Business and Finance

A MESSAGE FROM THE VICE CHANCELLOR

July 2001

CAPITOL UPDATE

NEWS FROM THE DEPARTMENTS

 

A MESSAGE FROM THE VICE CHANCELLOR
Richard P. West, Executive Vice Chancellor and Chief Financial Officer

I am pleased to announce the appointment of Dennis Hordyk as the new Assistant Vice Chancellor for Financial Services, replacing Brad Wells, effective September 24, 2001. Dennis comes to us from the State of California Department of Finance where he is the Assistant Director. He has been with the Department of Finance for thirty years. Not only does Dennis have experience managing a very large financial services operation, there are over 370 employees in his department, he also has a lot of very valuable Sacramento contacts and background. In addition, with his experience in dept financing, Dennis should prove very helpful in developing strategies for the CSU's many upcoming capital development projects. Please join me in welcoming Dennis to the Chancellor's Office when he arrives this fall.

CAPITOL UPDATE

State Budget: The first budget impasse of the Davis era showed signs of nearing an end this week when the State Assembly approved the budget bill on Monday, July 16. The vote to approve the bill was 54-26, with four Republicans (Mike Briggs-Fresno, Richard Dickerson-Redding, Anthony Pescetti-Rancho Cordova, and David Kelley-Idyllwild) joining their Democratic colleagues in support. The budget now advances to the State Senate, where a vote is expected later in the week. Approval in the Senate is not a foregone conclusion, as the Senate Republican Caucus appears to be steadfast in their position that the budget raises taxes to expand the size of government.

Summer Recess: If the budget is approved by Friday, the Legislature will begin their Summer Recess, returning on August 20 to complete the final four weeks of this year's session (which ends on September 14). During those final weeks, the focus will primarily be on fiscal committees and floor sessions, which typically last well into the night during the final days before Interim Recess begins. It is also expected that negotiations on an education bond will occupy much of the Legislature's time.

Edison "Bailout": The other roadblock to a timely Summer Recess is reaching agreement on a plan to keep Southern California Edison from declaring bankruptcy. Governor Davis has threatened to call a special session during the traditional break if the Legislature does not approve the plan he introduced more than three months ago, but there is little consensus among members of the Legislature about how to proceed. Under a plan introduced by Assembly Speaker Bob Hertzberg, the state would pay $2.4 billion for the transmission lines owned by Edison, and the utility would pay off its remaining debt by issuing bonds. A bill introduced by Assembly Member Rod Wright would allow Edison to issue bonds to cover all of its debt (coupled with a rate increase until the debt is paid), and a third alternative introduced by Senator Byron Sher would give the state a five-year option to buy the transmission lines and have the state cover only $2.5 billion of the utility's debt. Debate on all three bills, as well as the governor's plan, will continue throughout the days prior to the scheduled recess.

Trustees' Legislative Program: The Trustees' Legislative Program continues to advance through the legislative process, with some bills nearing the governor's desk. The status of each bill is shown below:

Assembly Bill 1689 (Assembly Jobs Committee), which would permanently provide CSU the authority to pay its vendors directly, is pending consideration on the Senate Floor, where it is on the consent calendar. After approval by the Senate, the bill will advance to Governor Gray Davis for his consideration.

Assembly Bill 1719 (Assembly Higher Education Committee), the CSU's omnibus bill for 2001, was approved this week by the Senate Appropriations Committee and will next be heard on the Senate Floor. Because it was amended in the second house, it must return to the Assembly for concurrence in amendments. The bill clarifies CSU's procurement authority, conforms the minor capital outlay threshold for CSU projects to that which currently exists for other state projects, and was recently amended to include a provision that clarifies the use of the CSU name by non-state entities.

Senate Bill 277 (Chesbro), which would make CSU employees eligible for the Rural Health Care Equity Fund, is on the suspense file in the Assembly Appropriations Committee. All bills with a state fiscal impact in excess of $150,000 are placed on suspense, and we expect the committee to take action on such bills in late August.

