Issue 3
August 1, 1998
Table of Contents
1. Documentation Web Pages Reorganized
2. New SAP Documentation on the Web
3. Journal Voucher Upload Now Available
4. Manual Reservations Self-Study Now Available
5. Tip: What Happens When you Complete a JV?
6. Sneak Previews of Requisitioning in SAP
7. New Process for Registering for Requisition Training
8. Update on SAP Financial Reports
9. Macintosh Tip: Correct Date and Time Settings Solve Many Problems
1. Documentation Web Pages Reorganized
You may have noticed that MIT's web pages for SAP user documentation have grown in recent months, as new documents have been added. To make this information more accessible, we have reorganized the web pages and simplified the main page.
The main page now consists of 5 categories with links to topics within each category:
- Financial Operations
- Purchasing/Payment
- Getting Started/Getting Help
- Advanced Topics/Tips
- Central Offices documentation
2. New SAP Documentation on the Web
All SAP user documentation is accessible online from the SAP Documents page.
Some documents--such as Quick Guides and brief writeups--are in web format (HTML) which you can read in your web browser. Other documents--typically longer documents such as User Guides--are in a format suitable for printing on paper. These documents are in a format called "PDF" (Portable Document Format).
To view PDF documentation, you need free software called Adobe Acrobat Reader, version 3.0 or later. If you don't have it or need a new version, you can download Acrobat Reader 3.0 from a local site at MIT.
If you have difficulty downloading or installing Acrobat Reader, send email to saphelp@mit.edu and someone will assist you.
The following user documentation is now available on the web from the SAP Documents page:
|
Title |
Document Number |
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U-980617-AMR-KH-X.02 |
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S-980730-MFR-JC-1.00 |
|
|
Appendix
E: Uploading Charges to SAP Journal
Vouchers |
U-980724-JVS-TR-X.03 |
3. Journal Voucher Upload Now Available
You can now upload journal vouchers into SAP from a spreadsheet. This is a convenient alternative to keying a lengthy journal voucher directly into SAP. This upload is for departmental journal vouchers - i.e., SAP journal document types "SA" and "FY." (MIT internal providers use a different upload function for their billings.)
You need to have journal voucher authorization in SAP in order to do JV uploads. Journal voucher authorization -- and any SAP authorization -- may be requested through your department's authorized requestor.
Demos:
CAO will conduct demos of the new upload on the following dates:
- August 5, 1:00 - 2:00 pm in E19-758
- August 12, 1:00 - 2:00 pm in E19-758
- August 26, 1:00 - 2:00 pm in 56-114
Documentation:
The upload is documented in Appendix E: Uploading Charges to SAP Journal Vouchers (appendix to the Journal Vouchers User Guide).
4. Manual Reservations Self-Study Now Available
A self-study course is now available for SAP's manual funds reservation function. You can print out a copy of the Manual Funds Reservations Self Study from the SAP documentation web pages. You may log onto the training "playground" system (SAP-edu, client 010) and do the self-study at your own pace from your office. Complete instructions are contained in the self study.
If you have questions or problems on the self-study, send email to business-help@mit.edu for assistance.
What is a manual funds reservation? SAP's "manual funds reservation" feature lets you reserve funds for planned future expenses, such as equipment purchases, business trips, conference expenses, etc. The reservation appears as a commitment on your accounting statements, reducing uncommitted funds. When the expense actually occurs, the manual reservation must be liquidated (removed) by the user.
5. Tip: What Happens When you Complete a JV?
A frequent question about SAP journal vouchers is "Why doesn't my JV show up on a JV report as soon as I complete it in SAP?"
The reason is that SAP takes several minutes to process a completed JV through workflow. Workflow is the process that applies the system validation rules, routes the JV to the appropriate place in the system, and then posts it. Workflow processing must be finished before a JV shows up on either the Parked JV or Posted JV reports.
Therefore, don't worry if you can't immediately see your completed JVs on a JV report -- it doesn't mean that they have not "gone through". Wait 10 - 15 minutes or so before you run a JV report for confirmation. (Note that JVs that require review by CAO will appear on the Parked JV report until they are posted, after which they will appear on the Posted JV report.)
