DFL weekly update - November 17, 2023

Action Items

Submit completed and approved org tree change requests by Friday, November 17 (today)

If you would like to submit changes to the Org Tree, please submit your completed, Budget and Financial Operations (BFO) Committee approved request by Friday, September 22. 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 November 30 include New DeptIDs, New Org Nodes, Description Changes, and moves of DeptIDs and Org Nodes.

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.

Review and submit the BEAR grant reports update by Thursday, November 30

The Berkeley Excellence Accounts for Research Grants (or BEAR Grants) support Berkeley's ladder faculty as they advance their research, scholarship, and creative accomplishments. The Budget and Financial Operations team sent out to the academic divisions for the eligibility and separation list by the Academic Personnel Office (APO) for the FY23-24 BEAR Grant program and the BEAR Grant carry-forward balances report. Please review and send it back to us before Thursday, November 30, 2023. Please note that the appeal deadline is December 1, 2023. The BEAR Grant program fact sheet and frequently asked questions are available on the BEAR web page for your reference. If you have questions regarding using BEAR funds, please contact the Budget and Financial Operations team at: centralresourcemanagement@berkeley.edu. For questions regarding eligibility, please contact the APO office at appolicy@berkeley.edu.

Queue commitments for Q2 requests by Friday, December 1

Please complete the Commitment Queue Request form by Friday, December 1, for commitments to be funded in the second quarter of FY2023-24. Please note that the following commitments do not need to be queued: Budget Decisions; EVCP TAS; Star Awards; Bear Grants; both Productivity Suite and Campus Data Network assessments and endowment payouts for rotating chairs. Commitments are processed on a quarterly basis. You only need to use one commitment queue Google form to submit your commitment requests for both faculty and non-faculty funding commitments. Faculty commitments are defined for this purpose as Start-up; Retention; ASMD; and Chancellor's Professorships. Chancellor’s Professorships are those that are offered via start-up or retention in lieu of an actual chair - until one can be found, and are funded by central resources. For more information about queueing commitments and documentation required, please visit the Commitments page. Please note that if you are working remotely, you must log in through VPN for these forms to work. Please email dfl_concierge@berkeley.edu with questions.

Complete External Audit Certification for Q2 by Wednesday, December 13

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 Wednesday, December 13, 2023, please submit the materials below to gao@berkeley.edu:

1. 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.)
2. 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 SSGPDP fee proposals for 2024-25 by Friday, January 12

UCOP has released the call for SSGPDP fee proposals for the 2024-25 academic year. All new and existing approved SSGPDPs are required to submit an annual fee proposal for review and approval by the President. Submissions are due to Financial Planning & Analysis by Friday, January 12, but programs are encouraged to begin working on their proposals before curtailment. The call for proposals, submission documents, and instructions are available on the Make Annual Fee Submission for Existing SSGPDP page. Please direct questions to studentfees@berkeley.edu as early as possible prior to the submission deadline.