Senate Bill 323 (O'Connell) and Senate Bill 593 (Alarcon), which would authorize property exchanges at the Channel Islands and Northridge campuses, respectively, were unanimously approved by the Assembly Higher Education Committee on July 3 and will be heard next in the Assembly Appropriations Committee. If the Legislature begins its Summer Recess on schedule, those hearings will occur in late August.

Senate Bill 713 (Alpert), which will be amended to authorize the CSU to offer the Doctoral Degree in Education, will be heard in the Senate Education Committee in January. In the meantime, the CSU has gained significant legislative support for this effort, with more than 35 members agreeing to co-author the bill.

On July 11, a new bill was added to the Legislative Program when Assembly Bill 895 (Wiggins) was amended to implement a provision in the CSU's collective bargaining agreement with the Statewide University Police Association that provides for a 3% at 50 retirement benefit. This bill was unanimously approved by the Assembly Public Employees, Retirement, and Social Security Committee on July 18.

NEWS FROM THE DEPARTMENTS

BUDGET OFFICE, 
John Richards, Director

2001/02 State Budget Update
The CSU's budget has undergone several changes as it has progressed from the Governor's January budget proposal, through Senate & Assembly subcommittee hearings, the May Revision and Conference Committee action. The state's economic and energy situation has placed the budget in the public spotlight and has required changes, both positive and negative, in CSU budget support. As of this writing, the state budget (SB 75, Peace) has been adopted by the legislative Conference Committee, has been approved by the assembly and is now awaiting the required 2/3 votes by the Senate for approval before being presented to the Governor for signature.

The Governor's May Revision resulted in a reduction of $70 million in CSU General Fund partnership funding. This action required a number of adjustments in the CSU expenditure pan for 2001/02, notably a $41 million reduction in CSU funding for employee compensation increases (reducing the total pool available for collective bargaining from 4% to 2%). The May Revision also increased funding above the partnership agreement by a net total of $12 million, which primarily reflects the elimination of $20 million in one-time funds originally provided for instructional equipment and the provision of $34.1 million in one-time and permanent funds for increased CSU natural gas costs. The legislative Conference Committee restored $5 million in partnership funding for CSU workforce preparation and economic development academic programs and $250,000 in funding above the partnership agreement for CSU biotechnology applied research. Overall, the budget, as adopted by the Conference Committee and the Assembly, reflects a gross funding increase (including projected enrollment growth revenue) of $238.8 million.

2001/02 Campus Final Budget Submission Instructions
Within two weeks of state budget enactment, the CSU System Budget Office will provide the campus Chief Financial Officers with an expenditure plan via a Budget Office memorandum for 2001/02 Final Budget allocations. This memorandum will provide campuses with detailed information regarding how the CSU budget is allocated to campuses. Campus budget officers will be notified when the Final Budget Allocation Memorandum is available on the CSU Budget Office web page. Also, 2001/02 campus Final Budget submission instructions will be available soon on the CSU Budget Office web page.

As in previous years, campuses will receive, via FTP server, three amounts for campus disbursement: (1) the change in State University Grants (SUG); (2) remaining net General Fund Expenditure Adjustment; and (3) the State University Fee Revenue Increase. There are no increases in Education Opportunity Program Grants in 2001/02. Other than SUG and EOP, campuses maintain flexibility on the minimal level of General Fund program budgets for expenditure.

Campus Budget Officers will be requested to return their individual revised 2001/02 budgets to the system Budget Office on or about August 15. This timeframe may be adjusted if the state budget is not implemented by mid-July; however, adherence to the August 15 timeframe will be requested to the extent possible.

The Financial Advisory Committee adopted new validation criteria for campus FIRMS submissions last January. Budget Officers will be notified of these changes in the 2001/02 final budget instructions. Also, as a reminder, campus 2001/02 final budget submissions should reflect retirement rates for the most recent past year. Adjustments to campus retirement budgets 2001/02 PERS employer retirement rates will be made at the system level and after the CSU is notified by the Department of Finance to make retirement adjustments (around mid-fiscal year). Historically, the CSU has been fully funded by the state for increases in employer retirement rates.

CSU Student Fee Policy - Annual Fee Report
The CSU Student Fee Policy, Executive Order 740, requires that each campus report to the chancellor for the most recently completed fiscal year a complete inventory of all fees charged to students and the total revenue collected for each fee.

