DFL weekly update - November 18, 2022

Upcoming Deadlines at a Glance

  • Friday, 11/18 - Submit completed and approved org tree change requests (today)
  • Monday, 11/28 - Queue commitments for Q2 requests
  • Friday, 12/9 - Complete External Audit Certification for Q2
  • Friday, 12/16 - Submit DeptIDs for inactivation in CalPlan and CF1 changes
  • Friday, 12/16 - Validate your chartstring for FY2022-23 IT Assessments
  • Friday, 12/16 - Ensure schedulers check final fall CSIR data
  • Monday, 1/9 - Report year-end gift recording and receipting

Action Items

Submit completed and approved org tree change requests by Friday, November 18 (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, November 18. The Org Tree is now open to all changes. Note, the last opportunity to process approved DeptID and Org Node movements will be November 30. 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:

Queue commitments for Q2 requests by Monday, November 28

Please complete the applicable form (linked below) to queue commitments by Monday, November 28 for commitments to be funded in the second quarter of FY2022-23. 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.

Please note that while we're working remotely you must log in through VPN for these forms to work. Please email dfl_concierge@berkeley.edu with questions.

New in FY2022-23

  • You only need to use one commitment queue google form to submit your commitment requests for both faculty and non-faculty funding commitments (complete the commitment queue form). 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.

Sign up for recharge training on December 2 and December 9

Self-certification recharge forms will be due on Friday, January 20. Divisions will need to submit a recharge self-certification form if they support a recharge unit and the unit charges Contracts and Grants or if the unit plans for a recharge income greater than $500,000 a year. The self-certification form is posted on the Recharge section of the CFO website. In preparation for the upcoming deadline, we are offering two recharge workshops. Please follow the links below to register for a session. If you have any questions, please contact the Budget and Financial Operations team at recharge_certification@berkeley.edu.

Complete External Audit Certification for Q2 by Friday, December 9

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, December 9, 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.

Validate your chartstring for FY2022-23 IT Assessments by Friday, December 16

Berkeley IT will be processing the FY2022-23 Productivity Suite and Campus Network assessments to post to the December ledger. Please take the following steps by Friday, December 16:

  • Review the information in this FY2023 Berkeley IT Assessments spreadsheet.
  • Find your division’s chartstring used in the prior fiscal year to validate the chartstring to be debited for these two assessments for your division this year.
  • Whether you require an update or keep the same chartstring used last year, please email bit_assessments@berkeley.edu with your division name and the confirmed DeptID and Fund by Friday, December 16.
  • If we don’t hear back from you by the deadline, your division will see both assessments for this year charged on the same chartstring used last year for Productivity Suite.
  • Please note headcounts may change based on the HR Census which will be available in the upcoming weeks.

Please direct questions to bit_assessments@berkeley.edu and visit the assessments website for more information.

Submit DeptIDs for inactivation in CalPlan and CF1 changes by Friday, December 16

If you have DeptIDs that you would like inactivated in CalPlan or Chartfield 1 members you would like removed from or added to CalPlan and HCP, please submit requests by 5 pm on Friday, December 16. For DeptIDs, please complete the DeptID Planned Inactivation Form. The inactivation in CalPlan process is required for any DeptIDs which cannot be inactivated in BFS. Please review the DeptID Inactivation in BFS section of the Knowledge and Resource Portal for additional information. For Chartfield 1 members, please submit a simple list in excel in the format “C1_xxxxxx”. The changes will be implemented in CalPlan and HCP as part of the February CalPlanning release. Please email completed forms to dfl_concierge@berkeley.edu by 5 pm on Friday, December 16, and include “DeptID/Chart1 Inactivation” as the subject line.

Ensure schedulers check final fall CSIR data by Friday, December 16

Friday, December 16 is the last day schedulers can make changes to their Class Schedule and Instructor Record (CSIR) data for the fall 2022 semester and have data reflected in Cal Answers. Please ensure your schedulers have made all corrections in Student Information Systems (SIS) by then. We recommend that throughout the year, you ask your department schedulers to review their CSIR data in SIS and Cal Answers as it becomes available, in order to ensure that it is as accurate as possible. This data is used by the UC Office of the President and the State Legislature, as well as internally for space and instructional planning, the Faculty FTE Call, and TAS allocations. If your schedulers need guidance on how to best enter the data, please have them contact Office of Planning & Analysis Research Analyst Kira Blaisdell-Sloan or Beatriz Brando with questions at opa-csir@berkeley.edu.

Report year-end gift recording and receipting by Monday, January 9

The deadline for gifts to be received in the Gift Services office to be counted for the calendar year 2022 is Monday, January 9, 2023. Information and instructions are available on the 2022 Calendar Year End flyer or on UC Berkeley’s advancement intranet Eureka; to review it log into Eureka and visit the Calendar Year End page or the frequently asked questions.

Please note

  • Hand delivery of gifts to the UDAR 4th floor suite is available but discouraged. Please use USPS or Loomis armored service if possible. If you plan to hand-deliver, please call (510) 642-1212 in advance to ensure someone can provide you access to the drop-safe. Suite access during campus curtailment may be limited.
  • Retain and forward those postmarked envelopes, FedEx/UPS mailing envelopes, or waybills!
  • Do not accept credit card information by phone with the intent to transmit it to Gift Services for charging. Please have donors call (510) 643-9789 to give by phone.
  • Please contact the Gift Services Securities Desk at givesecurities@berkeley.edu before a stock transfer happens to ensure the gift is identified and credited to the donor in a timely manner.

Please contact Gift Services with questions at (510) 643-9789 or gifthelp@berkeley.edu.

Informational Updates

FY23 faculty funding support

Funding for merit, promotions, and range adjustments for state faculty positions was processed in the October ledger. Funding was calculated based on UCPath records as of October 18, 2022. We will review FTE changes or other July 1, 2022, separations or new hires that were not captured at the beginning of this fiscal year in the November and December ledgers.

Processing time for new suppliers

The Vendoring Team has successfully reduced the backlog of new supplier registration requests and inquiries to five business days or less. The five-day turnaround time is the usual timeframe for vendor requests, so it should not generally be necessary to expedite new supplier requests. Once again, we apologize for any impact the backlog may have had on your ability to conduct business and appreciate your patience as we worked to resolve this issue.

Planned finance system outages

Cal Answers will be unavailable on Sunday, November 20, 2022, for scheduled system maintenance.

CalPlanning training

The next series of CalPlanning and Smart View training classes begin Thursday, September 8. The curriculum uses a blended learning model. Courses begin with self-study using online “books” divided into chapters supplemented with practice exercises and short videos. Courses culminate with a group session using Zoom in which participants work on case studies in small teams to apply the material covered in the self-study. The self-study materials are available on the website for everyone to use; they can be a helpful resource for those that have already completed the training and are looking for a refresher. Review the CalPlanning training page for schedules, links to enroll, and to access the self-study materials.

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.

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