FAQs -
Frequently Asked Questions
These FAST FAQs
are designed to assist with answering those questions which affect
all users. If additional assistance is required, see the FAST
Contacts
page.
Alphabetical
List:
Accountable Officer / Signature Authorization
Information
Budget Checking Errors Tips
Changes to Purchasing Category to Grants Budget Translation - a.k.a.
“the Rosetta stone”
Changes to travel per diem and mileage rates
effective January 1, 2006
Cost Sharing Process & Training
Fiscal Year-End Calendar of Dates: June - August 2006
How do I install PeopleSoft Financials on my
desktop?
How to make a query run directly to excel
Is there a query available to find out the
status of requisitions, PO's and vouchers?
Media Relations and Printed Material
Printing New Finance Mart Monthly Ledges
Processing Requisitions
Rosetta Stone, The
Sample Maintenance and
Itemized Blanket Orders
Search For An Asset in FAST / Old Property Search?
Slow Performance - Could be your Internet
Cookies
Update Existing Vendor Templates to Standard Comments
USF Finance Corporation, a new entity, to FAST Financials
What if I get a continuous "Processing"
message while using FAST?
What if I get a "Page cannot be displayed"
error while using FAST?
Year-End Closing Procedures ARCHIVE 2004-05
Accountable Officer /
Signature Authorization Information
(For Transaction
Approval)
Accountable Officer,
Accountable Officer Designee, and Travel Approver data is now
accessible in FAST. Instructions on how to access this information,
as well as Req Approver and Req Manager information are available in
this document -
Accountable
Officer and Signature Authorization Information -
FAST
Navigation / Look Up.
Each department
should review all approval roles for a specified chartfield
(Project, Initiative, (Unique) Fund code, or OU/Department) to
ensure the appropriate individuals have been established to
authorize financial transactions. Updates should be submitted, as
applicable, to insure financial transactions are not returned due to
lack of appropriate authorization.
NOTE:
Beginning May 22, 2006, staff in central departments will begin
using this information to validate authorizations for both
electronic (requisitions, expenditure transfers) and paper-based
transactions (travel, on-campus purchases, payment request forms,
etc.) and will return transactions that have not been properly
approved. Signature cards are
required to be on file for all authorized individuals.
Authorized individuals are those with a role of Accountable Officer,
Accountable Officer Designee, or Req Manager. For areas with
individuals able to approve travel expenditures only, they should
request the role of Travel Approver. Between May 1, 2006, and May
19, 2006, warning notices will be sent to departments that have
submitted transactions without the proper approval as a reminder to
update the approval information.
Several forms have
been revised to facilitate requesting FAST access, workflow, and
signatory authority. The Financial Transaction Authorization
Form is no longer needed. You do not need to submit this form
any more. Pertinent information from this form has been
incorporated into the new FAST access request form. Please use the
attached links for the
FAST access request and workflow forms for all future requests.
Old forms should no longer be submitted.
Important points
about the new forms:
-
Employee ID
information is now required on both forms for each user.
-
New employees do
not need to sign the FAST access request form so departments now
have an opportunity to request access to FAST before a new
employee begins working, as long as an Employee ID has been
assigned to them.
-
Signature cards
are required for each person designated as an Accountable
Officer, Accountable Officer Designee, Req Manager, or Travel
Approver.
For questions or
assistance, please contact
Linda Peterson,
lpeterso@admin.usf.edu or Janice Whitehead,
jwhiteh@admin.usf.edu.
Return to Alphabetical List.
Budget Checking Errors Tips
There
are 3 major types of budget errors when processing a requisition,
PO, voucher or journal:
-
No Budget Exists
- a charge was posted to a chartfield string where no budget exists
-
Budget Date Out of Bounds
- e.g. the grant has ended before the accounting date
-
Exceeds Budget Tolerance
- we have spent more than the total (parent) budget
No
Budget Exists Error:
(Navigation:
Commitment control>review budget activities>budget inquiry>budget
details)
Be sure to locate
the proper budget categories with dollar amounts as some projects may
show various chartfields due to corrections and verify the chartfields
for accuracy.
