Finance Resources for Centers

NU financials Systems
NU Portal
Project Café Resources
Chart of Accounts Crosswalk
Café OR allowable Level of purchasing approval
Café Security Forms
ProCard Process
Key Points

NU Financial Systems:

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

NU Portal :

To log in, go to the NUPortal and click the Staff tab.

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Project Café Resources:

The Project Café Resources will assist you with New equivalents for old CUFS screens and a list of new forms, Project-related terms and definitions, Schedule of when our training classrooms will be staffed to walk users through new processes in the live system. General hints for using the new financial system, Materials from all Project Café training.

Chart of Accounts Crosswalk:

Use the Chart of Accounts Crosswalk to translate CUFS numbers to PeopleSoft chart strings and vice versa.
Note: You will be required to login via VPN for access from off campus.

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Café OR allowable Level of purchasing approval:

The Office for Research Research Centers are allowed to approve purchases under $5,000; this is considered Level 2 approval. Please contact Mary Tobin if you have questions regarding approval rights for your center.

Per University policy, no one is allowed to approve their own purchase request.

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Café Security Forms:

To obtain access to NU Financial systems, please complete and forward the Security forms to Mary Tobin, ORPFC, 633 Clark Street, Crown Building 1st Floor, Evanston Il 60208.

Pro Card Process:

Northwestern University allows departments to have what is called a ProCard.
The Office for Research supports ProCard use by its units and centers as a tool for efficient purchasing where appropriate. Please review the ProCard policy.

The Office for Research will allow the maximum limit on a ProCard to be set at $1,500 per transaction and $5,000 per month. Well-supported exceptions will be considered.
Please send your completed application form to Will Higgins for review and approval.

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Key Points:

Expense Reports:

There are two different Expenses Modules named "Travel and Expense Center" in NUFinancials. They are accessed from different spots in the hierarchy, and they have different purposes:

Use the "Employee Self-Service" à "Travel and Expense Center" for entering your own expenses and the expenses of others
Use the "Travel and Expenses" à "Travel and Expense Center" for adding proxies (individuals you would like to enter reports for) and for looking up history on completed and pending reports

There are two ways to enter Chart Strings on Expense Reports

Use the "Accounting Defaults" link to apply a Chart String to every expense line in the report
Use the magnifying glass icon to the right of the details for any expense line to enter a Chart String for that expense line only. (This is the only way to indicate an expense account code for any given line.)

Remember to add participants with the two people icon for all group meals.

For Administrative Units, the key dollar figure to keep in mind is $5,000.00

Expense Reports under $5,000.00, those that do not belong to the unit’s director, and those that have been approved by a Level 1 approver do not need to be sent to Crown for Review. After the reports have been approved electronically, the hard copies can be routed to ASRSP or AP as appropriate.
Expense Reports over $5,000.00 (requiring Level 2 approval), those belonging to Unit Directors, and those that have not been approved at Level 1 (if you do not have a Level 1 approver available) must be sent to Will Higgins or Aaron Rosen at Crown for review.

All Travel and Expense policies remain in effect under the new system. Please consult the current version of the Travel and Entertainment Policy Guides available online:

Many departments are still adjusting to the workloads in Peoplesoft. Please allow extra time for the processing of these requests as there may be bottlenecks in certain areas. If an expense report is not approved in the period in which it was created, the "accounting date" must be modified to the current period. Approvers have the ability to modify this date.

When an Expense Report has been successfully submitted, the recipient will receive an email that indicates its approval. The following day, the funds should be visible in the "primary" account of the recipient as designated with payroll. (The reimbursement will not be divided on a percentage basis like your paycheck can be divided between different bank accounts. Use HRIS to designate accounts to be credited.)

Blankets:

Set up blankets whenever possible to pay for all recurring charges:

Outside consultants
Recurring catered events
Water service
Telephone service (cell phones, not NUIT charges)

Avoid using DPR's (Direct Payment Requests) when a blanket can be used instead. DPR's fall outside of the regular workflow. As such, they are difficult to track and are not subject to as much oversight as orders entered through the portal. However, there are a few limited instances when you should use a DPR instead of a blanket:

Registration for conferences
Subscriptions (Science, Nature, AMA, etc.)
Memberships in professional and academic organizations
Equipment repairs
Research subject fees

Make sure that you name your blanket effectively in "Section 1" of the "Create Requisition" module. This will make finding the blanket easier in the future. Also remember to check the "blanket" checkbox on this page.

Purchasing Services reviews all blankets before they are approved. For all blankets, regardless of whether the blanket requires an SSJ, it is important to explain the derivation of their dollar amount to Purchasing. In the blank box on the bottom of "Section 3" please indicate how you calculated the blanket’s size. (Eg. We pay $100.00 every month for water services, over 12 months, this comes to $1,200.00)

After the blanket has been set up, you must "receive" the dollar amount of the invoice you intend to pay prior to sending it to Accounts Payable

Use the "Manage Requisitions" link to find your blanket

Delete the "Date From" data from the search
If you did not create the blanket, enter the appropriate Net ID
Keep the request status at "All But Complete" and Business Unit at "NWUNV"
All other fields should be blank
Click "Search"
- Select the "Receive Order" option from the drop-down menu at the right of the screen on the line that contains your blanket. If this option is not available, contact Purchasing at 1-8120
- Click the checkbox for the Requisition Line to be received and then click "Receive Selected"
- Change the dollar amount under the "Received Amount" field to the amount of the invoice you will be sending to AP and then click "Save Receipt"
- Make sure that you indicate the Purchase Order number (starts with "PUR") on the invoice prior to sending it to AP.

Monthly Statements and Reporting:

For your monthly reconciliation, at the close of each month, all Office for Research Centers and Administrative Units should pull, review and digitally archive their month end statements for all Chart Strings under their control (GL005 report for all non-sponsored accounts, the GM045 report for all sponsored accounts and the GL008 for all Chart Strings)

To set up a template to run Cognos reports automatically, please refer to the following helpful walkthrough: http://cafe.northwestern.edu/documents/jobaids/JobAid-SaveScheduleReports.pdf
For general reporting help please refer to: http://cafe.northwestern.edu/reports/tips.html