The Bottom Line

2012 Annual Financial Report http://digital.turn-page.com/i/103836

Effort Reporting System Upgrade Coming Soon! The Office of Research Services (ORS) and

Information Systems and Computing (ISC) are in the

process of testing Version 8 of the Maximus Effort

Reporting System Software. We are currently using

Version 5 of the software.

An advisory team of seasoned Business

Administrators are assisting us with the testing. We

expect to complete the testing within the next month

(March 2013). The plan is to roll out the upgraded

Effort Reporting System the third quarter (January,

February, and March) effort reports via the upgraded

Effort Reporting System in April 2013.

New! PO Bid & Contract Documentation via Email In order to streamline our processes and serve

end-users more efficiently, Purchasing Services has

created a new method for delivering Purchase Order

documentation (competitive bids or requests for

waivers) and contracts which require a signature by a

Purchasing staff member.

Effective immediately, please begin sending all

related documents to sourcing@exchange.upenn.edu.

We ask that you would include the associated

Supplier Name and the PO # (if any) in the subject

line of your email so that we may easily identify the

proper routing of the paperwork.

A Quarterly Newsletter from the Division of Finance March 2013

In This Issue… BEN Knows ............................................ Page 11

Comptrollers

Payroll Tax Changes 2013 ....................

Did You Know... ..................................... Page 11

Mileage Reimbursement ...................... Page 11

Human Resources

New Website ..................................... Page 4

Open Enrollment Reminder ................. Page 4

ISC PennNet Phone ................................ Page 10

Purchasing Services

PaymentNet Report Instructions .......... Page 5

Supplier Show March 26 ..................... Page 6

Supplier Showcase....................... ..... Page 6

Quarterly Quiz ....................................... Page 2

Research Services .................................. Pages 7-9

FTD Announces Chart of

Accounts Course Redesign!

The Financial Training Department is pleased to

announce a redesign of the venerable Chart of

Accounts course effective as of February 25, 2013.

This redesign, undertaken in collaboration with the

Wharton School, School of Arts and Sciences, School

of Veterinary Medicine, Perelman School of

Medicine, School of Dental Medicine, and both the

Office of Budget and Management Analysis and

Comptroller’s Office, will improve learning

efficiencies and knowledge outcomes, as well provide

content at a more granular level, to better meet trainee

needs. As the old Chart of Accounts course was a

pre-requisite for many financial training courses,

those pre-requisites have changed accordingly with

the new course structure.

Formerly a three-hour instructor-led class, the old

Chart of Account class has been replaced with three

course modules – two web-based modules and one

instructor-led module. The three new course modules

are:

• Business at Penn Overview (web) – an overview

of how business is conducted at Penn; your

responsibility to be a ‘good’ steward; an overview

of Responsibility Center Management (RCM)

along with Penn’s financial and accounting

structure; and a high level review of features in the

BEN system

• Chart of Accounts: Segments (web) – an un-

derstanding of how the Chart of Accounts (COA)

is used at Penn; what each of the 7 segments

represent; and what the COA tells us about each

transaction

• Using the Chart of Accounts within RCM

(instructor-led) – a facilitated discussion explor-

ing the framework of RCM to develop analytic

thinking methods in using financial data for

management and reporting purposes

Continued on Page 2

2

These new courses are available in Knowledge

Link to anyone with access to Knowledge Link.

Additionally, modules may be assigned via Penn

Profiler as a pre-requisite for certain training courses.

Please note that anyone who previously

attended the original Chart of Accounts course

has been given credit for all three of the new

modules. However, anyone is welcome to enroll in

any, or all, of the new modules as a way of enhancing

their knowledge about the Chart of Accounts and/or

Responsibility Center Management.

Below is a chart depicting the required training

prerequisites for existing financial training at Penn.

