SAP FICO Blueprinting
SAP FICO Blueprinting
SAP FICO Blueprinting
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Finance Team
Date of creation:
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Date of the last changes:
Version:
Final
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Signature Consulting
Table of Contents
A.
Organization__________________________________________________________________________ 10
1.
2.
Procurement _________________________________________________________________________ 22
2.1. Purchasing Group __________________________________________________________________ 22
2.2. Purchasing Organization _____________________________________________________________ 23
3.
4.
5.
6.
Treasury ____________________________________________________________________________ 34
6.1. Treasury _________________________________________________________________________ 34
7.
8.
Asset Accounting______________________________________________________________________ 36
8.1. Depreciation area __________________________________________________________________ 37
8.2. Chart of Depreciation _______________________________________________________________ 37
8.3. Asset class________________________________________________________________________ 37
B.
Currencies ___________________________________________________________________________ 39
2.
C.
Master data___________________________________________________________________________ 40
1.
2.
Procurement _________________________________________________________________________ 60
2.1. Buyer ___________________________________________________________________________ 60
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2.2.
2.3.
2.4.
2.5.
2.6.
2.7.
2.8.
2.9.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
D.
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3.
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5.
6.
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A. Organization
1. Cross-application/central organizational units
1.1.
Client
CI Template:
1. General Explanation
All entities within the University of Tennessee system will utilize one productive client .
2. Naming Convention
1) DEV
2) TST
3) PRD
1.2.
Company
Questions:
Q:
1) Do you want to structure the company into one or more separate legal entities?
A: The University of Tennessee operates under one Employer Identification Number and
publishes one set of financial statements as a component unit of the State of Tennessee.
UHS Ventures is a related entity but has its own set of financial statements that will not be
consolidated with the University financial statements. Due to the current streamlining efforts
there may be additional related entities in the future, but they are not expected to be
consolidated within R/3. The University will have one company code.
Q:
A: No
Q:
A: One operational chart of account will be utilized because one company code will
represent the legal accounting view of the organization. A single company code can only be
assigned to one chart of accounts. The University expenditure accounts need to map on a
many to one basis to the Tennessee Higher Education Commission (THEC) chart of
accounts.
Q:
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Q:
A: Yes
CI Template:
1. General Explanation
The University of Tennessee will have a single company created in R/3.
2. Naming Convention
The University of Tennessee currently has only one company. This company will be
"UT".
3. Definition of Organizational Units
A company is an organizational unit in Accounting that represents a business
organization according to the requirements of commercial law in a particular country. In
the R/3 system, consolidation functions in financial accounting are based on companies.
A company can comprise one or more company codes.
6. Special Considerations
Although the University currently has only one company code, we need to make sure that
we do not configure the system to prohibit the creation and integration of additional
company codes in the future.
1.3.
Company Code
Questions:
Q:
1) Which legal entities (company codes) will you have and in which countries?
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A: There will be only one legal entity i.e. The University of Tennessee. (Please see
Company above).
Q:
2) What are the legal reporting requirements that these companies have to comply with?
A: The University of Tennessee must report to all its constituents under the Standards
issued by the Government Accounting Standards Board (GASB). These standards are
currently being updated and new statements 34 and 35 have to be implemented by FY 2002.
Financial accounting information is also included in the Integrated Post-secondary Education
Data System (IPED) Survey.
Q: 3) Which companies are required to use a statutory chart of accounts for reporting
purposes?
A: UT is required to report to the State of Tennessee according to the Tennessee Higher
Education Commission (THEC) Chart. The only statutory chart of accounts is the THEC
chart of accounts.
Q:
A: Yes
Q: 10) For which enterprise entities that are not independent legal entities do you require
sub ledgers (accounts payable ledger, accounts receivable ledger, asset accounting and so
on)? For example, fixed assets per strategic business unit.
A: None
CI Template:
1. General Explanation
A company code is the smallest organizational unit for which a complete self-contained
set of accounts can be drawn up for purposes of external reporting. University of
Tennessee currently operates as a single legal entity and will have a single company
code in R/3. This will not prohibit additional company codes to be added in the future.
2. Naming Convention
The University of Tennessee currently has only one company code. This company code
will be "UT".
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area "UT".
6. Special Considerations
None noted at this time
1.4.
Business Area
Questions:
Q: 1) For which enterprise entities do you wish to create individual internal balance sheets
and/or profit and loss statements or other internal reports? Please provide details of your
reporting requirements.
A: The University requires full internal balance sheets for each of its 21 budgeting entities by
fund groups. Please see list of entities. The fund groups are:
11 (Current Unrestricted)
13 (Auxiliary Unrestricted)
16 (Hospital Unrestricted)
21 (Current Restricted)
23 (Auxiliary Restricted)
26 (Hospital Restricted)
30 (Endowment)
40 (Life Income)
45 (Annuity)
51 (Unexpended Plant Funds)
52 (Plant Funds for Retirement of Indebtedness)
53 (Plant Funds for Renewal and Replacement)
54 (Invested in Plant Funds)
60 (Loans)
90 (Agency Funds)
Please see Code Support for a list of budgeting entities. Under the current streamlining plan
the number of entities may be reduced.
Q: 2) Are there entities within your enterprise that are not independent legal entities, but
that you treat as independent legal entities?
A: No.
Q: 4) Does the organization have to produce segmented financial statements for public
reporting (e.g. FAS-14 in the US)?
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A: Yes, however, the University is a governmental entity. Rather than FAS 14, the
University has a requirement to report at the fund group level and by budget entity/campus.
CI Template:
1. General Explanation
Business areas are units, within an institution, for which a balance sheet and income
statement can be produced. In higher education, business areas are typically used to
represent fund groups such as Current Unrestricted, Current Restricted, etc. for which
balance sheets and income statements are required. In addition to balance sheets by
fund groups, the University of Tennessee requires a separate internal balance sheet and
income statement for each budget entity such as Knoxville, Martin, Chattanooga, etc.
The University will have business areas that represent a unique combination of Fund
Group and Budget Entity. All existing fund groups and budget entities will be set up as
business areas. For asset and liability entries, these business areas will be entered by
users. For revenue and expenditure entries, these business areas will be automatically
defaulted from cost centers and WBS Elements.
2. Naming Convention
The naming convention for the business area the first two characters represent the
Fund Group and the third and forth characters represent the Budget Entity. For example,
business area 1301 is Current Unrestricted Auxiliary Funds (13) for Knoxville (01).
3. Definition of Organizational Units
A business area is an organizational unit within accounting that represents a separate
area of operations or responsibilities in a business organization. In higher education,
business areas are typically used to represent fund groups such as Current Unrestricted,
Current Restricted, etc. for which balance sheets and income statements are required.
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1.5.
Functional Area
Questions:
Q: 1) Do you need to structure the profit and loss statement according to functional areas
(cost of sales accounting) such as production, sales, marketing?
A: Yes
Q:
A: The University structures its P&L statement according to the following functional areas
established by NACUBO:
01 Instruction
02 Research
03 Public Service
04 Academic Support
05 Student Services
06 Institutional Support
07 Operation and Maintenance of Plant
08 Scholarships and Fellowships
09 Auxiliary Enterprises
10 Hospitals
11 Staff Benefits
12 Other Expenditure Functions
13 Service Centers
Q: 3) How do you determine functional areas? For example, do you derive them from the
cost centers?
A: Functional areas are determined by cost center or WBS element.
CI Template:
1. General Explanation
The Functional Area is an organizational unit in Accounting that classifies the
expenditures of an organization by function. The University will use functional areas to
enable reporting by function. These functional areas will be defaulted from cost centers
and WBS Elements.
2. Naming Convention
The naming convention for the functional area: Due to the fact that R/3 does not
recommend master data begin with a zero, the first character of the functional area is "1",
the second and third characters are the University of Tennessee's Function Code and the
forth character is a "0". For example, functional area 1020 is Research (Function Code
20).
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1.6.
Questions:
Q:
A: The University has a single unified budget and only one company code. As such, only
one Financial Management Area is necessary.
Q: 2) Do you require financial evaluations for individual company codes or across several
company codes?
A: Financial evaluations are needed only for one company code.
Q:
Q:
4) At which intervals do you evaluate planned and actual values (months, weeks, etc.)?
1.7.
Controlling Area
Questions:
Q: 1) Are you using one centralized controlling system or do you follow a decentralized
approach with several independent controlling systems?
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A: The University of Tennessee will be utilizing one controlling area. The controlling area
represents a closed system for cost accounting purposes. For example, internal cost
allocations cannot occur outside of a single controlling area. Additionally, a controlling area
can use only one operational chart of accounts.
Q: 2) Provided that company codes use the same chart of accounts and fiscal year variant,
which company code(s) do you want to assign to your controlling area(s)?
A: One company code will be implemented and will be assigned to the controlling area.
Q: 4) Only if you intend to use profit centers: Should your organization belong to one profit
center grouping even if you intend to use multiple controlling areas?
A: One Profit Center grouping will exist within the University of Tennessee's enterprise
controlling area.
Q: 5) If you wish to have unified Controlling, which currency or currencies are you planning
to use?
A: Only one currency will be maintained in the SAP R/3 system: US dollars.
Q:
A: US Dollars
Q:
A: One operational chart of account will be utilized because one company code will
represent the legal accounting view of the organization. A single company code can only be
assigned to one chart of accounts. The University expenditure accounts need to map on a
many-to-one basis to the Tennessee Higher Education Commission (THEC) chart of
accounts.
CI Template:
1. General Explanation
A Controlling Area is the organizational unit within an institution, used to represent a
closed system for cost accounting purposes. A controlling area may include one or more
company codes that must use the same operative chart of accounts as the controlling
area. The University of Tennessee will use only one Controlling Area UT. Company
Code UT will be assigned to Controlling Area UT
2. Naming Convention
The University of Tennessee will have a single controlling area. The controlling area will
be "UT".
3. Definition of Organizational Units
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6. Special Considerations
One controlling area with one company code assignment
7. Project Specific CI Section
N/A
1.8.
Profit Center
Questions:
Q: 1) Which criteria do you use for dividing your organization into internal areas of
responsibility?
A: The criteria are source of funding, services offered, location, and discipline.
Q: 2) Do you want to structure your profit center accounting using the cost-of-sales method
(revenue minus cost-of-sales), or using period accounting (all revenues minus all costs
incurred in the period +/- inventory changes)?
A: Period accounting
Q: 3) Can you make unique profit center assignments for the following master data:
material/plant, cost center, sales order item (validation/substitution), PSP elements, cost
objects, internal orders?
A: Cost centers and WBS elements can be assigned to unique profit centers. In addition,
profit centers may be required for income, plant, and endowment accounts by entity.
Q: 4) Besides the "true" profit centers are you using any other profit centers that render
services for various other profit centers?
A: Administrative and support departments render services to other departments.
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Q: 5) In case you need alternative internal views on your companys profits not covered yet
within the profit center standard hierarchy please specify additional groups/hierarchies for
them. (Organization Structure)
A: The standard hierarchy will be built according to the funding hierarchy. Alternative
structures will be built according to location, discipline, and services offered.
Q: 7) Are the Profit Centers (e.g. in regional classification) only charged from certain
company codes?
A: All Profit Centers are charged from one company code,
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1.9.
Plant
Questions:
Q:
1) Are all plants in the same country? List the plants and countries.
A: All plants are in the United States. There will be only one plant: The University of
Tennessee (UT).
Q:
2) Will negative Stocks be allowed in any plants? If yes, specify the plants.
A: No.
Q: 3) Do you need special plants for your maintenance work apart from the common
logistics plants?
A: Yes
Q:
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Q:
2. Naming Convention
The codes representing the campuses will be the plant codes in SAP R/3.
Knoxville
Memphis
Chattanooga
Martin
Tullahoma
6. Special Considerations
N/A
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2. Procurement
2.1.
Purchasing Group
Questions:
Q: 1) Shall purchasing groups represent individual buyers or groups of buyers? If groups of
buyers, provide a list of groups.
A: Purchasing groups will mainly represent individual buyers. However, the system must be
configured to accommodate groups as well as individual buyers.
.
Q:
A: Chattanooga:
Robert Mayes - Director
Marcene Weddington - Purchasing Agent
William Madewell- Buyer
Health Science Center (Memphis):
Steve Rowland - Director
Victor Crutchfield - Asst Director
Jo Ann Cummings - Purchasing Agent
Inez Stanfill - Purchasing Agent
Angela Patrick - Buyer
Knoxville:
Joseph Fornes - Executive Director
Dan Alexander - Assoc Exec Dir
Jerry Wade - Assoc Exec Dir
Morris Wilson - Assistant Director
Thelma Hilton - Manager
David Marks - Sr. Purchasing Agent
Lisa Pate - Buyer
Martin:
Nancy Bacon Director
Wanda Griffin - Buyer
Tullahoma:
Wilma Kane - Manager
This list is subject to change based on movement of personnel and identification of additional
non-traditional buyers not currently associated with purchasing departments.
CI Template:
1. General Explanation
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of creating the buyer code using the initials or name (intelligent logic) of the
buyer, the buyer's code will be defined in SAP R/3 as an alphanumeric code as specified
in the naming convention listed above.
6. Special Considerations
N/A
2.2.
Purchasing Organization
Questions:
Q:
A: There are established purchasing departments on the campuses that make up the
University; i.e., Knoxville, Chattanooga, Health Science Center, Martin, and the Space
Institute at Tullahoma.
Q: 2) If there is more than one department that handles all purchasing, specify which
department(s) negotiates pricing terms and conditions with your suppliers.
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A: Yes, multiple departments can negotiate terms and conditions. The departments listed
above in number 1 and below in number 3.
Q: 4) How do the departments share the task of procuring the goods and services required
by the organization?
A: Departments submit approved requisitions to purchasing for processing. Purchasing
departments take the necessary actions (i.e., Request for Quotes, Contract research, etc.) to
turn the requisitions into purchase orders. Departments receive products. Disputes are
handled jointly by the Purchasing department and the originating department. Departments
receive invoices and forward them to Accounts Payable for processing and payment.
Q:
Q:
A: All materials, supplies, equipment, and services that the University may require.
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Q:
Q:
A: Currently, there is no formal central procurement for all campuses across the system
Q:
Q: 12) For which enterprise areas do you procure materials/external services centrally? List
these materials/services.
A: The University does not procure centrally.
Q: 13) Where do you negotiate centrally agreed contracts for the purchase of
materials/services in your enterprise?
A: Each campus negotiates their own contracts; however, the contracts negotiated at one
campus may be used by other campuses.
Q:
A: Numerous, too many to list in this document. A list of contract items can be furnished.
Q:
15) Which enterprise entities can release orders against these contracts?
A: Through the use of blanket purchase order, campus departments and the Purchasing
department can issue orders against contracts.
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2. Naming Convention
Purchasing Organization will be defined as "UT".
3. Definition of Organizational Units
One purchasing organization as indicated above in number 2.
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3.1.
Sales Area
Questions:
Q: 1) Do you need to keep the sales activities of particular enterprise areas/business areas
or product groups completely separate?
A: Currently UT distinguishes billings between campuses. This is subject to change. There
is talk that some campuses will be consolidated with others.
Q: 4) How is billing handled on each campus? Is it centralized for UT, centralized for each
campus or something else?
A: For the most part, all billing is handled by the billing office on each campus. Some billing
is done by departments, specifically for research tests performed (primarily at the Memphis
campus).
Q:
3.2.
Sales organization
Questions:
Q: 1) Who is responsible for sales-related components in the material and customer master
data?
A: The person who sets up the contract. Currently that is done in the Campus Business
Office or Controller's Office.
4. Project management
Questions:
Q: 1) Will you be using the PS module? (If yes, consider the PS organizational
requirements in the overall design of the organization.)
A: Yes. PS will be used for accounting of restricted accounts. This includes grants and
contracts, gifts, endowments, agency and loan funds. In addition, plant funds will be
accounted for in PS. In addition to grants and contracts, other restricted accounts such as
loans, agency funds, gifts and endowments, annuity and life income. Funding may be from
gifts, program revenues, and transferred excess funds, endowment income, etc.
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Life income (Hiliah) is a trust with a special clause that establishes an endowment at the time
of the contributor's death. Life funds do not go through the pre-award system (no E proposal
number).
Plant funds (Verna) are broken down for future plant expenditures of construction or renewal.
Sources of funds are bonded indebtedness, excess operating funds, state appropriations,
and gifts. Not R and B accounts. Plant funds do not go through the pre-award system (no E
proposal number). Payout principle and interest. In the future we would want to use WBS
elements to collect revenue, expense, and assets (then settle these costs to the asset each
month). Currently the following accounts exist to manage plant funds:
Plant Renewal - K account is for cash set aside for future maintenance
Plant Invested - M accounts are the assets
Plant Unexpended - J accounts are Construction in Process charges
Plant ROI - K accounts are for cash set aside for debt (this is a lump of debt for many
projects which they may not want to break out in the future.)
Loan funds (??) have disbursements, collections, interest, and some write-offs. These are
currently D accounts. Loan funds do not go through the pre-award system (no E proposal
number).
Gifts are normally perpetual accounts that collect gift funds that may or may not require
financial reporting or billing. Gifts need to be distinguished from the Grants & Contracts for
financial reporting. These are currently R & B accounts. Gift funds do not go through the preaward system (no E proposal number).
Gifts funded by endowments (F accounts): Periodic income to the account comes
from the interest distribution of endowment investments (a quarterly business
process).
Gifts funded by outside sources: Anyone can give $10,000 or $10 a month that the
University can spend as a gift, or set up an endowment and invest the principle.
Account setup is done by Development Office at the campus level.
Appropriations (Suzan Thompson)
Centers of Excellence receive funding from state appropriations. These do not go through
pre-award system. Cost sharing automatic transfer. E account (cost center account) is
linked to allocation.
Chairs of Excellence receive funding from endowments held by the State. Not in pre-award
system.
Endowments are F accounts that are permanent restricted funds to hold principle amounts. If
the amount is less than $15,000, it is not an endowment. Interest gets distributed to different
funds (B accounts) so there may not be a 1:1 relationship between F and B accounts. This
may be a CO allocation or journal entry in R/3. How does F account fit into WBS
structure?? A special endowment type is Chairs of Excellence receive funding from two
sources (state appropriation and private gifts).
Agency funds (Gail and Verna) include lead trusts where the principal remains with the
donor, contractor retainage (on the vendor side), individuals undergoing transplant operations
(deposits), Department of Transportation pass-through funds where UT is the fiscal agent,
athletic tournaments, and fraternities.
On the Treasurer's report (appendix XI) there are approximately 75 active agency funds.
Many agency funds are still open and need to be closed as part of clean up.
Gail's agency funds (about 10 active accounts a year) have similar requirements to the grants
& contracts except for financial reporting (listed as separate funds because money really
belongs to agency group). A reporting requirement is to separate agency funds from
University funds because these funds are not UT expenses (UT acts as the bank). Verna's
funds may have different requirements. These are currently N (expense) & P (balance)
accounts. Gail's agency funds DO go through the pre-award system (E proposal number).
Cyndie's agency funds (about 30 active accounts a year) act as a bank holding account.
Monies and interest are held and provided back to the agencies. Funds are transferred out of
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the retainage portion of the amount owed to contractors. Money is distributed to the agency
fund from an expended plant fund each month. The University needs to be able to report the
balance in the fund of the principle money plus the interest earned minus any withdraws to
date. No billing; may need to settle from one fund to another; no cost planning; and no
indirect costs. (Currently P is the balance and N is the expense. Always a 1:1 relationship.)
These agency funds do not go through the pre-award system.
Hiliah's agency funds number about 10 active accounts a year.
Transplant agency funds might be managed by Memphis (about 10 active accounts a year).
Gifts, agency funds, and grants & contracts may want to have a lower level of detail for the
WBS structure (Level 3s).
Comments: help!
Q:
Q: 5) The object class is used for reconciliation purposes. Which object classes are relevant
for your projects?
A: None
Q: 6) The business area on a WBS element must be associated with the company code on
the WBS element. Do your projects/WBS elements span multiple business areas?
A: Yes but we have only one company code.
Q: 7) Projects cannot span more than one controlling area. Describe your accounting for
inter-company entries.
A: Only one controlling area will be used.
Q: 8) Do you want to track specific currencies on your project other than the controlling area
and company code currency?
A: No
Q: 9) It is only possible to reference one profit center on a WBS element. Do you have
reporting requirements for profit center accounting that will impact your project structure?
A: Sponsored projects and agency funds: These projects may be managed by Co-PIs who
reside in different profit centers (colleges/departments) therefore the WBS elements will be
broken down to the PI responsibility level.
Centers/Chairs: Same as G&C
There should only be one profit center for all of the other WBS structures.
CI Template:
1. General Explanation
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PS will be used for primarily the accounting of restricted accounts. This includes grants
and contracts, gifts, endowments, agency, plant, appropriation/chairs/centers, life
income, and loan funds. In addition, projects can be created for other project accounting
purposes if necessary.
2. Naming Convention
Project definitions and WBS elements will be named the same way they are currently in
UT's legacy account system - by account number. The balance account will be the
project definition and the L1 WBS and the rev/exp accounts will be the L2.
Projects
Projects are tasks with special characteristics:
They are generally complex, unique, and involve a high degree of risk.
They have precise goals that are agreed on by the University and the ordering party.
They are limited in duration and are cost and capacity intensive.
They are subject to certain quality requirements.
They are mostly of strategic importance for the company carrying them out.
WBS Elements
The individual elements represent activities within the work breakdown structure. The
elements are called work breakdown structure elements (WBS elements) in the
Project System.
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6. Special Considerations
None
7. Project Specific CI Section
Standard project (templates) will be utilized to simply the project creation process.
4.1.
Questions:
Q: 1) Do you assign a person to your WBS element other than the project manager? (If yes,
consider using the applicant to track assignments such as project sponsor, project
administrator or project accountant.)
A: To define the project type we may want to use: Grants & Contracts, Endowments, Loans,
Agency Funds, Gifts, Endowments, Plant Funds, Annuities, and Life Income.
We do not need to assign a priority to projects but could use that field in another way. See
current Grant Data Base listing for other fields that are important to track.
Sponsored projects and agency funds: In our current system, the PI, responsible person
(usually dept head), and Controller's Office or Campus Business Office accountant are
assigned to each project. UT would also like to assign the departmental bookkeeper and preaward administrator to each project.
Centers/Chairs: Needs will be covered by the grant database listing.
Plant funds: The project manager for most plant fund projects is the Director of Facilities
Planning. Other smaller, less complex projects could be handled by administrators, the IT
dept. etc.
Loans: Loans do not belong to an individual but to a campus. The Bursar for each campus
would be the responsible person for a loan fund.
Endowments/Life Income: These are managed by the Treasurer's Office investment group.
The funds belong to the overall University. The Treasurer would be the responsible person
for each fund.
4.2.
Questions:
Q: 1) Do you assign responsible people (project managers) to your WBS elements? (If yes,
use the "Responsible person" field. If you use this field in the project definition, the WBS
elements inherit the value entered there.)
A: Sponsored projects and agency funds: The official responsible person(s) are usually the
Principal Investigator (project manager) and the Department Head or Dean. We would also
like to assign the departmental bookkeeper, Controller's Office or Campus Business Office
accountant, and pre-award administrator to each project (WBS element).
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5. Financial Accounting
5.1.
Chart of Accounts
Questions:
Q:
A: University of Tennessee will use one chart of accounts for all entities. We currently have
one company code. If company codes were added, they would use the same chart of
accounts.
Q:
2) How many natural accounts will each chart of accounts contain (estimated)?
A: Approximately 500
Q:
Q:
A: The Chart of Accounts will need to be approved by the Controller for the University.
Q:
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Q:
7) Which additional languages do you wish to use for your charts of accounts?
A: None
Q:
2. Naming Convention
The University of Tennessee will have one chart at this time named "UT".
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follows:
Assets will be 100000 through 199999
Liabilities will be 200000 through 299999
Fund Balance will be 300000 through 399999
Expenditures will be 400000 through 499999
Revenues will be 700000 through 799999
The Tennessee Higher Education Commission Chart (THEC) of accounts to which UT
maps Expenditure objects may be provided by the R/3 functionality know as "Country
Chart".
4. Assignment of Organizational Units
Refer to question number 1 General Explanation.
6. Special Considerations
The University's legacy chart is fragmented into three tables and "cost center" attributes
for income (see General Explanation for details). The University will have to test the
impact of merging the legacy equivalent chart tables and attributes into a single table on
external and internal reporting.
The University currently permits departments to use unassigned codes freely on income
transactions. Since an unassigned code does not exist in Code Support, there is no text
translation/validation. This latter functionality will not be supported in the University's R/3
chart of Accounts and a different method will need to be used. For possible alternatives
see "Revenue and cost controlling".
The University currently permits departments to add two additional digits to expense
objects for there own purposes. This is similar to user revenue code and we will need to
determine a method to accommodate this need.
The University will need to determine if the proposed R/3 chart will comply with the
requirements of GASB statements 33, 34, and 35.
7. Project Specific CI Section
NA
6. Treasury
6.1.
Treasury
Questions:
Q:
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Q:
Q:
Q:
Q:
7. Enterprise Controlling
7.1.
Dimensions
Questions:
Q:
A: [ ] Company Consolidation
[X] Business Area Consolidation
[X] Profit Center Consolidation
[ ] Something else
Q:
A: N/A
7.2.
Currencies (Consolidation)
Questions:
Q:
A: US dollars
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8. Asset Accounting
Questions:
Q:
A: Equipment: one
Buildings: one
Land: one
CI Template:
1. General Explanation
Organization units in Asset Accounting are the Chart of Depreciation, Depreciation Area,
and Asset Classes (with account determination).
2. Naming Convention
See number 3 below
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8.1.
Depreciation area
Questions:
Q: 1) Is there a distinction necessary between book depreciation (for external balance
sheet) and tax values (for a tax balance sheet)?
A: No
Q: 2) Do you require additional parallel valuations for your assets, e.g. for consolidated
valuation, for cost accounting purposes, or for statutory reasons? If so, please specify
A: Equipment, Buildings, and Infrastructure: Book, tax, and F&A can be the same.
Q: 5) Do you need to record depreciation for purposes other than book depreciation?
Accounting depreciation? Special reserves for special depreciation?
A: Equipment: Using book depreciation for the F&A rate proposal.
Buildings: Plan to use book depreciation
Land: N/A
Q: 6) Do you want the values for these other viewpoints to be derived from the book
depreciation area or another depreciation area (for example, the cost accounting depreciation
area can be derived from indexed book depreciation values)?
A: Equipment: The values must be the same.
Buildings: The values must be the same.
8.2.
Chart of Depreciation
Questions:
Q:
A: Only USA
Q: 2) Are there any statutory asset valuation requirements that would involve parallel
valuation in your financial accounting?
A: All Assets: No
8.3.
Asset class
Questions:
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Q:
1) Describe how your fixed assets are structured in the balance sheet?
A: Assets are categorized in the following areas: land, buildings, improvement (other than
building), equipment, library holdings, livestock.
Q: 2) How do you classify your fixed assets at the moment? How do you intend to classify
your assets in the future?
A: Asset Class 1: Land (not depreciable)
Asset Class 2: Land Improvements (16 years)
Asset Class 3: Buildings (10 to 80 years)
Asset Class 4: Assets under Construction (AuC) for Building (not depreciable)
Asset Class 5: Asset under Construction (AuC) for Equipment (not depreciable)
Asset Class 6: Sensitive Equipment (100% depreciation immediately)
Asset Class 7: Infrastructure (5-50 years)
Asset Class 8: Equipment (5+ years)
Asset Class 9: Agricultural Machinery (?)
Asset Class 10: Vehicles (4-12 years)
Asset Class 11: Library Holdings (not depreciable)
Asset Class 12: Software (amortization)
Asset Class 13: Computers & Peripherals
Asset Class 14: Works of Art & Historical Treasures (not depreciable)
Asset Class 15: Livestock (not depreciable)
Asset Class 16: Government Owned Property (not depreciable)
Asset Class 17: Leased Equipment
Q:
A: Equipment: Yes
Buildings: Yes
Land: Yes
Infrastructure: Yes
Q: 4) Do you manage low value assets (LVAs) as fixed assets, or do you post them directly
to an expense account?
A: We will have sensitive equipment items that will be expensed because they are under the
dollar threshold for capitalization. However, we will have to track them in R/3. Examples of
expensed sensitive equipment are items less than $5,000 involving computers, cameras,
guns, canoes, and other items that are likely to be lost or stolen.
The value of the asset must be captured on the asset master record for reporting. The
depreciation method will be 100% depreciation for the Sensitive Assets Asset Class so at the
end of the first period the asset will be fully depreciated.
Q: 5) Please list, or provide a list of the asset types that you intend to manage in the Asset
Accounting system (e.g. Land, Buildings, Intangibles, etc).
A: See asset types answered above.
Q: 6) For each asset category (asset class), list the default depreciation method and the
period of depreciation you would like to use.
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A: Equipment: Straight line is required - useful life by asset class. See answer 2 above.
Buildings: Straight line is required - useful life by asset class. See answer 2 above.
Land: N/ A
Infrastructure: ?
B. General settings
1. Currencies
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
The University of Tennessee will post all transactions in US Dollars. Therefore, we will
not have a current need for exchange rate calculations or maintenance.
2. General Explanations
All documents within R/3 will be posted in US Dollars.
3. System Configuration Considerations
USD will be the only currency posted in company UT.
4. Special Considerations
None noted at this time
2. Units of measurement
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
The ability to use any unit of measure that would be applicable to procurements of
various types of materials.
2. General Explanations
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C. Master data
1. General master records
1.1.
Material Master
Questions:
Q: 1) Which departments/organizational units are responsible for maintaining the material
data?
A: Material Master will not maintained.
Q:
Q:
3) What is the default sales unit in sales processing and what are alternative sales units?
A: N/A
Q:
6) Do you group similar products together (for example, in divisions or material groups)?
A: No
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Q:
7) Do you maintain additional statuses for your materials (such as sales status)?
A: No
Q:
8) If you have multiple plants, is your material normally supplied by a specific plant?
A: No
Q: 9) Do you maintain additional types of grouping for other processes (for example, rebate,
statistics, commission or pricing)?
A: No
Q:
10) Is the creation of a multi-level hierarchy necessary for materials (product hierarchy)?
A: Yes
Q: 11) Do you record a minimum delivery quantity on your materials? If so, what happens
during sales order processing if a violation occurs?
A: No and do not believe that this would be applicable
Q:
12) Are there materials that must be shipped in certain multiples (delivery units)?
A: No
Q:
A: No
Q: 14) Can a material have different values in one plant? What are the criteria for the
different values?
A: Do not share information across plants at this time; however, this condition could be
possible (i.e., shipping charges could differ from one location to another).
Q:
A: No
Q: 16) Are the technical delivery terms stored online, and will you print these terms with
each purchase order?
A: No
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A: Yes, occasionally we do; for example, certification for coal specifications (i.e., sulfur
content, chemical analysis, pharmaceutical products. etc.).
Q: 18) Do you require your vendors to provide samples for approval prior to actual delivery?
Please describe.
A: In some cases yes; i.e., printing, items for testing, etc.
Q: 19) Do you block a vendor invoice for payment until the quality inspection has been
successfully completed?
A: Not formally. As no formal or systematic method of receiving has been implemented at
the University, vendor payment is usually withheld until acceptance by department as being
acceptable quantity and quality.
Q: 20) Will you process recurring inspections for materials? (Note: This is only possible for
batch-managed materials). Please provide an example.
A: No
Q:
21) Do you want to maintain a source list for the material types you will procure?
A: Yes
Q: 22) Do you value your materials using a standard price, a moving average price, or
different valuation methods for different materials?
A: No standard valuation used at this time
Q: 23) Each material must belong to exactly one material group. Which material groups do
you need to organize your materials?
