| RUMOR: I hear that processing time is excessive in FMS. Is that true? |
ANSWER: No, not necessarily. It depends upon the circumstances. There are many factors that affect processing time.
PeopleSoft FMS operates in one of two processing modes: Deferred Processing Mode and Interactive Processing Mode.
Some pages within FMS operate in the deferred processing mode. This means that you can input data with minimal interruption
or trips to the server. On the other hand, some pages within FMS operate in the interactive processing mode. This means
that when you input data, FMS may need to check in with the server to validate this data. Each trip to the server refreshes
the page (updates the data), which may slow down the application. Also if invalid data is input when in interactive mode,
a warning message appears with an explanation of the problem.
Another factor that affects processing time is the Expert Entry mode. Some expert or power users can be set up with the option
of deferring all processing of the data that they enter. This enables these users to reduce the amount of trips to the server
for processing, regardless of whether a given page is set to operate in a deferred or interactive mode. This feature may
be set up, however, by the application developers and then enabled by the FMS Security Administrator.
Finally, one more factor that can affect processing time is cache status. Cache refers to a memory subsystem that duplicates
FMS pages so they can be retrieved quicker. For example, the first time you access FMS in production, you will have no cache
because you have not been on the system prior to this. When you first access a page or menu item, for example, Add/Update
Requisitions, FMS will duplicate this page on the computer. The next time you access this page, FMS will not have to take
a trip to the server to get this page for you since a duplicate of this page exists.
Rumor and Answer posted: July 2006
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| RUMOR: I've heard that we will not be getting Budget Reports that include funds with zero dollars. |
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ANSWER: That is correct. If a particular fund has not had any activity for 2006 to early 2007 and has a zero balance, this
data will not be converted to PeopleSoft FMS. If the fund does not have a zero balance, for accountability purposes, this data must be brought over to PeopleSoft FMS.
Rumor and Answer posted: August 2006
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| RUMOR: I have heard that I might actually be able to know who transferred money into my budget account. Presently, we can't
identify who initiated such a transaction. |
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ANSWER: You are right. The name of the person who initiated this transaction will be listed in the description associated
with that budget. The same situation will prevail for expense transfers.
Rumor and Answer posted: August 2006
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| RUMOR: That the FMS project is behind. Will that affect the SA timeline? If SA runs late what will happen with a hard shut
off date for the mainframe of January 2009? |
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ANSWER: Any project of this size can have, at any one point in time, tasks that are behind schedule or ahead of schedule.
The BG@100 project is on schedule at this time. As for the shut off date for the mainframe, the exact date is yet to be
determined but will follow shortly after student goes live.
Rumor and Answer posted: August 2006
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RUMOR: The rumor I have heard is: that SFA is going PRO Sam and not people soft
RUMOR: Is Financial Aid office going PeopleSoft or ProSAM? |
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ANSWER: The goal is to implement the PeopleSoft product, however, the Student Financial Aid Office has voiced some concerns.
The next steps are to attend training on the PeopleSoft products and then enter into a fit gap and planning process. After
this is completed, the Executive Steering Committee will discuss next steps.
Rumor and Answer posted: August 2006
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| RUMOR: The rumor I have heard is all invoices from the day of implementation of FMS will be routed to Accounts Payable and
not to the individual departments for entry into FMS. How will the Accounts Payable department know who made the purchase
and where to scan and send the invoice to? Also, will this process slow down the payment of invoices? |
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ANSWER: Because we are going to use document imaging to scan our invoices, we must have the invoices sent to a central location.
Presently, we believe this scanning operation will be located somewhere in the Business Office.
Accounts Payable will know which department made the purchase if the purchase was initiated through the purchase requisition process. A purchase requisition is a document requesting authorization
to make a purchase. This requisition will be sourced to a purchase order and then associated purchase order number will be
listed on the vendor invoice. The invoice will be scanned and directed to an invoice inbox of sorts. When business office
personnel check their invoice inbox, this invoice and its associated purchase order will be matched to the voucher. The originating
department will be able to view both the scanned invoice and voucher by accessing the Document Status Inquiry page through
the FMS Purchasing module.