This year, the CSU System Budget Office is taking steps to change the process of campus fee data transmittals, whereby campuses will directly input 2000/01 fee levels and revenue and 2001/02 fee levels into a systemwide fee database via a web browser using a pc. This will provide specified campus users with the capability to view fee levels at all campuses. It also eliminates the step of data entry into an Excel spreadsheet, which would then be downloaded to the systemwide fee database.

In preparation, campus Budget Officers will be given instructions and web browser requirements.

A summary of the 2001/02 fee report will be presented at the November Board of Trustees meeting to allow the board to review the level and range of fees charged to students.

Instructional Equipment Reports
The annual call letter for Instructional Equipment Reports will be sent out to all campuses in the latter part of July, and will also be posted on the Budget Office web page. For more information or details regarding this upcoming request, please contact Sharon Okashima at (562) 951-4562 or by email sokashima@calstate.edu

Campus Reported Fee Waivers
Budget Officers are reminded that the report of fee waivers campuses provided for the 2000/01 fiscal year is recorded in campus ERSS enrollment reports. Budget Officers are advised to review this data to ensure the information is accurately recorded. The Budget Office will use the ERSS data to develop campus revenue estimates and in the campus allocation process for the 2002/03 fiscal year.

BUSINESS PLANNING & INFORMATION MANAGEMENT
Lenore Rozner, Assistant Vice Chancellor 

Housing Assistance Needs Assessment
A housing needs assessment study is being performed by Bay Area Economics (BAE) to quantify the extent to which the availability and cost of housing are obstacles to recruiting and retaining faculty and critical staff. The on-campus portion of the study has been completed. Interviews of campus representatives who have been involved in both successful and unsuccessful recruitment activities, and focus groups with recently hired faculty and staff (or comparable activities) have been completed at the twelve participating campuses. BAE is currently performing a housing market gap assessment and conducting telephone interviews with candidates who declined offers of employment with the CSU. Campus systemwide reports will be completed in August

Quality Improvement (QI) Programs
The 4th Annual Quality Improvement Symposium and Expo will take place on Friday, November 2, 2001 at the Los Angeles Airport Marriott. Mark Graham Brown, management consultant and author of Keeping Score will give the keynote address. Lunch will include the awards presentation spotlighting those individuals who have shown outstanding dedication to the quality initiative in the system and at their campuses as well as the presentation of the Mighty QIC (Quality Improvement Champion) awards. This year's expo promises many more exhibits highlighting campus quality improvement efforts. The afternoon will conclude with breakout sessions that will present campus activities in Balanced Scorecard, Baldrige, and the new PBViews performance management software. A welcome reception will be held on Thursday evening. More information on the 4th Annual Quality Improvement and Expo and a full agenda is available at: www.calstate.edu/qi.

For more information on Quality Improvement Programs, contact John Sanders at 562-951-4556. Information is also available at www.calstate.edu/qi.

 

CAPITAL PLANNING, DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION
J. Patrick Drohan, Assistant Vice Chancellor

ARCHITECTURE AND ENGINEERING
CPDC is pleased to have added Mr. Satinder (Steve) Gulati to its staff. As a California licensed mechanical engineer, Steve adds some critical expertise to the design and construction consulting services we can offer to campuses. Mr. Gulati has over 30 years of mechanical design experience that included being a HVAC equipment manufacturer, design-build contractor, owner's representative and a consulting engineer.

As we continue to build more complex buildings with even more demanding mechanical systems, we have learned just how difficult it is to meet the performance requirements expected of these facilities. It is essential to provide the AE firms with all relevant design criteria, and then carefully monitor the design and construction's compliance with the design criteria. Unfortunately, the complexity of these systems can preclude an informed review even by experienced project managers. That is why we are so pleased to have an experienced mechanical engineer on staff to perform that due diligence on CSU projects.

To receive the maximum value from both our staff, and your building, we encourage the campuses to involve Mr. Gulati in a peer review of the projects' mechanical systems beginning no later than the schematic design phases of a project. We are also looking forward to making use of Mr. Gulati's expertise in working with campus staff to develop appropriate standards for building systems on new CSU projects.

