September

Contents
1. Brown Bag Lunch October 18
2. Improved Electronic Salary Distribution System (eSDS)
3. 2007 Brown Book Available
4. Dell Printers Recommended
5. "Introduction to" Training Series Offered in October
6. Contact Information – When You Need Help

1. Brown Bag Lunch October 18
The October Brown Bag Lunch will be held Thursday, October 18, 12 noon – 1pm in the Mezzanine Lounge, W20-307, of the Stratton Student Center. Israel Ruiz, Vice President for Finance, will discuss the responses to his question at September's Brown Bag: “Share with us one process/area that you would like to see improved.”

Also, Denise Roche, Assistant Director in Procurement, will preview important improvements to eCAT³ as of November 5, 2007. Office Depot eCAT requisitioners will be most affected by the changes – they will need to set up an eCAT³ profile before placing their first eCAT³ Office Depot order. This is a one-time set up. Denise will "demo” the eCAT³ portal, including how to set up your profile. Please encourage Office Depot requisitioners in your office to attend this session.

2. Improved Electronic Salary Distribution System (eSDS)
On October 12, an improved version of payroll’s salary distribution system (eSDS), including features most requested by the community, will be available to department eSDS administrators. A summary of changes is on the Payroll home page: http://controllers.mit.edu/content/view/full/264

• An updated “Quickcard” showing how to use eSDS is at: https://userdocs.mit.edu/hrp-resources/documents/salary.html.
• If you have questions about the new eSDS, please contact the CAO Resource Group: cao-rg@mit.edu.

We are grateful to the many people in IS&T, Payroll, and the community who collaborated to deliver this enhanced system to their colleagues.

3. 2007 Brown Book Available
MIT's Report of Sponsored Research Activity for Fiscal Year 2007 (aka "the Brown Book") is now available on the CAO website under Reports/Publications. If you need a printed copy of the Brown Book, please send a request to Ying Liu, Accounting Officer in the General Ledger Operations & Reporting group: liuying@mit.edu. Printed copies will be distributed only upon request.

4. Dell Printers Recommended
IS&T’s hardware recommendation team is now recommending Dell printers for Institute purchase. Recommended printers can be found on the Dell ECAT site for departmental purchases: http://web.mit.edu/ecat. Please contact Paul Morrison in Procurement at paulmorr@mit.edu, 617-253-8340 if you have questions for about purchasing these products.

5. "Introduction to" Training Series Offered in October
CAO’s five introductory classes on basic financial administration topics are being offered between October 30 and November 1, 2007. Each class is 1.5 hours. Community members may register for any or all of the courses:

Introduction to :
- Accounts Payable
- Procurement
- Travel
- Financial Review and Control
- Journal Vouchers

The courses are geared to new employees who will handle administrative procedures for their department. Please go to SAPweb ESS Training to see the schedule and register.

6. Contact Information – When You Need Help