Vendor invoices that are received at our scanning location that have no associated purchase order will also be scanned. A scanned copy of the invoice will then be directed back to the originating department through our
document imaging email function. The originating department will need to create a confirming requisition referencing the
vendor invoice number, which will then be sourced to a confirming purchase order. Only then will Accounts Payable be able
to process a voucher for this vendor invoice. This will most likely delay the payment of the invoice.
Your best bet is to follow the purchasing requisition process described earlier. For purchases under 1500, no approval is
necessary; the requisition will automatically be sourced to a purchase order and will most likely reach the vendor that same
day.
Rumor and Answer posted: August 2006
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RUMOR: I have heard that FMS will not permit us to process multiple invoices on a single payment voucher.
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ANSWER: You are correct. The reason PeopleSoft does not permit us to process multiple invoices on a single payment voucher
is for matching reasons. We will be using a three-way matching process. This process compares vouchers with purchase orders
and receiving documents. This ensures that BGSU only pays for goods and services that have been ordered and received. If
FMS would permit us to associate multiple invoices with a singly payment voucher, matching would not work. The system matches
one voucher, to one purchase order, and one receiver document. This also makes reconciling our financial transactions easier
also. By the way, FMS does permit us to link multiple payment vouchers to a single check.
Rumor and Answer posted: August 2006
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| RUMOR: I've heard that PeopleSoft will not encumber funds at the time a Quick Invoice is processed? Presently, when we process
electronic PO1s and PO2s, funds are encumbered. Also, when will funds be disencumbered? |
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ANSWER: The PeopleSoft FMS Quick Invoice is essentially a payment voucher. The AFIN PO1 and PO2 are technically a special
type of purchase order. PeopleSoft only encumbers funds when a purchase order is processed. If a requisition is involved
the funds are pre-encumbered. The funds are then relieved or "disencumbered" when the voucher is budget checked.
After a Quick Invoice is processed by a user, it is routed electronically to Accounts Payable. It will then go through a
voucher build process which will automatically create a payment voucher. A budget check will run and if the funds are there,
the budget will be relieved of that particular expenditure. Please note that the paper invoice will need to be received by
the business office to authorize the payment voucher and relieve the budget of the expenditure.
Rumor and Answer posted: August 2006
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| RUMOR: Account Managers are not permitted to participate in Requester training. They are required to complete Approver training
but are not permitted to complete both FMS Approver training and Requester training? |
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ANSWER: Yes, it is true that Approvers are not going through Requester Training. The reason is that Approvers are designated
with separate duties in the hierarchy of procurement at BGSU. By design, the system is built to ensure the people entering
requisitions cannot also approve them. This prevents a conflict of interest and possible in appropriate acts by employees.
This is not to be seen as characterizing any of our employees as less than honest. Instead it is to protect our staff members
and the University from misunderstandings of roles.
That being said, Approvers are not expressly prohibited from taking requester training. However, there is a limited amount
of resources to get all requesters trained by the February Go-Live date and filling classes with Approvers is not going to
contribute to the success of that task. Approvers who desire to take the training should be able to do so after the first
of March 2007. It should be noted that the training itself will NOT give the user access to or security authorization for
entering purchase requisitions. These duties must remain the responsibility of those assigned this role. With no exceptions,
no one user will have the ability to both enter and approve the same requisition."
Rumor and Answer posted: December 2006
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| RUMOR: Our office is trying to determine how the current balance sheets are being handled once in FMS. Currently, our online
reservation system takes money in through Sallie Mae and places it in a balance sheet account for use. What might this look
like in FMS? |
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ANSWER: Under FMS, we will continue with the balance sheet account for use concept. The online reservation system will continue
to take money in through Sallie Mae and place it in a balance sheet account for use. The only difference (besides the look
and feel of FMS) will be the chartfield fund and balance sheet account numbers will be new.
Rumor and Answer posted: December 2006
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