A: Material groups have been discussed. The University might potentially use NIPG codes.
Q:
A: No
Q:
25) How many different G/L accounts do you need for inventory?
Q:
26) Will you maintain specification data for your hazardous substances?
A: Currently we do not; however, this may be necessary. The University probably will have
to work with health and safety officials.
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Q: 27) Are separate material master records (perhaps with a separate material type or
numbering system) used in the development and engineering/design processes? How and
when are they converted to operational material number and type)?
A: No
Q: 28) Do you use other systems (such as service management or costing) that need
material master records from R/3 and therefore a permanent interface?
A: Not at this time
Q: 29) Describe the structure and numbering system for material numbers
(internal/external, specific to material type, other criteria).
A: No central structure or numbering system is in place.
Q: 30) Which material types do you use (please enhance): FERT, HALB, ROH, KMAT,
HAWA, FMHI, etc.?
A: N/A
Q: 31) Do you maintain multilingual descriptions for materials? Which languages are
relevant? How and when are they translated?
A: No
Q:
Q: 33) Please describe the process for creating and adding to material data. Include release
procedure/status, important sequences, automatic notifications (workflow), responsibilities,
authorizations, involved systems, and so on.
A: Formal process not in place
Q:
A: No process in place
Q:
Q: 36) Do you need to customize the appearance of or add data fields to the material
master record (additional fields, customized material master, field selection, and customerspecific field checks)?
A: Material master will not be maintained.
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Q: 37) Do you use classification for your material masters? For what reasons (storing
addition information, search functionality, or variant configuration)?
A: No material master maintained.
Q: 38) Do you classify standardized parts by loading DIN classes and characteristic data
records?
A: No
Q: 39) Do you have different valuation techniques (for example, standard versus moving
average)? If so, please explain which.
A: No
Q:
40) Do you have inventory valued in different currencies at the same facility?
A: No
Q:
A: No
Q:
42) For a material is there a main delivery location for a sales department?
A: N/A
Q: 43) PM/CS: Do you need a material master especially for plant maintenance / customer
service with reduced information (just basic data and classification data)?
A: PM not in scope.
Q: 44) PM/CS: Does your maintenance and service equipment include major components
that you want to deal with individually to compile separate histories? If so, describe these
components.
A: PM not in scope.
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
Consideration was given to the creation of master material records. At this point in time, a
material master is not in scope. All purchases are considered consumable material that
is expensed upon receipt. Given that no current procurement data exist for the number of
purchases being made; that inventory is out of the initial scope and no "stock" items will
be established; the amount of time and effort that would be needed to capture a material
master with uncertain data, when it has not been determined that it would ever be used
(thus establishing records that would not generate activity but would have to be
maintained and require storage space in R/3), the decision was made to not establish a
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3. Naming/Numbering Conventions
N/A
6. Description of Improvements
N/A
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1.2.
Service Master
Questions:
Q: 1) Is it necessary for you to procure services from external suppliers? If so, do you want
to structure and manage these services? What kind of services do you procure?
A: Yes. Janitorial, personal services, etc. Also, per policy statement 130, external services
are procured.
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
Service masters: Due to the low volume of activities, purchases of services will be
accomplished through external service agreements without a service catalog. Service
master records will not be implemented.
2. General Explanations
Service master, due to the low volume of activities, will be accomplished through external
service agreements without a service catalog. Accordingly, a service master will not be
necessary as a means of establishing the service. The establishment or description of
the service will be done directly on the external service agreement with services being
entered at the agreement level. This will eliminate the maintenance of the service
catalog.
3. Naming/Numbering Conventions
N/A
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N/A
1.3.
Questions:
Q: 1) Which types of business partners do you have? For example, sole proprietor, legal
person, employees, foreign, other?
A: UT's customers for sponsored projects include sole proprietors, legal persons, and
foreign. UT's main customers are governmental agencies. UT divides its customers into four
categories as required for financial reporting: federal government agencies, state
government agencies, local government agencies, and private companies or persons. A
large portion of the sponsored awards is actually subcontracts from a primary Federal funding
source, through another funding source, and then to UT. UT calls these awards Federal flowthrough funds, and they will be classified as Federal.
Q:
2) How many active customers do you intend to transfer to your R/3 System?
A: Approximately 500 - 1000. Currently, the grant database (a subsidiary system to UT's
current G/L) houses part of the customer information. The customers are arranged by 5-digit
alphanumeric agency code. The code is sight recognizable for source classification. For
example, the State of TN Department of Transportation is agency code 40101. The first two
digits signify a source classification of State government agency. The remaining three digits
are randomly assigned.
Q:
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A: The current UT system has customer attributes in two places - (1) on the project G/L as
attributes, and (2) on the grant database as attributes. The customer master data in R/3 will
be established and maintained centrally by the Controller's Office.
Since the Campus Business Offices, in addition to the Controller's Office, will be using the
customer master data and will be setting up project structures, they must have access to view
the customer master data.
Q:
A: The current UT system has customer attributes in two places - (1) on the project G/L as
attributes, and (2) on the grant database as attributes. The customer master data in R/3 will
be established and maintained centrally by the Controller's Office.
Since the Campus Business Offices, in addition to the Controller's Office, will be using the
customer master data and will be setting up project structures, they must have access to view
the customer master data.
Q:
A: UT has several sponsors that might also have another business relationship with the
University. For example, UT-Battelle is the legal entity that manages the Oak Ridge National
Lab, a Department of Energy facility. It is UT's largest sponsor. UT also purchases research
services from UT-Battelle, which makes them a vendor to the University.
Q:
6) Which partner functions are used for the different sales documents?
Q:
A: Yes
Q:
A: No
Q:
A: No
Q:
A: Yes
Q:
A: Currently, the grant database (a subsidiary system to UT's current G/L) houses part of
the customer information. The customers are arranged by 5-digit alphanumeric agency code.
The code is sight recognizable for source classification. For example, the State of TN
Department of Transportation is agency code 40101. The first two digits signify a source
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classification of State government agency. The remaining three digits are randomly
assigned.
Q:
A: UT's main customers are governmental agencies. UT divides its customers into four
categories as required for financial reporting: federal government agencies, state
government agencies, local government agencies, and private companies or persons. A
large portion of the sponsored awards is actually subcontracts from a primary Federal funding
source, through another funding source, and then to UT. UT calls these awards Federal flowthrough funds, and they will be classified as Federal.
We also classify A/R by UT campus: Knoxville, Memphis, Chattanooga, etc.
Q: 13) Do you want to record any specific marketing information (for example, Nielsen IDs,
customer classification)?
A: No
Q:
A: [ ] Geographical location
[ ] Profitability segment
[ ] Customer Group
[ ] Sales office
[ ] Sales Group
[X] Others
[ ] No grouping
Q:
A: Yes
Q:
16) Does your customer allow you to combine different sales orders into one delivery?
A: No
Q:
A: N/A
Q:
18) If you have multiple plants, is your customer normally supplied by a specific plant?
A: No
Q:
19) Define your customer delivery priority levels and explain the assignment process.
A: N/A
Q:
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A: N/A
Q: 21) Do you record foreign trade customers who are placed on an export control list to
possibly deny deliveries to them?
A: No
Q:
A: N/A
Q:
Q:
24) Are there any discounts linked to terms of payment, such as cash discounts?
A: No.
Q: 25) Do you have sales documents in foreign currencies? Describe how the exchange
rate is calculated.
A: No.
Q:
A: [ ] Bar
[X] Credit card
[X] Check
[ ] Down payment
[X] Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT)
[ ] Others
Q:
A: Yes. When a particular invoice is 90 days old (from the date the invoice was mailed), the
invoice is eligible for UT's "90-day collection letter". A different (and more severe) reminder is
generated at 120 days and again at 150 days.
Q:
28) What Incoterms will your customers use (for example, FOB, free domicile)?
A: N/A
Q:
A: UT would like to maintain general customer collection information, such as slow paying,
etc.
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Q:
30) Which texts are used for the different sales documents (for sales, shipping, billing)?
A: N/A - all sales documents coming from SD are invoices. The different types of invoices
are maintained in SD.
This may change in the future. UT may decide to use A/R for general receivables, too. At
that time, UT may need to have different types of sales documents. This is not in scope now.
Q:
A: UT's current A/R system is arranged (1) by customer, (2) by campus, and (3) by project
number. UT would like to see A/R information at the project level because specific collection
problems occur at this level. For example, UT has many current projects with Navy.
However, there may be a technical problem with project B01991234 that has caused Navy to
stop paying invoices. This is not a general Navy collection problem, but is specific to this
Navy project. UT would like to keep collection notes at the project level also.
Q:
32) Do you use the same structure of customer master records in all departments?
A: Yes
Q: 33) Do you ever need to block a customer for sales processing? If so, describe the
process in detail.
A: No. Any customer blocking is accomplished at the pre-award level. If a customer has
had a bad debt with UT in the past, the pre-award office should not allow award documents to
be signed that legally commit the University to perform future work.
Q:
34) How will you determine/select a customer for processing (match code)?
A: [X] By name
[X] By customer number
[ ] By postal code
[ ] By telephone number
[X] By search term
[X] Others
Q:
A: Yes
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
UT requires an A/R system for sponsored projects only at this time. A/R and collection
notes should be maintained and aged by customer, campus, project, and invoice number.
UT would like to access A/R for reports, queries, and searches. Customer master
records are maintained centrally, but viewed and used by all campuses. UT would like
an automated dunning system to replace existing functionality. Invoices will post to A/R
through SD (from campuses) and manually for departmental billings.
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1.4.
Questions:
Q:
1) What types of vendors do you have (domestic, foreign, payment address, etc.)?
A: Vendor DB (5 digit + alpha character): All PO's are written against Vendor DB; vendors
can also be used for non-PO transactions; "R" - Regular (recurring); Classifications: Minorityowned, woman-owned, small business, large business (vendors marks one of these
categories when bid application in sent in).
Payee DB (9 digit - sometimes starts with "T"): Used for non-PO transactions; Txxxxxxxxtemporary number intended to be used one time (see #1); Social Security numbers-used for
employee travel reimbursement and for 1099 reportable vendors; Federal ID numbers - for
1099 reportable vendors
Vendor Types: Domestic (both databases) (including trust remittances); Foreign (both
databases); Students (Payee DB); Patients (Payee DB); Employees (Payee DB);
Temporaries (Payee DB)
**NOTE: There are duplicates within and between the two databases.
Our current definition of a one-time vendor is a vendor that is expected to be used only one
time. However, currently it is not easy to determine if a vendor is a "true" one-time vendor.
While there are some "true" one-time vendors, the Payee DB has become a way to assign a
vendor number quickly. In the current Payee DB, a vendor may be assigned a temporary
number (even if it is already there with a real number), and the temporary number can then
be used many times.
Provide sample of each DB vendor master record for each type and classification of vendor
by 4/21/00.
Q:
A: TBD after cleanup of current databases. In meeting on 4/19/00, determined the ways
that the cleanup will be handled. Current situation:
Payee DB: approximately 213,000 (includes one time/temporary vendors)
Vendor DB: approximately 70,000
Contract DB:??#(TBD); may not have to convert; used for ALL contracts for routing (for
tracking-open, WIP and completed); on file forever. Contracts will be added to the
Purchasing system; Vendor master records will be required to facilitate these contract
agreements. Will not convert, as it does not contain vendor master date-type information.
Q: 3) How do you want vendor numbers assigned in the R/3 System? Name your criteria for
manual and automatic number assignment. Describe the format of manually assigned vendor
numbers.
A: [ ] Always automatically from the R/3 System
[ ] Always manually from the user
[X] Automatic or manual
Comments: For the most part, vendor master numbers can be internally assigned. Currently,
1099-related vendors use externally assigned Vendor IDs (i.e., SSN or Tax-ID). In SAP R/3,
these 1099 vendors should follow the recommended internal vendor numbering convention
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and utilize the tax reference fields as well as the Withholding tax fields to organize 1099 &/or
1042 vendor data.
Q: 4) Do you have plants that supply materials or services to other plants in other company
codes?
A: Yes: Purchasing departments, Facility Management, Physical Plant, Bookstore,
Telephone Services, etc.
Summary: Any department can supply materials and services to any other department.
Transfer vouchers are used for these transactions.
Departments with large volumes use the electronic TV system and others use the
paper TV.
Generally, transfer vouchers must be approved by the sending department and
the receiving department prior to processing.
CONFIGURATION NOTES: Although this requirement outlines the need to transfer materials
and services from one department to another, it falls outside of R/3's traditional intercompany, interplant materials/services transfer movements. To build this process in the new
system, either a manual journal voucher procedure will need to be formulated or an
automated internal purchasing procedure will need to be configured to facilitate these internal
business transaction processes. A journal entry with a specific document type will be used
for these internal transfer vouchers.
Q:
6) Do you want to reflect the organizational structure of your vendors in the R/3 System?
A: NOW: No
R/3: Yes
The use of Vendor Account Groups could be used to build the organization structure for all
UT vendors. This approach is more flexible but provides limited control. Another approach is
to use R/3's Vendor Partner relationships; this approach is less flexible but provides more
control over the vendor master data. More information is needed from Purchasing and
Accounts Payable to determine which approach is best suited for the Univ. of Tennessee.
Q: 7) Is it necessary for you to maintain different purchasing vendor master data for
different plants?
A: Now: Possibly. Currently some departments have purchasing authority for certain
activities and are, therefore, exempt from requirements to go through purchasing for those
type items. These departments are Knoxville & Chattanooga Library (for books only),
Knoxville Bookstore (books and resale items), Memphis Medical Unit (medical supplies) and
Knoxville T-Club (resale items).
Some of these departments have their own external purchasing systems to manage this
process separate from the University system. These are the Knoxville (also uses
Procurement Card for majority of these items) and Chattanooga Libraries, the Knoxville
Bookstore (Raytex Software Package), and the Memphis Medical Unit (MediTech). We need
to determine if these will continue to be handled externally or if they will be incorporated into
R/3.
The Knoxville Bookstore keys their invoices into Raytex and submits them electronically to
the check-writing file. However, checks for all systems are written by the Treasurer's Office,
Accounts Payable section. (Are the vendors that are paid currently included in the Payee
DB; i.e. part of the 213,000 vendors? If not, they will need to be included into SAP R/3 if
checks will continue to be written from the new system.)
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CONFIGURATION NOTES: Typically (and ideally), there will only be one vendor master file.
Plant specific information can be incorporated in any individual vendor master record. When
necessary, this should be the approach to follow to meet the needs of University of
Tennessee.
Q: 8) When working with your suppliers, do you deal with people with different roles? If yes,
indicate the appropriate roles.
A: [X] Order recipient
[X] Goods supplier
[X] Invoicing party
[X] Payment recipient
[X] Other, please specify
Q:
A: No
Q: 10) Are there any vendor-specific instructions or information that you want to include in
purchasing documents?
A: Yes
Q: 11) Do your vendors offer discounts for prompt payment (for example, 1% cash discount
within 10 days)? Provide a list of the payment terms you require.
A: Yes, 2/10/net 30 and net 30 are most common; 1/10/net 30; 2/10/prox, etc.
Most purchase orders state that invoices are to be paid within 30 days of receipt of materials.
When there are no terms given, the invoice must be paid within 45 days of date of invoice or
the date goods or services were received, whichever is later. The Prompt Pay Act of 1985
allows vendors to charge delinquent accounts at 1.5% per month on the outstanding balance.
Normally, the vendor bills the University for the interest due. See policy - Section 060, Part
02, #D. UT Goal: 90% of invoices and travel to be paid within 45 days
Q: 12) Do you specify foreign-trade-specific information in your purchasing documents
(such as CIF or FOB)?
A: Yes
Q: 13) Do you have vendors with several/different ordering addresses, payees, carriers,
and so on? If so, what do these depend on (assortment, supply region)?
A: Yes: campus location (e.g. vendor branches close to that campus), factoring payments
for specific vendors vs. directly to vendor, remittances to specific payee for bankrupts or
liens, product type, pay to "State Treasurer" - but specific department address has to be
used.
Q: 14) Do you need to maintain default data for the article master (such as planned delivery
time, purchasing group) at vendor level?
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A: No
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
A/P will be responsible for creating all vendors. However, Purchasing will input the
Purchasing view section of the record.
Ability to identify vendor terms and discounts (including credit memo terms)
Ability to maintain different contacts (i.e., invoicing party, payment, recipient, goods
supplier) and addresses (local branches, remit to addresses) with vendors (use the
vendor partner relationship)
Ability to include vendor specific information on purchasing documents where
required
Ability to maintain one vendor database for both A/P vendors and Purchasing
vendors without duplication
Facilitate 1099 reporting
Ability to set up vendor types such as employees, students, patients, one-time
vendors, domestic and foreign
Vendor numbers should be assigned internally by system
Ability to search vendors by SSN and federal id number
Ability to cut checks for vendors not in vendor DB (i.e. UTK Bookstore vendors Raytex) (? One-time vendor?)
Ability to maintain vendor classifications (i.e., minority, small business, womanowned, large business)
Ability to maintain default data for master record at vendor level would be highly
desirable, but will not be realized in the initial "go-live" since no material master
records will be set up.
2. General Explanations
Vendor Master data consists of three parts: 1) General Data which is the basic vendor
account information; 2) Purchasing Data which is the specific vendor purchasing data
that is unique to the vendor or unique to the vendor and to a specific UT plant; and 3)
Accounting (Company Code) Data which is the accounting information that A/P uses to
pay the vendor. The Vendor master records will be categorized into specific accounting
groups in order to control the activity and field records that can be used for a specific
vendor. Furthermore, large vendors who have multiple ordering/shipping and remit to
addresses can be partnered together in a hierarchical fashion so as to aid in the buying
and paying processes associated with those vendors.
Currently, there are various numbers of Vendor Master files used throughout the
University of Tennessee. Two of the primacy vendor databases are the Vendor DB (used
by Purchasing) and the Payee DB (used by Accounts Payable). Quite a bit of analysis
and review will need to take place prior to configuring the SAP R/3 system. The Payee
DB is extremely large (213,000) records; this is a good sign that there are obsolete,
redundant, and/or inaccurate vendor master records that need to be removed or re-edited
prior to being copied into SAP R/3. Furthermore, some data structure and operational
processes need to be formulated as part of any ongoing vendor maintenance processes.
3. Naming/Numbering Conventions
For the most part, vendor master numbers can be internally assigned. Currently, 1099related vendors (Payee DB) use externally assigned vendor IDs (i.e., SSN or Tax-ID).
The Vendor DB (purchasing vendors) use internally assigned vendor Ids. In SAP R/3,
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these 1099 vendors should follow the recommended internal vendor numbering
convention and utilize the tax reference fields as well as the Withholding tax fields to
organize 1099 vendor data.
4. Special Organizational Considerations
Central ownership of the Vendor master data will be in Accounts Payable. The
Purchasing Department will be responsible for creating and changing the Purchasing
data. Organizational processes need to be published which controls the creation and
ongoing maintenance of the SAP R/3 Vendor Master File.
Broader functionality of the Vendor master design and configuration allows the
University of Tennessee to better organize and maintain the Vendor master
database.
Single vendor DB will allow for reduction or elimination of duplicate vendor numbers.
The "One-Time Vendor Functionality" will reduce the number of vendors in the DB
since true one-time vendors will be set up under a single one-time vendor account.
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Display functionality for users on department level (except the views for employee
vendors and any other sensitive or confidential vendor information) to include one-time
vendors set up for travel purposes.
Create and change authorization for the Accounts Payable department.
Create/change/display Purchasing data for the Purchasing department.
12. Project Specific CI Section
N/A
1.5.
Questions:
Q: 1) Do you want to create the bank directory (address and control data for banks and post
office banks) manually or copy it automatically?
A: Manually.
Q: 2) Which banks and bank accounts will you be using for incoming and outgoing
payments?
A: All outgoing payments (except petty cash) will be from First Tennessee Bank accounts.
The FTB accounts include the following:
Payroll (00-000026)
Disbursement (0260851)
Student Refund - Martin (100079498)
Student Refund - Chattanooga (100079486)
Student Refund - Memphis (100079504)
Student Refund - Knoxville (100327347)
Fed wires and ACH debits are paid from the General Account (00-00015).
Incoming funds are received in the various depository bank accounts across Tennessee.
See also Bank Accounting Questionnaires.
Q:
A: US Dollars.
There are 3 primary accounts: Payroll, Disbursement and General for Fed Wires and
ACH Debits
UT has a primary banking relationship with First Tennessee Bank.
UT has 1 primary depository account where they initially deposit Knoxville funds.
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Besides the primary depository account at Knoxville, there are 3 other 1 TN depository
accounts at different locations (Cookeville, Memphis, and Chattanooga).
UT has 1 main disbursements account from which only checks (DVs and BVs) are
written.
There is 1 payroll account, which is ZBA, where UT moves money to cover payroll
payments from the primary depository account.
There is 1 primary investment account. This represents cash that 1st TN investment
managers have available to them to invest for the University.
There are 4 other ZBA accounts for batch vouchers (BVs) for which checks are written
to students by the campus Bursars at Knoxville, Chattanooga, Martin, and Memphis.
There is one depository account per location of bank. All depository accounts
concentrate to 1st TN, but a minimum balance is left in these accounts. University
personnel from the various campuses call Tim Mapes and inform him the amount of daily
activity, and then Tim transfers the appropriate amount.
AmSouth Bank (Knoxville, Nashville) - 2 locations
National Bank of Commerce 1 location
City State (Martin) 1 location we don't download any checks from this account.
Union Planters (Chattanooga, Martin) - 2 locations
SunTrust (Chattanooga)
1st Farmers & Merchants National (Columbia) -1 location
BanCorp South (Jackson, Milan) - 2 locations
Greene County (Greenville)
Bank of America (Greenville, Nashville, Lewisburg) - 3 locations
Cumberland County (Crossville) 1 location
First Union National Bank (Springfield)
First State (Covington) 1 location
First National (Tullahoma)
Ag Extension County (Agency funds (cash) being held across TN Not actually a bank,
only a compilation of cash-holdings.)
UT has Direct deposit responsibilities with numerous banks.
2. General Explanations
In the R/3 system, bank master data is stored centrally in the bank directory. The bank
directory contains the bank master data. One sets up bank master data in R/3 to store
bank address data and control data, thereby eliminating repetitious data entry.
Each bank ID is unique within a company code. For each bank, enter the bank country,
and either the bank number or an appropriate country-specific key. The system uses this
information to identify the correct bank master data.
When one defines details for the payment program (this necessitates entering the bank
master data for your bank details) one needs enter only the bank ID. In addition to the
bank details, one must also define the bank accounts that one has at one's bank. One
defines these under an account ID that is unique per company code and house bank.
This account ID can incorporate attributes of the bank account. One will use this ID to be
able to refer to one's bank account both when entering specifications for the payment
program, and in G/L account master records. The account data one enters comprises the
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account number at one's bank, the currency in which the account is managed, and any
additional country-specific data.
3. Naming/Numbering Conventions
One defines the bank details per company code by entering a three-character code for
each bank. One can enter a five-character alphanumeric key as a bank ID.
4. Special Organizational Considerations
The Treasurers Office must have ownership of Cash Management to maintain all
banking activities.
6. Description of Improvements
One creates a house bank by assigning a code where one stores bank number and other
details. When referencing a particular bank account, one specifies the house bank
without having to key in account details.
Improvements: Faster posting/spreading interest earnings. Easier reconciliation and outof-balance tracking.
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Only the Treasurers Office can set up new bank master data therefore keeping this
process centralized. The set of new bank account sub ledger should be between the
Treasurers Office and the Controller's Office.
12. Project Specific CI Section
N/A
1.6.
Taxes
Questions:
Q: 1) Will you use an external Tax Package to determine the appropriate tax jurisdiction
and/or tax rates to apply to purchasing documents and/or vendor invoices? If yes, name the
external package.
A: No.
Q:
A: No
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
Must create one tax exempt tax code
2. Procurement
2.1.
Buyer
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
Ability to represent buyer or buyer group in SAP R/3
2. General Explanations
The buyer will be represented by a code (plant code + 2-digit number).
The report of purchases per buyer can be evaluated.
3. Naming/Numbering Conventions
The buyer or buyer group will be defined by a 3-digit number: the first digit representing
the campus, followed by a 2-digit number. For example, buyer David Marks in Knoxville
could be K01.
A purchasing group 999 (unassigned) will be defined for setting up requisitions at the
department level. Those unassigned requisitions will be assigned at the Purchasing
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department.
6. Description of Improvements
N/A
2.2.
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
Info record will be used to link material group and vendor together.
2. General Explanations
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When creating a requisition or purchase order and the vendor on the requisition/ PO is
part of an info record, all the info (such as prices and conditions of the info record) can be
inputted in the Requisition/PO.
3. Naming/Numbering Conventions
An internal number range will be assigned to the info record; i.e., any time an info record
is created there will be an internal number assigned to that info record.
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2.3.
Conditions
Questions:
Q: 1) Which price components do you use in purchasing documents (e.g. gross price,
surcharges, discounts, freight, duty, import)?
A: Unit price, gross price, discounts, freight, escalation provision, trade-in, credit, tax,
discount payment terms, FOB, surcharge, rebate structure, import duties, liquidated
damages, etc.
Q: 2) Do prices depend on the quantity ordered (e.g. quantity discounts or price scales)? If
so, specify price components, quantity, and other factors.
A: Yes. There could be price breaks based on quantity levels, or based on time frames, or
other factors.
Q: 3) To which date does the price determination process relate (e.g. delivery date, PO
date, other)?
A: Price is determined by the purchase order or contractual agreement. Date is not a factor.
Q: 4) Is pricing information from other systems to be used for price computation purposes in
R/3?
A: No
Q: 5) Do you manually change the price at header level for the entire purchasing
document?
A: No
Q: 6) Do you allow changes to the gross price that is automatically determined by the R/3
System?
A: Yes, it is possible
Q:
A: No
Q:
Q:
9) Specifically for Brazil indexation: Which indexes and forms are necessary?
A: N/A
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CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
Ability to maintain terms and conditions, base price, discounts and surcharges in SAP
R/3.
2. General Explanations
The University incorporates terms and conditions into requests for quotes (RFQ) and
purchase orders (PO). The conditions reflect regulatory requirements of the University
with regard to terms of a purchase. They also represent the University's business
practices in purchasing goods and services. These conditions must reside in R/3 for
inclusion into the body of RFQs and Purchase orders. The system must be able to
electronically assign these conditions into purchasing documents generated in R/3.
3. Naming/Numbering Conventions
R/3 base price, discount, and surcharge codes will be adopted. R/3 to support the
requirements for terms and conditions into the body of purchase documents.
4. Special Organizational Considerations
N/A
6. Description of Improvements
N/A
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2.4.
Source List
Questions:
Q:
A: No
Q: 2) Do you want to maintain a list of approved vendors? This means that if a material is
subject to a source list requirement, it can only be procured from the vendors included on the
source list.
A: No
Q: 3) Do you need a source list for: (1) all materials (2) all materials of a plant (3) certain
materials only? Please explain.
A: Need a source list for all materials and services procured
Q: 4) Is there a fixed vendor for some materials? (1) No. (1) Yes, in certain plants (specify)
(2) Yes, across the entire enterprise (3) Yes, everywhere except in certain plants (specify).
A: According to our contracts, there could be a fixed vendor for a particular material/service
at each plant level.
Q: 5) Do some vendors cover certain geographic regions? (1) No. (2) Yes. Warning if
vendor does not cover relevant region. (3) Yes. Prevent issue of POs in latter case.
A: Yes, based on vendor's contractual agreement with suppliers. Some vendors will only
sell to certain campuses with regards to territorial agreements.
[ ]Yes
[ ]No
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CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
The ability to identify contract vendors for conversion of requisition to purchase orders
against established contracts. Also the ability to generate a bidders list for sources to
include in RFQs that in turn will be sent to potential bidders for quote responses.
2. General Explanations
Source of supply identification can be supported by use of info records and contracts that
will reside in R/3.
For RFQs the classification system using class type 010 will be used for maintaining
NIGP grouping codes and vendors.
3. Naming/Numbering Conventions
N/A
4. Special Organizational Considerations
N/A
6. Description of Improvements
N/A
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2.5.
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
Model service specification can be maintained.
2. General Explanations
Model specification will be defined and assigned to the requisition and PO with the same
specification.
3. Naming/Numbering Conventions
A text identifying the model service specification
4. Special Organizational Considerations
N/A
6. Description of Improvements
Ability to maintain long text to detail the services specification
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2.6.
Message Conditions
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
Ability to display any type of message (error, warning, etc.)
2. General Explanations
According to which criteria the system will issue an error, a warning, or no authorization.
3. Naming/Numbering Conventions
Three types of message: error, warning, no authorization.
6. Description of Improvements
N/A
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N/A
2.7.
Delivery Address
Questions:
Q: 1) Are there addresses, over and above the plant address(es) that will be used
repeatedly on purchasing documents? If yes, provide a list of those needed.
A: Yes. Each department could potentially be a delivery address or contain multiple delivery
addresses. Information on file is located in our legacy system in ship to/invoice section. This
list is not complete and we will have to have the flexibility to add ship to addresses at all
times.
Q: 2) Do any storage locations have an address that varies from the assigned plant? If yes,
provide a list of the additional specific storage location addresses.
A: Yes. Storage locations would be the same as or similar to department addresses, as
listed above.
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
Delivery address is shown on the Purchase Order. This address should be able to show
the recipient, the location, department, and campus within the University of Tennessee
system.
2. General Explanations
It is conceivable that up to four processes could be established for Delivery Address:
1. Setting up storage locations for potential delivery points
2. Allowing the requestor to establish a personal profile that will enter default delivery
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information into the purchase requisition. The default information is also changeable as
necessary.
3. Using R/3 4.6 functionality of establishing shipping addresses in logistics/purchasing
master data.
4. Manual input of address when creating requisition
3. Naming/Numbering Conventions
University of Tennessee department code will become storage location code if procedure
1 from above is selected. Otherwise no loading of department codes is required should
procedure 2, 3, or 4 be selected. If procedure 1 is chosen, every delivery point will be
represented in SAP R/3 by a one-character plant code (campus) followed by 3-digit
codes representing the department.
6. Description of Improvements
N/A
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N/A
2.8.
Questions:
Q: 1) Will any purchasing documents be subject to approval in R/3? If yes, describe the
criteria that will be needed to determine the appropriate approval policy for purchase
requisitions, RFQs, purchase orders, contracts, and scheduling agreements.
A: Yes. Requisitions are approved at the department level and approval will depend on the
approval process for accounts to be charged. At this point, it is believed that the department
head or individual with appropriate account authority will release requisitions (regardless of
the dollar amount).
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
Requisitions are approved at the department level based on the accounts to be charged.
2. General Explanations
The approval process for requisitions will be at the department (e.g. Cost Center) level.
An initiator and designated substitute will be able to create requisitions. Once a
requisition is created, an approval official will release the requisition to Purchasing for
processing. This is considered a one-step approval process using release strategy.
Purchasing departments will also utilize release strategies. Release strategies based on
an assignment of a dollar level interval to buyers will be in place for the RFQ and PO
release functions.
3. Naming/Numbering Conventions
Alphanumeric coding (two digits a1, a2, etc.)
6. Description of Improvements
Electronic approvals and audit trail.
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2.9.
Vendor Evaluation
Questions:
Q:
A: We do not currently evaluate vendors in the legacy system (Knoxville has a stand-alone
system for vendor evaluation, but is incomplete).
Q:
A: Specific criteria have not been established (no formula). Consultants will provide UT with
sample criteria.
Q: 3) How do you rate the scores for these criteria? If the criteria are not weighted equally,
indicate the individual weightings.
A: No criteria established
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
Vendor
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2. General Explanations
While the ability to evaluate a vendor is desirable, the ability to evaluate a vendor will be
restricted as the use of the goods receipt will be limited and purchases under $2,000 are
not subject to processing in R/3.
