*** UIS/OAS Financial News ***

University News and Announcements

Important Note for GE, PCard and Corporate Card Holders:
"Phishing"& Responding to Fraudulent E-mails

Some Harvard employees have recently received fraudulent e-mails, requesting that the recipient log on to a bogus GE website to provide PIN and account-number information. GE has sent an e-mail to its corporate card program administrators about this so-called “phishing attack." Here are some important points from GE's recent communication:

• Phishing is the practice of sending fraudulent e-mails that request recipients to either update their accounts or to verify balances due to a technical problem. The e-mail provides a hyper-link to the bank’s e-commerce login page which is an exact clone of a legitimate site. By attempting to capture account and PIN numbers, the fraudsters hope to transfer the funds electronically or use the personal identifiers for identity thefts and fraud applications.
• The subject of the e-mail was “Dear GE CAPITAL FINANCIAL INC customer”. In the e-mail was a request for the viewer to login to a GE look-alike website which included “personal/salesfinancelogin.html” in the link.
• GE Money has taken steps to shut down the offending website. GE Corporate Payment Services is working with GE Money’s security team to investigate further.
• GE will never send cardholders an e-mail asking for personal information such as account number, address, social security number, PIN, passwords, etc. Bear in mind, GE’s fraud prevention team may send cardholders an e-mail to verify suspicious charges on an account.
• Continue to view all e-mails that contain generic information or action requests with a high degree of skepticism

If you are a cardholder who did respond to the fraudulent e-mail, or are otherwise concerned that you may have compromised your confidential information, please contact GE by calling the number on the back of your PCard or corporate card (800-274-7378), and ask to speak to the fraud department.

Important Note for GE, PCard and Corporate Card Holders:
Foreign Exchange Class Action Settlement

Many GE PCard and Corporate Card holders have received notification of a foreign exchange class action settlement that focuses on credit and debit cards used outside of the US over the past decade. The settlement derives from a class action suit involving Visa, Diners Club, MasterCard, and several major banks. GE’s PCard and corporate card businesses are NOT parties to the litigation. Harvard is evaluating the settlement and may file for a refund. Individual PCard and corporate card holders should NOT file on behalf of their specific Harvard-issued card accounts at this time. If you have further questions about this issue, please contact the Procurement Office, at procurement@harvard.edu.

Important Dates and Reminders

FY09 Strategic Planning Publication

During the next few months, the Finance and Planning group will be pulling together all of the planning information (e.g. Corporation budget, high level goals, rate setting) from each of the departments into one planning document. The purpose of this publication is as follows:

• To enable a consistent planning process for the Office of the University CIO
• To consolidate planning efforts across groups and to identify synergies
• To lay out the IT planning horizon and roadmap
• To communicate organization-wide goals, objectives, priorities and initiatives to the management team
• To identify risks, challenges and opportunities across the organization
• To document financial assumptions for the upcoming year around revenues, staffing, direct expenses, capital, business balance use and rates

If you have any questions about the information contained within the publication, which is scheduled to be distributed this summer, please contact your Financial Partner.

Policy Highlights and Updates

Interdepartmental Billing Transactions

In December 2006, the University issued an Internal Billing Transactions Policy to ensure that internal billings are transacted and coded properly. Since this policy impacts so many businesses within the department, we have decided to send out the highlights of this policy again.

For a variety of reasons, UIS must charge other Harvard units for goods and services provided to them. Some examples include Telephone, Network, Server and DLS.

Basic Guidelines
Internal billing transactions must not result in an increase in total University income and expenses. To prevent this, internal billing transactions must not charge an expense object code (6000-8889) to one unit while crediting an income object code (4000-5999) to another unit. All internal billing transactions must debit and credit expense object codes (6000-8889).

Customer Expense codes used by central service units
With University-wide charges from central service units (like UIS), the appropriate object codes for tub charges are predefined to ensure consistent accounting treatment across the University. For example, UIS telephone billings to Harvard units are charged to a specified set of telephone object codes, which includes the range from 8510 to 8516. Please refer to the UIS Customer Object Code list below or the previously distributed FY08 Chart of Accounts Listing for recommended expense object codes used by UIS units.

Recomended Customer Object Codes for UIS Products and Services

What to Communicate to Customers
When taking an order for products and/or services, UIS staff should ensure that the 33-digit billing code provided by the customer includes an object code that is allowed for those services. If the customer still insists on using an object code that is not preferred/allowed, it is important to explain the University policy to the purchaser, or contact your financial partner for assistance in explaining the policy.

For more information, please visit: http://www.uis.harvard.edu/staff/policies/interdepartmental_billing.php

Helpful Hints

PCard vs. GE Card vs. Vendor Invoice

With so many different ways to purchase goods and services on behalf of the University, it is not always easy to determine the payment method that is best under each circumstance. To help purchasers determine which payment method to use, we have developed the table below which outlines when you should and should not use each of the most popular payment methods:

Payment Method	When to Use it	When Not to Use it
PCard	Preferred method for all vendor transactions except where restricted or transaction exceeds Card limit. Typical transactions included: Local meals, Books, Subscriptions, training registration, computer equipment/software, florists, gifts under $75 (no gift certificates!), office equipment, supplies (office, kitchen)	Travel and entertainment purchases, such as airline tickets, hotels, business telephone calls, tolls, taxis _____________________________________________ Taxable gifts (any gift over $75 and all gift certificates) _____________________________________________ Services of non-incorporated providers _____________________________________________ Internal service providers (i.e. any vendor using Harvard's 33-digit chart of accounts) _____________________________________________ Recruiting Fees _______________________________________________ Telecommunication costs (internet services, cell phones)
GE Corporate Card or Out of Pocket Reimbursement	Travel and entertainment purchases, such as airline tickets, hotels, business telephone calls, tolls, taxis ____________________________ Telecommunication costs (internet services, cell phones)
Vendor Invoice	Services of non-incorporated providers & Recruiting Fees
Payroll	Taxable gifts (any gift over $75 and all gift certificates)

If you have any questions regarding these restrictions, or the appropriate use of the Purchasing Card, please contact the Purchasing Card Administrator or Reviewer in your tub or local unit, or the PCard Help Desk at 496-CARD (e-mail: pcard@harvard.edu). For a complete listing of which Harvard financial tool to use in a specific situation—including when and when not to use the PCard—go to the “Documents” page of the Financial Administration website at http://vpf-web.harvard.edu/documents/ and click on "Summary Overview: Procurement and Reimbursement Systems."

We hope that this issue of the UCIO Financial News has been helpful and informative. If you have any questions, or would like to see a specific topic covered in a future publication, please email us at uisfin_news@harvard.edu