GURU News Announcement for week ending January 16, 2026

The following documents have been revised or decommissioned:

Business Resources

The SIMBA Chart of Accounts has been updated to reflect changes in the Research Administrator for Abington, Lehigh Valley, Brandywine, Great Valley, York, Mont Alto, Greater Allegheny, Schuylkill, New Kensington, Hazleton, Fayette, Scranton, Shenango, Beaver, Wilkes-Barre, and Dubois campuses. These changes were effective January 9, 2026

FORMS

The Procurement Contract Intake Request Form, formerly available on the GURU website, has been decommissioned. See the PSUcontracts KB article for the current business process.

Effective: January 16, 2026

GURU News Announcement for week ending January 9, 2026

The following documents have been reviewed and revised:

Forms:

Moving Expense Support Form – calendar year 2025 and calendar year 2026 versions available. The Internal Revenue Service has issued different reimbursement rates for calendar years 2025 and 2026. There are two versions of the Moving Expense Support Form available for use:

1. Moving Expense Support Form - 2025: to be completed for moves taking place in calendar year 2025. NOTE: the 2025 version will be decommissioned at the end of the current fiscal year. All reimbursements for 2025 must be submitted before the end of the fiscal year.


2. Moving Expense Support Form - 2026: to be completed for moving taking place in calendar year 2026.

Effective: January 2, 2026.

GURU News Announcement for week ending December 19, 2025

The following documents have been reviewed and revised:

Business Resources

The following budget executive revisions have been made to the SIMBA Chart of Accounts:

Business Area 2730 York

From: David Christiansen (djc21)

To: Marilyn Wells (mjk6807)

Business Area 3420 Mont Alto

From: Francis Achampong (fka3)

To: Marilyn Wells (mjk6807)

Business Area 4530 New Kensington

From: Kevin Snider (kjs33)

To: Megan Nagel (mim458)

Business Area 6190 Fayette

From: Lindsey Simon-Jones (interim) (lmj133)

To: Megan Nagel (mim458)

Business Area 2730 York

From: David Christiansen (djc21)

To: Marilyn Wells (mjk6807)

Business Area 3420 Mont Alto

From: Francis Achampong (fka3)

To: Marilyn Wells (mjk6807)

Business Area 4530 New Kensington

From: Kevin Snider (kjs33)

To: Megan Nagel (mim458)

Business Area 6190 Fayette

From: Lindsey Simon-Jones (interim) (lmj133)

To: Megan Nagel (mim458)

A Message from the Controller’s Office

The close date for the month of December (Fiscal Period M06) has been extended by one day to Friday, January 9, 2026. This adjustment accommodates the extension of the Penn State winter break through January 2.

Important Dates & Schedules > Month-End Closing Schedule, FY26 has been updated to reflect this change.

Happy Holidays

The Office of Systems and Procedures wishes you a Merry Christmas, Happy Holiday, and a New Year filled with hope and happiness.

Effective: December 19, 2025.

GURU News Announcement for week ending December 5, 2025

The following documents have been reviewed and revised:

Procedures:

Policy RA64 Personnel Costs was recently updated to change the deadline for closeout effort certs from 60 to 90 days. Procedure RA2064 Effort Certification was updated to reflect this same time frame. SIMBA has also been updated to reflect this change.

Effective: December 5, 2025.

GURU News Announcement for week ending October 3, 2025

The following documents have been reviewed and revised:

Procedures

Procedure FN2015 Labor Distribution has been numbered RA2060 Labor Distribution to reflex Research Administration as the business process owner. Labor distribution approval timelines have been updated; clarification to distinguish LDs involving sponsored programs vs. non-sponsored programs; added references to key Federal regulations (e.g., regarding reductions to PI effort); updated guidance regarding attachments and other documentation.

Editorial changes to Procedure RA2064 Effort Certification occurred to add the Technical Service effort certification timing. Links to ServiceNow ticketing and the late effort certification form have been updated.

Effective: September 30, 2025.

GURU News Announcement for week ending May 30, 2025

FORMS

The Non-Employee Travel Reimbursement form has been converted to an Adobe Sign electronic form. Please contact the Adobe Sign Team for access to the Adobe Sign website and for training. The PDF form will continue to be available while end-users receive access and training; however, the PDF will be decommissioned at the end of this calendar year (December 31, 2025). Please arrange for access and training before the end of the calendar year.

Fiscal Year-End Close Deadlines

The Year-End Closing Process is a set of timely activities that are necessary to close out the fiscal year. Fiscal Year-End Closing activities begin in May and will be completed in July. Meeting the deadlines noted in each section is crucial. See the 2024-2025 SIMBA Fiscal Year-End Closing Schedule for complete dates and deadlines.

5:00 p.m. Monday, June 2

2024-2025 PRs less than $25,000 for non-catalog items  

• Completely through the departmental approval path and received by Central Procurement.    


• PRs less than $25,000 for non-catalog items received after this time may not be finalized by June 30.

ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE FISCAL YEAR-END GUIDELINES:

June 26th

• All invoices will need to be entered into SIMBA by 4:00 PM for Fiscal Year 2024-2025.  (Central A/R invoices do not go through workflow - if you have an invoice that is parked, please make sure to have it posted before 4:00 PM!)

June 27th

• All Credit Memos/Reversals will need to be completed/submitted to Central AR by 2:00 PM for processing.

June 29-30th

• SIMBA lockdown-no entries into SIMBA!!

July 1st

• SIMBA automatically switches to Fiscal Year 2025-2026 on July 1st, and all invoices entered will reflect on Fiscal Year 2025-2026. 

