Dear Peralta Community,

 

Last month, we shared some exciting updates regarding contracts workflow in PeopleSoft that took effect on October 1, and let you know of additional updates that were coming soon. Those additional updates are here!

 

The first batch of updates in the PeopleSoft Finance Management application (https://fm.peralta.edu) on October 1st included:

• Change of Approval Process by moving Legal Review after the Department Manager approval step – this empowers managers and helps make sure contracts have a business approval before moving to the legal team for review.
• Streamlining Contract Approval Process. We reduced the number of approvers from fourteen to six. 
• New Simplified Performer Agreement. Added a Template for Performer Agreements (not to exceed $3,000). No requisition or PO required.
• Updated Contract Type References in PS for Campus Contracts, Grants Agreement, Miscellaneous Documents, Revenue-Generating Agreements, and Vendor Templates.
• Improved Notifications including email notifications of the status of PeopleSoft tickets sent to the entire contract approval “tree” – all the people involved in the contract workflow. This includes notification to the initiator that is sent after the legal team approves, so the initiator can prepare the contract for uploading to BoardDocs for Board of Trustees approval.

 

As of Friday, November 15th, these additional updates are in effect:

• Auto Dispatch – Once the contract signature is completed, the initiator is notified that the contract is dispatched.
• Vendor Direct Pay – Direct Pay allows submitters to initiate the payment process (accounts payable process) from the point of invoicing for items that do not exceed $3,000.00.  For example: Purchase of supplies from Office Depot, membership dues, advertising, food/catering for meetings, DJs and guest speakers.     
• Purchase Order Notifications – Notifications when a PO is dispatched for a Requestor, or a change has been processed.

  

Coming Soon:

• SOPs for Performer Agreement and Direct Pay (DP). Standard Operating Procedures for the Performer Agreement and Direct Pay process.
• Updated and Simplified Independent Contractor Contract (ICC). New and improved independent contractor contract and amendment to the independent contractor contract templates.
• Vendor Registration Portal.

 

As a reminder, all of these updates are in response to the Contracts Workshop and Listening Session Chancellor Gilkerson hosted on April 25th and the follow-up Contracts Workshop at Laney Fieldhouse on August 9th.  There’s much more work to be done as we continue to improve the contracts’ workflow, but these changes taking effect in October should help all those involved with processing contracts in PeopleSoft.

 

Additional changes in the pipeline include changing the threshold value of contracts that require Board of Trustees approval, which is currently contracts over $50,000. The suggested updates for BP 6340 and AP 6340 were discussed at the September 20th Planning and Budgeting Council meeting. The PBC had their “Second Read” and vote on Friday, October 18, 2024, passing them unanimously, which means that they are now recommended to the Chancellor. Chancellor Gilkerson endorses the changes so the next step will be scheduling BP 6340 for an upcoming Board of Trustees meeting for board approval on December 10, 2024.

 

Office hours are available for everyone on Mondays from 1-3pm via Zoom. You can join Brandi Howard and Sasha Amiri-Nair here at this Zoom link: https://peralta-edu.zoom.us/j/84578712703.   Training videos for the PeopleSoft Finance Management application that includes updates for Performer Agreements and Direct Pay can be found in Canvas here.  Standard Operating Procedures for the Performer Agreement and Direct Pay process coming soon.

 

If you have any questions, please send them to Sasha Amiri-Nair at samiri@peralta.edu.