This Finance Division Update email is for Business Managers, MOU Leads, Finance TIPs, Finance Campus Working Groups and Finance Division staff. Please share with the ConnectCarolina Finance users in your school/division. We will send updates twice per week and as needed.
Top Issues
- New! ARP Lump Sum Payments: We have identified an inadvertent miscalculation in the 6% retirement deduction for the Annual Raise Process (ARP) Lump Sum payments for many EPA employees. For the affected employees, the annual salary increase awarded as part of the ARP is correct, and the miscalculation applies only to the ARP Lump Sum payment that includes retroactive pay from July 1-Nov. 30. Specifically, the calculation of their 6% retirement deduction was not applied to the ARP Lump Sum payment. The result is that they were undercharged for their December retirement deduction, and this increased their net pay in the December check.
Corrective actions are being taken to ensure that appropriate adjustments are made. We have identified these employees and plan to send them individual communications tomorrow to alert them to the problem.
- New! Payroll Run Schedules: 2015 Biweekly and Monthly run schedules are now posted under Quick Links on the Payroll Services webpage.
- New! Vendors:
- On-hold requests: We have noticed a large number of “on hold” vendor requests. If a user creates a vendor request and saves it without submitting it, the request will remain “on hold.” Disbursement Services cannot create a vendor that is “on hold.” The user must submit the vendor request in order for Disbursement Services to create the vendor.
- Multiple requests: Please submit only one vendor request per vendor you want to create. Multiple requests cause real issues with getting the vendor established in the system.
- New! Workflow: There is some confusion for campus users surrounding the following Workflow terminology: ‘Terminated’ and ‘Denied’. Please see the explanations below:
- Denied: Transaction has been denied by one of the approvers. This action terminates the current approval process and notifies the originator of the transaction that a change needs to be made. Action must be taken by the originator to update the transaction and resubmit in accordance with the denial comments.
- Terminated: A change has been made to the transaction which requires the workflow to be reinitialized. This can occur when any user with authority (often an approver) makes a change to a key transaction field that would affect all approvers of the transaction. The action item would be that the user (or the system in some cases) would resubmit the transaction. The originator will not be notified of the terminated transaction. The approver will not be notified until the transaction is submitted and in their worklist for approval.
- October Month-End Close: Central offices officially closed the month of October on Dec. 17. This includes the transmission and reconciliation of all October transactions, and state approval to close the month.
- November Month-End Close: Central Offices (OSR, Accounting Services and the Budget Office) continue to work on November month-end close.
- December Month-End Close: Journal entries should be processed through at least departmental workflow by Friday, Dec. 19, at 5 p.m., in order to ensure the journal will be posted in December. Central Office (OSR, Accounting Services and the Budget Office) will ensure journals are posted if received by that date.
Important Reminders
- TIM: Check out the reminder sent last week to TIM Administrators regarding the SPA Biweekly 13 (12/15 – 12/28) Sign-Off Deadline. As previously communicated, the biweekly payroll close schedule for Biweekly 13 has been changed. The early sign off deadline is because of the short pay period close timeframe due to the holidays on Dec. 31 and Jan. 1.
Biweekly 13 (12/15–12/28) must be signed off by 5 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 29. Sign off removal requests must be received by 4 p.m. that day.
- University Deposits: December deposits must be received by 11 a.m., Jan. 2, 2015, to be processed for December dates.
- Airgas Holiday Schedule: Airgas/National Welder’s will be closed only on Christmas Day and New Year’s Day. During this time no scheduled deliveries will be made. Dry ice will be delivered on Monday, Dec. 22, Wednesday, Dec. 24 and Wednesday, Dec. 31.
Questions
All technical questions should be directed to the Business Systems Help Desk at 919-962-HELP, or submitted via a help ticket online at help.unc.edu (select ConnectCarolina > ConnectCarolina Finance > the appropriate area of concern). Your help ticket will be answered by a team dedicated to working on Finance questions and issues.
New! Business Systems Help Desk Holiday Hours and New Business Hours: The Business Systems Help Desk (BSHD) will follow the University’s holiday schedule. During the Holiday period the BSHD will be open as follows:
- Monday 12/22 – open normal business hours
- Tuesday 12/23 – open normal business hours
- Wednesday – Friday, 12/24-12/26 – CLOSED
- Monday 12/29 – open normal business hours
- Tuesday 12/30 – open normal business hours
- Wednesday & Thursday, 12/31 & 1/1 – CLOSED
- Friday 1/2 – open normal business hours
** The web submit remedy option will be available as usual at any time during the reduced schedule; however, tickets will only be worked during normal business hours. **
Due to the reduced volume of calls after 5 p.m., effective Monday, Dec. 23, the hours of the BSHD will change to 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Functional or business process questions – plus any tips you have to offer – can be added to the ConnectCarolina user discussion forums.
Suggestions for content can be emailed to janet_kelly-scholle@unc.edu.