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Harvard Analytics and Reporting Tool (HART) - Feb 2020 Updates

February 13, 2020

Harvard Analytics and Reporting Tool (HART), powered by OBI, includes the Accounts Receivables, CAPS, Cash Management, Chart of Accounts, CSMA, Financials, Grants Management, Procure to Pay, Travel & Expense, and User Security folders.

HART by the Numbers for January 2020

  • 1: Average query time to run in seconds
  • 632: Average # of rows in the dashboard results
  • 1,488: Distinct Users logged into HART during this period
  • 12,745 queries were run in January

Monthly HART Release

The next monthly HART release will begin on Friday, February 28, 2020 at 6 pm.  The release is expected to be complete by 9 am Saturday, February 29, 2020.

Check out the HART 3 Month Release Plan and Backlog wiki page for details of the dashboard changes included in this release.

Quick Tip: Focus on Budget Dashboards

As budget season is upon us, here some tips about three dashboards in OBI that may be helpful to you as you prepare for the upcoming fiscal year.  The links will take you to the job aids for each dashboard:

Budget and Actual Comparison: This dashboard is available in two versions: the regular Budget and Actual Comparison dashboard and the Limited Comp version.  Here are some key points to keep in mind when using this dashboard:

  • Only Expense and Revenue object codes (T400, T600, and T901) are displayed on the dashboard.
  • Only Operating and Forecast Budgets are available on the dashboard.
  • The Forecast Budget displays Q2 Forecast from HUBS and will only display data if your school/unit uses HUBS for forecasting.
  • The right-click menus are different on each dashboard page, and contains helpful additions based on context—e.g., you can add both Subactivity and Subactivity Description on the Activity and Object Tab.

GL Account Monitoring: This dashboard’s second page contains GL Actual and Budget Balances, which can be useful to help you see how your department(s) are currently spending versus what was budgeted for the current year or compared to the previous year.  Here some additional key points about this dashboard:

  • The Budget Annual Amount column displays the annualized budget amount. The column will display the full budget for the fiscal year, regardless of the period selected in the prompts.
  • The Starting Balance for the Fiscal Year can be selected via the right-click.
  • The dashboard will only return results if the “Period From” prompt selection is prior than the “To Period” prompt selection.
  • The “Period From” and “Period To” prompts should be within the same fiscal year—if you wish to retrieve results for multiple years, you will need to run separate reports for each fiscal year.
  • Accounts that have a $0 or null amount for all data columns included in the dashboard page are excluded.

Budget by Major Fund Groups: This dashboard facilitates the analysis of high-level funding sources, ensures the application of the portfolio is planning for appropriately, and monitors actuals again the plan to help identify and manage variances.  Some additional points about this dashboard include:

  • The dashboard organizes the display of funds in a customized hierarchy that is used for reporting purposes only, meaning that the hierarchy is not found in the Chart of Accounts.  Click on the Need Help link on the dashboard to view the dashboard's wiki page and access the Fund Hierarchy document for more information on how those funds are organized.  The hierarchy on the display is also fully explained in the dashboard help page.
  • The dashboard defines all funds as all operating funds plus all non-operating funds.
  • The dashboard defines all operating funds as all unrestricted plus all sponsored plus restricted gifts plus restricted endowments.

Committed Funds: This dashboard is used to track open purchasing/payables activity that has been committed but not yet posted to the General Ledger.  This can be an important dashboard to consult during budget season in order to see the full spending picture.  Some additional points about this dashboard include:

  • The Committed Funds dashboard only displays PO lines with an Open status.  Once a PO line has been closed, it falls off of this dashboard.
  • When you look at a GL report and see you have a remaining budget of $2000 you may not have the complete picture.  The committed funds dashboard will display outstanding commitments to a vendor.  If you have $500 in committed funds then what you really have left to spend is $1500 ($2000 remaining budget on GL report less $500 in open commitments).
  • Because the Committed Funds dashboard only pulls “open” PO lines, there are occasions where the PO is closed, but the invoice is on hold.  These transactions do not appear on the Committed Funds dashboard AND are not posted to the GL. Thus, it is important to review transactions on hold to have the complete picture.

If you have any additional questions or tips to share, please contact Patty Hatch.

Additional Resources for HART

See also: Live, Harvard Analytics and Reporting Tool (HART), February 2020