News and Announcements

KFS is now open for Fiscal Year 2022 Processing (From KFS)

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KFS is now open for Fiscal Year 2022 Processing. Happy New Fiscal Year!

As you begin to look at balances on your accounts in KFS, please note the following:

1. Although Fiscal Year 2022 is the default on balance inquiries, you have the option to change the date to Fiscal Year 2021 by typing over 2022.

2. When looking at Fiscal Year 2021 balances on the “General Ledger Balance” inquiry, there is an additional period called “Year End.” This is where you will see any activity posted after June 30, 2021 that relates to Fiscal Year 2021. On the General Ledger Entry inquiry, you will see these transactions in Fiscal Period “13.”

3. Fiscal Year 2022 Budgets are loaded for all 2-ledger, 3-ledger, and Fiscal 4-ledger/6-ledger accounts. (Sub-funds OPTUI, OPOTF, OPAUX, RFNDO, RFNDA). Budgets for project accounts are scheduled to be updated overnight on July 1st as pending entries (see #4 below). Processing for all accounts should continue as necessary. 

4. KFS has the ability to show the prior year balances carried over into the new fiscal year. Ending balances from Fiscal Year 2021, which are scheduled to be loaded overnight on July 1st as pending entries, will be regularly updated into Fiscal Year 2022 until the final close in August.

5. Encumbrances:

a. New Fiscal Year 2022 external encumbrances (Purchase Orders) are in KFS.

b. Prior Year external encumbrances that are carried forward into Fiscal Year 2022 are also in KFS.

c. Fiscal Year 2022 payroll encumbrances will be posted the night of July 7, 2021.

If you have any questions, please contact Annette Pavone at Annette.pavone@uconn.edu.

HUSKYBUY BROADCAST – New User Experience in HuskyBuy

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Coming soon! New User Experience in HuskyBuy

We’re pleased to deliver a updated look to the HuskyBuy experience in the coming weeks. Beginning Friday 6/25, you will find an option in HuskyBuy to toggle and explore the new look and feel to Shopping, Requisitioning, Approving, and Invoicing, and provide feedback for a period of two weeks; on 7/26, the new experience will become standard for all users. During the trial period, job aids for the new look will be available alongside our library of legacy job aids until the permanent transition occurs in July. Please find links below related to how to activate/inactivate the New User Experience beginning 6/25, as well to review the updated job aids for a sneak peak of the upcoming changes. Please reach out to the Procurement Solutions Center with any questions. 

How to toggle the new experience during the opt-in period

HuskyBuy New User Experience Job Aids

Thank you,

The Procurement Solutions Center

huskybuysupport@uconn.edu

Updated Post-Doc Offer Letter Template (from HR)

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Dear Colleagues,

On April 28, 2021, the Connecticut General Assembly approved the collective bargaining agreement between the University and UAW Local 6950, covering Postdoctoral Research Associates.  The contract is available on the HR website.

Human Resources has updated the template offer letter to reflect required changes, based on the contract, and the template is available on HR’s Offer Letter page and within PageUp.

Additions to the letter include:

  • Contact information for the hiring department. Departments will need to input the appropriate name and contact information;
  • Funding source field titled Grant Funded (this field defaults to Yes but departments can update to No, as appropriate);
  • Links to the HR benefits website and the University’s non-discrimination policy;
  • Contact information for International Student & Scholar Services (ISSS);
  • A notification of the employee’s opportunity to develop and discuss an Individual Development Plan with their PI; and
  • A statement and link recognizing that the appointment is covered by a collective bargaining agreement.

Please begin using the updated offer letter immediately, and feel free to refer questions to workforce@uconn.edu.

 

Thank you,
Human Resources

Minimum Wage to Increase on August 1st (from Student Employment)

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In 2019, the Governor signed legislation that will gradually increase the minimum hourly wage in Connecticut to $15.00 per hour over the next several years. The next increase is scheduled for August 1st. The hourly rate for any student whose active payroll record is not at the minimum of the new pay class will be systematically increased. We encourage employers to review the hourly rates of those student employees whose rates will not be automatically increased to identify any inequities.  Any manual increases may be processed using the Student Payroll Data/Pay Change template (UC_TBH_DC_STUD_DAT) in CORE-CT.

