New system will streamline P-Card process

The August upgrade of the M-Pathways Financials system will create a more streamlined method for reconciling P-Card transactions each month for the more than 2,400 staff members that execute the process for their units.

The upgrade will replace the current P-Card system that was developed by Michigan Administrative Information Services (MAIS) in 2000 with a similar system that is available from PeopleSoft, the vendor behind the M-Pathways Financials system.

In the new system, transactions will not be loaded into separate vouchers to be worked by the reconciler. Instead, they will display in a list called a P-Card Transaction Statement, with each P-Card transaction appearing as one row on the list. The reconciliation process primarily will stay the same.

After the upgrade, vouchers will still be created, but the process will take place later in the monthly P-Card cycle. Transactions will be entered and the voucher created as part of the approval and posting process that takes place on the 28th day of each month so P-Card transactions will be available for reports and appear in the Financials data sets in the U-M Data Warehouse.

“These changes will result in a more efficient process,” says Jene Janich, assistant director of procurement. “The need for a worklist has been eliminated and users will no longer go to each transaction separately. They will be able to move from row to row and work their transactions.”

Security will be tied directly to an individual P-Card after the upgrade, eliminating department security. Each card will have two people assigned to reconcile the statement—a primary and secondary reconciler—and each of them must have both P-Card access in M-Pathways and be assigned in the system before they can work transactions.

Training and support documentation for P-Card reconcilers will be available on MAIS LINC (https://maislinc.umich.edu) at the end of July. Janich encourages reconcilers to review the material before Aug. 15.

As a result of the upgrade, the P-Card schedule will be modified so transactions loaded into the vouchers before the upgrade are completed in the current system. This change to the reconciliation schedule does not impact P-Card holders or their use of their cards before, during, or after the upgrade.

As a result of the upgrade, the P-Card schedule will be modified so transactions loaded into the vouchers before the upgrade begins are completed in the current system.  Transactions that occur after August 5 will be reconciled on the new transaction statement. This change to the reconciliation schedule does not impact P-Card holders or their use of their cards before, during, or after the upgrade.