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ARCHIVE - New Features in MARS as of November 9, 2009

IT Costing
Flux Reporting
Miscelanious Reporting Additions and Modifications
Misc Universe Additions and Modifications
Data Processing Changes

IT Costing:

New Report - Higher Level Review - MARS NOAA IT Cost Distribution – This report was proposed by NOAA Budget to track IT Cost based on the 1st character of the task code.  The new report was modeled after the MARS NOAA – Fund Group Driller report so that IT cost can be reported at the fund, program, project and full task code level as well as organization and object code.  Click the following link to see the presentation delivered to the Business Rules committee on July 2, 2009. IT Cost Dist Report.ppt (CCR 1087)

NWS / OAR IT Cost Allocation – Instead of using the 1st character of the task code for IT cost allocation, NWS and OAR will use a different allocation method.  NWS will allocate IT Cost by assigning a percentage for each IT cost category to their existing ‘P’ task codes.  OAR will allocate IT Cost by FMC/Project Code.  (CCR 989, 1104)

Universe Change - MARS Adhoc Variance Reporting - New objects to support adhoc reporting on IT Cost. (CCR 1087)

Folder: Task

1. IT Cost Code (1st Char Task Code)
2. IT Cost Descr
3. IT Cost Abbr

Folder: IT Cost Allocation (NWS, OAR)

1. IT Cost Code
2. IT Cost Descr
3. IT Cost Abbr
4. IT Cost Effective Rate
5. IT Cost Current Rate
6. IT Cost Fiscal Year
7. IT Cost Create Date
8. IT Cost Create User
9. IT Cost Last Update Date
10. IT Cost Last Update User

 

Flux Reporting:

The Line Offices have a need for reporting to assist with fluctuation analysis. Currently, this data is available in Oracle Discoverer; however, the data does not allow the user to drill up/down and takes several minutes to run.  (CCR 704)

New Reports:

1. MARS GL Flux Analysis - P1 Summary – this report mimics the summary pages sent out by NOAA Finance in excel.   This report includes the following report tabs.
2. 6100
3. Direct Obligations
4. Reimbursable Obligations
5. Outlays
6. Direct UDOs
7. Reimbursable UDOs
8. CWIP

 

1. MARS Flux Analysis – Detail - this report has multiple report tabs at differing levels of detail.  There is also a tab allows drilling to a lower level of detail than is available in the Oracle Discoverer workbook.

Universe Change – MARS Adhoc GL Acct Summary – This data behind this universe now includes the additional GL accounts needed for Flux reporting (6100, 1720, 1832, 48XX, 49XX).  This universe can be used for adhoc analysis at an ACCS level of the following GL accounts:

1. 1310-00: ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE - BILLED
2. 1310-20: ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE - UNBILLED (1406CMP & NON WIP)
3. 1340-00: INTEREST,PENALTY & ADMIN FEES RECEIVABLE-BILLED
4. 1340-20: INT,PENALTY,ADMIN FEES RECEIVABLE-UNBILLED(NONWIP)
5. 1720: CONSTRUCTION-IN-PROGRESS
6. 1832: INTERNAL-USE SOFTWARE IN DEVELOPMENT
7. 4222: UNFILLED CUSTOMER ORDERS WITH ADVANCE
8. 4252: REIMBURSEMENTS/OTHER INCOME EARNED-COLL
9. 4800 thru 4999:
1. UNDELIVERED ORDERS
2. DELIVERED ORDERS - OBLIGATIONS UNPAID
3. DELIVERED ORDERS - OBLIGATIONS PAID
10. 5700-89: APPROPRIATIONS USED - CA OFFSET
11. 6100: OPERATING EXPENSES/PROGRAM COSTS

 

Misc Reporting Additions and Modifications:

New Report - Transaction Reports - MARS Non-Labor Open Obligations – This report was designed to assist with the Certification of Obligations data call. The Discoverer reporting typically used does not perform well.  This report in MARS provides the same information and generally takes only a few minutes to run.  Jon Alexander has approved the use of this report for this data call.  (CCR 1292)

Report Change - Monthly Variance Reports - NOA118 YTD, NOA118 Annual – These reports were modified to include a prompt on project code.  A report tab was added that shows each month across the page. (CCR 481)

Prompt Change - Include BOPs after Month Close (Y/N)? - This existing report prompt controls whether to show a BOP that has been approved after the requested Fiscal Month has closed.  This prompt has been expanded to also apply to Allotments.

