Business Systems

Secure business controls

In support of National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) guidelines, IT has improved several HR, payroll, and student financial processes with security practices that help inform originators and assist approvers in their decisions. Personally identifiable information (PII) has been masked or removed, fraud indicators that flag suspicious activity to approvers have been added, and email notifications have been expanded. On Feb. 20, students and staff will be required to use 2FA to access these forms.

PINs being retired

The University is no longer supporting the creation of PINs. Since September 2016, University staff and students who create their account through Quick Bio are now creating passwords instead of PINs. Using a strong password protects your account by slowing down and often defeating hackers. Strong passwords created in compliance with UD policy are less vulnerable to brute-force and dictionary attacks than PINs are. If you use a PIN, retire it.

2FA communication methods

2FA has additional benefits beyond safeguarding your UD account and information. The communication methods you provide when registering for 2FA can also be used to help you reset your password or to update communication methods you might have stored in UDSIS, if you are a student, or on your Employee Demographic Data form (EDD), if you are an employee. Enroll in 2FA at My UD Settings.

Make a Gift form enhanced

IT-WD partnered with Development and Alumni Relations (DAR) to make the Make a Gift form more user-friendly. The forms now use Bootstrap, a mobile-first framework, to improve the aesthetics and usability across all platforms. In addition, a field for “Address type” was added to the form, the validation was improved to make it easier for users to identify required fields, and the email receipt was updated to a more modern template. 

New functionality added to the Equipment Activity Web Form

Accurate record-keeping, including up-to-date asset tracking, is crucial for UD business processes, audits, and compliance with federal laws and regulations. In partnership with Asset Management, General Accounting, and Procurement, IT-WD has added new features to the Equipment Activity Web Forms.

• Return of off-campus equipment: A return to campus Equipment Activity Web Form is now automatically generated when tagged equipment that was moved off-campus is not returned on the date promised. This automation allows the department who transferred the equipment off-campus to be notified and take action more promptly.
• Sold equipment: The University tracks sales of serviceable equipment to entities outside the University. The Equipment Activity Sold Web Form now includes a “Cash Transmittal” field that allows a department to link this form with the Cash Transmittal Web Form. The department selling the equipment therefore has more in-depth information about the transaction.

Vendor Payment Request Web Form enhanced

Working with several key stakeholders, Procurement and IT-WD recently deployed a new Vendor Payment Request Web Form. The refreshed Web Form uses responsive design so it can be used on any device. It also includes the common Chartfield String component to facilitate standard validation of University financial information. The new form also gives administrators the ability to add notes and attachments to the routing section of the form.

Form changes required by Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)

IT-WD and IT Management Information Services (IT-MIS) completed modifications to UD forms and applications mandated by the changes to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). (For more details, see the FLSA information provided by HR.) The following Web Forms were among those affected by FLSA: S-Contract, S-Contract Amendment, JED, and some financial applications.

Financial Systems update

UDataGlance: The Controller’s Office and IT-WD have added student term information related to student billing in UDataGlance. This information is displayed on the transactions page in the “Supplemental Information” column. Work Order information is also in this column. Additionally, when detailed information is downloaded from this page, the descriptions of term and work order are now visible.

Proposal Approval form: As requested by form users, the Proposal Approval form now provides an automatic copy of the final approved form to representatives of colleges and units. This change, implemented by the Research Office and IT-WD, will facilitate consistent notification of the finalization of proposal approval.

Grants Budget Revision form: The Research Office and IT changed the routing to the Grants Budget Revision form as a result of enhanced focus of OMB Uniform Guidance on internal controls. Effective Nov. 1, 2016, the routing of all Budget Revision - Contracts and Grants Web Forms involving federal or federal flow-through awards automatically route to the Research Office for review and approval.

PeopleSoft update: IT-MIS applied PeopleSoft Financials & Supply chain bundles 37 and 38 to the Financials production database in November 2016.

General Ledger: IT-MIS has enhanced the General Ledger’s Data Integrity report to produce two new detailed reports with transaction details of balances, which helps the Controller’s Office and Procurement Services correct those discrepancies. IT-MIS also enhanced the General Ledger data scrub process to avoid the double scrub of accrual/reversal JV’s that are assigned the same “journal_id” and to extend the date range for scrubbing data.

