The Division of Finance & Administration's financial newsletter, Finance Matters, is published as needed during the academic year to inform the UVM business and financial management community about finance-related policy and procedure changes, system and service enhancements, important reminders, and upcoming deadlines.

Updates & Announcements

Travel Policy

The addendum to the existing UVM Travel Policy (PDF) will be sunsetting on May 13, 2022. All travel after that date will be required to be in compliance with the Travel Policy, which will include the following requirement:

“Travel Authorizations are required for both international travel and out-of-state domestic travel requiring an overnight stay. Travel Authorizations are approved at the departmental level. Travel must not commence without official authorization being given.”

Students, faculty and staff should not purchase tickets for international or out-of-state domestic overnight travel after May 13 unless officially approved at the department level. Contact the Travel & Expense Team if you have questions.

If at any time the Centers for Disease Control and/or State of Vermont guidance for out of state travel changes we will adjust and communicate accordingly.

Payroll Fiscal Year Crossover for “supersedes budget” ePARs

Note: Payroll defines “supersedes budget” as an individual whose data was not included in the Axiom pull from HCM or who has had a pay change since the data pull which will result in an inaccurate rate of pay in Job Data when 7/1 rows are added to HCM.

• FY23 ePARs are not needed for new hires (hired after 3/31/22) as Payroll is running a query looking for missing distributions and will add a corresponding job data row and a FY23 distribution row using FY22 information (unless they are receiving a FY23 increase – see below)
• FY23 ePARs are needed for new staff members hired after 3/31/22 who are receiving a salary increase 7/1. Please indicate “Supersedes Budget” in the comments section of the ePAR.
• FY23 ePARs are needed for any 7/1 pay-related changes (for example FTE, off-cycle change in duties, reclassification, etc.) that occurred after the Axiom data pull from HCM on 3/31/22. If an ePAR is required due to the changes listed above, please indicate “Supersedes Budget” in the comments section of the ePAR.
• Important note that the budget-build process and the 7/1 Job Data rows are not to be used to circumvent ePAR actions that require workflow approval such as but not limited to promotions.

Contact payroll@uvm.edu.

See more fiscal-year-end reminders below.

Planon Software Implementation Update

As of late March, the Integrated Workplace Management System (IWMS) Core Implementation Team and our business partner, Planon, have wrapped up the initial design phase of the FAMIS replacement project. Planon can now begin their configuration work and start incorporating the UVM-specified configuration and functionality into the development version of the application.

We’ve had to slightly adjust the project timeline which means the system “go live” date will not coincide with the new fiscal year. Instead, we are aiming to deploy Planon (and fully unplug from FAMIS) by the start of the Fall 2022 semester.

Our team continues to engage many campus stakeholders and subject matter experts along the way. Several additional meetings were added to the original scope of the design phase to involve representatives from Purchasing, Disbursement, Payroll and Financial & Cost Accounting Services ahead of the formal data integration phase.
Learn more about the project and watch past recordings on the IWMS Project Blog Site.

Payroll Cost Transfer Form

A new payroll cost transfer form (PDF) has been created and should be used for all hourly wage cost transfers going forward. The new form includes a section for an official signature by the individual with suitable means of certification of hourly wages being moved onto sponsored projects or between two sponsored projects. This will eliminate the need to enter a certifying statement on the wage detail pages that have been required, but inconsistent, in the past. If the Principal Investigator (PI) is the hourly wage certifier and the cost transfer is over 90 days from the accounting date, the PI is required to approve in both sections of the form. This form should also be used for any Additional Payment cost transfers, however, the hourly wage effort certification section can be skipped since that effort will continue to be certified on an annual basis in the Effort Reporting System in the fall. Contact Dawn Caffrey.

Reminders

Finance-related Forms

A reminder that you should be using the most current version of forms which are accessible on the Division of Finance & Administration website. There is also a link to the forms in the UVM Business Manager WorkCenter on PeopleSoft FSCM under External Links.

