Project Café
October Reports Available
November 6, 2009
Viewing Reports
Reports as of the October close are now available via Cognos from the Staff tab of the NUPortal:
(NUPortal > Staff tab > Login to Cognos):
https://nuportal.northwestern.edu
or
https://reporting.northwestern.edu
Note that the header of certain reports (GL005, GL008) will indicate that the month is closed.
FY10 Department Tree Now in Effect
All Cognos reports will now use the FY10 organizational structure.
A list of the new departments and department tree changes is available at:
http://cafe.northwestern.edu/announcements/structure.html
FY09-10 Encumbrances/Pre-encumbrances Issue Resolved
November 6, 2009
As noted earlier, as we closed out FY09, we discovered remaining pre-encumbrance and encumbrance balances on a number of chart strings. We have completed the adjustments to the affected chart strings. For more information, see:
http://cafe.northwestern.edu/announcements/encumbrances.html
Expenses: New Report & Account Codes
October 27, 2009
New Report
The SC026 - Expenses by Submission & Workflow Status report provides a view of expense reports that have not been paid for a given department or tree node.
Find a Job Aid for the SC026 at:
http://cafe.northwestern.edu/resources/tips.html#expenses
Commonly-Used Account Codes
In response to your requests, we have posted a list of commonly-used account codes:
http://cafe.northwestern.edu/resources/tips.html#expenses
InfoEd Upgrade Complete
October 19, 2009
Over the weekend we performed an upgrade to the InfoEd Proposal Tracking application. This upgrade is one step in preparation for the InfoEd Proposal Development implementation, which is now in the planning stages.
Full announcement
FY09 Encumbrances/Pre-encumbrances
October 15, 2009
As noted below, we continue to investigate a number of encumbrances and pre-encumbrances linked to POs. We have posted a list of affected chart strings at:
http://cafe.northwestern.edu/announcements/encumbrances.html
FY09 Close Complete - Reports are Ready
October 12, 2009
August and September have both been closed in NUFinancials and budget carryforwards on period 1 have been processed. Reports are now ready to view.
We continue to investigate a number of encumbrances and pre-encumbrances linked to POs. We will provide a list of the affected chart strings and amounts shortly.
Viewing Reports
Reports as of the August close are now available via Cognos from the Staff tab of the NUPortal:
(NUPortal > Staff tab > Login to Cognos):
https://nuportal.northwestern.edu
or
https://reporting.northwestern.edu
Note that the header of certain reports (GL005, GL008) will indicate that the month is closed.
Year-end Reports
You may wish to view the following reports:
GL005-Summary Budget Status
Summary budget-to-actuals for revenue and expenses for a specific Fund, Dept ID, Project.
GL008-Revenue & Expense
All transactions affecting the budget for the current period.
GL068-Financial Summary (Excluding Agency and Multi-Year Funds) Summarized financial information by chart string, for a DeptID, or for a School/Unit, reflecting the typical Beginning Balance, Expenses, Revenues, and Ending Balance for both Budget and Actuals, as applicable.
GM045-Sponsored Project Budget Statement
Status of direct and indirect expenditures against the total budget amount along with project demographic data.
SC016-Open Encumbrances
Shows open encumbrances for FY10 and helps users to reconcile budgets and track purchase orders that have not been finalized. Please note that this report will now be blank for FY09.
For more information and templates of these reports, see our Common Reports Quick Reference:
http://cafe.northwestern.edu/reports
Rolled POs
For an explanation of working with Purchase Orders rolled from FY09 to FY10, including which POs were rolled, how to find and create receipts for them, and how rolled POs will appear on reports, see:
Working with FY09 Purchase Orders that were Rolled into FY10:
http://cafe.northwestern.edu/documents/jobaids/Aid-FY09RolledPOs.pdf
COGNOS REPORT TIPS
http://cafe.northwestern.edu/reports/tips.html
QUICK REFERENCE: OLD-TO-NEW REPORTS
http://cafe.northwestern.edu/reports
ABOUT MONTH END CLOSE
http://cafe.northwestern.edu/announcements/close.html
HELP
For assistance, contact our Help desk at 847-491-HELP (1-4357) option 2
or email consultant@northwestern.edu
FY09 Close Still in Progress
October 9, 2009
We continue to progress in closing fiscal year 2009.
