BEN Financials users need to prepare in December and January for several changes
coming to the Penn Marketplace. In brief:
All Marketplace users need to complete mandatory online training by December 18 in order to access the enhanced Marketplace being introduced In January 2004.
Marketplace users interested in developing chemical compound requirements online and searching for products containing them should have ChemDraw software installed on their desktops by December 22.
All BEN Financials users need to have new versions of JInitiator and MarkView software installed by December 22.
Netscape will no longer be supported for accessing BEN Financials or the Penn Marketplace as of December 22.
Windows ME and Windows 98 platforms will no longer be supported for BEN Financials or the Penn Marketplace as of January 2004, and support for Windows NT will end on June 30, 2004.
Please read the details below to ensure that your access to BEN Financials and/or the Penn
Marketplace will continue without interruption.
=== MARKETPLACE CHANGES====
An enhanced version of the Penn Marketplace will be introduced on January 5, 2004. It will offer
Products from over 70 of the University's most commonly used suppliers and Introduce new features
such as individual and University "favorite lists", quick order capability, and improved search functionality
to further reduce the time required to create a requisition. ChemDraw, an optional piece of Software
that allows you to develop chemical compound, oligo and column Requirements online and search the
Marketplace for products containing them, will be also available.
=== MANDATORY MARKEPLACE TRAINING ===
All users with "Requisitioner" or "Purchase Order Manager" Responsibilities will be required to
complete training to maintain access to BEN Buys in January 2004. The training is self-paced
and designed to be completed entirely on-line. It will consist of web-based "Knowledge Building"
slides, an on-line quiz, and hands-on system exercises.
Training will be available on November 17 and will last through December 18, 2003. You
will receive details on how to access the online training system in a few weeks. To help
ensure that users complete their required training on a timely basis, status reports will be
sent weekly to all Senior Business Officers to assist them with monitoring the progress of
users in their Schools and Centers.
Training requirements:
You must complete the online training by December 18, 2003 to ensure
January 5, 2004 access to BEN Buys and the enhanced Penn Marketplace. If you
do not complete training by the 18th, your Requisitioner or PO Manager responsibilities
will be disabled effective January 5, 2004.
PLEASE NOTE: If you do not complete the online training by the December
18th deadline, the turnaround time to re-enable your access next year (once you ultimately
satisfy the training requirement) cannot be guaranteed.
You must use one of the following web browsers: Internet Explorer 6.0 SP1 for
Windows, Internet Explorer 5.x for Macintosh, or Internet Explorer 6.0 SP1 with Virtual
PC (also for Macintosh). Netscape 4.7x or any other Netscape version will NOT work.
=== DESKTOP SOFTWARE UPGRADES ===
New versions of JInitiator and MarkView, as well as the optional ChemDraw software mentioned
above, must be installed on your computer between December 1 and 22, 2003. Local Support
Providers (LSP) have been notified of the need for these upgrades; you should expect to hear
from your LSP in the next month or so about scheduling installation.
IMPORTANT: Unless you have the new version of JInitiator on your computer, you will
be unable to use certain components of BEN Financials after December 22, including the Purchasing
and General Ledger applications. We will be reminding LSPs (and you) about this deadline in the
weeks to come.
=== CHANGES TO SUPPORTED BROWSERS & OPERATING SYSTEMS ===
Beginning December 22, 2003, Netscape will no longer be supported for accessing BEN Financials and the
Penn Marketplace. The supported browsers will be: Internet Explorer 6.0 SP1 for Windows, Internet
Explorer 5.x for Macintosh, or Internet Explorer 6.0 SP1 with Virtual PC (also for Macintosh).
Starting in January, 2004, Windows ME and Windows 98 will no longer be supported for accessing BEN
Financials and the Penn Marketplace. In addition, support for Windows NT will also be phased out on
June 30, 2004.
=== FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ===
Additional information can be found in the FAQs at:
http://www.finance.upenn.edu/ben/benfin/faqs/launch/.