If you have any questions on the new modules, the

prerequisites, and/or course credit for previously

attending the original Chart of Accounts class, please

contact Financial Training at:

training@exchange.upenn.edu

Financial Training Course

Required Training Prerequisites

Access Form Requirement

…Business at Penn

Overview (web-based)

…Chart of Accounts: Segments (web-based)

…Using the Chart

of Accounts

within RCM (instructor-led)

BEN Assets

BEN Financials eForm

GL Inquiry/Reporting X X X

Manual Journal Entry (MJE)* X X X

Budget Journal Entry (BJE)* X X X

Freeze/Unfreeze Grants * X X X

Requisitioner

Invoice Inquiry

PO Manager X X

Operating Gifts & Endowments X X X

Data Warehouse (GL Collection) X X X Data Warehouse eForm

PennWorks/Payroll/Personnel X X Request for Admin

Mainframe Logon ID

Sponsored Projects Compliance Certification Program (SPCCP)

X X X n/a

* Please Note: BEN Balances – General Ledger Inquiry/Reporting is the prerequisite for these courses.

Instructions: The following questions can be answered based solely on information contained in this

issue ofThe Bottom Line. To participate in the contest, please submit your answers via email to training@exchange.upenn.edu

no later than May 3, 2013 The Winner will receive a gift certificate for lunch for two to the University Club

1. If I register for an upcoming General Ledger Inquiry/Reporting class, what are the prerequisites?

2. What is the last day to update your address for Open Enrollment 2013?

3. What is the PennNet phone set rental fee per month?

4. What is the standard mileage rate for 2013?

5. What is the date of the Supplier Show? Last Quarter’s Winner:

Shara Fox, Grants & Financial Coordinator

Department of Psychiatry

Perelman School of Medicine

FTD Announces Chart of Accounts Course Redesign! Continued from Page 1

The Bottom Line March 2013

Quarte

rly

Quiz

3

The IRS issued a new W-4 form in 2013. This new W-4

form can be found at:

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw4.pdf

Please instruct all staff and all new hires to use this

updated form going forward.

To: All Payroll Administrators

From: The Payroll Office

The Bottom Line March 2013

Payroll Tax Changes 2013 Federal Withholding - The 2013 Federal with-

holding tables can be found on the IRS website listed below:

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p15.pdf

Social Security Wage Base – The 2013 social security wage base will be $113,700, an increase of $3,600 from the 2012 wage base of $110,100.

Social Security Tax Rate – tax rate will increase from 4.2% to 6.2% for 2013 on wages up to the taxable wage limit of $113,700.00. The maximum Social Security tax that an employee would pay will be $7,049.40.

Supplemental Pay Withholding - Withholding on payments less than $1 million in a calendar year

remains at 25%; withholding on payments in excess of $1 million in a calendar year increases from 35% to 39.6%.

Medicare Tax Rate - Increases from 1.45% to 2.35% on wages earned over $200,000. The employer is required to withhold an additional Medicare tax at the point in the pay period when an employee’s annual wages exceed $200,000.

PA State Unemployment Insurance Employee Rate -The 2013 rate will decrease to .07% from 08% in 2012.

If you have questions or require additional information, please contact the Payroll Tax Office at (215) 898-7792, (215)898-6573 or (215)898-1543.

4 The Bottom Line March 2013

Penn’s Benefits Open Enrollment

Confirm Current Address

Penn’s annual Benefits Open Enrollment period is drawing near and your current address must be updated by March 15, 2013. Penn mails your Open Enrollment information to your current address, and if your current address is not up to date in the payroll system, your Open Enrollment information may be delayed or even lost. Correct address information is important to ensure a smooth process; for instance, availability of some benefit plans may

vary by zip code. Please Note: If you have no current address on file in the payroll system, Open Enrollment information will be sent to your permanent address.

To view and/or change your address information, go to the U@Penn website at: http://www.upenn.edu/u@penn or contact your Business Administrator.

Again, your current address must be updated no later than March 15, 2013.

Penn Human Resources launched a new website last November that’s not only easier on the eyes; it’s also easier to navigate.

The bold new design includes two distinct portals: a public site geared toward prospective employees and an internal site built just for you. The public site can be viewed by anyone (whether part of the University community or not) to learn why Penn is such a great place to work. The internal site is where you can find all the resources you need to excel personally and professionally, like Penn’s benefits, professional development resources, worklife balance programs, and more.