Robert C. Schulz, AIA, Chief, Architecture and Engineering

CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT

SUAM, Section XII-Construction Management for Public Works Contracts

The following four sections were added/amended:

Section 9700.04, Build and Inspect Per Code, addresses the role of the Deputy Building Official on campus, and includes Section 9700.04.01, which further describes construction phase code requirements of the Deputy Building Official (written code validations, inspections, and certificates of occupancy).

Section 9701, Categories of Public Works Projects, has been modified to requirements of public works contracts that apply to all of the contracting vehicles listed therein.

Section 9785.01, Credentials for Inspector of Record, has been revised to include more specific credentials for the Inspector of Record (including a reference to Sample Responsibilities and Requirements of the Campus Inspector During Construction Phase (for Minor and Special Repair Work) which can be found in Appendix D).

Section 9785.02, Project Manager/Inspector Cost Guidelines, now provides a range in multiplier rates that can be used when negotiating agreements for inspection services.

Section 9824, Certified Payroll, has been modified to require collection of the first week of payroll records from the general contractor and from each subcontractor of any tier on each project. For minor and special repair projects under $20,000, collection of certified payrolls is optional.

It is intended that these changes and updates to SUAM serve to strengthen management practices for all public works type projects whether major, minor or special repair. Staff may download a copy of the newly updated SUAM, Section XII, and the new form, Sample Responsibilities and Requirements of the Campus Inspector During Construction Phase (for Minor and Special Repair Work), in Appendix D from the CPDC web site: www.calstate.edu/CPDC, under "Executive."

Supplementary General Conditions
Supplementary General Conditions for Telecommunications Infrastructure Upgrade projects were created and distributed to the Phase I campuses. These Supplementary General Conditions modify the Contract General Conditions for Major Capital Outlay Projects, January 2001 edition, and were created to accomplish the following issues:

1)

Telecommunications Subcontractor is defined as a subcontractor who has technically pre-qualified with the Trustees to bid on the Telecommunications Infrastructure Upgrade projects. These subcontractors will have a C-7 or C-10 license and will perform the low voltage, telecommunications cabling work on these projects.

2)

General Contractors are required to technically pre-qualify with the Trustees prior to receiving a bid package.

3)

General Contractors are required to list only those subcontractors who have technically pre-qualified with the Trustees to perform C-7/C-10, low voltage, telecommunications cabling work.

4)

General Contractors shall not substitute a listed telecommunications subcontractor with another subcontractor unless the replacement subcontractor is a pre-qualified Telecommunications Subcontractor with the Trustees, and all the requirements of Public Contract Code Section 4100 have been satisfied.

Please contact Barbara Nicholson at 562-951-4117 for a copy of these Supplementary General Conditions.

Pre-qualification
CPDC implemented the new pre-qualification standards on April 1, 2001. We hired a new Pre-qualification Coordinator, Ms. Heather Bare, to assist in the process. To date, it is proceeding well, and contractors are learning that it takes a little more work to pre-qualify with the Trustees. Some of the new standards include CPDC's collection of safety records and obtaining reference checks on three projects selected randomly.

A review of the process will take place in July, and then any additional refinements will be made to the pre-qualification forms. Look for revised forms on the CPDC web site.

James R. Corsar, Chief of Construction Management

FACILITIES PLANNING

2003/04 Major Capital Outlay Program and Five-Year Capital Improvement Program The 2003/04 state program is proposed to be funded from a new general obligation bond anticipated for a March 2002 ballot initiative. A number of legislative proposals have been introduced in support of a bond measure for higher education, including proposals for joint K-12 and higher education bond funding.

We are supporting proposals in hopes of a four-year bond that will provide $4 billion for higher education. This could equate to a range of $250M to $325M per year for the California State University capital program funding.

The 2003/04 program will be the second year of a new state-funded capital process, under Assembly Bill 1473 signed by the Governor on October 5, 1999, the California Infrastructure Planning Act (Government Code, Title 2, Section 13100). The Infrastructure Planning Act requires that the state shall establish and annually update a systemwide five-year plan for funding infrastructure. The plan is intended to complement the existing state budget process for appropriating funds.

