June 2003 CoreCT Agency Readiness Sponsor Meeting

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State of ConnecticutCore-CT Project Monthly
Agency Readiness Meeting June 2003
2
Agenda Team Updates
3
Agenda Team Updates
4
Training Update
Financials Training Delivery
Users have the opportunity to complete training
prior to Go-live.
Status
Post Go-Live

• Systems courses available throughout July
• Please do not wait for additional course
  offerings
• Find an open seat and ensure attendance for all
  registered users
• Train-the-trainer activities conducted at the
  agencies will expand training to new user groups
• Training lab sessions available to build on
  classroom-based training

• 1276 users have attended 76 Overview training
  classes
• 1137 users have attended 407 Systems training
  classes
• Sessions have been added prior to Go-live to
  accommodate need
• Coming shortly
• Systems/Process changes since training began
• Training completion metrics and names
• Staffed training lab is available in June and July

5
Training Update
Financials Training Support
After attending systems training, Core-CT users
have two opportunities to practice what they
learned in class.
Financials Sandbox
Training Lab

• Hours of Operation
• Monday to Thursday (730am 600pm)
• Friday (730am to noon)
• Saturday (800am to 500pm)
• Support Phone Number
• [phone], Option 1
• Monday to Thursday 730am to 430pm
• Friday 730am to noon
• July 3 730am to noon
  
  
  
• Alternate Contact Method E-mail
• core.support_at_po.state.ct.us
• Purpose
• Designed to support users questions when
  using the Core-CT Sandbox

• Availability
• Located in Room G-17 at DAS
• Module Based Lab Approach
• Staffing
• Staffed by Financial Trainers not actively
  delivering training throughout the state at
  that time
• Staffing may be based on Module or class
  expertise
• Capacity
• Determined by availability through the
  Training Registration tool
• Space is available for registration in 1 hour
  blocks of time

6
Training Update
HRMS Training Registration
HRMS training will begin shortly.
Overview Training
Systems Classes

• Systems classes begin August 11
• Registration begins July 21
• Training for Registration Contacts is scheduled
  for the week of July 7
• 12 different systems classes will be offered
• Class duration ranges from ½ day to 2 days
  (Central Payroll Class is 3 days)
• Additional information available on Core-CT
  website

• Overview classes begin July 14
• Registration began June 23
• Manual Registration Process
• Training Registration Contacts
• Overview class structure
• Single Overview Course
• Full Day
• Covers all 4 HRMS Modules
• Prerequisite for all Systems Training
  

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Agenda Team Updates
8
Financials Go-live Update
Check your agencys readiness for Financials
Go-live with the dates in this timeline.
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Financials Go-live Update
Your agency should have several tasks either
completed or in progress in preparation for
Go-live.
Agency Preparation for Financials Go-live

• Review all Financials Go-live materials and
  assign tasks to individuals within your agency
• Review Temporary Procedures and Sub-task Due
  Dates
• Employees should have and understand their
  assignments
• Practice in the Sandbox
• Practice conversion tasks in the Sandbox to
  reduce data entry time on/after July 8
• Prepare for Cutoff of Legacy System Use
• Perform data cleanup and process necessary
  transactions in legacy systems
• Prepare data for manual entry into Core-CT
• Track transactions that will need to be entered
  into Core-CT on/after July 8

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Financials Go-live Update
Available on the web, there are two primary tools
you should use to plan and complete Go-live
activities.

• 1. Agency Financials Checklist
• 2. Temporary Procedures Documents

• Activities for agencies to complete prior to and
  after Go-live for successful transition to
  Core-CT
• Begin and End dates for each activity

• Guidelines for identifying information that must
  be manually entered into Core-CT
• Step-by-step instructions for transaction
  processing between cutoff in legacy and Core-CT
  FY04 standard transaction processing
• Information for transition from legacy entry to
  transacting in Core-CT

http//www.core-ct.state.ct.us/fin-golive/
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Financials Go-live Update General
ALL users are responsible for completing four
tasks, regardless of their role.