-
If chartfields
are incorrect in commitment control, contact your Senior Grants
Specialist in Research Financial Management
-
If you used the
wrong chartfields on a requisition, the following needs to be
checked for accuracy:
-
Header
default settings may need to be changed.
-
If changes
are made to the header default, make sure you retrofit* them
to the line distributions. Budget checking takes place at
the line level not the header level.
-
Make sure
you have chosen the correct Item Category for the purchase.
This ensures that the correct account number is placed on
the line distribution. Account numbers should not be put on
the header default.
You should
refer to the Requisition Training Manual if more information is needed.
Budget Date Out of Bounds Error:
-
Verify end date of the project in commitment control,
(query U_GM_KK_ENDDT). If it is incorrect, notify your Senior Grants
Specialist in Research Financial Management
-
If the end date of the project needs to have an extension or
modification processed, contact your Senior Grants Specialist in
Research Proposal Services
-
If no extension or continuation funding is pending, a
new source of funding will need to be provided for the expense.
This must be an appropriate source of
funding.
Exceeds Budget Tolerance Error:
-
Verify budget
of the project in commitment control. If it is incorrect, notify your
Senior Grants Specialist in Research Financial Management
-
If a
modification or new award needs processed, contact your Senior
Grants Specialist in Research Proposal Services
-
If no
additional funds are expected, a new source of funding will need
to be provided for the expense. The department should change
requisition errors. Submit a change order to Purchasing for
changes to purchase orders. Change order form:
http://isis2.admin.usf.edu/MatrixPro/FASTtraining/ProcuretoPay.htm
In order to process
the expense, all budget errors
must be resolved either by transferring budget, posting budget or
changing the chartfield string to be charged. Just one budget error will prevent a journal from posting
to the General Ledger. Until all budget errors are resolved, the
entire journal remains unposted.
To determine who is your Senior Grants Specialist visit:
http://www.research.usf.edu/
Return to Alphabetical List.
Changes to Purchasing Category to Grants Budget Translation -
a.k.a. “the Rosetta stone”
Some changes
have been made to the Rosetta stone to allow USF to better track
and control exception transactions.
Grant budget
transfers may be necessary in those instances where budget
account roll ups have changed. The changes primarily impact
Level 4 (Federal & Fed Flow through) grants and may be
summarized as follows:
(a) Several
general ledger accounts for patient care expenses (account
53700-53720) and for participant meal expenses (account 59020)
were not mapped to special grant budget categories created for
tracking these expenses. This has now been corrected.
(b)
Maintenance & repair general ledger account (54xxx series)
mapping has been revised to map computer & equipment maintenance
to CAS exceptions and to map other accounts (normally indirect
charges included in the F&A rate) to budget account 83900.
(c) Many
interdepartmental auxiliary general ledger accounts (75xxx
series) were formerly mapped to the general expense budget (GL
account 83400). These general ledger accounts have now been
re-mapped into their proper grants CAS exception budget
categories. These general ledger accounts are not used in
requisitions or purchasing.
The revised
Rosetta stone is available here
http://usfweb2.usf.edu/fast/proceduresmanuals.htm
A complete log
of revisions is contained within (navigate to link - log of
revisions).
Return to Alphabetical List.
Cost Sharing Process & Training:
Dr. Chang announces approval to proceed with the implementation
of procedures and training immediately
for the Cost Sharing Process. For more information
click here.
Return to Alphabetical List.
How do I install People Soft Financials on my
desktop?
You do
not need to install PeopleSoft Financials on your desktop. Please
access PeopleSoft Financials via this web site. Please see
Sign into FAST on your left navigator. It is important that
you read vital information and updates relating to FAST provided on
this web site.
Return to Alphabetical List.
Is there a query available to find out the status of requisitions,
PO's and vouchers?
Yes, you can run the following queries:
-
U_FIND_MY_REQ_INFO
-
U_FIND_MY_PO_INFO
-
U_FIND_MY_VOUCHER_INFO
Return to Alphabetical List.
