NUPlans Tips

Refer to the NUPlans Login Guide for browser recommendations and instructions on logging in to NUPlans.

Multi-factor Authentication is now enabled for NUPlans.

Please remember the following:

Remember that many tabs have horizontal and/or vertical scroll bars. If you don't see something, try scrolling to find the row or column you are looking for.

• If you have changed the rows or columns in your view in any way, you may not see the data you expect.
• If you believe rows are missing from your view, first try resetting the view, to make sure the rows do exist.
  • Select Reset View from the Actions Menu in the toolbar.
  • More information about viewing data in Contributor is available under Views/Data in Contributor, below.
    • More information about viewing data in Contributor is available under Views/Data in Contributor, below.
• If the rows exist, yet they disappear when you modify columns in the view, you may need to include additional columns to ensure all rows are visible.
• Many views require the Status column or a column labeled with a dash (-) to ensure rows don’t disappear.

Internet Explorer

Right-clicking in cells in Internet Explorer may prompt you if you want to allow access before allowing you to proceed.

To avoid this message in the future, you can update your settings:

1. Make sure you have added NUPlans as a trusted site
   1. Tools > Internet Options > Security > Trusted Sites > Sites button
   2. Add the URL https://nuplans.northwestern.edu
2. Click the Custom level… button and scroll to the Scripting section.
3. Make sure Allow Programmatic clipboard access is enabled.

Chrome

To enable copy/paste functionality, you need to install the TM1 Clipboard Web Extension plugin.

1. Locate the IBM Cognos TM1 Web Clipboard Extension file (https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/ibm-cognos-tm1-web-clipbo/hifjegnejppkpnikhppoafdghppgcjpj) in the Chrome Store.
2. Click on the + Add To Chrome button in the upper right hand corner to install it.

Firefox

To enable copy/paste functionality, you need to install the TM1 Clipboard Web Extension plugin.

1. Locate the IBM Cognos TM1 Web Clipboard Extension file (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/tm1-web-clipboard-extension)
2. Click the + Add to Firefox button to install it.

• All views in NUPlans display a maximum of 500 rows per page.
• The lower right corner of the budget group window displays the number of pages of data in the tab.
• Navigate to another page by using the links (Top, Page up, Page down or Bottom).
• If you want to navigate to a specific page, click the Display Pages icon  and follow the instructions in the pop-up window.

• NUPlans undergoes nightly maintenance from midnight - 7 a.m.
• Weekly maintenance occurs Sundays from 7 a.m. - 10 a.m.
• Attempts to use the system during maintenance windows may result in errors accessing NUPlans, as well as errors or lost data.

To avoid losing your work, you must recalculate/commit your data and log out of NUPlans and avoid accessing the system during the maintenance window.

Some data in NUPlans export to Excel better than others.

• Reports include formatting that is optimized for Excel.
• To export more detailed data, make sure to include the chart field columns for fund, department, project, account and account type, depending on what is relevant for the data you are exporting. This will make it easier to manipulate the data in Excel, if necessary.
• There are also published subsets that start with "- Detailed" that will not include subtotal rows, to further support any manipulations in Excel.

Buttons

Some users may encounter problems removing buttons (such as the Refresh Report button) from exported Excel spreadsheets.

Most reports have a tab on the far left for a printer-friendly version, which doesn't have any buttons on it.

If you still need to remove buttons after exporting to Excel, and if right-clicking and selecting Delete or Cut doesn’t work, try the following:

1. If you cannot already see a Developer tab in Excel, follow the instructions at this link to get it: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb608625.aspx
2. Once the tab is available, click on it and select Design Mode from the Controls section of the toolbar.
3. Click the button you would like to remove.
4. Use the <Delete> key to delete it.

Users who do not have access to all chart strings within a budget grouping are not authorized to see totals within NUPlans.

• Some views require access to an element that represents a total. Users with restricted access may encounter the error message “View Title Element Not Defined” when accessing these views since they aren’t authorized to see the total.

• Users with the Prep File role in NUPlans can view user access for their prep file’s budget groupings by using the User Access view located in the Administrative directory in NUPlans Web, for both Budget Prep and Forecasting.
• The User Access Instructions web form (see below) provides more information on requesting security changes.
• For detailed instructions, see Look Up User Security.

For more information on entering and saving data in Contributor, refer to the NUPlans Contributor Basics Manual.

Remember that using the <Enter> key or selecting an item from a dropdown menu will cause your data to be saved automatically, which will reload the page in the same way that clicking the Recalculate icon does. If you Commit or Submit your budget, your data is also saved.