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Financials Go-live Update Budgets
FY04 budget information must be submitted for
entry into Core-CT.
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Financials Go-live Update Purchasing
Most agencies will create contracts and purchase
orders in Core-CT according to the following
schedule.

Select agencies will begin Contract and PO
creation in Core-CT on 6/30/03.
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Financials Go-live Update Purchasing
All agencies will have access to enter receivers
and requisitions on July 8.

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Financials Go-live Update Purchasing
Item templates will be converted into Core-CT as
Company Templates, but they must be saved as
Personal Templates for use.

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Financials Go-live Update AP/Purchasing
UPDATE The temporary procedures document for
P-Cards will be used until further notice.
Changes in staffing, due to ERIP, have caused the
P-Card information sent to the bank to become
obsolete.

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Financials Go-live Update Accounts Payable
Petty Cash transactions will be performed outside
of Core-CT.

• The Petty Cash replenishment voucher will be
  processed in Core-CT
• Details of the expenditure should be recorded in
  the replenishment document
• Temporary procedures are being revised and will
  be re-posted to the Core-CT website shortly
• All future Petty Cash training classes are being
  canceled
• Training registration contacts have been notified
  of this change

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Financials Go-live Update Receivables
All Federal and Interagency Open Receivables must
be converted to Core-CT.

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Financials Go-live Update Receivables
All deposits with bank dates after 6/30/03 will
be recorded in Core-CT as FY04 deposits.

20
Financials Go-live Update - Forms
As previously discussed, existing forms are being
updated and new forms are being created for
Core-CT.
Core-CT Financials Forms

• A number of forms will be made obsolete
• Being revised for vendors use
• Forms information will be posted to the Core-CT
  Financials Go-Live Home Page http//www.core-ct.s
  tate.ct.us/fin-golive/

• CO-17
• CO-17L
• CO-17M
• CO-17PRE
• CO-17XP
• CO-17XP-1
• CO-19

• CO-39
• CO-92
• CO-94
• CO-94DP
• CO-95
• CO-96
• CO-110

• CO-604
• CO-607
• CO-894
• CO-956
• CO-957
• CO-958

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Financials Go-live Update - Security
Individual UserIDs and passwords will be
distributed by agency Security Liaisons for
Core-CT Financials Go-live.
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Financials Go-live Update - Security
To ensure data security, requesting changes to
your Go-live security profile will follow a
standard procedure.
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Financials Go-live Update - Support
A number of local support resources are/will be
in place to assist users with questions before
and after Go-live.

• On-line Help
• Web Learning Assistant
• Job Aids
• Temporary Procedures
• Core-CT website
• Contacts and resources within your agency
• Peers
• Agency Super Users (http//www.core-ct.state.ct.us
  /user/xls/fin_super_users.xls)
• Security Liaisons

Note Over the last several months, many of you
have worked directly with the Core-CT project
team. Please use the Core-CT Help Desk to handle
inquiries you may have previously sent to project
team members.
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Financials Go-live Update - Support
After local resources have been consulted, the
Core-CT Help Desk is your next avenue of
resolution.

• How to contact the Core-CT Help Desk
• Phone [phone], Option 1
• E-mail core.support_at_po.state.ct.us
• Help Desk Hours Monday Friday 700am to 500pm
  (Except Holidays)
• What you need when you call
• Name, Agency, and Location
• Phone Number and E-mail address
• Documentation of errors (screen prints)
• Agency technical contact information
• Tier 1 Support
• Initial routing of calls to Help Desk personnel.
  Those calls that can be resolved with the user on
  the phone at the time of the call are Tier 1
• Tier 2 Support
• User inquiries that cannot be resolved in Tier 1
  are escalated to Tier 2 for additional research
  and consideration