Media Relations and
Printed Material
All purchasing payment
requests for marketing and communications materials must be
accompanied by proof of approval from a designated University
Relations representative. Any request without proof of approval
received prior to printing/production will not be paid. These
materials include, but are not limited to, brochures, flyers,
postcards, mailings, give-away items, advertisements and web
materials. It is the responsibility of the department requesting
payment to obtain all required approvals.
The Office of University
Relations respects the right of faculty to express their expertise
as they see fit. For that reason, faculty materials do not require
review or approval from University Relations. Attaching a copy of
this memo will serve as an approval letter if needed when submitting
faculty printing and presentation materials for payment.
Materials that will be
distributed to an external audience that serve to publicize, market,
or recruit on behalf of USF, a college, department, center, or any
affiliated entity must be reviewed and approved in advance by
University Relations in order to process payment.
If you are unaware of
your direct contact within
University
Relations, please look for
your department at
http://www.usf.edu/ur/contacts.html.
If you have questions, please call University Relations at (813) 974-4014.
Return to Alphabetical List.
Processing Requisitions
The “approve amounts” page should only be used once by the
initiator when creating a requisition. The initiator is using
this screen to push the requisition into Workflow and to the
worklist of the next level of authority. The initiator does not
need to be a limited or full approver (with a Workflow role of
Req_Approver or Req_Manager) in
order to do this.
When the “approve amounts” screen is used, a message comes up
that tells you the next approval level. The screen will show
a status of “In Progress.”
If
the requisition initiator is set up as a full approver (Req_Manager)
for the chartfield combination used on the requisition, no one
else in the department will be able to approve it. Once a
Req_Manager approves a requisition, it is sent to Purchasing and
the status continues to say “In Process.”
If
the requisition is LPO eligible, the status will change to
“Complete” and the requisition will be assigned a PO number by
the system without further manual intervention.
If
an item is not on the expected worklist it means that either the
initiator is also a full approver for that chartfield
combination and/or that no approvals have been set up in FAST.
Contact
fastsecurity@admin.usf.edu for assistance.
If
your approvals are not set up in FAST, the requisition will
route to a FAST team member and will be moved on to the correct
department approver when it has been set up.
Return to Alphabetical List.
Slow
Performance - Could be your Internet Cookies
Each time you view a page on the
Internet, a copy of the page is stored in a folder on your computer.
Without routine deletion of these pages, your computer performance
will become slower and slower.
Be sure your Internet Explorer is
not open and follow the four steps for improving your computer
performance.
-
Right click on the Internet
Explorer icon on your desktop
-
Select Properties from the
dropdown
-
General Tab will display.
In the middle of the page is a section labeled Temporary
Internet Files
-
Within this section, click on
the buttons labeled Delete Cookies and Delete Files.
-
It is suggested that you
perform this task daily, if possible, but no less than once a
week.
Return to Alphabetical List.
Update Existing Vendor Templates to Standard Comments
Purchasing &
Financial Services has added a new Update Existing Vendor template
to Standard Comments in FAST. Effective immediately, departments
will have two options to choose from in order to facilitate the
processing of vendor information in FAST. Departments will be able
to select the New Vendor template to add a new vendor in FAST or the
Update Existing Vendor template to make changes to existing vendor
information in FAST. [Posted
- March 2005]
Vendor
Templates:
To add a new Vendor in FAST, select the following
Standard Comment ID:
NEWV (New Vendor)
To update Existing Vendor information in FAST,
select the following Standard Comment ID:
UPVN (Update Existing Vendor
Info)
Return to Alphabetical List.
USF Finance Corporation, a new entity, to FAST Financials
The
University added the USF Finance Corporation, a new entity, to FAST
Financials. This has impacted the University Community in the
following ways:
1) There is no impact for normal data entry - security has been
implemented to segregate USF data from USF Finance Corp. data and
vice versa.
2) In order to ensure separation of this financial data within FAST
a different Business Unit (BU) and Set ID (SI) have been established
for each entity. You must specify the SetID ('USFSI') and/or General
Ledger Business Unit ('USF01') when viewing data on-line and/or when
running delivered reports.
