MyFinance: purchasing opens on 4 August

To many the introduction of a new finance system is something of a dry subject (alas not to those in Finance and ISD who are particularly excited).

Nevertheless we wanted to highlight that the new MyFinance system goes live on Monday 4 August.

The new system replaces our existing FIS system and is the largest change in Finance for over 15 years and the largest system change at UCL for many years. The new system is designed to meet the needs of an organisation that has grown considerably in size and complexity since the current system was built 15 year ago. Many will know of the shortcomings of the current FIS system and the new system is designed to overcome these.

However, despite all the testing and preparation by central finance, ISD and local finance officers across UCL, we should expect some teething problems. Some features might not work quite as you expect, most probably because the data needs updating. This is not surprising for a change of this scale. Many of these issues will be fixed quickly but others may take a little longer. We have enlarged the support teams to handle any problems but please bear with us if you don't get a response as quickly as you would like in the first few days. Once we get past the initial bedding in period and you become familiar with the new system, we are sure the benefits will outweigh any initial difficulties.

The new system will be introduced in stages over the coming weeks as new pieces of functionality are turned on and data migrated from the old system. This is explained in more detail below and departmental administrators and other FIS users have been briefed about this. As the migration process progresses there will be a period of a few weeks before expense claims entered into the new system can be paid. This is to allow payments in the old system to be completed before switching over payment to the new system. We apologise if this causes disruption but hopefully you will understand this is needed for a controlled and structured migration. The same also applies to payments to suppliers where there may be a delay in payments to some suppliers. We are communicating this to our suppliers so they are aware.

Finally we would like to thank all those from across the university who have worked tirelessly for many months alongside Finance and ISD to implement this new system.

Phil Harding, Director of Finance and Business Affairs

Mike Cope, Director of Information Services Division

Accessing the new system

From Monday 4 August, MyFinance will be available to enter new purchase order requisitions.

To login to MyFinance from your web browser, go to www.ucl.ac.uk/myfinance and login with your usual UCL username and password. (Note: This will not be available until 4 August 2014)

Local Finance Managers and Departmental Administrators will also be able to manage access to the system and give people key member access to their projects (the new name for accounts).

Planned Release Schedule

Functionality will be released over the forthcoming four weeks. See the table below for the full planned release schedule.

Week 1	4 August	iProcurement, User Management, Project Key Member Maintenance
Week 2	11 August	iExpenses
Week 3	18 August	Accounts Receivable, AP Enquiry, Reporting
Week 4	25 August	IDTs, IDJs

If the plan needs to change you will be informed by email.

For those who submit their expense claims using a manual form (external individuals and students), the new forms will be available from 4th August at www.ucl.ac.uk/finance/expenses. You can use the new form to prepare expense claims but please do not submit them to Accounts Payable until you are asked to do so. You will be sent an email when you are able to submit the forms to Accounts Payable.

Raise a requisition

From 4 August you will be able to raise requisitions.

Before you raise a purchase requisition, you will need to setup your Preferences. You must select a valid default Deliver-To location and a UCL PO Administrator who will receive notification when the Purchase Order has been sent. You may also want to set a default Project, Task and Award if you generally raise all your purchase orders against the same project (account).

You will need to be aware of the new purchasing categories so that you are able to select the correct one when raising a non-catalogue request. If you order from one of the stores, such as Science Warehouse, you will not need to select the purchasing category.

There are new projects, tasks and awards that replace the current codes for general ledger budgets. Research grant codes and names have changed. When entering a requisition, if you search for a project, you will see just the list of projects that are relevant for you. The full list of projects, tasks and awards will be available on the website data & codes page from 4th August. Check with your local finance officer if you have any queries.

Detailed how-to instructions are available in Moodle. 400 bite-size e-learning topics are grouped into courses to help you find just what you need to know. Login to Moodle at www.ucl.ac.uk/moodle and search for MyFinance to find all the available courses.

Open Purchase Orders in FIS

Any open purchase orders that have been created in FIS will not be in MyFinance on the 4th August. These are scheduled to be migrated into MyFinance after the FIS year end closes in mid August.

Reducing the Impact

Here are some tips for minimising the impact of the delay to paying expense claims:

• Book travel through Ian Allen rather than putting it on your personal expenses.
• For small items, it may be possible to use your departmental purchasing card.

How to get help

Local finance officers in departments, divisions and faculties have been working hard, along with the project team, to make the transition as smooth as possible. However, due to the scale of the changes, we anticipate that there may be some difficulties at the start. If you do experience any problems here's who to contact:

Issue	Contact
Login username and password	ISD Helpdesk E-mail: servicedesk@ucl.ac.uk Tel: 020 7679 5000 (internal: 25000)
Technical problems - with the browser or java version	Your local computer rep or IT Manager ADS Users contact ADS Helpdesk ads-helpdesk@ucl.ac.uk SLMS Users contact list is online at http://www.ucl.ac.uk/isd/itforslms/about/contact
Access to MyFinance system roles & responsibilities	Your Local Finance Manager If you are uncertain check the MyFinance LFMs list on www.ucl.ac.uk/projectabacus/documents/Local_Finance_Officers_and_Schools_Finance_Reps.xls
Access to view or use a Project	Your Local Finance Manager If you are uncertain check the MyFinance LFMs list on www.ucl.ac.uk/projectabacus/documents/Local_Finance_Officers_and_Schools_Finance_Reps.xls
All other issues	MyFinance Help Desk : E-mail: myfinancehelp@ucl.ac.uk Tel: 020 3108 3133 (internal: 53133) Please clearly indicate the problem area in the subject of your email: - MyFinance - MyFinance Reporting - e-Learning and whether the issue is related to : - incorrect data - system not working - unsure how to use it

For further information visit the project website at www.ucl.ac.uk/projectabacus or by email projectabacus@ucl.ac.uk.