All FY09 revenue and expense transactions are posted and reports as of 5pm on 10/8 are now available via Cognos from the Staff tab of the NUPortal (NUPortal > Staff tab > Login to Cognos):
https://nuportal.northwestern.edu
or
https://reporting.northwestern.edu
Tasks still in progress, on track to complete early next week:
- Removing all remaining FY09 pre-encumbrances and encumbrances
- Conducting the final close for August
- Closing September
- Rolling the budget carry-forwards to FY10
We will send a message to our Core Users listserv when final reports are ready and will post a notice here.
Working with "Rolled" POs
October 2, 2009
For an explanation of working with Purchase Orders rolled from FY09 to FY10, including which POs were rolled, how to find rolled POs, how to create receipts for rolled POs, and how rolled POs will appear on reports, see:
Working with FY09 Purchase Orders that were Rolled into FY10 
New Security Form Address
September 30, 2009
- As of October 1, Café security form processing will be handled by the office of Financial Systems in the Controller's Office.
- The new address and fax number appear on the forms now.
- Forms received at the old address after that date will be forwarded via campus mail to Financial Systems.
See our Security page:
http://cafe.northwestern.edu/security
New Financial Summary Reports in Cognos
September 25, 2009
- The GL069 - Financial Summary (Including Multi-Year Funds And Excluding Agency Funds)
Displays summarized expense and revenue (actuals and budget) financial information by chart string for a DeptID or School/Unit, reflecting the typical Expenses, Revenues, and Ending Balance, as applicable. This report shows information for all chart strings except those that use agency funds (starts with a 7)
- GL071 - Financial Summary - Historical Comparison (Excluding Agency and Multi-Year Funds)
Allows comparison of fiscal year data by accounting period. Answers the question: “How were we doing this time last year?”
Find the GL069 and GL071 in the Budget, Monthly Financial, and Sponsored Programs Management folders in Cognos.
For more about reporting, see:
http://cafe.northwestern.edu/reports
InfoEd Upgrade/Downtime
September 24, 2009
- InfoEd will have a new look and feel on October 19
- To prepare, InfoEd applications will be unavailable from 5pm Thursday October 15th until 7am October 19th.
Full announcement
Expenses Clean-up, Round 2
August 26, 2009
- The next round of Expenses cleanup (9/18) involves Expense Reports created before 8/1/09.
- Please also note the 9/28 final deadline for any remaining pending FY09 Expense Reports.
Full announcement
Expenses Clean-up
August 10, 2009
Please be sure to submit all “pending” Expense Reports and all appropriate documentation by August 21, 2009. Or, if you don't need the funds released sooner, you can wait for pending transactions to be deleted.
Full announcement
Fiscal Year End Close
August 10, 2009
Our colleagues in Financial Operations presented Info Exchanges about fiscal year-end activities in late July. Materials from those presenations are available below.
Fiscal Year End schedules:
http://www.northwestern.edu/finsys/ps/CloseKeyDates.pdf
http://www.northwestern.edu/finsys/ps/CloseKeyTasks.pdf
The Fiscal Year End Information Exchange presentation:
http://www.northwestern.edu/finsys/ps/InfoExchangePresentation.pdf
July Reports Available
August 7, 2009
Reports as of the July close are now available via Cognos from the Staff tab of the NUPortal:
(NUPortal > Staff tab > Login to Cognos):
https://nuportal.northwestern.edu
or
https://reporting.northwestern.edu
Note that the header of certain reports (GL005, GL008) will indicate that the month is closed.
Fiscal Year End Prep
You may wish to review the following reports in preparation for year-end:
- GL005-Summary Budget Status
Summary budget-to-actuals for revenue and expenses for a specific Fund, Dept ID, Project.
- GL008-Revenue & Expense
All transactions affecting the budget for the current period.
- GL068-Financial Summary (Excluding Agency and Multi-Year Funds)
Summarized financial information by chart string, for a DeptID, or for a School/Unit, reflecting the typical Beginning Balance, Expenses, Revenues, and Ending Balance for both Budget and Actuals, as applicable.
- SC016-Open Encumbrances
Shows open encumbrances and helps users to reconcile budgets and track purchase orders that have not been finalized.
- GM045-Sponsored Project Budget Statement
Status of direct and indirect expenditures against the total budget amount along with project demographic data.
