Transactions Application Beta Testing
After successfully alpha testing the new online transactions application, we were ready to move into the next phase of testing! Beta testing began June 9th and includes over 150 test participants representing 40 academic and administrative units, UW Tacoma, and several departments from Finance & Facilities. Beta testing is expected to continue into Autumn quarter.
Alpha testing previously involved representatives from 11 academic and administrative units, UW Tacoma, and several departments from Finance & Facilities.
Approximately 650 online expense transfer forms were submitted since the beginning of alpha testing, resulting in thousands of test transactions. The testers did an excellent job finding bugs, clarifying business rules, and identifying opportunities to improve the functionality of the application. These issues would not have been found and resolved if not for the help of our testers. We thank all our Alpha Testers for their tremendous effort and time put into this project.
What will the Transactions Application include?
The Financial Desktop Transactions User Task Group is very excited about the functionality that the new Transactions Application will provide. To view a sneak preview of the application click here.
MyFinancial.desktop e-Learning
The Customer Support Team has created an E-learning tutorial, allowing users to get MyFD training at their desks, as needed! This is a great alternative to the MyFD Intro class offered through UW Technology.
The tutorial includes information such as navigating within the application, reading and interpreting the MyFD reports, finding budget balances, printing and extracting, customizing the desktop, creating budget lists, and more. The tutorial is comprised of 4 sections, totaling 25 minutes.
Find the tutorial in the MyFD help pages: http://www.washington.edu/admin/finacct/office/fd/help/?p=report_trainsched.
UW TOP Partners
Three years ago the Financial Desktop Initiative’s Project Cost Accounting Coordinating Team joined with department representatives to identify how University billing units can support the use of PCA. Out of this initiative came the TOP Partner Program.
 TOP Partners are University administrative units that facilitate the capturing of Project Cost Accounting codes (Task, Option, Project fields) for those campus departments that rely on them for financial reporting. By enrolling as a TOP partner, a department or unit is identifying itself as willing to assist other UW departments in using PCA to fulfill their fiscal and fiduciary responsibilities.
Today, through the team’s collaborative efforts, almost all billing units now support PCA, or have a plan to do so in the near future. Over 25 TOP Partners currently exist, and another handful of units are working towards soon becoming partners. If you are in a department that currently uses PCA, you might be surprised to learn that the majority of University services now support PCA, including many that did not in the past. We suggest that you always include your PCA codes when providing your billing information.
If you would like to know which units are TOP Partners, you can view the current list here. If you come across a unit that does not currently support PCA, please let them know that you would like them to include PCA codes in their billings, and send us an email, so we may work with them to become partners.
PCA Guidelines for Recharge Software
UW Purchasing & Stores has updated their website to include requirements for accommodating PCA codes in recharge software, clarifying that all UW departments must incorporate Project Cost Accounting codes, in any acquisition related to the development or purchase of a recharge software/system. Visit their website for more information:
http://www.washington.edu/admin/purchstores/home_commodity/computing.html
Option for Printed BAR & BSR Reports
Administrators now have the ability to “opt out” of receiving printed BAR (Budget Activity Reports) and BSR (Budget Status Report) reports in their department. They may choose to stop receiving reports for a particular budget, or for all budgets within an organization code.
Opting out is voluntary, thus, if no action is taken for a particular budget or org code, all reports for those budgets will continue to be printed and distributed. The opt out feature only impacts department copies of printed BAR and BSR reports.
If the opt out option is selected, the following reports will not be printed and distributed to the department (report numbers appear in the upper left-hand corner of the BAR & BSR reports):
-- Grant & Contract Budgets: AM28132-201D and AM28220-202D
-- Other Budgets: AM28130-201B and AM28215-202B
Online versions of current and historical BAR and BSR reports are available via MyFinancial.desktop Transaction Summary and Budget Summary reports. These reports are available for the full financial record retention period.
Learn more, including how to opt out, by visiting http://www.washington.edu/admin/finserv/payables/barbsrdistribution.html
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