Ready to explore? Just visit www.hr.upenn.edu. To view the detailed information on the internal site, click on one of the links for faculty and staff, and log in with your PennKey and password.

Human Resources welcomes your feedback, so contact them at askhr@hr.upenn.edu with any comments or questions.

New Human Resources Website

5

Once logged into Payment Net, https://www.paymentnet.jpmorgan.com, click on Reports>Create at the top From the Report List, select Statement of Account- Portrait On the Report Detail screen: Enter a new name for your .report in the Name field

Select Adobe PDF in the Report Format drop-down box

Select Is Relative in Operation drop-down box

Select Prior Period in Value drop-down box

Select Billing Cycle in second box under Value drop-down box

Click the check box to Schedule to Run Automatically Select Monthly for Frequency from drop-down box

Select 28 for Day from drop-down box

Click Save

Click Process report

Your monthly report will be available on the “Available Downloads” screen.

NEW INSTRUCTIONS TO CORRECTLY

RECEIVE YOUR MONTHLY PURCHASING

CARD STATEMENT IN PAYMENTNET

The Bottom Line March 2013

6

On Tuesday, March 26, from 10:00 a.m. to

2:00 p.m. the 2013 Purchasing Services Annual

Supplier Show will be held at The Annenberg.

We welcome all Penn staff and faculty

members to participate in this year’s event in

line with the Year of Proof: “The Proof is in the

Value.” Learn about the University’s preferred

supplier cost containment initiatives and

continued social responsibility efforts. This

year’s supplier show will include business

operations commodities such as: Travel,

Lodging, Computers, Printers, Office Supplies,

Print and Promotional, Phone, Stationery,

Furniture and more.

This event will provide

you with an opportunity to

expand your knowledge

about Penn preferred

supplier product offerings

and promotions, cost

savings opportunities, and

green purchasing

initiatives from over 42

suppliers. Snacks will be served through the

duration of the event. This year’s door prizes

include a HP Photo Scanners, iPad Cover and

more. Bring your PENNID card to be eligible to

win.

Penn Supplier Showcase

You are encouraged to regularly visit the Penn Supplier Showcase, our on-line marketing initiative to promote the utilization of Penn Marketplace participating and preferred suppliers and manufacturers. In the Supplier Showcase you will find the latest products and promotions from suppliers and manufacturers specific to the Penn community.

Preferred suppliers who join are permitted to design their own web page and use it to advertise their product line, announce discounts and promotions providing information on training opportunities, and

display contact information. The Showcase is a dynamic forum as new suppliers join throughout the year, and active participants update their pages with their most current information. Visit the Supplier Show-case today to ensure that you are not missing out on any information that may be helpful to you!

Please Join Us for Spring Supplier Show

The Bottom Line March 2013

7

The PennERA team is pleased to report a steady increase in the numbers of National Science Foundation (NSF) proposals being submitted as system to system (S2S) submissions to Grants.gov. The feedback from users has been very positive as we see more and more departments across the different schools and disciplines opting to “Go S2S”.

Almost all NSF funding opportunities can be submitted as either Grants.gov or FastLane submissions. There are some “FastLane only” submissions (opportunities not available as Grants.gov submissions), most notably those “collaborative” proposals which require individual proposal submissions from collaborating institutions and any proposal for which there will be no Key Personnel with both measurable effort and funds requested.

For those proposals which can be submitted as S2S submissions, there are some real advantages to using PennERA as the submission system of choice:

• Only one proposal record is created, eliminating duplicate data entry in both a generic record required in PennERA for routing and approval and a full proposal record in the FastLane system.

• One system submissions! This is especially appealing to those unfamiliar with FastLane as there is no need to learn a new submission system – everything is done within PennERA.

• Proposals become fully available to investigators in FastLane, so that updates can be done as desired (and allowable) – just as occurs now with FastLane-only submissions.

