Frequently Asked Questions - General Ledger

UCOP’s web application firewall is flagging and blocking your document or text. If you receive this error, please email UCBUCPath@berkeley.edu, providing the following information: 

• Screenshot of error message, including the Support ID number (located at the bottom of the pop-up)

• A copy of the document you were trying to upload, or a copy of the text added to the text field

• The page you were on when the error message appeared

UCB UCPath Operations team will report this to UCOP IT, who will evaluate the text or document and make adjustments to the firewall settings to allow the text/document.  UCOP IT will inform UCB UCPath Ops that you can try again.  (warning: this might take a few days) 

Image description: This example screenshot includes all the necessary information needed to report this error. Included in this screenshot is the employee’s browser window, with the page they were on when the error message fired (the “Add Employee Relationship” page), the add document popup window, and the error message text:

“UCPathApplicationError

There was an issue with the information you entered.

How to fix it:

• Please double-check your entry and try again

• Avoid using special characters like quotation marks, symbols or backslashes, as they can sometimes cause errors

If you copied and pasted information into the form, hidden characters may have been included. For the best results, try typing the information directly into the form

What happens next:

When you close this message, you'll return to the previous page. Depending on where the error occurred, you might need to re-enter some or all of your information and restart the task. We understand this can be frustrating, and we appreciate your patience.

Need help?

If the issue continues, please reach out to your local helpdesk and provide the following Support ID for faster assistance: 0l3c4f7d-63198-4fg3-01b5-3de4320c3b68”

Yes, you can change the order during your active session by using the Personalize link. However, we encourage users to familiarize themselves with the default order defined by UCPath. 

Yes. The employee's paycheck would include the retroactive pay, an earn code separate from regular earnings would be associated with the retroactive pay. The earn code begins with '9' for retroactive items.

There is a "copy to new transaction" button. However, it isn't for direct retro transactions, only for position funding. 

Retro pay change does not affect current position funding.

7 digits, 6 decimal places.

The Department IDs are at level 4,5,6. The department is based on where the position sits. 

Initiators will receive a notification that their transaction has been approved or denied. Approvers will receive a notification to approve a transaction and may navigate to the transaction using the link in the body of the email and/or using their worklist if they are in UCPath. Additionally, there are available funding reports in Cognos that as a Cognos user one may run for a department.

FTE has six decimals. It looks like this: 1.000000

Benefits follow the employee's salary.

The Controller's Office would be responsible for these guidelines.

Legacy HCM will be available through September 2019 for those who already have access. Legacy HCM data can be accessed through Cal Answers reports.

No. Each position requires its own funding. Funding is the same for a single-headcount or a multi-headcount position. 

The approver should deny the transaction and the initiator should make the changes and resubmit the transaction for approval. 

Yes! Effective Date for position funding must be equal to or later than the Effective Date of the position. The position must be created before you can fund it. Additionally, position funding Effective Date should be prior to the hire Effective Date in order to avoid any pay going into suspense.

Pool ID is used by the Work-Study unit to enter students' Work-Study codes.

Example: The Work-Study codes (e.g. C or G) will go into "pools" (e.g. Work-Study student in "G").

For more information, refer to the Office of Financial Aid & Scholarships.

Multiple Components of Pay. There is a link on the Position Funding page to access the Multiple Components of Pay worksheet to assist you with proper funding. 

The earn code, "GAP" should be used for the amount that is over the cap. This step would act as a reversal of the amount above the salary cap.

When a position is set up by the department, a departmental default fund charstring is required. Payroll costs for the incumbent of the position will be charged to the department’s default chartstring if a Funding Entry to update the Earnings Distribution to a specific FAU (e.g., PI’s research fund) has not been initiated and approved. Additionally, if the Funding Entry initiator specifies a Funding End Date for any given FAU, the portion of the payroll costs associated with that FAU will go into suspense (i.e., get charged to the departmental chartstring) during the pay period(s) after the Funding End Date.

No. The approvals would be routed based on department, not funding.

No. The system will retrieve additional information for the fund code from various fund tables. Some fund attributes are capped/uncapped, annual cap rate. Additionally, the fund code lookup table is sourced from the Fund Attribute table.

The earn code for the additional pay with the chartstring is entered in the Position Funding form. If the additional pay was due to a stipend, the earn code for stipend, “STP,” along with the chartstring would be added in the form.

No. The position funding record cannot be copied.

Yes. A chartstring may be valid at the time of entry in Position Funding, however, it may become invalid prior to Commitment Accounting Actuals/General Ledger batch processing. This instance would result in an edit error being flagged and a default chartstring would be used. The initiator will see any system-identified errors as they are working on the Position Funding Entry, or when there is an attempt to save and submit the transaction. However, if a Funding Entry is both successfully saved and approved but payroll still goes into suspense (departmental default chartstring), it could be due to a system error or that the Funding Entry did not meet the deadline for that pay period.

The user is not required to enter the account chartfields.

The system performs individual chartfield validation, and it also validates the full chartstring.

Yes. However, if the funding end date expires, the system will pull from the suspense account.

