DFL weekly update - May 27, 2022

Upcoming Deadlines at a Glance

  • Friday, 5/27 - Submit Strategic Priorities template (today)
  • Friday, 5/27 - Submit non-contract and grant deficit clearing waivers (today)
  • Friday, 6/10 - Submit budgets in CalPlan and budget template
  • Friday, 6/10 - Complete External Audit Certification for Q4
  • Wednesday, 6/15 - Submit draft gift agreements
  • Friday, 6/17 - Submit permanent budget transfers involving revenue rebudgets
  • Thursday, 6/30 - Submit gifts and signed gift agreements
  • Friday, 7/1 - Submit C&G deficit clearing waivers in BFS (RAs)
  • Monday, 7/11 - Approve C&G deficit clearing waivers (DFLs)
  • Wednesday, 8/17 - Submit completed and approved org tree change requests

Budget Process

Budget process update

The Budget Template has been added to the divisional folders. The templates are located in the Budget template folder within each division's FY2022-23 Budget Process folder. The template is called “FY23 Budget template”. Complete the Budget Template (both sections) by Friday, June 10, add the completed template to your divisional folder and email the Financial Planning and Analysis team at dfl_concierge@berkeley.edu to indicate it is complete.

The budget process guidelines and assumptions are available on the FY2022-23 Budget Process page, along with the budget process timeline and information about this year’s budget process deliverables. If you have any questions, please contact the VCF Immediate Office at vcfinance@berkeley.edu.

Form A

Thank you for submitting your completed Form A to the Financial Planning & Analysis team. By this evening, we will have begun uploading Form A submissions to your division’s FY2021-22 Forecast and FY2022-23 Operating Budget in CalPlan. Some division’s Form A still need a final review and will be uploaded when that is complete. These divisions have been contacted and are aware of the delay.

CalPlanning availability

The CalPlanning tools (CalPlan, HCP, CalRptg, HCPRptg, SmartView) are available. Please review the May 2022 CalPlanning Release Notes for details about this update. If you have questions, please contact the Help Desk at calplanhelp@berkeley.edu.

Action Items

Submit non-contract and grant deficit waiver requests by Friday, May 27 (today)

The non-contract and grant (C&G) FY2021-22 Deficit Waiver request form is now available on the VC Finance website. If you are planning to submit a non-C&G waiver request, complete the form by Friday, May 27. As a reminder, all divisions are expected to meet their operating needs within their available funding; waivers should only be requested for exceptional circumstances. Deficits less than $25,000 are not eligible for a waiver request. To assist in this process, use the fund deficit report in Cal Answers: Dashboards>Finance>Fund Deficits Reporting>Deficits to be Cleared. Note that you do not need to submit a new request for a previously approved multi-year deficit waiver unless you require a higher waiver amount. To view waivers that were approved as part of a prior multi-year request, use the waiver report in Cal Answers: Dashboards>Finance>Fund Deficits Reporting>Waivers and Tolerances. More information about non-C&G deficit resolution policy and processes, including waiver eligibility thresholds, how to clear deficits, and what happens if a deficit is not cleared, is available on the Fiscal closing related page. If you have other questions regarding the non-C&G deficit clearing process, please contact the Financial Planning & Analysis team at dfl_concierge@berkeley.edu.

Complete External Audit Certification for Q4 by Friday, June 10

To ensure the completeness and accuracy of the quarterly Controller's report on the campus' external audit activities, please help us identify the campus' external audit activities. The Controller's Office is sending a separate email with additional information to DFLs with known external audit activity. By Friday, June 10, 2022, please submit the materials below to gao@berkeley.edu:

  • All DFLs: External Audit Confirmation Form (You must return the completed External Audit Confirmation Form even if you do not have any external audit activities so we can certify campus responses.)
  • DFLs with external audit activities: External Audit Confirmation Template (Include any related documentation with the template, i.e. notification of the commencement of the audit, audit report, etc.)

If you have questions, please contact gao@berkeley.edu.

Submit permanent budget transfers by Friday, June 17

Complete the Permanent Budget Journal Approval Request form to submit permanent budget transfers within your division by Friday, June 17. This includes any rebudgets to your revenue to fulfill these transfers. If you have questions, contact centralresourcemanagement@berkeley.edu with "permanent budget journal approval" in the subject line of your email.

Submit draft gift agreements by Wednesday, June 15, and gifts and signed gift agreements by Thursday, June 30

UDAR’s Gift Services and Fund Management has posted gift transaction deadlines, submission guidelines, and contact information on the Fiscal Year-end Gift Close Eureka flyer. If there is a current-use gift that needs to be processed in time to clear a FY22 ledger deficit, please contact Gift Services senior director Matt Weaver at mdweaver@berkeley.edu.