Grant awards and UD Advance: IT-MIS created a view of grant awards and project budget details for DAR. DAR will use the data in the Advance system.
 
Controller’s Office: IT-MIS developed a new report for the Controller’s Office to compare current period balances data with current period transaction details, helping them reconcile the transactions posted to the ledger.

IRS form 1099 reporting: In December 2016, IT-MIS applied Oracle updates for Accounts Payable 1099 reporting for the year 2016. Procurement Services completed processing 1099 forms and sent them to vendors last month.

New PeopleSoft Treasury module: The University Cashier’s Office and IT-MIS partnered with a vendor, Opening Insight Global (OIG), to implement the PeopleSoft Cash Management (Treasury module). The project began in December and is expected to go live in April.

This new module will help the Cashier’s Office enhance their business processes by forecasting and positioning cash, reviewing online fund transfers, automatically reconciling bank statements, and automating the integration of other banking functions and reports.

Asset Management: IT-MIS has enhanced the Purchasing to Asset Management interface to bring equipment data from requisitions into the Asset Management system automatically, thereby reducing manual effort and potential errors.

My UD Business: new task announcements feature 

Announcements have been implemented on My UD Business. My UD Business enables staff, students, or parents/guardians to search over 700 forms and applications to locate what they need to do UD business. This new feature gives business owners the opportunity to add important announcements to their tasks for a specific period of time. Once the announcement is connected to a task, the task tile will display a red badge icon indicating the number of announcements. When the badge is clicked on a mobile device, the announcement will display; on a computer, the user can click the information icon and the Announcements tab to view the announcement. This feature introduces another way to help users get essential information in a timely manner. To see an example, go to My UD Business and search for “2FA.” Business owners may submit their announcement using the form available on the My UD Business Help page.

IT-MIS Student Information Systems updates

AIM data feed: IT-MIS worked with the Registrar’s Office to develop and implement a new set of interface extract files to send data to the third-party database (Accessible Information Management [AIM]) used by the UD Office of Disability Support Services to facilitate communication with faculty.

EAB extracts: IT-MIS worked with the Registrar’s Office to develop and implement a set of interface extract files for the Blue Hen Success collaborative project. Phase I went live in fall 2016. Work on phase II is in progress.

SLATE graduate admissions processing: IT-MIS worked with the Office of Graduate and Professional Education to develop and implement new interfaces to import data from Slate to UDSIS for graduate applicants. The project went live in fall 2016.

New data extracts: Work has started on a new set of interface extract files from UDSIS to the Destiny Solutions system that will replace the current UD Online registration system. Work is also in progress to extract data from UDSIS into a new system, Terra Dotta. UD’s Office for International Students and Scholars will use Terra Dotta to process Federal Student & Exchange Visitor Information System data. Both projects are planned to go live in spring 2017.

My Finances infrastructure improved

IT-WD partnered with Student Financial Services to add significant changes to My Finances. My Finances is used by students and parents to make tuition and flex payments and serves as a one-stop shop for viewing account activity, 1098T, and financial aid information. The new version of My Finances has improved security and architecture. In addition, the pages are styled with responsive design, allowing them to be accessible from most mobile devices.

Database administration activity

PeopleSoft and Oracle database software upgrade: The HR PeopleSoft and PeopleSoft Tools software is in the process of being upgraded. In conjunction with the upgrade, the Oracle databases associated with HR are also being upgraded to Oracle 12c, and relevant security patches are being applied. The project is in the testing phase with changes in the production environment to be implemented in spring 2017.

New database hardware changes: Selected databases continue to be moved to the new Oracle Supercluster hardware and software: The PeopleSoft Student and Financial demo, test, and quality assurance (QA) databases, and the development and test databases for the Web Forms system have been moved to the Supercluster. So far the databases have been functioning properly and efficiently. The production databases for these applications are projected to be moved to the Supercluster during the first half of 2017.

Work also continues on the transition to the new backup and recovery strategy using an Oracle Zero Data Loss Recovery Appliance (ZDLRA). This project is being implemented in tandem with the Supercluster project.

The Supercluster and the ZDLRA have also allowed for faster processing of data by the test and QA instances of the databases and for more efficient interactions with backup instances of the databases.