News from rSmart: Smart Talk, Kuali Version, February 2010

Letter from rSmart: Kuali and Mellon

In recent weeks, you may have learned that the Mellon Foundation merged the Research in Information Technology (RIT) program into the Scholarly Communications program. You may also have read some of the coverage that followed, raising questions about the future of Kuali. The Kuali Foundation’s board has posted a response that provides much-needed clarity on the issue. We'd like to add to this response by reaffirming the value of the community source model for developing software.

There’s no denying the importance of RIT, which helped finance not only Kuali but also the Sakai Project. But it’s important to recognize the central mission of the program’s efforts. Simply put, Mellon’s funding has always served as a catalyst, not a permanent lifeline. Rather than provide ongoing support, this funding helps create a self-sustaining collaborative community, one that keeps growing with new contributors and new innovations. Using this model to evaluate Kuali, consider how far we have come:

• System maturity and adoption. Several institutions are now running the Kuali Financial System in full production, and many others are in the process of implementing it. The Kuali community has demonstrated an ability to produce a bona fide enterprise-level solution, capable of meeting all real-world demands.
• Community strength. The Kuali Foundation has four staff members--paid from membership income--to facilitate and foster member participation. The community conference held in November 2009, which attracted a record 500 attendees and offered many user-focused sessions, demonstrates the tremendous growth and maturity of the Kuali community, which now has over forty members. The Kuali Foundation coordinates more than $45 million for a variety of Kuali projects, and most of this funding comes from Kuali partner institutions.
• Diversity. The community has expanded Kuali solutions to include a broad spectrum of software—from Kuali Rice, Coeus, and Student, to the new Kuali Ready and Kuali OLE (Open Library Environment) projects—that meet the many different needs of higher ed institutions.

Any discussion of Kuali’s future should also raise the question of what defines sustainability. For many institutions who’ve chosen Kuali’s open-source solution, it’s the vended system that holds an uncertain future—with a history of consolidations and transfers of ownership that force unwelcome, disruptive change upon schools....more

“Kuali Coeus for Beginners” Now Available

If you missed the “Kuali Coeus for Beginners” webinar last month, we’ve got good news—you can now view a recording of it on the rSmart web site.

Presented by Lori Ann Schultz, Assistant Director of Sponsored Projects Services at the University of Arizona, and rSmart’s Sean Warren, it’s a great way to learn about this open source solution to research administration. They explain the history of the Kuali Coeus project, the system’s current functionality, and what to expect in the future.

To view the webinar as a video or Powerpoint presentation, click here.

CSU Presentation at Kuali Days VIII 

Along with other schools who adopted the latest version of the Kuali Financial System, Colorado State University had an important story to share at Kuali Days VIII. 

For those of you interested in learning more about CSU's experiences, we've posted four videos from the conference on YouTube. Capturing part of the "KFS in Production" presentation, the videos feature CSU's Chief Information Officer, Patrick Burns, as well as CSU's Accounting Manager for Financial Systems Services, John Hunter.  For links to all four videos, click here.

Accounting Tips from Dave Lyons

Using Parameters in the Kuali Financial System

In the Kuali Financial System, you can enforce business rules by using customizable parameters. These parameters create restrictions and allow certain values and combinations in various documents and batch processes. Keep in mind that only highly knowledgeable staff members should change parameters.

The Financial System provides hundreds of parameters. For ease of reviewing and revising, they’re organized by category according to key features and modules. Parameters for the Accounts Receivable module, for example, are coded “KFS-AR,” while Contracts and Grants parameters are coded “KFS-CG.” Other parameter categories include Chart of Accounts, General Ledger, and Purchasing/Accounts Payable.

Let’s assume your institution has a policy that all employees only be paid compensation through the payroll system. To enforce this business rule, you would follow these steps:

1. In the Main Menu, go to the Administration tab. Parameters are located in the Configuration section of this tab, under the Functional heading.
2. Find the parameter category for financial processing, “KFS-FP,” which includes parameters for Disbursement Vouchers.
3. In this category, select the “CHECK_EMPLOYEE_PAID_OUTSIDE_PAYROLL_IND” parameter, which can have a value of “Y” or “N.”
4. Enter the “N” value...more

 

Speak Kuali Fluently

If you've attended a Kuali Days conference, a Kuali webinar, or a presentation on Kuali, you may have heard some terminology that was new to you. In this column, we'll explain terms and concepts that are essential to understanding how the Kuali family of systems handles transactions. You'll be speaking Kuali fluently before you know it!

• Basic Accounting Categories are used to group Object Type Codes (which classify different transactions) for reporting purposes.
• Blanket Approve is a workflow action available to designated users when initiating or approving most financial documents. Blanket approval bypasses subsequent levels of approval and immediately moves a document to “processed” or “final” status. Anyone who would normally receive the document for approval receives an acknowledgment request instead.
• Workgroup refers to a set of users sharing a common functional business responsibility who’ve been designated for e-doc routing. An e-doc may be routed at any point in its approval to individuals or workgroups, and workgroup approvals may require approval of all members or any one member. The Financial System also uses workgroups to control authorization, restricting certain functions to the members of a given group.

For definitions of these and hundreds of other relevant terms, see the Kuali glossary.

Upcoming Events

Webinar: Kuali Coeus Demonstration 

Monday, March 1, 2010, 12:00 PM - 2:00 PM EST

Did the "Kuali Coeus for Beginners" webinar leave you wanting to learn more?  Then please join Lori Ann Schultz, Assistant Director of Sponsored Projects Services at the University of Arizona, as she provides a full demonstration of Kuali Coeus. To register, click here.

Webinar: Using Kuali Identity Management

Thursday, March 4, 2010, 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM PST

Kuali Identity Management (KIM) is an important component in the Kuali Rice application, providing central identity and access management services. You may want to know more about KIM--such as what KIM terms mean, or how KIM settings tie into Rice.

If so, we invite you to join rSmart's Keiko Takahashi, Sr. Kuali Financial System Consultant, and Tony Potts, Chief Technology Officer, as they discuss how to best use KIM. You'll get a general introduction to KIM and also learn about the following:

• How KIM is integrated with the Kuali Nervous System (KNS) and other Kuali Financial System modules
• KIM architecture
• Practical uses of KIM during implementation
• Using LDAP with KIM

In addition, you'll learn about the Access Security module, which rSmart has contributed to the Kuali community. It provides tools to set up and manage attribute value-based security. Click here to register.

Jasig Spring 2010 Conference

March 8-10, 2010, San Diego, California

Registration is now open for the Jasig Spring 2010 Conference, being held March 8-10 at the Town and Country Resort in San Diego, California. The conference, which celebrates the tenth anniversary of the Jasig community, will highlight a variety of innovative open-source projects, and it will feature several Kuali presentations. For more information and to register, click here.

Coeus User Conference

March 21-23, 2010, San Antonio, Texas

If you’d like to learn more about MIT’s existing Coeus system—and meet some of the people who use it—consider attending this year’s Coeus Consortium User Conference. It’s being held March 21-23 at the Hotel Contessa in San Antonio, Texas. Click here for more information.

Kuali Spring 2010 Community Workshop

May 17-21, 2010, Fort Collins, Colorado

Winter may still be with us, but it's not too soon to begin making plans for the Kuali Spring 2010 Community Workshop, which will be held May 17-21. Hosted by Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado, this event is a great way to meet other people involved in particular Kuali projects. Stay tuned for more details from the Kuali Foundation.