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Financials Go-live Update - Support
Tier 2 Help Desk calls are categorized and
resolved according to Priority Urgent, High,
Medium, Low, and No Urgency.
A Help Desk QA document will be posted to the
Core-CT website shortly with more information
Response Interval for Initial Ticket The
time between the users phone call and when the
issue is escalated to the appropriate team
resource
Target Resolution The time between when the
issue is escalated to the appropriate team
resource and when the resolution is communicated
back through the Help Desk to the end user
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Financials Go-live Update Team Updates
As we approach Financials Go-live, please be
mindful of the changes taking place in several
other areas of Core-CT.
Conversions
Chart of Accounts

• Core-CT COA changes requested now cannot be made
  until after Go-live
• Use the new Chartfield Maintenance Request
  process to request changes affecting your
  agencys COA

• Vendors - Complete
• Historical Budget Balances (FY01 and FY02)
  Completion expected this week
• DAS Contracts
• Ledger Balances, FY03 Budgets and FY04 Carry
  Forward Balances Will be converted after Go-live
  (July 18 22)

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Financials Go-live Update Team Updates
As we approach Financials Go-live, please be
mindful of the changes taking place in several
other areas of Core-CT.
HRMS and Payroll
EPM / Ad-Hoc Reporting

• EPM Rollout will be staggered
• EPM for Financials is planned for late September
  / early October
• EPM for HRMS is planned to parallel the rollout
  of HRMS in late October
• Prior to EPM rollout, all data will be available
  in Core-CT Financials through reports and
  queries, only without EPMs features of improved
  speed and flexibility in report design

• Core-CT HRMS Go-live is scheduled for October 27,
  2003
• Until HRMS Go-live, payroll will still continue
  in the current system and be brought into Core-CT
• One department per agency
• Payroll will reference a budget level that can be
  transacted against

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Financials Go Live Update
Since Core-CT training was finalized, the
following items represent the key departures from
delivered training.
Core-CT Financials Key Changes from Training

• Receivables
• Open Items Requiring Multiple Accounting Lines
  If more than one distribution line is needed,
  multiple item lines must be entered for each open
  item. Adding additional item lines allows for
  distribution across multiple coding strings.
• Payables
• P-Card Processing Use the P-Card temporary
  procedures document to guide P-Card processing
  until further notice.
• Petty Cash Transactions will not be processed in
  Core-CT. Agencies will continue to process petty
  cash transactions using current procedures and
  policies.
• Viewing Receipt Comments When receiving comments
  are created and the checkbox to Show at Voucher
  is selected, AP personnel are unable to view the
  comments.

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Financials Go Live Update
Since Core-CT training was finalized, the
following items represent the key departures from
delivered training.
Key Changes from Training - Continued

• Purchasing
• Distribution Details When completing Chartfield
  information, the Budget Reference field should
  strictly be used to designate the fiscal year of
  the transaction.
• Requisition Distribution Information Account is
  now a required field. As such, requesters must
  select the appropriate coding information or
  specify a default account combination that will
  be modified during the review process.

To obtain a comprehensive list of all changes in
Core-CT procedures since training was originally
created, please visit the Core-CT website.
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Financials Go Live Update
There are some workarounds that will be in place
for Financials Go-live on July 8.
Core-CT Financials Workarounds

• Budget Checking
• Budget checking batch process does not budget
  check all items in the request when tree errors
  are returned during processing. To reduce the
  frequency of this occurring, a report will be
  generated prior to batch processing. This report
  will identify those items that have tree errors.
  Any exceptions should be resolved prior to the
  budget process running (10am, noon, 2pm and once
  overnight).
• Contacts at each agency will be assigned the
  responsibility of correcting budget check errors
• nVision
• Used for General Ledger
• Scheduled nVision reports will be produced in
  Excel format at Go-live
• After Go-live, those agencies requiring
  drill-down capabilities will be contacted to
  address the issue

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Financials Go-live Update
Users should be prepared to perform the following
tasks on July 8.
Core-CT Financials Go-live activities

• Use your assigned User ID and password to log
  into Core-CT Financials.
• Change your password upon successful login.
• Confirm security access.
• Utilize the Go-live communication to determine
  user activities on July 8.
• Convert FY03 transactions as needed. Verify all
  converted transactions carefully.
• Start processing FY04 transactions in Core-CT.

