Even in these tight budget times, I’m pleased to report the Financials Support Services (FSS) team has made substantial progress on several of its long-term projects and has even undertaken an important new initiative.
I’ll begin with an update on some of the team’s projects as well as tell you about an upcoming event.
Enhanced DAL. We are busy preparing for the fall launch of the Enhanced Departmental Authorization List (DAL). The enhancements, which include the primary ones I’ve highlighted below, will make the process more efficient.
- A new DAL Processor (DLP) Authorization Code. This code will be assigned to the person responsible for inputting DAL requests into the system on behalf of the Dean, Director, or Chair (DDC) or the Responsible Fiscal Officer (RFO). Workflow will then send the DAL request to the appropriate DDC or RFO for approval.
- Bulk Copy and Approval Features. All employee as well as department or project authorizations will be able to be copied and assigned as a group. In addition, RFOs and DDCS will be able to use a single screen to approve multiple DAL requests
- Automated DAL Approval. Automated training and security verifications will expedite the DAL approval process in Finance and Accounting (F&A). Because updates will occur in real-time, there will be no delay between the time a DAL request is made and when the new code that was requested displays in an employee’s authorization list.
Prior to launching the Enhanced DAL, FSS will offer information and demo sessions. These sessions, which will take place both on campus and in the Research Pavilion, will provide an overview of the Enhanced DAL. FSS employees will be present at each session to answer questions.
FSS has created a number of resources to help DDCs, RFOs, and DLPs learn more about the Enhanced DAL. In addition to Addy Notes explaining the new features, a new instructor-led course, FSC212 – Enhanced DAL Workshop, and an online Webcourse, FSC112 – Enhanced DAL Training, will be available.
University’s Web Payment Transactions. The FSS team lent its support to the university’s web payment transactions by helping to automatically integrate the transactions with the UCF Financials General Ledger. In addition to providing support to departments as they implement this feature, the team has also been helping them integrate with the GoVolution payment gateway.
Report Format Modification. FSS recently provided a new computer application to employees of F&A’s Budget section. By using this application, Budget Operations employees can extract data from the expenditures and budget ledgers based on Florida’s Board of Governors’ (BOG) specifications. They can then process and modify the data so it complies with BOG’s required report structure.
Oracle OpenWorld Conference. I’m pleased to announce that Kristal Jackson from the FSS team attended the Oracle OpenWorld conference on September 21 to 25 in San Francisco. Kristal participated in Oracle Develop, a developer program, and represented UCF at this important information technology conference, together with several UCF employees from Computers Services and Telecommunications. Kristal has been busy sharing what she learned at the conference with the other FSS team members.
Now, let me tell you about FSS’s new initiative.
Expanded Support Functions. Shortly after FSS began fiscal year 2009, it expanded its support functions. On August 1, 2008, FSS began providing information technology (IT) and personal computer (PC) support to UCF’s Purchasing department. This initiative will help utilize the university’s resources more efficiently.
Director of IT Financial Systems
UCF Finance & Accounting
|
