AACII Notes 11/3/16
First section; a Buy to Pay Project Update by Gerry O’Toole.
All MIT Schools have a “go live” date which will be announced.
Purchasing card system and reimbursement modules are not included in initial rollout. These were deemed not ready for MIT yet. There were problems with delegate approvers and inbox mechanics. Both will likely be rolled out next year.
Q: Will customizations prevent smooth upgrades? A: No, the customizations will not affect upgrades.
Q: Will this affect the Financial Review and Control (FRC) process? A: Once we get it going we’ll go back and see how we can maximize FRC.
Q: Will G/L accounts be visible? Can people be educated about correct G/L selection vis-a-vis overhead exemptions. A: GL can be changes at the approval step, and by the user at a later step.
FAR subjected projects will be identified so paper can be discarded if a project is not subject to the FAR.
Q: Can comment field be left for the original purchaser? A: Yes, the notes are either for the buyer in procurement or the original requisitioner.
Data is being ported to SAP from B2P app. All existing data will be brought over.
A/P processes will be improved significantly to allow invoice status to be quickly updated. The system supports electronic invoice approval, comments, and will result in reduced time of entry/process.
Q; Sometimes we’ve asked vendors to send the invoice to us to prevent the extra step of routing invoices from AP to the department.
Q: How do we handle existing POs? A: Let blanket POs that expire in June 2017 do so and renew them in the new system. Financial Operations will work to move all POs into system eventually, but not for 9-18 months or so. Dual systems will exist for another year most likely.
Q: Will Department level reporting exist? A: Yes.
Q: Can reporting by supervisor/on behalf of be done to see order history? Yes, reporting can be done for several factors, but is limited to the orderer.
Q: Will ATLAS inboxes be used? A: Yes, the ATLAS system will link in.
Q: Is there a mobile app? Q: Yes there is.
Q: Would we be able to order from internal providers? A: We’ve had trouble getting internal providers into the system, but we are confident we will get IPs into the system eventually.
Rollout review
Help is streamlined; there is now one contact center for all the B2P functionality and is staffed with AP and Procurement to be able to solve any problem. Trying to improve services. All calls answered by a human.
Q: How many users at the end of the day? A: Roughly 7,000 people in a year actually logged onto the old system, so that’s the likely max number.
Q: P-cards are not implemented, when they are implemented how will swept charges be handled? A: It will be working fine.
Training will be givent to users and administrators (separate courses) about one month before that school’s ‘go live’ date.
Mariana Pierce and Andrea McGosh, mgr of comp
(Presentation on FLSA changes)
Q: Will NIH increase their minimums again? A: Not certain. There’s an automatic three year recalculation of the FLSA minimums. VPR is working with Postdoctoral salaries.
Q: When does Tech Assistant position go away? A: December 1. There was a decision made to not hire in new positions until November, but raise everyone up on Dec 1.
Postings being worked on now (early Nov).
Part time positions are not pro-rated based on fraction of full time effort. Part time exempt staff are usually research Scientists – there are 11 in Mech E. No large number in other departments.
Q: do we need to be better at putting people on as “instructors” so they fall under the teaching exemption? A: We can categorize people to make sure we have people in the right way so that the law is respected and we don’t need to change the compensation.
Q: What about one time payments and supplements? A: MIT is trying to get away from that to respect the payment of wages act. Supplements are not subject to SS and Medicare. Wages are more appropriate usually.
Changes to pay and category need to be communicated in person to the employee before email.
Q: When are further communications coming? A: Later in November, particularly for people who will become support staff December 1. 50-60 people changing from Staff to Support Staff.
Pay increases will be disrupted. Departments who think there is something unfair happening may want to consider giving a one time a bonus. Job code change will happen mid-review cycle for SRS who are changing to support staff.