• If you have unsaved data and attempt to close the Contributor window, NUPlans will prompt you to save your data.
• Note that if your data is still in black font (if you did not tab or click in another cell) you will not get a warning and will lose that cell’s data.
• If you choose OK (the default), your data is saved and the window is closed.
• If you choose Cancel your data will not be saved and the window is closed, so you will lose your changes.

Data Entry

• When you enter data in NUPlans Web your changes display in a green font once you tab or click in another cell. This indicates the data is unsaved.
• To save your work:
  · Click the Recalculate button in the toolbar, or the Recalculate or Refresh button on the page, if one exists.
  · Selecting an item from a dropdown menu also automatically recalculates and saves your work.
  · In addition, if you navigate to another tab in NUPlans Web, and then click back on the tab where you made changes, recalculation occurs.
  · Recalculating causes the data to be calculated for portions of the page affected by your changes, and those values will turn black and your work will be saved to the database.
  · Use of the <Enter> key in NUPlans Web does not save your data.
• Data in NUPlans Web does not need to be Committed or Submitted, as saving makes the data publicly available in the database.  

• NUPlans Web opens a separate tab within the NUPlans Web page for each view or form.
• Each tab has a small x that can be used to close it.
• You can also close active forms by using the Close options in the Actions Menu in the toolbar.
• In the image below, Add Account to String is the active form, indicated by the white shading in the tab title:
  

• If you have unsaved data on your active form and attempt to close the form within NUPlans Web, you will be warned that you have unsaved data.
• If you choose "OK", your data is not saved and the tab is closed, so you will lose your changes.
• If you choose "Cancel" your data is not saved and the tab will not be closed, so you can continue working.

All Forms in NUPlans Web

• If you attempt to close the browser window or tab, NUPlans will prompt you to confirm you want to end your session or that you want to leave the page.
• If you choose "Leave this page" (the default), the browser will close, and if you have unsaved data, your changes will be lost.
• NUPlans Web does not warn you that you have unsaved data in this case.
• If you choose "Stay on this page" your browser window will not close, and you can continue working.
• If you click the Log Out link in the upper right corner of the page and you have unsaved data, you will not be prompted to save and will lose any unsaved data.

NUFinancials data is imported into Forecasting following the close of each month in NUFinancials. Data is loaded into NUPlans Forecasting for the closed month.

• When data is imported, the closed month becomes the open forecasting period in NUPlans Forecasting.
• Users can only enter a forecast within the open forecasting period.
• The monthly close calendar is available on the Financial Operations web site.

August Forecasting Period

• Since August is the close of the fiscal year, only limited forecasting data entry will be supported.
• Authorized users will be able to enter performance adjustments, all funds performance input, and comments. No other data entry will be allowed.
• All chart string forecasts will default to "Total Actuals."
• More information: Forecasting in the August Period

September Forecasting Period

• During the September forecasting period, August forecast data can still be entered, and August of the previous fiscal year will be the default forecasting period.
• More information: Forecasting in the September Period
• The forecasting period will default to the current fiscal year once October financial data is imported in early November.

Budget groupings in NUPlans have parent/child relationships.

Most users are only authorized for child budget groupings, but it’s possible to be authorized for a parent, which also allows access to all children.

• For example, in the screenshot below, Training Group A is the parent of Training 001 through Training 004.

• Forecasting can only be done at the child (lower) level.
• Data at the parent level is always read-only.
• The following forms allow use of parent budget groupings to update forecasting data:
  • Preload Adjustments
  • Preload Forecasting Method
  • Update Specific Reports
  • Submit Budget Grouping
• Use of parent budget groupings in other forms may cause errors.

Salary placeholders and tuition programs created in NUPlans Forecasting are available for use immediately.
If you do not immediately see these items available in input views, it may be due to browser caching.

• You may use the Subset Editor to search for the added items.
• More details about using the Subset Editor are available in the NUPlans Forecasting Basics reference, on page 8.
• Or, save your work and log out of NUPlans Web, and then log back in.

Chart String Forecasting, Summary Forecasting, and many reports support filtering data by the management level attribute from NUFinancials.
Any management level attribute changes in NUFinancials are imported into NUPlans Forecasting nightly.

• If the management level for a chart string changes, any forecasting data already entered for that chart string will no longer be available.
• You may reenter forecasting data for the open forecasting period once the management level is updated in NUPlans overnight.

Standard views and forms are published in NUPlans Web in the Applications directory.

• To temporarily modify published views, either select from published dimension subsets (prefixed with a dash (-)) or, use the Subset Editor to create a more specific subset.
• More information about modifying views is available in Manipulate Forecasting Views beginning on page 4.
• Advanced users may use the Views directory to open other/alternate views, or to access private saved views. Published views are prefixed with a dash (-).
• Users should not open views prefixed with a “z” as those are for system processing only.