Schedule of Submissions and Calendar of Capital Outlay Process

July 10-11, 2001

Board of Trustees approves the Categories and Criteria.

August 10, 2001

Campuses submit Draft Capital Outlay Budget Change Proposals.

October 19, 2001

Campuses submit Final Capital Outlay Budget Change Proposals.

January 2002

Executive Council and Board of Trustees review the 2003/04 Capital Outlay Program.

February 1, 2002

CPDC submits final COBCPs and equipment lists to DOF.

March 2002

Board of Trustees approves the 2003/04-2007/08 Capital Improvement Program.

Capital Project Database
The Capital Planning, Design and Construction (CPDC) department is required to provide milestone, financial, and evaluative information regarding the capital outlay projects to meet different objectives and separate audiences. For many years, data has been collected and disseminated independently to meet these reporting requirements, resulting in duplicate efforts and conflicting information. In response, CPDC initiated the creation of a database that would store a suite of information for all capital outlay projects, regardless of funding, from which reports (as required and as needed) could be generated.

The resulting Capital Project database is Web-enabled and Oracle-based. It was created and is maintained by the Business Management Services (BMS) group of the Chancellor's Office. CPDC continues to work with BMS to both modify and improve the reporting capabilities, and to develop required reports. To-date, CPDC has submitted reports generated from the database to the Department of Finance and the CSU Board of Trustees. These reports vary in their set of projects included, as well as the content.

Elvyra San Juan, Chief of Facilities Planning

Plant, Energy & Utilities
As a part of the California Energy Commission's (CEC) program to ensure efficient use of energy throughout the State of California, large businesses and institutions have been requested to provide a plan on how they are responding to energy emergencies and, in general, to the current California energy crisis. The plan titled, The Peak Load Reduction Plan (PLRP), details efforts made in the areas of conservation, curtailment, and participation in state and utility company sponsored load reduction programs.

A PLRP report has been generated for submission to the California Energy Commission that describes the individual plans for each California State University Campus. The data for the reports was assembled by campus Energy Managers/Facilities personnel and contains the measures that campuses have committed to as part of their overall energy program. Participation in the ISO Demand Reduction Program, the ISO Optional Binding Mandatory Curtailment Program, the use of cogeneration and emergency backup generators, as well as a description of recent conservation projects, are just a few areas described in the CSU's report on the systemwide campus effort. For more information on energy conservation programs and the CEC report, contact Mark Gutheinz at 562-951-4122, or mgutheinz@calstate.edu.

Mark Gutheinz, Chief of Plant, Energy and Utilities

CPDC Due Dates for CPB&G Agenda Items (November 13-14, 2001 Trustees' Meeting)

Master Plan Revisions:

September 11, 2001

All Other Items:

September 25, 2001

A complete listing of 2001/02 due dates for CPB&G agenda items is located at CPDC website http://www.calstate.edu/CPDC/Executive/index.shtml

 

FINANCIAL SERVICES

CONTRACT SERVICES AND PROCUREMENT

CS&P has issued the following Bulletins in the last quarter of FY2000/2001, a synopsis of the notices follows. Further information on these and other policy and contract notices maybe obtained at: http://www.calstate.edu/csp/csu_bulletin.shtml

01-11 - Policy Update - Small Business and Information Technology Acquisitions

CSU's Policy Manual for Contracting & Procurement has been revised in order to incorporate requirements of SB 1049 which include:

(1)

Increasing the upper limit of the dollar threshold for the awarding of a contract to a Certified Small Business from $50k to $100k, and,
(2)

Increasing the threshold required for formal solicitation of ITR goods and services to $250k.

The increase to the bid threshold to $250,000 for Information Technology goods and services will allow campuses procurement office to better respond to the dynamic IT environment and better utilize alternative procurement vehicles. Purchases of IT goods and services under $250,000 may now be through informal either written or verbal quotes.

Bulletin 01-10 Software Sales
Compucom has established a CSU custom website which provides for maximum discount pricing to the CSU of select software products. Orders may also be placed for other software products not listed on the web site on an as needed basis. The manufacturers in the initial list are: Symantec, Adobe, and Filemaker. More manufacturers will be added as volume pricing contracts and relationships are established by the CSU.

