Connections to Community

C2C Finance Archives

November/December 2006

The My Work tab is being streamlined for better efficiency.  Look for this and new town hall sessions by mid-November.  The town hall sessions will explain the My Work links and why to use them.  As a reminder, completion of training is required prior to a finance user being granted access to the finance system.

The Budget module has been configured and put into effect for the new budget cycle.

Reports and queries are being built by General Accounting to help finance users get information from the system.  Please contact Ileana Rizescu if you have an information request.

Here is some more helpful information.

August/September/October 2006

On August 1, 2006, the University launched the new Finance system.  Starting that day, our Finance Office was fully functional and began utilizing the new system.

All other users (those identified as requestors, reviewers, approvers, or that have query/reporting privileges) had access to the system beginning August 7.  As a reminder, completion of training is required prior to a user being granted access.

Here is some more helpful information.

  • Contact your Budget Manager first with issues relating to chartfields, accounts, or appropriate ways to allocate a transaction.  For all other questions and problems, contact the IT Help Desk.
  • Use the Account Translation Table to see how FRS accounts translate to the new system.
  • Complete this PeopleSoft Financial Access Request Form for any new access to the Finance application or changes to your existing access.
  • View the C2C Training Web page for finance training materials.  We are currently holding training classes for the new Requisition process.
  • Deadlines for fiscal year end have been adjusted to accommodate closing FY06 on the Financial Resources System (FRS) and starting FY07 on PeopleSoft.

June/July 2006

Procurement Town Hall sessions are being held in June and July to provide an overview of how faculty and staff will procure things beginning August 1, 2006.  Finance system training materials can be found on the C2C Training Web page.

We have created an Account Translation Table so anyone can see how their FRS accounts will translate to the new system.  We are 90% finished loading and converting balances, in a test environment, from existing FRS account numbers to the PeopleSoft chart of accounts.  We have completed the first phase, and are having follow-up meetings, to identify and organize a University departmental structure.

The core finance user team has been modeling and configuring the system to prepare for testing in June.  Beginning with the most current year, we have begun conversion of FRS data to the PeopleSoft format.  We are also making sure the FRS interface programs work with PeopleSoft.

April/May 2006

Pepperdine University's Fiscal Year 06 ends July 31, 2006; and the PeopleSoft Finance System goes live effective August 1, 2006.  Deadlines for fiscal year end have been adjusted to accommodate closing FY06 on the Financial Resources System (FRS) and starting FY07 on PeopleSoft.

Town Hall and Chartfield sessions were well attended, providing a first look into the new PeopleSoft financial system.  Follow-up sessions, including an introduction to Requisitions, are being planned for June and July to prepare everyone for the August 2006 go-live date.  The March 2006 President's Briefing (video viewable from a Pepperdine network connection) also included a chartfield presentation by Controller Paul Lasiter.  Finance system training materials can be found on the C2C Training Web page.

The core finance user team has been modeling and configuring the system and gathering information about vendors and other University systems.  To meet our goal of having other systems compatible with the new finance system, we have been discussing the propagation of the new chartfield layout into interfacing systems.  We are also making sure the Purchase Order and Accounts Payable forms are appropriate for Pepperdine.

We are 90% finished loading and verifying information and converting balances, in a test environment, from existing FRS account numbers to the PeopleSoft chart of accounts.  We have also completed the first phase of identifying and organizing a University departmental structure.

In the coming month, we will continue modeling and configuring the new system; testing the conversion program from FRS to PeopleSoft; and verifying the PO and AP forms.  We will also be building training materials and classes for the new Requisition process to provide a high level understanding of the PeopleSoft version and to show differences between the FRS and PeopleSoft versions.

March 2006

On March 1, the Controller made a Finance presentation at President Benton's monthly briefing.  The Controller said that the C2C finance team will be holding several Finance project TRAINING sessions to acquaint the Pepperdine community with the C2C financials project and to answer subsequent questions.

Fit/Gap sessions were held and recommendations were made to the C2C Implementation Committee.  Just recently these updated business processes were approved by the University.  Modeling and configuration of the system are still occurring by the core user team, along with information gathering on other University systems and vendors.  Chartfield structures, called trees, are in the process of being built in our development environment.  These will control aspects of the system such as reporting, processing, and security.

Another major effort that is still taking place is the task of mapping all of the existing FRS account numbers to the new PeopleSoft chart of accounts.  The first iteration of the process is complete; and a second round of clean up and clarification has begun.  The core user team will be meeting again with budget managers to go over any questions they may have.

Meetings have been held with the major areas to identify a departmental organization structure for the University.  The first phase of this is complete; departments have been identified.  The next phase will be to have another round of meetings to physically construct the hierarchy of the University.

Here is what is planned for the coming month.  The PeopleSoft training and staging environments will be loaded and tested along with designing and loading of conversion data.  Vendor meetings on the new PeopleSoft structure will continue.  Meetings and information exchange about Pepperdine internal systems will occur so we can load information into the new system with the new chart of accounts structure.

January/February 2006

Fit/Gap sessions, which were attended by approximately 30 financial and budget managers from the university, have been completed.  Sessions covered all aspects of Financials, including General Ledger, Purchasing, Receiving, Budgeting and Reporting.  Recommendations have been made on a variety of topics and are currently under review by the C2C Implementation Committee.  Modeling of a test system has taken place, too, while all of this has been going on.  In addition to these recommendations, configuration specifications are now being completed as well as the detailed project plan for the first phase of the project.

During the end of January and the beginning of February, Query training classes took place to get users more familiar with the system and ways to extract data from it.  These were attended by approximately 15 accounting users.

Another major effort taking place right now with Financials is the task of mapping all of the existing FRS account numbers to the new PeopleSoft chart of accounts.  Financial managers from around the University attended training sessions on the new account structure and began the work of mapping their respective accounts.  The first iteration of the process is expected to be completed by mid-February so trial data conversion runs can begin at the end of February, 2006.

Meetings have been held with the major areas to identify and construct a departmental organization structure for the University.

Here is what is planned for the coming month.  Meetings are being held to look at current interfaces in FRS and with all external systems with which it interacts.  The PeopleSoft development environment will be tested and updated along with designing and loading of conversion data.  Communicating and interacting with outside vendors on the new financial system and the impacts it could have will take place.

November 2005

Fit/Gap sessions, which were attended by approximately 30 financial and budget managers from the university, have been completed.  Sessions covered all aspects of Financials, including General Ledger, Purchasing, Receiving, Budgeting and Reporting.  Recommendations have been made on a variety of topics and are currently being documented for review by the C2C Implementation Committee.

In addition to these recommendations, configuration specifications are now being completed as well as the detailed project plan for the first phase of the project.

Another major effort taking place right now with Financials is the task of mapping all of the existing FRS account numbers to the new PeopleSoft chart of accounts.  Financial managers from around the University will be attending training sessions on the new account structure so they can begin the work of mapping their respective accounts.  The goal is to have the first iteration of the process complete by the end of December so trial data conversion runs can begin in January, 2006.

Meetings have been held with the major areas to identify and construct a departmental organization structure for the University.

September 2005

The Financials project has now officially started.  The consultants are on site and a specific task group is making excellent progress with the development of Pepperdine's new chart of accounts. 

Preliminary business process design sessions will be soon underway, which will focus on an analysis of our current policies, business practices, and exploration of new and better financial processes. 

The internal team, representing the Controller's Office, has been selected; and the department representatives are currently being finalized.  Once that process is complete, the full roster of the Financials team will be posted to this site.

View the preliminary high level timeline for Financials Phase I, which includes the General Ledger, Accounts Payable, and Purchasing modules.