eUpdate May 24, 2012

      Latest update includes:

• Close FY2012/Open FY2013 News
• MMARS Saturday and Holiday Hours
• Upcoming Training Sessions and Meetings
• MMARS Hint of the Week – Document Reference

Close FY2012/Open FY2013 News

Multi-Year Encumbrances
All FY2012 multi-year encumbrances must be entered and/or modified in MMARS by May 30 to be included in the contract roll on the weekend of June 2.

Fiscal Year 2012 Encumbrances
Beginning Saturday, May 12, Executive Departments are required to seek ANF approval for encumbering activity in budgetary accounts totaling $25,000 or more. CT, RPO, GAE, and PC transactions will go to workflow if the actual amount in the Header section of the encumbrance is greater than or equal to 25K. The 25K threshold rule will apply regardless of whether the Department is increasing the encumbrance transaction by $10 or $25,000. Please refer to the chart on page 41 of the Close/Open Instructions for guidance.

Negative Balances
Now that the final allotment has been processed in budgetary (general fund) accounts, departments should review all their appropriations (including budgetary, trust and capital) to ensure that there are no negative balances, and that current funding will be sufficient to sustain obligations through the end of the fiscal year, including the accounts payable period.  Remember to budget properly for Fringe and Indirect charges that will be assessed in July for expenditures processed in June.  If departments need to make adjustments to their accounts, please expedite the transactions.

MMARS Processing 6/1-8/31 When Two Fiscal Years and Accounting Periods Are Open
From 6/1-8/31, two fiscal years and accounting periods are open, therefore, departments are required to enter the FY and accounting period on all accounting line(s) when modifying or entering a new transaction in MMARS. If left blank and submitted, the transaction will be directed to the CTR contracts work list and will be rejected in MMARS. The reason for the rejection will be addressed in the document comments field and an e-mail will be sent to the MMARS Liaison, instructing the department to enter the appropriate fiscal year and accounting period.  See the charts below for guidance:

If increasing or decreasing a BFY2012 line(s), the accounting line set up should be:

If increasing or decreasing BFY2013 line(s), the accounting line set up should be:

NOTE: The event type is PR05 for the CT, PC and RPO encumbrances. For RQS the event type is PR02 and for Openorder CT the event type is PR51.

Encumbrance Suspension in Preparation for the Contract Roll Thursday, May 31 through Sunday, June 3
As outlined in the Close/Open instructions for FY2012/2013, the Contract Roll is scheduled to begin Saturday, June 2. Multi-year encumbrances will systemically have their fiscal year 2013 accounting lines activated in MMARS. The contract roll will impact: RQS, RPO, CT and PC transactions.

Due to CTR preparation time needed for the contract roll, encumbrance processing will be suspended Thursday, May 31 through Sunday, June 3. Departments should not enter, edit, validate, or submit RQS, RPO, PC, CT documents until Monday, June 4.

CT and RPO pending transactions received by the CTR Accounts Payable Bureau, Contracts Unit by Wednesday, May 30 will be processed by Friday, June 1 if the paperwork has been forwarded to CTR and has been completed properly. OSD will do the same with PCs. Pending documents will be rejected from CTR and OSD work lists if the paperwork is not received on time or if what has been received can not be processed.

LCM Rules Roll
The LCM Rules Roll for FY2013 is scheduled for Thursday, May 31. No rules can be in Pending at the end of the day on Wednesday, May 30. Any rules that cannot be approved will be rejected on the catalog.

End of Year: Non-Central Draw
To assist the Federal Grants and Cost Allocation Bureau to close FY2012 in a timely manner, departments are requested to process all FY2012 Non-Central Draw billings by July 31, 2012. If there are exceptions, please contact Andrew Richardson at 617-973-2456.

Close/Open Key Dates May 26 – June 2
May 30, Wednesday

• Last day for FY2012 multi-year encumbrances to be entered/modified in MMARS to be included in the roll.

May 31, Thursday

• FY2013 COA, Budgets, House 1, Departmental Budgets to be validated by departments.
• Contract roll preparation: suspension of department ability to enter, edit, validate, or submit RQS, RPO, PC, and CT documents.
• Departments to submit 2013 ISAs to CTR Contracts Unit.
• Departments to review closing plans for DYNA cash accounts.
• All FY2012 payments must reference encumbrances.
• LCM Rules Roll. All current POAA rules are given an end date of 6/30/2012.
• Departments begin to validate and submit rolled FY2013 POAA rules.
• Departments request new FY2013 POAA and PALT rules.
• Reconcile revenue through April using the NGA208W.

