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November 19 Tuesday Tips

Tuesday, November 19, 2019

We would like to wish you and yours a wonderful and happy Thanksgiving! If you are traveling, please do so safely! Here are the tips for the week of November 18:

Contents:

Tip #1: Finance – New Reference Guide: Finance Department Trees with Control and Transaction hierarchies

Tip #2: Finance – New Reference Guide: Purchasing and Payables Quick Account Codes

Tip #3: Finance – Travel and Expenses: Travel Policy Change (Format only)

Tip #4: Finance – Sponsored Projects: Project/Activity Dates Query

Tip#5: Finance – Accounting: Chartstring Anomaly Testing

Tip #6: Finance/OneUSG Connect – New Simpler Reporting

Tip #7: OneUSG Connect – Commitment Management: Retro Changes – Training and Deadlines!

Tip #8: OneUSG Connect – Payroll: Taxable Fringe Benefit Withholding

Tip #9: OneUSG Connect – Payroll: Campaign for Charities Withholding

Tip #10: OneUSG Connect – Workforce Administration: Intermittent Employees (Short Work Break)

Tip #11: OneUSG Connect – Known Issue Resolved: Retro Distributions

Tip #12: Human Resources – Business Process Review

Tip #13: OneSource – CAS Update to SSO: December

Training, Updates and Reminders:

Submit a tip:

 

Tip #1: Finance – New Reference Guide: Finance Department Trees with Control and Transaction hierarchies

There is a new guide that displays the Financial Departments Tree Structure, including Unit Level, Control and/or Transaction labels for each department ((UL), (C) and (CT) information). This is similar to the Department Tree report in the UGA Budget Management System. Both the Financial Department Tree Structure and a Guide to using it can be found on the Chart of Accounts Resources Page. Training materials can be found in the Training Library for both the Quick Reference Materials for Practitioners and the Chart of Accounts. The tree structure uses an Excel Pivot Table with Slicers for collapsible information (not a cube, this is a standalone document). The guide will be republished on a regular basis as departments are added to the tree.

Tip #2: Finance – New Reference Guide: Purchasing and Payables Quick Account Codes

A new Account Codes Quick Reference Guidehas been created in response to an enhancement request for Purchasing and Payables to “add a reference lookup for Account Codes with pertinent examples.” This is also linked from the Quick Reference materials list for Practitioners in the Training Library. For additional information on enhancements or to submit a suggestion, please visit the OneSource Roadmap.

Tip #3: Finance – Travel and Expenses: Travel Policy Change (Format only)

To better align the format of UGA’s Travel Policy with the corresponding format of the University System of Georgia (USG) Board of Regents travel policy and business procedure manual, the University’s Travel Policy format has been updated. There are no changes to the current UGA policy requirements, limitations or procedures, only formatting changes. For travelers, a policy quick reference guide is also available in the OneSource Training Library Questions about Travel can be directed to the OneSource Service Desk at onesource@uga.edu. 

Tip #4: Finance – Sponsored Projects: Project/Activity Dates Query

Do you need to be able to see start and end dates for all projects in your department? Try the Financial Management System query: UGA_GM_DATES_BY_ACTIVITY. This query can be run by Dept ID, Project ID, Activity ID and/or date range, and includes the following fields: Project Start/End Dates; Activity Start/End Dates; KK Start/End Dates; and Actual Finish Date (used for payroll posting). 

Tip#5: Finance – Accounting: Chartstring Anomaly Testing

A chartstring anomaly is a chartstring that has a combination of fields that are not in line with the Chart of Account Code Structure: Fund/Class combinations, Fund/Revenue combinations and Expense transactions with a blank Program/Class. Known anomalies are sent to College/Unit Financial Leads and then sent to the various departments for correction. If you receive these, corrections should be made during the month the request is received or the next month if received during the last week of the month.

Tip #6: Finance/OneUSG Connect – New Simpler Reporting

A new data application will be coming to Simpler this week! It is modeled after the Payroll Expenses Detail query in OneUSG Connect. All Simpler users will have access and there will be no department level security. This data app uses the information in the UGA Financials Management System table (PERS_SERV_BOR) that flows over from OneUSG Connect. The OneSource Service Desk is available at onesource@uga.edu or 706-542-0202 (option 2) to assist with any questions.

Tip #7: OneUSG Connect – Commitment Management: Retro Changes – Training and Deadlines!

OneUSG Connect will retire the Budget Retro and the Direct Retro processes as part of the December system update. As part of this transition, there is a deadline of November 26 (11:00 p.m.) for Change Funding, Budget Retros (triggered by back dated Change Funding) and Direct Retros to be submitted and approved by Central Commitment Accounting for these requests to be fully processed before the system update on December 6. Any requests that do not meet this deadline and cannot be processed will be denied or deleted. Change Funding and the new Express Direct Retro requests can be entered on December 10 when OneUSG Connect becomes available.

An overview of the new Express Direct Retro functionality within OneUSG Connect will be held via three interactive webinars listed in the training section. All individuals who process Budget Retros and Direct Retros should plan to attend training on the new functionality. 

