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SWIFT Update August 20, 2020


REMINDER: Year End Hard Close – FMS Availability

The SWIFT Financial Management System (FMS) will be unavailable on Friday, August 21, 2020, beginning at 6 pm for hard close. The system will become available on Monday, August 24, 2020 at 6 am.
What happens at hard close?
First, the fiscal year (accounting year) is closed and agencies can no longer enter an accounting date prior to July 1, 2020, meaning nothing further can be processed against that year.

  • This facilitates reporting by allowing Minnesota Management and Budget to develop the Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (ACFR) against data that can no longer be changed.
  • It also performs the important function of closing income statement activity into fund balance to create an accurate starting point for the new fiscal year.
  • Remember, the fiscal year is different from the budget fiscal year (BFY). Budget fiscal year (budget period or budget date) is used to control spending authority as required by law and is not closed as part of this process.

Second, any unencumbered balances in BFY 2020 appropriations, depending on the appropriation type, are either closed or rolled forward. Exceptions include continuing or education aids appropriation types where the closing process does not affect unencumbered balances.
After the close, agencies can make payments against encumbrances and can cancel encumbrances if no longer needed. Agencies can still deposit receipts to the closed budget fiscal year.
Reminder to Buyers: Please be aware the system downtime includes the Supplier Portal. Avoid scheduling solicitation events to close early next week as responders may need extra time to submit bid responses.


The Purchase Order Close Job Scheduled for Hard Close Weekend

The PO Reconciliation (PO Close) job is scheduled to run this weekend as part of the hard close activities. The PO Close job closes purchase orders that have been fully matched by setting the PO Status to “Complete.” See the SWIFT Procurement Year End Processing Tips document for additional information about the PO Close job, along with other procurement year end document processing options and tips.
Remember, you can prevent the PO Close job from closing a fully matched purchase order by selecting the “Hold From Further Processing” checkbox on the purchase order header if you wish to increase the purchase order later.


Enhancements for Electronic Processing of Contract Documents  

 The Office of State Procurement greatly enhanced SWIFT’s Supplier Contract module to help agencies process contract documents electronically.
1. Agencies can now import a contract document created outside of SWIFT and process it for electronic approvals and signatures. These changes allow agencies to take advantage of the signing capabilities available in SWIFT’s version of DocuSign.
2. There are enhancements in SWIFT impacting both imported and system-generated contract documents.

  • Group Signing functionality has been added to allow sending the contract to multiple users where one member of the signing group signs for the group. Currently, this is for Professional/Technical contract documents.
  • There are two different signature processes for DocuSign signatures, such as a PDF for imported contract documents and Word for system-generated contract documents.
  • Agencies can specify which signers can view which attachments are routed with the contract documents.
  • Agencies can now use the Carbon Copy (cc) functionality when routing for eSignatures.
  • There is a streamlined process for Professional/Technical (P/T) contracts for contract documents.

You can find information about other enhancements in the Supplier Contract module in the Overview of Changes in Supplier Contract Module.


Reminder: The SWIFT Help Desk Remains Open 

Please contact the SWIFT Help Desk for any questions, concerns, or issues you have with SWIFT.


SWIFT Training and Resources 

The SWIFT training team  is offering online training through webinars, one-on-one sessions, and video tutorials.

  • Quick Reference Guides and Training Videos: Please check the Training and Support Resources page for the quick reference guides and training videos/ You will find reference guides covering all modules on SWIFT. We are adding new training videos in the most commonly used modules.
  • Webinars: We are offering modified online versions of our classroom training. They are shorter and meant to provide basic demonstrations of the SWIFT modules. If you are newer to SWIFT, please consider taking the Introduction to SWIFT: Navigation webinar before enrolling in a module-specific webinar.
  • One-On-One Sessions: If you would like one-on-one training on a SWIFT module not offered through a webinar, please email [email protected] to request a one-on-one session.

To find and enroll in SWIFT webinars, open the Self Service or Administrative Portal and select the ELM tile. On the Learning Management page, select Find Learning on the left menu. On the Find Learning page, enter “SWIFT” in the Description field and choose Search. Seats are available in the following webinars: 


SWIFT Training Guides and Resources

You can find reference guides on all modules in SWIFT on the Training Guides and Resources page.


SWIFT Help Desk

Contact the SWIFT Help Desk for any questions, concerns or issues you have with SWIFT:
651-201-8100, option 2 or by email  [email protected] Hours: 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Monday through Friday; closed holidays. When emailing the SWIFT Help Desk, be sure to include all details regarding the issue. 

Information to include with your message:

  • Issue Description
  • Business Unit
  • Module (Accounts Payable, Purchase Orders, etc.)
  • Transaction ID (Voucher ID, PO ID, etc.)
  • Error Message Print Screen
  • Additional assistance can be found on the SWIFT Training Guide page.

SWIFT Update Mailing List

The SWIFT Update is sent to the SWIFT Newsletter subscription list. Use the links at the bottom of the page to subscribe or unsubscribe to the SWIFT Newsletter subscription list.


Printing the SWIFT Update

  • If you are experiencing issues printing this update, download a PDF version and print that version
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