July 1st-8th

• If you find you need to enter an invoice for the prior Fiscal Year - SPECIAL PROCESSING MUST BE DONE.  Before making the entry, you MUST reach out to CentralAR@psu.edu before 2:00 PM on July 7th, to ensure proper entry/approval into SIMBA!

July 10th

• All invoices entered will be on the next Fiscal Year - no special entries permitted. 

If you use the “mass upload function” to upload invoices, and have not been contacted directly by Kelly Heaps, please contact CentralAR@psu.edu.

GURU News Announcement for Week Ending May 16, 2025

The following documents have been updated and published on the GURU website:

FORMS:

Property Loss Report - The Property Loss Report is a new form to be completed in the event of a property loss such as fire, water damage, burglary, etc,.

University Guest Presenter Agreement - As previously announced, the University Guest Presenter Agreement has been converted to an electronic form. Please contact the Adobe Sign Team for access to the Adobe Sign website and for training (see the Adobe Sign Electronic Form information below). The PDF form will continue to be available while end-users receive access and training; however, the PDF will be decommissioned at the end of fiscal year (June 30th, 2025). Please arrange for access and training before the end of the fiscal year.

MASTER DATA:

The following changes to General Ledger Accounts are effective May 16, 2025:

1. 52632200 - GL has been decommissioned. The General Ledger Account Decommissioned List has been updated to reflect this change. The Procurement Search Tool has also been updated and end-users are to use 52632210 as a replacement for 52632200.


2. 52632210 - name changed and is now to be used in placed of 52632200. This is to allow for burdened F&A for all sponsors. The Procurement Search Tool has also been updated to reflect this change.

FISCAL YEAR-END GUIDELINES:

The Year-End Closing Process is a set of timely activities that are necessary to close out the fiscal year. Fiscal Year-End Closing activities begin in May and will be completed in July. Meeting the deadlines noted in each section is crucial. See the 2024-2025 SIMBA Fiscal Year-End Closing Schedule for complete dates and deadlines.

ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE FISCAL YEAR-END GUIDELINES:

June 26th

• All invoices will need to be entered into SIMBA by 4:00 PM for Fiscal Year 2024-2025.  (Central A/R invoices do not go through workflow - if you have an invoice that is parked, please make sure to have it posted before 4:00 PM!)

June 27th

• All Credit Memos/Reversals will need to be completed/submitted to Central AR by 2:00 PM for processing.

June 29-30th

• SIMBA lockdown-no entries into SIMBA!!

July 1st

• SIMBA automatically switches to Fiscal Year 2025-2026 on July 1st, and all invoices entered will reflect on Fiscal Year 2025-2026. 

July 1st-8th

• If you find you need to enter an invoice for the prior Fiscal Year - SPECIAL PROCESSING MUST BE DONE.  Before making the entry, you MUST reach out to CentralAR@psu.edu before 2:00 PM on July 7th, to ensure proper entry/approval into SIMBA!

July 10th

• All invoices entered will be on the next Fiscal Year - no special entries permitted. 

If you use the “mass upload function” to upload invoices, and have not been contacted directly by Kelly Heaps, please contact CentralAR@psu.edu.

GURU News Announcement for Week Ending May 9, 2025

The following documents have been updated:

PROCEDURES

Procedure CR2079 Values Added Tax (VAT) Reclamation - This procedure has been placed under review and had been temporarily removed from the GURU website. The VAT Reclamation business process is changing and until the new business process is developed, the collection process has been halted. An announcement will be made when the new business process has been developed.

FORMS:

As previously announced, the University Guest Presenter Agreement has been converted to an electronic form. Please contact the Adobe Sign Team for access to the Adobe Sign website and for training (see the Adobe Sign Electronic Form information below). The PDF form will continue to be available while end-users receive access and training; however, the PDF will be decommissioned at the end of fiscal year (June 30th, 2025). Please arrange for access and training before the end of the fiscal year.

The The Non-Employee Information Form has been converted to an electronic form. Please contact the Adobe Sign Team for access to the Adobe Sign website and for training (see the Adobe Sign Electronic Form information below). The PDF form will continue to be available until the end of the calendar year 2025 while end-users receive access and training. Please arrange for access and training ASAP.

Uploading PDF forms into SAP Concur

It has been brought to our attention that there is an issue with uploading PDF forms into SAP Concur. The following steps should be followed to create a document that can be uploaded:

1. Click the form download button on the GURU main page


2. Click the download arrow in the upper-right corner of the screen on the form page in GURU


3. Save the document to a location where you will be able to find the document


4. Close all open documents


5. Open the file from the location where you saved it in step 2


6. Complete the form


7. Click the printer icon in the upper right corner
   
   
   
   • Printer = Microsoft Print to PDF
   
   
   • Click Print
   
   
   
   


8. Rename the document and click save


9. Verify the document is not password protected
   
   
   
   • Click Menu in upper left hand corner of the document
   
   
   • Scroll down and select Protection
     
     
     
     • Security properties = no security
     
     
     • Click ok
     
     
     
     
   
   
   • Upload the document into SAP Concur
   
   
   
   

FISCAL YEAR-END GUIDELINES

The Year-End Closing Process is a set of timely activities that are necessary to close out the fiscal year. Fiscal Year-End Closing activities begin in May and will be completed in July. Meeting the deadlines noted in each section is crucial. See the 2024-2025 SIMBA Fiscal Year-End Closing Schedule for complete dates and deadlines.

Effective: May 9, 2025