3. Naming/Numbering Conventions
N/A
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Output
Questions:
Q:
1) What master data fields do you use to determine what output to send?
A: Specific to projects and based on billing type. See specific sections for more info.
Q:
2) What type of output do you send (e.g. Paper, Fax, EDI, Internet)?
Q:
Q:
A: [X] Paper
[ ] Telephone
[ ] Fax
[ ] E-mail
[ ] EDI
4. Project management
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
See Project Management Structure CITs under Business Process.
4.1.
Standard structures
Questions:
Q: 1) As some project data (such as settlement rules) do not feature in standard structures,
consider using operative structures as a better template.
A: OK, we will. It will depend on the complexity and required defaults that UT needs. The
process for copying a standard and operative are basically the same.
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Q: 2) As standard project structures are not authorizations objects, you cannot check who is
allowed to copy them. Consider using operative structures as a better template?
A: OK, we will take this into consideration.
4.1.1.
Standard WBS
Questions:
Q:
1) Do you want to use existing project structures as templates for future projects?
A: Sponsored projects and agencies: Yes. We will use the copy function to make it easy to
create projects with standard characteristics such as the kinds below.
Other Restricted: No standard templates will be made at this time; rather, the copy function
will be utilized.
Loans: We probably could use a standard template per campus for private loans.
Plant funds: Can use standard templates for most all of our projects since we need to collect
the same data on all of them.
Endowments/Life Income: We can use a group of standard templates for most of our
projects.
Q:
A: Yes. Many projects have unique characteristics so we will likely create several standard
projects to meet this need. Here is an overview of project characteristics:
Sponsored projects:
One 'B' and one 'R' (this is the most common scenario)
Some multiple projects (one 'B' and several 'R's)
For project management purposes (dividing work responsibilities)
Work done in multiple budget entities
Multiple PIs
Funding from multiple sponsors
External sponsors and internal cost centers (cost sharing settlements)
Other Restricted:
Current restricted and endowments are typical with a one-to-one relationship of one
restricted account and one balance account.
Endowments:
Endowment accounts must have an account to manage the principal (F account),
separate general ledger accounts for stocks, bonds, and other assets which are
pooled and which are individually invested, and WBS projects for the
expenditures/distributed income.
There are funding relationships for endowments where we need to report uses by
separate campuses for one endowment that funds several campuses. Some
endowments fund multiple R accounts, and this must be captured in R/3. (Note:
This will probably result in two separate project groupings. One project for each set
of F accounts and a project for each R expenditure account.)
The UC Foundation in Chattanooga has individual awards that can be used to fund
several professorships across colleges and departments.
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Trusts:
Trust structures are generally standardized and have limited types of activity being
posted to them.
Centers/Chairs:
Chairs of Excellence are special groups of projects that receive State and other
funding. Annual reporting of use of State funding is required.
We must break down our Current Fund Restricted projects (accounts) by function
both in our present system and in R/3.
Some changes (where we wish to split projects into more detail) may need to be
implemented at the beginning of a fiscal year
Loans:
Exist only at Knoxville, Chattanooga, Martin and Memphis.
We have privately sponsored loan funds, institutional loan funds, and Federal loan
funds. Within Federal we have Perkins, Nursing and Health Professions.
Plant funds:
Have few of the account attributes (function, college, dept, etc.) that are associated
with other UT accounts.
4.2.
General
4.2.1.
PS text
Questions:
Q: 1) Do you want to record general information on your projects? (If yes, consider using
the PS text feature).
A: Sponsored projects and agencies: Yes. We want to use the text feature. Examples of
information include special financial clauses included in the agreement, rationale and plans
for project structure, expected future awards, etc.
Gifts: Yes. Text could be used for general gift restriction information or special requirements.
Centers/Chairs: Yes, we would use this. Agreement restrictions for Other Restrict Accounts
(other than G&C) can be summarized as well.
Loans: We could use this functionality for matching instructions or special restriction notes.
Plant: This feature can be used to additional information such as project description, SBC#,
etc.
Endowments/Life Income: We want to use the PS text information to describe the donor
agreements and to describe the purpose, restrictions of activity and earnings usage, and
function.
Q: 2) PS Text allows you to use general office functions (for example, to mail this
information). Do you need to share this information with other people involved in the
projects?
A: Sponsored projects and agencies: Yes. We would like this feature. We need to share
this information with other interested parties including the departmental bookkeeper.
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4.3.
Project structure
4.3.1.
Questions:
Q: 1) Do you have departments that are responsible for each WBS element? (If yes,
consider using the responsible cost center field since it can also be used as a hierarchy in the
information system)
A: Sponsored projects and agencies: Multiple Principal Investigators may work on the same
project. These PIs may be from different departments or campuses. Each PI's department
may want to keep track of their PI's portion of the work.
Gifts: Same as above.
Centers/Chairs: Same as G&C
Loans: Bursar's Office is responsible for the Loan WBS elements.
Plant: Most projects are managed solely by Facilities Planning. Possibly would want to
designate a campus person to administer a project.
Endowments/Life Income: The investment projects (F and G accounts) are managed by the
Treasurer's Office investment group. The related R and B accounts have assigned college
and departments.
4.3.2.
Questions:
Q: 1) Are there departments that can request or generate requirements for a project/WBS
element? (If yes, you can use the requesting cost center field because it can be used as
hierarchy in the information system.)
A: Sponsored projects and agencies: WBS elements are requested by the academic
departments on each campus. These requests can either flow through the campus' preaward office to the Campus Business Office (1) via the award document, or (2) via an
advanced account request form. Projects will be set up at each Campus Business Office or
at the Controller's Office. The Controller's Office approves all projects before posting of
expenditures is allowed.
Gifts: Same as above, except the sources of requests are either the campus development
office or the academic department.
Loans: The campus Bursars will be responsible for requesting or setting up the accounts.
Plant: Facilities Planning, in coordination with the Plant Fund Manager, will generate the
requirements for the project. It's possible that the individual campuses might want to
generate a report detailing their projects.
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Endowments/Life Income: Accounts are set up by the Treasurer's Office Investment group
based on information sent by the Development Office.
5. Financial Accounting
5.1.
G/L Account
Questions:
Q:
1) What procedure do you use when you need to create new account numbers?
A: In our legacy system, a G/L account is represented by object codes, ledger activity
codes, revenue codes, major/minor source of funds, and balance sheet types (ALB types).
New items are added to comply with GAAP, regulatory, and internal policy changes. Anyone
at a campus or the Treasurer's Office may be the first to recognize a need. Once a need or
requirement is identified, Controller's Office staff holds discussions with the impacted parties
or a representative such as a business officer. For most items, this is sufficient review.
However, some changes such as a change in the capitalization threshold may require
discussions with a state official and/or our cognizant agency representative.
The specific data values for the impacted table(s) are specified by any of the Chart Section
staff members within the Controller's Office. The responsible "chart" staff member sends email with table name(s) and data values to Database Administration to update the "Code
Support" table(s).
Q: 2) Can you define groups of general ledger accounts that require similar information in
the master record?
A: In our legacy system, a G/L account is represented by object codes, ledger activity
codes, revenue codes, major/minor source of funds, and balance sheet types (ALB types).
These are each tables in UT's "Code Support" data area. They "are" in separate tables to
serve as "groups of general ledger accounts that require similar information". Each table
contains fields that could include a foreign key to a related table. The groups by table and
related tables are diagrammed below:
EXPENDITURES - natural accounts
Detail_Object_Ref: 157--> Primary_Object_Ref: 153 --> Budget_Catagory_Ref: 158
|--------------> THEC_Object_Ref: 156
|--------------> Summary_Level_Ref: 169
INCOME (High level - required - derived from NACUBO)
Minor_Source_of_Funds_Ref: 162 --> Major_Source_of_Funds_Ref: 161
INCOME (Detail used for select areas - especially auxiliaries - internally derived)
Revenue_Codes_Ref: 163
BALANCE SHEET TYPES
ALB_Types_Ref: 170
LEDGER ACTIVITY CODES represent expense, income, receipts, transfers, etc. in fund
groups where the Legacy system has only maintained balance sheet accounts: LOAN
FUNDS, ENDOWMENT FUNDS, LIFE INCOME FUNDS, RET INDET & RENWL & REPLMT
FDS, RENEWAL AND REPLACEMENT FUNDS, INVESTED IN PLANT FUNDS.
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Ledger_activity_Ref: 171
There may be additional fields associated with each recording number (Unique key which
represents cost-center, projects, etc. in the Legacy system - UT's legacy meaning of the word
"account").
Q:
Q:
4) For which general ledger accounts do you wish to display line items?
A: We need to provide auditors detail lines for all transactions posted to the system. If some
accounts serve as summaries for detail accounts, it may be sufficient to provide transaction
detail from the detail-oriented accounts.
Q: 5) Which accounts do you wish to manage on an open item basis (for example, bank
accounts)?
A: The University will very likely use open item management in a few areas. These areas
could include cash, A/R, A/P, assets, inventory. Due to student and other non-R/3 interfaced
systems, there may be a need for example to have an A/R account which is not-open item
say for a student system, and a need to have an A/R account maintained on an open item
basis say for a grant and contract billing system. This can only be decided after a careful
review of legacy accounts.
Q: 6) Which accounts do you wish to maintain in foreign currency (for example, bank
accounts)?
A: None, all accounts will be maintained in US Dollars.
Q: 7) Describe any special requirements when posting to particular general ledger accounts
(for example, expense accounts require an associated cost center).
A: All expense account postings will require a business area and a cost center or a WBS
element. The business area determines which of the two will be required.
Q:
A: Account number, account group, account name, related accounts (linked accounts).
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
We require general ledger accounts that are University-defined that as a beginning
replicate our current expenditure object codes, major and minor revenue codes, ledger
activity codes and some of our current ALB type of accounts and define other accounts
as needed. See lists maintained by Bill Thompson. We require that these codes be
validated during data entry. We require the ability to group these codes into UniversityF:\zameer SAP\blueprint\Blueprint_finance_IRIS.doc
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defined budget categories. We require that the textual translations for these codes print
on reports and display on on-line screens. These codes must be flexible enough to allow
the University to complete standard financial reporting under GAAP as well as fulfill end
user management information needs. We expect to add additional G/L codes that will
replace our current user revenue codes and user object codes that do not appear to be
supported in R/3.
2. General Explanations
The General Ledger Accounts (G/L Accounts) are the structures that classify debit and
credit values for accounting transactions in the FI module and form the basis for creating
the balance sheets and income statements.
There are five types of General Ledger Accounts in R/3: assets, liabilities, fund balances,
revenues and expenditures. Asset, Liability and Fund Balance G/L Accounts can be
used, in combination with business areas to create internal balance sheets by business
area.
Revenue and Expenditure G/L Accounts represent the highest level at which revenues or
expenditures are recorded by the institution. They can be used in combination with
business areas and functional areas to create income statements by function and
business area. Revenue and expenditure can also be further broken down in the
Controlling module.
3. Naming/Numbering Conventions
Asset accounts will fall in the range of 100000 to 199999. Liability accounts will fall in the
range of 200000 to 299999. Fund balance accounts will fall in the range of 300000 to
399999. Expenditure accounts will fall in the range of 400000 to 499999. Revenue
accounts will fall in the range of 700000 to 799999.
6. Description of Improvements
N/A
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5.2.
Ledger
Questions:
Q:
A: The Universities General Purpose financial statements where the entire University is
being reported on, would not likely report on a cost of sales basis. However, there may be
auxiliaries where reporting on them separately, cost of sales may be appropriate.
There is a need to report expenditures by function (e.g. Instruction, Research, Public Service,
etc.) as noted in the organization structure document.
Q: 2) Do you have special statutory accounting requirements that are not covered in other
R/3 applications? Example: Currency translation of a foreign subsidiary, different fiscal year
ends to the international trading partner.
A: There are a few peculiarities dictated by public university accounting. UT is a public
university currently reporting under the AICPA college guide model 1973 as ratified by GASB
15 (modifications noted in GASB 15). It is my understanding that maintaining cash balances
by fund and fund group requires special ledger accounting. Regarding differing fiscal years,
UT's AG campus reports an entire operation on the federal fiscal year (Oct - Sep) whereas
the University's fiscal year runs July - June. As a component unit of the State of Tennessee,
the University is required to report to the Tennessee Higher Education Commission (THEC)
using THEC expenditure object codes. This may be a candidate for Country chart if more
loosely defined to be governing body chart of accounts. As a recipient of federal financial aid,
the University is required to provide a report on the cash basis for receipts and expenditures
for federal grants and contracts by catalog of federal domestic assistance code under single
audit requirements. As a recipient/handler of federal student aid, the University must provide
the Federal Department of Education an IPEDs report (all encompassing) and FISAP
(specific to federal student aid). The University's overhead rate (facilities and administrative
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cost) is based on comprehensive financial reports that may require special casting. These
rates are "negotiated" with the universities cognizant agency that has authority to dictate the
methods of applying overhead and can dictate the depreciation methods allowable for the
University. These are some special statutory accounting requirements identified at this time.
Q:
3) Have you defined the necessary domains and data elements in the ABAP Dictionary?
A:
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
The University requires replication of its current monthly reporting capability with ledgers
for all accounts, monthly Treasurer's Report and on line account inquiry. We expect to
have many more management reports that are undefined at this time. The standard
monthly reports at the cost center level include:
a monthly ledger (beginning balance, activity, ending balance)
an outstanding purchase list
a financial summary by G/L account code
an outstanding encumbrance list
a management report similar to the ledger, which includes projected expenditures
5.2.1.
Questions:
Q: 1) What requirements for financial accounting are not met by the standard general
ledger?
A: The University requires balance sheet reporting by Fund Group and Budget Entity.
Balance sheet reporting by individual fund is considered desirable. Since postings to
accounts receivable, accounts payable and cash accounts are not assigned to fund or fund
group in the standard general ledger, this requirement cannot be met in the standard general
ledger.
Q:
A: Balance sheets are currently created by fund group and budget entity (Business Area)
and are considered desirable by individual fund (FM Fund).
Q:
3) What is the current process for creating balance sheets by these elements?
A: 1. When postings are made to the general ledger, all postings identify an account.
Attributes in the account master allow the postings to be associated with fund groups and
budget entities (e.g. current unrestricted fund group at Knoxville).
2. Individual fund cash is maintained in an attribute in the master data of the fund balance
account related to the posted account. The posting program updates the value of cash in
this attribute. This figure is used for reporting and/or preparing journal entries to the fund
group and entity.
3. Another program in the posting process adds all the updates affecting cash for balance
accounts within the fund group and entity and makes a journal entry to the cash account
for the fund group and budget entity.
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4) What is the process for coding postings that do not usually carry these elements?
A: Individual restricted funds have one or more related asset, liability and fund balance
accounts, which are identified by nine-digit account numbers. The current unrestricted fund
group has one set of such accounts for each fund group and entity. All postings to
receivables and payables accounts carry the balance sheet account number for the relevant
receivable or payable account. Every entry to revenue and expenditure accounts that is not
offset by a receivable or payable, is offset by a corresponding increase or reduction in the
cash balance field in the related cash account and a posting carrying the account number for
the related cash balance sheet account.
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
Requirements:
1. Ability to automatically split asset, receivables, payables and cash reconciliation
account postings by FM Fund and Business Area.
2. Ability to balance inter-business area and inter-fund transactions through clearing
accounts.
3. Ability to create balance sheet reports by Business Area and FM Fund.
Attachments: [\\UTK_AHT2\DEPTS\UTSAP\SAPADMIN\Issues\72FN.Fund Group
Reporting.doc]
2. General Explanations
1. Balance sheets data can be posted by Business area and Fund using the special
purpose ledger.
2. All postings made in FI and CO can be posted in SPL. Postings made directly in FM
cannot be posted to SPL.
2. Although certain account postings in FI (receivables, payables and cash) do not carry
an assignment to business area and fund, this account assignment can be created
using the split-processor available in 4.6B.
3. Balance sheets by Business Area and Fund can be created in Special Purpose Ledger
Reporting.
4. Year-end carry forward can be carried out by Company Code, Business Area and
Fund in SPL.
3. Naming/Numbering Conventions
No new master data is being created in the special purpose ledger so all numbering for
master data elements in the special purpose ledger is covered under the source
modules.
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6. Description of Improvements
1. Currently balance sheets are only created at the Fund Group and Budget Entity Level.
The special purpose ledger allows creation of balance sheets by individual fund.
2. Currently balance sheet reports are printed once a month and mailed to Campus
Business Offices. Special Purpose Ledger reports will be available online.
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5.3.
Funds Management
Questions:
Q: 1) Describe the relationship between the Financial Accounting fiscal year and the Funds
Management fiscal year (Budget year/ budget periods)
A: UT financial fiscal year is from July 1 - June 30. For August- May, each posting period is
kept open for three days into the next month. June closes approximately on July 15.
Adjusting period closes approximately August 15. July closes approximately August 21.
UT budget fiscal year is the same as the financial fiscal year. Generally, budget preparation
starts 6 months prior to when the budget year will begin, although in Knoxville, some
departments/colleges start planning in November.
Formal budget hearings start the first of February and go through mid-April, when the Budget
Committee (at the Vice Chancellor level) works out the final proposal for the campus. The
Board of Trustees votes on the final budget in June. Each year the system presents three
formal budgets to the UT Board of Trustees for approval based on July (Proposed), October
(Revised), and April (Probable) information.
Timetables/calendars can vary by campus. Deadlines given by University-Wide
Administration are standard across campuses.
Q: 2) Provide more details on the number of budget periods, special adjustment periods
and description of what is accomplished/processed in these special periods.
A: There are 12 months of budget periods and 1 adjusting period. Only transfers, journals,
and some budget adjustments are in the adjusting period, but no purchase orders, checks,
and cash receipts.
Q: 3) Are there special budgetary structures to cover interim periods / special periods (e.g. if
budget has not been approved in time: provisional budgets)? How are these structures
related to the budget structures of the adopted budget?
A: N/A
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I
Vice Chancellor
I
College/Division
I
Department
I
Account
I
Budget Category
I
Object
Q:
6) Are there any legal requirements for nomenclature /structure of the master data?
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3: Capital Outlay
4: Plant Funds
Q: 8) Describe the changes that may be made to the budget structure (master data) within a
year.
A: Reorganization is anticipated. Changes to the master data may be required by the
merger or separation of departments.
Q: 9) Describe the changes that may be made to the budget structure (master data) over a
period of years.
A: Reorganization is anticipated. Changes to the master data may be caused by merger or
separation of departments. Object codes are added or changed from time to time.
Q:
10) Describe the quantity and timing of changes of the budget structure
A: Changes in the structure need to be made at fiscal year boundaries. Additions may be
made any time.
Q: 11) Describe which information objects (master data) have to remain online in the
system, and for how long.
A: Accounts (e.g., E011006) remain in the system for 10 years after the last activity. Codes
that support account attributes (fund group, function, department, etc.) remain in the system
forever, even old translations for current codes, so that a report of 1998 data would use the
translations that were used in 1998.
Q:
5.3.1.
Funds Center
Questions:
Q: 1) Is there any special nomenclature for the naming (organization) of the funds center?
Describe the existing (planned) structure.
A: Budget Entity (including attribute called Major Organizational Unit)
Vice Chancellor Area
College or Division
Department
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Q: 2) Generate a list of all information to be stored at funds center level (list of fields, short
description, and properties of fields).
A: Budget entity is a 2-digit code that identifies a university organizational unit that is
independently funded (Ref. Code Support Book - Ref. 152 (e.g. 01- Knoxville).
There is a 1-digit attribute attached to each budget entity called major organizational unit
(Ref. Code Support Book - Ref. 150) (e.g. K - Knoxville).
College/Division is a 4-digit code defined for financial reporting purposes where the first two
digits refer to the budget entity. (Ref. Code Support Book - Ref. 154) and the next two digits
identify the major division within budget entity. (e.g. 0101 - General Admin.)
Department is a 7-digit code defined for reporting purposes within a college or division where
the first four digits refer to the reporting college or division (Ref. Code Support Book - Ref.
155). The next three digits identify the department within the college/division (e.g. 0101010 Office of Chancellor - Knoxville).
Vice-Chancellor Area is a 2-digit code that represents a reporting area within a university
major organizational unit (Ref. Codes Support Book - Ref. 180) (e.g. 33 - Provost & Sr VC
Acad Aff Support).
Responsible Person contains the name of the person responsible for the budget of the
account.
Q: 3) Which information could be changed for a funds center? Create a list of all fields/field
contents.
A: Description
Effective date
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
1) Funds Centers will be approximately our current Departments and will be responsible
for budgets.
2) Funds Centers should be organized into hierarchies of Department>College>Vice
Chancellor Area>Budget Entity.
3) Funds Centers at any level in the hierarchy can be responsible for Funds. For
example, centrally held "I" accounts/Funds can be at a higher organizational level.
4) For the first year at least, Fund Centers and Profit Centers will be related one to one.
5) A Funds Center may be responsible for multiple Funds.
2. General Explanations
Funds Center hierarchies should be defined to describe the general approval path for
budgeting, both Original Budgets and subsequent changes. The actual approval path for
a particular budget change depends on whether it is for salary or operating; and whether
it is within one fund (account) or between funds.
A fund center is the organizational unit responsible for preparing and monitoring the
budget for one or more funds. Fund centers are organized into a hierarchy along which
the budget flows. Since the budget flows along the fund center hierarchy, no alternative
hierarchies are allowed for approvals (but could exist for reporting). Funds Center
hierarchies also will be used as the default organization of reports.
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Funds Center also affects who does what tasks in budgeting (preparation of the
documents, initiating changes, approvals, etc)
As you go up in the Funds Center hierarchy, you get access authority to all the lower
Funds Centers.
When a new Funds Center is set up, a new Profit Center must be set up, either
automatically by the system or manually input.
3. Naming/Numbering Conventions
Funds Center numbers will be based on Department numbers, which reflect the reporting
organization hierarchy of Budget Entity<College or Division<Department. For example,
Department 0110024 will have the number U0110024. Vice Chancellor Area will NOT
figure in the naming convention, although it will be in the reporting hierarchy. Where
there is a need for sub-department, an extra 2-digit number will be added to the funds
center (e.g. U011002401).
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5.3.2.
Commitment Item
Questions:
Q: 1) Is there any special nomenclature for the naming (organization) of the commitment
item? Describe the existing (planned) structure.
A: The legacy primary object codes will be used as a starting point for expense commitment
items. These are UT's 2-digit codes that are used to classify the nature of costs incurred.
The budget resides at this level.
There are attributes defined for each primary code. (Ref. Code Support Book - Ref. 153):
1. Budget Category (Ref. Code Support Book - Ref. 158)
2. THEC Expenditure Object (Ref. Code Support Book - Ref. 156)
3. Summary Level Budget Category (Ref. Code Support Book - Ref. 169)
Expenditure is recorded at a 3-digit level called the detail object code, used to classify in
more detail than the primary object codes. (Ref. Codes Support Book - Ref. 157)
http://www.utenn.edu/uwa/to/co/general/objdef.htm
Revenues codes are 2-digit objects used to classify the origin of revenue for an account.
(Ref. Codes Support Book - Ref. 163)
http://www.utenn.edu/uwa/to/co/general/userrev.htm
Q: 2) List the information to be stored at commitment item level (list of fields, short
description, and properties of fields).
A: Identifier (the object code itself)
Attributes (for primary codes)
Description
Effective date
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Q: 3) Which information is possibly changed for a commitment item? Generate a list of all
fields/field content.
A: Description
Effective date
Change mapping/hierarchy (attributes)
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
Commitment Items will be all the G/L accounts defined in FI, so that we can use the
security and reporting features of FM:
1)
Commitment Items for expense Funds will be the current primary (2-digit) object
codes where budgets will be entered, plus 3-digit object codes to record
encumbrances and expenditures.
2)
Revenue commitment items will be the same as the G/L revenue accounts:
current major/minor sources of funds plus the income and transfers in activity
codes plus the documented user revenue codes (in the auxiliaries) plus new
codes to record recoveries on expense accounts.
3)
Fund Balance commitment items will be the same as the G/L fund balance
accounts.
4)
Asset and liability commitment items will relate to one or more G/L accounts.
Commitment Items will be related to object code Cost Elements and Revenue Elements
in CO.
2. General Explanations
Commitment Items will be used to record:
budget and expenses at the primary object code level for all unrestricted and
restricted expense funds
budget and income for all unrestricted and restricted revenue funds
actual debits and credits for asset and liability funds
Commitment items represent budget and fund accounting classifications of G/L Accounts
and cost elements in the Funds Management Module. They are thus used to reflect the
type of revenues and expenditures being budgeted and also to detail balances for each
fund in FM.
3. Naming/Numbering Conventions
2-digit object level for budgets:
11 - Admin. & Prof. Salaries
39 - Supplies
will become the 411000 and 439000, as defined in FI for the Chart of Accounts.
3-digit object level for expenditures:
112 - Extra Service of Admin. & Prof. Salaries
392 - Computer Software Supplies
will become the 411200 and 439200, as defined in FI for the Chart of Accounts.
A recovery object code will become, for example:
739200 - (7 for revenue, 392 for Computer Software Supplies)
In addition, all fund balance G/L accounts will be mapped to FM on a one-for-one basis
and assets and liabilities G/L accounts will be mapped to Commitment Items on a manyF:\zameer SAP\blueprint\Blueprint_finance_IRIS.doc
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to-one basis.
6. Description of Improvements
Commitment item will fulfill what the University is currently using as object codes,
revenue codes, and ledger activity codes.
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5.3.3.
Fund
Questions:
Q: 1) Generate a list of funds origins (funds, funds from secondary sources). Are these
funds from secondary sources budgeted and assigned separately? Should these funds be
displayed separately for budgeting and execution?
A: Unrestricted expense ("E") and unrestricted income ("I") accounts are our regular funds.
They are individually budgeted, assigned, executed, displayed, etc.
Restricted expense funds ("R" accounts) also are budgeted, assigned, and otherwise used
separately.
However, restricted income funds ("C" accounts) are not budgeted at all in the system. They
recognize revenue at the posting of the expense.
There are additional secondary sources that are called Loan Funds, Endowment Funds, Life
Income Funds, Plant Funds, and Agency Funds.
A full list of accounts can be found at http://acctbal.dii.utk.edu
Q: 2) Provide an overview of the different fund types (for example, special revenue,
donations, etc.).
A: Current Unrestricted Funds
Current Restricted Funds
Loan Funds
Endowment Funds
Annuity Funds (a subset of Endowment Funds)
Life Income Funds
Unexpended Plant Funds
Retirement of Indebtedness Plant Funds
Renewal and Replacement Plant Funds
Investment in Plant Funds
Agency Funds
http://acctbal.dii.utk.edu/fundgrp.htm
Q:
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Q:
A: Yes. Restricted current funds are externally restricted and may be used only in
accordance with the purpose established by their source. They are reported as revenues
and expenditures when expended for current operating purposes. A restricted fund is one of
these types:
Federal Grants and Contracts
State Grants and Contracts
Local Grants and Contracts
Private Grants and Contracts
Q: 7) Do you have special funds for internal services? How do you distribute the accrued
expenses to other funds?
A: Yes, service centers re-bill charges.
Expenses are distributed through a re-bill object code (G/L account), a 3-digit object ending in
"9".
Q: 8) Do you have to produce financial statements by funds, fund groups, or fund types?
Provide an overview of those funds. (USA)
A: The University produces a single financial statement broken out by Fund Group, budget
entity, etc.
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Q: 9) Are budget/actual reports produced for funds/fund groups/fund type levels? Provide
an overview.
A: Yes, the "Budget and Expenditure Report" (ledger), the "General Funds/Restricted
Budget Analysis", and the "Office of the Treasurer Monthly Report."
Q: 10) Is there any special nomenclature (organization) for the name of the fund? Describe
the existing (planned) structure.
A: The University refers to their funds as "accounts". Because the internal structure of the
recording account number plays no role in the reporting and analysis processing, reporting
organization attributes have been assigned to each account number to fulfill this function. The
reporting organization attributes include:
field
example value
Fund
E
Budget Entity
12
College
10
Department 15
Sub department
01 (optional)
Q: 11) List the information to be stored at application of funds/funds level (list of fields, short
description, and properties of fields).
A: Fields at the Fund (account) level include:
Fund
Budget Entity
College
Department
Sub department
Function
Name
Responsible Person
Related Accounts,
etc.
Q: 12) Which information could be changed for a fund? Create a list of all fields/field
contents.
A: Name
Location in the organization
End date
Q: 13) USA only: Do you have endowment funds? If so, please provide detailed
information.
A: Yes, Endowment Funds are subject to the restrictions of gift instruments requiring in
perpetuity that the principal be invested and only the income be used. Although quasiendowment funds have been established by the governing board for the same purpose as
endowment funds, any portion of quasi-endowment funds may be expended. Since these
funds are internally designated, the governing board retains the right to alter or amend such
designation.
Q:
14) USA only: Do you have grants? If so, please provide detailed information.
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3. Naming/Numbering Conventions
Funds will have the same numbers as the companion Cost Center or WBS Element.
Seven-character numbers will be the same as in the legacy system; nine-character
numbers will become ten-character numbers. Please see the Cost Center CI for details.
Those Funds that do not have Cost Centers or WBS Elements (assets and liabilities) still
will keep the same nine-characters become ten-characters account numbers as in the
legacy system.
4. Special Organizational Considerations
A college or division that needs a new Funds Center will fill out the Funds Center Basic
Data screen and forward it to the appropriate Vice Chancellor for approval. If approved, it
is forwarded to the campus business office for review and then to the Controller's Office
for activation.
If Cost Center and WBS Element in accounting are not created automatically from entry
of a new Fund, then their entry will be extra steps.
In Original Budget, revisions, execution, etc. the processes should have the same steps
as in the past.
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Procedures for requesting new Funds are equivalent to the paper path now in place.
6. Description of Improvements
Funds seems functionally equivalent to what UT is doing now.
6.1.1.
Cost Element
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
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The University charges overhead referred to by its regulatory name, "Facilities and
Administrative Expense", to projects. This F&A overhead is included on the bills sent to
the project sponsors and is charged by a variety of methods. All methods apply a
percentage rate to an expense base. The expense base is a summation of all or a subset
of original expense items charged to the project. The bases support by the legacy
system are listed below:
01
02
03
04
05
06
07
08
In order to calculate the base expenses, cost elements are included or excluded from the
summation. The eight methods above have predefined cost elements to be included or
excluded and these cost elements are coded in the program itself (in other words there is
not a table with these values). In addition, there are four account (WBS) attributes, 2 for
primary and 2 for detail cost elements which can be excluded from the base in addition to
those excluded by the program. The 2 detail cost elements can be filled with primary to
get a total of 4 primary and no detail additions to exclusions.
There is an attribute on each WBS that declares the percentage rate to apply to the base.
This is often the rate set by the cost rate agreement negotiated on a campus-by-campus
basis. When the specific contract does not have sufficient funding to pay the overhead,
the overhead may be reduced by using an overhead cost sharing percentage. This
amounts to a partial or complete reversal of the original overhead amount, but is posted
using a different cost element than the overhead so both amounts can be reported on.
In the legacy system, the overhead has been shown as a reduction of fund balance with
the credit side being recorded as income in the unrestricted general fund for the campus.
Overhead has been computed and posted monthly as part of period closing in the legacy
system.
2. General Explanations
Revenue elements are used to classify revenues in Controlling. They are linked to
revenue G/L accounts on a one-for-one basis and have the same number and
description. E.g. Revenue Element 701010 Tuition and Fees Resident represents G/L
Account 701010 Tuition and Fees Resident in CO.