3) All queries, Public and Private, must be reviewed and validated
to ensure that criteria for SetID = 'USFSI' or Business Unit =
'USF01' are added, where necessary.
There is a team who is currently reviewing all USF public queries to
determine how each will need to be updated to incorporate this
change. The public queries will be amended and a notice will be sent
out when this has been completed. Creators of FAST private queries
will need to make similar adjustments to each of their queries.
»
In the meantime,
public and private queries can be used with the following cautions:
1) The query
results may need to be adjusted for USF Business Units (USF01)
and/or Set ID (USFSI).
2) If Business Unit
and Set ID are not record field names within the query then the
results may contain data for both USF and USF Finance Corp.
Every effort is being made to complete the update of the FAST public
queries as soon as possible. If you need assistance with a public
query in the interim, please contact Greg Baker,
gbaker@research.usf.edu
for Grant related queries and
Linda Peterson,
lpeterso@admin.usf.edu
for
non-Grant related queries.
Return to Alphabetical List.
What if I get a continuous "Processing" message while
using FAST?
Please
keep in mind that some functions may take more processing time than
others. Only try these steps once you are sure the "Processing"
message has been there an excessive period of time (e.g. several
minutes to Add a new Requisition). Use the "Stop" button on your
browser, then follow the same steps listed in the FAQ above for
resolving a "Page cannot be displayed" error.
Return to Alphabetical List.
What if I get a "Page cannot be displayed" error
while using FAST?
At the
top of your Internet Explorer window, go to the "Tools" menu and
select "Internet Options...". In the "Temporary Internet files"
section on "General" tab of the Internet Options window, press the
"Delete Files..." option. A Delete Files window should open
-- select the "Delete All Offline Content" option and press "OK".
After that completes, and if there is a "Delete Cookies..."
option (on the same "General" tab of the Internet Options window),
press it. Answer "OK" to the "Delete all cookies..." question. Close
the Internet Options window (press "OK"), then close your Internet
Explorer window, open a new one, and log back on. Return to the
page where you encountered the error and you should not get "Page
cannot be displayed" again.
If you
do, however, still get the "Page cannot be displayed" error after
performing the "Delete Files..." and "Delete Cookies..." (if
available) steps -- including exiting and restarting your browser,
then follow these additional steps: At the top of your Internet
Explorer window, go to the "Tools" menu and select "Internet
Options...". Select the "Advanced" tab at the top right corner.
Scroll down to the "Security" section of Settings, find the
"Empty Temporary Internet Files folder when browser is closed"
option, and select it. Press "OK" to close the Internet Options
window. Close your Internet Explorer window, open a new one, and log
back in. Return to the page where you encountered the error and you
should not get "Page cannot be displayed" again.
Note:
If your Department does not want the "Empty Temporary Internet
Files folder when browser is closed" option left on, or if your
desktop Internet Explorer icon disappeared when you turned on that
setting, you can return to the Internet Options window, "Advanced"
tab, "Security" section, and de-select the option then press "OK".
Return to Alphabetical List.
Printing New
Finance Mart Monthly Ledgers
In
Windows Internet Explorer, you can adjust the viewing size of your
window. To do so, right click on the Window’s menu bar and left
click to select “Standard Buttons” so the check mark appears.
After
the standard buttons appear, left click on AA1 button,
and select the smallest view. The reports should print in the
smallest view.
Also,
once you have your report and are ready to print, you can
simultaneously click the “Ctrl” button and the “P” key on your
keyboard to bring up your printer options to adjust your paper
settings to landscape/legal if needed. You can also adjust margins,
paper size and orientation by selecting File > Page Setup from the
windows menu bar.
Return to Alphabetical List.
Fiscal Year-End
Calendar of Dates: June - August 2006
Click Here to See the monthly calendars for June - August
2006 with important dates for year-end processing of
transactions. These dates apply to all funding sources.
For assistance or more
information
please the
following Contacts List:
Return to Alphabetical List.
