Financials upgrade newsletter [Aug. 2005 (Issue 3)]

Issue 3

Financials Upgrade Newsletter

August 2005

Milestones to Date...
All Fit Gap sessions have been completed! Summaries of the meetings may be viewed on the SAO Website/Financials Upgrade Section. We appreciate your participation in the sessions.
Database sent to the "Upgrade Lab". (See article on Page 2)

INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

1

Milestones to Date

1

Commitment Control

2

Upgrade Process

2

Contact Us

2

HCM Go Live

3

Training & Testing in Version 8.8

4

Glossary of New Terms

4

List Serv

5

Take a "Look"

6

Meet the Staff

What is Commitment Control?

Commitment Control is a feature of PeopleSoft that enables users to control transactions actively for predefined, authorized budgets. It provides real-time validation of activity for budgets, automatically updates the applicable commitment control ledgers and alerts users to exceptions.

Commitment Control functionality can be used throughout multiple PeopleSoft applications.

Commitment Control Terminology

Term Pre-Encumbrance
Encumbrance
Expenditure

Description Represents the intent (but not legal requirement) to spend funds, usually in the form of a requisition. Represents the legal obligation to expend funds, usually in the form of a purchase order or contract. An actual transaction processed against a controlled budget. Examples would include: payroll and vouchers.

Major Hi ghlights of version 8.8 Commitment Control
Ledger KK replaces ledger_budg. In ledger_budg, columns represent Budgeted Amounts,
Pre-Encumbrances and Encumbrances. In version 8.8, these amount columns are now considered to be individual ledgers. The collection of ledgers is called a Ledger Group. Pre-encumbrance columns in General Ledger don't exist in version 8.8.

Proposed New Structure
See the Commitment Control design document on the SAO Website for the proposed new structure.

Click here to view.

Financials Upgrade Newsletter

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Upgrade Process Where are we?
PeopleSoft Upgrade Lab
One of the project milestones has been to send the database to the "Upgrade Lab". The PeopleSoft Upgrade Lab is part of Oracle (formerly PeopleSoft) consulting. They are a group of consultants who specialize only in upgrading PeopleSoft applications for customers. There are three PeopleSoft upgrade labs in the U.S. The lab that we are using is based in Oracle's Buckhead office. The lab brings a portion of a customer's PeopleSoft application into their lab where they upgrade it to the newest release and reapply the customer's modifications to the system. The upgraded application is then delivered to the customer.
The lab has taken a scaled down version of our Financials database and are performing the initial upgrade to release 8.8. We are currently in the process of letting them know which customizations we would like to keep and which ones they can remove. They will reapply those customizations we decide to keep.
Once they complete the initial upgrade in the lab, Oracle consultants will be onsite to perform a test move to Production. This will take a few weeks. Once the test move to Production is complete, we will have an upgraded copy of our Financials production environment on which to begin testing.
Congratulations!
The PeopleSoft HCM system went live on July 5, 2005. Congratulations to the SAO HCM (Payroll, HR, Benefits and Security) staff members and system users on the successful upgrade from HRMS version 7.02 to HCM
version 8.8.

Contact Us
An e-mail address has been created especially for your use.
Contact us at upgradefeedback@sao.ga.gov
A project team member will personally respond to any questions you may have.
If there is anything you would like to see included in the newsletter, please don't hesitate to contact the Communications Team with your
ideas.
Additional information pertaining to the Upgrade Project can be found at the
State Accounting Office Website:
http://sao.georgia.gov
Click the website URL under "Contact Information"
PeopleSoft Financials Go-Live
Date
July 2006

Financials Upgrade Newsletter

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Training and Testing in Version 8.8

