University of Delaware Financials: Training
Phase-II (implementing July 2004):
The second phase of PeopleSoft financials implementation encompasses
- Contracts & Grants
- Accounts Receivable (including new Cash Transmittal form)
- Miscellaneous Billing (non-student)
- Assett Management
These functions involve fewer users than did the first phase, and so
much of the training will be more specifically directed according to
the functional needs of each group of users. Staff whose work involves
Phase-II areas should also be familiar with
Phase-I topics below, because much of the same
vocabulary and data retrieval techniques are shared by both phases.
Most Phase-II training will take place in June, when the various forms and
screens
are close to their final form, and near enough to the July 1 date that
users will be able to actually put their training to use.
Overview of Phase II Training
Cognos
Going forward, it is anticipated that the primary ad-hoc reporting tool
for most
users of the UD-Financial and UDSIS Student Records systems will be
"Cognos". This is a
web-based reporting tool, so does not require any particular software be
installed on your local computer. It does require that you use Internet
Explorer (5.5 or higher).
The url for Cognos reporting (Financial or Student Records) is:
https://cognos.udel.edu/crn
If you cannot yet logon, but feel you want to be able to write and/or run
Cognos reports for UD Financial data, you can request
that access by emailing
Carol Rylee.
Cognos includes two fundamental utilities for ad-hoc reporting. The
simpler of these two is "Query Studio", the more
powerful is "Report Studio". Two training documents are available that
introduce users to these two components. They use a demonstration database
unrelated to either the Financial system or Student Records. You will
probably want to first work through the
Cognos Query Studio Tutorial, and then follow with the
Cognos Report Studio Tutorial.
From "Help" links in each Studio there also are Users Guides in pdf format
that you can search or print out for more detailed reference.
To help you achieve some familiarity with the structure of real UD data,
there are "Data Dictionaries" in the "Data & Terminology" area of this
website.
Phase-I (implemented July 2003):
Overview of Courses
This course is designed to be delivered by a member of the PeopleSoft
Communications Team, or by one of your colleagues who have already taken
the course. It is important for all users of UD financial information, and
should be taken before any of the other courses or learning tools
presented here.
If you would like to refresh your memory of the class, or download it to
deliver to others, the
Powerpoint
presentation is here in its entirety, and so is a summary
handout.
This course is designed to be delivered by a member of the PeopleSoft
Communications Team, or by one of your colleagues who have already taken
the course. It describes how to log on to the system, and includes a
variety of new utilities that will replace the legacy printed statements
and GA-Query screens for looking up financial data.
If you would like to refresh your memory of the class, or download it to
deliver to others, the
Powerpoint
presentation is here in its entirety, along with a summary
handout.
There also are several
optional slides, that go into a little more detail than some users
will need regarding Labor Allocation data, Budget Journals, monthly
statements, and running queries.
This course is designed to be delivered by a member of the PeopleSoft
Communications Team, or by one of your colleagues who have already taken
the course. It elaborates on the first "Basic Training" course, describes
Monthly Statements in more detail, now that they have been released,
responds to FAQ's that users have raised, and describes more public
queries that are available to all users.
If you would like to refresh your memory of the class, or download it to
deliver to others, the
Powerpoint
presentation is here in its entirety.
This training material introduces you to some of the basic functions
of the PeopleSoft (PS) Query tool as they are used at the University of
Delaware (UD). The Query tool is an end-user reporting tool, which allows
you to extract precise information using visual representations of your PS
database —without writing Structured Query Language (SQL) statements.
Queries can be used in the following ways:
- to display data in a grid (on the Preview tab),
- to preview queries within Query Manager and Query Viewer, displaying
the result set in a grid for review,
- to run queries as a separate process and send results to a separate
browser window, and
- to download query results to an Excel spreadsheet.
Prerequisite: To use this training material effectively, you
should have attended UD's PS Readiness Training.
Query Booster
For those who write queries and want to extend their skills
beyond the coverage of the Introductory Query class, there are three
articles on more advanced topics:
- Grouping Criteria:
The order in which criteria are evaluated within a query can significantly
affect the results. When you mix AND, OR, BETWEEN, and other operators you
can group them together and specify the order in which they are evaluated,
so the query will be sure to ask and answer the question you truly intend.
- Inner and Outer Joins:
Similarly, when the data for your query comes from more than one Record,
there may be rows in one Record that don't have any corresponding rows in
the other one. The default join created by the query tool is an "inner"
join - returning only rows that exist in both tables, and excluding rows
that exist in only one. You need to use some particular (and not very
intuitive) syntax to specify and "outer" join when you want the broader
result set.
-
How to Use a SUBSTRING in a DECODE Expression:
The "decode" function allows you to create a new field whose
value is conditional upon a logical expression. (For example: Using the
UOD_TRANS_DTL table, create a new field when the Amount of a transaction
with the Account 149800 is greater than $1000 and display the text "high
misc exp", otherwise display nothing.)