For more information and templates of these reports, see our Common Reports Quick Reference:
http://cafe.northwestern.edu/reports
More New iBuyNU Vendors
August 4, 2009
Purchasing Resource Services has just announced three new vendors in the iBuyNU Marketplace:
- Roche Diagnostic – Laboratory Supplies
- Technology Integration Group (TIG) – Computer Supplies
- North American – Janitorial Supplies
To visit iBuyNU, go to the NUPortal's Purchasing & Payments tab.
Questions? Contact purchasing@northwestern.edu.
New iBuyNU Features Coming July 27
July 15, 2009
On July 27th you'll see some changes to the iBuyNU home page, product search, and favorites. See our new job aid for an overview of the improvements:
What's New in iBuyNU?
Then, once you've seen the overview, check out the relevant training guides:
June Reports Available
July 8, 2009
In addition to our regular month-end close information and fiscal year-end preparation tips (available below), our monthly close message included the following news:
Shorter Payroll Encumbrances on GL008
Many of you have noted that multiple lines related to payroll encumbrances have been expanding the length of the GL008 report. Now the payroll encumbrance only shows the REMAINING encumbrance for that chart string instead of an encumbrance entry related to each payroll run. For encumbrance details, consult the PED in Vista for the chart string, as the drills have not been finalized.
If you would like to receive monthly close messages from Project Café, subscribe to our "Core Users" listserv:
1. Send an email with no subject line to: listserv@listserv.it.northwestern.edu
2. In the body of the message, type: SUBSCRIBE CAFE_CORE_USERS
New iBuyNU Vendors
July 6, 2009
Purchasing Resource Services has just announced three new vendors in the iBuyNU Marketplace:
- BD Biosciences - Lab Supplies
- Millipore - Lab Supplies
- Thybony - Paint and Supplies
To visit iBuyNU, go to the NUPortal's Purchasing & Payments tab. Questions? Contact purchasing@northwestern.edu.
Prepare for Fiscal Year End Now
June 30, 2009
We’ll have more information next month about fiscal year end, but for now, departments and schools should be focusing on clean-up activities:
- If you have invoices for FY09 purchases...send them to AP now.
- If you have received FY09 goods and services and have not yet created receipts, enter receipts now.
- If you need to get reimbursed for FY09 expenses, get your Expense Reports in now so that they can get through Approvals and be paid in this Fiscal Year.
- If you need to purchase goods and services using FY09 budgets, you should be creating Requisitions and getting them through Approvals before the end of August.
- Approvers, please approve items in your inbox.
- Work with PRS to relieve open pre-encumbrances and encumbrances. Use your SC016 - Open Encumbrance Report to help identify open encumbrances.
- Work with AP to delete any outstanding, unapproved Expense Reports.
May is Closed in NUFinancials
June 5, 2009
Viewing Reports
Reports as of the May close are now available via Cognos from the Staff tab of the NUPortal:
(NUPortal > Staff tab > Login to Cognos):
https://nuportal.northwestern.edu
or
https://reporting.northwestern.edu
Note that the header of certain reports (GL005, GL008) will indicate that the month is closed.
New Summary-level Reports: GL068 & GL070
We are excited to announce that two new Cognos Reports, GL068 – Financial Summary (Excluding Agency and Multi-Year Funds) and GL070 – Financial Summary with Project Purpose (Excluding Agency and Multi-Year Funds), are now available to Schools and Central Units. Those who used McFITS will find these reports similar. All users wishing to see a financial status across multiple chart strings at once will find these reports helpful.
GL068 and GL070 provide summarized financial information by chart string, for a DeptID or for a School/Unit, reflecting the typical Beginning Balance, Expenses, Revenues, and Ending Balance for both Budget and Actuals, as applicable. The reports also provide Subtotals by Fund type and DeptID. The GL070 report has the additional benefit of reporting and Subtotaling by Project Attributes, as assigned.
Find the GL068 & GL070 in the same folders as the GL005 and GL008.
SC016 Explanation Now Available
Do you need not only a list of open encumbrances, but an explanation as to what the statuses listed on the report actually mean? Check out the SC016 job aid under FMS723-Reconciling Budgets training materials:
http://cafe.northwestern.edu/training/materials.html#budgetadjustments
GL005 & GL008 Now More Excel Friendly
Most reports delivered by Project Café are set up to run as HTML output, delivering the results to your screen (this is required to use the drill down capability in reports where this is applicable).
