July

Contents
1. FY2007 Closing
2. SciQuest Portal to Become ECAT 3 (ECAT Cubed)
3. Procurement Cards to Expire in September
4. Mark your Calendars for the Travel and Vendor Fairs
5. No Brown Bag Lunch in August
6. New EB Rate for Part-Time Employees and Visitors
7. Business Tip of the Month: Time Sheet Entry Short Cut
8. Contact Information – When You Need Help

1. FY2007 Closing
Thanks to everyone for their efforts in closing the Institute’s books this July. We had the extra complexity of our new payroll system this year, and we appreciate everyone’s patience and communication on the payroll issues that arose during closing. As always, let us know of any ideas you have on how to improve the process.

2. SciQuest Portal to Become ECAT 3 (ECAT Cubed)
We are happy to announce the E-commerce portal for MIT currently known as SciQuest is undergoing some renovations and a name change. The new name for our next generation of E-commerce is ECAT3 (ECAT Cubed). ECAT is a very familiar name to the MIT community so in order to facilitate growth and adoption of the system, this name change is critical. Weheard from many of you on campus that SciQuest has a very scientific ring to it and, as the portal grows beyond scientific vendors, ECAT3 seems to be an appropriate name. Not to be confused with our current ECAT system; in time ECAT3 will be the new home of existing ECAT vendors along with other top MIT suppliers. Please bear with us during this transition phase.

Please share this communication with anyone in your DLC who would benefit from it. Changes to the ECAT pages, portal and other places where the former name SciQuest appears will be made imminently.

If you have any questions, please contact Denise Roche, droche@mit.edu.

3. Procurement Cards to Expire in September
As you have probably already noticed, your Procurement Card is set to expire this September. We hope this memo will answer most of your questions.

First of all, your cards are and will remain active through this transition. Your card numbers will also remain the same. The expiration date will change to 3 years from September, 09/10.

The 3-digit CCV (Credit Card Verification) number on the back of your card will also be changed to enhance security. Most companies do not use the CCV number for recurring bills -- they just require credit card number and expiration date.However, the ones that do will need the new CCV number to continue billing properly.

Second, in early August, each cardholder will receive detailed email with the instructions on how to exchange the card and when.

Please bear with the ProCard office during that time: we will have to exchange over 2400 cards. Also, remember that your cards are active until the end of September, therefore you shouldn't experience any interruption in service. In order to receive a new card, the cardholder will need to bring his/her MIT ID or Driver's License - no card will be given out without photo ID.

We would like to thank you in advance for your assistance during this period. Rest assured we will do everything we can to make this process as easy as possible. If you have questions, please send them to procard@mit.edu.

4. Mark your Calendars for the Travel and Vendor Fairs
Please mark your September calendar for the following two important annual events for community members who purchase goods and services or make travel arrangements for your departments:

• Procurement Vendor Fair, 9/13, 9:00am - 2:00pm, Under the tent in McDermott Court
• Travel Vendor Fair, 9/25, 10:00am - 2:00pm, Building 13 - Lobby

Stay tuned for more information about these popular events as the dates get closer.

5. No Brown Bag Lunch in August
There will be no Brown Bag Lunch in August. Brown Bag Lunches will resume in September. Enjoy your summer!

6. New EB Rate for Part-Time Employees and Visitors
What is Changing? Beginning FY2008 (July 1, 2007) the Employee Benefit (EB) rate for on and off campus part-time employees and visitors will be 8%, to cover the cost of the benefits these staff receive. Currently these employees are charged EB at full on- and off-campus rates.

Why the change? DCAA/ONR (our cognizant federal audit agencies) are requiring us to establish an EB rate for non-benefits eligible employees that more accurately reflects the benefits cost of these employees.

Impact of the New EB Rate: The new EB rate will be applicable to a small number of employees. This change impacts all employee payroll categories on campus and at Lincoln. New payroll general ledger (GL) accounts have been created for reduced EB payroll charges.

For cost centers, the change in EB rate will be budget neutral. The Budget Office will contact DLCs in the September/October time-frame to make appropriate budget adjustments. If you have any questions about budget implementation, please contact your Budget Officer.

For internal orders and wbs elements, the cost of part-time (benefits-ineligible) employees and visitors will be reduced. These staff are not subject to vacation accrual on research, because they are not vacation eligible.

This change does not impact eSDS or eDACCA.

Campus SAP Implementation:

• FY 2008: SAP Payroll will charge the new reduced-EB Payroll GL accounts directly for non-exempt staff and visitors. For all exempt staff excluding visitors, a JV adjustment (trailing one month) will be made to move appropriate salaries to the new reduced EB GL accounts.
• FY2009: SAP Payroll will charge the Reduced EB Payroll GL accounts for all staff directly.

In both FY2008 and FY2009, EB will be calculated and charged automatically in the General Ledger. A list of the new reduced-EB Payroll GL accounts can be found on the web at

http://controllers.mit.edu/site/payroll/policies_procedures/payroll_g_l_accounts

Application of 8% part time EB rate in Research Proposals and Awards: It is particularly important to assess whether an individual may receive additional employment and reach the 50% FTE or greater level at any time during the proposed duration of the award. If there is a possibility of going beyond the part-time level, budgeting at the full time rate (24%) is recommended. COEUS is being updated to include the new GL codes, which will automatically assess the part-time rates. However, because of the similarity of GL accounts between full- and part-time rates, it is important to ensure that individuals are budgeted using the appropriate GL code. Regardless of what is budgeted in a proposal, the EB rate charged to the award will be determined based upon the implementation rules described below.

Implementation rules: Generally the “pension eligibility rules” are being used to determine which salaries receive the reduced EB rates. Specifically, the reduced EB rate will be applied when an exempt employee’s appointment is less than fifty percent time or a non-exempt employee’s regular weekly scheduled work hours are less than seventeen and one-half hours per week, or an employee’s job is not a fully eligible job for benefit purposes - visitors, or affiliate jobs.

In FY2008, MIT students now charged zero EB will continue to be charged zero EB – MIT Student jobs, MIT Fellows and MIT Postdoc Fellows. In FY2009 MIT summer undergraduate students (other than UROPs) will have the reduced EB rate of 8%; this is not being implemented in FY2008.

For questions, contact the following individuals:

CAO: Jean Roberge/Sue St.Croix 3-0550 or Gillian Emmons 3-2777
HR: Kathleen Flynn 8-7646 or Jennifer Walsh 3-4275
OSP: Tom Mullen 3-6287 or Julie Norris 3-2492
Budget Office: John Donnelly 3-2734

7. Business Tip of the Month: Timesheet Entry Shortcut
Time approvers and employees don’t have to enter "WORK" for each day that you report hours. If the "attendance/absence type" field is left blank, "WORK" will default when you save the time sheet.

8 . Contact Information - When you need help