It is important to keep your requests coming to the proper email addresses. We have been busy with the implementation of new systems, required maintenance of existing programs and participation in the transition efforts for the new Office of Sponsored Research Services on a timely basis. Sending email directly to analysts or other staff members could cause a delay in our response time.
Our contact email addresses (NOTE: changed to @tamus):
FAMIS-Security@tamus.edu (FAMIS SECURITY)
Security Administrators may contact this group for assistance with daily security tasks
FAMISHelp@tamus.edu (FAMIS HELP)
CANOPY/FAMIS functional inquiries, table updates, etc.
FAMISProd@tamus.edu (PRODUCTION)
Contact FAMIS Production with your questions concerning job postings and job requests
May 16, 2012
ACTION ITEMS COMPLETED
- #7888 - OSRS (Part 01 Request)
Request: Include all OSRS accounts in the FBAR335 report.
Action: FBAR335 was modified to use the OSRS account flag in combination with the Multi-Campus option to create a combined OSRS report.
- #7934 - OSRS (All Parts Request)
Request: Create a new program to populate the OSRS security flag in batch.
Action: ZBAU308 has been created which can be used to populate the OSRS security flag in batch mode.
- #7984 - Concur (All Parts Request)
Request: Add new fields to Screen 827 that are related to the Concur project.
Action: Screen 827 was modified to store and display the following new fields:
- Monthly Fee
- Concur Payments Clearing Account
- CCP Bank/GL Account
- #8004 - Concur (All Parts Request)
Request: Need an automated method to create monthly Concur Fee equity transfer transactions in FAMIS.
Action: Created the FCAR160 program for this purpose. The report shows the following fields:
- Transaction Code
- 6 digit Account
- Object Code
- Date
- Bank
- Ref 2
- Credit Account
- Credit Object Code
- Amount
A job has been established for each Concur participating Part. The job name is "FnnFC160" ("nn" is your Part number).
FAMIS Services is currently working on the transition of OSRS to Part 26, as well as the on-going efforts related to the OSRS implementation across all Parts. In addition to the ongoing projects, we participated in the kick-off presentation for the eBuilder system that will interface with FAMIS.
May 11, 2012
ACTION ITEMS COMPLETED
- #7583 - SciQuest / FFX (Part 02 Request)
Request: TBAR010 must run every Friday regardless of whether TAMU is closed for a holiday.
Action: TBAR006 was modified to obtain the last run date from a table. Cancelled holiday schedules will be manually run due to the infrequency of this occurrence.
- #7974 - DCPR (Deferred Roth) (All Parts Request)
Request: Add Deferred Roth benefit (DCPR) to the payroll processes.
Action: Modified the FBPR097 report and Screen 837 in FAMIS to accommodate the DCPR benefit processing in FAMIS. A FAMIS announcement has already been communicated to the Parts requesting the table values for Screen 837 and for FBPR097 parameters in the PRACH job. Please get these values to us if you have not already done so.
- Concur:
- #7975 (Part 08 Request)
Request: Update the FCAR100 program to add TEES employees to the Concur employee load program.
Action: FCAR100 program was modified to find TEES employees whose adlocs match a Part 02 adloc and include these employees in the load to Concur. This greatly reduces the number of manual table entries needed for employees who require Concur access.
- #7976 (Part 06 Request)
Request: Voucher data forms are not being printed for Concur vouchers. The current program options are "All" or "PUR" (Purchasing only).
Action: Modified the voucher data form program to recognize multiple origin codes at one time so that vouchers created by the Concur process will print with the daily print job.
- #7980 (Part 02 Request)
Request: Need a better visual way to determine foreign external vendors in Concur.
Action: Modified the FCAR117 program to include "FRGN" for those vendors with a Vendor Type Code of "F" immediately following the External Vendor ID in the feed to Concur. When selecting an External VID from the list in Concur, the External Vendor ID number will include "FRGN" immediately following it in the drop down list.
ACTION ITEMS UPDATE (additional information for Action Items announced April 25, 2012)
- #7489 - Modify Voucher Feed to FFX (Part 02)
Request: Change the Voucher Feed to FFX. Currently the feed happens when the voucher pays, but due to payment scheduling this information is not feeding in time for the asset to be approved. The feed needs to supply the same information as supplied when the voucher pays overnight. The change is needed to get assets tagged promptly to ensure compliance.