Bulletin 01-09 - Sun Academic Initiative
A systemwide Agreement with Sun Microsystems has been executed which provides that Sun shall make available certain courses, seminars and other training opportunities on computer technologies, products and services. Campuses may elect to provide educational opportunities to students through faculty-led courses in Sun Microsystems technologies, such as: Java(TM) programming language; Solaris(TM) operating environment, and, the StarOffice(TM) suite of office productivity products.

New Systems Contract Unit
I am pleased to announce a newly formed unit within CS&P that will enhance services associated with system wide master contracts, volume pricing and discount agreements. Assistant Director Tom Roberts will head the new System Contract unit. Tom has worked in CS&P for several years as the lead contract specialist for leasing technology acquisitions. The System contracts unit will include a dedicated contract specialist assigned to the support of system wide and multi campus software licensing agreements, such as the Microsoft Select, and Oracle contracts.

Pat Dayneko, Director

 

FINANCIAL SYSTEMS, STANDARDS AND REPORTING

CSU Investment Manager and Advisor

At the July 10-11th Board of Trustees meeting, Metropolitan West Securities was approved as the provider for CSU investment management and advisory services. The contract will be for a three-year period and will continue seamlessly the services provided by MetWest for the past four years.

Richard Leffingwell, Senior director

Electronic Interface with SCO

As noted in the July 2000 and March 2001 issues of the Business & Finance News Letter, the Chancellor's Office has participated in a joint pilot project with the SCO to implement electronic interfaces via FTP.

Due to the efforts of ten campuses that volunteered to participate in this project with the Chancellor's Office last year, the pilot was successfully completed and as a result, it can now be rolled out to all campuses.

The purpose of this connection is to accommodate secure electronic data exchanges between CSU and the State Controller's Office via File Transfer Protocol (FTP). The objective is to eliminate data exchanges via tape/cartridge or hard copy documents.

Typical in-bound and out-bound exchanges would include:

  • Agency Reconciliation File
  • Controller's Balances & Prior Year Accruals
  • Paid Claims/CD102
  • Payment & Employment History
  • New Positive Pay Interface for Payroll (PIP)

Working with State Controller's Office, the Chancellor's Office has currently established the connection for ten campuses. To establish the campus interface, campuses need to fill out and submit an Access Authorization form to the Standards & Financial Reporting department to request the new connection. To obtain a copy of the form, please contact Jan Earl at jearl@calstate.edu.

For more information regarding this project, contact Laleh Graylee at: lgraylee@calstate.edu.

Financial Standards Advisory Committee (FSAC)

The Financial Standards Advisory Committee (FSAC) consisting of representatives from all campuses has been conducting regular meetings to review the status and progress of the GASB 34/35 implementation sub committees. The following is an outline of the sub committees' progress in addressing implementation issues:

Financial Reporting: The Financial Reporting sub committee has developed and adopted a common reporting format that can be used as a CSU model for the Statement of Revenues, Expenses, & Changes in Net Assets, The Statement of Cash Flows, and the Statement of Net Assets. A complete reporting package has been prepared by three campuses to convert and recast the previous GAAP financial statements to the new reporting model. A 'Chart of Accounts' Mapping document is being prepared to identify the necessary changes to the chart of accounts. The complete reporting package will be used as the basis for future GAAP training.

Auxiliary Organization Reporting: Responding to an invitation sent to all campuses in May for participation in FSAC Aux. Organization sub committee, all campuses have submitted the names for their official primary and alternate representative(s) to the committee. A listserv has been created to communicate issues related to GASB 34/35 implementation for Aux. Organizations.

Segment Reporting: The Segment Reporting sub committee is analyzing and documenting the process required to generate the revenue bond financial statements using data from the Chancellor's Office and the campuses. The project team must document what Chancellor's Office information will be allocated to campuses for GAAP reporting purposes and draft GAAP pass down entries. The team will identify all required information the Chancellor's Office will need from campuses to complete the revenue bond financial statements.