Primary Cost Elements represent expenditure G/L Accounts in CO. They are linked to
Expenditure G/L accounts on a one-for-one basis and have the same number and
description. E.g. Cost Element 439100 Operating Supplies represents G/L Account
439100 Operating Supplies in CO.
Secondary cost elements are used for internal allocations within a controlling area such
as overhead. These cost elements are not directly linked to an Expenditure G/L account.
Ledger Activity Codes for 010 Facilities and Admin Costs and similar internally allocation
costs will be mapped to secondary cost elements.
3. Naming/Numbering Conventions
Revenue elements are linked to revenue G/L accounts on a one-for-one basis and have
the same number and description. E.g. Revenue Element 701010 Tuition and Fees
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Resident represents G/L Account 701010 Tuition and Fees Resident in CO.
Primary Cost Elements are linked to Expenditure G/L accounts on a one-for-one basis
and have the same number and description. E.g. Cost Element 439100 Operating
Supplies represents G/L Account 439100 Operating Supplies in CO.
Secondary cost elements are used for internal allocations within a controlling area such
as overhead. These cost elements are not directly linked to an Expenditure G/L account.
Secondary cost elements will be set up in the range 500000 to 599999 (e.g. 501000 Facilities and Admin Costs).
4. Special Organizational Considerations
The creation and maintenance of cost/revenue elements and cost/revenue element
groups will be a central process within the Controllers Office.
6. Description of Improvements
None
7. Description of Functional Deficits
R/3 does not perform the same function we require for F & A posting. We are working on
a solution.
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6.1.1.1.
Questions:
Q:
1) Define primary cost elements based on the definition of the chart of account.
A: UT's cost elements will reflect our P&L accounts in the chart of accounts. Our expense
accounts will equate to primary cost elements and our revenue accounts will equate to
revenue cost elements.
Q: 2) Reserve a number range in the chart of accounts for the definition of CO-specific
accounts/primary cost elements: which additional primary cost elements do you need (such
as for accruals)?
A: Our primary cost elements will be the same number as the corresponding G/L account.
Primary cost element will fall in the range 400000 - 499999. Revenue cost elements will fall
in the range 700000-799999. Note: the legacy system allowed users to attach a two-digit
suffix to detail elements (codes) that served without validation/translation. It is anticipated
that this functionality will have to be provided in a different structure in order not to clutter the
Chart of accounts.
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
The University requires that we create primary cost elements that at a minimum replicate
our current expenditure object codes. We expect to add additional cost elements to better
describe the way we spend our money.
2. General Explanations
Cost elements are used to classify costs in CO according to object of expenditure.
Primary Cost Elements represent expenditure G/L Accounts in CO. They are linked to
Expenditure G/L accounts on a one-for-one basis and have the same number and
description. E.g. Cost Element 439100 Operating Supplies represents G/L Account
439100 Operating Supplies in CO. Primary cost elements will be set up for all
expenditure G/L Accounts. Primary cost elements can be created automatically based
on the associated expenditure account.
3. Naming/Numbering Conventions
Primary cost elements will have the same numbering as the associated G/L account. For
example, Cost Element 439100 Operating Supplies represents G/L Account 439100
Operating Supplies.
6.1.1.2.
Questions:
Q:
1) Define secondary cost elements for planning, allocation and reporting purposes.
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2. General Explanations
Secondary cost elements are used for internal allocations within a controlling area such
as overhead. These cost elements are not directly linked to an Expenditure G/L account.
3. Naming/Numbering Conventions
Ledger Activity Codes for 010 Facilities and Admin Costs and similar internally allocation
costs will be mapped to secondary cost elements. Secondary cost elements will be set up
in the range 500000 to 599999 (e.g. 501000 - Facilities and Admin Costs).
6.1.1.3.
Questions:
Q:
1) Define cost element groups for planning, allocation, and reporting purposes.
A: Cost elements (Legacy system object codes) are grouped in levels or a hierarchy. Detail
elements (codes - Code support ref 157) map to fewer primary elements (codes - Code
support ref 153). Primary elements (codes) map to six budget categories (Code support Ref
158) Warning, the budget category mapping is changing for FY2001. There is also an
alternative mapping to a summary category (Code support ref 169). Note: the legacy system
allowed users to attach a two-digit suffix to detail elements (codes) that served without
validation/translation. It is anticipated that this functionality will have to be provided in a
different structure in order not to clutter the Chart of accounts.
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
The University requires that cost elements be grouped into a hierarchy similar to our
current 2-digit object code. Also the cost elements need to be grouped into the 6 levels of
budget categories which are changing July 1,2000.
6.1.2.
Cost Center
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
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The University requires the ability to set up cost centers in conformity with GAAP for
colleges and universities. A cost center relates to our current account that associates with
a Budget Entity, College and Department. The cost center needs to support a list of
attributes that we will provide. The University requires our current ability to collect
expenditures and revenues by account.
The University expects to use cost centers for all current expenditure (E) and income (I)
accounts.
The University requires the current hierarchy that includes department, college, vice
chancellor code, and budget entity. We also expect to create alternative hierarchies to
reflect their changing organization.
2. General Explanations
A Cost Center is a unit within a controlling area that represents a revenue and cost
collector for permanent activities. A cost center can be linked to a company code, a
business area, a functional area, a fund, a fund center and a profit center allowing all
these codes to be automatically defaulted when a user enters a cost center in a
document. Costs and revenues posted to a cost center can thus be automatically posted
to the company code, business area, fund, fund center and profit center linked to the cost
center.
A standard hierarchy of cost centers is required for the controlling area and is used by
drill-down reports. In addition Cost Centers may optionally belong to additional alternative
hierarchies that can also be used by drill-down reports.
The University will use Cost Centers to represent its current unrestricted income and
expenditure accounts (I and E accounts) in R/3.
The standard cost center hierarchy will be used to represent the organizational groupings
to show Fund Group >Budget Entity >Function > College or Division > Department> Cost
Center (7 digit) > Cost Center (10 digit). An alternative hierarchy will be created to
represent the State Appropriation hierarchy.
3. Naming/Numbering Conventions
The University will use Cost Centers to represent its current unrestricted income and
expenditure accounts (I and E accounts) in R/3. All E accounts with seven-digit numbers
will be represented by cost centers with the same seven-digit number. All I and E
accounts with nine-digit numbers will be represented by cost centers with ten-digit
numbers. The ten-digit number will be created by adding a zero in the eighth position in
the ten-digit number. E.g. Account E01102401 will be represented by cost center
E011024001.
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Cost Center
Questions:
Q: 1) Define cost centers as the lowest level in your organizational structure at which you
hold one person responsible for the expenses incurred (check whether you have covered the
whole organization).
A: Departments are the lowest level of our organization that one person is responsible for
the expenses incurred.
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
2. General Explanations
A Cost Center is a unit within a controlling area that represents a revenue and cost
collector for permanent activities. A cost center can be linked to a company code, a
business area, a functional area, a fund, a fund center and a profit center allowing all
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Questions:
Q: 1) Take your corporate organizational structure and build a hierarchy according to levels
of responsibilities, with cost centers as the lowest level.
A: "The standard cost center hierarch will be used to represent the organizational groupings
to show Fund Group>budget Entity>Function>College or Division>Department>Cost Center
(7 digit) > Cost Center (10 digit). An Alternative hierarchy will be created to represent the
State Appropriation hierarchy." See "Enterprise Structure and Master Data" document.
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
2. General Explanations
A standard hierarchy of cost centers is required for the controlling area and is used by
drill-down reports. In addition Cost Centers may optionally belong to additional alternative
hierarchies that can also be used by drill-down reports.
6.1.2.3.
Questions:
Q: 1) Besides the standard hierarchy, do you need other alternative structure (groups) of
cost centers (for planning, allocation, and reporting purposes)?
A: "An Alternative hierarchy will be created to represent the State Appropriation hierarchy",
discussed in "Enterprise Structure and Master Data. Other alternative hierarchy's will vary by
business area (campus) and will include vice-chancellor and dean/director.
6.2.
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6.2.1.
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
The University requires the ability to create departments that have associated E accounts
and associated R accounts. These happen at the department level currently. We expect
to be able to group all of a department's accounts in a report.
The University requires the current hierarchy that includes department, college, vice
chancellor code, and budget entity. We also expect to create alternative hierarchies to
reflect their changing organization.
2. General Explanations
A Profit Center is an organizational unit in R/3, within which costs and revenue can be
analyzed. Costs and revenues posted to cost centers and WBS Elements can be
automatically posted to profit centers.
A standard profit center hierarchy is required and is used by drill-down reports, and
multiple alternative profit center hierarchies can be created to be used by drill-down
reports.
The University will use Profit Centers to represent its reporting organization units in R/3
so that reports can be created across cost centers and WBS element by organizational
unit.
The standard profit center hierarchy will be used to represent the reporting organizational
groupings to show Budget Entity >College or Division > Department.
3. Naming/Numbering Conventions
The profit center number will be based on the department number. For example,
department 011002401 will be mapped to profit center L011002401.
6. Description of Improvements
We may be able to use this functionality to create revenue and expenditure statements
for our auxiliaries and self-supporting departments.
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7. Asset Accounting
Questions:
Q: 1) How many fixed assets and how many assets under construction do you currently
have?
A: Equipment: UT has about 100,000 active assets (equipment only) in the AS400 system
worth approximately 2 billion USD grouped into 70 G/L accounts. (These accounts will be
consolidated by fiscal year-end 06/30/2000 down to the individual budget entity level.)
These will need to be depreciated due to new GASB requirements. There is a new policy to
define an asset at $5,000 instead of $1,000. This could decrease the number of assets but
there is another policy to track 'sensitive equipment that are items such as cameras valued
from $1000 - $4999. Due to the 2 policies and asset clean up (which needs to occur prior to
conversion to R/3) the total number of assets to be put into AM are estimated to be 80,000.
Buildings: There are approximately 1500 entries in the facilities database valued at
$1,098,932,262 grouped into 29 G/L accounts. There are approximately 500 major buildings.
There are approximately 100 assets under construction mostly for improvements all funded
from plant funds.
Land: There are approximately 1030 individual land records recorded on 3 x 5 cards. These
records are grouped by 26 account numbers and 28 TN and other counties valued at
$37,951,133. In addition there are 227 more land cards associated with other fund groups
valued at $769,849. These records are adjusted once per year at year-end on our financial
statements
Infrastructure: We have ? numbers of infrastructure (we have a lot of work to do in this area).
The value currently on our books is Improvements other than buildings at $ 82,896,413
grouped into 24 G/L accounts.
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Library holdings: We adjust library holdings once per year based on inventory amounts
received from each library. These holdings include books and all other media. The value at
6/30/99 was $249,544,291 grouped into 6 G/L accounts.
Livestock: We have one G/L account for livestock. We adjust this account once per year
based on inventory records received from the Institute of Agriculture. At 6/30/ 99 the value
was $1,884,764.
Q:
A: Equipment: There will only be one controlling area and one company code. Business
area and cost center will need to be mapped.
All other assets: There will be one controlling area and one company code. Business area
will need to be mapped.
Q:
Q: 4) Do you see a business need to use both internal and external number assignment,
depending on the asset class? If so, please specify.
A: Equipment: Internally assigned number and use an existing field for the equipment tag
number.
Buildings: Internally assigned number and use an existing field for the building number.
Land and Infrastructure: Same as buildings.
Library and livestock: N/A
Q: 5) If you use external number assignment, do you want to allow the assignment of
alphanumeric numbers?
A: No
Q: 6) Do you want to represent asset components using asset sub-numbers? If so, for what
purposes do you plan to use asset sub-numbers?
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Q: 7) Are cost centers (business areas) to be defined in the asset master record on a timedependent basis?
A: Equipment: This may be used for assets which are originally owned by one department
but after a period of time may be owned by another. This functionality will be available if this
is a desired requirement.
All other assets: We need business area only.
Q: 8) Do you see a business need to create multiple similar asset master records in one
step?
A: Equipment: Yes - for a fleet of cars or one lot of assets such as 50 computers.
Buildings: Possibly. However, the volume is not that large to be critical.
Infrastructure: possibly
Land: possible but unlikely
Library and livestock: No
Q:
9) Do you have assets that require increased depreciation due to multiple shift use?
A: No
Q:
11) How do you archive your asset master records at the present time?
A: Equipment & Buildings: Currently no archiving is done. We keep all equipment in our
present system so that we may go back and see the history behind it. For instance, an item
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might have been purchased 10 years ago that was over the threshold for equipment and thus
was given a UT tag number. However, currently it would be under the threshold and
removed from the annual equipment inventory listing, but no one removed the tag number.
We still want to be able to track the item when someone calls and wants to know if this
tagged item is still considered equipment.
Other assets: N/A in current system.
Q: 12) How long do you intend to continue to manage assets, which are no longer on hand
physically, in the system?
A: Equipment and Buildings: Our state record retention law requires 7 years of data after
audit.
R/3 will allow you to store assets in the system forever, however if there is zero net book
value and/or asset is retired you can determine if no activity after x years then it will archive
when archival processing is run. Database space (processing time) vs. use of data will need
to be defined later and managed in conjunction with the other modules.
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
The master record contains information about the fixed asset. The following field groups
exist:
General information (description, quantity, etc.)
Account assignment
Posting information (for example, capitalization date)
Time-dependent assignments (for example, cost center)
Information on real estate
Leasing conditions
Information on the origins of the asset
Physical inventory data
User fields/evaluation groups (currently UT hasn't identified needs for these fields
but during mapping and configuration this may be needed for additional
information)
Depreciation keys
In addition, you can create long texts for the individual field groups belonging to the
general data part of the asset master record. You can simplify the creation of long texts
by using freely definable long text templates. You define these templates in FI-AA
Customizing under Define long text templates. UT will need long text for detail
descriptive information on the Land assets.
Depreciation keys used by UT will be 0000 for non-depreciable assets and LINS for
depreciable assets.
2. General Explanations
Creation of the asset master record will be done by the Campus Business Offices and the
Controller's Office. Users whom are creating purchase requisitions for assets will create
the asset master record and record the asset number in the account assignments in the
purchase requisition. This will trigger the asset to be automatically capitalized upon
goods receipt. When creating the asset master record the user will enter only the basic
data and after the asset is received the record will need to be updated with additional
information.
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The asset master record is the only master data created in asset management.
The asset master record will contain master data from other modules such as the cost
center, WBS element, and business area.
Screen layouts need to be configured for each asset class. The screen layout determines
what fields the user sees when creating an asset master record.
3. Naming/Numbering Conventions
UT will let R/3 assign the number to the Asset master record.
The asset number range and length needs to be determined. Suggest using at least a 6digit asset number.
D. Business Processes
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1. Procurement
Questions:
Q:
A: In general, material is not shared between plants. However, if this were to take place, it
would be internal documentation to include product and dollar transfer documentations.
1.1.
1.1.1.
Purchase Requisition
1.1.1.1.
Questions:
Q: 1) How are purchase requisitions created in the case of stock material, material for direct
consumption, external services?
A: [X] Manually
[ ] MRP
[ ] Sales order
[ ] Replenishment
[X] Store order
[X] Outside R/3
Q: 2) Will you use a purchase requisition to trigger creation of for a contract or scheduling
agreement (Outline Agreement Request)?
A: Yes, in most cases, but purchasing departments will also have the ability to create an
outline agreement without a requisition.
Q: 3) How many days does it take, typically, before a purchase requisition becomes
demand in a purchasing document given to a supplier? Please indicate processing time per
plant.
A: It depends. Requisitions are generally generated for requirements over $2,000. By
University policy, if the items(s) to be purchased are not sole source or are not contract
sources, the requirements have to be placed for public bid for a prescribed time period. The
time periods listed below are assume to be from the time the requisition is received in the
purchasing department and does not include the time it takes to generate the requisition and
gain the required approvals by the requisitioning department.
If the requirement forwarded to purchasing is a sole source purchase, approvals have to be
gained before the requisition can be processed. The approval process could take two or
more business days depending on the approval officials presence. In additions, the buyer
must contact the sole source vendor for price and condition verifications. Assuming that
approval is granted in a timely fashion and prices and conditions are acceptable to the
University, the process for a sole source requisition to be turned into a purchase order and
ready for mailing or faxing to the supplier could be approximately up to five business days.
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Requisitions received for contract items can generally be turned into purchase orders in three
business days or less that are then mailed or faxed to the supplier.
Requisitions that require bidding depend on the estimated value of the requisition. For a
requisition with an estimated value of less than $10,000, informal bid procedures could be
utilized which could take from one day up to two weeks depending on the formality of the
RFQ bid document. Once the bids are received and tabulated, the bids are forwarded to the
department via campus mail or fax for review and approval. Once purchasing has approval to
proceed from the department, the purchase order is prepared and mailed or faxed to the
supplier. The time process to create the PO could vary from two business days to three
business weeks depending on the complexity of the bid process and the review and approval
process at the department.
For a requisition in excess of $10,000, formal bid procedures are utilized. The bid period for
formal bids at a minimum is usually two business weeks and can take as long as six business
weeks - or longer, depending on the complexity of the bid requirements and necessary
meetings during the bid process i.e., bidders conferences, site inspections etc. On the
closing date of the RFQ, the bids are subject to a public opening. Once the bids received are
tabulated and reviewed, the bids are forwarded to the department for review and approval.
Once the Purchasing department to proceed receives approval, the purchase order can be
created and mailed or faxed to the successful bidder. The time period from receipt of
requisition until creation of a purchase is usually a minimum of three business weeks and
could be considerably longer, depending on the complexity and dollar value of the requisition.
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7. Description of Improvements
The requisition and approval process will be fully electronic and paper free. The current
approval process is manual.
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Questions:
Q: 1) On the basis of which criteria are purchase requisitions assigned to a source of
supply?
A: Main criteria are to check for contracts. If contract is available, contract source is
assigned. If no contract is available applicable bidders for commodity or service are
established and bids taken. Sources will be bid.
Q:
A: In general, purchase requisitions are not grouped together. But if used it would be
grouped by commodity, service or vendor
Q: 3) What support (e.g. price simulation) does the buyer need in order to assign the
purchase requisition?
A: Previous history, knowledge of applicable contracts, material groups, department's
recommendation, and estimates.
Q:
A: Yes
Q: 5) Which sources of supply will you use for purchase requisitions? Are these sources of
supply internal and/or external to your company?
A: Previous purchases, bidders list maintained at the purchasing department, buyer
knowledge and experience - all are internal sources. External sources include sourcing
documentation such as Thomas registers, Catalogs Buyer's Guides vendor furnished
information and the internet, state and university contracts.
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
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In general, a buyer will assign the final source of supply to the requisition. If requisitioned
items are on contracts, sourcing will be based on contract and the contract vendor will be
assigned as a source of supply whenever possible and practical. When items are not on
contract, a source of supply will be generated using other MM info records.
2. General Explanations
If
requisitioned item is on contract, the source of supply should be the contract vendor
whenever possible and practical.
If the requisitioned item is on many contracts, R/3 will provide a list of potential contract
sources for the buyer to choose from.
If no contract exists, R/3 will assist the buyer in the formulation of a bidder list based on
vendor info record (that indicates that the same or similar item has been previously
purchased) or based on NIGP codes. (A vendor profile using classification system will be
set-up and link NIGP codes to vendors.) The Buyer will choose the appropriate bidders
from the list for inclusion into a RFQ.
4. Business Model
Purchasing department may assign contract vendor as the source of the requisition if
contract(s) exists for the requisitioned item.
If no contract exists but a vendor info record exists for that requisitioning item, the info
record source could be used as a source for a bidder list. If no contract and no vendor
info record exist, through buyer research the source for bidding will be identified and a
bidders list will be manually created.
7. Description of Improvements
System proposal of sources of supply, if sources of supply exist.
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Questions:
Q: 1) Should requisitions be subject to approval by someone (or possibly several people)
before the requisition can be processed into an RFQ and/or purchase order?
A: Yes. Budget authority and account responsibility reside at the requisitioning level, in the
current organization, the requisitioning department must gain approval before a requisition
can be processed into a RFQ and purchase order.
Q:
2) Are the purchase requisitions subject to a release strategy? If so, which criteria apply?
A: There is no standard for release of a requisition across the University at this time. The
release strategy is dependent on the departments internal procedures.
Q:
3) How is the person responsible for releasing the purchase requisition to be notified?
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2. General Explanations
Once a requisition has been created, the requisition will be approved by an approval
official through the use of authorization. Approval requirements across campuses will be
standardized to the extent possible.
4. Business Model
Requisition creation---> Requisition release to purchasing for processing by approval
official ---> Conversion of purchase requisition into purchase order.
Notifications will be done via phone or e-mail. If in place, the approval official will be
notified via workflow.
5. Special Organizational Considerations
Approval officials will be required on a regular basis (procedures should be established)
to check the requisitions awaiting approval. In case a requisition is declined by the
approver, the requisitioner has to be notified by mail or phone. SAPMail may be used. If a
requisition has been approved by the department official but is rejected by Purchasing,
Purchasing will have to notify the user department by mail or phone. SAPMail may be
used. Alternatively the user in the department may check the status of the requisition. If
the department changes a requisition after it was released a new approval process may
be required due to the type of changes. Purchasing department has to monitor
requisitions to adopt changed requirements. If workflow is implemented, the processes
listed above will be subject to change.
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N/A
1.1.2.
1.1.2.1.
Purchasing
Purchase Order Processing: Vendor Unknown
Questions:
Q:
A: [X] Manually
[X] From purchase requisitions (manual or automatic)
[ ] From store order
[ ] From replenishment
[ ] From allocation table
[ ] From load-building run
[ ] From SAP Retail Store
[X] For stock material
[X] For consumable material
[X] For external services
Q: 2) Do you want the system to check whether the purchase price is within a predefined
tolerance in your system, compared with the material valuation price?
A: No, (Not at this time) But after the accumulation of data it would be of a considerable
advantage to compare prices of previous purchase of the same or similar materials.
Q: 3) Describe how the source of supply is determined for manually created purchase
requisitions!
A: The source of supply is through buyer research that consist of: Buyer knowledge based
on experience; review of previous purchase orders; industrial sources; stand alone, non
legacy system bid list (NIGP Codes); industrial sources - Thomas registers, catalogs and
buyer's guides, industrial literature on previous purchases; and knowledge of internal
University and Sate contracts
Q: 4) Specify the consumption categories for which you will procure external services and
material directly: Asset, cost center, production order, project, sales order, other (please
specify).
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A: Project, Asset, Cost Center, (Sales Order - Not S/D Sales Orders)
Q:
Q: 6) Do you order material in a unit of measure that differs from the one used for stock
keeping purposes?
A: Yes
Q: 7) Do you pay for material in a different unit of measure than the one that is shown in the
PO/and or used for stock put away?
A: Yes
Q: 8) Is it necessary to track certificates of origin and/or customs reference numbers for
materials produced in foreign countries?
A: Yes
Q:
A: Yes
Q:
10) Are purchasing info records to be updated automatically with every purchase order?
A: Yes
Q: 11) Do you wish to analyze/evaluate purchase transactions according to the reasons for
ordering?
A: Yes
Q: 12) Do you plan and enter freight costs in the PO? If yes, describe the basis of the costs.
Also indicate if any types of costs can be determined automatically (for example, freight costs
per piece, per unit of weight, as a percentage of the value).
A: Yes. Basis of cost is freight quote/bid from bidder/vendor.
Q: 13) Do you want to prevent users from changing the account assignment of items in
purchasing documents for which they have no authorizations? If so, for which purchasing
documents?
A: [X] Purchase requisitions
[X] Purchase orders
[X] Contracts
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Q: 14) Do you sometimes order stock material directly for a cost center or another
consumption category?
A: Yes
Q:
15) Do you have to declare your ordering activities to the authorities? If so, describe.
A: Yes, reports are generated for the State of Tennessee for sole source, other than low bid,
only bid received, and emergency non-biddable. Reports are also generated for purge
reports, payment to vendors for printing services (printing authorization numbers), confirming
orders over $2,000, purchase orders $50,000 and over for capital assets, purchase orders
change report/amendments, purchases to small/minority/women owned vendors, audit trails,
and purchase orders over $10,000 based on other than low bid or only bid received. Report
samples will be supplied by each campus.
Q: 16) Do you allow over deliveries? If so, specify the percentage variance for the individual
materials/material types. If yes, what percentage would you allow? Should this default
percentage threshold vary for different locations?
A: Yes, for printing and other items that are processed in a batch process up to 5% to 10%
over the purchase order stated quantity. If other than batch processes, tolerance is zero (0).
Material Group tolerances will be supplied by each campus. To be revisited
Q: 17) On the occasion that a vendor sent you less than the quantity ordered, would you
ever want this shortfall to be considered an under delivery, with no further deliveries
expected? Please list the values for each material/material group.
A: Yes
Q: 18) Can the materials you purchase be subject to different tax types? (For example,
based upon the material purchased, based upon the plant for which the material is
purchased, etc)?
A: The University is a tax-exempt entity, however we pay some Federal Excise Taxes, and
other taxes as well. As long as materials/services are delivered in the state of Tennessee, no
taxes are incurred. Per our existing bid conditions, the vendor/bidder is responsible for all
taxes associated with the purchase order and must account for any taxes in their bid. There
have been situations where the University is responsible for taxes for products delivered to
University personnel residing out-of-state.
Q: 19) Do your POs issued to vendors contain specific transport or packing instructions? Is
vendors' compliance with the transport and packing instructions when the goods are
received?
A: In general, no. However, there could be situations that specific instructions could be
included in the purchase order or request for quotation document.
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A: No
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
Purchase order and contract release order will be created in SAP R/3. R/3 will suggest a
source of supply if no source is designated.
2. General Explanations
Once the requisition is released to purchasing, the authorized purchasing department
personnel will convert the requisition into a purchase order using the appropriate
procurement methods. If the vendor is unknown, R/3 will assist in sourcing the
requisition. Using this R/3 functionality, an authorized individual will be able to source a
Purchase order. The sourcing functionality exist that will suggest a source of supply
based on contract sources maintained in the system, info records, and any other MM info
records.
4. Business Model
The Purchasing Department will convert released requisitions into Purchase Orders. A
purchasing official will approve the purchase order .If elected by the department; a goods
receipt by the department will be performed. The department will receive and enter the
invoice.
7. Description of Improvements
From manual approval to electronic approval of purchase order (paper free process).
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N/A
Questions:
Q:
A: [X] Manually
[X] From purchase requisitions (manual or automatic)
[ ] From store order
[ ] From replenishment
[ ] From allocation table
[ ] From load-building run
[ ] From SAP Retail Store
[X] For stock material
[X] For consumable material
[X] For external services
Q: 2) Do you want the system to check whether the purchase price is within a predefined
tolerance in your system, compared with the material valuation price?
A: same as PO processing vendor unknown
Q: 3) Describe how the source of supply is determined for manually created purchase
requisitions!
A: same as PO processing vendor unknown
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Q: 4) Specify the consumption categories for which you will procure external services and
material directly: Asset, cost center, production order, project, sales order, other (please
specify).
A: same as PO processing vendor unknown
Q:
A: [X] Standard
[ ] Consignment
[ ] Subcontracting
[ ] Stock transfer
Q:
Q: 8) Do you pay for material in a different unit of measure than the one that is shown in the
PO/and or used for stock put away?
A: Yes
A: Yes
Q:
11) Are purchasing info records to be updated automatically with every purchase order?
A: Yes
Q: 12) Do you wish to analyze/evaluate purchase transactions according to the reasons for
ordering?
A: Yes
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Q: 13) Do you plan and enter freight costs in the PO? If yes, describe the basis of the costs.
Also indicate if any types of costs can be determined automatically (for example, freight costs
per piece, per unit of weight, as a percentage of the value).
A: same as PO processing vendor unknown
Q: 14) Do you want to prevent users from changing the account assignment of items in
purchasing documents for which they have no authorizations? If so, for which purchasing
documents?
A: [X] Purchase requisitions
[X] Purchase orders
[X] Contracts
[X] Scheduling agreements
Q: 15) Do you sometimes order stock material directly for a cost center or another
consumption category?
A: Yes
Q:
16) Do you have to declare your ordering activities to the authorities? If so, describe.
A: Yes. There are activities such as sole source, other than low bid at prescribed dollar
amounts, emergency purchase with not bids taken that are required by the state.
Q: 17) Do you allow over deliveries? If so, specify the percentage variance for the individual
materials/material types.
A: Same as vendor unknown See 1.1.2.1 question 16.
Q: 18) On the occasion that a vendor sent you less than the quantity ordered, would you
ever want this shortfall to be considered an under delivery, with no further deliveries
expected? Please list the values for each material/material group.
A: Yes, depending on the department requirements and desires.
Q: 19) Can the materials you purchase be subject to different tax types? (For example,
based upon the material purchased, based upon the plant for which the material is
purchased, etc)?
A: same as PO processing vendor unknown
Q: 20) Do your POs issued to vendors contain specific transport or packing instructions? Is
vendors' compliance with the transport and packing instructions when the goods are
received?
A: same as PO processing vendor unknown
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A: No
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
UT will have many options for purchasing goods and services. The particular purchasing
procedure to utilize will depend on factors such as: the dollar amount: if the requirement
is furnished by a contract source; and the type of items and services being purchased. It
is expected that purchase orders will be able to be processed by: assigning a source
directly against a contract; by taking bids and sourcing the purchase order against the
most favorable bid received; directly converting the requisition into a purchase order with
no other actions taken i.e.: sole source requirements.
Once created, it is expected that the PO will: convey all of the Universitys requirements;
be able to have electronic document attached to the purchase order; that the purchase
order will contain standard purchase order terms and conditions currently used and
issued by the University with each Purchase Order.
2. General Explanations
Purchase order for non-contract purchases and for personal service contracts will be
performed in SAP R/3 using established procedures such as request for quotes, sole
source, etc. For contract sources two methods will be utilized, either purchases against a
blanket order established against a contract or a direct purchase order released against a
contract will be utilized within SAP R/3. For items under $2,000 - purchases will be made
with procurement cards or other non-purchase order methods that will not utilize R/3
functionality. If Fiscal Policy section 130 personal services contracts are included, they
will be processed using either purchase order or service contract functionality.
4. Business Model
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7. Description of Improvements
Paper free approval process: the approval official has to execute a transaction to release
the purchase order.
8. Description of Functional Deficits
The purchase order form (printed PO) will need editing within SAPScript to meet client
layout and content requirements.
Questions:
Q: 1) Will contract release orders be created in R/3 manually, with reference to purchase
requisitions, and/or automatically (for more details, refer to the Source Administration
Scenario)?
A: Yes
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
Ability to issue release orders against a contract.
2. General Explanations
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A purchase order (release order) will be able to be created with reference to a contract.
4. Business Model
Issue a PO in reference to a contract, receive goods if the function is elected by the
department, departments and AP receive and enter invoice depending on the type of
procurement methods used. Account Payable pays the invoice
7. Description of Improvements
Departments will be able to make direct release orders against contracts without going
through purchasing.
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Questions:
Q: 1) Are purchase documents to be approved by someone before being issued to
vendors? Describe the approval procedure....
A: Yes, currently purchase orders up to $10,000 are approved by buyers, orders between
$10,000 and $15,000 are approved by buyer supervisors. Orders in excess of $15,000 are
signed by the business services/purchasing director.
Q: 2) How is the person responsible for approval to be notified? - Approver checks R/3
regularly, by phone, by e-mail, by workflow, other.
A: In phase one, the approver will have to check R/3 regularly or be notified by phone or email. As R/3 grows it is anticipated notification will be through workflow.
Q:
A: Yes
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
The ability to release purchase document to suppliers. A release strategy shall exist for
all purchase documents based on a preset approval process.
2. General Explanations
Purchase orders will be released based on a defined release strategy.
3. Explanations of Functions and Events
The purchase orders will be released according to defined dollar intervals detailed below:
1.Non-Exempt Buter
2.Purchasing Agent in Training
3.Purchasing Agent
4.Associate/Assistant Director
5.Director
$0 - 2,000
$0 - 5,000
$0 - 20,000
$0 - 50,000
Unlimited
The individual campuses will determine the dollar level of approval for their buyers.