Action: The TBDU065 program has been modified to feed assets over when there are any vendor terms on the purchasing document, in addition to the existing feed process.
- #7799 - OSRS Committee - EPA Compliance Checks
Request: OSRS EPA Compliance checks needed for "Account Date Range" and "Foreign Person Allowed."
Action: Modified the EPA process to validate the "Account Date Range" with the EPA dates to ensure that EPA is within the project period. Modified the EPA process to validate "Foreign Person Allowed" flag on the project/account (Screen 8 in FAMIS) against the US Citizen Flag in BPP. An update was made to only check the "Account Date Range" in the active year. We had a few reports that the programming we completed was too restrictive for past year EPA modifications.
- #7917 - Modified utility program to set receipt header to CLOSED when updating the status on the purchase order.
Request: Two SciQuest documents are getting 'No Receiving' even though receiving has been done, causing the vouchers not to pay.
Action: FAMIS programming was completed to update the Header status for any documents having this problem. FAMIS User Services staff members will work with customers to run the program as needed.
CONCUR NEWS
On April 4, FAMIS Services and the Concur Operational Team successfully implemented eTravel/Concur and the automated feeds into and out of FAMIS. We continue to work with the Concur Operational Team and other groups to fine tune routing and other feeds from FAMIS and related systems into Concur to improve routing and features as much as possible. We also continue to address future improvements such as reconciliation processes at month end and year end.
CONCUR TIPS
- Change default Home Page tab when logging into Concur
- Log into Concur.
- Click on "Profile".
- Click on "System Settings".
- Under "Other Preferences" change "Home Page" to desired setting.
- Click "Save" at the bottom of the screen.
- Delegate to Another Profile
- Log into Concur and click on the "[You are administering for: Yourself]" link at the top of the page.
- Click the drop down menu to see a list of users/desks to which you can delegate.
- Select the appropriate desk.
- You will now be performing functions as that user/desk (the link at the top of the page now displays the name of the user/desk you selected).
- When you click on the Profile tab you may also view who you are a delegate for and the permissions they have given you by selecting "Expense Delegates" from the navigation list on the left side of the page.
- Receive Frequent Flyer Rewards
- On the travel details page, click on the "Change frequent flyer program" link.
- Enter the new program to use for frequent flyer rewards.
FAMIS TTVN
- Scheduled for June 14, 2012 at 2:00pm
April 25, 2012
eTRAVEL/CONCUR
On April 4, FAMIS Services and the Concur Operational Team successfully implemented the eTravel/Concur System and the automated feeds into/out of FAMIS. In the beginning we experienced a few routing issues but these have been resolved. The FAMIS Team and the Concur Operational Team continue to work on future improvements such as the reconciliation processes at month end.
Tips when using Concur:
- How to Delegate to Another Profile
- After logging into Concur click on the [You are administering for: Yourself] link at the top of the page.
- Click the drop down menu next to "You are administering Travel/Expense for" to see a list of available users/desks for which you can delegate.
- Select the appropriate desk and the [You are administering for:] link will now display the name of the desk/user you selected.
- Click on the Profile tab to view the expense delegates page in your profile. This will show who you are a delegate for and the permissions they have given you.
- How to Receive Frequent Flyer Rewards
During the booking process you will advance to the Travel Details page. Click on the "Change frequent flyer program" link and enter a new program.
OSRS ROUTING IN CONCUR
The PI Virtual Desk has been changed to a "named" individual because of the confusion and complexity of the PI approval step. The PI is now the first approver listed and will be the only one to get the e-mail and do the approval UNLESS the PI is the traveler (or the PI gives delegate approval authority and emails to the director and delegates). If the PI is the traveler, the first person on the departmental signer desk will get the e-mail and have to do the approval.
For anyone else to get the approval e-mail and do the approvals instead of the PI, the PI will need to delegate his approval authority to those individuals.
