In
This Issue:
Financial
Systems Quick Reference Issued
Financial Review and Control
General
Ledger Account Project
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Financial
Systems Quick Reference Issued
Curious
about when other MIT systems feed data to SAP? Need to
know how to get a new employee trained and authorized
to use MITSIS and SAPweb?
Getting
answers to these kinds of questions should be a little
easier, thanks to the new Financial
Systems Quick Reference.
The
quick reference has a page describing each of the major
systems, including COEUS, the Data Warehouse, Labor Distribution
System, MITSIS and WebSIS, NIMBUS, Roles Database, SAP,
and SumMIT Payroll. In addition, the quick reference includes
an overview chart with details about these systems and
others, such as ECAT, CYBORG, Maximo, and the VIP Card.
The chart tells you if this is the system of record, the
timing of when data is fed to it, how to become authorized
to use it, and how to get help.
Production
of the Financial Systems Quick Reference was a collaborative
effort between the editorial board of this newsletter
and MIT's Administrative Advisory Committee (AAC). Earlier
this year, the AAC distributed a list of "hot button"
issues they felt had a major impact on administrators'
work and also indicated their willingness to help resolve
them. The quick reference was designed to help address
the issue of consistency of MIT financial data and also
to improve computer support by providing consolidated
information about learning and support services.
Thank
you to the many people who helped produce the Financial
Systems Quick Reference by writing and reviewing copy
or designing and refining the layout.
The
editorial board is considering a printed version of the
quick reference but would like community feedback to the
Web edition first. Please send email comments to fss-eboard@mit.edu.
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Financial
Review and Control
In
the summer of 1999, MIT Controller Jim Morgan and Chuck
Shaw, then director of the Audit Division and now director
of Financial Systems Services, formed the Financial Review
and Control (FRC) team to review and revise the Institute's
reconciliation requirements and procedures.
MIT
administrators had been feeling caught in "a reconciliation
rules flux." Increasingly the Institute was using electronic
financial systems while still trying to adhere to audit
policies requiring stringent paper trails. The FRC team,
with representatives from the Audit Division, the Controller's
Accounting Office, Financial Systems Services, and departments,
labs, and centers (DLCs), was asked to adapt control measures
to MIT's electronic work environment and develop a process
for financial review and control that would allow reviewers
to make the most effective use of their time. This article
will give an update on the progress that the team has
made.
The
FRC team developed a new set of financial review and control
procedures as well as tools to support them in early 2000.
Under the new procedures, DLCs will no longer need to
keep copies of transactions that are available in central
systems or kept by a central administrative unit (such
as CAO). This reduced requirement for paper retention
not only allows for more efficient review, but also represents
a shift away from the detailed "tick-and-tie" and toward
a higher level review based on business processes and
controls.
Using
a new "risk-based" analysis of charges, administrators
will be able to focus their financial review on areas
where the risk of error or loss is greatest (e.g., large
dollar amounts, unusual charges, journal vouchers). Staff
can review cost object summary information online using
the SAP Summary Statement Report and/or the Account Manager
Report (AMR). Detailed transactions may also be reviewed
online using the SAP Detail Transaction Report, the SAP
AMR, or the BrioQuery financial review and control reports.
Rollout
of the new guidelines
and tools
will begin with central areas in November 2000 and continue
with the academic areas through early 2001.
The
FRC team's new financial review procedures were first
tested in a departmental pilot this spring, after which
refinements were made in the processes and tools. The
pilot then expanded to nine additional academic and central
units. The second pilot tested the procedures and tools
and reviewed the guidelines over a three-month period
this summer.
At the end of the summer the FRC team held a focus group
meeting in which pilot participants shared their comments
and provided feedback. These recommendations were incorporated
into further refinement of the processes and guidelines
and into the development of the plan for rollout of the
new procedures to the entire Institute.
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General
Ledger Account Project
The
General Ledger (GL) Account Project is an effort to revise
and better document the GL accounts that are used to track
types of costs and revenues in SAP. Definitions for all
GL accounts will be reviewed and updated. Some GL accounts
have been renamed in order to clarify their meaning. For
example, "Outside Services" has been renamed to "Temporary
Help." New GL accounts will be created where existing
ones are not providing adequate management information.
About 150 GL accounts that are vague or archaic will be
closed out.
A
GL account shows the type of revenue, expense, asset or
liability; whereas cost objects show activities of projects
in given areas of responsibility. There are few GL accounts,
but many cost objects.
Comments
and suggestions about the work of the GL Account Project
or the draft
definitions of existing GL accounts should be sent
to Gill Emmons gemmons@mit.edu
or Frank Celani fcelani@mit.edu.
The project team is seeking to complete their work by
June 30, 2001.
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