Many users have commented that they have to ‘run the report twice’ to run it to PDF or Excel. You can run the report directly to the desired format by using the Run With Options button under the Actions column to the right of the report name. Simply click the Run With Options button and select the desired output format from the Format prompt.
You can find a training guide describing this process ("How to Change Report Options, Save, and E-mail") at:
http://cafe.northwestern.edu/training/materials.html#reporting
General Information
About Month End Close
http://cafe.northwestern.edu/announcements/close.html
Cognos Report Tips
http://cafe.northwestern.edu/reports/tips.html
Quick Reference: Old-to-New Reports
http://cafe.northwestern.edu/reports/school
New Classes, New Tips, New Links
May 29, 2009
New Training: Budget Searches
Do you want to increase your understanding of how to look up budget and expense information directly in NUFinancials?
We have created a new class, FMS722: NUFinancials Budget Searches, devoted to the budget search tool in NUFinancials. New job aids for this class show how to look up budgets and balances on sponsored and non-sponsored chart strings.
For more information, see:
http://cafe.northwestern.edu/training/matrix.html
New Training: Requesters Advanced Topics
Are you looking to increase your ability to track the information associated with POs (like the OPPH or OVIH screens in CUFS)?
In response to user requests, we've developed a new advanced class, FMS815: Requesters Advanced Topics, which includes in-depth information on the purchasing process, including tracking payments using various methods, menus, and starting information.
For more information, see:
http://cafe.northwestern.edu/training/matrix.html
Multiple Approver Roles?
If you are have multiple approver roles (Level 1 and 2, for example), there is an easy way for you to sort your inbox by level in the NUPortal.
http://cafe.northwestern.edu/resources/tips.html#approvers
Training PDF Links will Change June 1st
If you have bookmarked/favorited any links for training materials or job aids, please note that we have updated materials and, as a result, some PDF names and their links will change on June 1st. You may want to test your bookmarks and, if you receive an error that a PDF is not found, you can doublecheck (and update) the link from our main Training Materials page:
http://cafe.northwestern.edu/training/materials.html
Security Form Questions?
Our Help Desk (1-HELP, option 2, or consultant@northwestern.edu) can answer most of your questions about Cafe Security access. Anything they can't answer they'll forward to someone who can.
http://cafe.northwestern.edu/security
Open Labs are Back!
Don't forget, you can bring your questions to one of our Open Labs--one per campus each week. Drop in with your work and Cafe trainers can help you with questions about NUFinancials, iBuyNU, Cognos, and/or FAMIS.
See the Open Lab schedule at:
http://cafe.northwestern.edu/training/openlabs.html
April is Now Closed
May 7, 2009
Reports as of the April close are now available via Cognos from the Staff tab of the NUPortal:
(NUPortal > Staff tab > Login to Cognos):
https://nuportal.northwestern.edu
or
https://reporting.northwestern.edu
Note that the header of certain reports (GL005, GL008) will indicate that the month is closed.
NEW GRANTS REPORT: Direct Costs and F&A by project ID
- GM011-Sponsored Research Expenditures Report is a new report available to departments, schools and central offices.
- The report returns Direct Costs, F&A, and Total Costs by project ID.
- It can be run for a specific date range by school, department, PI, or Project type.
Please note the direct costs on this report may vary from the GM045-Sponsored Project Budget Statement because this report does NOT include budget-checked expenses that have not yet been approved
About Month End Close
http://cafe.northwestern.edu/announcements/close.html
Cognos Report Tips
http://cafe.northwestern.edu/reports/tips.html
Quick Reference: Old-to-New Reports
http://cafe.northwestern.edu/reports/school
About Project Café
Northwestern has completed a major initiative to replace its financial management system (CUFS) with a more robust, easier to use system to support the University for many years.
This initiative, Project Café, is significant for faculty and staff because it impacts the way Northwestern conducts its business in areas such as grants management, expenditure tracking, budget analysis, and purchasing.
The project went live in December 2008 and included NUFinancials (PeopleSoft Financials), Cognos Reporting, iBuyNU (online shopping tool), FAMIS (facilities management system) and a redesigned chart of accounts. A portion of the grants pre-award system (InfoEd Proposal Tracking) launched in July 2007, with an additional module (InfoEd Proposal Development) scheduled for implementation beginning in Fiscal Year '10.
For more information, see About the Project.
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