Home Page News Archive: 12/07-4/09
March is Now Closed
April 7, 2009
Reports as of the March 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.
GL008 (Revenue & Expense Activity Report) Issues Resolved
- You should now be able to run multiple projects without serious performance issues.
- As reported last week, the 'Encumbrance/Pre-encumbrance YTD' issue has been resolved.
- We have made additional changes to help improve report speed, and will continue to work on it.
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
Classes begin April 6 and the current schedule runs through the first week July. New course offerings include "Saving & Scheduling Reports in Cognos," "NUFinancials Budget Searches," and "Requester Advanced Topics."
By popular demand, Open Labs have returned. Open Labs are a chance for financial system users to complete real transactions with the guidance of Café staff.
If you need some practice or have that one burning question, stop by our training room with your work materials.
No Registration Required!
See our Course Matrix or Calendar for more information.
February is Now Closed in NUFinancials
March 9, 2009
Reports as of February 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
New Report-Related Information
Coming Soon
- New and improved CSV file for recharges to use to validate chart strings
- We have made some changes to help improve report speed, and will continue to work on it.
January is Now Closed in NUFinancials
February 9, 2009
ABOUT MONTH END CLOSE
We have made some slight revisions to the procedures used to close each accounting period.
http://cafe.northwestern.edu/announcements/close.html
QUICK REFERENCE: OLD-TO-NEW REPORTS
Additional information about the new Cognos reports, including a quick reference between CUFS reports and their equivalents in the new system is available at:
http://cafe.northwestern.edu/reports/school
COGNOS REPORT DATA NOTES
http://cafe.northwestern.edu/reports/tips.html
FUTURE CLOSING DATES
http://www.northwestern.edu/finsys/ps/Calendar.pdf
REPORTS from NUFinancials, InfoEd, and FAMIS are available via the Cognos BI tool from the Staff tab of the NUPortal
(NUPortal > Staff tab > Login to Cognos):
https://nuportal.northwestern.edu or https://reporting.northwestern.edu
Classes begin this week and the current schedule runs through the first week in April. New classes include "NUFinancials Online Forms," "Managing Sponsored Projects," and "Using Direct Payment Requests."
Note that there are no longer Open Labs. Instead, we will hold Support Sessions after most classes. These sessions will focus on the subject matter of the preceding class (although attendance in that class is not mandatory). Registration IS required for Support Sessions.
See our Course Matrix or Calendar for more information.
Over the weekend of January 30, 2009 we will be making enhancements to the InfoEd Reports in Cognos.
• These changes will affect users that have copied InfoEd reports to My Folders.
• These users will need to delete the old versions and copy the NEW versions of the InfoEd reports to My Folders.
• Please do this before accessing the reports for the first time on/after Monday, February 2.
For step-by-step instructions, see our full announcement.
December Accounting Period Closed
January 12, 2009
The December accounting period is now closed in NUFinancials.
Please remember that monthly reports are no longer printed and distributed.
Reports from NUFinancials, InfoEd, and FAMIS are available via the Cognos BI tool from the Staff tab of the NUPortal
(NUPortal > Staff tab > Login to Cognos):
https://nuportal.northwestern.edu or https://reporting.northwestern.edu
For more information, including tips about using Cognos and information specific to sponsored projects, see our
full announcement
Tips & Tricks, Known Issues
December 29, 2008
Wondering why your home phone number is on a packing slip? Looking for the DPR form? Want to request a foreign vendor? What about petty cash? Find these topics and many more on our Tips & Tricks page.
For information about issues affecting system functioning or availability (including workarounds), check our System Status page.
We are pleased to announce that the new financial system is up and running.
Those with financial system security
can now access the following applications:
- NUFinancials
- FAMIS
- iBuyNU
- Cognos reports
- InfoEd
To log in, go to the NUPortal and click the Staff tab
https://nuportal.northwestern.edu
If you cannot access the portal or see the Staff tab, use our gateway page:
http://cafe.northwestern.edu/gateway
OPEN LABS
Open Labs are available from Dec. 8 until Jan. 15. View the Open Lab Schedule
SYSTEM STATUS
For information about issues affecting system functioning or availability, check our System Status page
TRAINING
Register online (and view course descriptions) by clicking course number on our Training Matrix:
http://cafe.northwestern.edu/training/matrix.html
HELP
For assistance please contact our Help desk:
Phone: 1-HELP (847-491-4357) option 2
Email: consultant@northwestern.edu
NewsBrief #7 Features:
- Go Live is Monday, December 8th
- Open Labs start December 8th
- Online Resources
- Help Option Number Has Changed
See our NewsBrief and Newsletter archive.