 

Level of Job Current Effective Aug 1, 2021 Effective July 1, 2022 Effective June 1, 2023
Class I (trainee level)  

$12.00

  

$13.00

  

$14.00

  

$15.00
Class II (assistant level)  

$12.15 – $13.35

  

$13.15 – $14.35

  

$14.15 – $15.35

  

$15.15 – $16.35
Class III (specialist level  

$13.40 – $15.35

  

$14.40 – $16.35

  

$15.40 – $17.35

  

$16.40 – $18.35
Class IV (advanced level)  

$15.40 – $30.70

  

$16.40 – $31.70

  

$17.40 – $32.70

  

$18.40 – $33.70

 

HUSKYBUY BROADCAST – Commodity Code Updates! (from UBS)

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Commodity Code Updates!

To better serve the University community, University Business Services has created new Commodity Codes in the HuskyBuy system. Historically, the Professional Services (306) and Consulting Services (132 and 133) commodity codes have been used for commodity groupings that we discovered warranted their own designated commodity codes. The new codes are as follows:

4 Audio Recording Services
158 License Agreements (Non-IT)
171 Security Personnel and/or Staffing
242 Editorial/Editing Services
243 Document Preparation and Records Management
244 Shredding Services
245 Survey Services
288 Equipment Loan – Lab & Classroom related
303 Insurance
304 Affiliation Agreements (Medical)
305 Legal Services
308 HR related Professional Services (including exec. search svcs., EAP, etc)
328 Space Rentals (rooms, office space, etc.)
329 Building Leases
377 Music Compositions

An updated commodity code list is available on the UBS website at: https://media.procurement.uconn.edu/purchasing/images_commodities/Commodity_List.pdf For any inquiries, questions or guidance, please contact the appropriate buying team.  

Thank you

KFS 2021 Close / Opening of FY22 (From KFS Listserv)

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To All KFS Users:

In preparation for the close of fiscal year 2021 and the opening of fiscal year 2022 in KFS, please make note of the following:

  1. KFS will be unavailable for processing at 5:00 pm on Wednesday, June 30th.
  2. KFS will be available Thursday morning, July 1st for fiscal year 2022 processing.
  3. eDocs that were routed to the central processing offices (Accounting, Accounts Payable, etc.) by the deadlines specified in the Controller Memo will be posted to fiscal year 2021, as well as any eDocs that missed these deadlines to the extent time permits. Fiscal year 2021 eDocs not finalized before June 30th will be rolled over and posted in fiscal year 2022 when finalized.
  4. Certain eDocs submitted after June 30 will be posted back to fiscal year 2021 by central offices, and you will notice these being reflected in fiscal year 2021, Period 13. If you have an eDoc that you believe should be posted to fiscal year 2021, (for example, to clean up a deficit account), please specify this on the eDoc before you submit it.

If you have any questions, please contact Lori-Anne Hansen (lori-anne.hansen@uconn.edu) or Annette Pavone (annette.pavone@uconn.edu).

Approved FY22 Fringe Benefit Rates (from SPS)

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Hello Everyone,

We received the approved Fringe Benefit Rate Agreement for FY22 from DHHS.  To help to mitigate the effect of our fringe benefit costs on research projects, the OVPR and administration has again provided funding to ensure the rates charged to research projects are substantially less than the full rates.  The FY22 rates are very close to what was projected last year.

The rates for FY22 and for proposal budgeting on the Office of the Vice President for Research Sponsored Program Services (SPS) website have been updated in accordance with this announcement.  The Pre-Award Team will accept the old fringe rates on budgets that have already been submitted to SPS, and for those where the budgets have been prepared and redoing them may jeopardize the timely proposal preparation and submission.  Budgets should be submitted to SPS using these rates no later Monday,  June 21.  If you would like to update a budget for a proposal that has already been submitted to Pre-Award but not yet submitted to the sponsor, please contact your Grant and Contract Specialist.