• myHR data in Comp Input includes annualized salary data from myHR as well as payroll data (including encumbrances) for existing employees as of March 31.
  • The myHR annual rate is included on all funding lines that have non-zero distribution percentages.
• Vacancy data from myHR is also included in Comp Input.
  • Vacant positions appear at the bottom of the employee list.
  • A position that is currently vacant but had an incumbent earlier this year will appear as a vacant position in addition to the position appearing for the previous incumbent.
  • The annual rate for vacancies represents the budgeted salary for the vacant positions. The budgeted salary appears on all funding lines.
  • Vacancies were brought into NUPlans on March 31, based on those with an employee status of A (active), P (leave with pay), or L (leave of absence).
  • It excludes these salary plans: Student (STU), Graduate Medical Education (GME), Temporary (TMP), and Miscellaneous (NWU) and these position categories: Adjust (ADJ), University College (UNC), Contributed Services (CNT), and Health System Clinicians (HSC). In addition a vacancy without any funding will not appear in NUPlans.

• During Budget Prep, NUFinancials budget and actuals (including encumbrance) data is as of March close of the current fiscal year.
• Data from myHR is as of March 31.
• Grant projects include those with an end date on or after April 1.
• All imported amounts are rounded to not include decimals, so may differ slightly from source data.
• Budget and grant chart strings in NUPlans are updated nightly based on activity in NUFinancials.
• However, previously imported data such as historical budget/actuals amounts will not change.

Budget groupings in NUPlans have parent/child relationships.

Most users are only authorized for child budget groupings, but it’s possible to be authorized for a parent, which also allows access to all children.

• For example, in the screenshot below, Training Group A is the parent of Training 001 through Training 004.

• Budgeting should only be done at the child (lower) level.
• When entering data, you must take ownership at the lower level and enter data there.
• If you're not sure which level you've taken ownership of, check the Contributor dashboard.
  • In the screenshot below, the value in the Ownership Node column doesn't match the value in the Name column.
  • This indicates ownership was taken at a higher level than the budget grouping itself, i.e. at the parent level.

If you have taken ownership at the parent level, even if you are not encountering errors, you must take action to remove your parent budget grouping ownership.

Refer to Known Issues (below) for more information on how to resolve this issue, under the following topics:

• Commit and Submit Icons Unavailable
• Entered Data Disappears

• NUPlans offers several options to drill from a cell in Contributor to more detailed or reference data.
• To see if a drill option is available, right-click on the cell and if the Drill option is not grayed out, you can drill to additional information which will open in a new window.
• More information on drills in NUPlans: NUPlans Contributor Basics Manual 

• Placeholder budgeting provides five default/generic placeholders (New Employee 01 - 05).
• Additional customized placeholders can be added in NUPlans Web.
• The Add Placeholder Data Websheet tab allows you to select one placeholder and as many lines as you'd like.
• The Add Placeholder Data – Simple view allows you to select one placeholder, and will show one line for that placeholder.
• The Add Placeholder Data view shows five lines per placeholder and department/project (security element).

• If you are using one of the Add Placeholder Data views and you have taken ownership yet cannot enter or view placeholders, you may need to change the Context. Verify that the HR_DeptProject selected is in the budget grouping you’re working in. If not, click the arrow on the right side of the dimension and select any chart string in your budget grouping.

• To add more lines, use the Edit Placeholder Data view. It only shows lines that already have data, however you can use the Add Line? column to add up to 45 total lines per placeholder and security element.

• You can review the End Date column in the Comp Input view to see the grant funding period, to determine how this affects your employees.

If you have added accounts or salary placeholders in NUPlans Web and don’t see them in Contributor, verify you added the account and/or placeholder in the correct NUPlans Web application. Additions must be made in the nu_planning_FYxx application in NUPlans Web. Accounts or placeholders added in nu_forecasting will not appear in Contributor.

You may receive errors such as:

• Operation Failed
• System has encountered a problem while handling your request.
• The page was not displayed because the request entity is too large.
• A process (such as updating reports) may appear to stop running, but the page doesn’t look updated.
• A view or form has been opening for a long time, and hasn’t finished loading.

If you encounter these errors:

• Log out of NUPlans and then log back in.
• If you continue to have problems after logging back in, close the browser completely before logging back in.
• When you reopen NUPlans the problem should be resolved.
• If you continue to encounter problems, try resetting your cookies and cache.
• If you receive these kinds of errors while running a process (such as updating reports or adding an account) it’s possible the process completed without an error so there may be no further action required.
• Otherwise if your process did not complete, you should be able to do it now.
• If you are updating reports, remember to check the report update time for the budget grouping to verify if the process to update reports completed successfully.
• Remember that trying to view large amounts of data at once can cause views to load slowly, and can negatively impact other system users as well.
  • Modify your view to narrow it as much as possible.
  • More information about modifying views is available in Manipulate Forecasting Views beginning on page 4.
  • Also, follow the guidelines to use Published Views and Subsets.