Training
In addition to the User Productivity Kit (UPK), the State Accounting Office will be offering instructor led "delta" training. Delta training is designed to highlight the differences between version 7.02 and version 8.8. We will also utilize a "Train the Trainer" approach in order to train all financial system users across the state. Train the Trainer is a method that has been successfully used in previous system implementations and allows agencies the opportunity to assume ownership of their PeopleSoft training. More information on this program will be supplied in the coming months.
The end user training effort will begin in the spring of 2006. The SAO Training Team and subject matter experts are currently working with the financial business processes and 7.02 training guides to determine the training curriculum for the 8.8 training package. As always, agency input is important to us! Please feel free to email the Upgrade Training Team at upgradefeedback@sao.ga.gov with any comments or questions that you may have concerning the training effort.
Testing
Our motto here is test, test, and test some more! Testing is a critical part of any upgrade process and requires many different test scenarios to spot possible issues with the new system and data conversion. Once the testing phase of the project begins, we will need agency volunteers to participate with User Acceptance Testing and Parallel Testing. In order for you to understand what these terms mean, following are brief explanations of each type:
End User Acceptance Testing is the end-to-end testing of business processes and end user security configured at the module level. Test scenarios will include specific actions within all financial modules. Agency volunteers will be asked to come to the SAO training facility and test different scenarios and/or scripts in the new 8.8 database. If your agency would like to participate in User Acceptance Testing, please email your contact information to upgradefeedback@ sao.ga.gov.
The objective of Parallel Testing will be to allow the agency end-users to sign on to the test database and enter the exact same transactions in parallel to the production system. Agency personnel will have access to the actual application in their office. The testers will duplicate their 7.02 entries into version 8.8. The project team will run processes against the agency data and ask the agency end-users to compare and validate the results of the transactions. Parallel Testing will take place approximately a month before go-live.
Volunteering for either type of testing is a wonderful opportunity for agency users to get hands on experience in the database prior to go live. Another benefit of participating in testing is that you will be the first ones to receive training! Special delta training classes will be offered to all Acceptance Testers. Parallel testers should be among the first groups trained in the instructor led delta classes, and will be given priority when the registration process begins.
More information on testing will be made available as we draw closer to that phase of the upgrade.

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Glossary
Look for this column in each newsletter to learn new terms and phrases utilized in the upgrade process and the new 8.8 system.
1. Elevator buttons replaces scroll bars. PeopleSoft 8 uses u and q symbols for scrolling purposes. 2. PeopleSoft 8 searches in Update/Display mode by default.
a. Click `Include History' to access Update/Display All mode. b. Click `Correct History' to access Correction mode. 3. Data entry or Action modes include: a. Add b. Update Display c. Include History d. Correct History
Want to be "In the Know"?
One of the most common complaints expressed to the SAO Help Desk is that users do not receive notification of system availability, special processing instructions and other important communications. These "FS Official Communications" are e-mailed on a regular basis to users who have subscribed to the Listserv system. One way to be "in the know" is to sign up for Listserv! Don't rely on others to pass along information to you.......put yourself in the "LOOP"! There is no cost to subscribe and it's easy to do! You can also unsubscribe at any time. Please be aware, however, that the more elists (modules) that you sign up for, the more emails you will receive in your inbox. We recommend only signing up for the lists applicable to your job duties. Listserv is one of the most effective ways for you to obtain information and communications relative to your PeopleSoft system. If you have not already done so, sign up now.
Available lists include: AP, AR, AM, GL, PC, Labor, Budget, and PO.
Visit the SAO Website and click ListServ>Financial Systems eLists and subscribe today!

Financials Upgrade Newsletter

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New Functionality

Take a

at the new Voucher Summary page:

This page replaces the "Status Summary" panel in version 7.02

Financials Upgrade Newsletter

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Meet the SAO Financial Systems Production Team!
In each issue of the Financials Upgrade newsletter, we will feature SAO personnel that serve on our Production Support Team. These folks are our hero's! Without this staff maintaining the current production environment, the upgrade could not take place.

Pictured from left: Patty Laster, Carla Faulk, and Toni Hill

Financial Systems Vendor Group
Between these three individuals, the Vendor Group provides you with 35 years of experience in
State government!
Contact the Vendor Group at 404-657-3956
Or 1-888-896-7771
psvendor@sao.ga.gov

For more information on the Financials Upgrade Project or Comments / questions about the Project Newsletter, contact the Communications
Team at:
upgradefeedback@sao.ga.gov State Accounting Office - Financial Systems
200 Piedmont Avenue, Suite 1604, West Tower Atlanta, GA 30334
Phone: 404-656-2133

Financials Upgrade Newsletter

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