A comprehensive PennERA NSF FAQ is now available on the PennERA website: http://www.upenn.edu/researchservices/pdfs/NSF%20FAQs%202012-12-19.pdf. As always, the PennERA team (pennerahelp@lists.upenn.edu) is

available to answer any questions you may have pertaining to NSF specific submissions. In addition, the User Guide has been updated:

• NSF FAQs are Appendix D. • Existing FAQs have been updated (now

labeled Appendix C). • Instructions for adding education

information to PennERA Profiles (an essential part of NSF submissions) has been added on page 21 of the User Guide.

PennERA Training Classes • PennERA Basic, Wednesday, March 6, 2013;

proposal creation, navigation, routing and approval processes.

• PennERA Advanced, Wednesday, March 13, 2013; budget data entry.

Sequestration Information on Website

The Office of Research Services continues to monitor agency announcements regarding the impact of sequestration on research grants and contracts. To efficiently share this information with the research community, we have launched a web page. You may reach the sequestration information through the ORS main page or directly at: http://www.upenn.edu/researchservices/sequest

rationinfo.html Please feel free to contact your pre-award administrator or me if you have specific concerns.

Thank you,

Missy Elizabeth D. Peloso

Associate Vice President/Associate Vice Provost, Research Services

University of Pennsylvania P221 Franklin Building

3451 Walnut Street Philadelphia, PA 19104-6205

215-746-0234

PennERA NSF S2S Update

The Bottom Line March 2013

8 The Bottom Line March 2013

The National Institutes of Health has recently announced the availability of ASSIST, a new web-based system which is currently being piloted for preparation and submission of multi-project applications such as Program Projects. ASSIST will be used to electronically process multi-project applications for the first time rather than submitting paper proposals.

NIH will post 6-9 pilot Funding Opportunity Announcements (FOAs) with deadlines between January and September 2013

• Electronic submission will be required • Paper PHS 398 applications will not be

accepted • Participating FOAs will clearly state that they

are part of the pilot and require electronic submission

The timeline of NIH transitions to electronic, complex, multi-project applications is available on their website (see link below) and in the NIH Guide.

http://grants.nih.gov/grants/ElectronicReceipt/files/Timeline_NIH_Complex_Transition.pdf

KEY FEATURES OF ASSIST • Leverages existing eRA Commons

credentials • Pre-populates data from eRA Commons

profiles • Validates Grants.gov and NIH business rules

before you submit • Provides preview of NIH application image • Generates table of contents, headers & footers • Tracks Grants.gov and eRA Commons

submission status • All PD/PIs listed on the overall application

have edit access for the entire application • Project Leads have edit access for their

components • The person that initiates the application has

edit access for the entire application

While InfoEd (as well as other service providers)

are working on System-to-System solutions for these submissions, any investigators wishing to reply to the pilot FOAs must use ASSIST and create a PennERA generic record in Proposal Development. Please be sure to contact your ORS Pre-Award representative and the PennERA Help Desk (PennERAhelp@lists.upenn.edu) as soon as possible if an application is planned in response to any of the pilot Funding Opportunity Announcements. ASSIST can be accessed at https://public.era.nih.gov/assist using your NIH eRA Commons credentials.

NEW FINANCIAL CONFLICT OF

INTEREST POLICY IMPACTS NIH

AWARD MANAGEMENT

The new PHS financial conflict of interest policy, which went into effect on August 24, 2012, precludes spending on NIH grants for which all investigators have not completed the financial interest disclosure process and completed financial conflict of interest training. The initial disclosure through the PHS-FTS system…

https://weblogin.pennkey.upenn.edu/login?factors=UPENN.EDU&cosign-isc-seo-studentHomeSso_prod-0&https://medley11.isc-seo.upenn.edu/phsFits/jsp/fast2.do?fastStart=investigator …should be made prior to the submission of a new proposal. ORS will not set up an account for a new NIH award until it has been verified that the training and disclosure process are complete. For continuing renewals that will retain a current account number, Principal Investigators and BAs should exercise care not to incur expenses against new funding increments until the new disclosure and training process is complete, as charges to that new award increment prior to the completion of the disclosure process are unallowable.

