Upcoming Deadlines at a Glance
- Friday, 7/16 - Provide a chartstring for deficit clearing (today)
- Monday, 7/19 - Submit CBR bridge funding Forms for academic stipend and post docs fellows
- Friday, 8/13 - Final corrections to class schedule and instructional record data for summer sessions
- Friday, 8/20 - Budget due in CalPlan and budget process templates due
- Friday, 8/20 - Complete Q4 Key Controls
- Monday, 8/30 - Return signed fiscal close certification letters
Budget Process
FY22 budget process update
We released the call letter, the budget process guidelines, and the templates last week and they are available on the budget process page. The templates and the budget in CalPlan are due on Friday, August 20.
Budget Process Office Hours
We’re offering a series of online office hour sessions to answer your questions about the budget process, completing the templates, and entering budget data into CalPlanning. These sessions will be staffed by the Financial Planning & Analysis team. When you sign up to attend, you'll receive the link to the Zoom meeting for your session. We ask that you complete a separate form for each session you wish to join to ensure we’re properly staffing the sessions. These sessions are not training. Please review the training section of the CalPlanning website for training materials to help you with CalPlan and HCP.
Action Items
Provide a chartstring for deficit clearing by Friday, July 16 (today)
If you have not already, please clear any deficits for the year-end FY2021 fiscal close. The Department Fund Deficits dashboard is available in Cal Answers to view deficits for non-C&G current funds. We’ll be running an automated process to clear any remaining deficits in mid-July. As part of the deficit clearing process, please also send the Financial Planning & Analysis team a chartstring because if there are deficits that cannot be cleared by the automated process, we will use the chartstring (DeptId and Fund) to manually clear any remaining deficits. Please submit your chartstring to the FP&A team by 5 pm on Friday, July 16 via email to centralresourcemanagement@berkeley.edu.
Central campus FY21 bridge funding for CBR, forms due by Monday, July 19
We have updated the CBR website with information for DFLs on how to submit their bridge funding requests for the unanticipated CBR assessment of academic stipends and post-doc fellows for FY21. We’ve created Cal Answers queries and pivots by divisions and they are available on the CBR website for a quick and efficient funding request process. The pivots will be refreshed on Thursday, July 15 and the CBR bridge funding forms are due on Monday, July 19. Please contact Recharge and CBR Lead Herve' Bruckert with questions at hbruckert@berkeley.edu.
Final corrections to class schedule and instructional record data for summer sessions are due by Friday, August 13
The Office of Planning and Analysis (OPA) will be reaching out to your department schedulers and managers and asking them to review their class schedule and instructional record data entry for summer sessions. This information must be finalized in Student Information Systems (SIS) by Friday, August 13. Please contact OPA Research Analyst Kira Blaisdell-Sloan or Beatriz Brando with questions at opa-csir@berkeley.edu.
Complete Q4 Key Controls by Friday, August 20
Please complete and submit the financial reporting and system access reviews by Friday, August 20. Please refer to the Division Key Controls page for instructions and more information. Email questions about the financial reporting review controls to the Financial Accounting & Controls team at gao@berkeley.edu and questions about the system access review controls to the BFS System Access team at secbfs@berkeley.edu.
Return signed fiscal close certification letters by Monday, August 30
The annual fiscal close certification letters will be sent to you and your respective Deans by August 13 for signatures. Please upload the signed letters into your DFL - division’s box file folder by Monday, August 30. Information about the fiscal close certification letter is available on the Fiscal Close Certification Letter page. Contact the Financial Accounting & Controls team with questions at gao@berkeley.edu.
Informational Updates
CalPlanning upgraded - action required
The CalPlanning system was upgraded to improve system performance, reliability, and security. These changes also restore compatibility with newer browsers and operating systems. Because this is an upgrade to a new environment, every planner will need to do some first-time setup. Please review the CalPlanning Upgrade job aid for details.
Training available - Budgeting for Experienced CalPlanning Users
To support experienced CalPlanning users during the budget process, the Financial Planning & Analysis team will be offering a one-and-a-half-hour lecture and demonstration course called Budgeting for Experienced CalPlanning Users. This class will review changes and enhancements that have been made to CalPlanning in the last year as well as key reminders for the FY2021-22 budget process. More information is available on the Budgeting for Experienced CalPlanning Users page. Follow the links embedded in the dates to add the session to your calendar.
