position Funding Data, pointed to it, as well as be available for Smart View analysis.
Tip #6: FY20 Carryforward Has Posted!
The FY20 Carry Forward allocation process has run. FY21 Revenue (499100) in the Actuals Ledger, budgeted revenue (DEPT_REV) and budgeted expenditures (DEPT_CHILD) have been posted for Funds 14xxx, 15xxx, 20300 and 20400.
Please refer to the A/R, Deferred Revenue and Carry Forward Training for a step-by-step process of how to clean up any deficits that posted to the Actuals and Budget ledgers, transfer spendable budgets to other departments and what specific journals are required for specific funds. Please note that carry forward cannot be moved across Funds. Additional help in understanding how to move carry forward funding can be found in the Budgeting Revenues and Expenditures – Guidelines by Fund resource.
Budget checking has now been turned on for these funds. Revenue account code 499100 should not be used for any transactional activity other than transferring the funds from prior year to another department. No deposit or expenditure activity should be initiated against this account code.
Tip #7: Commitment Accounting: Funding End Date Mismatch [WSC]
The FY21 budget load process created position funding rows where the funding end date associated with the project/grant combo code was June 30, 2020 or earlier. While the combo code was used on the funding record for the position, the associated project/grant end date was not loaded, creating a mismatch between the funding end date associated with the project/grant combo code and funding end date on the position funding record.
This mismatch will be reflected on the Invalid Funding Report with the message: “Expenses will be posted to Department Suspense – Proj Grant End Date. Proj Grant End Dt Does Not Match the End Date in the Department Budget Table.”
Despite the wording of this message, since there is no project/grant end date on the position funding record, payroll expenses will post to the expired grant if the employee seated in the position is paid and funding for the position has not been updated. For this reason, each school/college/unit Financial Director will be provided with a list of impacted positions.
Departments should update the funding for the position via MSS Change Position Funding and if the project/grant has ended AND all personal service expenses charged to the grant are accurate, a request to inactivate the combo code should be submitted via the OneSource Service Desk. (NOTE: Once the combo code has been inactivated it can no longer be used for an Express Direct Retro – even if the EDR is for a pay period when the combo code was active).
Tip #8: Commitment Accounting: Non-Project Payroll Encumbrance [WSC]
In scenarios in which units have a need to stop payroll encumbrances before fiscal year end for employees who are not paid from projects, units should use the encumbrance workaround solution used last fiscal year. It is recommended that Fund 20400 (restricted non-sponsored) with class code 64VAR be used as a placeholder for these payroll encumbrances.
Questions on how this is implemented in your area should be directed to your college's or unit's business support team.
Tip #9: OneUSG Connect: Employees Working Outside U.S. [WSC]
If you have employees working outside of the United States in your unit, we need your help! IRS and international tax law require that an employee must be paid based on the location of where the work is performed, not where the employer is located. While the USG does not prohibit these arrangements, the complexity and variability of international taxation laws can require considerable time and expertise. We are working on setting up a compliant payroll arrangement with an external company which will help us employ and pay UGA employees located in another country and not returning to the U.S. This guidance applies to faculty, staff, and student employees. If you have any employees who are internationally-based, please send their name and ID to University Human Resources with a subject line of Global Pay by August 14.
Tip #10: Manage Faculty Events: Contracts [WSC]
As of August 6, 85% of Faculty Contracts have been signed! If you have faculty who have not signed their contract, please encourage them to do so as soon as possible. The data errors reported during the first and second cycles (e.g., MFE updates and job title corrections) are still being corrected. Please see the contracts page for information on requesting a new or corrected faculty contract. Questions on the contract process may be directed to Truitt Broome or Angie Carlson in the Office of Faculty Affairs.
Tip #11: Time & Labor: HR/Payroll [WSC]
If there is an update such as a Hire, Comp Rate Change, Comp Frequency Change or Termination that will impact an employee's pay, it needs to be entered and fully approved by the HR/Payroll Deadline. If the update is not approved by the deadline, there is no guarantee it will be processed in the current cycle. The deadline is always one week before the time and absence approval deadline found in the calendars on the payroll website under Quick Links. These can also be found on the Fiscal Master Calendar. The calendars also include other important dates such as Time and Absence Approval, Confirm Date, and Pay Date.
Tip #12: OneUSG Connect Workcenter: HR DeptID Related Queries [WSC]
A new query: 180_HR_DEPTID_RELATED_QUERIES - HR DeptID Related Queries will provide easy access to queries related to HR Departments. Located in the Workforce Administration section, the query will provide links and descriptions; these queries to not return any employee data, only HR Department data.
System Maintenance and Releases:
- UGA Systems: Find updates posted at status.uga.edu.
- Financial Management System Downtime: Friday, November 6 at 6:00 p.m. to Sunday, November 8
- USG Systems: Find updates posted on Practitioner Releases.
The OneSource Roadmap page includes enhancements as well as current timelines for
system upgrades and known maintenance. To submit a suggestion for an enhancement, please email us at onesource@uga.edu.
Submit a tip: Do you have tip to share? Email it to us at onesource@uga.edu.
You can find all the Tuesday Tip emails on the TuesdayTips resource page on the OneSource website.