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Financials Go-live Update
As you leave this meeting, please take the
following key messages with you and back to your
agency.

• Act Early
• Do not put your agency in a position where it
  must scramble to adequately prepare for Go-live
• Make sure all preparation tasks for your agency
  are underway and seek help from your Agency
  Readiness Coordinator as needed
• Timely execution of the temporary procedures is
  critical in preparing your agency for Financials
  Go-live
• Some temporary procedures require the creation of
  a number of items within Core-CT on July 8
• Align resources with the work effort required for
  your agency
• Understand the dependencies in the data entry
  process

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Agenda Team Updates
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Conversion Update
Some dates have been modified in the Mock
Conversion Schedule. Below are updates,
highlights, and upcoming critical events.
Mock Conversion Schedule

• Mock 4 (In Progress with SPRT test Data)
• Mock 5 May 30 June 4
• Mock 6 July 11 July 16
• Mock 7 (Updated) September 5 10
• Back Up Load (Updated) October 3 October 8
• Go-live Conversion (Tentative Dates)
• October 17 October 21

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Conversion Update Introducing Task 064
Task 064 asks each agency to complete two
separate but equally important tasks.
Part One Validate/Create Time Report Chartfield
Combinations

• Ensure legacy coding values are properly
  converted into valid Core-CT Chartfield
  combinations for use in HRMS
• The first worksheet (Chartfield Combinations) in
  the CF Combinations Position Funding
  spreadsheet contains an initial list of valid
  HRMS Core-CT Chartfield combinations used within
  your agency
• The HRMS Chartfield combinations were created by
  converting MSA payroll funding information from
  the May 15 Check Date
• Please review the combinations in the spreadsheet
  and verify that all of the Chartfield
  combinations that your agency will need for time
  reporting (attendance) and position funding are
  included

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Conversion Update Introducing Task 064
Below is an example of the Chartfield
Combinations worksheet in the CF Combinations
Position Funding spreadsheet.
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Conversion Update Introducing Task 064
The initial list of Chartfield combinations were
generated for your agency as follows.

• Starting Point Recent Payroll Accounting
  Transactions in the legacy system
• Legacy Department, Fund, and SID chart of account
  values were translated into Core-CT Chartfield
  values
• At the agency level, most departments in the
  legacy system are fairly high-level. These
  high-level department values were replaced with
  the detailed Core-CT department values for each
  agency
• New Chartfield values such as Program, Project
  and Chartfield 1 (Activity) were pre-populated
  for agencies with simple COA organizational
  structures
• The new Chartfield values were left blank for
  agencies with complex COA organizational
  structures

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Conversion Update Introducing Task 064
Task 064 asks each agency to complete two
separate but equally important tasks (contd).
Part Two Validate/Create Position Funding and
Chartfield Associations

• Associate agency positions with the valid Core-CT
  Chartfield combinations verified in part one of
  this task
• The second worksheet (Position Funding) in the
  CF Combinations Position Funding spreadsheet
  contains your agencys position numbers along
  with the Employee IDs and names of the people in
  these positions
• The Chartfield combinations associated with your
  positions were converted to Core-CT values using
  the position funding information sent to the
  Conversion Team in the fifth mock conversion
• MSA information was used if funding information
  was not received
• Please review the Chartfield combinations
  associated with your positions and make
  adjustments as necessary

39
Conversion Update Introducing Task 064
Below is an example of the Position Funding
worksheet in the CF Combinations Position
Funding spreadsheet.
Worksheet Continued
40
Conversion Update Introducing Task 064
Review and understand how the initial Position
Funding Chartfield combinations were generated
for your agency.