FY22 Space Inventory

The FY22 Space Inventory opened March 1 with a completion deadline of June 13, 2022. This earlier deadline is required to ensure sufficient time for data migration into the new integrated workplace management system, PlanOn, for a go-live date of July 1, 2022. Though this deadline is slightly earlier than in the past and there are many competing priorities, it is imperative that the inventories be completed by June 13, 2022. To assist in this effort the inventory was opened six weeks earlier than in previous fiscal years. Additionally, movable equipment is no longer a part of the space inventory process. You will see equipment it listed in FAMIS, however, you can ignore that tab in FAMIS Self-Service when completing your FY22 space inventory. More information regarding the new equipment RFID process is forthcoming and will outline the plan to inventory movable equipment on a rolling basis moving forward.

Space Inventory Training Requirements and Instructional Documentation
Instructions for using the FAMIS Self-Service system may be found on the Space Inventory website which also includes support documentation for the Space Inventory process. New department personnel assigned to conduct the inventory are required to obtain training prior to using the FAMIS Self-Service system. Please notify Joanna.Birbeck if someone new will be completing the inventory for a unit so we can create an account for them. In addition, if anyone has previously completed the Space Inventory for a unit but has not received training within the past three years, we strongly suggest they sign up for one of the 2 remaining sessions. The results from past quality assessments indicate that a periodic training session for everyone completing the Space Inventory is beneficial. Register for FY2022 Space Inventory Training via PeopleSoft, Code: CPT025:

• April 7, 2022 (Thurs) 1:00 – 3:00PM
• May 2, 2022 (Mon) 10:00AM - Noon

Space Inventory Contacts:

• Functional use questions: Dawn Caffrey
• FAMIS/BI Publishiser questions: Michael Richards
• Submit completed documents to costacct@uvm.edu

Effort Commitment Tools and Training

New effort commitment tools in PeopleSoft were introduced in January with effort verification trainings based on these new tools offered in February. If you were unable to attend the trainings please see the updated Effort Management & Reporting page with the new user guide, FAQs and a recording of the training (requires UVM netID/password). Contact Dawn Caffrey.

Employee vs Independent Contractors Forms

• The Employee vs Independent Contractor Policy (PDF) requires the documentation of the delegation of authority from dean, director or chair to another individual. The delegation of authority forms are to be kept on file in each department issuing a delegation. Do you know where your delegation is? Completed forms are to be maintained for seven years.
• The Employee vs Independent Contractor form has been updated to clarify that we are requesting the physical location of the service provider at the time they are performing services.

Travel Authorizations & Expenses

All out-of-state travel requiring an overnight stay requires a travel authorization. This is true for foreign and domestic travel. Travel authorizations encumber funds on the chartstring used, reducing the budget balance available. Due to the need to accurately reflect fiscal year-end budget balances, travel authorizations for new fiscal year travel should not be entered in the old fiscal year. They will be canceled.A travel authorization is required even if travel expenses are only incurred on a PurCard. UVM’s duty of care requires us to know where employees are traveling, in case of emergency. Please include a copy of the Travel Authorization with your monthly PurCard journal.

The Disbursement Center PurCard Team is very grateful to campus for mastering the scanning and attaching of invoices, receipts, documentation and signatures to PurCard journals in PeopleSoft. As indicated in the monthly email notifying campus that journals are available for reallocation, the Team also requests that the individual who reallocates send a notification to PurCardAudit@uvm.edu. When sending the notification, please use the cardholder’s first initial, last name and journal date (i.e., J Smith 05/02/21) in the subject line. Instructions can be found in the Purcard Reallocation User Guide (PDF).

See our User Guides page for training videos and instruction on travel and expense forms, including the following:

• Delegate Entry Authority
• Create a Travel Authorization
• Create a Cash Advance
• Create an Expense Report
• Expense Report Approval

Other useful PeopleSoft videos and instruction:

• PeopleSoft User Defaults
• Review and Edit Your PeopleSoft Profile
• Personalize Your Page

Other Fiscal Year-End Reminders

The Year-end Closing webpage will include updated documents and deadlines by the end of April/very early May. Meanwhile, departments should analyze current unearned revenue and prepaid expenses. Please refer to the Prepaid User Guide (PDF) on how to find them. Contact Renee Hunt.

Allowable Business Meals, Hospitality and Amenities

As the end of the academic year approaches units are considering ways in which to honor retiring faculty and staff. These activities are appropriate when held at University facilities and are open to University attendance. If non-University space is required, preapproval must be granted by the University Controller. Please consult the Business Meal, Hospitality and Amenity Policy (PDF) for guidance of what is allowable and unallowable. Contact disburse@uvm.edu.