NIH Announces Pilot of ASSIST System for Multi-Project Applications

9

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has mandated that federal agencies implement a federal-wide research performance progress report (RPPR) for submission of required annual or other interim performance reporting on research grant and cooperative agreement awards to standardize recipient reporting on federally-funded research projects. Many federal sponsors have begun implementing the use of the RPPR for progress reporting. Agency wide implementation plan can be found here:

http://www.nsf.gov/bfa/dias/policy/rppr

• NIH Implementation: October 19, 2012 – For SNAP and Fellowship Progress

reports – Activity codes identified for which use

will be required in Spring, 2013 (available at: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/rppr/)

– Pilot for non-SNAP awards during 2013

• NSF Implementation: February 1st, 2013 – NSF is implementing a new reporting service

on Research.gov that adopts the RPPR format. This will replace NSF's annual, final and interim project reporting on Fastlane. As of February 1st, 2013, progress reports will not be submitted via Fastlane. Instead, reports will be prepared and submitted via Research.gov.

– NSF intends to have Research.gov reporting capabilities available as of March 18th.

What kind of information does the RPPR collect? The RPPR asks for data and compliance

information that you may not have needed to provide previously at the interim report stage.

This may include: 1. Basic institutional and project identifying data 2. Accomplishments from past activity period and

goals for the upcoming activity period 3. Outcomes or "products" from the activity such

as technologies and publications 4. Participants, including all persons that have

contributed significantly to the activity, the role, their activity and their funding support. This section also asks about collaborators, including foreign collaborators

5. Impact of the project and major contributions: e.g. to the discipline, human resources (e.g. teaching, training), public knowledge, social conditions

6. Changes to the project: delay in plans, changes in approach, compliance (animal use, human subject involvement, biohazards), project expenditures

If you have any questions about the RPPR please contact your Pre-award representative in the Office of Research Services.

CHANGES TO PUBLIC ACCESS POLICY COMPLIANCE EFFORTS APPLY TO ALL

AWARDS WITH ANTICIPATED START DATES ON OR AFTER JULY 1, 2013 Issued by National Institutes of Health (NIH)

Purpose For non-competing continuation grant awards

with a start date of July 1, 2013 or beyond: 1) NIH will delay processing of an award if publications

arising from it are not in compliance with the NIH public access policy.

2) Investigators will need to use My NCBI to enter papers onto progress reports. Papers can be associated electronically using the RPPR, or included in the PHS 2590 using the My NCBI generated PDF report.

Please see NOT-OD-12-160 for more details. Inquiries

Please direct all inquiries to: Office of Extramural Research National Institutes of Health 1 Center Drive, Room 144 Bethesda, MD 20892-0152 Email: PublicAccess@nih.gov Website: http://publicaccess.nih.gov

RESEARCH PERFORMANCE PROGRESS

REPORT (RPPR) INITIATIVE

If you have any questions, please contact your ORS Representative

http://www.upenn.edu/researchservices/contacts.html

The Bottom Line March 2013

10

Using OMS to Migrate from Traditional Telephone to PennNet Phone Service

The Order Management System (OMS) can be used to migrate to PennNet Phone service from traditional telephone or voice mail service. OMS, ISC’s online ordering service for PennNet Phone, is conveniently available seven days a week, 24 hours a day. OMS is available from the Voice website. Go to: http://www.upenn.edu/computing/v

oice/phone/index.html, select Ordering Service,

and then click on OMS Online Ordering.

First-time OMS users must complete a 15 minute instructional video via the University’s Knowledge

Link before using OMS. Please note that training validation can take up to 24 hours, so plan accordingly if you intend to immediately use OMS for your PennNet Phone orders. To access OMS training via Knowledge Link, go to: http://knowledgelink.upenn.edu/, log

in with your PennKey and password, and search “OMS.”

Significant Progress on PennNet Phone Installations To date, more than 65% of the campus has switched to PennNet Phone

ISC is working with schools and departments to complete the upgrade from traditional telephone and voice mail services to PennNet Phone by July 1, 2014. With the PennNet Phone service:

• Fees for local and long distance calls are 50% less when compared to traditional telephone calls.