The "substring" feature in Expressions allows you to create a new field
that includes only certain characters within an existing field. (For
example: create a new 2-character field using the Purpose chartfield's
digits 5 and 6 to get the legacy fund type.)
There will be instances when you will want to use conditional logic on a
portion of the value in a field. Since the "decode" feature does not work
with wild card characters, you will need to use a "substring" within the
"decode".
Query Guides
Two guides are available in Excel format describing the several series of
public queries that are of general utility to many users.
- EZQ_UDQ_GMQ Guides are
for general use (Balances, Transactions, Categorization by various kinds
of funding, etc.). This workbook has several sheets, navigated by
tabs at the bottom.
- GMQ_PIQ Guide is a single
spreadsheet
for Grants Reporting queries.
The Labor Allocation Module (LAM) is a UD process that is "bolted on" to
PeopleSoft Financials. The purpose of the LAM is to spread salaries for
certain employees to the proper distributions for each pay within the
PeopleSoft Financials system. Those who need this training are beginning
to receive it in June. Those who have attended the course can review the
training document and the
Worksheet
on this website.
Effective 8/24 at 4:00 pm LAM entry will no longer be done in the
reporting database (FIRPT). We are moving the LAM and UD Obligations
pages from the report database to the production database (FIPRD).
Starting 8/25 at 8:00 am you must use the following URL
to enter LAM distributions. Your User Name and Password are the same as
you used previously in FIRPT. Please create a new "favorite" or
"bookmark" if you do not already have one for the production database.
(Note: production is the same database used for Grants proposal entry.)
www.udel.edu/lam =
https://turvy.nss.udel.edu:4480/psp/fiprd/
Monthly Statements
- New Purpose Web Statement:
Instructions are available to assist you in using this new
tool. At your earliest convenience, log on to
https://chico.nss.udel.edu/stmtview
to use the new Purpose Web Statement.
Users who are designated as "Statement Recipients" will be notified
by e-mail at the close of each month when that month's Web Statements
become available.
A public
query, "UDQ_REF_PURPS_W_ACTIV_BY_ADM" is available to identify the
purposes for which you are an Approver, Report Recipient or Viewer, and
that have had activity during a particular accounting period.
You may also find it useful to consult the
lists of values
for significant fields, especially the "Transaction Sources", whose values
are not expanded on the monthly statement, nor by the Crosswalk utility.
Please contact General Accounting,
extension 2175, with questions, concerns or suggestions as you familiarize
yourself with the new Purpose Web Statement.
Locating and Using Online Forms
NONE of UD's forms require the originator to have access to the
PeopleSoft Financial system. Access to that system is replacing the MVS
GA-Query screens and the Financial Data Warehouse. If you didn't use
those old systems, you would not forseeably need the new one, but see
your departmental account administrator if you think there's a new need
or interest in doing so.
The most comprehensive directory of University forms is at:
www.udel.edu/main/forms.html.
The Financial ones (and some others on that page) are only available to
UD employees, and as such they require that an originator log on with
his/her SSN and Employee-PIN number. If you have ever filed, for
instance, a "Request for Leave" (at least in the past year or so) you
have logged on with that SSN/PIN combination at:
https://www.mis4.udel.edu/webforms/login
and that's also where you'd go for the several new forms:
FIN Budget Revision
FIN Journal Voucher
FIN Request for Payment to Individual
FIN Requisition/Vendor Payment Request
If you've never gotten in there, and cannot now, see your HR Liaison
about getting such an Employee-PIN number.
Notes on Procurement Forms:
Requests for Check will now be electronic and in a new
format, and paper forms will NOT be accepted.
Purchase Requisitions (previously an EZ-Form) and Requests
for Check to vendors, will now be the web form "FIN Requisition/Vendor
Payment Request". Use this new form to replace all
requisitions and Request for Checks to vendors. has the functionality to
attach electronic documents. This form has the functionality to attach
electronic documents. On the first screen are fields that say "First
Attachment" and "Second Attachmet" with a BROWSE button. You can attach
any electronic file, just as you would to an email message - a word
document, a spreadsheet, a PDF, etc.
There will be a second web form "FIN Request for Payment to
Individual" used for making payments to individuals. This form includes
information about the citizenship of the individual that is needed to
process these payments.
There are Powerpoint versions of training notes at:
www.udel.edu/procurement/forms/training/
Questions should be directed to Procurement Services at
831-2161 or
procurement@udel.edu
Site menu without frames
Please direct UD-Financial questions to the approriate office
as referenced on the
Help guide
of this site
Website comments to Allan Fanjoy,
fanjoy@udel.edu
Last modified: Wednesday, 08-Mar-2006 10:34:56 EST