Since Concur builds the routing path for a document when it is submitted into routing, there may be several documents in routing with 'old' approval chains. For this reason we have retained the "Virtual" approval chains in Concur which should allow the delegates for the original "Virtual" desks to continue approving these documents until they are out of the system through attrition. The solution is to determine who the Expense Delegates are for the "Virtual" desks, and then users may "DELEGATE" for the desk and approve the documents (see How to Delegate to Another Profile instructions above). An example of the "Virtual" desk in the Approval Flow is: OSRS-02-nnnnnn (where nnnnnn is the account number).
ACTION ITEMS COMPLETED - Concur
- #7770 - FAMIS expense transaction postings and SAE processing
- #7838 - Add Concur Fee Account field to multiple reports; check validity of the account
- #7844 - Create OSRS Cost Object Approvers
- #7883 - Concur cross part credit card postings
- #7894 - Cash Advance flag setting for Concur
- #7897 - Allow 'T' vendors to be sent to eTravel
- #7911 - Create program to identify active eTravel users for SSO Menu access
- #7919 - IBCP handling in the FCAU150 and FCAU152
- #7929 - Employee load from SSO Bridge table in FAMIS
- #7946 - Add Agency Head and Alternate Agency Head fields to Screen 827, update feed programs
- #7951 - Log Concur flag changes on Screen 207
- #7956 - Modify VQDU552 to utilize separate batch numbers for SciQuest and Concur
- #7957 - Utilize the UIN table for vendor ID lookup rather than the Person Table
- #7958 - Remove '-' (dashes) from the Department and Sub-Department fields prior to sending to Concur
- #7967 - Concur voucher field updates including Credit Card Acquirer Ref in Cost Ref 3
- #7968 - Include Campus Code and Account along with Department in the Description field of the Auth Request Account
- #7975 - Update FCAR100 to add TEES employees
- #7977 - VQDU552 - auto posting option to allow over-budget posting
ACTION ITEMS COMPLETED - OSRS
- #7489 - Modify Voucher Feed to FFX (Part 02 Request)
When TBDU065 is run with Option=AUTO and the Terms are set to Net 27 on the Purchase Order, Preliminary Fixed Assets will automatically feed to FFX.
- #7799 - EPA compliance checks for (1) Account Date Range, (2) Foreign Person Allowed
- #7808 - Adjust AggieBuy account feed to populate OSRS account data in AggieBuy
- #7886 - Screen 886-Account Audit Trail (Part 02 Request)
Created this new screen to display an audit trail for Account Attributes:
- Function
- Exec Level
- Division
- School
- Department/Sub Department
- OSRS Flag
- Freeze Flag
- Delete Flag
- #7953 - CRIS (Part 01 Request)
Depreciation calculation correction for CRIS extract.
- #7962 - TRECS (Part 02 Request)
Send Cost Ref 3 in the Ref 5 field of the Recon file.
- #7964 - Add the OSRS Account flag to Screens 29 and 68 for use in searching for an OSRS account.
ACTION ITEMS COMPLETED - SciQuest
- #7917 - Modified utility program to set receipt header to CLOSED when updating the status on the Purchase Order
- #7941 - Allow sending vendor to SciQuest for Vendor IDs beginning with '5' or '8'
FAMIS TTVN
- Scheduled for May 10, 2012 at 2:00pm
March 6, 2012
eTravel/CONCUR Reminders
- Implementation Go Live Date - April 4, 2012
- CONCUR test environment will not be available between March 19 and April 4. You will not be able to login during this time. Participating Members are encouraged to spend as much time as possible training users prior to March 19.
- An eTravel/CONCUR Quick Start Guide will soon be available on the A&M System's eTravel/CONCUR web page: http://www.tamus.edu/offices/travel/.
ACTION ITEMS
- #7815 - AIM System Feeds (Part 23 Request)
We created a download process to feed the AIM System with purchasing and payment information from FAMIS.
- #7816 - OSRS - Past Due Notices
Programs have been modified to produce past due notices on OSRS designated accounts to be printed separately from non-OSRS accounts. The corresponding reports and download files have been split as well.
- #7875 - SciQuest
Modified Screen 208 to allow the send to SciQuest and SciQuest Active flags to be set to "No". The system no longer requires at least one vendor with the SciQuest Active flag.
TRAINING
- FAMIS Services, along with System Office Budgets and Accounting, will provide the following training sessions:
- March 19-21 - FAMIS Security Administrator Training and FAMIS Back to Basics at the San Antonio campus . Members from surrounding A&M campuses will also be in attendance, including Corpus Christi, Kingsville and International.