We're a GO!
November 11, 2008
Based on our latest implementation readiness review completed last week with our process owners and representatives from the schools and units, the Enterprise Systems Executive Committee (ESEC) has accepted our recommendation to proceed as planned with our December 8th go-live.
Beginning December 8, access the new tabs on the NUPortal at:
https://nuportal.northwestern.edu
Purchasing Resource Services has released its list of initial vendors in iBuyNU.
See the iBuyNU Vendor list
October 30, 2008
Our colleagues in Financial Management Systems distributed a detailed list of closing and conversion dates today. We continue to make excellent progress toward our December launch and are pleased to be able to share this information with you. Please see Key Dates for details.
See Key Dates
See Data to be Converted
October 14, 2008
Do you feel some opening night jitters about the new system? Never fear, Project Café will be opening the training rooms during select hours after go-live to assist you with your new procedures.
See our full announcement
Visit the Open Lab Schedule
October 13, 2008
NewsBrief #5 Features:
- Training Registration
- Training Materials Online
- Implementation Timeframe
- CUFS Account --> Chart String
- Do You Work in a Lab?
- Getting in: NUPortal
See our NewsBrief and Newsletter archive.
Training Now Open
September 9, 2008
- Our new go-live date is December 8, 2008
- Training is now open for all roles
- Demo training sessions begin on September 15
- Hands-on training will begin the week of September 22
- Online demos will be available soon--watch for announcements
Register online (and view course descriptions) by clicking course number on our Training Matrix:
http://cafe.northwestern.edu/training/matrix.html
You can also check our calendar:
http://cafe.northwestern.edu/cafe/calendar/
System Training to Resume September 15
September 5, 2008
Training registration has begun for people who have been assigned specific roles in the new system. Those individuals received emails this week with course recommendations and registration links. All others will be able to register for training beginning September 9, with the first demo sessions scheduled for September 15. More information, including registration links for all users, will be published on September 9.
September 2, 2008
New research staff and those who missed training earlier will now be able to attend training for InfoEd proposal and award tracking as well as for Cognos Reporting.
See the InfoEd Training page.
August 6, 2008
As announced by the Enterprise Systems Executive Committee (ESEC), Project Café will not launch the new financial system in September. Instead, the transition will take place in early December. In the meantime, the University will continue to use CUFS.
See our full announcement.
If you are enrolled in training, please see our Training Cancellation announcement.
July 18, 2008
NewsBrief #4 features:
- The NUPortal: Your Entry to the New Financial System
- COA Crosswalk Update
- Training Reminder: Demos
- SNUPER Replacement Info Session
See our NewsBrief and Newsletter archive.
June 19, 2008
NewsBrief #3 features:
- Coming Soon to a Business Office Near You...
- Transition Workshop Materials
- System Training
- What Classes Should You Take?
- Training and Roles
- Training Registration
- Who Can Help?
See our NewsBrief and Newsletter archive.
New Functional Manager
June 17, 2008
Project Cafe is pleased to announce that Alan Garbarino has joined us as Functional Applications Manager. Alan has extensive PeopleSoft Financials experience gained in both functional and technical capacities at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, where he has worked since 1994. Acting Functional Manager David Kolodziejski will remain on board to help ease Alan's transition through go-live and stabilization. Please join us in welcoming Alan to Northwestern and Project Café!
June 3, 2008
Online registration through the HRIS eDevelopment tool is now open. Find more information on our Training home page.
April 21, 2008
We have retired the Project Café newsletter so as to bring you more targeted information over the next several months leading up to our September go-live. NewsBrief #2 features:
- Moving from Phase 3 to Phase 4
- Transition Workshops Continue
- CUFS-to-PeopleSoft Crosswalk
- Training 411
- Top 10 Things You Can Do to Prepare for Go-live
See our NewsBrief and Newsletter archive.
April 2, 2008
Now you can find your new PeopleSoft chart strings by entering your CUFS numbers into our new Chart of Accounts Crosswalk tool. You can also find an instructional job aid, a quick reference guide about the new Chart of Accounts, and a file of all CUFS values mapped to date on our Chart of Accounts Gateway page, located at http://cafe.northwestern.edu/coa.
December 19, 2007
Project Café, along with our process owners, will be presenting a series of workshops starting in January. These introductory seminars on both campuses will put all the changes to policy, procedure, and organization structure into context prior to hands-on training, which begins in July. We strongly suggest that anyone who will be using the new systems attend. See our Transition Workshops page for more information. For specific dates, see Transition Workshop Dates.
As always, feel free to contact us with your questions and comments at projectcafe@northwestern.edu
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