Workflow Changes in Oracle
On Monday, September 16, we
simplified the workflow for expense/invoice approvals by supervisors.
Now, a supervisor* will only need to approve an expense or invoice if the
employee submitting it is also the Department Manager* or Designation Manager.
This represents a change from the
past workflow in two ways. First, when an employee previously submitted
an expense to a department other than their home department, the expense would
go to their supervisor for approval as well as the Department Manager. In
the new workflow, the supervisor’s approval is no longer needed. Second,
when an employee previously submitted an expense or invoice and they were also
the Designation Manager (i.e. the one responsible for approving the expense) the
expense/invoice was routed to Finance for approval. In the new workflow,
if this scenario arises, the expense/invoice is sent to the supervisor of the
Designation Manager/employee.
Now, because of these changes, an
invoice/expense will always go to the Department or Designation Manager for
approval unless the employee submitting the expense/invoice is also the
Department or Designation Manager. In that case, it will go to the supervisor
for approval.
*
Supervisors are also sometimes referred to as “Line Managers.” Department
Managers are also sometimes referred to as “Cost Center Managers.”
Punch-Out
On Monday, September 16, we turned
off “punch-out” for WB Mason and B&H to simplify the process of purchasing
items from these vendors. We still recommend that you use WB Mason and
B&H in the following ways to receive discounted pricing and sales tax
exemption:
- For WB Mason, purchase
items directly from the corporate website
to receive the discount and sales tax-exemption. You will need to
utilize your p-card when doing so or work with your coordinator to make
the purchase if you do not have one. If you need an account, please
contact our W.B. Mason account representative, Sherry White, at sherry.white@wbmason.com.
Please let her know whether you work in Vermont or in California to ensure
you get set up with the correct account, i.e., non-taxable (Vermont and
other states) or taxable (California). You can find more information on
the go.middlebury.edu/purchasing
webpage.
- For B&H, you can
also purchase items directly from the corporate
website. Again, you
will need to utilize your p-card or work with your coordinator to purchase
the items. Note that for purchases over $10,000 they provide
an additional 10% discount above and beyond the prices on the website. For
that discount, call B&H at
(800) 947-8003 extension 7741. If you don’t have a login yet, click
on “Not Registered Yet” and use your @middlebury.edu email
address. More instructions about B&H can be found here.
We have not yet set a date for
turning off “punch-out” for Amazon but we expect that this too will be
eliminated in the upcoming weeks.
Accounts Payable Trainings
We have scheduled a series of
trainings in the Fall for new employees or for those that want a refresher on
the new Accounts Payable processes. These trainings will provide
instruction on Accounts
Payable-related tasks like how to process expense reimbursements or p-card
charges in Oracle, how to register suppliers, submit invoices for payment and
approvals. The dates are:
Thursday, September
19
3:00-4:30 ET
Thursday, September
26
3:00-4:30 ET
Thursday, October
10
3:00-4:30 ET
Thursday, October
24
3:00-4:30 ET
Thursday, November
14
3:00-4:30 ET
Thursday, December
12
3:00-4:30 ET
To sign-up, please go to our Middlebury
Project Ensemble Finance Resources page.
Oracle Drop-in Sessions
We will continue to have drop-in
sessions for those that want assistance with particular issues in Oracle.
These trainings will be:
Thursday, September 12
3:00-4:30 ET
Thursday, October 3
3:00-4:30 ET
Thursday, October 17
3:00-4:30 ET
Thursday, October 31
3:00-4:30 ET
Thursday, November 7
3:00-4:30 ET
Thursday, November 21
3:00-4:30 ET
Thursday, December 5
3:00-4:30 ET
Thursday, December 19
3:00-4:30 ET
You do not need to sign up for
these.
Budget to Actual Reporting
On September 7, Finance rolled out budget-to-actual
reporting through PBCS and Oracle. The roll-out has purposefully been
staged and we will be expanding capabilities over the course of the fall and
spring semesters. Currently, each department has one or two individuals
who can view transaction-level details and a larger group of individuals who
receive automated summary-level budget to actual reports via email for their
departments. Over the course of the fall and spring semesters, we will be
rolling out more reporting functionality to enable this group of individuals to
see other relevant financial information.
Finance Questions
If you have questions about any of the above, please reach
out to the Change Facilitators in your areas. The names of these
individuals can be found in the Google Drive link here.