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Harvard Cybersecurity Advisory: Deepfakes

March 14, 2024

When it comes to digital media, seeing is no longer believing. Using “deepfake” technologies, it is now possible to convincingly mimic another person’s appearance and voice in real time. Cybercriminals are taking advantage of this new capability to target large institutions for financial gain. 

Organizations have reported incidents where executives are deepfaked in live Zoom meetings, leading to a request to transfer funds. To help protect Harvard against similar attempts, below are some tips to identify and report deepfakes.

What to watch for:

  • Unusual phone calls or videos appearing to come from trusted colleagues or senior executives leading to a financial transaction request.
  • Unexpected requests to make a purchase, a funds transfer, or an update to accounts payable information.
  • A sense of urgency or secrecy in the request.

What to do: 

  • If in doubt, stop and consult with others before proceeding.
  • Verify the request by contacting the purported requester independently using a separate, trusted, pre-established communication channel, where you initiate the conversation.
  • Report any suspected deepfake fraud attempts to the Information Security and Data Privacy (ISDP) Office.

Thank you for your vigilance and for helping to keep Harvard safe and secure. If you have questions, please contact your PrivSec Officer.

University Records Management Workshops

March 14, 2024

Need help minimizing data retention, mitigating risk, and advising users on what should be saved for the long term (and how)? Harvard University Archives’ Records Management Services (HUA/RMS) has done the heavy lifting by developing a University-mandated policy and procedures to support your efforts.

We offer free 1.5 hour online workshops for Harvard staff that provide tools and advice on how long to keep your systems’ records and data, how to store them most efficiently, and what to do when you (and the data owners) no longer need them. Whether you feel like you’re drowning in information, have concerns about managing/owning PII, or are worried about keeping records too long, or not long enough, our workshops are for you.

Upcoming Workshops

Learn how to implement the OGC-approved General Records Schedule for records and data commonly found across University offices (including IT documentation), manage both physical and electronic formats, and properly dispose of records with due diligence. Our training is designed in parallel with PrivSec and RMAS guidance and standards.

See also: Live, March 2024

Website and Onboarding Courses for Research Administrators

March 14, 2024

You spoke, we listened! In January, the Office for Sponsored Programs (OSP) launched a new website for training resources and a list of recommended onboarding courses:

Our website houses updated content with a variety of learning materials, including training guidance for all levels, training roadmaps, and a new training mascot – Ozzy OSPrey. The site will house new courses later this Spring as we expand our content further.

Please direct all questions, comments, and feedback to kyli_white@harvard.edu.

Contract Management Services

March 14, 2024

Are you interested in outsourcing your contract management and review needs? The Office of Contract Management offers fee-based services to the Harvard Community including prioritized drafting, redlining, negotiating of contracts, contract entry into and management through the University-wide Buy-to-Pay contract management tool, and more.

For more information, please contact Elizabeth Copeland at Elizabeth_Copeland@Harvard.edu.

Hotel and Events Contracts Training - Available for Enrollment

March 14, 2024

If you are planning an event off-campus, the Hotel and Events Contract Training course offered by the Office of Contract Management is a great introduction to the contract issues that you will want to think about. We will cover key contract areas for this industry as well as provide some business and negotiation tips.

The class will be held over Zoom on Tuesday, April 9th, from 11:00am – 12:30pm.

Please visit the Harvard Training Portal for more information about the course and/or to enroll.

Buy-to-Pay Contract Manager Training Opportunity and Guidance

March 14, 2024

If you are interested in learning how to effectively manage your contracts, you are encouraged to attend the Buy-to-Pay Contract Management Training. This virtual, instructor-led course will teach you about the many helpful features in Buy-to-Pay's contract management tool and how to use them.

This class will be held over Zoom on Wednesday, April 10th from 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm. Please visit the Harvard Training Portal for more information about the course and/or to enroll.

Additional contract management training and guidance is available on the Buy-to-Pay website. 

Processing Commencement Prizes and Awards Training Opportunity

March 14, 2024

This virtual course, led by subject matter specialists from the Financial Policy Office and the International Payee Tax Compliance Office, will review the differences between prizes, grants, allowances, fellowships, and student business expenses.They will also discuss how to process these payments accurately and the tax and reporting implications of each payment type. There will also be time during the session for Q&A.

The class will be held over Zoom on Wednesday, April 17th, from 1:00pm – 2:00pm.

Please visit the Harvard Training Portal for more information about the course and/or to enroll.

Sprintax Calculus Updates

March 14, 2024

This article includes the latest updates for Sprintax Calculus, our new tax determination software that went live on January 16th.

Suppliers who have taken NO ACTION in Sprintax Calculus will have their Buy-to-Pay (B2P) registration returned after 7 business days. The Supplier Onboarding Team will return the B2P registration to the supplier requestor along with a comment that can be viewed in in the supplier profile history.