  • Wednesday, June 15, is the deadline to submit draft gift agreements for any pledge of $25k or more, and any pledge or gift that establishes a new fund to Fund Management via Fiat Docx. Questions about gift agreements may be addressed to Fund Management at fundhelp@berkeley.edu.
  • Thursday, June 30, is the deadline to submit gifts and executed and signed gift agreements for inclusion in FY 2022 totals. Questions about gifts may be addressed to Gift Services at 510-643-9789 or gifthelp@berkeley.edu.

Submit Contracts & Grants deficit clearing waivers in BFS by Friday, July 1

Research Administrators (RAs) or other BFS departmental users should submit FY22 Contracts & Grants deficit clearing waiver request forms, for a waiver of deficit clearing on open awards, via the RA Grants WorkCenter no later than Friday, July 1, 2022. For the Year-End Deficit Clearing Process on open awards, BFS users can submit the C&G deficit clearing waiver request form through the RA Grants WorkCenter as of Wednesday, June 1. Refer to the action dots in the blue header row at the top of the screen in BFS for instructions. Access to the RA Grants WorkCenter is obtained by submitting a request via the SARA system. You can read more about the year-end deficit clearing process on the Deficit Clearing Process page.

Approve FY22 Contracts & Grants deficit clearing waiver request forms by Monday, July 11

The deadline for Divisional Finance Leaders (DFLs) to approve the C&G deficit clearing waiver requests in BFS is Monday, July 11, 2022. DFLs should navigate to the following page in BFS in order to approve waivers: Enterprise Components > Forms > Approve/Review a Form. Enter “CGADFCWVR” in the “Form” field.

As a reminder, the following are exempt from the Year-End C&G Deficit Clearing Process related to open awards. Please do not submit a waiver under these circumstances:

  • Awards that have a final Financial Report due date after May 31 and before January 1.
  • Awards with an Anticipated Funding Amount recorded in BFS that exceeds the total actual expenses as of June 30. The Anticipated Funding Amount for awards is found in the BFS fund panel on the "Award Info" page.

If you have further questions regarding the Contracts & Grants deficit clearing processes, please contact the Controller’s Office at cgahelp@berkeley.edu.

Submit completed and approved org tree change requests by Wednesday, August 17

If you would like to submit changes to the Org Tree, please submit your completed, Budget and Financial Operations (BFO) Committee approved request by Wednesday, August 17. As a reminder, the May 18 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. The Org Tree is now closed to all changes through fiscal close. 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.
  • 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.

Informational Updates

Congratulations to Elisabeth Remick

Our colleague Elisabeth Remick will be joining the College of Letters and Science, Division of Arts and Humanities as its Assistant Dean for Finance and Administration. We are sad to see her go but excited for this wonderful opportunity. We are grateful to Elisabeth for the many contributions she has made to FP&A, the Vice Provost for the Faculty, and the campus as a whole over the last several years. Please join us in congratulating Elisabeth on her new position and wishing her the best of luck in her exciting new role at the Division of Arts & Humanities.

Students and employees as vendors will be removed from BearBUY on May 31

During this spring BFS release, updates will be made to BearBUY and BFS to support streamlined financial operations. One of the changes associated with this update is that we will remove students and employees as suppliers in BearBUY. In most cases, payments to students or employees are already generated from sources other than BearBUY. Please begin using the appropriate systems immediately. Beginning on May 26, unapproved payments to students and employees in BearBUY will be canceled and will have to be re-entered in the appropriate system for that transaction. If the payment has already been approved and exported to BFS by May 26 it will not be impacted by this change. This change does not impact financial aid payments coming from the Student Information System (SIS) or compensation to employees or students coming from UCPath. This change does not impact the reimbursement system, which should already be used for most student and employee reimbursements. Going forward, if a student or employee requires a payment that cannot be accommodated in the reimbursement system, SIS or UCPath, they will need to go through the supplier onboarding process in order to be available for selection as a payee in BearBUY. Visit the Controller’s website for more information on removing students and employee suppliers from BearBUY. If you have any questions about this change, you can reach out to supplychain@berkeley.edu or vcfinance@berkeley.edu.

FY23 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. For training and job aids to help you in using CalPlan and HCP, please review the training section of the CalPlanning website.

Office Hours for CalPlanning and Smart View

Office hours are available so that you can ask specific questions about CalPlanning and Smart View. Request office hours 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.

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.

Open position in VC Administration

The Division of Administration has an open Financial Analyst 4 position. Review the position posting.

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