hsufinuser

We have modified the HUMGL015 sqr under Humboldt Reports and Processes-Humboldt GL Reports to be capable of producing CSV output in a data import-friendly format. Now, on the Process Scheduler Request page (the second page of the submission process, after the report parameter page) if you select the CSV option under the Format
pull-down rather than the default PDF, the report output will consist only of comma-delimited data rows plus a descriptive header row. There will be none of the usual report header/footer artifacts. This file will save/import neatly into Excel or other tabular formats.

The PDF print format option remains unchanged; you simply need to choose at run time which output type you want, as the sqr will only produce one type at a time.

This mechanism is intended to supersede the HUMGL015 queries that users have previously been running to obtain exportable transaction data. PS Query is not an ideal vehicle for the large volumes of data and complex joins that the HUMGL015 model involves, and these queries have been especially unsatisfactory in the recent environment. The
queries currently remain available, but we are no longer maintaining them, and may choose to remove them in the near future. We are aware that the HUMGL015 sqr continues to sporadically take a long time to run to completion; we continue to look for a diagnosis and solution to this inconvenience, and ask that you help by running only one HUMGL015 at a time. We also continue to work on a transaction detail solution in the more amenable warehouse environment.

Accounting has announced that September 2006 (FY 2006, Accounting Period 3) is now officially closed in PS Finance. This means that no further entries will be made to the period, so it is now stable for reporting purposes.

PeopleSoft Requesters - the following message is from Joyce Baltierra in Procurement –

Humboldt State University is in the process of implementing a new Procurement Credit Card (ProCard) with GE Corporate Payment Services, a MasterCard credit card program. As a requester, you currently have authority for making purchases in PeopleSoft for your department, and you will most likely need to obtain a ProCard for department credit card purchases.

To achieve the greatest cost savings and to promote procurement efficiency, the University is encouraging all departments to use the ProCard as the first option to obtain supplies and off-campus services, in accordance with the HSU Procurement Credit Card Handbook. The handbook, application instructions and other information about the ProCard may be found on our website at: http://www.humboldt.edu/~procure/procard.htm

Default credit limits for all cardholders is $5,000 per transaction and $10,000 per month. With approval, these limits may be raised. The objective is to have the ProcCard be used for all transactions costing less than the transaction limit and which are not otherwise prohibited.

Ongoing training for use of the ProCard will be held each Thursday, from 11am - 12pm in Sci-A, Room 564. Please contact Sharon Seward, Ext. 3305 to sign-up.

If you have any questions or would like additional information about the ProCard, please give me a call.

Thank you.

Joyce Baltierra
Procurement Analyst
Humboldt State University
P (707)826-3612
F (707)826-3312
http://www.humboldt.edu/~procure

Some of you have been asking again recently about the performance of the HUMGL015 transaction detail report, both the sqr report and the queries. Here’s an update:

1. The HUMGL015 sqr report under Humboldt Reports & Processes continues to occasionally take a long time to run: on the order of 30 minutes, vs. the normal 2-3 minutes. We still don’t know why this is so, and we continue to try to work on our own and with CSU CMS to diagnose and resolve it. In the meantime, we continue to ask users to help make the situation workable for all by only running one HUMGL015 process at a time. Submitting one while another of yours is still running means you are keeping processing slots from others, and we may choose to cancel multiple requests.
2. We are developing an alternative to the HUMGL015 queries under Query Viewer, as the Query tool appears increasingly inadequate to reliably deliver this volume and complexity of data. The new alternative is planned as an import-friendly output option within the existing report above, so that the sqr process will be capable of producing either a pdf print format or a data-only csv format. (Currently, you can ask for CSV output, but it comes with print headings and totals footers that make import inconvenient.) While this may seem like a mixed blessing given the performance issues with the sqr, the sqr is a fundamentally more robust tool that still reliably runs to completion, whereas the queries do not. We will announce when this alternative is available.

At the same time, we also continue to look towards detail reporting solutions in the data warehouse.

On Thursday October 12 between 7 and 8 pm, the process scheduler servers for PS Finance will be brought down to address an intermittent problem with the posting of reports. During this time, PS Finance will remain available, and you should still be able to submit processes (such as reports, or journal posting for internal users); but while the scheduler servers are actually down, your processes will remain queued and not run. Inquiry should not be affected.

Thanks for your patience with any inconvenience this creates.