DFL weekly update - July 7, 2023

Upcoming Deadlines at a Glance

  • Friday, 7/7 - Approve FY23 Contracts & Grants deficit clearing waiver request forms (today)
  • Friday, 7/7 - Process and approve Online Recharge Financial Journals (today)
  • Wednesday, 7/12 - Review and post all online financial journals and temporary budget journals
  • Friday, 7/14 - Submit a chartstring for deficit clearing
  • Friday, 8/18 - Submit completed and approved org tree change requests

Budget process

Budget process update

Thank you for all your effort to complete and submit your FY2023 - 24 budget materials. The CalPlanning planning tools (CalPlan, HCP) are closed so the Financial Planning & Analysis team can review the budget submissions. CalPlan and HCP will remain unavailable while the FY24 Operating Budget is finalized.

Action Items

Process and approve Online Recharge Financial Journals by Friday, July 7 (today)

Recharge units should process and approve all June online recharge entries by the deadline of July 7. No recharge transaction for June should be posted after the deadline. If your department receives recharges posted after the deadline, contact the unit responsible for the posting to request reversal and posting in the next fiscal year.

Review and post all online financial journals and temporary budget journals (Campus Units) by Wednesday, July 12

This is the deadline for divisions to post all online financial journals and temporary budget journals in BFS. Contact bfs@berkeley.edu with any questions.

Submit a chartstring for deficit clearing to Financial Planning and Analysis by Friday, July 14

As part of the Non-C&G Deficit Clearing process, send the Financial Planning and Analysis team a chartstring because if there are deficits that cannot be cleared by the automated process, we will use the chartstring provided (DeptId and Fund) to manually clear any remaining deficits. Email the chartstring to centralresourcemanagement@berkeley.edu.

Submit completed and approved org tree change requests by Friday, August 18

If you would like to submit changes to the Org Tree, please submit your completed, Budget and Financial Operations (BFO) Committee approved request by August 18. 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. As a reminder, the May 16 submission date was the last day that approved change requests could be submitted for entry to the May Master Org Tree. Allowable changes through May 31 included New DeptIDs, New Org Nodes, and Description Changes. Important: The Org Tree is now closed to all changes through fiscal close.

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. Important: Please review the update on the estimated processing time for journal source configuration of new L4 org node codes. As a reminder, journal source configuration for new L4’s is required if there is a need to prepare and approve journals.
  • Please review the Org Tree Calendar for the timeline of allowable org tree changes throughout the year.
  • Please review the new Org Tree Lookup Tool This new tool replaces the monthly manually produced Master Org Tree and will provide the most current org tree data as of one business day before. Training materials and Job Aids are located on the CFO website.
  • There are updates coming soon to the Department Prefixes, and How to Create Visio files job aids located in the Tools and job aids section of the Organizational Tree web page.
  • 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.

Informational Updates

UCRP Supplemental Interest Assessment Rate

UCOP has notified us that the UCRP supplemental interest assessment rate for FY24 will be 0.68% not 0.62% as originally planned in the FY24 Operating Budget.  Since the FY24 budget process is closed, this rate will be updated in CalPlan when we open the FY24 Forecast.

Accounts Payable training session on Tuesday, July 18 at 10 am

The Accounts Payable Team is offering a new training session on Tuesday, July 18 at 10 am. This session will cover accounts payable and banking processes, including payment methods, payment channels, and helpful tips. This session will also include information on reimbursement, what is allowable and what is not allowable, common problems, and tips for completing reimbursements. If you previously attended one of the sessions you will automatically receive a meeting invitation to the next one. If you have not received a meeting invitation and want to attend a training session, please contact Accounts Payable at disburse@berkeley.edu and request the meeting information. Visit the Accounts Payable Training Sessions page to review the training session information.

BearBUY Office Hours scheduled for July 18

SCM is pleased to announce a new remote office hour program which will be held every third Tuesday of the month from 10:00 - 10:50 am. Representatives from Supply Chain Management will be on hand to listen to your questions and provide information about purchasing at Berkeley. We encourage you to submit questions in advance using this Google form. Sign in using this Zoom link. You’ll need to sign in through your UC Berkeley Zoom account.

Cal Answers Training

Please review the self-service learning resources on the Cal Answers website, where Cal Answers users will find a complete course in basic navigation as well as short videos, job aids, wiki documentation, and a list of Frequently Asked Questions. Additionally, the two-hour instructor-led classes build on the basic navigation skills covered in the self-study. There are separate courses focusing on financial dashboards and student data dashboards. In the class, a subject matter expert will guide a deep dive into the reports and data available in the dashboards and answer specific questions.

Fall tuition and fee assessments

The fall 2023 tuition and fee assessment (tuition calc) is planned for Tuesday, July 18, 2023. Students, delegates, and staff will be able to access student tuition and fees information on Wednesday, July 19, 2023. As a reminder, tuition and fees are due the Friday prior to the first day of instruction. For the fall 2023 term the fee due date will be Friday, August 18, 2023.

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.

DFL Weekly Updates Page

As a reminder, these updates are regularly posted to the DFL Weekly Updates page so you can reference past updates at any time. Additionally, the Operational Deadlines page provides an overview of deliverables by quarter.

Thank you,

Office of the Vice Chancellor of Finance