The 1042-S Form for calendar year 2023 is available in Sprintax Calculus for payees who have consented to electronic distribution. You can find more information on how to retrieve the 1042s on our website.  Payees that did not consent to electronic 1042-S Form delivery  will receive a paper 1042-S form sent to the address on file in Sprintax Calculus.

Please be aware Sprintax has two software systems:

  • Sprintax Calculus: Harvard’s tax determination software for international payees which considers the immigration status and the type of payment being made (looking forward).
  • Sprintax Returns:  A tax preparation software purchased by an individual that assists with annual tax filing with the IRS and the States for the prior year (looking back to last year). Harvard-sponsored visa holders may wish to view the Tax Filing Overview at the Harvard International Office for additional information.

For more information about Sprintax Calculus and how to reach us, please visit the International Payee Tax Compliance website.

See also: Live, Tax, March 2024

Upcoming PeopleSoft HR Enhancements

March 14, 2024

In case you missed it,  the following change went into effect in PeopleSoft on March 1st.

Label Change on Quick Hire Forms

What is changing?

The ‘Eligible to work in U.S.’ check box at the top of the form is being renamed ‘Eligible to be Hired?’

Current Label

Current lable in Peoplesoft that show the Eligible to work in U.S. checkbox

New Label

New lable in Peoplesoft that show the Eligible to be hired?checkbox

Why rename the checkbox?

We are renaming the checkbox to more accurately represent what it indicates, which is that the employee has the proper employment verification forms to be hired in the position listed on the form. For most paid appointments, this currently means that they have completed their I-9 verification process and are eligible to work in the US. However, in some cases, such as unpaid appointments, an I9 is not required and the checkbox indicates that the person can be hired but does not indicate that they can work in the US.

Why now?

Currently, both section 1 and section 2 of the I-9 form must be completed to hire in a paid appointment in PeopleSoft. In the near future, we are looking at making a change and allowing the hiring transaction to be submitted in advance of the hire date and as soon as section 1 is completed. More information will be shared about this soon.

Research Administration & Compliance Systems - March 2024 Update

March 14, 2024

This article includes the latest updates for the following sub-set of Research Administration & Compliance Systems: GMAS, Research Administration and Compliance Reporting, ecrt, and Research Administration Portal.

GMAS

GMAS has a successful release this past weekend. The release focus was updating all of the signature screens to the new GMAS interface as well as continuing to convert GMAS requests

Details about the release can be found in the March 2024 GMAS Release notes.

Should you have any inquiries or require assistance regarding GMAS, please do not hesitate to contact us at contactgmas@harvard.edu.

Research Administration and Compliance Reporting

The Research Administration and Compliance (RACR) team recently released a set of minor changes to the new executive dashboards available in HART. along with updates to data available through the Harvard Data Warehouse. Visit the support site for a full list of updates.

We encourage you to visit and bookmark the new landing page to access research administration information. The team will continue to build out components of this page to enhance navigation in HART.

We are also continuing to build our support and portfolio guidance materials!

Please visit the RACR help site or contact RACRsupport@harvard.edu to learn more.

ecrt

FY24 Q2 Quarterly Project Certifications will be due on Thursday, March 7
Review Period January 16 - February 5
Certification Period February 6 - March 7

Keep an eye on the OSP Page for additional ecrt news.

Research Administration Portal

The Research Administration Portal was recently updated to include a new page “Project Teams”, which helps to display all project team members by Principal Investigator, for easier onboarding, off-boarding, and general team management. Additionally, as part of release 2.4 scheduled for March 21, a “Project Relationships” tab will be present which will give users a way to view all related projects grouped by a main project. Please make sure to visit the Admin Portal support site for additional information.

Note that the Portal includes certain projects, protocols, and related tasks from HMS-IACUC, COMS, Agreements-DUA, Data Safety, ESTR, GMAS, statements from ecrt, certifications from OAIR, and assigned courses from the Harvard Training Portal.

Grant managers also can access To Do items assigned to them, as well as To Do items and projects and protocols for the researchers they support.

The team is preparing for another exciting release, scheduled for March 21. Please visit the Portal help site or contact research_adminportal_help@harvard.edu to learn more about upcoming releases and how you can use the Portal to support your work.

Administrative Reporting and Analytics Program (ARAP)/Harvard Analytics and Reporting Tool (HART) Update

March 14, 2024

This article provides the following updates: HART by the numbers for February 2024, the HART Release for March 2024, ABCD HART Community of Practice Updates, and additional user resources for HART.

HART by the Numbers February 2024

  • 3: Average query time to run in seconds (A one-second increase over February 2023)
  • 1,819: Average # of rows in the dashboard results (5% decrease over February 2023)
  • 1,839: Distinct Users logged into HART during this period (17% increase over February 2023)
  • 255,805 queries were run in February (30% increase over February 2023)

March 2024 HART Release

The March HART release is tentatively planned for Friday, March 29, 2024, at 9:30 pm to Saturday, March 30, 2024, 8 am.  In this release, there will be bug fixes and enhancements made to 1 dashboard as well as the FAS Data Hub, Finance (University-wide), and Research Administration subject areas. 