Training: The GASB 34/35 implementation training is targeted for April 2002.

The GRIP Master Plan is available on the Financial Systems, Standards & Reporting department website at:http://www.calstate.edu/SFR/FSAC/GASB/GASBmain.shtml.

The meeting minutes of the FSAC and other documents are also available at: http://www.calstate.edu/SFR/.

For more information, please contact Laleh Graylee at lgraylee@calstate.edu

Update on the Integrated Post Secondary Educational Data System (IPEDS) Finance Survey

The IPEDS Finance Survey for the 1999/2000 fiscal year was prepared on behalf of all CSU campuses and was submitted to NCES (National Center for Education Statistics) in May. The report this year included the auxiliary organizations at each campus in an effort to reflect the scope of campus operations more accurately and make the CSU campuses more competitive and comparable with other higher education institutions in the country.

Campuses can review their 1999/2000 IPEDS data on the NCES website. For more information, contact Sedong John at: sjohn@calstate.edu.

Financial Information Record Management System (FIRMS) Update

In January, a memo to Chief Financial Officers outlined the changes in FIRMS reporting requirements that will become effective with the last quarter submission of the 2000/2001 fiscal year. These changes are applicable to all FIRMS submissions, including accounting data for the university and the auxiliary organizations and the annual budget submissions.

For more information, please refer to Richard West's January 10, 2001 memo and the accompanying 'Summary of Changes in FIRMS Reporting Requirements' document that outlined the new changes concerning the elimination of the temporary help expenditure classification and the reporting of revenues and expenditures. Please forward questions to Sedong John at: sjohn@calstate.edu.

Laleh Graylee, Director

 

GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS,

Karen Yelverton, Assistant Vice Chancellor

Copies of CSU Legislative Reports and other legislative information pertaining to the CSU are available on the OGA website at: http://www.calstate.edu/ga

 

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SERVICES
David Ernst, Assistant Vice Chancellor

ACADEMIC TECHNOLOGY SERVICES

MERLOT Success Continues
23 systems of higher education partners are MERLOT partners. At present MERLOT reaches 1,452 campuses, 361,700 faculty and 7.9Million students. In the first quarter of 2001, there were over 250,000 hits per month to the website.

Though MERLOT was founded in the CSU, it's success in attracting partners and its sustained growth make it a viable candidate for a spin-off as a 501C3 (non-profit organization). MERLOT has hired an interim CEO and hopes to complete the organizational change by July 1, 2002.

The first MERLOT International Conference will be held August 12-15 at the University of South Florida in Tampa.

PHAROS on-line for Fall Semester
Pharos version 1.0 will be on-line for the start of the fall, 2001 semester. It includes a common user interface with single search capability for all 22 CSU library catalogs; the CSU Union catalog; the UC library catalog; licensed databases and selected websites. Version 2.0 of Pharos will include broadcast searching capability and common remote user authentication. Campuses may use this version if they wish, but it will become the supported version in Spring 2001. Pharos allows resource sharing among the CSU campuses

COMMON MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (CMS)

First Wave Campuses Going Live on Finance and HR
By the end of this summer all 1st wave campuses will be live on the baseline versions of the HR and/or the Finance software. This is a huge accomplishment. Congratulations to all who participated in this effort.

Human Resources Upgrade to 8.0
The upgrade to version 8.0 of the PeopleSoft Human Resource software was recently begun. This is PeopleSoft's newest release and offers full web-enabled functionality. Fit-gap sessions are underway to identify changes between the current baseline version 7.6 and the new 8.0 releases. The upgrade will be implemented for the first CSU campuses, the three SA pilot campuses, in February 2002 and will then be available for the 2nd wave campuses and an upgrade path available for the 1st wave campuses.

Student Administration Pilot Progress
The Student Administration (SA) pilot campus implementations at Sonoma (plus CMA) and Fresno are on schedule. Prototyping continues on the campuses, initial data mapping and conversion has begun, and the major software gaps have been identified as compared to current systems.

Unisys Data Center Operational
The Unisys data center is operational at Salt Lake City. Migration activities are underway to move the 1st wave campus databases from WestEd to the new data center. Several campuses are live with their Purchasing functionality using the new Unisys data center.

