Tuesday, April 18, 2017

Two weeks and counting to Year End and the new financial system

A message from Finance

If Year End wasn’t busy enough, we thought we’d try for a real challenge by going live with the University’s new financial system, Unit4, at the same time!

We’re down to just under two weeks to launch and want to draw your attention to a few items of note:

• Since it is also year end, please ensure that transactions relating to fiscal 2016/17 are processed in a timely manner. You should review the Fiscal Year End Memo to note any applicable deadlines.
• If you have out-of-pocket expenses to claim for reimbursement, ensure you have submitted your claim with enough time for it to be completely processed prior to April 30^th. In order to effect the changeover to the new account coding structure, any claims still in process on May 1 will need to be deleted and re-entered in the new year. Please review the Concur memo issued last week.
• If you have a P-Card or are a P-Card reviewer, please ensure you have reviewed the P-Card memo issued last week to understand how the changeover to the new coding structure will impact you.
• If you haven’t yet had the chance, you may find it helpful to review the information on the new chart of accounts on the Finance Training SharePoint site. The site includes videos of information sessions previously held. The December session in particular outlined the new chart of accounts structure. An Account Lookup Tool has been created and is being populated with data. Most operating, trust, and endowment funds are already populated and the last of the operating and research will be added soon.
• Some training has already occurred for individuals who issue customer invoices and those who are high-volume requisitioners.  More training will be offered after May 1 (signups will be through myHRinfo) for other requisitioners and anyone who missed the earlier training. For those who prefer self-study, the same Requisitioner and non-Purchase Order invoice training sessions are available in LEARN. These sessions include how to approve these items within Unit4 as well.
• Please remember that the Unit4 implementation will mark the end of paper requisitions and the online web requisition (“e-req”). All requisitions are to be entered directly into Unit4 as of May 1, 2017.  The e-req will be deactivated at the end of the day on Friday, April 28^th Thursday, April 27.
• The news article posted on March 31 outlines a bit of what our world will look like come May 1^st in some key areas. It included some information from HR on the interim Detailed Salary Reporting solution and general information about when we expect some financial reporting to be available in Unit4.

There will be more targeted messages for those dealing in Research and those who will be responsible for approvals in the coming weeks. Stay tuned if you’re in one or both of these groups.

HR updates to support the launch of Unit4

​A message from Human Resources

Changes to HR forms

To support the launch of the new Finance system, Unit4, the Human Resources (HR) team is revising all paper and on-line forms to display the new account code structure. The new forms will be available on the HR website the week of April 24. Employees will be advised to use the appropriate new form for all submissions after May 1. All forms referencing the old account codes will be removed from HR’s website at end of day Apr 28. After a short transition period, forms submitted with old AFFs will be returned so that the requestor can re-submit the form with the correct account and posting attributes.

Detailed Salary Reporting

With the launch of Unit4 on May 1, FORE reporting will no longer be updated with new salary and scholarship payment data. A replacement solution is being developed by HR in partnership with IST and the Student Information System team. The team has developed a plan to build a new reporting solution which will provide the same functionality as FORE reporting with a few added capabilities. For example, scholarship and benefits information will be available as separate reports. Access to this reporting solution will be granted by Finance through user set up in Unit4.  

The Detailed Salary Reporting solution is expected to be available on May 31 (after the first monthly pay is processed with the new Unit4 account and posting attributes). The team will schedule information sessions in late May and early June to provide users with an opportunity to familiarize themselves with the capabilities of the new Detailed Salary Reporting solution. Over the next few weeks more information will be made available to staff who will have access to this reporting system.

For more information or assistance, contact hrhelp@uwaterloo.ca.

There's still time to register for EQUALS

The University of Waterloo is hosting the Excellence and Quality of Academic Life in STEM (EQUALS) conference on May 11 and 12.

EQUALS is a venue for graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and young scholars considering an academic career in a Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) field. The purpose of this conference is to explore the spectrum of pathways of academic success in STEM with an explicit focus on gender equity and its intersections with other identity markers.

Highlights include:

• A keynote address by Dr. Lesley Shannon, Simon Fraser University
• Workshops on strategic networking, academic interviewing, and work-life balance
• Presentation by Ontario’s Pay Equity Commissioner on salary negotiation

For more information, please visit www.uwaterloo.ca/equals or visit the event page on Facebook. Register today!

The registration deadline is April 28 at 11:59 p.m.

Supervisors and faculty members: please consider sponsoring your graduate students to attend EQUALS to participate in a valuable professional development experience.