Weekly Bulletin No. 842
Tuesday 15th December
- Brexit : Supply chains and contingency plans
- Brexit : Goods stuck at the border - what do I do
- Brexit : Updates to the online store (eSales)
CUFS Downtime – Security Patching
CUFS will be available from 9am Thursday 17th December 2020
ACCESS TO READ ONLY ENVIRONMENT:
This environment can be accessed using the same passphrase as LIVE, and can be used for running reports and making enquiries. Any Purchase Orders made in this system will not be processed.
This was copied from the LIVE system at 11am on Thursday 10th December, and will not contain any changes made after that time >Link to read only environment
Cognos contains information as at 23:59 on Thursday 10th December, and remains available for reporting. See Bulletin 841 for more details.
Issued by Paul Humpheys – Functional Analyst
Marketplace Unavailable – Thursday 17th December 2020
Please be advised of an upcoming period of maintenance scheduled to take place on the Marketplace from 6:30pm to 9:30 pm Thursday 17th December 2020
We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.
Issued by Heather Twinn - Procurement Service
Marketplace Error 401 - Update
Issued by Lesley Dent - System Administrator
Cognos: AP Dashboard – Expiring Suppliers
A new piece of information has been added to the AP Dashboard. Called Suppliers Expiring Soon, this shows you how many suppliers have had at least one invoice from your department and have an inactive date in the next three months.
Supply chains and contingency plans
The Procurement Services team is approaching suppliers to better understand their contingency planning in the event of an adverse outcome to the ongoing UK-EU trade negotiations. Through both consortia and direct contact, we have sought updates from key Preferred and Approved suppliers, requesting information on their plans for mitigating the impact of a disorderly end to the transition period.
Suppliers are being contacted if they are considered high or medium risk, which is determined by a combination of the level of University spend with the supplier or due to the nature of the goods or services they provide.
You can find a list of responses received from suppliers here. (Requires Microsoft 365 login)
Please note that Procurement Services will not be contacting Unclassified suppliers, which are typically unique to one or a small section of departments. Departments are encouraged to consider supply risk for their teaching and research operations, contact relevant suppliers directly and consider building an appropriate buffer for key items.
At this time, please continue to visit the Finance Division website for the latest updates and guidance on Brexit-related impacts.
If you have any questions, please contact procurement.services.enquiries@admin.cam.ac.uk.
Issued by Matthew Kidd - Procurement Services
Goods stuck at the border - what do I do?
We have put together a one-page guide that summarises some of the information to obtain and where you can go for help in the unfortunate circumstances that your goods get stuck at the border .
Updates to the online store (eSales)
As detailed previously in the AR Briefing notes, from the 1st January all exports of goods will be attributed to the tax code RG - Goods to ROW. This is irrespective of where the customer is located or, whether that customer is a business or a private individual. However, the rules for any services provided to overseas customers are more complicated, as here it does depend on what is provided and whether you are providing them to a business or an individual.
The Tax team are currently working with the eSales team to assess which products in the current product catalogue on the online store are likely to be affected by these changes. The eSales team will work with the departmental owners of these products to make any necessary changes and do their best to ensure that the correct Tax codes are applied to sales after the 1st January. If you have any further queries please contact Shirley, in the eSales Team via shirley.bidgood@admin.cam.ac.uk
Issued by Karen Sheldon - Training
Key Contacts - UFS User Audit
As advised at the Financial Users Group on Wednesday 9th December:
The UFS user audit will commence on the 11th January with reports issued to Key Contacts.
The audit is to ensure that users hold the relevent access to CUFS and leavers access has been removed.
Key Contacts should check the departmental access prior to the 11th January, reports can be requeested from UFS.enquiries@admin.cam.ac.uk.
Issued by Lesley Dent - System Administrator
IMPORTANT: No CUFS access from 5pm on Wednesday 23rd December to 8am on Monday 4th January.
As you will be aware there is a heightened risk of cyber security activity such as phishing attacks over holiday periods.
Having assessed previous data volumes it is evident that usage of CUFS during the Christmas and New Year period is very limited. Therefore, as part of improvements made to existing CUFS data integrity and cyber security protocols, access to CUFS will be removed during the period from 5pm on Wednesday 23rd December to 8am on Monday 4th January. This will provide added protection from cyber security incidents.
This action will not impact on making payments to suppliers as a revised schedule of payment runs will be implemented for the Christmas period and communicated in the CUFS Bulletin as usual.
Cognos will be available to run reports during this time.
In the unlikely event that there is a need to raise urgent purchase orders during this period you will be able to do so. Guidance for this will be issued nearer the time.
Thank you for your assistance. It is hoped by giving advanced notice that this change in approach will have limited impact. If you have any queries about this please contact FSG System Support
Issued by Michelle Bond - Head of Financial Systems
Monthly Accounting Timetable
To view the status of the monthly process including the month end close dates please use the following link: Accounting Timetable
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