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Tuesday, August 03, 2004

The Oracle Financial Information Systems (FIS) Project at University College London (UCT)

This post contains a link to the Oracle Financial Information Systems (FIS) website at University College London (UCT) and also mentions the key features of the site.

The Financials Systems Project site at the University College London (UCT) provides readers with a comprehensive understanding of what it takes to implement an Oracle Applications System. The site gives readers a holistic view of all the aspects of Enterprise Systems Implementations. UCT initially implemented the following modules of Oracle Application 11.0.3 and later upgraded to 11i : -

• General Ledger
• Accounts Payable
• Purchase Ordering
• Accounts Receivable
• Grants ( including Project Costing and Project Billing)
• Fixed Assets
• Inventory

Following is a review of the key areas of the site:

FIS Project

This section of the site provides an overview of what the FIS project and has related information categorised as follows: -

• Information on the use of the site
• What is the FIS Project?
• FIS Team Members
• Useful Contact Information
• Migration Plan
• FIS Service Times
• FIS Users Group
• 11.0.3 Enhancement Stage Plan
• FIS Technical and Business Consultancy 2003
• Upgrade to Version 11i
• FIS Newsletters
• FIS Training Dates

Procedures, User Guides and General Reference

This particular section of the site is probably one of the most useful areas as it contains project documentation which has been categorised in to the following areas: -

• General Reference and Procedural Notes
• User Guides for the following modules: -
• Accounts Payable
• Accounts Receivable
• Fixed Assets
• General Ledger
• Grants
• Inventory
• Purchase Ordering
• Other User Guides
• Technical Guidance
• How To…?

Friday, July 23, 2004

Oracle Financials R11.5.9 at Stanford University

Recently I came across the Oracle Financials site at Stanford University. This post contains a review of the various sections of the site.

The Oracle Financials Site at Stanford University is an excellent resource for anyone interested in learning and reading about Oracle Financials implementations. Being a University, the site gives you a good idea of how Oracle E-Business Suite can be implemented in a Higher Education Institute. It’s also interesting to note that Stanford has recently upgraded to the latest version of Oracle E-Business Suite, namely R11.5.9. You can read about Stanfords Upgrade from 11.5.8 to 11.5.9 here. The Oracle Financials System site is categorised in to the following sections: -

• Learning Centre
• Chart of Accounts
According to this page: -

The Chart of Accounts is the underlying structure for organizing financial information at Stanford. Stanford adopted a new Chart of Accounts along with the new Oracle Financials system in 2003. News and general information about the Chart of Accounts and associated issues may be found here.

In the news item "What is the Chart of Accounts" the University explains: -

The Chart of Accounts is the set of codes used to classify and record financial transactions in meaningful ways. These codes enable Stanford to: -

• identify specific “pots” of money; 
• specify what that money may be used for; and 
• record the transactions related to that money

By fulfilling the above functions, the Chart of Accounts also: -

• facilitates financial reporting;
• provides a framework for understanding the financial results of Stanford’s operations; and
• controls how financial transactions and balances are collected and stored in the Oracle system

Under this news item you will also find the Universities Chart of Accounts Segment Structure as well as mapping tables and spreadsheets which outline how the legacy Chart of Accounts translates to the new structure.

 

• Authority
• Reporting
• iJournals
• Purchasing
• Reimbursements
• Labor Distribution
• PCards
• Sunflower

Friday, July 16, 2004

Online Business Office Environment at Yale University

This post takes a look at the Online Business Office Environment at Yale University, an ideal place for implementors of ERP systems to take a look at what types of documentation should be prepared when undertaking an implementation.

Recently I discovered the Online Business Office Environment (OBOE) Site at Yale University. I felt it’s the type of site that would give implementors of ERP Systems an idea of what types of documentation would need to be prepared. The thing I’ve always believed with ERP systems is that clients, implementors or consultants do not make enough effort to document the processes. Even if the processes are documented, the knowledge of how the new process is executed is not adequately transferred to those making use of them. Placing this information online and updating it frequently is one way of resolving these issues. It also ensures that continuous learning and education on systems and processes within the organisation is undertaken. Below I have highlighted the two major sub-sections of the Online Business Office Environment and provided a brief summary of what’s available in these particular areas. I am sure the information contained on this site will prove useful to implementors of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems and in particular Oracle Applications.

Learning Modules

This section contains user guides, training scenarios, tutorials and presentations for each of the following functional areas.

• Procurement
 
• i-procurement
• VIP - Contract Purchases
• WIP - Web Invoice Payment
• SWAP - Simple Web Allocation Process
• General Procurement
• General Accounting
• Journal Staging Area (JSA)
• Custom Commitments
• Receipt Identification Form (RIF)
• Labor Distribution (LD)
• FPM - Financial Planning and Management
• Data Warehousing Portal
• Budgeting - with Oracle Financial Analyzer (OFA)
• HR/LD/Payroll Reporting Using DataWarehouse Portal and Brio BUG
• Other Training
• System & Technology Access Request Tool (START)
• Training Management System (TMS)
• Human Resources and Payroll
• KRONOS Time Keeping System
• C & T Payroll (Casual and Temps)
• Casual and Student Payroll
• Casual Hiring

Policies, Procedures, Forms and Guides

This section of the site contains policies, procedures, forms and guides for the following functional areas: -

• Accounts Payable
• Purchasing
• Internal Services
• Information Technology Services (ITS)
• HR Services
• Payroll
• General Accounting
• Financial Management

There’s plenty of good reading material on this site - enjoy browsing it!

Friday, June 25, 2004

Oracle Apps Implementation Documentation for a University

This post contains details of implementation documentation for an Oracle Applications Implementation at the Queensland University of Technology. In particular, I will discuss the Chart of Accounts documentation available at the Universities web site.

The Queensland University of Technology has some very useful Business Forms, Procedure Manuals and Training Documentation at the Division of Finance and Resource Plannings site. In particular the Chart of Accounts documentation clearly illustrates the accounting flexfield structure and associated values that should be used in such types of organization as a University.

Another sample Chart of Accounts can also be downloaded from my personal site.

Thursday, June 24, 2004

Oracle Applications Documentation - Business Forms, Procedures and Training Manuals

This post contains information on some Oracle Documentation I came across at the Rochester Institute of Technology.

According to their site, “the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) implemented Oracle Financials in October 1998. Over 350 users campus wide access the on-line system to prepare journal entries, inquire about account transactions and run custom and standard reports”.

I found some useful documentation on their site and thought I should mention it to readers of the blog. The Finance and Administration  section of the Institutes site has some very useful Business Forms, Procedures and Training Manuals which they used in their implementation and which I believe would be useful to other Apps implementors. Make sure you look under the Training Material section where you will find the Accounting Practices, Procedures and Protocol Manual.