Yes, as long as the funding effective date is between the budget begin and end date. You can enter a change in funding with an effective date in the past (e.g. use yesterday’s date) as long as that is a valid date for the position.

The funding effective date should be between budget begin and end date. There is no stated limitation for how far in the future (as long as it’s during the period in which the position is active).

There is no limit to the amount of many distributions that can be entered in the UCPath system. The limits in the current state are driven by PPS (Personnel Payroll System), which will not exist in the future state.

Yes. Funding is not tied to a position.  However, a position must be created in UCPath before you can apply funding to it.

Please use the chart of accounts validation lookup to verify your chartstring. 

No, when it is approved at the location it goes into ledger directly. 

Position funding for retroactive pay is based on the funding at the time the pay should have been received. If a Direct Retro has previously been completed, the current distribution will not be based on the updated Direct Retro distributions.

The best practice is that any time a Direct Retro is completed, the user should navigate back to the Position-Level funding on Funding Entry Page and make any necessary updates to the funding distribution data. Keeping the Funding Entry Page in sync with processed cost transfers is an optional, location-only business process.

Definition of high risk Direct Retro:
Violates the 120 Day Rule: Increases the expense on a Federal or Federal Flow-through fund where the transaction is on a payroll transaction for which the original Pay End is prior to [SysDate – 120]

OR

Violates the 90 Day Rule: Increases the expense on a Federal or Federal Flow-through fund where the Fund/Grant End Date is prior to [SysDate – 90].

You can select multiple paychecks at the same time for a single transaction, but you still have to make the adjustment for each one.

Yes. If the parameters for high risk are met, then you will not be able to save the transaction without completing the questionnaire. All high risk Direct Retros have another level of approval (Controller's Office Contracts & Grants).

No, dollar amounts only.

Direct Retros move all associated benefits/fringe with the salary. If a location desires to move fringe only they will need to utilize Benefit Cost Transfer functionality in Path.

Commitment Accounting (CA) process will run to post fully approved Direct Retros several times per week.

Only one Direct Retro transaction can be submitted for the same paycheck. No additional changes can be made until the Commitment Accounting (CA) process runs to process that Direct Retro.

There are reports that will be available to see if there are any suspense items. No system notification will be sent regarding items in suspense.

Transaction errors go to suspense chartstring as follows:

Salary account associated with the employee, fund 69995, a Division level Dept ID code, the CF1 value noted below:

• CF1 = 900000: When a position is created but the position funding is not set up 
• CF1 = 900001: When the payroll processing date is past the Funding End Date for the Earnings Distribution (generally applies to Contracts and Grants funds)
• CF1 = 900002: When the provided chartstring was valid at the time of initial entry input, but becomes invalid before payroll processing

The Direct Retro form has a Copy Transaction button that will allow the transaction to be copied, edited, and resubmitted for approval.

The questionnaire is only required for high-risk Direct Retros. The current 120 day/90 days rules for Federal funds/Federal flow-thru funds apply. The questionnaire is not required for other funds.

If you have entered a capped fund and the employee's Total UC Salary value exceeds the salary cap rate, the system prompts you to use the Direct Retro Salary Cap/MCOP Funding Worksheet.

Attributes of the Fund are sourced from Chart of Accounts data coming from Berkeley Financial System (BFS).

Yes. Once Direct Retros are initiated, approved, and processed, they will be available in Berkeley's General Ledger (BFS).

Once the Commitment Accounting (CA) batch has run, processing the transaction, additional updates can be made for the pay period.

Yes. You can move all or part of your existing funding to one or more funding accounts.

You can use a Direct Retro to reallocate the distributed money, and add an effective dated row to your Position Funding to reflect the changes. 

No. Direct Retro allows for the redistribution of funding or split funding between multiple funding sources. However, the Earnings Code cannot be changed.

The department that owns the position (rather than the department that owns the funding).

For example, if an employee works primarily for department A and their position is funded by department A and partially by department C, department A would initiate the Direct Retro and enter the chartstrings for both departments A and C. If approval is required from department C, department A can attach approval documentation to the Direct Retro transaction. 

An Ad-Hoc reviewer can be added for reviewing transactions. 

The initiator cannot see the list of transactions initiated in the Worklist, however, you can review the status of your Direct Retro transaction by navigating to PeopleSoft Menu > UC Workcenter > Review Retro Distribution. Departments can view transactions by search parameters such as EMPLID, Initiator, etc.

No. In UCPath, you cannot be both the initiator and approver for any transaction.

Yes, you can change the order during your active session by using the Personalize link. However, we encourage users to familiarize themselves with the default order defined by UCPath. 

MCOP refers to employees who have more than one earn code.  You should use the Direct Retro Salary Cap/MCOP Funding Worksheet to complete your Direct Retro transaction for employees with MCOP.

These are delivered components in PeopleSoft and currently not being used in UCPath.

All pay periods processed by UCPath beginning March 2019 will be available for Direct Retro activity. UCPath payroll data is not purged. 

The system will not auto-populate Project Costing (PC) Chartfields.

Direct Retros occur in UCPath as soon as the transaction is submitted and processed in the nightly batch process. Completed direct retros will be fed to the General Ledger.