[Faculty] February Impact23 Faculty Update

[Gerard J Bomotti]

Dear Faculty Colleagues,

As we continue the Impact23 transition, we want to ensure that you are well informed of status updates, resolutions to known issues, updated timelines, and faculty resources.

You can expect email updates every couple of weeks on how any challenging issues are being addressed. These updates will supplement additional communications such as Impact23 office hours, town halls, web updates, and information in campus publications.  This specific update will have more information, as it covers a longer time period.

In addition to the below updates, we encourage you to review new and updated information on Known Issues at https://impact23.ucr.edu/known-issues-tracker.

UPDATES

  *   Salary and wages paid to employees have NOT been impacted: However, sometimes payroll-related costs may not be fully reflected on contracts, grants, and other sources of financial activity. A total of 95% of the June 2023 payroll expenses that posted to an incorrect Chart of Accounts (COA), have now been resolved, and the remaining 5% is expected to be completed within the February and March 2024 periods. Other salary-related posting corrections are in progress with expired and expiring contracts and grants (C&G) receiving the highest priority.
  *   Student aid payments have not been substantially impacted: As stated previously, there have been some delays in the set-up of new departmental grant-in-aid codes (mostly endowments) under the new Chart of Accounts, but student aid payments continue mostly as usual.



  *   Non-Salary Cost Transfer Tool: The tool that departmental users can use to transfer costs between respective COAs was deployed on Jan. 12, with issues and enhancements continuing to be addressed. Among other things, this will assist departments in correctly assigning costs to C&G-related funds for a more accurate accounting of expenditures and balances.
  *   Web Recharge Tool: In order to assist the campus in recharging for services provided, and in an effort to bring C&G fund balances up to date, the Web Recharge tool started in production pilot on Jan. 22 with 5 service providers: CNSE Nanofabrication facility, Genomics - Core Instructional Facility, Greenhouse Services, Campus Vivaria, and SOM Histology Core. A total of 81 additional service providers are being onboarded the week of 2/26, and the remaining 40 will be brought on in the coming weeks. Please note that template billing is under development still, and currently unavailable.
  *   Contract and Grant Award Setup: An issue was discovered on Dec. 12 in the integration between Kuali and Oracle, specifically related to award stand-up and allocation. After discovering the root cause and full impact, a temporary fix was put in place on Jan. 3, and a fully automated solution is expected to deploy this week. The Impact23 team continues to monitor the integration for any additional failures, so they can be repaired with minimal delays.
  *   Reimbursement Payments from Concur: The team continues to work through Concur payments that are not processing into Oracle. This is a complex issue, and the team is treating it as critical. We will be introducing enhancements to this process, both technically and operationally, in the coming weeks to make this process more foolproof.
  *   New Additional Project Codes: New additional project codes in Oracle that have been requested for scenarios such as co-PIs have seen some delays due to staffing challenges. The previous timeline for these new project codes was one week, if all required actions by the requesting unit were being taken, but is now expected to accelerate to 3 business days.
  *   Procurement: Initial workflow and contract and grant coding issues have been resolved early in deployment. However, there still continue to be problems with issue resolution adjusting purchase order quantity and pricing after receiving the supplier invoice. Units continue to be encouraged to use the Procurement Card for allowable orders less than $10,000. To request a one-time transaction limit increase or other exceptions to pay a supplier, contact pcard at ucr.edu<mailto:pcard at ucr.edu>.
  *   Suppliers (Vendors) / Payees: We recognize that the process to establish new suppliers and other payees was initially too complicated. The registration process delayed the issuance of certain purchase orders or other non-employee payments. A more streamlined process was implemented on Sept. 29, and further enhancements continue to be rolled out, including a new simplified process for honoraria and reimbursements for individuals who are not employees.
  *   Contract and Grant Reporting Delays: C&G reporting has experienced significant delays due to a number of issues related to the complexity of configuration within the Oracle system, and the sheer volume of systems deployed. Several above-mentioned points may impact C&G balance reporting (e.g., pending Web Recharges, delayed Concur reimbursements). These issues have mostly been resolved. Extramural Funds Accounting is working with departments to clear the backlog in order of urgency with grants that are closing out, or have closed out, being prioritized to meet federal requirements.
  *   Delays in IRB Approvals: There are many reasons why an IRB approval could be delayed, but none are related to Impact23. Reports of delays have been referred to Research and Economic Development (RED). RED is aware of the delays and is in the process of increasing the staff support to the IRB Committee. PIs with specific questions/concerns with the IRB should contact Charles Greer in RED.
  *   Charges for Closed Contracts and Grants – Due to some of the above-referenced delays in transactions posting in Oracle, as well as some others not specifically mentioned here, charges that have not yet posted to closed Contracts and Grants should receive special attention. In such cases, please start by reaching out to your departmental FAO and/or your Organization CFAO for assistance. They will work with Accounting on possible solutions.
  *   Payroll Certification System – Development of the new Payroll Certification System under Oracle/COA is underway with the technical team. In order to ensure a smooth transition for faculty before the end of the Spring quarter and fiscal year, this system is being prioritized.
  *   Concierge Support: As of this week, 91% of tickets received from faculty and staff have been resolved. Currently, the average ticket closure time since launch is 13 business days. Issues related to invoices currently represent the largest percentage of tickets, and the Impact23 team is actively reviewing system and process-related changes to attempt to reduce delays in this area. You are encouraged to contact your organization’s subject matter expert<https://impact23.ucr.edu/community-practice> prior to submitting a ticket in the event the problem can be resolved more quickly.

RESOURCES FOR FACULTY
In addition to your organization’s finance and administration staff, the following resources are available to faculty.

  *   Web-based Training: Courses are in the Learning Management System (LMS) for Faculty, Researchers, & PD/PI<https://uc.sumtotal.host/core/libraryShare?TopicId=3369&TopicName=5.%20Faculty%2C%20Researcher%2C%20%26%20PD%2FPI&SearchText=&SortField=Name_Sortable&SortDirection=asc>s.
  *   Impact23 Meetings and Upcoming Town Halls: The Impact23 calendar provides a complete schedule of Impact23-related meetings, office hours and town halls. Specifically, Town Hall sessions are an opportunity for faculty to hear more on stabilization efforts, address current issues, and get questions answered. The Impact23 calendar can be found at https://impact23.ucr.edu/impact23-calendar.
  *   Concierge: For questions about Impact23 systems, faculty are welcome to call the Concierge Helpline at (951) 827-9990 or submit a service ticket at ucrsupport.service-now.com/finadmin_portal<https://ucrsupport.service-now.com/finadmin_portal>.  
  *   Known Issues Tracker: The Impact23 Program Team regularly updates the Known Issues Tracker on the Impact23 site. Additionally, there is a column for each issue that explains the potential impact to PIs. Please visit https://impact23.ucr.edu/known-issues-tracker for up-to-date information on issues across the implementation.

The project team continues to work toward system stabilization as quickly as possible to minimize the impact on UC Riverside’s mission and essential work. If you have questions or comments please contact Impact23 at ucr.edu<mailto:Impact23 at ucr.edu?subject=Faculty%20Communication%20Inquiry%20-%20October%202023>.


Sincerely,
Gerry Bomotti on behalf of the Impact23 Executive Steering Committee
Vice Chancellor & Chief Financial Officer
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