4. Business Model
All purchase orders within SAP R/3 could be subject to one or many release levels
depending on the value of the purchase order.
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7. Description of Improvements
Monitoring of purchase order approval status by requestors.
Paper free approval process.
Questions:
Q:
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Q:
A: [X] Paper
[X] Telephone
[X] Fax
[ ] E-mail
[ ] EDI
Q: 3) Do you wish to adopt vendors' own nomenclature for characteristics (color codes etc.)
on your order form?
A: To the extent possible, yes (e.g., vendor material number in details per line in PO and in
contract).
Q:
A: [X] Paper
[X] Telephone
[X] Fax
[X] E-mail
[ ] EDI
Q: 5) How long after ordering and before the time of delivery should a shipping notification
have been received?
A: Two to Three business days.
Q:
A: [X] Paper
[X] Telephone
[X] Fax
[ ] E-mail
[ ] EDI
Q:
Q:
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2. General Explanations
At UT the purchase order will be transmitted to the vendor via mail/fax/phone
3. Explanations of Functions and Events
Purchase orders will be transmitted to vendor based on the vendor's preferred
communication method. If a purchase order or contract is changed there will be no
automatic print out or fax transmission of the changed purchase order / contract. The
print out or fax transmission have to be triggered manually by the user in order to avoid
transmission of non-relevant changes to the vendor.
4. Business Model
After the purchase is created and approved, it will be issued to the vendor via fax/mail.
7. Description of Improvements
Transmission of PO via fax from SAP R/3. This is with the understanding that the vendor
has the capability to receive fax.
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For release orders against contracts, authorized department users and authorized
purchasing users will transmit release orders. For specific purchase orders generated
against requisitions forwarded by departments, only authorized purchasing personnel will
transmit the purchase orders.
13. Project Specific CI Section
N/A
1.1.2.6.
Questions:
Q: 1) How many days after the due delivery date will you send messages to your vendors
urging delivery of the overdue goods?
A: Two business day as a targeted standard default and if determined to be necessary by
the buyer.
Q: 2) Should this deadline monitoring vary for different materials or articles? If so, please
explain.
A: There should be a degree of flexibility that would allow a buyer to determine an
appropriate time period.
Q: 3) Will you send out reminders regarding outstanding vendor confirmations if the due
date is exceeded?
A: Yes
Q:
6) How are reminders and urging letters (expediters) to be sent to your vendors?
A: [X] By post
[X] By fax
[ ] By EDI
[X] By e-mail
[ ] Other, please describe
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
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Ability to print automatically reminders at the predefined intervals for overdue delivery if
required by authorized users.
2. General Explanations
Purchase Order Follow-Up
The system checks the reminder periods that have been specified and - if necessary automatically prints reminders for expediters at the predefined intervals. It also provides
an up-to-date status of all purchase requisitions, quotations, and purchase orders. This
process would be considered optional and any defaults would be to not have this type of
transaction automatically created.
4. Business Model
See above
7. Description of Improvements
Ability to monitor overdue PO's
8. Description of Functional Deficits
N/A
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Questions:
Q:
A: Yes
Q: 2) Once you have issued a purchasing document to a vendor, do you want to track
"confirmations" your vendor may return to you regarding the order?
A: Yes, order acknowledgement w/confirmation and shipping notifications, if required by
buyer.
Q: 3) What do you do if the order acknowledgment contains quantity and/or delivery date
variances from the purchase order or a previous acknowledgment?
A: Contact the vendor directly for reconciliation.
Q: 4) Which type of vendor confirmation do you need and at which time intervals? Which
events should trigger a confirmation?
A: Purchase Order and shipping confirmation. P.O. confirmation upon vendor receipt and
shipping confirmation two business days prior to shipping.
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
Ability to receive order confirmation and shipping notification.
2. General Explanations
Vendor Confirmations at UT will include: Order acknowledgments: The vendor receives
the purchase order and can deliver the ordered/amended quantity. Shipping notification:
the vendor sends shipping notification prior to the delivery of the ordered goods.
This functionality should be considered optional and any defaults should be to not create
this transaction automatically.
3. Explanations of Functions and Events
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Purchase Order and shipping confirmation. P.O. confirmation upon vendor receipt and
shipping confirmation two business days prior to shipping.
4. Business Model
Vendor receives order. Shipper issues advanced notification of shipping 2 days prior to
shipment.
UT receives notification, enters information to R/3 system and monitors delivery against
notification.
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1.1.2.8.
Questions:
Q:
A: The ordering department, the individual to contact will be part of the order.
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
Receiving of shipping notification per fax/phone.
2. General Explanations
The vendor notifies UT department per fax/phone prior to delivery. This function should
be at the University authorized user level and should be optional and used on a case-percase method.
3. Explanations of Functions and Events
A number of days (for example 2) prior to the delivery, the department will be receiving a
shipping notification.
4. Business Model
Vendor receives PO. Issues shipping notification a few days prior to shipment.
7. Description of Improvements
Monitoring the overdue deliveries for PO's for which Goods receipt will be performed.
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1.1.3.
1.1.3.1.
Goods Receipt
Goods Receipt Processing
Questions:
Q: 1) The material stock balances shown in your legacy system are to be transferred to the
R/3 System. Will the stocks be valuated at the prices specified in the R/3?
A: At this point, inventories are not in scope; however, when inventories are incorporated
into our scope, the information would be migrated.
Q: 2) If you do not use the R/3 Purchasing functionality, describe the process of receiving
goods from a vendor.
A: Goods are shipped directly to the address indicated on the purchase order. The delivery
is usually to a department where the good is received. No formal receiving report is issued
and no accounting actions take place at this point.
Q: 3) If you do not use production orders of the R/3 System, describe the process of
receiving goods from production.
A: N/A. UT is not producing materials neither with R/3 module PP (Production Planning) nor
outside the R/3 system.
Q: 4) Should the person who posts a goods receipt be able to use a different account
assignment than the one specified via the automatic account determination process?
A: Yes
CI Template:
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1. Requirements/Expectations
The ability to generate a goods receipt if elected by the department. The goods receipt
process will not be mandatory and will only be utilized on a per purchase order basis.
2. General Explanations
The goods receipt is performed when formal receipt of goods and is elected by
department.
4. Business Model
Standard Process in SAP R/3: The Purchasing department will issue the PO to the
vendor in SAP R/3. If elected, the Department will receive and perform the Goods
Receipt in SAP R/3.
7. Description of Improvements
Adding a level of control and tracking capability in the procurement process
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Questions:
Q:
1) Describe the process for receiving goods with reference to a purchase order.
A: When the purchase order is processed, a copy is forwarded to the department. Once
goods are received, the department will match the goods received to the purchase order. If
all is accountable, the department will reference the purchase order on the invoice and send
the approved invoice for payment.
Q:
A: Goods are usually delivered to the department that orders the products. The storage
location is usually the department.
Q:
3) How do you inform the Purchasing Department that goods have been received?
Q: 4) Do you receive quantities less than the ordered quantity? If yes, is the purchase order
considered complete then or do you receive the missing quantities later?
A: Not usually, but this does happen from time to time and partial payments can be made for
quantities less than the ordered quantity. The order, however, is not considered complete.
The ordering department usually contacts the vendor directly about making up the remaining
items. There have been situations where the vendor did not deliver all products and did not
make up the difference. This situation allows for the purchase order to remain open for an
indefinite period without any notification to the purchasing department. The outstanding
balance must ultimately be closed out or cancelled to purge the order from the system.
Q: 5) Do you physically store the goods you have received into "stock in quality inspection"
at a different location than those posted to normal stock?
A: No
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Q:
6) Do you allow every material to be stored at all storage locations? Please describe!
A: No. No stock material and no inventory are maintained currently. Out of scope.
Q: 7) Do you use a unit of measure for the pricing of the goods other than the unit you order
in? If yes, you can define the variances in customizing.
A: Yes
Q: 8) Do the materials you receive have to be stored for a certain time before they can be
used or do they have an expiration date that you want to keep in the system?
A: It depends. As inventories are not in scope at this time question is not applicable.
However, there are inventories around the campus that have time sensitive properties such
as pharmaceuticals etc.
Q: 9) Do you refuse to accept deliveries if the vendor has not complied with the shipping
instructions? (Can be used to evaluate vendors.)
A: No
Q:
Q:
A: None
Q: 12) If a goods receipt quantity is assigned to a goods issue, do you want the person who
enters the goods receipt to receive a corresponding message?
A: Yes
Q: 13) Will you inspect the material/article at the time of goods receipt? If so, do you enter
the goods receipt and the inspection result or do you only enter the goods receipt after the
inspection has been carried out?
A: Yes
Q: 14) If you are using batch management, how is the batch number determined at the time
of goods receipt?
A: Batch management not used at this time
Q:
15) Do you classify the batches at the time of goods receipt? Please specify the criteria.
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A: Not applicable
Q: 17) Do you wish to print out the material document as evidence of a goods movement?
Which information should be included in the printout?
A: If in scope, Yes
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
Ability to perform a Goods Receipt in reference to a purchase order or release order. If
Goods Receipt is performed, it will only be accomplished in reference to purchase order.
2. General Explanations
When elected, the goods receipt is performed when formal receipt of goods is required.
4. Business Model
Standard Process in SAP R/3: The Purchasing department will issue the PO to the
vendor in SAP R/3. The Department will receive and perform the Goods Receipt in SAP
R/3.
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1.1.4.
Invoice Verification
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
2. General Explanations
1.1.4.1.
Questions:
Q: 1) Do you reduce the amount of your vendors' invoices automatically in the event of
variances?
A: Automatically - No, however, we do have occasion to reduce the invoice for non-receipt
of items or charges not allowed for in the purchase order (i.e. shipping, handling, taxes, etc).
Q:
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Q: 3) List the types of tax that are generally applicable and should therefore be
automatically suggested in the standard system when an invoice is entered.
A: The University is a tax-exempt entity for personal property/purchases; other taxes might
be applicable i.e. Federal excises taxes, surcharges etc.
Q:
A: On an exception basis. If other than the cost accounted for in the PO, purchasing
approves any overages, or writes a change order to include requirements not originally
ordered if previously approved by ordering department.
Q: 7) Do you sometimes have to change the account assignment for a certain purchase
order at the time of invoice verification?
A: Yes
CONFIGURATION NOTE: For security profile purposes, will the account assignment change
to take place at invoice verification be performed by someone in Accounts Payable (only),
Purchasing (only), the department (only), or by any of the above?
Q:
Q: 9) Which other messages do you want to send to your vendors or to people within your
organization with respect to the invoice receipt?
A: Not known at this time
Q: 10) Is a goods receipt always necessary for invoice verification purposes? If so, do you
allow reversal of the goods issue after the invoice has been posted?
A: No
Q: 12) Do you wish to notify Purchasing if the invoice price exceeds the purchase order
price?
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A: Yes
Q:
14) Do you use tax jurisdiction codes? Specify the codes used.
A: No
Q: 15) Will you have invoices with mass amounts of data for which no item check is
required?
A: No
Q: 16) Do you receive invoices relating to transactions that are not administered in the
system?
A: Yes
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
2. General Explanations
Invoice entry will be a shared responsibility of Accounts Payable and the requesting
departments. Responsibility for each group is outlined in the Business Model section.
PROS: Workload will be distributed throughout the organization.
CONS: Security profile maintenance will increase and access restrictions to transactional
data could be compromised; End User training for Accounts Payable and Invoice
Verification will go beyond the usual system participants (i.e., Accounts Payable,
Financial Accounting) in order to include the various department personnel who will also
be responsible for invoice entry--requires additional project time and money.
3. Explanations of Functions and Events
PO is issued by the Purchasing department. The Department will receive and enter the
invoice in reference to a PO.
For items purchased w/o PO such as P-card or non-PO Purchases invoice will be
received and approved and processed by the department without purchasing
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4. Business Model
P-card purchases: Invoice receipt and entry completed by Account Payable
reconciliation accomplished by departments.
Non-PO purchases: Invoice receipt and entry completed by Department.
Purchases using Contract/ Blanket order: Invoice receipt and entry done by Account
Payable if a consolidated invoice has been negotiated and the department will reconcile
invoice. If the process does not include a consolidated invoice, the Department will
receive and enter the invoice for payment.
Purchases using release against a contract: The department will receive and process
the invoice.
Normal PO: Invoice receipt and entry done by Department
PO for services: For formal section 130 contracts, Invoice receipt at department and
entry of invoice completed by Account Payable. For other than formal contacts, invoice is
entered by the Department.
5. Special Organizational Considerations
Broad Accounts Payable (invoice verification) training initiative is necessary in order to
incorporate all key personnel at the departments and at Accounts Payable.
6. Changes to Existing Organization
N/A for purchasing. However, the role of Accounts Payable personnel could change.
7. Description of Improvements
The elimination of multiple oversight and approval of invoices. Once the material is
received the invoice is referenced to the material receipt and PO on those activities with
receipts. Multiple entry of line items in several systems or screens is not required. On
those purchases without goods receipts the invoice will reference the PO and the line
item(s) without reentry.
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Invoice Overview
Questions:
Q:
Q: 2) Describe the information flow between Purchasing and Invoice Verification when an
error occurs?
A: If the department reconciles/verifies the invoice, Purchasing will usually not be involved in
the information flow but could amend the purchase order based on request of the ordering
department.
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
Invoice discrepancy resolution and entry will be at the Department level or Accounts
Payable.
Purchasing will amend purchase order as requested and approved by department
2. General Explanations
Invoice verification will be a shared responsibility of Accounts Payable and the individual
departments. Responsibility for resolving vendor invoice problems is handled by the
party that encounters the specific problem. Vendors who seek resolution to invoice
issues must determine the appropriate party to contact in order to do so; this could put a
strain on UT's long-term vendor relationships.
PROS: Both Accounts Payable and the departments are equally empowered to resolve
invoice problems.
CONS: Vendor customer service may become an inconvenience to both the vendors
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4. Business Model
For procurement cards, central orders such as blanket orders against contracts with
consolidated billing, processing will be by Accounts Payable. On those activities requiring
individual purchase orders (low volume / high value) and non-purchase orders other than
procurement cards, the processing will be by the department. For purchase orders
releases against contracts, the department will process the invoice. Please see business
model listed in Invoice Processing for additional information.
5. Special Organizational Considerations
An appropriate Vendor/Supplier Customer Service plan needs to be developed that best
meets the needs of UT and its suppliers.
Broad Accounts Payable (invoice verification) user training is needed to ensure that all
key personnel at department level and AP personnel is trained with the new system.
7. Description of Improvements
N/A
8. Description of Functional Deficits
N/A
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Invoice Release
Questions:
Q:
Q: 2) Do you want to block invoices for late delivery of goods? If so, block the invoice when
the number of days late times the value of the late items is greater than X. Specify a value for
X.
A: No
Q: 3) Invoices can be entered in the system but may be automatically blocked due to
variances. Specify the maximum quantity and price variances that are allowed.
A: 0% as a default variance.
Q: 4) Do you want to block invoice items whose value exceeds a certain amount? What is
the threshold value for invoice items 1) with reference to a purchase order 2) without
reference to a purchase order?
A: No
Q: 5) Who is to be notified in the event of variances between the purchase order price and
the invoice price? How is this person to be notified?
A: Purchasing departments and/or department approval authority. Notified by e-mail and
hard copy.
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Q: 7) Who (e.g. buyer, accounts payable clerk) checks blocked invoices and releases them
for payment? How is this person to be notified?
A: This should be a function of AP.
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
Ability to block invoices due to price variance, quantity variances, and quality
variances
Ability to allow Purchasing to set P.O. tolerance at 0% but also override on a
case by case basis
Allow A/P to release invoices blocked due to price variance, quantity variances,
stochastical, and quality reasons.
Ability to notify Purchasing if invoice blocked because of price and quantity
variance
2. General Explanations
Invoices that are blocked can be released by processing this transaction whenever the
invoice is ready to be paid.
7. Description of Improvements
N/A
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Further requirements analysis needs to take place to match the capabilities of SAP R/3's
Invoice Release to the business rules/policies that UT will impose.
9. Approaches to Covering Functional Deficits
N/A
1.2.
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
2. General Explanations
1.2.1.
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
2. General Explanations
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1.2.1.1.
Questions:
Q: 1) How are purchase requisitions created in the case of stock material, material for direct
consumption, external services?
A: [ ] Manually
[ ] MRP
[ ] Sales order
[ ] Replenishment
[ ] Store order
[ ] Outside R/3
Q: 2) Will you use a purchase requisition to trigger creation of for a contract or scheduling
agreement (Outline Agreement Request)?
A: Sponsored projects and agency funds: No
Gifts: No
Q: 3) How many days does it take, typically, before a purchase requisition becomes
demand in a purchasing document given to a supplier? Please indicate processing time per
plant.
A:
Q:
A:
[ ]Yes
[ ]No
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
General Ledger transfers will be made to handle internal procurement.
2. General Explanations
N/A
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See above
4. Business Model
See above
7. Description of Improvements
N/A
8. Description of Functional Deficits
N/A
Questions:
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A:
Q: 3) What support (e.g. price simulation) does the buyer need in order to assign the
purchase requisition?
A:
Q:
A:
Q: 5) Which sources of supply will you use for purchase requisitions? Are these sources of
supply internal and/or external to your company?
A:
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
General Ledger transfer will be done for internal order.
2. General Explanations
N/A
3. Explanations of Functions and Events
N/A
4. Business Model
N/A
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7. Description of Improvements
N/A
8. Description of Functional Deficits
N/A
Questions:
Q: 1) Should requisitions be subject to approval by someone (or possibly several people)
before the requisition can be processed into an RFQ and/or purchase order?
A:
Q:
2) Are the purchase requisitions subject to a release strategy? If so, which criteria apply?
A:
Q:
3) How is the person responsible for releasing the purchase requisition to be notified?
A: [ ] Via workflow
[ ] Other procedure
[ ] Approver regularly checks R/3
[ ] By telephone
[ ] By e-mail
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CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
N/A
2. General Explanations
N/A
4. Business Model
N/A
5. Special Organizational Considerations
N/A
7. Description of Improvements
N/A
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1.2.2.
1.2.2.1.
Questions:
Q:
A: [ ] Manually
[ ] From purchase requisitions (manual or automatic)
[ ] From store order
[ ] From replenishment
[ ] From allocation table
[ ] From load-building run
[ ] From SAP Retail Store
[ ] For stock material
[ ] For consumable material
[ ] For external services
Q: 2) Do you want the system to check whether the purchase price is within a predefined
tolerance in your system, compared with the material valuation price?
A:
Q: 3) Describe how the source of supply is determined for manually created purchase
requisitions!
A:
Q: 4) Specify the consumption categories for which you will procure external services and
material directly: Asset, cost center, production order, project, sales order, other (please
specify).
A:
Q:
A: [ ] Standard
[ ] Consignment
[ ] Subcontracting
[ ] Stock transfer
Q:
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A: [ ] via mail
[ ] via fax
[ ] By EDI
[ ] Other
Q: 7) Do you order material in a unit of measure that differs from the one used for
stockkeeping purposes?
A:
[ ]Yes
[ ]No
Q: 8) Do you pay for material in a different unit of measure than the one that is shown in the
PO/and or used for stock putaway?
A:
[ ]Yes
[ ]No
Q:
A:
Q:
A:
11) Are purchasing info records to be updated automatically with every purchase order?
[ ]Yes
[ ]No
Q: 12) Do you wish to analyze/evaluate purchase transactions according to the reasons for
ordering?
A:
[ ]Yes
[ ]No
Q: 13) Do you plan and enter freight costs in the PO? If yes, describe the basis of the costs.
Also indicate if any types of costs can be determined automatically (for example, freight costs
per piece, per unit of weight, as a percentage of the value).
A:
Q: 14) Do you want to prevent users from changing the account assignment of items in
purchasing documents for which they have no authorizations? If so, for which purchasing
documents?
A: [ ] Purchase requisitions
[ ] Purchase orders
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[ ] Contracts
[ ] Scheduling agreements
Q: 15) Do you sometimes order stock material directly for a cost center or another
consumption category?
A:
Q:
[ ]Yes
[ ]No
16) Do you have to declare your ordering activities to the authorities? If so, describe.
A:
Q: 17) Do you allow over deliveries? If so, specify the percentage variance for the individual
materials/material types.
A:
Q: 18) On the occasion that a vendor sent you less than the quantity ordered, would you
ever want this shortfall to be considered an under delivery, with no further deliveries
expected? Please list the values for each material/material group.
A:
Q: 19) Can the materials you purchase be subject to different tax types? (For example,
based upon the material purchased, based upon the plant for which the material is
purchased, etc)?
A:
Q:
20) Do your POs issued to vendors contain specific transport or packing instructions?
A:
Q: 21) Is it to be possible for purchase orders to be generated automatically following a
goods receipt? Specify the criteria for this.
A:
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
General Ledger transfers will be made for internal UT orders.
2. General Explanations
N/A
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7. Description of Improvements
N/A
Questions:
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Q:
A:
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
General Ledger transfers will made for internal orders (see Ron Maples- FI).
2. General Explanations
N/A
4. Business Model
N/A
5. Special Organizational Considerations
N/A
7. Description of Improvements
N/A
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Questions:
Q:
A: [ ] Paper
[ ] Telephone
[ ] Fax
[ ] E-mail
[ ] EDI
Q: 3) Do you wish to adopt vendors' own nomenclature for characteristics (color codes etc.)
on your order form?
A:
Q:
A: [ ] Paper
[ ] Telephone
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[ ] Fax
[ ] E-mail
[ ] EDI
Q: 5) How long after ordering and before the time of delivery should a shipping notification
have been received?
A:
Q:
A: [ ] Paper
[ ] Telephone
[ ] Fax
[ ] E-mail
[ ] EDI
Q:
A:
Q:
A:
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
General Ledger transfers will be made for internal orders.
2. General Explanations
N/A
3. Explanations of Functions and Events
N/A
4. Business Model
N/A
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N/A
7. Description of Improvements
N/A
1.2.3.
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
2. General Explanations
4. Business Model
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7. Description of Improvements
1.2.3.1.
Questions:
Q: 1) The material stock balances shown in your legacy system are to be transferred to the
R/3 System. Will the stocks be valuated at the prices specified in R/3?
A:
Q: 2) If you do not use the R/3 Purchasing functionality, describe the process of receiving
goods from a vendor.
A:
Q: 3) If you do not use production orders of the R/3 System, describe the process of
receiving goods from production.
A:
Q: 4) Should the person who posts a goods receipt be able to use a different account
assignment than the one specified via the automatic account determination process?
assignment?
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A:
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
General Ledger transfers will be made for internal orders.
2. General Explanations
N/A
4. Business Model
N/A
7. Description of Improvements
N/A
8. Description of Functional Deficits
N/A
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1.3.
Source Administration
1.3.1.
RFQ/Quotation
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
2. General Explanations
1.3.1.1.
Questions:
Q: 1) Do you generally request several vendors to submit prices, terms and conditions in
the form of a tender/bid/quotation?
A: Yes
Q: 3) Can an article be procured from several vendors? If so, is this the rule or an
exception? (Or specify percentage.)
A: Yes, non-contract requirements over $2,000 are bid and according to the results, the
same material could be purchase from multiple bidders.
Q:
4) Do you carry out requirements planning for structured articles (e.g. pre-pack, display)?
A: No
Q: 5) How do you determine the requirement quantities at header level in the case of
structured articles?
A: No. No requirement planning. Not considered at this point of time.
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Q: 6) Do you exclude articles from requirements planning? If so, which (e.g. import,
seasonal, promotion, etc.)?
A: No. No requirement planning. Not considered at this point of time.
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
Ability to issue a solicitation to multiple vendors and group by collective number. Using
reporting functionality it must be possible to create a bidders list for inclusion into a RFQ.
Response to the solicitation must able to be converted into a purchase order after having
been reviewed by multiple users. Attachments as prepared by the requisitioner have to
be attachable to the RFQ. The RFQ must be able to access and incorporate University
bid conditions that will become part of the RFQ and forwarded to bidder as part of the
RFQ. Any bids received will be loaded into R/3 for electronic evaluation. As part of the
evaluation function/form, the reason for award must be documented. The reason for
award must be able to be maintained in R/3 and be readily available for use in reporting.
2. General Explanations
A request for quotation (RFQ) is an invitation extended to a vendor by a purchasing
organization to submit a quotation (bid) for the supply of materials or performance of
services. UT will submit RFQ to vendors using SAP R/3 functionality. The responses of
the vendors will be entered in the system in form of quotes. The quotes will be evaluated
electronically according to criteria such as prices. As part of the RFQ, the reason for
award will also be maintained in R/3.
3. Explanations of Functions and Events
In general, RFQs will be processed for non-contract items that are in excess of $2,000
and can be generated based on requisitions received by departments or by requirements
identified by the Purchasing department. During the RFQ process, the buyer will: assign
bidders that are provided within the R/3 information records to the RFQ; assign bid
conditions that are maintained in R/3 that will serve as the basis of the condition of
purchase; conduct research and insure the accuracy of the specifications; receive and
evaluate bids; document the reasons of award within R/3. The RFQ will be reviewed and
approved on a pre-defined release strategy and released. Once released, the RFQ is
transmitted by mail or fax.
4. Business Model
An organization will be able to issue a RFQ to multiple potential suppliers, the suppliers
will submit quotes, the quotes will be evaluated, and the selected quote will be converted
into a purchase order.
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N/A
7. Description of Improvements
Central source lists and tabulation or evaluation of respondees.
Release of RFQs
Questions:
Q: 1) Are purchase documents to be approved by someone before being issued to
vendors? Describe the approval procedure....
A: Yes. POs up to $10,000 approved by buyer. POs from $10,000 to $15,000 approved by
buyer supervisor. POs over $15,000 approved by purchasing director. Same procedure is in
place for RFQ formulation and submission.
Q: 2) How is the person responsible for approval to be notified? - Approver checks R/3
regularly, by phone, by e-mail, by workflow, other.
A: Approver will have to check R/3 regularly by phone, e-mail, etc., and in the future,
through workflow.
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Q:
A: Yes
Q: 4) In automatic load building, are (promotion) purchase orders to be consolidated in
addition to requisitions?
A: No
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
Ability to require approvals for RFQ and to review RFQ prior to release.
2. General Explanations
At UT release strategy will be set-up for RFQ. The criteria for PO release will be the
same for RFQ.
4. Business Model
RFQ is created by Purchasing. Review and approval by purchasing manager, if
applicable. RFQ is sent to the vendor per fax or mail.
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7. Description of Improvements
N/A
8. Description of Functional Deficits
N/A
Transmission of RFQs
Questions:
Q:
Q: 2) Will you send rejection letters to unsuccessful bidders? Indicate how such letters are
to be transmitted to the vendor.
A: [ ] By post (in written form)
[ ] By fax
[ ] By EDI
[ ] By e-mail
[ ] Other (please specify)
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CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
Ability to transmit via mail or fax
2. General Explanations
The RFQ document will be sent to vendor per fax/mail.
4. Business Model
RFQs are generated by Purchasing based on the requirements transmitted via a
requisition from departments or requirements identified by purchasing. The buyer takes
the appropriate steps to source, assign conditions and insure accuracy of specifications
in the creation of the RFQ. Once the RFQ is prepared, it will flow through the appropriate
release functions and created. Transmission will be in accordance with the vendor
transmission preference recorded in the vendor record.
7. Description of Improvements
Electronic approval versus manual RFQ
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N/A
Questions:
Q: 1) Do you wish to have the system automatically analyze/evaluate quotations submitted
by vendors?
A: Yes
Q:
2. General Explanations
A quotation is an offer by a vendor to a purchasing organization regarding the supply of
materials or performance of services subject to specified conditions. The vendor
responses (quotes) will be entered and evaluated electronically.
3. Explanations of Functions and Events
Purchasing will receive and enter the quotes sent by vendors. Purchasing will perform a
price comparison to determine the vendor with the best price. The RFQ will be reviewed
by the original requester along with Purchasing to determine the appropriate award. The
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basis of award will be documented. The basis of award will have to be recorded and
maintained in R/3. Once the award is determined the RFQ can be converted into a
purchase order or into a contract. A signature sheet to protocol attendance during bid
opening will not be covered within R/3.
The statement of award is maintained within R/3 and will have to be part of the evaluation
tabulation. The statement of award will be based on a reason field that is maintained with
the quotation.
4. Business Model
Creation of RFQ will be by Purchasing. RFQ will be reviewed and approved by
Purchasing Manager if applicable. RFQ will be sent to vendors. Quotes will be sent to the
Purchasing department. Purchasing Department along with original requester will
determine the award. Conversion of the RFQ into PO by Purchasing Department.
7. Description of Improvements
Electronic Approval of RFQ and electronic price comparison.
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N/A
1.3.1.5.
Transmission of Rejections
Questions:
Q:
Q: 2) Will you send rejection letters to unsuccessful bidders? Indicate how such letters are
to be transmitted to the vendor.
A: [ ] By post (in written form)
[ ] By fax
[ ] By EDI
[ ] By e-mail
[ ] Other (please specify)
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
No requirements to send rejection notification to the vendors (bidders)
2. General Explanations
N/A
3. Explanations of Functions and Events
N/A
4. Business Model
N/A
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7. Description of Improvements
N/A
8. Description of Functional Deficits
N/A
1.3.2.
1.3.2.1.
Contract Processing
Questions:
Q: 1) Will you use contracts in R/3? If so, what will you use contracts for (e.g. stock
materials, consumable materials, external services)?
A: Yes, consumable materials, external services, no substitute/sole source requirements.
Q:
2) Which types of contract do you need (e.g. value contracts, quantity contracts)?
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Q:
4) Do you also allow a consumption account in the case of contracts for stock materials?
A: No
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
Ability to create value and quantity contracts for consumable materials and external
services.
2. General Explanations
In SAP R/3, a contract is a type of outline purchase agreement against which release
orders (releases) can be issued for materials or services on an as needed basis over an
agreed to period of time. At UT blanket orders combined with value contracts functionality
will be used.
3. Explanations of Functions and Events
Creation of contracts can be based on requirements generated by Departments or
requirements identified by the purchasing department based on research. For material
subject to competition, RFQs are generated by buyers and forwarded to the appropriate
sources. Upon receipt of bids, the bids are evaluated and the most favorable bid is
selected. The bid selected is converted into a contract. There will be two options in
ordering against contracts. Either a blanket order will be established against a contract
and departments will order (verbally) or formal release orders will be generated and will
go through the appropriate goods receipt and invoice verification processes if elected.
For material subject to non-competition, the appropriate approval process will be initiated
and upon approval, either a RFQ will be forwarded to the specific vendor, or verbal
negotiations between the University and the vendor will be conducted. In the event that a
RFQ is generated, the bid will be converted into a contract and the ordering procedures
as outlined above will be utilized. If no RFQ is created and a requisition does exist, the
requisition will be converted into a contract. If no requisition or RFQ is created, the
contract will be created without reference to a RFQ.
For material that is available from sources outside of the University system such as State
of Tennessee contracts, the University may establish contracts with State of Tennessee
contract vendors without competition and based on the prices and conditions of the state
contract.
The function of creating contracts will be performed by purchasing department personnel.
4. Business Model
Contracts can be created for specific campuses or created for the entire University
system. The campus will coordinate with each other in the establishment of contracts.
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Questions:
Q: 1) Are purchase documents to be approved by someone before being issued to
vendors? Describe the approval procedure....
A: The approval process would be the same as with the PO approval process.
Q: 2) How is the person responsible for approval to be notified? - Approver checks R/3
regularly, by phone, by e-mail, by workflow, other.
A: By telephone, e-mail, personal notification, workflow if available.
Q:
A: Yes
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CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
Ability to do blanket orders with referencing to the outline agreement and to create
release purchase orders against outline agreements.