Report re-categorization – Flux Reports have been moved to the Higher Level Review category and Variance Reporting has been moved to its own category called NOAA Variance Reporting.

Improvements to NOAA Variance Reporting – The FMC Y/N screen has been changed to use check boxes so that more than one FMC can be processed at a time.  After clicking Save from the comment window, the user no longer has to click again to return back to the report.  Returning from the comment window brings the user back to the tab and page the user was on rather than positioning to tab1/page1. 

Report Change - Monthly Variance Reports - MARS Financial Statement - Graph by Fund Group – This report has been modified to run not only by Fund Group, but by Fund Code, Program, Project or Task. Report was limited to FMC level of the org, and now can be run by any level of the org. (CCR 361)

New Report - Codes Listings - MARS Stored Accounting (CBS Data) – Reports have been created similar to reports within Discoverer.  Click the following link for more details. MARS Stored Accounting Report.ppt. (CCR 62)

Report Change – Monthly Variance Reports - MARS NOA118 Annual, MARS Financial Statement Annual – These two reports have a new footnote indicating whether the Remaining Commitment column is preliminary or final. (CCR 1124)

Report Change – Monthly Variance Reports - MARS NOA118 Annual, MARS Financial Statement Annual – The Reporting & Querying module loads data in two steps: 

Step 1 – load data into R&Q from CBS NOAA Data Warehouse (NDW)
Step 2 – load data into R&Q from MARS Data Entry

A problem arose when Step 1 finished by 7 AM and Step 2 after 7 AM.  Users that ran these two reports or ran adhoc queries against the MARS Adhoc Variance Reporting universe before Step 2 was completed would see day old commitment data and current CBS data.  To eliminate the confusion this may cause, a process change was made to blank out the current month commitment columns in Step 1.  If the user runs a report between Step1 and Step2, the commitment columns will be blank for the current month.  The user can look at the MARS status page to see the estimated time step 2 will be complete. (CCR 884)

New Report - WFM - Permanent Workforce Snapshot – This new report duplicates the HRDS PER300 report, which contains summary information about an organization. It includes employee count, average grade, average age, average service, RNO type, etc., as well as retirement eligible information. (CCR 724)

Report Change - WFM - Retirement Eligibility Report – This report has been modified to give the user the ability to sort by years of service and age, so that the user can have a list of who is coming up on retirement eligibility. (CCR 824)

Report Change - WFM - Multiple Reports – There are 3 Service Comp Dates (SCD) in the Workforce Management universe;  Leave, RIF and Retirement. Reports with SCD have been updated to identify which SCD to avoid confusion. (CCR 964)

Misc Universe Additions and Modifications:

New Universe - MARS Adhoc Budget Detail (MARS Data) – This universe provides adhoc reporting against the Data Entry Budget data.  The data in this universe is copied from the MARS Data Entry system into the MARS Reporting & Querying system each night.  Therefore the data is not ‘live’. (CCR 924)

New Universe - MARS Adhoc Credit Card Trans (CBS Data) – This universe provides adhoc reporting against the NDW_CBS_TRANS table which contains the details of credit card transactions that may not exist in the AP Trans table.  The data in this universe is copied from the CBS NOAA Data Warehouse (NDW) into the MARS Reporting & Querying system each night. (CCR 925)

New Objects - MARS Adhoc AP Trans Universe – New fields made available in the NOAA Data Warehouse (NDW) to support reporting on obligations sourced from C.Buy have been added to the MARS Adhoc AP Trans universe.  See details below. (CCR 1004)

Folder: CBS Affected Document

1. Affected Requisition Number

Folder: Trans Detail

1. Late Reason Code

Folder: Document Chaining / Requisition

1. Req Document No
2. Req Document type
3. Req Release No
4. Req Item type
5. Req Item No
6. Req Line No
7. Req Trans No

Folder: Document Chaining / Purchase Order

1. PO Item Descr
2. PO ITBP No

Folder: Document Chaining / PO F2C

1. PO F2C Document No
2. PO F2C Release No
3. PO F2C Change Order
4. PO F2C Item No (CLIN)
5. PO F2C Line No
6. PO F2C Req Item No
7. PO F2C Req Line No

New Objects – Multiple Universes – New objects have been added to the following universes in the Project folder to support reimbursable reporting.  (CCR 1144)

Universes

1. MARS Adhoc AP Trans
2. MARS Adhoc Variance Reporting
3. MARS Adhoc Allotment Detail
4. MARS Adhoc GL Acct Summary
5. MARS Adhoc Codes Listing