Check out the HART 3 Month Release Plan and Backlog wiki page for more information.

ABCD HART Community of Practice Updates

The ABCD HART Spring Community of Practice Meeting, A Spring Bouquet of HART Tenants, was held on Monday, March 11, 2024 via Zoom.

The Administrative Technology Services’ Reporting, Analytics, & Integrated Data Team would like to extend its deep appreciation to our HART Tenant Panelists, who did a great job at presenting information about their communities, how they are using HART, their challenges, and their encouraging roadmaps for the future:

Kaitlyn Santa Lucia, Director of Administrative Systems Consulting, HUIT Administrative Technology Services, FAS Data Hub Tenancy

Alisa Jahns, Associate Director, HUIT Administrative Technology Services Research Administration, Research Administration Tenancy

Allison Powers, Senior Systems Librarian, HUIT Library Technology Services, Library Tenancy

Richard Wells, Lead Engineer, Administrative Technology Services Applications Systems, Harvard University Health Services, HUHS Tenancy

The meeting recording and the PowerPoint are now available at the ABCD HART Community of Practice Wiki Site and on the Teams Site.

Our next meeting will be held in early summer.  In the meantime, if you are working with HART Self-Service and have any questions, please send them via the HART Self-Service Request Form.

Additional Resources for HART

CAPS Blackout Period and Oracle Forms to CPATH Migration

March 14, 2024

Due to the CAPS to CPATH migration that will go live on July 15, the form submittal requirements and CAPS blackout period for this year have been adjusted to allow for timely form approval and to ensure a smooth transition between the two service platforms.

Please note the following:

  1. PP initiate will be disabled in Capital Planning at Harvard (CPATH) EOD on Friday, May 17, 2024. Therefore, PPs needing approval by June 30th need to be submitted to CADM before that deadline.
  2. CAs must also be submitted by EOD on Friday, May 17, 2024. Any CA submitted to CADM after this date will be returned to Tub for CA funding request cancellation. If a CA is needed before May 17th, plan new PPs accordingly (suggestion to get PPs submitted in April). This includes Soft Closes as these are initiated by a revised CA.
  3. All Construction Close Request (CCR) forms completed by EOD Thursday,  June 13, 2024, will be processed, and CIP activities will be disabled for FY24.   Only approved forms will be migrated. The CAPS Preparer role will be disabled on Friday, June 14, 2024, preventing the ability to create new forms.
  4. The CAPS blackout period will begin on Friday, June 14th; all CAPS workflow will be suspended during this period. CAPS Preparer Roles will be disabled, preventing the ability to create new forms (NOTE: this is different than prior years when tubs could prepare the forms and submit them to CADM to have the form available to CADM when the blackout period ended).
  5. The CAPS to CPATH migration will go live in CPATH on Monday, July 15, 2024. As of July 15th, the PP/CA/CCR forms will no longer be available in CAPS and can only be accessed from CPATH.

There can be NO forms in workflow during the migration period from June 30 – July 14.  Any forms that may be lingering will be returned with the request to cancel the form funding request.  The tub will be able to resubmit the funding request in CPATH upon transition completion on July 15.

See also: Live, CAPS, March 2024

CPATH Migration – User Access Testing (UAT)

March 14, 2024

Users (“CAPS Working Group”) that participated in UAT last fall (Project Proposal) will be receiving communications from HUIT outlining the following Schedule for UAT.

UAT Dates for CAPS Working Group

Tuesday, April 2 – Initial meeting outlining the program.

Week of 4/22 – 4/29 (Monday – Monday)

  • Monday 4/22: Kick-Off - Set expectations; Review Test Scripts; Q&A
  • Tuesday 4/23 – Friday 4/26: Working Group Testing
  • Wednesday 4/24: Optional Office hours with HUIT Transition team for assistance
  • Friday 4/26:  Optional Office hours with HUIT Transition team for assistance
  • Monday 4/29 – Friday 5/17:  Review Feedback/Results from testing and UAT follow-up
See also: Live, CAPS, CPATH, March 2024

CPATH Form Training

March 14, 2024

In preparation for the CAPS to CPATH migration's OPENING DAY of July 15th, user training will be made available.

Make note of the following dates/times that the training will be offered:

  • Tuesday June 18: 9:30 am – 12:00 am
  • Thursday June 27:1:00 pm – 3:30pm
  • Wednesday July 10: TBD

Please continue to look for information updates on this exciting change, including training details, on the CAPS WIKI or through various email communications.

See also: Live, CAPS, CPATH, March 2024

UAT Dates for CAPS Working Group

March 14, 2024

Please make note of the following UAT dates for the CAPS working group.

Tuesday, April 2 – Initial meeting outlining the program.

Week of 4/22 – 4/29 (Monday – Monday)

  • Monday 4/22: Kick-Off - Set expectations; Review Test Scripts; Q&A
  • Tuesday 4/23 – Friday 4/26: Working Group Testing

 

See also: Live, CAPS, March 2024