[For a summary view of the information below, see “EFS-SP Transaction Processing Quick Guide”]

During Transition

PROPOSALS

Review and Submission of Proposals to Sponsors

Proposals will continue to come in to SPA electronically or manually with PRFs approved electronically or manually - there is no change in this process.   Proposals will continue to be reviewed, endorsed, and submitted to agencies by SPA staff. 

Entry of Proposal Records into EFS

Proposals that arrive at SPA after the transaction cutoff date (June 16th) will be manually entered by SPA staff into EFS after Go-Live rather than converted.  After Go-Live, finalized PRFs will migrate into EFS on a nightly basis.  

AWARDS

Awards will continue to come in to SPA electronically and manually during the cutover period.   Awards will be manually tracked on a spreadsheet by SPA and given to GAs for negotiation, review, and acceptance.  Once an award is accepted by a GA and an executed copy returned to the sponsor (if needed), award documents will be held until July 1st, when NOGAs and EFS chart strings can begin to be generated. 

CUFS ACCOUNT/EFS CHART STRING SETUPS

After the established cutoff date, sponsored projects accounts/chart strings cannot be established until after Go-Live.  Chart string setups will resume on July 1, 2008 (see “At Go-Live” section below).

PRE-AWARD ACCOUNT REQUESTS

Pre-award account requests received after the cutoff will be reviewed and approved by SPA.  An email will be sent to the PI and department contact indicating that the request has been approved but that an EFS chart string will not be generated until after July 1st.  SPA will handle EFS chart string setups on a first-in, first-out basis.   The email will also request that the PI/department contact the GA if there are any special costing issues that need to be taken into consideration  in prioritizing chart-string setups (e.g., a piece of equipment must be ordered by a certain date in order to get a certain discount, etc.)

SUBAWARDS

New Subaward Agreements

New subaward agreements will continue to be negotiated and unsigned agreements issued for execution by subrecipients during the transition.  SPA will not be able to finalize and countersign such subawards until after Go-Live, given that the assigned Subcontract Number needs to incorporate the EFS PO number.   After Go-Live, SPA will establish applicable POs, execute and return fully-signed subawards that have been negotiated during the transition. SPA’s transmittal letters to subrecipients during this time will let subrecipients know that there may be a delay in payment of subaward invoices until late July because of the financial system transition. 

Modifications of Ongoing Subaward Agreements

SPA will continue to negotiate and execute amendments and modifications (e.g., adding time and/or money) to existing subawards during the transition and send those to subrecipients.  This will be of value to subrecipients who rely on such paperwork to permit subaward costs to be charged at their own institutions.  However, any increases in funding or time extensions cannot be reflected in EFS until after Go-Live.  This means that payments to subrecipients against any increased amounts will also be held until after Go-Live (see payments section, below). 

New Subrecipients

If a subaward will be issued to a new subrecipient, SPA will need to request that a new vendor be set up in EFS before establishing the PO; the turnaround time for new customer setup has not yet been established, but is likely to take several days.  The subaward instrument will be negotiated as outlined above, but subrecipients will be notified that their finalized subaward may not be able to be issued until mid-July 2008.  On a case-by-case basis, and following a written request from the department describing the reason that it is impractical to wait until mid-July for a subaward to be finalized, SPA will issue a subaward agreement carrying a temporary Subaward Number and then modify the agreement to reflect the permanent number in July.  While this may resolve any issues about whether a subrecipient can legitimately charge costs, it will not expedite issuance of a subaward payment (since a PO reflecting the correct customer name must be established in the system before payments can be made to the subrecipient.)  This option will be exercised only in rare, compelling circumstances. 

Payment of Subaward Invoices

PIs and Departments should continue to review and approve invoices and send them to SPA for payment.  SPA will add the applicable EFS chart string to the invoice and process it for payment.  After Go-Live, SPA will review and approve the invoices, and then send them to AP for payment.

FINANCIAL REPORTS TO SPONSORS

After the established cutoff date, financial reports to sponsors will not be created or submitted to sponsors.  If SFR is informed by a sponsor that a report is needed immediately, SFR will create a manual report, which SFR will recreate after Go-Live in the EFS.  This option will be exercised only in rare, compelling circumstances.  Report creation will resume once period 12 closes and all transaction details have converted from JD Edwards into the EFS.

INVOICING SPONSORS

After the established cutoff date, financial invoices to sponsors will not be created or submitted to sponsors.  If SFR is informed by a sponsor that an invoice is needed immediately, SFR will create a manual invoice, which SFR will recreate after Go-Live in the EFS.  This option will be exercised only in rare, compelling circumstances.  Invoice creation will resume once period 12 closes and all transaction details have converted from JD Edwards into the EFS. (July 7)

ACCEPTING AND CREDITING PAYMENTS

After the established cutoff date, all cash, checks and electronic funds transfers will be held and secured in SFR until after Go-Live. On July 1, SFR will resume normal payment processing.

At Go-Live

All activities outlined above (except financial reporting and invoicing to sponsors) are expected to resume on July 1, 2008.  Financial reporting and invoicing are expected to resume on July 7, 2008, after detailed transactions are loaded into EFS.

SPA and SFR will process transactions held during the transition period as quickly as possible after Go-Live.   It is not known at this time the expected duration of the “catch-up” period, but communications will be sent to EPS-SP listservs with updates as available. 

The current general priority order for transaction processing into EFS beginning July 1, 2008 is as follows. This is for general guidance only. Because different personnel in SPA and SFR handle different types of transactions, it is possible that a given transaction will be processed in a different order than outlined below.  

• Transition - Pre-award spending accounts, on a first-in, first-out basis
• Post Go-Live - Pre-award spending accounts
• Transition - Payment of Subaward invoices, on a first-in, first-out basis
• Transition - Awards (except future starts), on a first-in, first-out basis
• Post Go-Live Awards
• Post Go-Live Payment of Subaward invoices, on a first-in, first-out basis
• Transition Transactions - Proposals, on a first-in, first-out basis
• Post Go-Live Proposals

Please note that this priority order does not include transactions processed outside of EFS (e.g., SPA will ensure that proposals are reviewed and submitted to sponsors by their published deadline).