Additionally, please note that the required budget justification language regarding fringe benefits has been updated to the following:

“The fringe benefit rates used in the proposal budget are based on the rates approved by the Department of Health and Human Services.  An estimated cost escalation has been included in the out years per University budgeting guidance.”

FY22 FY23 FY24 FY25 FY26
Faculty 45.5% 47.8% 48.5% 49.5% 50.5%
Professional/Classified 48.5% 50.6% 51.5% 52.5% 53.5%
Special Payroll 22% 22% 22.5% 23% 23.5%
Post Docs 15.7% 16% 16.5% 17% 17.5%
Graduate Assistant, Academic Yr 15.7% 16% 16.5% 17% 17.5%
Student Labor 3.8% 3% 3.4% 3.4% 3.4%

 

FY23 – FY26 rates shown are projected estimates for budgeting purposes only.

FY26 rates should remain flat for FY26 and later for budgeting purposes only.

 

Jennifer Przybyszewski, MBA
Associate Director for Award Management and Accounting

Office of the Vice President for Research
University of Connecticut
Sponsored Program Services
438 Whitney Road Ext. Unit 1133
Storrs, CT 06269-1133
Phone: 860-486-4293
ovpr.uconn.edu

 

Reminder: Review HR SPAR Changes in PageUp (From HR)

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Dear Colleagues,

We write to share a reminder about reviewing HR comments before making a final Special Payroll offer in PageUp.

As HR reserves the right to revise requests in PageUp to ensure compliance with University policy and state and federal laws and regulations, including adjusting the start date of an appointment that is less than 10 days from the HR approval date, departments should always review post-approval HR comments and revisions to remain aware of changes. Departments will see a sentence in the PageUp-generated Approved Offer communication, for a further reminder: “REMINDER: HR recommends that hiring departments review the offer letter and any comments in the hire request before updating the applicant’s status to Make Online Offer.”

Additional Reminders

  • For guidance on submitting Special Payroll requests in PageUp, refer to the combined Technical and Functional Guide.
  • Summer Session and Fall Dates and Deadlines have been posted to the Special Payroll Information webpage.
    • Please note, 9-month and 10-month faculty summer appointments should be submitted directly into SmartHR.

For questions, please review the “Who To Contact” section on the Special Payroll Information Page.

Thank you,
Human Resources

New Workflow in the reconciliation of CBS (Procard) Reports (from UBS)

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Good Afternoon:

After receiving feedback from various University stakeholders about increasing efficiencies, expediting administrative processes within Concur, and keeping in mind the mission of providing the best customer care services to the University community, we write to inform you of exciting changes coming to Company Bill Statement (CBS) Reports for ProCard reconciliation (which includes grant funded expenses) submitted through Concur, the University’s Travel & Expense management system.

Beginning Monday, May 17, 2021, CBS Reports for ProCard reconciliation will no longer require electronic approval within Concur by either Principal Investigator (PI) or Sponsored Program (SPS) groups. While the new change will go into effect on May 17, 2021, any in-progress CBS Reports for ProCard reconciliation submitted prior to the effective date of the change are subject to the previous workflow model which currently requires that PI and SPS approvals based on funding source. If you have any such CBS Reports in-progress, you may elect to recall and resubmit them in Concur after May 17, 2021 to take advantage of the new workflow model. Please keep in mind if such in-progress CBS Reports have already received Fiscal Officer (FO) approval, that same FO approval will again be required following resubmission.

If you have any questions, please reach out to pcard@uconn.edu.

Thank you,

Thank you,
Nancy Patrylak, CPCP
Procurement Solutions Center Manager
University of Connecticut
University Business Services
3 Discovery Drive, Unit 6076
Storrs, CT 06269
(860) 486-2622 – phone
(860) 486-5051 – fax
Purchasing.ubs.uconn.edu
*For travel inquiries please contact us at travel@uconn.edu