Accounts Payable no longer accepts paper invoices
As of this past July 1, Accounts Payable no longer accepts paper invoices. Invoices must now be submitted either as an e-mail attachment or via one of our other electronic submission methods.Prior to this change, the few remaining vendors that continue to send paper invoices received multiple reminders and the Accounts Payable website has been updated with revised instructions on the various submission methods available. They also partnered with Supply Chain Management to update the Purchase Orders that go to our suppliers. If you have any questions about this update, please contact disburse@berkeley.edu.
Guide to Gift Funds is now available
As part of an ongoing effort to better communicate and work with the fundraising and finance community, Fund Management has identified there is a need for more informational materials on gift funds that are catered to the finance community. To make resources that are important to those in finance roles easily accessible, Fund Management has created a Guide to Gift Funds. This guide will be a living document that helps define gift funds, highlights proper gift fund practices, and further expands on many of the finance topics found on Eureka. We recommend that this guide be shared with new and existing finance staff who work with gift funds. Please do not hesitate to contact Fund Management at fundhelp@berkeley.edu with any questions.
New Payout Funding Process for Rotating Endowed Chairs
FP&A will no longer manage the payout distribution of campus endowed chairs that rotate among divisions. University Development and Alumni Relations (UDAR) will transfer the payout to divisions’ DeptIDs directly. UDAR will use the same convention as with other endowment payouts: a revenue account with a quarterly distribution for Foundation Endowed Chairs and an operating transfer account with an annual distribution for Regents Endowed Chairs. Since these payouts will not pass through the Office of the Vice Chancellor of Finance, DFLs will need to plan for these payouts accordingly in their budgets. If you want to update the payout DeptID for your Rotating Endowed Chair, please contact Fund Management directly at fundhelp@berkeley.edu. For more information, visit the Endowed Chairs page or email us at dfl_concierge@berkeley.edu with "Endowed chairs" in the subject line of your email.
New Cal 1 Card Production Fee
Beginning on July 1, Cal 1 Card will begin charging hiring departments a card production fee ($20 per card) for all new staff Cal 1 Cards. An online tool has been developed where hiring units will provide a chartstring as part of the hiring process. The Cal 1 Card Office will communicate more information on the new process, as well as accompanying support resources for departments and BRS hiring partners, in an upcoming message to impacted groups.
Master Org Tree closed
The final opportunity to submit approved org tree change requests to be entered in BFS for FY21 was May 18. The org tree will be closed for all changes until after the FY21 budget decisions are finalized. Org tree change requests can be submitted for review and approval anytime during fiscal close as the Budget and Financial Operations (BFO) team will continue to review requests to approve in advance of when the tree will open. We recommend that you submit your change request form for review as soon as possible to allow time for the BFO team to review your request, follow up with you for any necessary clarification, approve your request, and allow you time to obtain all required signatures before the submission deadline. The time needed to review change requests will vary, depending on the complexity of the request. For more information:
- A high-level summary of the process to approve org tree changes is available on the DFL concierge webpage.
- An overview of the org tree change submission deadlines is available in the Org Tree Submission and Processing Timeline. All Org Tree change types including Org Node and DeptID movements will be available after fiscal close through November. Please review the Org Tree Calendar for the timeline of allowable org tree changes throughout the year.
- Please submit questions and requests for changes to the Org Tree to dfl_concierge@berkeley.edu. Note: If you plan to request an Org Node change or Entity Hierarchy redesign, please contact dfl_concierge@berkeley.edu and explain what you would like to change before completing the request form because these changes are typically more complex and involve longer consultations.
CalPlanning and Smart View Training
Do you need to learn or enhance your skills in CalPlanning or Smart View? Training classes are available through the end of June 2021. Visit the training page of the CalPlanning website to learn more and sign up. Our new blended learning model combines self-study work that you can do at your own pace with instructor-led group learning sessions where you can apply the material covered in the self-study.
Office Hours for CalPlanning and Smart View
Office hours are available so that you can ask specific questions about CalPlanning and Smart View. Sign up for a session and indicate the topic for which you are requesting support. Office hours are an opportunity to get individual support for a specific challenge your unit is facing; they are not a replacement for training.
Changes to the DFL in your division?
If the DFL role in your division is changing, email fpa@berkeley.edu to ensure our website, communications, and training plans are updated.
As a reminder, these updates are regularly posted to the DFL Weekly Updates page so you can reference past updates at any time.
Thank you,
Office of the Vice Chancellor of Finance