• Monthly set rental fees are reduced to $3.00 per month compared to $10.40-$11.70 for traditional single-line and two-line sets.

• Monthly voice mail charges are lowered to $3.00 each per month compared to $9.75-$12.35 for traditional voice mail.

• ISC no longer charges for multiple line appearances on PennNet Phones. This translates into even more direct cost savings for those departments that switch from traditional telephone to PennNet Phone.

• All departments are encouraged to use the conversion process to identify telephone lines and voice mail boxes that may be turned off, potentially offering additional monthly savings. At your request, ISC will provide a detailed audit of the number of telephone lines and voice mail boxes in use across your

department. This report will include a review of your department’s telephone lines that have not had local or long distance calls placed from them during the past 12 months.

• ISC is waiving line activation and port conversion fees for traditional telephone users upgrading to PennNet Phone. This is a significant savings for departments and offices—for offices of 10 or more, this is a minimum savings of $1,300. The Switch Now Discount runs through June 28, 2013 and traditional telephone costs will increase in FY15. For more information, please visit http://www.upenn.edu/computing/voice/phone/order-switchnow.html.

Call Now – We’re Here to Help

To start the process of switching from traditional telephone service to PennNet Phone, call the ISC Service Desk at 215-746-6000, Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. or email the following with the budget codes of the departments in which you’re responsible:

service-requests@isc.upenn.edu

Traditional Telephone is History. Switch Now and Save More.

The Switch Now Discount is available until June 28, 2013.

The Bottom Line March 2013

11

BEN

Knows

http://www.finance.upenn.edu/benknows/

Locating PO # Using Requisition #

• From PO Manager responsibility:

• Go to Inquiry > Requisitions

• Enter the Requisition # in the Inquiry

Requisition screen

• Click [FIND]

• Click LINES to view the PO # in the

Requisition Lines Summary

Exporting a BEN Financials Report to Excel

• After the report has completed, make note

of the Concurrent ID number

• Click on the [Submit a New Request]

o Accept the Single Request default

• Click [OK]

o The Submit Request window will open

• In the Name field, Click the List of Values

• Select ‘Copy file’

o The parameters window will open

• In the 'Name of file to copy' field, type ‘o’,

the concurrent ID number, .out in the

following format: o12345678.out

• Click [OK]

o This returns you to the Requests window

• Once the report request successfully

completes, the user will receive an email

from ‘Secure Share’ where the file is available

to download to the user's workstation.

• The file name will be the name provided in

the parameter at the time the Copy file

request was submitted

Invoice Holds

Click below to see how to manage these Holds: Releasing a Finally Closed PO Hold (Final

Matching)

Qty Rec Hold - Over Receipted

Viewing Quantity Detail Information for a

Purchase Order

Invoice Tolerance Limits

Releasing A Max Ship Hold/Qty Ord Hold

Releasing A Qty Rec Hold

Qty Rec Hold Not Releasing

Viewing Invoice Hold Information

…New Mileage Reimbursement

Rate for 2013

Effective Date

Effective To Standard Mileage

Moving Expenses Only

Jan1, 2013 Current 56.5¢ per mile 24¢ per mile

Jan 1, 2012 Jun 30, 2012 55.5¢ per mile 23¢ per mile

Jul 1, 2011 Dec 31, 2011 55.5¢per mile 23.5¢ per mile

Jan 1, 2011 Jun 30, 2011 51¢ per mile 19¢ per mile

Jan 1, 2010 Dec 31, 2010 50¢ per mile 16.5¢ per mile

The mileage reimbursement rate for moving and relocation expenses will be 24 cents per mile. For more information go to the website below: http://www.purchasing.upenn.edu/travelSite/travel/before-you-travel/car/mileage-reimbursement

The Bottom Line March 2013

Did You Know…

- Locating PO # Using Requisition #

- Exporting a BEN Financials Report to Excel

- Invoice Holds