June 1, Friday

• Contract roll: preparation, suspension of department ability to enter, edit, validate or submit RQS, RPO, PC, and CT documents.
• FY2012 payroll refund receipt vouchers (PRRV) paperwork due to Retirement Board for any payroll period ending through April.

Close/Open for Beginners
If the Close/Open procedures are new to you, please register for one of the Close/Open for Beginners trainings:

• Tuesday, May 29           9:00 A.M. – 11:00 A.M.
• Tuesday, June 5                  1:00 P.M. – 3:00 P.M.

All Close/Open for Beginner training sessions will be held in the Executive Conference Room on the 9^th Floor of One Ashburton Place, Boston. Register for these sessions via the Comptroller's Training/Meeting Schedule.

If you have any questions, please contact the Comptroller Help Desk 617-973-2468 or via email comptroller.info@state.ma.us

MMARS Saturday and Holiday Hours
MMARS and LCM will be available Saturday, May 26 from 9:00 A.M. to 7:00 P.M. The Help Desk will not be staffed and any Saturday Help Desk calls will be returned on Tuesday, May 29.

MMARS and LCM will be available on Memorial Day, Monday May 28, from 7:00 A.M. to 7 P.M. A normal LCM cycle, but no financial cycle will be run. The Help Desk will not be staffed and any holiday Help Desk calls will be returned on Tuesday, May 29.

Upcoming Training Sessions and Meetings

• Fraud Awareness and Prevention – Friday, May 25, 9:00 A.M. – 12:00 P.M. One Ashburton Place Boston 9^th Floor Executive Conference Room
• Close/Open for Beginners – Tuesday, May 29, 9:00 A.M. – 11:00 A.M. One Ashburton Place Boston 9^th Floor Training Lab
• Intro to LCM Warehouse – Wednesday, May 30, 9:00 A.M. – 4:00 P.M. One Ashburton Place Boston 9^th Floor Training Lab
• Reconciliation of SEFA Report - Friday, June 1, 10:00 A.M. – 12:00 P.M. One Ashburton Place Boston 9^th Floor Training Lab
• Intro to State Finance MMARS Navigation – Tuesday, June 5, 9:00 A.M. – 12:00 P.M. One Ashburton Place Boston 9^th Floor Training Lab
• Close/Open for Beginners – Tuesday, June 5, 1:00 P.M. – 3:00 P.M. One Ashburton Place Boston 9^th Floor Training Lab
• Encumbrance Management – Wednesday, June 6, 9:00 A.M. – 12:00 P.M. One Ashburton Place Boston 9^th Floor Training Lab
• Payment Management – Wednesday, June 6, 1:00 P.M. – 4:00 P.M. One Ashburton Place Boston 9^th Floor Training Lab
• Payroll User Group Meeting – Thursday, June 7, 9:30 A.M. – 12:30 P.M. One Ashburton Place Boston 21^st Floor Conference Room
• Webcast Payroll User Group Meeting – Thursday, June 7, 9:30 A.M. – 12:30 P.M. Online Training
• Webcast How to Run a Warehouse Starter Query – Friday, June 8, 10:00 A.M. – 11:00 A.M., Online Training
• Reconciliation of SEFA Report - Friday, June 8, 1:00 P.M. – 3:00 P.M. One Ashburton Place Boston 9^th Floor Training Lab
• HR/CMS Fundamentals – Tuesday, June 12, 9:00 A.M. – 1:00 P.M. One Ashburton Place Boston 9^th Floor Training Lab
• Intro to MMARS Warehouse – Thursday, June 14, 9:00 A.M. – 4:00 P.M. One Ashburton Place Boston 9^th Floor Training Lab

Register for these sessions via the Comptroller's Training and Meeting Schedule which lists classes scheduled for three months and Payroll User Groups through December 2012.

MMARS Hint of the Week - Document Reference 
Document referencing in MMARS is used to view either the previous document or the next document in the receivables or payables processing cycle.

1. Make sure you are in a document. On the left side of the screen, in the secondary navigation channel, click on the Document Reference link.
2. The Document Reference Query will open. Click on either the Forward Reference or Backward Reference link.
3. The results will display both the original document being referenced from and the next reference step, either forward or backward, that occurred in series with the original selected document. Click on the document link to view the document.