Here's What's New with OBI Financial Reporting

Isabel Alvarez-Valdez is the Senior Director of Finance and Research Administration in the Graduate School of Education (GSE). She started working at Stanford over 20 years ago, at Stanford Hospital.

Isabel has already jumped into using Revenue and Fund Management (RFM) dashboard reports in OBI. Here's her take on the new tool:

"I love the look and feel with the added functionality of OBI. Being able to include and exclude columns and run the reports in the exact format I need is a big plus…I've already replaced some of my old ReportMart3 reports and I'm looking forward to using OBI for the rest of my reporting."

"Another big plus where I can see RFM is really going to help us: We work closely in GSE with external relations and academic services for projecting funding for student aid. Having these new reports include pledge data is awesome!"

The RFM Reporting dashboard provides easily accessible fund and revenue data. Included in the reporting scope: beginning fund balance, activity (e.g., receipts, transfers, expenses) and fund balance reporting, as well as pledge data not available in ReportMart3 (RM3) financial reports.

Need help transitioning to OBI? Attend an RFM Q&A session, drop in to Friday Open Lab, review fingate OBI resources, or contact the Financial Support Center.

Rescheduled: RFM QA's

To better suit the schedules of report users, we have rescheduled the remaining two RFM Reporting question-and-answer sessions. These sessions will support your transition to RFM Reporting by outlining available resources and answering your questions about the tool or RFM subject area.

Here's the new schedule for the remaining courses:

• Sept. 20, 10-11:30 a.m., 3160 Porter Dr. (Monterey Room)
• Sept. 21, 10-11:30 a.m., Beckman Center (Munzer)

If you can't make it in person, join us via Zoom:
Join from PC, Mac, Linux, iOS or Android: https://stanford.zoom.us/j/753638947

Or iPhone one-tap (US Toll): +14086380968,,753638947#

Or Telephone:
+1 408 638 0968 (US Toll)

Meeting ID: 753 638 947

RM3 is Going Away

With the implementation of RFM Reporting, the full spectrum of RM3 reports has been addressed in the OBI financial reporting system. As a result, the remainder of RM3 reports will be retired on October 31, 2017.

• Those RM3 reports not already retired will go away on 10/31/17. For a complete crosswalk of RM3 reports to OBI, see the RM3 to OBI Crosswalk (all dashboards) on fingate.
• The Business Objects report and query tools used to access DSS universes will remain accessible past the 10/31/17 date. The target date for retiring the portal completely is now December 2017. For more information, see the revised DSS Bulletin on fingate.

Issues &
Enhancements

The systems team continues to work on issues and enhancements in RFM Reporting.

• An issue with an incorrect delimiter in several one-to-one reports has been resolved. (Instead of separating lists of filter criteria with semicolons, the reports required commas.) The affected reports were: 101, 153, 253, 284, 366.
• The Fund Statement dashboard reports are running slowly and cannot return large datasets (for example, for an entire school). If your reports do not return results before timing out, please run a smaller query; or, for the time being, use the equivalent RM3 fund statement report.

Links to the full list of issues and enhancements for RFM Reporting can be found on the Status and Updates page of fingate.

Moving the Lab

The Open Lab for OBI Financial Reporting has been moved for a day. The Friday, Sept. 15 session will move from its customary location at Birch Lab to nearby Redwood Hall, Room G6.

Open Lab sessions offer individual and customized support for questions related to OBI Financial Reporting—both in dashboard reports and ad hoc analysis.

These sessions are focused on support rather than training. Attendees should ensure they have access to OBI Financial Reporting before attending the lab.

When you're there, knowledgeable staff will help you to optimize your experience with OBI financial reporting. Bring your questions and reporting challenges, and get expert assistance.

The schedule for all the Open Labs can be found on fingate.