If you encounter errors exporting data, review the following:

1. The Slice to Excel functionality is not enabled in NUPlans. Instead choose Snapshot to Excel when you export data.
2. Exporting may give you an option to select dimension titles to export. NUPlans defaults to not selecting dimension titles, which is the recommended option. If you choose dimension titles to export and encounter errors, try the export without selecting any dimension titles.

3. If exporting doesn’t work, make sure File Downloads are enabled on your browser.
   1. First, make sure you have added NUPlans as a trusted site by adding the URL https://nuplans.northwestern.edu via Tools > Internet Options > Security > Trusted Sites > Sites.
   2. Second, click the Custom level… button and scroll to the Downloads section. Make sure all three download options are enabled.

You may experience an Excel crash when exporting a form to Excel with a button on it and attempting to save the file using Excel 2010 or 2013.

To avoid the crash, use one of these options after exporting:

Option A: Save the file and close it. Then reopen the file and make any necessary modifications.
Option B: Save the file as an Excel 97-2003 (.xls) file.
Option C: Remove the button using one of these methods:

a. If possible, delete the tab with the button.
b. If you need information on the tab, delete the button, following the steps in System Tips > Exporting to Excel.

• NUPlans will display invalid numbers (such as the result of dividing by zero) as #N/A in cube views.
• The same data will display as #VALUE in forms such as reports.

In Internet Explorer a spinning cursor sometimes continues to spin even after the current action has completed. Any slight movement of the mouse will correct this problem.

If you encounter errors logging into or using Contributor on a Mac, try the following:

1. Verify your version of Firefox or Chrome. Supported browser information is available in the NUPlans Login Job Aid
2. If you are using a supported browser version and still encounter problems, try another browser such as Safari.

Contributor Dashboard Display Issues

In some cases the Contributor dashboard page may display incorrectly (see below).

If the dashboard looks like the top image below and you don’t see a list of budget groupings to open on the right side of the page (bottom image), follow these instructions:

1. On the left side of the page, right-click on the budget grouping you want to open.

2. Then select the only item available in the menu, Open NUPlans Contributor node.

Incorrect Display:

Correct Display:

If you are authorized to edit or submit a budget grouping, you can enter data in white cells, but are unable to click the Commit or Submit icons:

1. This occurs if you have taken ownership at the parent level, instead of the budget grouping level.
2. Close all open budget grouping windows, and open the parent budget grouping.
3. Commit your data for the parent budget grouping and close the budget grouping window.
4. In the Contributor dashboard release your ownership of the parent budget grouping.
5. Take ownership and continue budgeting for the appropriate child (lower level) budget grouping.
6. You will be able to commit or submit your budget for all lower level budget groupings of the parent.

If you are authorized to edit or submit a budget grouping, you can enter data in white cells, but some of the data you enter disappears and you do not receive an error:

1. This occurs if you have taken ownership at the parent level, instead of the budget grouping level.
2. Commit your data for the parent budget grouping and close the budget grouping window.
3. In the Contributor dashboard release your ownership of the parent budget grouping.
4. Take ownership and continue budgeting for the appropriate child (lower level) budget grouping.
5. You will be able to commit or submit your budget for all lower level budget groupings of the parent.

If you are unable to open a view in Contributor or encounter an error about maximum memory, the system may be attempting to display a view that is too large. Follow these steps to resolve the problem by deleting the view that is too large (deleting the view will not delete any of your data).

1. In NUPlans Web go to nu_planning_FYxx for the fiscal year application where you are encountering the error in Contributor.
2. Expand the Views directory on the left side, and scroll down to find the appropriate cube, based on the view where the error occurred (see below), and click the arrow to the left of the cube name to expand the cube:
   • Comp Input, Add Placeholder Data – Simple, Add Placeholder Data, Edit Placeholder Data, Comp Totals: Compensation Position Input
   • Comp Summary: Compensation Summary
   • Comp Fund Overview: Comp Fund Overview
   • Grant Input: Grant Input
   • Comp Budget by Chart String: Compensation Chart String Input
   • Any of the fund input views: All Funds Budget Input
3. Look for a view where the icon looks like this: , the name begins with “CTB” and the name ends with a long text string that includes the budget grouping ID at the end, for the budget grouping window where the error occurred.
4. Right-click on that view and then select Delete.
5. A window will pop up to confirm you want to delete the view – select Yes.
6. Now you can return to Contributor and open the view without a problem.