The BG@100 Project Team is finishing the final implementation tasks and finalizing the plan for the February 5, 2007 FMS go-live. On January 31, 2007, the month of January 2007 will be closed in AFIN and AFIN will no longer be used at BGSU for conducting financial business. From February 1, 2007 through February 4, 007 the Project Team will wrap up the final conversion and go-live task for the FMS start-up. On Monday February 5, 2007, the FMS system will be the University's financial system. AFIN historical data will be available in a view only mode.

The FMS system will contain historical financial information at the general ledger journal level for the 2005/2006 fiscal year and for the period spanning July 1, 2006 through January 31, 2007 for the 2006/2007 fiscal year. Any purchase orders that were open in AFIN on January 31, 2007 will be manually rebuilt in FMS and available for process completion. By February 5, 2007, every department within the BGSU community will need to be prepared to utilize the web based FMS system to conduct financial transactions. Staff responsible for initiating the purchase of goods and services for each department must attend BG@100 FMS training to obtain the access required to transact the department's financial business.

Beginning February 5, 2007 when the University begins utilizing FMS, existing purchasing/financial controls, policies, and procedures will be enforced. Some example include:

Purchases must be transacted in the University's financial system. Departments will be required to initiate purchases by entering FMS requisitions or through the use of a University P-card. Purchases under $100 can be accommodated through the FMS Quick Invoice entry.

Purchases must be approved by the appropriate department authorities based on the dollar amount of the purchase. These individuals are assigned this responsibility by the department's Senior Administrator in accordance to the University purchasing policy.

Invoices submitted to the University by its vendors will not be processed for payment without the existence of an associated FMS purchase order and FMS receiver. Departments will be required to enter requisitions and receivers so that vendor payments can be processed.

Purchases of special category goods (computers, audio-visual equipment, radioactive isotopes, lasers, lab alcohol, and institutional memberships) will require special approvals. The FMS system will route requisitions for the purchase of such goods to the individuals responsible for approving these purchases.

In addition to the enforcement of financial controls, policies, and procedures, a separation of duties will be enforced in FMS to ensure proper segmentation of responsibilities. Departments will be required to assign the responsibility for creating requisitions to someone other than the individual assigned to be the budget administrator. This separates the role for requesting purchases from the role that approves purchases.

Beginning February 5, 2007, the Purchasing Office and Business Office will no longer accept paper documents used in AFIN to initiate the creation of purchase orders and to process vendor invoice payments. Departments will be required to use the on-line FMS system to transact these types of financial business. BG@100 FMS training is required for staff members that need access to transact this financial business.

Training

The BG@100 training team began conducting FMS hand-on training classes on September 30, 2006. To date, over 200 University employees have registered for FMS Requester training and over 100 University employees have registered for FMS Budget Administrator training. The training team will continue to offer hands-on training through January 2007. If you are an employee that processes your department's financial transactions and have not received an invitation to register for training, please contact the BG@100 Project Office at 372-3781 as soon as possible.

The BG@100 Training Team is training staff that are assigned the following responsibilities.

Requester - Designated by the Department Senior Administrator. This individual enters all requisitions and approves requisitions for purchase up to $1,499 in FMS. The individual in this role also enters and processes quick invoices for purchase under $100.

Budget Administrator - In Academic Units, most often the Chair; in Administrative Units, this is someone appointed by the Senior Administrator. The individual in this role approves purchase requisitions (entered by the Requester) up to $9,999 and is the individual that manages the financial activities for the department's expenditures, tracks budget balances, and monitors the department's purchasing process.

Senior Administrator - Dean, Director, Assistant or Associate Vice President or Vice Provost. The Senior Administrator can approve purchase requisitions up to $49,999. Senior Administrator training will be offered in January and training invitations will be sent out early in December.

If you have questions about FMS training, please e-mail the BG@100 Project Office at BGat100@bgsu.edu

BG@100 Project Office Update

The BG@100 Project Team would like to thank all the individuals that have assisted with the training and testing activities during the past two months. A special thank you is extended to staff in the Business Office. Purchasing Office, and SPAR Office. Everyone has been very generous with their time and it is greatly appreciated.