2. General Explanations
The purchase order against contract is called a release order in SAP R/3.
4. Business Model
The outline agreement will be established by the purchasing department. Contracts can
be created with reference. Framework orders (Doc. type FO) will reference the outline
agreement in most cases but no goods receipt will be required. However, some instances
may have release orders (doc. type NB) referencing the Outline Agreement and could
require goods receipt. Funds availability will not occur at the time of Framework Order
creation but will occur at the time of Release Order creation.
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Transmission of Contracts
Questions:
Q: 1) Which departments/organizational units are responsible for maintaining the material
data?
A: Material Master not maintained
Q:
Q:
A: [X] Paper
[ ] Telephone
[X] Fax
[ ] E-mail
[ ] EDI
Q:
2. General Explanations
The release order document will be transmitted to the vendor via mail or fax.
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7. Description of Improvements
N/A
1.4.
Return Deliveries
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CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
2. General Explanations
1.4.1.
Outbound Shipments
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
2. General Explanations
1.4.1.1.
Questions:
Q:
A: No. Vendor has to pick up material. Department obtains return authorization and
contacts vendor for pick up on his behalf and his cost.
Q:
A: No
Q:
A: N/A
Q:
A: N/A
Q:
A: N/A
Q:
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A: N/A
Q: 8) Do you use one mode of transport per route or a combination of modes per route, e.g.
road, rail, sea?
A: N/A
Q:
A: N/A
Q:
A: N/A
Q:
A: N/A
Q:
A: N/A
Q:
A: N/A
Q: 14) Do you need to be able to enter your actual transportation data at a later point in
time (for example, time taken, distance traveled)?
A: N/A
Q:
15) How do you determine shipment costs (for example, kilometers, volume)?
A: N/A
Q:
16) How do you carry out settlement accounting with the external carrier?
A: N/A
Q:
17) Do you charge stores for the costs of using your own vehicles?
A: N/A
Q:
18) Do you handle several deliveries for different ship-to parties in one single shipment?
A: N/A
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Q:
19) According to which criteria do you group deliveries for one shipment?
A: N/A
Q:
20) Do you have your own vehicles or do you use external carriers?
A: N/A
Q: 21) What do you use as a basis for scheduling your vehicles or the vehicles of your
external carrier?
A: N/A
Q:
22) How do you respond to capacity constraints? Describe the contractual conditions.
A: N/A
Q:
A: N/A
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
Transportation is the responsibility of the vendor.
2. General Explanations
N/A
4. Business Model
N/A
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7. Description of Improvements
N/A
8. Description of Functional Deficits
N/A
Questions:
Q:
1) Is freight charged to the customer or does the company absorb the cost?
Q:
A: N/A
Q:
A: N/A
Q:
A: N/A
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Q:
5) Do you verify invoices for your forwarding agents? If so, which rules do you use?
A: N/A
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
Vendor has to take charges for return delivery.
2. General Explanations
N/A
7. Description of Improvements
N/A
8. Description of Functional Deficits
N/A
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N/A
Questions:
Q: 1) Do you require shipment documents for physically transporting the merchandise? If
so, what form of document (e.g. paper, EDI)?
A: Any vendor provided document. No specific UT documentation is prepared to go with
return delivery.
Q:
A: As prepared by vendor
Q:
A: [ ] Paper
[X] Telephone
[X] Fax
[X] E-mail
[ ] EDI
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
Any vendor provided document and Return authorization form to go with the return
shipment.
2. General Explanations
N/A
4. Business Model
After obtaining the return authorization from vendor, a return authorization form from the
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7. Description of Improvements
N/A
1.4.2.
Invoice Verification
1.4.2.1.
Invoice Reversal
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
Ability to generate a credit memo for returned item after invoice payment.
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2. General Explanations
Reverse Invoice prior to completing payment release process within R/3.
4. Business Model
The invoice is received and entered for item, which is for an item that is later determined
to be returned. At the point it is returned the invoice is reversed without payment. Should
payment occur, a credit memo would be entered for the returned items.
7. Description of Improvements
N/A
8. Description of Functional Deficits
N/A
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Account Payable and in some case Department will be able to process invoice (reverse)
Manual Clearing
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
Ability to do manual and automatic clearing of invoices.
2. General Explanations
N/A
3. Explanations of Functions and Events
In the case of expedited payments a manual clearing of invoices may occur. For
standard invoice clearing an automatic clearing procedure will occur.
4. Business Model
Invoice is individually identified for manual clearing based on special circumstances.
7. Description of Improvements
N/A
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N/A
1.4.3.
Shipping
1.4.3.1.
Questions:
Q:
Q:
A: [ ] Paper
[X] Telephone
[X] Fax
[X] E-mail
[ ] EDI
Q:
A: [X] Paper
[X] Telephone
[X] Fax
[X] E-mail
[ ] EDI
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
Return authorization form with the return shipment to the vendor.
2. General Explanations
UT will inform the vendor per phone that goods have to be returned and obtain a return
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authorization
4. Business Model
Material received but Invoice not receivedThe department will notify the vendor and negotiate the return. A return authorization
number or reference will be obtained from the vendor for return purposes.
If the purchase requires replacement of returned material the Purchase Order shall
remain open. If there is no additional requirements or replacement of material the
purchase order will be marked as closed. The department will notify purchasing of the
returning of the goods and the status of the order. Based on this input Purchasing will
make the determination as to whether an order is closed or not.
If the material is subject to receiving within the SAP R/3 system the good receipt is
reversed and the reason for the returning of goods is made in the system.
Material received and Invoice is receivedThe process is essentially the same as above however the invoice is cancelled
(reversed).
Material received and Invoice is received and paidThe process is essentially the same as above however the invoice is adjusted using a
credit memo. A credit memo is done by Accounts Payable or the department, depending
of the type of procurement.
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N/A
2.1.1.
Sales Order
2.1.1.1.
Questions:
Q: 1) Does your organization have specialists who only process specific types of customer
orders (for example government, international, OEM, reseller) or products (for example,
specific product lines)?
A: Certain customers (sponsors) are assigned to specific staff members in the campus preaward offices and campus business offices.
Q: 2) Do you presently separate your standard orders by any variables (for example,
document type, sales organization, sales representative, customer type) for ease of
processing or reporting purposes?
A: Awards are separated by campus and also by sponsor within campus pre-award and
business offices.
Q: 3) What information do you capture on a sales order? List your current sales order types
(including returns and credit/debit memo requests).
A: None. There is no such object in the legacy system. In R/3 they will be placeholders to
facilitate billing. Information to be stored on the sales order will be identified later.
Q:
A: [ ] Telephone
[ ] FAX
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[ ] EDI
[ ] Internet
[X] Others
Q: 5) Do you convert other sales document types (such as inquiries, quotations) into sales
documents?
A: The sales order is usually created pursuant to the project proposal and award
documents. However currently this is done initially in the campus pre-award system and then
is manually re-entered in the accounting system at the campus business office or Controller's
Office. This process will continue until the pre-award system is replaced.
Q:
A: Sales order is created for every award requiring invoicing. Usually cost reimbursement
and quantity billing projects require sales orders.
Q:
A: Incorrectly entered. It is not usually entered until the award has been accepted.
However, some projects are established and invoices are created before the award
document has been accepted. Upon receipt of a signed "Advance Account Request" form
(and proposal number and budget), the campus business office or Controller's Office will
establish a project. Charges are made and the project is billed. However, the sponsor may
not pay the invoices until the award document is fully executed. A sales order may be
rejected if the award falls through.
Q: 14) What types of text do you require on your sales documents? Are they required on
output?
A: There are various required texts on invoices. If possible these texts should be stored on
the order to be copied to the invoice.
Q: 15) What information from a sales document do you consider obligatory and would like
to appear on an incompletion log if missing? Do you want it to be possible to save the
document as incomplete if any of this information is missing?
A: Customer, WBS element and material. Incomplete orders should not be permitted.
Q: 16) Do you have company-standard codes to track the status of a sales document? If so,
what are they?
A: No
Q:
A: No
Q: 21) Does each item have different detailed information? For example, do they have
different ship-to parties?
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A: No, we would create one sales order for each project. If a project had two billing
elements we would create two sales orders.
Q: 31) Do you have special requirements (e.g. promotions) for different account postings
(e.g. cost center, profit center)?
A: No
Q: 32) When listing sales orders on the screen for further processing, what information do
you need to show?
A: WBS Element, customer
Q:
A: Yes
2.1.2.
2.1.2.1.
Billing
Processing Billing Documents
Questions:
Q:
Q: 2) Are billing documents created individually (one billing document per sales order or
delivery) or collectively (one or more billing document for several orders or deliveries)?
A: Usually, individually. The expectation is that the project structure will enable UT to
produce an invoice for any foreseeable situation. However, if R/3 is capable of combining
sales orders for billing purposes, UT would possibly be interested in this. This isn't a
capability that we would want to exclude.
Q: 3) On which documents are your billing documents based (e.g. order, delivery)? Please
describe in detail.
A: Billing documents are based on the award document requirements.
Q: 4) Are billing documents processed online or in batch? Describe the process for
reviewing exception messages/error logs.
A: Billing Documents will be processed in batch. For resource related billing, the billing
requisition will be reviewed prior to creating the invoices. The billing log will be reviewed after
each billing run.
Q:
6) Do customers have a predefined time when they receive invoices (billing schedules)?
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A: Yes. Many sponsors have predefined billing schedules (scheduled billing). Also, many
sponsors who are billed via other methods, such as resource-related billing, have
expectations regarding expected dates of invoicing. Usually, the most important expectation
is that billing will occur, at the latest, soon after the project ending date.
Q: 8) What type of billing documents is created (e.g. invoice, pro forma invoice, credit notes,
debit notes, export invoice)?
A: Invoice, billing requisition.
Q: 10) Periodic billing allows a specified amount to be billed over a certain time period. Do
you utilize periodic billing (e.g. for rental contract type documents)?
A: Yes
Q:
A: No
Q: 12) Milestone billing allows you to bill once a certain work level has been reached. Do
you use milestone billing (e.g. for make-to-order type documents)?
A: Yes
Q: 17) What types of text are required in your billing documents? Are they required on
output?
A: There are several requirements for text. Most of these are project related and will be
stored there. These texts will be accessed at print time.
Q:
18) What information is required in your lists of deliveries due for billing (billing due list)?
A: If we use a "billing due list", we would need the project number, customer information,
due date, amount.
Q:
A: Not sure what this list is. We would probably require project number, customer
information, and amount.
Q: 20) When do you want to post accounting for your sales invoices (e.g. immediately, after
review)?
A: Immediately.
Q: 21) Which information is required for the accounting document (for example, reference
number)?
A: [ ] Purchase order no.
[ ] Order number
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[ ] Delivery number
[ ] External delivery number
[X] Current invoice number
[ ] Others
Q:
A: [ ] Cash
[X] Credit Card
[X] Check
[ ] Down payment
[X] Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT)
[ ] Others
Q:
A: Payments are received and deposited at the campus business office level. Information is
sent to the central cashier on the Knoxville campus for posting to the general ledger
(matched to A/R). Unmatched receipts are posted to a clearing account for further
investigation.
2.1.2.2.
Questions:
Q:
1) Under which circumstances and why would you cancel a billing document?
A: Cancellation could occur for several reasons. Normally, it would be cancelled because of
an error in setup or to allow correcting journal entries to post to correct an accounting error.
For example, if the invoice had the wrong settlement rules attached, the wrong F&A rate
(costing sheet), etc. Also, if a project did not allow expenditures per cost element to vary by
more than 10%, but excess charges had been incorrectly posted to the project, a correcting
entry would be needed to remove some charges before billing could occur.
Q:
A: If an invoice were cancelled, any related journal entries would need to be reversed or
corrected.
2.2.
2.2.1.
2.2.1.1.
Questions:
Q:
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Q:
A: Yes
Q: 3) Do you use a certain order type to indicate that the sales order references a contract?
If so, then for what reasons?
A: We do not currently have this capability. However, I'm not sure that we need it. We need
for the sales order to reference the project number. The project attributes include the award
type, which can be grant, contract, gift, etc.
Q: 4) Are there any time agreements that are relevant to contracts (for example, delivery
times, commitment dates, validity periods)?
A: Yes. All contracts have specified dates in the award. Start date, end date, dates for
financial and technical deliverables / reports, milestones, billing dates, etc.
Q:
5) Are your contracts valid for a set time period or do you offer renewals?
A: Contracts have a specified start date and end date. Many times, sponsors will modify
contracts to extend the time period.
Q:
11) Do these contracts contain dates and quantities to which the customer must adhere?
A: No
Q: 13) What are the requirements for completing a contract (for example, full value, quantity
contracts)?
A: Completion depends upon contract specifications. The contract normally will specify
expected deliverables: technical reports, financial reports, milestones, billings, etc.
Q: 15) Do you utilize resource-related billing for contracts? Describe in which cases do you
use this functionality (for example, make-to-order production, specific services (consulting),
service management)?
A: Yes. Contracts can require any one of several types of invoicing (resource-related, billing
schedule, item invoicing) and / or financial reporting. We have identified about 10 standard
invoices and about 3 standard financial reports that may be required.
2.3.
*Grant Billing
Questions:
Q:
A: UT does not request down payments from their sponsors. Occasionally they may receive
a down payment from a sponsor. This is handled as an exception.
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Q:
A: No.
Q:
Q:
A: Retainage happens for cost reimbursable projects only. It is a process, dictated by the
sponsor, where the sponsor withholds payment of a contractual percentage of all invoices to
UT. UT knows ahead of time that this will happen. It is important that the invoice to the
sponsor contain all the expenses and that retainage not be taken out of the total. The
sponsor will then calculate the amount of the retainage and send a payment for the
remainder. UT could note the retainage on the invoice and note the payment due from the
sponsor after deducting retainage. For example you may see the following items on an
invoice:
Total:
Less Retainage
100,000
10,000
90,000
In this example, an invoice must be created in A/R for 90,000. This invoice is subject to
aging and collection. Another document must be posted to A/R. This document would be for
10,000 and not be subject to aging. At the end of the project, the sponsor would receive an
invoice for all retainage. The entry to be made when the invoice is created would be:
A/R - Sponsor 1
90,000
A/R - Sponsor 1 retainage 10,000
Project Revenue
100,000
Reporting of this information would look as follows:
AR - Sponsor 1
Project 1
Q:
>30
30-60
60-90
90,000
Retainage
10,000
Total
100,000
A: This varies from project to project. We need to provide flexibility in the number of
projects. We would like the name of the recipient to be printed on each copy. We would
expect an instruction sheet to be printed before the copies that identifies who each copy
should go to. Some projects require as many as seven copies to be printed. We always print
a copy for the Controller's Office, a copy for the PI, and a copy for the department
bookkeeper.
Q:
A: The invoice number consists of the project "B" number, a hyphen, and a sequence
number that represents the number of invoices created and sent prior to this invoice. This is
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used by the sponsor to make sure that they have received all invoices to date. Some
sponsors will not pay invoices out of sequence.
This is also used by UT to view their receivables. It allows them to sort sponsor receivables
by project.
In R/3, we would not need to replicate the functionality of the sequence numbers. We do
need to provide the ability to view the receivables by project.
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
The UT invoice numbers currently contain a lot of information that allows UT staff to
identify information like which project the invoice belongs to and how many invoices
have been created prior to this invoice. R/3 invoice numbers are sequential numbers
with no built in logic.
Ability to view A/R by project number. Since UT's invoice numbers have always had
the project number imbedded in them, they have been able to easily view the A/R by
project. This functionality will have to be replicated in R/3.
Retainage. This is where sponsors "hold back" money from UT until certain
milestones are met.
Report A/R by project.
The functionality built into the current UT invoice numbers will be accommodated with
attributes in the Project System.
The ability to accommodate the requirement to view A/R by project can be
accommodated by writing an ABAP report that combines project system and A/R
data or to create a report on the special ledger being collected to report the fund
groups.
We are looking at account determination during the invoice creation to split retainage
out of normal A/R. More research needs to be done.
2.3.1.
Questions:
Q:
A: The grant office within the Controllers Office and the Campus Business Offices.
Q:
3) Is there an approval process before invoices are sent out? Please describe.
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A: Generally invoices are created as part of the month end close. Some sponsors require
that invoices be sent quarterly. These quarters could be based on UT fiscal year, Sponsor
fiscal year or project year.
Q:
Q:
6) Do you need cost element (object code) detail or are summarized totals OK?
A: No.
Q:
A: Yes
Q: 10) If so, please describe the way caps are applied e.g. on the total or on specific
expenses etc.
A: The cap is defined by the sponsor. UT can only bill up to that cap. In general, once that
cap is reached, billing must stop until the cap is revised. The exception is that for a few
sponsors, the next increment of funding is not authorized until it is billed. Therefore, UT must
be able to override this and bill over the cap.
Q:
A: 10
Q:
A: Generally no. The sponsor dictates which form to use and what information to include on
the form.
Q:
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Q:
A: Yes. There is master data from the project required on the form. There is the authorized
amount from FM and there is the cumulative total of expenses charged to the project, by
expense category, from the beginning of the project.
Q: 15) Are there any back-up schedules required to justify items on the invoice? Please
describe.
A: Some sponsors require reports to justify costs. Some examples are labor and travel.
The sponsor would like to see specific people charged to the project with amounts and
specific trips taken with project funds.
Q:
Q:
Q: 18) If detailed payroll information is provided, does this increase the level of
confidentiality for this process?
A: No, Tennessee is a sunshine state and all salaries are public record.
Q: 19) For labor costs, do you break out the components (salary and EB)? If so, where
does EB come from?
A: Actual EB is part of the payroll posting and can be distinguished on the posting
document.
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
Perform all processing for cost reimbursable billing. Key items in this will be:
This process will use R/3's resource related billing to put project charges on the
invoices.
A check of the authorized amount will be done and no invoicing will exceed that.
Project master data and cumulative charges to the project will be included on the
invoice.
Invoices will be printed in the form required by the sponsor. Sub schedules will be
included with the invoice, where R/3 data exists.
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A project is set up. The billing type for cost reimbursable billing is chosen. A WBS
element is flagged as the billing element.
A sales order is created using a service material created for billing. Assignment for
this item is made to the billing element defined in previous step.
Costs are posted to this project.
Overhead is calculated; cost sharing settlements are performed.
Resource related billing requisitions are created. This is done using an ABAP
program which performs the following tasks:
1) Projects for billing are selected by checking that the status of the project is
acceptable.
2) A check is made to ensure that this invoice does not force the project over its
authorized amount.
3) If this invoice is over the authorized amount, a CO transfer posting is created
transferring the amount over the authorized to a dummy cost center.
4) Resource related billing is executed for this project creating a billing
requisition.
5) If a CO transfer posting was performed, this posting is now reversed so these
charges are back on the project.
6) If the project is now over its authorized amount, this project is put into a no
billing status that signifies it is over its authorized amount.
Billing requisitions are reviewed by the grant office. This is done using an ABAP
report that will be written. This program will sort these requests as specified by the
billing office. The requisition is accepted, adjusted or rejected. At this point items can
be removed from a bill. For example, if you wanted to bill over the total, you would
remove the reduction here and process the bill.
If the billing requisition is not accepted, it is either cancelled so the charges can be
billed later or it is rejected so these charges will not be billed later. If it is cancelled,
the project should be put in a no-bill status identifying the problem. This is to prevent
another billing requisition from being created until the problem is fixed. If the
requisition is rejected, and won't be billed again, it should be noted in the text of the
project.
If there are adjustments to be made they are made to the billing requisition.
The acceptable billing requisitions are released for billing.
R/3 Invoices are created for each billing requisition. Accounting entries are made
and revenue is posted to the project.
The billing log is reviewed. Any problems are cleared.
Invoices are printed on the form required by the sponsor. Some of these forms
require back-up schedule to justify some costs (E.G. labor costs or travel costs) these
back-up schedules are generated at this time. When payment is received, the
cashiers office matches the payment to the invoice.
7. Description of Improvements
Currently, approximately 700 invoices are generated each month and only 300 are
used. The major reason for this is projects that are over their authorized amounts. In
this process those invoices will not be created. Reducing this amount will result in
the invoices going out much quicker during the month.
Currently, back-up schedules are produced separate of invoice creation and are
included with the invoice afterwards. Often times this current process is manual. In
R/3 this will be done automatically.
We would anticipate that the amount of time required would be reduced significantly.
No it takes a large portion of the month to get the invoices out once they are created.
Past experience indicates that this could be done in a week or less once all the
improvements are in.
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The requirement that we do not invoice over the authorized amount requires that we
write an ABAP program to process the billing. This program is described in a
previous section
The users will require the billing requisitions to be listed with project system
information to facilitate review of the requisitions. This information includes
authorized total, cumulative expenditures, start date and end date of the project and
other information to be defined.
The requirement of the sponsor to print very specific project information and project
charges on the invoice as well as to include back-up schedules with the invoice.
An ABAP program will be written to process the cost reimbursable invoices. This
program will check the postings on the project to ensure that it is not over the
authorized total. If it is over the total, the program will make a posting to bring the
charges down to the authorized total. The program will call transaction VA90 to
process the resource related billing for the project. If a posting had been made to
reduce the expenses on the project, this posting would be reversed here and the
project would be put into a user status designating that a bill should not be created.
An ABAP report will be written to display the billing requests with information from the
project. This information will include such data as authorized total from FM and
cumulative expenditures on the project since the project started.
SAPScript forms will be customized
Billing Office Manager - Ability to process all transactions associated with the
process. This includes the ability to run the cost reimbursement-billing program
that creates the invoice, the ability to release a billing requisition, and the ability
to create invoices from the billing requisitions (billing due list).
Billing Office Accountant - This role would include the ability to edit, release, or
reject billing requisitions. It would not include the ability to run the cost
reimbursement billing program or the ability to create and invoice from the billing
request.
Billing Office Processor - This person would be designated by the billing office
manager and would be able to most of the things she can do.
Cashier. Process payments.
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2.3.2.
Schedule Billing
Questions:
Q: 1) Periodic billing allows a specified amount to be billed over a certain time period. Do
you utilize periodic billing?
A: Yes
Q: 2) Describe the billing process for these types of bills. Are they reviewed or approved by
project managers (or anyone else) prior to being issued?
A: Once the billing schedule is set, this process has the same steps as cost reimbursable.
A pre-bill step happens to make sure the proper bills are generated. Once approved, the
invoices are created and A/R postings are made.
Q: 3) Do you bill sponsors based on a schedule such as monthly, quarterly or some other
specified timing? (If yes, consider running the billing due list for projects according to this
schedule.)
A: Yes
Q:
A: There is one form. There may be project specific notes on the form.
Q:
A: Information on the project determines if this form and billing type are to be used.
Q:
A: Yes, there is detailed project information on the invoice. Also, a billing period is derived
from dates on the sales contract.
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A project is set up. The billing type for schedule billing is chosen. A WBS element is
flagged as the billing element.
A sales contract is created with account assignment to the billing element on the
project. A billing schedule is entered with the dates and amounts to be billed.
A pre-bill report (to be defined) is processed to review whether all scheduled invoices
should be created.
The billing due list is executed for these projects. An invoice will be created for the
date in the billing schedule.
The billing log is reviewed. Any issues are cleared.
When the payment comes in, the cashiers office will match the payment to the
invoice in A/R.
A pre-bill report will be required for this billing type. It must combine information from
the sales contract in SD, the project in PS and the budget in FM.
The SAPScripts will be very specific and many of the displayed fields such as billing
period will be complex
Billing Office Manager - Ability to process all transactions associated with this role.
Would include the ability to process the billing due list.
Billing Office Accountant - Ability to edit sales contract to change billing schedule if
required. Would not include the ability to process billing due list.
Billing office Processor - This person would be designated by the billing office
manager and would have the same authorizations.
Cashier - Process payments
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2.3.3.
Item Billing
Questions:
Q:
A: This type of billing happens when UT signs a contract to test something. For example,
UT tests helmets. They get a fixed fee for each helmet entered. As they test helmets, they
invoice the sponsor. This type of billing is also used for medical tests. As certain tests are
performed, UT invoices the sponsor for a fixed fee for each of those tests.
Q:
2) Is anything posted on the project that would indicate the amount to be billed?
A: No.
Q:
A: This process is a combination of both. Some departments will call the Controllers Office
and ask that the sponsor be invoiced for a number of items. Other departments will create
the invoices themselves.
Q:
A: This process could be supported by one form. The department could customize it and
provide whatever backup is needed with the invoice.
Q:
A: The standard for this form would have to be defined. Variations would have to be
handled by the department as an exception. We would expect that there would be project
information on this form.
Q: 6) How is the cost of the test determined? Is there one price for a test or are there more
pricing options -- quantity discounts etc.
A: This is contained in the contract with the sponsor.
Q:
A: The department determines when to create the bill. There is no way to predict ahead of
time when this will happen.
Q:
A: Currently, this process is either billed by the department or centrally. In the case of
departmental billing, the approval would happen there. It is not known if there is one. In the
case of central, the person who takes the call would have the authority to enter these:
therefore, no approval is necessary.
CI Template:
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1. Requirements/Expectations
This billing type is for projects that get billed based on the number of a specific
occurrence. For example, one project gets billed per helmet tested in a given time
period. This will be implemented by having the user enter an invoice in A/R for the
appropriate amount. Revenue would be posted on the project at the time of invoice
creation. This process would be distributed to the departments.
A project is set up. The billing type for item billing is chosen. A WBS element is
flagged as the billing element on the project.
An invoice is created in A/R at the discretion of the department for the amounts
based on tests. Revenue is posted to the project.
If the department enters the invoice, it would be entered as a parked document.
The Controllers Office would evaluate and release parked documents.
When payment is received, the cashiers office matches the payment to the
invoice in AR.
7. Description of Improvements
This would enable departments to enter their receivables into R/3. Currently many of
these types of bills are not tracked in the system.
8. Description of Functional Deficits
This process will require a custom form
2.3.4.
Billing Office Personnel - All billing office personnel would have access to this
process. This means they would have the ability to post an A/R invoice and
release an A/R invoice.
Departmental Users - Departmental users would be given authorization to park
an A/R invoice.
LOC Drawdown
Questions:
Q:
A: Grant section of the Controllers Office handles all but three LOC. The Memphis billing
office handles the other three.
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Q:
A: The draw down is determined and executed by the grant office in the controller's in
Knoxville for all but three LOC agreements. Those three are done by the Memphis billing
office. The postings to cash and the projects are made by the cashiers office.
Q:
A: Drawdowns can be done at any time. They are almost always executed after the month
is closed and overhead has been calculated and charged to the project. At times they are
done throughout the month. This is usually tied to an unusually large cash outlay that UT
wants to collect without waiting. It is also usually done towards the end of June so the cash
is collected while the fiscal year is still open. The end of June draw down is based on an
estimate made by the Controller's Office. All mid-month drawdowns would be corrected to
balance after the month is closed.
Q:
A: The amount to be drawn down is the amount of expenditures posted to the project that
since the last drawdown for the project. The drawdown is done up to and not over the
authorized grant amount.
Q:
5) Are there caps on the amount of the drawdown for each project?
Q:
6) Are drawdowns done for expenses that have not been posted to the project yet?
A: Not normally. At times (e.g. financial aid) a draw down is made when the payment is
made but before the expense hits the G/L. This is done when those payments are significant.
Q: 7) Are any costs posted to the project excluded from drawdown (e.g. if an invoice has
been posted to the project but not yet paid, is it included in the drawdown)?
A: No, if the expense is on the project and not drawn down, it is eligible.
Q:
A: No.
Q:
A: Currently there is a cash account for each letter of credit agreement. As drawdowns
come in they are posted to these accounts. As payments are made, they are posted against
these cash accounts.
In R/3 we will have an A/R customer for each LOC agreement. We do not see a need for
these separate cash accounts. Postings made against LOC objects will be reflected in the
A/R account via resource related billings. This should give a balance in the account.
Therefore, we would not need individual cash accounts in R/3.
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CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
The letter of credit drawdown process has requirements that are very similar to the cost
reimbursable process. For the most part, all drawdowns are based on expenditures that
have been posted to the project. You cannot draw down more than the authorized
amount for any specific project. The differences are that no invoice gets sent out and
payments are funds transfers between the sponsor bank and the UT bank.
A project is set up. The billing type for LOC draw down is chosen. A WBS
element is flagged as the billing element.
A sales order is created using a service material created for billing. Assignment
for this item is made to the billing element defined in the previous step.
Costs are posted to the project.
Overhead is calculated, and cost sharing settlements are performed.
Billing requisitions are created. This is done in the same manner as for cost
reimbursement billing. It uses the same ABAP program. The program performs
the following tasks:
1) Projects for billing are selected by checking that the status is
acceptable.
2) A check is performed to ensure that the project is not over its
authorized amount.
3) If the project is over its authorized amount, a CO transfer posting is
created transferring the amount over the authorized amount to a
dummy cost center.
4) Resource related billing is executed for this project creating a billing
requisition.
5) If a CO transfer posting had been made, it is reversed here.
6) If the project is over its authorized amount, it is placed in a no bill
status that specifies this.
Billing requisitions are reviewed by the grant office. This is done using the same
ABAP report as in cost reimbursable billing. The requisition is accepted,
adjusted, or rejected.
If the billing requisition is not accepted, it is either cancelled so the charges can
be billed later or it is rejected so these charges will not be billed later.
If there are adjustments to be made, they are made on the billing requisition.
The acceptable billing requisitions are released for billing.
R/3 Invoices are created for each billing requisition. Accounting entries are made
and revenue is posted to the project.
The billing log is reviewed and any issues are cleared.
No invoices are printed. An ABAP report is run to aid the grant office in
processing the draw down.
At this point a report identifying the USDA drawdown is executed. These are
added to the drawdown. These are handled separately because the costs are
collected on a cost center.
The drawdown is executed.
Once the funds are received, the grant office gets the cashier to make the
appropriate entries in R/3.
This process is repeated each time the LOC processing is required.
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7. Description of Improvements
Allows for better recording of project revenue and makes these entries consistent with
other billing types.
8. Description of Functional Deficits
The functional deficits that exist for cost reimbursable billing also exist for LOC
drawdown. See that section for a description of those.
Billing office manager - Ability to process all transactions associated with the
process. This includes the ability to run the cost-reimbursement billing program
that creates the invoice, the ability to release a billing requisition, and the ability
to create invoices from the billing requisitions (billing due list).
Billing office accountant - This role would include the ability to edit, release or
reject billing requisitions. It would not include the ability to run the cost
reimbursement billing program or the ability to create and invoice from the billing
request.
Billing office processor - This person would be designated by the billing office
manager and would be able to do most of the things she can do.
Cashier - process payments.
3. Project Management *
Questions:
Q:
2) Describe how your project processing should look, divided into phases.
A: Sponsored projects and agency funds: Phases include (1) pre-award, (2) project
accounting establishment, (3) budget transmission, (4) post-award administration, (5) postaward billing, (6) post-award collections, (7) post-award financial reporting, (8) technical
reporting, (9) submission of closing documents, and (10) internal project closing.
Centers/Chairs: Same as G&C except no pre-award and no closing docs
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Gift funds: Phases include (1) project accounting establishment, (2) budget transmission, (3)
cash receipts, and (4) internal project closing. In rare circumstances, there could be billing
and financial and technical reporting.
Loan Funds: Phases may include:(1) Project accounting establishment, (2) loans to students
or institutional match, (3) cash receipts, (4) re-loan money.
Plant funds: Phases may include: (1) Capital budgeting, (2) SBC and BOT approval, (3)
Account establishment, (4) Architect's design phase, (5) Construction documents phase, (6)
Bid phase, (7) Contract award phase, (8) Substantial completion phase, (9) Project
completion phase, and (10) Account closing.