Tip #8: OneUSG Connect – Payroll: Taxable Fringe Benefit Withholding

As a reminder, the IRS requires UGA to add the value of taxable fringe benefits (e.g., relocation expenses, athletic tickets, Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) and housing) to gross income for tax reporting and also requires employers to withhold FICA, state taxes and federal taxes from fringe benefits that are included as income. Affected employees were emailed on November 15. To help mitigate the impact, this tax withholding will be spread across November and December paychecks instead of the entire amount being withheld in a single paycheck. Please note that state and federal taxes and their impacts vary by person and level of income, and that each individual’s situation is different. In addition, please note that we cannot offer tax advice.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact UGA Payroll at oneusgsupport@uga.edu  or 706-542-6931. Fringe benefits received in the reporting year of  November 2018 – October 2019 will be reported and the associated taxes will be withheld in the following paycheck dates: ​

 

Biweekly:

Monthly:

November 22

November 29

December 6

December 31

December 20

 

 

Tip #9: OneUSG Connect – Payroll: Campaign for Charities Withholding

Don’t forget to complete your State Charitable Campaign Program (SCCP) by November 26 in Employee Self Service of OneUSG Connect! All paper forms must be received by the University Budget Office by December 2 to be processed. As of November 14, over $230,244 has been raised and total participation is at 8.66%. The system will allow you to opt out or to complete the full process online to support one or more of the 1,100 charities in Georgia. The first deduction for bi-weekly employees will be on January 3 and for monthly employees, it will be January 31. Additional information can be found at Charities.uga.edu.

Tip #10: OneUSG Connect – Workforce Administration: Intermittent Employees (Short Work Break)

As we head into Spring Semester, units may have employees that will not be actively working during spring, such as faculty who only teach one semester a year or seasonal workers. These intermittent employees may be placed on Short Work Break (SWB) for periods of time if you intend to have them work within the next year. In addition, they remain an active employee although excluded from payroll during the SWB. When requesting a SWB, please submit requests as close to the break as possible and no more than 6 weeks out. Doing so, will ensure that the employee's record is updated timelier and reflecting in the current status. More information is to come from Central HR on how long they can remain in the SWB status. If you have questions regarding student workers and Rehired Retirees, please contact Central HR.

Tip #11: OneUSG Connect – Known Issue Resolved: Retro Distributions

On November 13, OneUSG Connect identified a large batch of retro adjustments that had not updated the necessary tables within OneUSG Connect. System managers could not see these retro transactions reflected in the Payroll Expense Detail query. In addition, UGA Financial Management financial and business managers could not see the accounting entries associated with these retro transactions. As of November 15, this issue has been resolved.This issue is posted and updated on the Known Issues Page.

Tip #12: Human Resources – Business Process Review

A comprehensive evaluation of Human Resources (HR) post-implementation business processes will be conducted by Sibson, a nationally recognized leader in higher education HR consulting. The evaluation will consist of around 60 hours of interviews and focus group sessions from December 2019 to January 2020. If you are interested in participating in a focus group, please complete this poll.

Tip #13: OneSource – CAS Update to SSO: December

Certain OneSource systems are transitioning from the current Central Authentication Service (CAS) to UGA Single Sign-On (SSO) in December. The look and feel of the login page will change to UGA SSO, but the login process will remain the same. ​The systems that will be impacted in the December update include: UGAJobs, UGAmart, Concur, OneUSG Connect and Financials. All university web applications will use UGA SSO by March 6, 2020.

Training, Updates and Reminders:

Holiday Payroll: With the upcoming holiday breaks, don’t forget about the holiday calendars available on the Payroll Office calendars page, in addition to previously mentioned payroll related items such as monthly pay dates in November and December, electronic W-2 delivery consent and the 360-vacation/annual leave limit. For questions, contact oneusgsupport@uga.edu or 706-542-0202 (option 1).

Holiday Communication Schedule: Due to the holidays, there will be no Tuesday Tips on November 26, December 24 and 31. Weekly Status Calls will not be hosted on November 28, December 26 and January 2.

Benefits Surcharge: HR will be contacting the 840 employees who have a defaulted surcharge status. Employees can still update the tobacco and working spouse certification by calling OneUSG Connect Benefits at 1-844-587-4236​.

Ethics Awareness Required Trainings: The USG Board of Regents has recently issued information to each USG institution about two mandatory trainings: (1) Ethics Policy Refresher for employees hired prior to July 1 and (2) Cyber Security Awareness for all current USG employees. These must be completed by December 31. To complete these required trainings, logon to the Professional Education Portal (PEP) with your UGA MyID and password. For questions about either training, contact the Human Resources Service Desk at (706) 542-2222 or e-mail hrweb@uga.edu.

UGAJobs Training:

Available to units by request. Central HR will come to you!

Sponsored Programs (GRASP) Training:

For all GRASP courses, register with Training & Development

  • Class 6: Special Topics; December 3, 9 a.m. - noon ​

Budget and Direct Retro Replacement Training:

UGAmart for Beginners Training:

Financials - Project Status Report Training:​

The new Payroll Tab will be covered at the below sessions. Register via PEP. ​For more information, please visit the SPA webpage.

·         December 9, 10:30 a.m.​

Pcard Training – Online!

  • Initial Pcard Training, Refresher Pcard Training and Procurement Card Information
  • Located on the Procurement site

System Maintenance and Releases:

  • December 6 (5 p.m.) – December 9 (7 a.m.): Financial & Budget Management Feature Release – PUM (PeopleSoft Update Manager).
  • December 6 (5 p.m.) – December 10 (7 a.m.): OneUSG Connect will be unavailable. Additional information and updates can be found on the OneSource News page.
  • December 13 (10 p.m. to 2 a.m.): Financial Management & Budget Management Operating System Maintenance.
  • December 14: Budget Management Feature Release – No downtime expected (moved from November to December)
  • Find updates posted for UGA Systems: status.uga.edu; USG systems: status.usg.edu
  • OneSource Roadmappage 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.
  • Known Issues information is posted and updated regularly.

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 Tuesday Tips resource page on the OneSource website.