Revised CMS Readiness Assessment Guidelines
The CMS readiness assessment guidelines document has been revised to include additional questions pertaining to Student Administration.

PeopleSoft Annual Conference
Registration is now open for the annual PeopleSoft conference to be held in Atlanta, GA from August 26 - 29, 2001. Please see the PeopleSoft web site for further information.

Please visit the CMS web site for additional information at http://www.calstate.edu

TECHNOLOGY INFRASTRUCTURE INITIATIVE

Build-Out Program On Schedule
The systemwide program of large-scale campus telecommunications infrastructure upgrades being promulgated as part of the Integrated Technology Systems -- Telecommunications Infrastructure Initiative (ITS-TII) is continuing on schedule:

  • The eight Phase 1 campuses have completed construction documents for Stage 1 of their projects.
  • Three (San Bernardino, Sonoma and Long Beach) have already advertised for bids and all eight should be under construction by early fall of 2001.
  • The six Phase 2 campuses are finalizing their Stage 1 bid packages. Bid advertisement for these projects should follow shortly after Phase 1 work begins.
  • The eight campuses constituting Phase 3 have been proceeding with their Stage 1 preliminary designs.

Stage 2 of the ITS-TII build-out program is designed to complement Stage 1 by providing for the completion of campus projects through financing from the CSU's annual Support Budget. Stage 2 is being centrally coordinated through the Chancellor's Office and is progressing as planned:

  • Subsequent to a lengthy RFP selection process, a Master Agreement is nearing completion with Pacific Bell as the systems integrator of choice. To provide the required equipment and services during the negotiation of that Master Agreement, and to assure Stage 1/Stage 2 continuity, various interim agreements have been established.
  • Cisco Systems has been selected by ITAC as principal supplier of network electronics system-wide, has already been working through Pacific Bell to allow campuses to procure equipment at deep discounts during the negotiation period.
  • Technical advice during negotiations with Pacific Bell has been provided from the CSU's newly formed Network Technology Alliance (NTA), composed of representative campus and Chancellor's Office technology professionals. NTA has proven invaluable in helping shape ITAC recommendations regarding network development system-wide, especially in the realm of technical standards and operating standards and practices.

 

Digital California Project Network Deployment Continues
Under the auspices of Corporation for Education Network Initiatives in California (CENIC) and with funding from the University of California, the Digital California Project (DCP) is intended to extend advanced services networking capabilities to each County Office of Education in the state.

The CSU has assumed a leadership role in the design and deployment of the network in that 4CNet was awarded the CENIC contract to architect the DCP network. More recently, last month the first DCP node became operational and is connected to the statewide backbone through the Cal Poly San Luis Obispo campus. Furthermore, 4CNet recently signed a two-year contract with CENIC to provide network-operating services to DCP.

The CSU and Internet 2
By virtue of 4CNet's participation nationally through the University Corporation for Advanced Internet Development (UCAID) and in California through the Corporation for Education Network Initiatives in California (CENIC), the CSU has played a significant role in the development of the next generation of high-speed, internetworking. However, until recently, access to the Internet 2 Abilene network was restricted to individual campuses that joined UCAID directly. This changed in May when California became the first state to join UCAID under the new Sponsored Educational Group program. This means that all the educational institutions in the state that connect to 4CNet - the 23 CSU campuses and 127 California Community College sites - and the DCP may now pass traffic over Internet 2. While full benefits of Internet 2 membership are still reserved for individual member institutions - CSU Hayward and the Office of the Chancellor are the only two CSU members - access to the Abilene network is a significant education and research benefit to the entire system.

INTEGRATED TECHNOLOGY SERVICES

Systemwide Electronic Information Resources (SEIR) has arranged for an E-book pilot project with vendors, netLibrary and ABC-CLIO. The project provides CSU students and faculty with access to a collection of 1625 full-text electronic books that can be searched and read over the Internet.

Six librarians (from the Long Beach, Fullerton, Fresno, San Francisco, Chico and Humboldt campuses) comprise the pilot project assessment team.

For more information visit:http://seir.calstate.edu/ebook/links/index.shtml

 

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