Folder: Project

1. Budget Initiative Code (Agency)
2. Agency Title
3. Agency Abbrev
4. Agency Trading Partner
5. Field of Science Code
6. Field of Science Descr
7. Goal Code
8. Goal Descr
9. NSF Code
10. NSF Descr
11. NSF % Research
12. NSF % Dev
13. NSF % Neither

Data Processing Changes:

Overnight Processing Performance Improvements – The CBS loading of the NOAA Data Warehouse (NDW) was taking 1.5 hours longer since the web migration.  Payroll was also taking several hours longer.  Since MARS cannot refresh its data until after the NDW load is complete, MARS was consistently opening for business after 7:00 AM ET.  The MARS team tuned their overnight processing programs to complete within 4 hours.  If CBS finishes as late as 3am, MARS will still open for business at 7am.  CBS has also tuned their processes and are now finishing much earlier.

Data Entry Module

Preliminary Monthly Snapshots Creation –The system creates two sequential Monthly Data Snapshots. First one is created when month-end-data is available in CBS. Data Entry users have an option of running preliminary monthly reports and cleaning/matching MARS Commitments. Next day, the final Monthly Snapshot is generated.
Grants Commitment Tracking Report 51 – This Report consists of two parts. First part, GOL Data that did not create MARS Commitments, will display approved CD 435s downloaded from GOL that cannot be used to create MARS Commitments: Org/Project/Task combinations need to be established in MARS. Second part, MARS Grant Commitment Tracking Report, will display MARS Grant Commitments, corresponding CBS obligations and GOL CD435 tracking information.
MARS Budget Report 8 – This report displays MARS Budget allocations by Month, Quarter or Year based on the user selection. Monthly/Quarterly option displays data by Org (selected level)/Fund/Program/Project-Task/AA Number/Obj Class (optional).
BOP Upload – new options – New options are added to the File Generation process to allow partial download (by Fund, Program and Allowance Advice).
Budget Form – new functionality – Changes are made to make Budget interface more user-friendly: fewer restrictions for Funding Check (can decrease budget amount without Fund validation); ‘Apply Surcharge’ feature is used as a calculator, and system surcharge lines can be modified by the users. Also, Overhead surcharges are applied based on the Project Type and FMC (based on the CBS template), not just for Reimbursable Funds.
OPT Generator – New Match Option that can be selected by MARS LO Admins on the Line Office Settings Screen: Create OPT Combinations from AP_Trans Records. This option allows FMCs to clean ‘Invalid OPT Combination’ match errors. New OPT combinations will be marked as System Generated and can be viewed by FMCs on the Report 58 and approved.
FY 2010 Surcharge Changes – To accommodate CBS Surcharge Process Changes, the changes have been made in MARS Projection and Budget Modules. When calculating Budget or Projections for Direct Projects, the system uses object class 12-00 for Benefits and does not calculate leave surcharge amount. MARS allows FMCs to set up a separate Benefit Rate that will be used in MARS DE to calculate Benefits for Direct Funds in MARS Budget and Labor Projections. A new user-defined MARS Rate can be set-up on the MARS Surcharge Form. There are no changes for reimbursable projects (1160 for leave and 12-10 for benefits using CBS surcharge rates). Detail change instructions have been included in MARS Admin e-mail and Data Entry User’s Guide.
Adding OH to MARS Labor Projections – There is a new option added to the Projection Module to allow FMCs to include OH into Labor Projections. OH surcharges will be applied based on the FMC/Project Type (same rules as currently working in the Budget Form). To use this option, FMCs need to make this selection on the Surcharge Form (‘Use Overhead with Projections’ Flag).
Foreign Travel Module for NWS – Effective FY 2010, MARS Foreign Travel Number System is open for NWS. There are new features added for the NWS users: Foreign Travel Plan Approval Module, ability to record multiple Trip Destinations when creating a Travel request, etc.
 New Foreign Travel Report – The report is comparing plan amount (MARS Foreign Numbering System) and CBS obligations for each Foreign Travel Order. This Report is available for all LOs using MARS Foreign Travel Module. It can be accessed from the Foreign Travel Module and from the MARS Data Entry Reports (Reports/Travel Reports/ Domestic Travel Report 79b/ Foreign Travel Report 79f).
Foreign Travel Module – Effective FY 2010, MARS Travel Number System (Domestic and Foreign) is open for NESDIS.