December 2015

1. WFS UPGRADE

  • Upgraded “Sandbox” Version Available
  • Schedule – Updated Finance Calendar
  • Special AP and PCard Schedules
  • Approvals

OTHER NEWS
2. Student Accounts
3. Travel Insurance
4. Minimum Wage Increase
5. Budget Reminders
6. Purchasing News

1. WFS UPGRADE
As previously communicated, WFS is being upgraded from version 9.0 to 9.2.   A “Sandbox” version of the system is now available for users to experience the new look and feel.  It can be accessed at https://pf92test.wesleyan.edu and through your portfolio under *WFS Sandbox 9.2 Upgrade Test Database” (note you may be asked to log in again).  The data is as of October 20, 2015. Please be aware that the Finance staff is also using this for testing so you may encounter numbers that are not realistic.  It is also important to note that the performance of the system does not reflect that of the upgraded system in January 2016. Please see attached document for more detailed information on use of the “Sandbox”.

Other Upgrade items to keep in mind:

A) Schedule – Updated Finance Calendar
Change from previous communication – WFS will come down at noon on Thursday, January 7 and will not be back up until Monday, January 11. Please plan accordingly and monitor the Finance Outlook calendar  for special deadlines and schedules.

B) Special AP and PCard Schedules
The following special deadlines are in effect in December and January:

Accounts Payable – Special check run for December 23rd, 2015 for vouchers that are in the AP inbox by noon on December 21st.

PCard – Accelerated due date of 12/11/2015 for November PCard vouchers. Modified download date of 01/12/2016 for December PCard vouchers and extended voucher due date of 03/20/2016 for December PCard vouchers

C) Approvals
As previously mentioned, there cannot be smartdocs in workflow when the upgraded system is implemented. This includes deposit transmittals. Please be sure to send over your deposit as soon as possible after submission of the Deposit Smartdoc. For any deposits created on Monday, January 4, 2016 please walk the deposit to the Cashier’s Office in North College. Do not rely on Campus Mail.  All vouchers created prior to January 5 and that do not need to be paid for December 23rd need to be in the AP inbox by 4:00 on Tuesday, January 5 in order to allow AP time to approve and get them out of workflow.

The Finance Office will be notifying approvers who have old, unapproved documents but please do your part in approving documents through workflow in a timely manner. In addition, from January 5-7, 2016 users will be able to create and save smartdocs but will not be able to submit them to workflow until January 11, 2016.

OTHER NEWS
2.Student Accounts
This time of year the Student Accounts Office receives requests to have miscellaneous charges (i.e. fundraising events) post to student’s accounts. The University does not permit discretionary charging on a student account. Departments hosting fee-related activities should plan to collect payment by cash/check only and use the Deposit Transmittal process to deposit funds to the appropriate smartkey/account.

3. Travel Insurance
Reminder that, per the University Travel and Other Expense policy, the cost of travel insurance (including baggage and flight) is not an allowable University cost.

4. Minimum Wage Increase
As a reminder, the state minimum wage will increase from $9.00 per hour to $9.60 per hour on January 1, 2016. If you have any student workers or others currently at the minimum wage, please plan accordingly. Operating budgets will be adjusted accordingly on July 1.

5. Budget Reminders
Please be sure to check your financial reports so that you are on track in your budgets. Assuming consistent spending throughout the year, budgets should be 41.7% expended.

6. Purchasing News
Please see attached Purchasing News for information on savings at BJs, Costco and Sprint.