Endowments/Trusts: Phases may include:(1) Project accounting establishment, (2) trade
activity (3) account close (Closing only for trusts and endowments less than $15,000.).
Q: 3) Which tool do you currently use for project management? How and in which phases
are they used?
A: Sponsored projects and agency funds: We use a custom-built pre-award system
(Sponsored Projects) on the AS400 for phases 1, 3, and 8. The general ledger system and
the Grant Database are custom-built systems, also for the other phases listed above.
Centers/Chairs: Same as G&C except no pre-award system
Endowments and Life Income: An internally developed investment database system that
resides on the mainframe tracks the investment activity performed by money managers at
First Tennessee. The investment system provides the entry into the General Ledger to
record earned dividends, to distribute dividend income from an Endowment Pool to the
individual endowments that participate in the pool (The distribution has different amounts
than the dividend amount earned.)
Life Income: A purchased trust management system, ETA, uses the same information
provided to the internal investment system by the bank. ETA accumulates data by donor,
and prepares annual tax reports to the donor, and prepares and P&L for each donor's funds.
No information from ETA is fed into the G/L. Trust information is fed from the internal
investment system (thus; there is double-tracking of detail in both the investment system and
ETA).
Loans: Are managed at each campus with a subsidiary collection system. Except for this, all
transactions occur in the general ledger.
Plant funds: Facilities Planning maintains their own internal system on the AS/400. This is
mainly information critical to the management of the project that is not contained in the G/L.
The Controller's Office maintains all the official documents, contracts, etc.
Q: 4) Do the orders from your customers include engineering, production and delivery? (If
yes, consider using the Project System to control and organize the process.)
A: Sponsored projects and agency funds: No.
Centers/Chairs: No
Gifts: No.
Endowments/Life Income: No.
Loans: No
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Plant: Yes
Q: 5) Does your customer specify the schedule, resources, and material to be used for their
order? (If yes, consider using the Project System to handle scheduling requirements.)
A: Sponsored project and agency funds: The sponsor specifies the schedule. This normally
is a time period for project execution (i.e. beginning and ending dates), and due dates for
certain technical and financial deliverables / reports.
Gifts: Mainly, the sponsor does not specify the schedule. Occasionally, the sponsor may
specify the schedule (i.e. beginning and ending dates).
The University and contractor work together on the schedule. Bids are opened on a specified
date; contracts awarded on a specific date; project schedule contains multiple dates.
Loans: No. Loans are made to students at the beginning of each term. Capital contributions
from donors may occur at any time and are not scheduled.
Endowments/Trusts: Donors can specify how the earned income may be used by the
University.
Q: 6) Does your process include maintenance and overhaul of existing equipment? (If yes,
consider using the Project System in conjunction with Customer Service and Customer
Relationship Management.)
A: Sponsored projects and agency funds: No.
Centers/Chairs: No
Gift accounts: No.
Loans: No
Plant: Not equipment. Yes, however, or maintenance and overhaul of existing BUILDINGS>
Plant funds: Yes
Endowment/Trusts: No. There may be a few endowments that are funded by real estate that
has maintenance involved in the real estate upkeep.
Q: 7) Do you capitalize your engineering effort? (If yes, please consider using the Asset
Management Complex Investment Measure scenario.)
A: Sponsored projects and agency funds: Rarely, sponsors give us awards to build or
construct a capital asset. Costs are accumulated by type in the sponsored project or agency
fund. At completion, a journal entry is made to reclassify the expenditures from
miscellaneous expenses to a capital asset. For example, we may have salary & benefits,
supplies, etc. expenses that are capitalized when a piece of equipment or a building
renovation is completed.
Centers/Chairs: It is possible
Plant funds: Yes, depending on the nature of the engineering efforts.
Endowment/Life Income: N/A
Gifts: No.
Loans: No
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CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
Restricted funds ledger accounts at the University of Tennessee (UT) will be mapped to
Project Systems (PS) for project accounting purposes. Unrestricted funds ledger
accounts will be managed in CO. Networks in PS are not a requirement at this time.
Below is a summary of functionality requirements by type of restricted fund.
Billing
Indirect
Created by:
R&B
WBS
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
R&B
WBS
No
No
Maybe
Yes
R&B
WBS
alittle
No
Maybe
Yes
R&B
WBS
No
No
Yes
Yes
Loan - Ron
WBS
No
No
No
No
WBS
No
No
Maybe
No
GL
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
WBS
No
No
Maybe
No
H&J
WBS
No***
No
yes (AM)
Maybe
N&P
WBS
No
No
Maybe
No
N&P
WBS
yes
No
Maybe
yes
WBS
No
No
No
No
WBS
No
No
No
No
Endowments - Butch
WBS
No
No
No
No
2. General Explanations
A project is a hierarchical outline as described in the project definition. The work
breakdown structure forms the basis for the organization and coordination of a project. A
work breakdown structure (WBS) consists of various WBS elements.
Within PS we can plan and monitor dates, costs and resources. For UT we will use PS
for project accounting only.
The five stages within PS are structuring, planning, budgeting (which will be done in FM
not PS), execution, & closing.
PS is used in universities to collect and bill out costs relating to projects.
The structures used to represent projects within PS are the Work Breakdown Structure
(WBS) and Network.
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4. Business Model
The following Scheduled PS Workshops for Restricted Funds were held in the
blueprint phase to determine the AS IS and the TO BE design documented in
ASAP:
Grants & Contract, Gifts, and Appropriations/Chairs/Centers March 6, 2000
Endowments and other restricted funds March 7, 2000
Agency / Plant Funds Session (PS/AM) - March 15, 2000
Day at the Grants and Contracts office with Gail March 21, 2000
Loan Session April 18, 2000
Endowments & Life Income April 24, 2000
Agency/Trusts April 24, 2000
UT fund attribute mapping session April 19, 2000 & May 9, 2000
Plant Funds Session May 10, 2000
7. Description of Improvements
1. PS will offer powerful project accounting functionality combined with the scalability of
WBS structures.
2. Lower levels of detail can be added if necessary to track costs because projects are
scalable.
3. Structures of projects will enable different campus' working on the same project but
want to track costs independently.
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The values in the project profile determine the functionality of certain areas of the Project
System and cannot be changed without careful thought. Do not change profiles and key
from related functions that are defined in the project profile, such as the costing sheet or
the results analysis key. These changes could affect existing objects.
You must maintain the following sections for the project profile:
Basic data
Time scheduling
Costs/revenues/payments
Organizational data
Standard settings
In the standard R/3 System, R/3 has predefined a project profile containing the most
important control parameters.
Activities
1. Determine the organizational and control criteria for you company.
2. Create the project profiles reflecting these criteria and enter the relevant data.
3.1.
Initiation
Questions:
Q:
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Ag
Controllers
Chattanooga
Memphis
Martin
UTSI
Knoxville
100s
100s
100s
100s
100s
100s
100s
Q:
A: Sponsored projects and agency funds: Sponsors are divided by type into four basic
divisions for financial statement purposes: (1) Federal, (2) State, (3) Local government, and
(4) Private companies. There are approximately 500 different sponsors at any point in time.
Approximately 50% of the sponsors are only sponsoring one current project with UT. The
other 50% of sponsors have multiple projects. UT's largest sponsor is UT-Battelle (formerly
Lockheed Martin), which manages the Oak Ridge National Laboratory for the U. S. Dept. of
Energy (approximately 300 current projects).
Some projects come to UT from Private company sources but are actually Federal flowthrough funds. UT is a sub award to the prime Federal award. Although these are classified
as Private in UT's records, we must also report these funds to the State in the CFDA report
as Federal funds.
Centers/Chairs: The State of Tennessee
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Gift accounts: Sponsors are individuals and private companies primarily. Gift accounts can
be funded by cash receipts, employee payroll deductions, and endowment income.
Endowments/Life income: Donors have given cash, stock, bonds, land, and other items to
the University. In the case of Life income, income is provided to the donors at a fixed amount
or certain percentage of earnings.
Loans: The federal government sponsors the Perkins, Nursing and Health Professions loan
funds. The University provides the institutional loan funds that are matching dollars and
private donors sponsor the private loan funds.
Plant: Does not have a sponsor.
3.1.1.
Questions:
Q: 2) Do you plan and control your projects in the information technology area? (If yes,
consider using the Project System as your project management tool.)
A: Sponsored projects and agency funds: We have occasional sponsored projects in the IT
area. These are treated just like any other sponsored project.
Centers/Chairs: N/A
Loans: N/A
Plant funds: Occasionally have IT projects, particularly if they're funded from outside
sources.
Endowments/Trusts: No
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
Grants & Contracts: Interface with legacy pre-award system. Maintain attributes from
the pre-award system into PS. Be able to report on these attributes by project/fund.
Need additional info on requirement here.
All: Use standard templates if applies.
2. General Explanations
Organizational Assignments in the Project System:
The WBS elements belonging to a project definition and must be assigned to the
controlling area for the project definition. The company code(s) and business area in the
WBS elements must be in the controlling area for the project definition.
Project Definition
The values for the project definition are copied from the template or project profile when
you create a work breakdown structure. If you create a work breakdown structure using a
template but enter a project profile different from the one in the template, you can choose
whether to adopt the default values from the template or those from the project profile.
If you make later changes to the project profile, the changes have no effect on the values
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taken from the project profile and inserted into existing project definitions.
Controlling Area
Type of field
Default value
Can be changed?
(Object) Currency
Type of field
Default value
Can be changed?
Company Code
Type of field
Business area
Type of field
Required
Inherited by any new elements your create or insert into the
WBS.
Yes, but only when you are creating the project definition. Once
you have saved, you cannot change the controlling area
(exception: standard WBS).
Required
Default value for new WBS elements. If you do not fill this field,
the system copies the company code into it.
Only if the controlling area does not allow different company
code currencies.
Required
Profit Center
Type of field
Optional
Plant
Type of field
Optional
WBS Element
When you create new WBS elements or incorporate them into a WBS, the values from
the project definition are copied into the WBS elements.
If you change the project definition later, the changes have no effect on the values taken
from the project definition and inserted into existing WBS elements.
Controlling Area
Type of field
Can be changed?
(Object) Currency
Type of field
Default value
Can be changed?
Display
No
Required
When you create or incorporate new WBS elements, the value is
taken from the project definition or derived from the company
code in the WBS elements.
Only if the controlling area does not allow different company
code currencies and if no plan/actual values, commitments, or
budget exist for the WBS element.
Company Code
Type of field
Required
Operating conditions/check The company code must belong to the assigned controlling
area.
Can be changed?
Different WBS elements can be assigned to different company
codes. You cannot change the company code if plan/actual
values, commitments, or budget exist.
Business Area
Type of field
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Can be changed?
Profit Center
Type of field
company code.
You cannot change the business area if plan/actual values,
commitments, or budget exist.
Optional
Plant
Type of field
Optional
Operating conditions/check
The plant must belong to the assigned company code.
3. Explanations of Functions and Events
Sponsored projects and agency funds: A project account is established by the campus
business office or centrally by the UWA Controller's Office when (1) an award document
is received from the pre-award office, or (2) an approved (by Department Head or Dean)
Advance Account Request Form is received from the academic department. The UTK
campus business officer approves the establishment of all new projects by signing. A
budget is usually entered in the pre award system before activating a project for posting
of charges for those projects with an instruction, research, or public service function. The
UWA Controller's Office has final authority to release a project to become active (ready
for posting). The budget is electronically transmitted from the pre-award office or entered
manually. A notification letter is sent to interested users - this is usually the Principal
Investigator, Responsible Person (usually the Department Head), departmental business
manager, and campus business manager when the project is established in the General
Ledger.
This process will remain similar in the future since R/3 does not currently offer a "pre
award" module. We will build an interface with the pre award system.
Gift accounts: After a gift is received, a gift account is established either at a campus
business office or at the UWA Controller's Office through an approved request form by
the Development Office at UTK or a campus business officer. A notification letter is sent
to interested users - this is usually the Principal Investigator, Responsible Person (usually
the Department Head), departmental business manager, and campus business manager
when the account is established in the General Ledger.
Loans: When a new program is initiated by the Federal Government or a gift to establish
a loan fund is received, the campus business office or Controller's Office begins the
setup of the new accounts.
Plant funds (unexpended): According to George, we have approximately 150 active
projects (George will check on this number). According to CHART, we have
approximately 950 active accounts. UT has a legacy budget system that is used to
complete a budget request in a certain format. DB70 Project Budget data is contained in
the Facilities Planning AS/400 System but only the Total Project Cost field is used. This
data is required by the State, but no one is required to follow this budget. When the State
approves the project, an SBC No. is assigned (format example: 540/01-01-010). This
field can be carried on the WBS (Work Breakdown Structure) as contract # (per Mary). In
the past this is the point when the J account would have been created.
4. Business Model
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7. Description of Improvements
See changes to existing organization. The change, while it will be a training issue, is also
an improvement for management and reporting purposes. In addition with the hierarchy
the correct people responsible (dept heads, PIs, prime book keepers, etc.) can be linked
to the proper WBS element.
Currently people responsible are linked manually or there are multiple balance accounts
(linked by base grant number). In the future we hope to store this information on the WBS
elements.
8. Description of Functional Deficits
R/3 currently doesn't have fields required to maintain attributes from the pre-award
system. This info needs to be with the project in PS and reported on.
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Create / Change / Display master data: The UT offices listed below will all have the
ability to create and change all projects for each type of restricted fund. Access will be
given (or not) for transactions CJ01 and CJ02. This decision was made because it
reflects the current centralized security. In the future, security can be decentralized so
that end users can create their own sub accounts (lower level WBS elements). To
control on a decentralized level in the future, project (fund) type could be used. Everyone
can have access to displaying master data CJ03.
Current UT departments that create & change restricted funds:
Grants & contracts Gail
Controller (G&C) for Knoxville, Tullahoma, UWA, and
GSM.
Controller (CoA) for Chattanooga, and IPS.
Memphis, Ag, and Martin Business Offices do their own
G&C accounts.
Gift - endowment / trust
Controller (CoA set up) and Mp, Martin, & Ag Bus.
Offices*
Gift - outside sources
Controller (CoA set up) and Mp, Martin, & Ag Bus.
Offices
Appropriations/Chairs/Centers Controller (CoA set up)
Loan - Ron
Controller (CoA set up)
Agency / G&C - Gail
Controller (G&C) - Same as G&C
Agency/ Plant - Verna
Controller (Plant Group) - Verna / Cyndie
Agency/ Trust - Melissa
Treasurers Office / Investment Group
Plant Renewal - Verna
Controller (Plant Group) - Verna / Cyndie
Plant Invested -Verna
Controller (Plant Group) - Verna / Cyndie
Plant Unexpended -Verna
Controller (Plant Group) - Verna / Cyndie
Plant ROI -Verna
Controller (Plant Group) - Verna / Cyndie
Endowments - Butch
Treasurers Office / Investment Group
Life income - Butch
Treasurers Office / Investment Group
3.1.1.1.
Questions:
Q:
1) Describe the procedure you use to justify and approve starting a new project.
A: Sponsored projects and agency funds: A project account is established by the campus
business office or centrally by the UWA Controller's Office when (1) an award document is
received from the pre-award office, or (2) an approved (by Department Head or Dean)
Advance Account Request Form is received from the academic department. The UTK
campus business officer approves the establishment of all new projects by signing. A budget
is required for activating a project for posting of charges for those projects with an instruction,
research, or public service function. The UWA Controller's Office has final authority to
release a project to become active (ready for posting). The budget is electronically
transmitted from the pre-award office. A notification letter is sent to interested users - this is
usually the Principal Investigator, Responsible Person (usually the Department Head),
departmental business manager, and campus business manager when the project is
established in the General Ledger.
Centers/Chairs: Same as G&C except we know we must set up new projects each year. No
tie to pre-award system
Gift accounts: After a gift is received, a gift account is established either at a campus
business office or at the UWA Controller's Office through an approved request form by the
Development Office at UTK or a campus business officer. A notification letter is sent to
interested users - this is usually the Principal Investigator, Responsible Person (usually the
Department Head), departmental business manager, and campus business manager when
the account is established in the General Ledger.
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Loans: When a new program is initiated by the Federal Government or a gift to establish a
loan fund is received, the campus business office or Controller's Office begins the setup of
the new accounts.
Plant funds: Describe capital budget process here.
Endowments/Trusts: The signed MOA justifies the starting of a new project.
Endowment Processes:
The Development Office creates a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) document to formalize
the donor agreement. They also deposit gift funds received from donor. The gift funds are
generally deposited into the UTK Restricted Gifts Suspense Fund, but there are times when
they are deposited into other B accounts. Development has the donor sign the MOA and
sends it through the contract review process. Pam reviews and approves the MOA and
sends the MOA back through the contract review process. The Vice President's signature is
then obtained and the completed MOA is returned to Pam for processing.
Pam sets up the endowment F accounts based on the MOA information. If the funding is
greater than $15,000, Pam requests the Controller's Office to create an R and B account to
be used for expenditures and for crediting income. If the funding is less than $15,000, any
earnings will be reinvested in the endowment F account until balance of endowment reaches
$15,000. Once the balance of the endowment reaches $15,000 (or other specified amount),
B and R accounts are requested. Pam also prepares a Journal entry to move the funds out
of the UTK Restricted Gift Suspense Fund, or specified B Account, into the endowment
account.
Pam also enters accounts onto the CIP subsystem. This tells the system what account to
credit income to, what percentage of income to credit to each account, etc. This subsystem
also allows Pam to make any changes to accounts credited (example - when account
reaches $15,000 balances, credit accounts must be changed)
If accounts do not meet the minimum endowment of $15,000 within a specified period, a
journal voucher is processed to close the endowment account and move the principal to a
restricted account that is designated for use based on the original MOA. Gains/losses are
recognized at this time.
Upon a donor's request, a new, separate and distinct endowment may be created from an
existing endowment.
A process has been established to pool cash in the Consolidated Pool, as indicated below:
1. On a monthly basis, a report (outbound interface file) is generated from the Controller's
Office that shows the amount of each new gift and/or reinvested funds that were received
that month and deposited to the endowment accounts. (The information for this report
comes from CV's or JV's)
2. An internal investment program run that sweeps this cash into the Pooled Asset
accounts. This program generates a journal file to post to the 29 accounts (asset
accounts).
(Steps 3-6 below are done in the CIP internal system)
3. Hiliah calculates the total market value of the pool, and Pam balances this market value
back to the bank. Based on this market value and amount of cash pooled in item 2, and
total number of shares in the Pool, a market value per share is calculated. The formula
for this calculation is total market value less cash pooled for month divided total number
of shares as of previous month (includes additions/deletions during month).
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4. A program is run to distribute shares purchased to the pooled asset accounts. The
number of shares purchased is determined by amount of gift to endowment divided by
market value per share determined in item 3.
5. A program is run to post the shares purchased to the pooled asset accounts.
6. A report is run to show each endowment's Book Value based on the Pool BV unit price,
Number of Shares and Equivalent Shares (i.e., weighted average number of shares due
to adjustments for funds that were held only for a partial quarter).
Income Distribution
1. On a quarterly basis, income is distributed based on the equivalent number of shares that
each endowment owns. The amount distributed is 5% of a 3-year moving average of
pool market values as of December 31.
2. The Pool subsystem creates a Journal Entry that distributes the income based on the
number of equivalent shares each endowment owns.
3. An interface is run to post the Journal Entry distribution created in Step 2 to each
designated B, I, or P account and each reinvested F account. The income is taken out of
the Undistributed Income on Invest Pool account. In addition, a manual report is supplied
to the Treasurer each quarter to show the activity in the Undistributed Income on Invest
Pool account.
Trusts (Life Income)
Each trust is generally treated as a separate fund (see exception of Pooled Income Fund A),
and each fund is set up as a group of G accounts. The fourth and fifth digit of the current
account number indicates the types of assets such as stocks (20), bonds (22), CDs (04) real
estate (48), and fund balance (99).
To participate in the Trust Pooled Income Fund A, a minimum of $10,000 must be given, and
the funds are invested as a pool. When the amount given is at least $50,000, then the funds
are invested separately.
There are approximately 300 trusts. The types of trusts include:
Unitrust - where x% of market value is paid out
Unitrust with net income - where x% of market value is paid out subject to net income
Unitrust, net income with make-up - where x% of market value is paid subject to net income,
and where any past shortages due to net income restrictions are made up when the current
net income for that period allows.
Annuity trusts - a percentage or set dollar amount is paid out over a set term.
Lead trusts - where UT has rights to the generated interest income, but the remaining
principal reverts back to the donor or designated beneficiaries upon termination of the trust.
(Note: Lead trusts are set up using the Agency P account.)
Remainder trusts - where UT has rights to the remaining principal but not the income (unless
specified in the trust document that UT is a beneficiary during the life of the trust).
Life Income - where UT pays out earnings to the donor/designated beneficiaries throughout
his/their life.
Project Approval
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Questions:
Q: 1) How is a project approved? Who takes the decision to approve and who must be
informed of the decision?
A: Sponsored projects and agency funds: A project account is established by the campus
business office or centrally by UWA Controller's Office when (1) an award document is
received from the pre-award office, or (2) an approved (by Department Head or Dean)
Advance Account Request Form is received from the academic department. The UTK
campus business officer approves the establishment of all new accounts by signing. A
budget is required for those accounts with an instruction, research, or public service function
for activating an account for posting of charges. The UWA Controller's Office has final
authority for releasing an account for active posting. The budget is electronically transmitted
from the UTK pre-award office. A notification letter is sent to interested users - this is usually
the Principal Investigator, Responsible Person (usually the Department Head), departmental
business manager, and campus business manager when the account is established in the
General Ledger.
Centers/Chairs: Same as G&C except no tie to pre-award system
Gift accounts: A gift account is established by the campus business office or the UWA
Controller's Office through an approved request form by the Development Office at UTK or
the campus business officer. A notification letter is sent to interested users - this is usually
the Principal Investigator, Responsible Person (usually the Department Head), departmental
business manager, and campus business manager when the account is established in the
General Ledger.
Loans: After we receive a gift for the establishment of a loan fund, the campus business
officer and Controller's Office staff decide if the funds will be loaned or matched. After an
account is established, the bursar and chief business officer is notified.
Plant funds:
Endowments/Trusts: The Development Office and the Treasurer's Office approve the
projects. These two offices must approve and be informed.
3.2.
Planning
Questions:
Q: 1) How detailed is your project planning? (Remember that there are different levels of
planning detail.)
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A: Sponsored projects and agency funds: Currently, UT's systems do not have this
capability. All we have now is a final, approved budget. Any planning or scenarios are done
manually by the PI and departmental business manager.
Centers/Chairs: Same as G&C
Gifts: Same as sponsored projects.
Loans: No planning capability.
Endowments/Trusts: No planning done.
Q: 2) Who carries out planning for your projects? (Mention anyone involved in and
responsible for each stage of the planning process.)
A: Sponsored projects and agency funds: Any planning that takes place is done manually at
the departmental level. This would normally be the PI, departmental business manager, or
department head.
Centers/Chairs: Same as G&C
Gifts: Same as sponsored projects above with the exception that college or campus-level
personnel might be involved depending on the UT ownership of the gift.
Endowments/Trusts: No planning done.
Loans: Any planning done concerning loan funds has to do with which funds and how much
to match and how much money to lend the next year. The matching decisions are made in
the Controller's Office. The spending decisions are made by each campus' financial aid
office.
Q: 3) How often are your project plans updated? (Consider the effects on the project
baseline calculation.)
A: Sponsored projects and agency funds: This is unknown at this time. UT does not
currently have this capability automated. Any planning and planning updates are done
manually.
Centers/Chairs: Same as G&C
Gifts: Same as sponsored projects above.
Loans: N/A
Endowments/Trusts: No planning done.
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Loans: N/A
Endowments/Trusts: No planning done.
3.2.1.
Structure
Questions:
Q: 1) What triggers the creation of the project and when in the business process do you
start to structure your project?
A: Sponsored projects and agency funds: Current: The campus business office or the
Controller's Office creates accounts when an award document is received or an approved
Advance Account Request Form is received. The Controller's Office requires an approved
budget for accounts with an instruction, research, or public service function in order to
activate the account for posting charges to the general ledger. The Campus Business Office
approves all new account establishments. Future: Depending on the implementation of the
COEUS pre-award system, the project setup attributes may be entered in the pre-award
office instead of the Campus Business Office or Controller's Office. These attributes would
then be transferred electronically to R/3 for review and approval by the campus business
office or Controller's Office.
Centers/Chairs: Same as G&C except no tie to pre-award system
Loans: The award of a new federal loan program contribution or the receipt of a gift triggers
the creation of a loan fund.
Endowments/Trusts: The signed Memorandum of Agreement (contract agreement with the
donor) triggers the creation of the project and the accounts are set up at the time that the
Treasurer's Office Investment Group receives the signed MOA.
Q: 2) Do you have different types of projects? (If yes, consider having different project
processes for each major type.)
A: Sponsored projects:
Types: grants, contracts, task order agreements (funding at task order agreement
level), cooperative agreements, consortia, governmental appropriations
Sponsors: federal, private, state, local government; foundations, industry; other
universities; foreign
Billing: cost reimbursement billing, fixed price, billing schedules, milestone or periodic
billing, completion of major task, patient enrollment basis, clinical research trials,
letter of credit electronic drawdown of funds
Financial reporting is sometimes required in addition to billing
Outcomes: research, training grants, conference, public service, education,
instruction, fellowships, equipment purchase, construction. Tangible outcomes
include technical reports, patents, and products (e.g. manuals, course curriculum,
conference, newsletter, equipment, process design, blueprints, etc.).
Centers/Chairs: Same as G&C but the money comes through requests to the State, not
invoicing
Gifts: Gifts differ in the level of restriction that the donor applies to the money. For
example, a gift could be restricted for chemistry research. This is a fairly broad restriction.
Or, a gift could specifically state the PI and or exact type of research to be supported by the
contribution. Gifts also differ in the way that the project is funded (i.e. endowment, cash
receipt, etc.).
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Other Restricted: In addition to grants and contracts, other restricted accounts such as loans,
agency funds, gifts and endowments, annuity and life income. Funding may be from gifts,
program revenues, and transferred excess funds, endowment income, etc.
Life income is a trust with a special clause that establishes an endowment at the time of the
contributor's death.
Plant funds are broken down for future plant expenditures of construction or renewal. Source
of funds is bonded indebtedness, excess operating funds, state appropriations, and gifts.
Loan funds have disbursements, collections, interest, and some write-offs.
Agency funds include lead trusts where the principal remains with the donor, contractor
retainage (on the vendor side), individuals undergoing transplant operations (deposits),
Department of Transportation pass-through funds where UT is the fiscal agent, and athletic
tournaments and fraternities.
Sponsored projects:
10,000 - 20,000
New awards per year by budget entity:
UTSI
100
Chattanooga
200
Memphis
550
Ag
330
Knoxville
700
Martin
40
New proposals per year by budget entity:
UTSI
200
Chattanooga
400
Memphis
1100
Ag
1100
Knoxville
1400
Martin
100
Other Restricted Accounts:
Endowments: approximately 3000
Trusts: approximately 300
Charitable Lead Trusts: 5 Agency Trusts where UT gets only the income and not the
principal of the trust.
Q: 3) Do you have different phases in your projects? (If yes, consider structuring your
project according to phases. If no, consider structuring your project according to function or
product groups.)
A: Sponsored projects and agency funds:
We do not necessarily have phases, but may need to structure our projects as follows:
50% 1 level 1 WBS, 1 level 2 (current)
25% 1 level 1 WBS, multiple level 2's
20% 1 level 1 WBS, 1 or multiple level 2's, and 1 or multiple level 3's (future - more detail)
5% 1 level 1 WBS, 1 or multiple level 2's, and 1 or multiple level 3's, and level 4's
Centers/Chairs: Approx 100 new accounts each year
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Sponsored projects, agency funds, and gifts will need a total of 10,000 - 20,000 projects/WBS
elements/'B' accounts, but this number will increase as UT meets President's goal to double
Federal research dollars!
Endowments/Life income: There is generally only one phase that is designated in the
accounting system. Phases could be constructed in some instances. For instance, trust
accounts become endowments upon the death of the final surviving beneficiary. Currently
the process is to close the trust and create a new endowment. Also, endowments may be
initially funded at an amount less than the minimum $15,000 required to be an endowment.
The income is funneled back into the principal and additional gifts are received within a
specified timeframe until the $15,000 is achieved. If the $15,000 is not achieved within a
given timeframe, the endowment is closed and the funds are transferred to an expense
account per the MOA agreement terms.
Loans: N/A
Q: 4) Do you create the entire project structure at one time? (If yes, consider creating the
structure with network activities in one step If no, consider gradually building the structure by
adding sub trees, networks or standard structures over time.)
A: Sponsored projects and agency funds: In the majority of cases, the project structure can
be correctly determined at project inception. However, we need the ability to modify the
structure and add tiers if / when the occasion arises. When COEUS is implemented as the
pre-award system, the initial project structure may be entered by pre-award staff. The project
structure will be passed electronically to R/3 and reviewed (and possibly altered) by the
campus business office and UWA Controller's Office.
Centers/Chairs: Same as G&C except no tie to pre-award system
Gifts: The project structure will be initiated by the Campus Business Office and the
Controller's Office. This will most likely use a standard (and relatively simple) project
structure. Currently, project structure for a new project is copied from a similar, existing
project. Input will be manual based on information provided by the UTK Development Office
or the campus business office. Is there any way to automate this structure? (Yes - you can
copy structures.)
Loans: Yes
Endowments/Trusts: Yes
Q: 5) Costs, dates, resources, material, and finance can be drivers for how customers
structure their projects. What are the critical success factors for your projects?
A: Sponsored projects and agency funds: Structure of projects is dependent upon two
primary factors: (1) award document requirements, and (2) PI's project management goals.
The award document requirements which could impact project structure include (1) financial
reporting dates, (2) F&A rates, (3) F&A cost sharing, (4) direct cost sharing, (5) statement of
work, and (6) sources of funding. The PI's project management goals which could impact
project structure include (1) technical reporting requirements, (2) technical milestones or
phases, (3) division of work between a number of co-PI's, (4) sources of funding.
Centers/Chairs: Same as G&C except F&A is not a factor
Gifts: The only critical factors regarding the structure of a gift would be division between
several UT owners, the restrictions placed upon the funds by the donors, and any specified
ending dates.
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Loans: Loaning and collecting the money are out of scope for R/3.
Endowments/Trusts: The drivers are the stipulations in the MOAs as to how the income will
be distributed and how the income may be spent. Critical success factors include the
profitable investment of funds (which is out of scope of R/3 at this time).
Q: 7) How do you distribute costs and dates in the project structure? (Remember, it is
possible to plan costs and dates top-down or bottom-up.)
A: Sponsored projects and agency funds: Currently, the dates are assigned to the R
account (project expenditure account). Direct costs are assigned to the R account. F&A
attributes are assigned to the R account, but are posted to the B account. In the future, it is
desirable to have only one project account where all costs and attributes are present. All
costs should be accumulated from the bottom up. Dates and basic attributes may need to be
from the top down.
Centers/Chairs: Same as G&C
Gifts: Same as sponsored projects.
Loans: Each loan fund is a balance sheet. They have cash, notes receivable, matching and a
balance. When a loan fund is created the University receives cash and has a fund balance.
As funds are loaned, cash decreases and notes receivable are created. When loans are
collected, cash increases and notes receivable decreases.
Endowments/Trusts: Costs and Dates are not distributed. Income is distributed from the
Consolidated Investment Pools. Endowments are perpetual and trusts end at the death of
the last beneficiary (which cannot be predicted).
Q: 8) Do you often have similar projects or are they completely different? (If you often have
similar projects, consider using templates or copying existing projects when creating new
projects.)
A: Sponsored projects and agency funds: The majority of projects are similar to existing
projects. Templates or copying existing projects should be a good starting place for setting
up a new project. However, several templates may be needed. Also, the ability to set up a
project independently of templates is desirable.
