Short Summary:

The main focus of this release is to upgrade the Oracle Financials Database from version 11.2.0.4 to 12.1.0.2. This will ensure our database version is supported by Oracle for several years to come. We will also be patching the entire application suite with the latest Oracle EBS 12.1.3 RPC5 (Rollup Patch Collection Set 5) functional application patches. This RPC5 will bring our EBS application to the most current bug free state of functionality available in version 12.1.3. Not only will we get fixes to some existing bugs, but we will also get some new functionality that we can look into using to improve our business processes. Oracle can also support our application more efficiently and effectively at this current patching baseline level.

Oracle Financials Outage - 6:00 p.m. on Friday, December 15^th until 9:00 a.m. on Monday, December 18^th to accommodate the installation of this release. CPATH (Capital Planning at Harvard), DMS Financial Data Warehouse, CREW Reporting, & OBI Reporting will also be offline during this outage window. CPATH & DMS Financial Data Warehouse are also having a release during this weekend. OBI Reporting for P2P, Accounts Receivable, Cash Management, & T&E Dashboards will continue to be unavailable until 9:00 a.m. Tuesday December 19^th. OBI Financials and Grants reporting will be available 9:00 a.m. Monday, December 18^th.

JAVA JRE will need to be updated to version 1.8.0_141 on 12/18.

Please review the Detailed Summary for much more pertinent information regarding what this release may mean to you.

Detailed Summary:

One of the main focus of this major OFPI Phase 2 release is to upgrade the Oracle Financials Database from 11.2.0.4 to 12.1.0.2 including any needed database prerequisite patching. This will ensure our database version is supported by Oracle for several years to come. Another main focus of this release will also be patching the entire application suite with the latest Oracle EBS 12.1.3 RPC5 (Rollup Patch Collection Set 5) functional application patches. This RPC5 will bring our EBS application to the most current bug free state of functionality available in version 12.1.3. Not only will we get fixes to some existing bugs, but we will also get some new functionality that we can look into using to improve our business processes. Oracle can also support our application more efficiently and effectively at this current patching baseline level.

Why all of this patching? Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.1.3 has been available for a while, and over its lifetime has been significantly enhanced in numerous ways by Oracle. These enhancements and fixes are provided as individual patches, product family Release Update Packs (RUP), and product-specific Recommended Patch Collections (RPC). For example, there are Recommended Patch Collections for Financials products such as General Ledger and Payables. On the technology side, there are patchsets such as the OA Framework 12.1.3.1 Consolidated Update Patch. Identifying and applying all the individual patches, RUPs, and RPCs we need can be time-consuming. Complicating matters further, patchsets across multiple product families are generally not tested together. The latest and greatest RPC5 includes all the recommended patches, along with their dependencies. Applying this patch in a single downtime patching window saves effort and time, rather than applying each recommended patch individually.

... Read more about Upcoming December System Outages for Oracle Financials Systems - Fall FINDINI 4.0.12 Release

MFR “By the Numbers” – November 2017

• 1,087: Number of distinct users that ran financial dashboards in OBI
• 69,393: Number of distinct requests made using the financial dashboards, over a third of which were made of the “Transaction Listing All” dashboard (25,586 requests).
• 29: Number of individuals registered for the Introduction to OBI Financial Dashboard training
• 1,348: Number of users who have completed training
• 69.8%: Percentage of target audience who is trained on OBI.  If you are one of the other 30.2%, register for OBI training today!

CREW Decommissioning Deadline: Tomorrow, Friday December 15!

The Modernization of Financial Reporting (MFR) Project Team has been working diligently with business leadership in the schools (specifically, the Financial Deans), its partners within the Data Management Services team and HUIT to improve the quality of the OBIEE (OBI) dashboards.  After almost 18 years in service to the Harvard community, the Common Reporting Environment for the Warehouse (CREW) will be decommissioned tomorrow, Friday, December 15!  

As of tomorrow, all access to CREW will discontinue and users will need to access other systems for work they have been doing in CREW.  This change means that OBI will serve as the sole source for financial reporting and users will be unable to logon and retrieve any previously run reports in CREW.

Please note that there will be no changes to the desktop version of Interactive Reporting (also known as BRIO or Hyperion Interactive Reporting Studio) at this time.  Users of IR/BRIO will be still be able to use the desktop version for their ad hoc reporting needs.

... Read more about Modernization of Financial Reporting (MFR) Project Update

ESTR* will be unavailable during updates from Friday, December 15 at 6:00 p.m. ET until Saturday, December 16 at 6:00 p.m. ET. View the detailed release notes to preview many of the key changes expected with this upgrade.

Along with the above-linked details, it is important to note that this release includes support for two major regulatory changes:

1. Final NIH Policy on the Use of a Single Institutional Review Board for Multi-Site Research; and
2. Final Revisions to the Common Rule (on January 19, 2018, the IRB will enable control over when the new Common Rule applied in the review of research.)

For more information about this upgrade as it is available, please:

• Visit your IRB office website to view any policy or process changes (HUA IRB and LMA IRB);
• Visit the ESTR Support Site Job Aids page for guidance updates or demo sessions; or
• Contact the ESTR Help Desk with any questions or concerns.

*What is ESTR? To learn more about ESTR and to access current training materials and resources, please visit our support site: estrsupport.fss.harvard.edu

Extra hours for a holiday worked are not paid automatically. If an employee works on a holiday, they should report HWK to be paid at a rate of 1.5 times their normal pay for the holiday hours worked. The employee is also entitled to their regular pay for the holiday (FHP), or they may bank the time (FHE) and take time off at a later date (up to 1/5 of the employee weekly scheduled hours).

To receive it as pay:

• The employee should report HOL for all hours not worked and HWK & FHP for all hours worked.

To receive it as time off:

• The employee should report HWK to receive pay for the hours worked and FHE to bank the time off. At a later date, when the time is taken, they should report FHT with a comment that it is time owed for working on the holiday. This time must be used prior to the end of the fiscal year (6/30).

... Read more about Holiday Worked Time Reporting Scenarios