If you want to view an individual completed journal voucher directly, not via one of the JV reports, always use "Display a Parked Document" (/nfbv3). Don't open a completed journal voucher in the "Change a Parked Document" function. This could cause the JV to become stalled in workflow. The correct menu path to display a JV is:
Accounting>>Financial Accounting>>General ledger>>
(new menu) Document>>Parked Documents >> Display
CAO reviews all workflow items daily to ensure that all JVs get posted. If you have a problem with an SAP journal voucher, call Carol Gleason and she will assist you in finding and posting the voucher.
Carol Gleason: x3-2764
6. Sneak Previews of Requisitioning in SAP
Department users who will soon be doing requisitioning in SAP can choose between two ways of creating SAP requisitions. One way is through a requisition form on the web. Netscape then passes the requisition information to SAP. The other alternative is to enter the requisition directly into SAP.
We expect that the majority of requisitioners will prefer web requisitions because of ease of use. However, the ultimate decision whether to use the web or SAP for requisitioning may be based on personal preference and/or guidelines set by your department. The following recommendations may also be helpful.
Web Requisitions are recommended for:
- Anyone who wants a simpler requisition interface
- Infrequent requisitioners
- Graduate students
- People whose only task in SAP is requisitioning
SAP Requisitions are recommended for:
- People using SAP for multiple functions, e.g., reporting, JVs, etc.
- Requisition approvers
To show prospective users the differences between requisitioning in SAP and via the web, two demonstrations will be held during August. Everyone who will create requisitions is invited.
- Tuesday, August 18, 2:00 - 3:00 pm, Room 56-114
- Tuesday, August 25, 2:00 - 3:00 pm, Room 10-250
7. New Process for Registering for Requisition Training
Starting in September, training will begin on SAP requisitioning. Three courses will be offered:
- Web Requisitions (registration not required)
- SAP Requisitions
- Approving Requisitions
For course descriptions, including who should attend each course, see the SAP Training web page.
Before a department begins requisitioning in SAP, SAP must first be configured to support that department's needs. As a result, departments need to attend requisition training in a predetermined order, to coincide with the completion of their SAP configurations.
For this reason, there will be no "open" registration via the training web form for requisition classes. Instead, your AO or area manager will work with their School or Area Coordinator to determine when your department's requisition training will occur. They will also work with you to determine which requisition course(s) you should attend and when.
Once you are assigned by your AO or area manager to a specific class, the SAP training registrar, Nancy Gift, will enter your registration into the SAP training database. If she needs more information to register you for the class, Nancy will contact you. As soon as your registration is processed, Nancy will send you an email confirmation. You will also receive an email reminder a few days before the class.
Note that registration is not required for the "Web Requisitions" class and also that you will continue register via the web for all other (i.e., non-requisitioning) SAP courses.
8. Update on SAP Financial Reports
In late June, a number of changes were made to the Summary Statement and DTR reports in SAP. Subsequently, several problems were identified with these reports and most have been fixed. Thank you to everyone who noted these problems and reported them to us, and for bearing with us while they were being resolved.
Here is an update on where things now stand on these and other SAP financial reports. Please continue to report any problems or suggestions to Reporting@mit.edu.