• Starting Point The Conversion Team created
  position listings for the agencies using data
  from the fifth mock conversion if position
  funding information had not been transmitted by
  the agency, MSA funding was used
• The legacy values for Department, Fund and SID
  were translated into new Core-CT Chartfield
  values
• The new Chartfield values such as Program,
  Project and Chartfield 1 (Activity) were
  pre-populated for agencies with a simple COA
  organizational structures
• The new Chartfield values were left blank for
  agencies with complex COA organizational
  structures

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Task 064 Timeline
Please use the following timeline to structure
your approach to and timely completion of Task
064.

• June 30 to August 1 Agencies review and begin
  working on Task 064
• Week of August 4 Agencies attend the Task 064
  Workshop (Optional)
• Feedback Your interest in the sessions will
  determine schedule
• Dates Tentatively slated for early August
• Attendees Sign up sheets will be circulated at
  the July Sponsor Meetings
• No later than August 15 Agencies submit their
  completed CF Combinations Position Funding
  spreadsheet to conversion.readiness_at_po.state.ct.us
  with a copy to your ARC
• No later than August 15 Agencies mark Task 064
  complete in the Agency Readiness Tracking Tool
• Agencies will have an opportunity to validate
  their original submissions and to request
  additional values in October

42
Agenda Agency Readiness Updates
43
Netscape Update
Core-CT supports the use of either Netscape
Navigator or Internet Explorer. When using
Netscape Navigator, some usage differences have
been documented.
Netscape Navigator User Experiences

• Inability to collapse the left-hand navigation
  menu
• Inability to use F11 to expand view to full
  screen
• Tab sequence in Core-CT may be different from
  Internet Explorer environment
• Blinking cursor is not always visible in users
  current field position on the page

44
Agenda Agency Readiness Updates
45
Task Criticality
The Level of Criticality assists in your
prioritization of Core-CT activities.

• Tasks have been designated either critical or
  non-critical
• Any critical Financials tasks that are past-due
  automatically put an agency in the RED zone of
  readiness
• If all critical Financials tasks are marked
  complete, readiness levels are determined by
  these overall completion percentages

46
Agency Status Criticality Current Tasks
Nine critical tasks still have not been marked
complete by all of the agencies who were required
to complete them.
Please Note Task completion percentage is based
on the Agency Readiness Tracking Tool as of
6/24/03.Incomplete agencies given a completion
date of 12/31/03 on Task 053 Task 049
submissions will be used for these agencies.
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Agenda Agency Readiness Updates
48
Agenda Agency Readiness Updates
49
Upcoming Tasks
Completion of the following tasks should be
reported in the Agency Readiness Tracking Tool by
their respective due dates.
The list of tasks your agency is requested to
complete can be found in the Agency Readiness
Tracking Tool.
50
Task 064 HRMS Chartfield Combinations and
Position Funding
51
Task 065 EPM Ad-Hoc Reporting Identify Users
52
Agenda Agency Readiness Updates
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Summary and Countdown
Today we have covered
Moving toward deployment

• Training Update
• Financials Go-live Update
• Conversion Update
• Netscape Update
• Task Criticality
• Agency Status and Follow Up
• Upcoming Tasks

Financials, Phase 1 July 2003
12 days to go!
HRMS, Phase 1 October 2003
124 days to go!
Core-CT Training April 2003
In process!
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Next Steps
Thank you for your participation today. We look
forward to continuing our work together to make
Core-CT a success!

• Early next week you will receive an e-mail
  announcing the availability of the task
  instructions and supporting materials on the
  Core-CT website
• Look for this presentation on the Core-CT website
  (http//www.core-ct.state.ct.us/)
• Next meeting July 30, Room 1002A - 101 E.
  River Drive