- March 27-28 - Specialized training session at the Central Texas campus (for that campus only).
FAMIS TTVN
- Scheduled for Thursday, March 8 at 2:00pm - don't miss it!
February 28, 2012
- FAMIS table changes require using our Change / Enhancement request form. These requests must be routed to authorized requester due to audit implications.
- FAMIS Services staff members have been busy completing programming and training Security Administrators for the implementation of the CONCUR / ETravel system, which will begin on April 4, 2012.
- Required modifications are in process due to the formation of the OSRS.
- Back to Basics training was conducted this month for 28 users. Two future training sessions are scheduled at regional campuses next month, as well as another training session to be scheduled in College Station in the future.
- If you have other FAMIS training needs, please let us know.
CONCUR / eTravel
- Implementation Begins April 4, 2012
Participating members of the CONCUR / eTravel software implementation will begin using CONCUR for Travel Authorization Requests and Expense Reporting on April 4, 2012. This date was chosen due to the CitiBank billing cycle. The test environment for CONCUR will be disabled on or before March 19, 2012. Between this date and April 4, the system will be reset and prepared for use and production data - you will not be able to login during this time. Participating Members should spend as much time as possible training users in their locations prior to the March 19 cut-off date.
- CONCUR Default Settings
Screen 827 in FAMIS is used to maintain many of the default settings for CONCUR. Please contact FAMISHELP@tamus.edu if you have any questions about the settings for your campus. Changes to this screen are made by FAMIS User Services and fed into CONCUR nightly.
- CONCUR Travel Authorization Request Approval Inquiry
The approval path for Travel Authorization Requests (Pre-Trip Approval) is determined by the traveler's primary manager in SSO, the Adloc assigned to the traveler in BPP, and the Adloc assigned to the department in FAMIS. This information is displayed on Screen 862 in FAMIS.
- CONCUR Expense Report Routing
These expense reports will route according to the DTV Path for the account receiving the charge. Contracts and Grants, and Foreign Travel, will potentially route to additional desks set up for those approvals.
- External VIDs (Vendor ID)
FAMIS added this field on Screen 203 and other vendor search screens to provide a means to reimburse non-employees and eliminate the need for assigning a UIN to every person requiring travel reimbursement. The External VID is assigned automatically by FAMIS from a single numbering sequence across all System Parts. This number is then fed into CONCUR for use in expense report submission.
When this number is used in CONCUR and reported back to FAMIS on the Standard Accounting Extract from CONCUR, we then find the FAMIS vendor number from our file and reimburse the appropriate person.
- The External VID will be assigned to ALL active vendors.
- System Member values will not overlap. It will be unique across all System Parts.
- The External VID will be 8 characters, which will prevent the current FAMIS Vendor ID from being used in place of the External VID.
- This ID number will be displayed (view only) on Screens 103/203, on the vendor search help pop-up window (PF6), and will be eventually added to the CANOPY vendor display and Vendor name search.
- Any current non-active vendors will not be assigned an External VID, but if they become active a number will be assigned at that time.
- External VID assignment remains with the vendor permanently.
- Additional documentation for the CONCUR / eTravel System will soon be available on our FAMIS web site.
- Useful CONCUR information is available on the A&M System web site: http://www.tamus.edu/offices/travel/
ACTION ITEMS
- #7490 - Vendor Notes (Part 02 Request)
(New Screen 210 Coming Soon!) Screen 210 will provide users with a way to record vendor notes, similar to purchasing notes. The notes will be entered as free-form text, and line positioning/paging will be available on the screen. Vendor notes may be entered directly on Screen 210, or on the pop-up window available on other FAMIS screens: 201, 203, 204, 205, 206, 207, 208, 209, 211, 143, 120 and 132. NOTE: Users must have the proper security for Screen 210 to enter notes.
- #7757 - Modify Monthly Download (Part 01 OSRS Request)
New field was added to monthly download created by FBAR320 - OSRS Flag. This will help identify accounts that OSRS will be administering.
- #7401 - CRIS (Part 06 Request)
Programs have been modified to produce a new file for Ag Projects. A web-service was implemented, and programming completed to edit against the new file.
2011 Updates 