|
Report |
Problem Description |
Status |
|
Summary Statement |
Calculation of Overhead on Commitments: "Phantom" commitments were showing up on the summary statement. |
Fixed. |
|
|
Update of Costing Sheets for 1999: The Summary Statement now calculates EB and Overhead for actuals and commitments, but costing sheets have not yet been updated for 1999. |
Should be completed in early August. |
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Principal, Expense, Income, and Settlement Sections of the Summary Statement: In late June, the summary statement was modified to separate "principal" from "income" for accounts with principal. Sponsored Billings was also moved to the "income" section of the Summary Statement. When this was done, the expense section of the summary statement was inadvertently split -- the "income" section ended up between "indirect" and "other" expenses. As a result, the "total expense" line of the statement was not useful, as income and most (but not all) expenses were co-mingled. |
Fixed. |
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|
Budgets/Authorized Totals: When the first budget feed for fiscal 1999 was done, the Summary Statement, which was designed to show all "plan" information across all fiscal years in Plan Version "0", began to reflect inaccurate budget information. This has been corrected. The Summary Statement now displays in the "Budget" column any amounts budgeted in periods 1 through 16 in the fiscal year of the report. For research accounts, where Plan Version 0 contains the authorized total, reports run for fiscal 1998 will display the authorized total as of June 30, 1998. For reports run for any month in fiscal 1999, the report will display the most current authorized total. |
Fixed. |
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|
Department Budget Plans: For departmental budgeting (plan versions other than "0"), we are aware that users need more flexibility in comparing budget to actual. For situations where a project has a different fiscal year than MIT's, or for WBS elements or Internal Orders where the department wants to budget annually and compare to annual rather than cumulative expense, the Summary Statement does not work well. |
We are working to provide better options for these situations. |
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Treatment of cost sharing was changed recently, and was not displaying correctly on the SAP Summary Statement. When credited to a research account, cost sharing was reflected as a reduction of expense, not as a revenue amount. |
A fix is in process. |
|
Detailed Transaction Report (DTR) |
Commitment Detail: The following new feature was added to the DTR at the end of June: when a DTR is printed, the detail of the commitments also prints. Initially, when a group of cost objects was selected together, the DTR commitment detail was printed for the whole group, rather than individually by cost object. |
Fixed. |
|
|
JV transaction date: The transaction date now displayed for journal vouchers on the DTR report is the "document date," which is the transaction date for the entire JV. However, if any individual line items have a different transaction date, the DTR should display the "due date" instead of the "document date." The due date is the transaction date for an individual JV line item. Until a fix for this is in place, users can drill down to the underlying journal document to see the transaction date of the line item. |
A fix is being worked on. |
|
|
Commitment Detail now also on line: The new DTR commitment detail report is now displayed on screen as well as being printed with the report. |
This is an Enhancement not a bug. |
|
Funds Analysis Report |
Cost Elements: Some cost elements are missing from the Fund Analysis report and two cost elements (800333 and 800334) relating to principal transfers are incorrectly showing as "expendable" when they are actually principal. These problems will not impact most departments, as the missing cost elements are generally not used on fund accounts and the cost elements 800333 and 800334 are seldom used. |
A fix will be available shortly. |
9. Macintosh Tip: Correct Date and Time Settings Solve Many Problems
A surprisingly large number of SAPgui errors on the Macintosh are caused by incorrect date and time settings. Hence, the Macintosh Date and Time Control Panel settings are key in solving many problems with SAP.
SAP is perhaps the first program at MIT designed for use in a multinational corporation; as a result, SAPgui requires correct values in certain date and time settings that other programs such as the Kerberos 5 Logon let pass.
Error messages related to the date and time settings include:
- "Error in SNC layer. Session terminated." (clock is too far off network time)
- "Clock Skew too great" (clock is too far off network time)
- "Connection closed because server did not respond to "Keep Alive Message" in time. " (clock is too far off).
- Or if the SAPgui crashes (i.e., halts) on startup with a Type 2 error (cause: undefined city in time zone.) If your SAPgui starts crashing with Type 2 errors but this doesn't happen to any other program, check the Date & Time Control panel for what city your Macintosh thinks is in your time zone. If it doesn't say Boston, be sure to change it.
You can prevent these problems by making sure all the fields in your Date & Time control panel have the proper values. Important: before you change your time settings, quit out of all applications (except "Finder"), including SAPgui, Eudora, TechNotify, etc. You should not change your time settings while any time-dependent application is running.
Proceed as follows:
- Start in the lower left corner with the time zone and go around clockwise.
- Press the Time Zone button and click on Boston as the name of a city in your time zone. (Many Macs come set to Accra, Ghana, or Abu Dhabi, UAE.) This puts your Mac into the Eastern Standard Time zone. Press OK.
- Put a checkmark in the Daylight Savings Time button between April and October. Remember to change the check mark when the time changes each spring and fall.
- Set the Current date to the correct date.
- Now change the Current time setting to show the right time, including AM or PM.
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