Centers/Chairs: Same as G&C, many are the same from year to year
Gifts: Same as sponsored projects.
Loans: Private loans per campus are very similar.
Plant: According to George, we have approximately 150 active projects (George will check
on this number). According to CHART, we have approximately 950 active accounts. All H's
and J's.
Endowments are very similar in structure. The assets involved may have some differences.
Trusts: The differences in trusts include lead, life income, charitable remainder, pooled
funds, and Unitrusts, with fixed payout, net Income w/makeup, or net Income. The structure
in the G/L, however, is very similar. Five trusts where UT only can use the income, but not
the principal, are set up as agency funds. Endowments are set up as F accounts. The fourth
and fifth digit of the current account numbers designates the type of account such as assets
{stocks (20), bonds (22), CDs (04), real estate (48)} and fund balance (99).
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Ninety percent, or approximately 2500, of the endowments are pooled. The Land-Grant
endowment is one of approximately 250 separately invested endowments. The Endowment
Pool is treated as a single separately invested fund.
Endowment assets include the Consolidated Investment Pool assets, separately invested
assets, and un-invested real estate. When donors give us real estate or securities, UT
records the book value of the assets on the books. However, UT usually quickly sells them
and reinvests the proceeds. Cash is separately identified if donated cash has not yet been
initially invested. In addition, there is separately identified Cash in the Consolidated Pool.
Assets also include receivables. At year-end, receivables and payables are recorded for the
unsettled investment trades. When donated assets are business enterprises, there are also
receivables and payables related to real estate.
The assets are shown on the General Ledger at Book Value.
The Sale Price invested asset - BV endowment = the Booked Investment Gain.
Only at year-end is the Fair Market Value recorded. Thus, at year-end unrealized
gains/losses are booked.
Additions include new gifts and reinvested income. Deductions include board-approved sale
of assets and the transfer of cash to expenditure accounts.
Required reporting includes reports to donors on what transactions have occurred with their
endowed funds. Also, University personnel request reports on the expected income
distributions on all of the endowed funds in particular colleges or divisions. Pam currently
maintains a list of Endowments that have not reached minimum balance of $15,000 or
specified balance manually. It was mentioned that with the R/3 system a report with this
information could be run.
Special classifications will be created in FM. The Master Data will capture detail related to
the endowment. This information includes:
1. Text to indicate the purpose of the endowment
2. Text to indicate a restriction to the department allowed to create/post activity.
3. Text to indicate a restriction as to the authorized use of funds (scholarships, etc.)
4. Classification as to type of overall usage (Student, Library)
5. Function
6. Number of Units
7. Unit Price
8. Identity field to note whether separate or pooled investment.
9. Pool Code
The unit and unit price field must interface with the legacy investment pool (CIP) system.
Q: 9) Do you create your projects in an external system first and then copy them to R/3) (If
yes, consider using Open PS.)
A: Sponsored projects and agency funds: Currently, accounts are established in the
existing G/L system. Some attributes are available in the external pre-award system. There
is currently no system interface for attribute transfer. For the future, UT is in the process of
implementing COEUS, a new pre-award system that has project attributes like the existing
system, but also has the project structure. UT would like to interface R/3 with COEUS for
project structure and attribute transfer.
Centers/Chairs: Same as G&C except not currently in the pre-award system
Gifts: There is no external system for gifts. Accounts are established manually by the
Campus Business Office or Controller's Office with final release for posting by the Controller's
Office.
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2. General Explanations
3.2.1.1.
Project Structuring
Questions:
Q: 10) Do you need to model your project before making it operational? (If yes, consider
using project simulation.)
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A: No
Q: 12) Do you evaluate projects based on best case, worst case, and most likely? (If yes,
consider using project simulation.)
A: No
Q: 14) Do you need a baseline for the project costs, schedule, or other structural elements?
(If yes, consider using project snapshot versions or simulation versions to do baselining.)
A: versions of cost planning
Sponsored projects and agency funds: We don't really need a "baseline". We need one
approved budget that everyone knows is the "official" budget. It is OK to have various plans
outstanding. If there is reporting of plan vs. actual, then we would need for one of the plans
to match the "official" budget. We should standardize which plan version is equal to the
budget in all cases. Perhaps plan #1 always matches the budget for reporting purposes.
Gifts: Same as sponsored projects.
Centers/Chairs: Same as sponsored projects.
Loans: No.
Endowments/Trusts: No
Q: 17) Are parts of the projects similar? (If yes, consider referencing existing WBS sub trees
or templates when creating new subprojects.)
A: Sponsored projects and agency funds: Yes, parts of the projects, and entire projects are
similar to existing projects. We plan to copy or use standard templates when establishing
new projects. However, we need the ability to later change the initial project structure as the
project develops.
Gifts: Same as sponsored projects.
Centers and chairs: Same as sponsored projects.
Q: 19) Do your projects go through different phases that you must control? (If yes, consider
using user statuses to control each phase.)
A: Sponsored projects and agency funds: Yes. The primary controls that we need for
project phases (which I assume would be separate WBS elements) are posting controls
based on date, expenditure type, and expenditure total. For example, we don't want
expenditures to post to a project after 60 days past the ending date of the project. We don't
want expenditures to post to travel line items if travel is not allowed by the award. We don't
want expenditures to post to a project in excess of the total award amount.
Gifts: Same as sponsored projects. Less likely to have phases, expenditure restrictions, or
ending dates.
Q: 20) Do you want to include documentation throughout the project structure? (If yes,
consider using DMS or PS texts.)
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A: Sponsored projects and agency funds: Yes, we would like the ability to have as much
documentation as possible. We would like to be able to document notes, important sponsor
requirements, attach documents, etc.
Gifts: Same as sponsored projects, although it is not as critical.
Centers / Chairs: Same as sponsored projects, although it is not as critical.
Q:
A: Sponsored projects: Yes, UT has a matrix of applicable Federal, audited F&A rates that
are applied to all sponsored projects. The rate to be used from the matrix is dependent upon
(1) campus where work is to be performed, (2) function (instruction, research, other
sponsored projects), and (3) whether or not the majority of the work is to be performed on or
off campus.
Gifts: F&A does not apply.
Centers/Chairs: F&A does not apply.
Agency funds: No, F&A does not apply.
Endowments & Life Income: No. F&A does not apply
Gifts: No, F&A does not apply.
Loans: No
Q: 22) Do you calculate project-specific overhead? (If yes, you can stipulate an overhead
structure for each project type.)
A: Sponsored projects: Planned F&A is based on the planned distribution of expenditures in
certain cost categories. If the actual project expenditures are in different cost categories than
planned, the F&A may be affected so that the actual is either more or less than planned. For
example, if the project plan included $2,000 for equipment expenditures, but the PI actually
spent the funds in supplies, actual F&A would be more than planned F&A. This is because
one of UT's F&A bases is Modified Total Direct Costs (MTDC), which is total direct costs less
certain modifying cost categories. Equipment is a modifier and is excluded from the F&A
calculation, but supplies are included in the F&A allocation.
Some projects require project-specific F&A calculation, instead of one of the standards
included in the F&A matrix. For example, the US Dept of Education requires that student
support costs be excluded from the base on certain awards. I think that we should charge
the regular F&A rate and show the exclusion calculation as F&A cost sharing via settlement
rules. The rationale for this is that student support costs are not excluded from the base in
our official agreement with the Federal government. Therefore, any that we cannot charge to
a sponsor is required cost sharing.
Memphis must exclude "patient care" costs from the base per the F&A rate agreement with
the government. We should discuss this procedure with Gerri Bussell to determine how this
is being accomplished currently. There is not an existing cost type (object code) for "patient
care".
Centers/Chairs: F&A does not apply
Agency funds: No, F&A does not apply.
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Q:
25) Is the basis for planned overhead the same as for actual overhead?
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Q:
A: Sponsored projects: Monthly. F&A and the related F&A cost sharing are run in the last
job of the month-end accounting close.
Centers/Chairs: F&A does not apply
Agency funds: No, F&A does not apply.
Gifts: No, F&A does not apply.
Loans: Do not calculate.
Endowments/Trusts: No, F&A does not apply.
Q:
28) Does the basis for the overhead costs change during the lifecycle of the project?
A: Sponsored projects: It is rare, but it can happen. A more common occurrence is that the
base remains the same, but either the F&A rate, the F&A cost sharing, or the net F&A
allowable changes during the life of the project. When this has happened in the past, we
have established a new R account. In the future, perhaps we could establish another WBS
element.
Centers/Chairs: F&A does not apply
Agency funds: No, F&A does not apply.
Gifts: No, F&A does not apply.
Loans: No.
Endowments/Trusts: No, F&A does not apply.
Q:
A: Sponsored projects: The F&A rates are determined by a proposal prepared by either the
UWA Controller's Office or the campus business office in conjunction with the UWA
Controller's Office. This proposal is submitted to the Federal cognizant audit agency, DHHS,
for review, negotiation, and approval. Once the rates and bases are established, the
appropriate combination of the two is applied to the project at its inception based on certain
attribute fields by the campus business office and / or the UWA Controller's Office. The
monthly calculation based on actual expenditures for the month is performed automatically
during the month-end closing process.
F&A cost sharing approval is the responsibility of either the campus business or research
office. Once approved, the cost sharing attributes are applied to the project in setup.
Centers/Chairs: F&A does not apply
Agency funds: No, F&A does not apply.
Gifts: No, F&A does not apply.
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Loans: N/A
Endowments/Trusts: No, F&A does not apply.
Q: 30) How do you compare target and actual overhead? (Requirements in reporting affect
the type of overhead settlement.)
A: Sponsored projects: For individual projects, planned F&A is based on the planned
distribution of expenditures in certain cost categories. If the actual project expenditures are in
different cost categories than planned, the F&A may be affected so that the actual is either
more or less than planned. For example, if the project plan included $2,000 for equipment
expenditures, but the PI actually spent the funds in supplies, actual F&A would be more than
planned F&A. This is because one of UT's F&A bases is Modified Total Direct Costs
(MTDC), which is total direct costs less certain modifying cost categories. Equipment is a
modifier and is excluded from the F&A calculation, but supplies are included in the F&A
allocation.
Overall, the actual F&A is compared to the planned F&A by campus business and research
officers. This is done through a spreadsheet, which gathers applicable data into custom
formats. The information for F&A, F&A cost sharing, and net F&A recoveries is required in
several formats by the following fields: (1) Sponsor type, (2) By specific sponsor, (3) by
campus.
Centers/Chairs: F&A does not apply
Agency funds: No, F&A does not apply.
Gifts: No, F&A does not apply.
Loans: N/A
Endowments/Trusts: No, F&A does not apply.
Q: 31) For how many project structures do you calculate overhead rates? (Consider the
performance implications.)
A: Sponsored projects: There are a set number of F&A rates based upon a matrix of project
location (campus), project function (instruction, research, other sponsored programs), and on
or off campus. There can be a set number of bases (MTDC, TDC, Salaries & wages, certain
agency-specific bases). However, the F&A cost sharing, and net F&A rate could be almost
totally project-specific. For example, an award document could specify UTK, research, oncampus with an MTDC base. The F&A cost sharing could be 50% for a net F&A recovery of
50% MTDC. The next project could be exactly the first except the F&A cost sharing could be
29.4528% for a net F&A recovery of 70.4472% MTDC.
There could be some standard templates where F&A cost sharing is zero or where there is a
common sponsor F&A cost sharing requirement. For example, NSF requires a mandatory
1% cost share on all projects.
Centers/Chairs: F&A does not apply
Agency funds: No, F&A does not apply.
Gifts: No, F&A does not apply.
Loans: N/A
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UT
B01999694
NPS 1443CA54609800-AQUA-SMOOT
B01999694
R01133436
Note: The B, P, and H accounts are the balance accounts (99) and act as parents to the
R, N, J accounts.
When there is more than 1 B the structure will be as follows:
L1: dummy
L2: multiple B's
L3: respective R's for each B
Agency: Currently N&P ledger accounts. In PS the P will be the project definition and
level 1 WBS element, the Ns will be the level 2's.
Plant (invested): Currently M ledger accounts. In PS these accounts will be just G/L
accounts not projects since there are no revenues or expenses although they are a
restricted fund.
Plant (renewal, ROI): Currently K ledger accounts. In PS these will have a very simple
structure - just 1 WBS element with the project definition of the same name.
Plant (unexpended): Currently H ledger accounts. In PS the H will be the project
definition and level 1 WBS element, the Js will be the level 2's. We will start with a simple
WBS, i.e. one project, one asset under construction (AUC). Possible more detailed
structures will develop, or we can always have a manual settlement monthly.
Life income: Currently G ledger accounts. In PS these will have a very simple structure just 1 WBS element with the project definition of the same name.
Endowments: Currently F ledger accounts. In PS these will have a very simple structure just 1 WBS element with the project definition of the same name.
Loan funds: Current multiple D accounts for revenues and expenses will go to 1 D WBS
element in R/3. For example, the project definition could be D01000053, which will be the
same name as the only level 1 WBS element for scalability purposes.
Note: only the '99' life income, endowment, and loan accounts will be converted to
projects. For example, the life income account G99990024 William Bowld Trust will
become a project of the same name. However G99040058 Pooled Income Fund will
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become an asset account on the balance sheet (these are stocks, bonds, etc). Only the
99 accounts have the revenues and expenses.
4. Business Model
Project Definition in Green (top)
WBS Structure in Purple
B01999694
L1 WBS
B01999694
Level 2
WBS
L 2 WBS
R01133436
Level 2
WBS
SD
Revisit
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EXISTING UT ATTRIBUTE
SFNLACCT-RECORDING-ACCOUNT-NO
SFNLACCT-ACCOUNT-NAME
SFNLACCT-CAT-FED-DOM-ASST
SFNLACCT-ACCT-ACTIV-FLAG
SFNLACCT-POST-CONTROL
SFNLACCT-RELATED-BAL-ACCT
SFNLACCT-EXPEND-FUNCTION
SFNLACCT-STAFF-BENEFITS-FLAG
SFNLACCT-STUDENT-AID
SFNLACCT-LONG-ACCOUNT-NAME
SFNLACCT-LOAN-FUND-CATEGORY
SFNLACCT-AGENCY
SFNLACCT-COSTSHAR-EXP-ACCT
SFNLACCT-INDIR-COST-INC-ACCT
SFNGRANT-PRINC-INVESTIGATOR-ID.
SFNGRANT-PRINC-INVESTIGATOR
SFNGRANT-FISCAL-PERIOD-BEG.
SFNGRANT-FISCAL-PERIOD-END.
04 SFNGRANT-EXCLUDED-OBJ-CODE1
SFNGRANT-OFF-CAMPUS-PERCENT
SFNGRANT-MONTHLY-IND-COST-AMT
SFNGRANT-MONTHLY-COSTSHAR-AMT
SFNGRANT-PROP-REV-ID.
SFNGRANT-ADVANCE-ACCOUNT
SFNGRANT-OVERHEAD-PERCENT
SFNGRANT-IC-CS-PERCENT
SFNGRANT-UT-COSTSHAR-PERCENT
SFNGRANT-OVERHEAD-CALC
05 SFNGRANT-SUPPORT-TYPE
05 SFNGRANT-EQUIPMENT-TITLE
SFNGRANT-WORK-LOCATION
SFNGRANT-UT-COSTSHAR-AMOUNT
SFNGPGNT-GRANT-ENDING-DATE.
04 SFNGPGNT-AGENCY-NAME
04 SFNGPGNT-AGENCY-OFFICE
SFNGREXP-PROJECT-TITLE
unrestricted or restricted fund
SFNGISET-INVOICE-REPORT-TYPE
SFNLACCT-AG-FUNDING-SOURCE
SFNGISET-AWARD-NO
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
PS
PS
PS
PS
PS
PS
PS
PS
PS
PS
PS
PS
PS
PS
PS
PS
PS
PS
PS
PS
PS
PS
PS
PS
PS
PS
PS
PS
PS
PS
PS
PS
PS
PS
PS
PS
PS
PS
PS / CO
PS / SD
MAP TO IN R/3
No
WBS EL2: R, N, D, J
B, D, H,
No
PD & WBS short Description fields (36 ch
Yes
WBS EL2 fields & below
Size of f
No
status field - all WBS levels
No
status field - all WBS levels
No
maps to wbs structure (this tells which B g
TBD
Use priority field in PS for 13 functional ar
Yes
New field in PS on WBS elementsYes /no
Yes
New field in PS (grant type) - UserEx:
Defined
emp
TBD
50 characters goes to TBD text field (long
TBD
Need field for 'funding category' (ex institu
Yes
reporting sponsor type (fed, state, loc, priv
No
settlement cost center
No
On costing sheet
credit sid
Yes
new field in PS called PI
use ssn
No
name will be next to employee id. Same n
No
project start date
No
project end date
No
indirect cost process TBD (transfer betwe
Yes
new field to inform project creator which c
No
use long text to capture cost sharing requ
No
use long text to capture cost sharing requ
Yes
new field on lowest level wbs element for
Yes (radio UDF?)
Use FM start date and PS field forauthority
info pu
No
Map rate to overhead key in cost sheet
No
indirect
No
use long text to capture cost sharing
Direct
requ
C
Yes
map to base to select costing sheet
F&A Bas
No
Award type: grant, cooperative agreement
Yes
ASK VERNA needed for asset master rec
Yes
doesn't map to overhead key easily
on camp
No
cost sharing amount maps to settlement
descript
No
maps to ending date wbs
Yes
new field on wbs which maps to customer
Yes
new field on wbs which maps to customer
No
map to WBS long text
40 char
Yes
Yes
I or R plus new ones to indicate which fina
No
Conversion: group WBS accountsex: smith
No
long description on WBS element or SO?
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2. Consider using PS user defined fields for the most common new attributes (PI,
accountant, campus, etc) so that structure reports can be easily utilized. What is the
impact with new fields to standard reports -- can Michelle add them to the report table?
3.2.2.
Revenue Planning
Questions:
Q: 1) Do you have revenues assigned to your project? (If yes, remember that WBS
elements are the only project objects to which revenues can be assigned.)
A: PS-WBS Planning - Revenue basic info.
Do you want to do revenue planning on WBS elements?
Yes, for program income only. Recoveries will be planned under expenditures
Do you want to do structure level revenue planning on WBS elements?
No
Centers/Chairs: No
Some of the other types of restricted accounts may use revenue planning.
Do you want to use several versions for revenue planning?
Yes, possibly 16 (12 +4) but we'll start with one for now.
Do you want to do revenue element planning on WBS elements?
Yes
How many revenue elements will we have?
Approximately 15 CE revenue elements (grants & contract state, local, federal.)
Sponsored projects: Some sponsored projects may be interested in doing revenue planning.
For example, in the Institute for Public Service, a large percentage of their sponsored projects
include program income.
Agency funds: Yes, agency funds have revenues. No, agency funds probably do not need
revenue planning.
Other Restricted: We may want revenue planning on WBS elements for some types of other
restricted. We need actual scenarios and examples to work through the system to analyze
how and if structure level revenue planning will be done. However, we believe we do
revenue planning; we will want to use several versions.
We want to do revenue element planning on WBS elements and we believe we will have 50
revenue elements.
Loans: probably not.
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Q: 2) Do you plan on using Sales & Distribution (SD) to track customer quotations, orders,
and invoices related to projects? (If yes, consider revenue plan integration between Project
System and SD.)
A: Sponsored projects and agency funds: Yes, we plan to use SD to generate invoices
related to projects and post to A/R. There may be some projects that are not billed through
SD, but where invoices are generated manually by departments and posted directly to A/R.
Gifts: Same as sponsored projects. Billing is rare, but possible, with gift accounts.
Centers/Chairs: No
Endowments & Life Income: No
Loans: No.
Q: 3) Do you determine the revenues for your project without using sales documents? (If
yes, consider using hierarchical planning.)
A: Sponsored projects and agency funds: Yes, fairly frequently. We have many sponsors
that we do not ever have to send a bill. They either pay us up front or on a payment
schedule.
ISSUE: Revenue recognition will need to be made for these payments. How will we do that?
My understanding is that R/3 recognizes revenue in the G/L when billing occurs. No billing
will occur, but we need to recognize revenue. UT currently recognizes revenue as
expenditures are made. We will need to have a year-end report which shows us how much
revenue we have recognized in advance and how much we need to recognize additionally.
This will be required to make a journal entry for financial statement purposes.
Perhaps every project should have an attribute of revenue recognition rule and billing type.
With these two attributes, a year-end query could be made to quantify the required journal
entries. For example, where billing type = cost reimbursement and the revenue recognition
rule = by expenditure, then UT has understated revenue at year-end. If billing type =
payment schedule and the revenue recognition rule = by expenditure, then UT has overstated
revenue at year-end.
Gifts: For gifts, UT currently recognizes revenue at the time of expenditure. No billing
usually occurs. Instead, cash receipts or internal distributions are made. How will R/3
recognize revenues on these projects? Also, the GASB rules for revenue recognition of gifts
are changing. UT may be required to recognize revenue on some gifts at the time of the
pledge. How will we handle all of these revenue recognition scenarios?
Centers/Chairs: Yes
Loans: Additions to loan funds are gifts, interest on notes, endowment income, investment
income and transfers.
Endowments/Trusts: Do not use sales documents.
Q: 4) Do you plan revenues when analyzing the profit margin for a project? (If yes, consider
settling the plan values to Profitability Analysis (CO-PA) to analyze profits and profit margins
there.)
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2. General Explanations
7. Description of Improvements
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3.2.2.1.
Questions:
Q: 1) Do the revenues from SD represent all revenues for the project? (If no, consider doing
detailed revenue planning by billing plan assigned to WBS-element.)
A: Sponsored projects and agency funds: As noted in previous questions, SD does NOT
represent all revenues for the project. Some projects will have a combination of revenues
from various sources - some from SD and some not. For example, a sponsor may send us
the first quarterly payment with the signed award without waiting for an invoice to be sent.
However, the next 3 quarterly payments might require invoicing by UT.
For Helmet testing and many other projects, revenues will go directly thru AR not SD.
Gifts: SD will not normally be used.
Centers/Chairs: SD will not be used.
Loans: No
Endowments/Trusts: N/A Endowments and Trusts do not plan.
Q: 2) Do you manage the revenue for projects at a summary level on the projects? (If yes,
consider making the top WBS element a billing element.)
A: Sponsored projects and agency funds: Revenue and billing may occur at detailed WBS
element levels or at a summarized level. We need the flexibility to do various methods and
alternatives.
Gifts: Same as sponsored projects.
Centers/Chairs: Yes
Loans: For loans, revenues are additions to the fund. They are dependent on the loans
repaid (interest), gifts received, and income earned. This is accumulated for each loan fund.
Endowments/Trusts: Revenues are collected individually on each endowment and trust. In
addition, funds are invested in a Consolidated Pool account. There are no billing elements
for Endowments/Trusts.
Q: 4) Do you plan revenues as of particular dates and do you plan down payments at the
same time? (If yes, use the billing plan assigned to the WBS element, particular if SD is not
linked to the project)
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A: Sponsored projects and agency funds: It seems likely that we would need to plan
revenues as of particular dates. We aren't planning to have "down payments". Again, cash
receipts may or may not result from an SD billing.
Gifts: Same as sponsored projects.
Centers/Chairs: N/A
Loans: N/A
Endowments/Trusts: N/A
Q: 5) How must you make reports on the revenue plans (Consider using CO-PA or the
standard information system in PS.)?
A: Sponsored projects and agency funds: Since UT currently doesn't have planning
capability, any planning is done manually or using DMS. I do not know what kind of reports
might be needed. R/3 basic reports may be sufficient.
Gifts: Same as sponsored projects.
Centers/Chairs: N/A
Loans: N/A
Endowments/Trusts: N/A
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
Ability to plan revenue on revenue cost elements for projects.
Eliminate the need for DMS revenue planning system.
2. General Explanations
Revenue planning deals with the revenues you expect to receive in connection with your
project as it is executed.
In the Project System, you can use the following planning methods:
Manual revenue planning
By work breakdown structure
By revenue element
Automatic update of revenue plan values from the billing plan:
In WBS elements
In sales orders
WBS elements in which you want to plan revenues must be flagged as billing elements
(Operative Indicators)
You plan revenues in hierarchical planning, by revenue element, with a plus sign ("+").
All the functions of manual cost planning are also available for manual revenue planning.
For more information on planning technique, see Cost Planning.
3. Explanations of Functions and Events
Belinda Carter (Business Manager) explained a need to plan revenues for some of her
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accounts (Not G&C). Currently a few folks are planning revenue in DMS planning by
ledger activity codes and could plan in R/3 in the future. She said she actually uses
codes for her own descriptions since DMS does not flow into our current system. For
instance, she may plan for different sources of revenue in a gift account. She may be
getting gifts at different times of the year. For instance, she might get a donation for 5
years in the month of January from one company, and another donation at a different
time and then money from third, fourth, etc. different source (such as the E account??
that she will receive at other times of the year).
The ledger activity codes listed below (in the cost planning section) include the current
revenue cost elements. There is only a small list of revenue cost elements and most
planning of revenue would be the stated award amounts. It would only be a small
number of accounts such as gifts that would have odd amounts of revenue planning.
7. Description of Improvements
It will be an improvement to plan revenue on the true accounts rather than by DMS sub
accounts or manual spreadsheets.
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3.2.3.
Cost Planning
Questions:
Q: 1) Do you track costs for your projects? (If yes, consider using WBS elements and/or
networks.)
A: Costs are tracked. For example some of the largest projects are:
Grants & Contracts:
Ag:
$4 million for 1 year over 95 counties
Ag:
$8 million for 1 year, cooperative agreements
Memphis: $13 million over 6 years
UTSI:
$1 million for 1 year
Sponsored projects and agency funds: Yes, we must track costs for all WBS element levels.
Centers/Chairs: Yes. Some of the smallest G&C projects are approx $1,000. How many??
Other Restricted: We track costs and we want to plan costs for some of the other restricted
accounts.
Gifts: Yes we track all activity.
Loans: Yes we track all activity. Deductions from loan funds are collection expense, bad debt
expense (which include some cancellations) and other deductions (which include some
cancellations).
Endowments/Trusts: We track costs but do not want to plan costs.
Q: 3) Do you plan costs by period and distribute these costs according to the project
schedule? (If yes, consider using networks for planning.)
A: Sponsored projects and agency funds: We plan project costs based on the project
schedule. Normally, the project time period equals the project cost plan time period.
For some projects that are incrementally funded by the sponsor, we may have a five-year
project approved for $1 million per year (total of $5 million). However, the sponsor may only
actually give us legal funding authorization for the first year. So we would only plan cost and
incur costs for the first year that is all that is legally committed. When we receive the funding
authorization document to release the second year increment, we would then plan costs and
incur costs for that period.
Centers/Chairs: same as G&C
Loans: N/A
Endowments/Trusts: N/A
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Q: 4) Do you do carry out integrated cost planning with cost centers? (If yes, consider using
WBS elements for planning.)
A: Sponsored projects and agency funds: Perhaps. This would be done at the
departmental level by bookkeepers and de-centralized business offices.
ISSUE: Currently, departments have the capability, through DMS sub accounts and 5-digit
object code extensions, to segregate certain E account unrestricted cost center activities.
For example, Don Reed's transportation center E account has approximately 125 sub
accounts for various training seminars that are conducted throughout the year. The
departments may use part of their E account funding and receive outside revenues to support
the sub-account activities. The departments want to be able to evaluate the sub account
activity by segregating the revenues and expenses from the rest of the cost center's activities.
These seminars are normally short-term: from 2 weeks to 12 months.
The issue is how to handle unrestricted projects in R/3. If we use the project system, we
need a good method of segregating these projects from restricted projects (Project Type
attribute?). Also, the department needs a good method of including these projects in
reporting for the cost center.
Gifts: Same as sponsored projects.
Centers/Chairs: Yes
Loans: N/A
Endowments/Trusts: N/A
Q:
A: Sponsored projects and agency funds: UT does not currently have electronic planning
capability. Any planning is done manually or on shadow systems.
Gifts: Same as sponsored projects.
Centers/Chairs: Planning is done through budgets and in the DMS system.
Loans: N/A
Endowments/Trusts: N/A
Q:
A: Sponsored projects and agency funds: The PI or departmental business officer is most
likely to be responsible for planning, if it is done.
Gifts: Same as sponsored projects.
Centers/Chairs: The PI or Business Officer
Loans: N/A
Endowments/Trusts: N/A
Q:
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A: Sponsored projects and agency funds: UT does not currently have electronic planning
capability. Any planning is done manually or on shadow systems.
Gifts: Same as sponsored projects.
Centers/Chairs: Yes, the DMS system
Loans: No
Endowments/Trusts: N/A
Q: 8) Do you plan in the same objects where you expect actual costs and in the same
degree of detail in which you expect actual costs?
A: Sponsored projects and agency funds: yes
Gifts: yes
Centers/Chairs: Yes
Loans: N/A
Endowments/Trusts: N/A
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
2. General Explanations
4. Business Model
7. Description of Improvements
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3.2.3.1.
Questions:
Q: 1) How do you plan costs? (Consider whether you plan by cost element, WBS, overall,
annually, by period, and so on.)
A: Grants & Contracts: Typical cost planning is a departmental process, done at the object
code level or the position level. It is done on a monthly basis to determine how much money
is available. Currently this is done in departmental systems. The people involved in it are the
bookkeepers and PIs. Cost Element planning by period will be used. The cost element
groups will be based on the two-digit object code (47), the three-digit object code (approx
150), and the six budget categories. Activity input planning may be a requirement but initially
the demand is for less than 10 work centers. All cost planning will be both annually and
overall period for the life of the fund.
Centers/Chairs: Same as G&C
Other Restricted: Enter particular amounts per year by object code or total and by period so
cost element planning will be used. The option to also plan at the structure level will be
allowed. CE planning will be at the 3-digit object code level, but it may be a "summary" 3digit object code that is the same as our now 2-digit object code level. CE groups need to be
defined. Unit cost planning is not an initial requirement. All cost planning will be both
annually and overall period for the life of the fund.
Loans: N/A
We may want structure level planning if applicable, and we want cost element planning as
indicated above.
We do not expect to do unit cost planning on the WBS or do standard costing using internal
services, but further study will be made.
Endowments/Trusts: N/A Endowments and Trusts do not have Budgets or Plans.
Q: 2) Do you do top-down or bottom-up cost planning? (Top down: Consider using the WBS
only for cost planning. Bottom up: Consider using network activities only for cost planning.)
A: Grants & Contracts: Cost planning will be done both top down and bottom up.
Centers/Chairs: Same as G&C
Other Restricted: If applicable, cost planning will be done both top down and bottom up.
Loans: N/A
Endowments/Trusts: N/A
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Q: 4) Do you keep monthly versions of your cost plans? (If yes, consider using project
snapshot versions to allow for comparative reporting.)
A: Grants & Contracts: Initial discussion was to have 16 (12 regular periods + 4 special
periods) for each year of the grant life) for bookkeepers but initially we will have one or two to
compare a baseline version to current plan. If necessary the system will allow the
bookkeepers to create and maintain many more versions (999) if needed.
Centers/Chairs: Same as G&C
Other Restricted: Likely one or two to compare a baseline version to current plan, but the
system will allow more versions (999) if needed. Should be the same number of versions as
grants & contracts.
Loans: N/A
Endowments/Trusts: N/A
Q: 5) Do you keep different versions or snapshots of your plans? (If yes, consider using
different CO versions for tracking the different plan versions.)
A: See answer above. Depending on volume either snapshot or CO plan versions will be
used. There should be one plan that is always equal to the official budget if users will have
access to any plan to actual reports.
Centers/Chairs: Same as G&C
Q: 7) Do you estimate a project based on standard estimates and do you need to separate
cost planning from time scheduling? (If yes, consider using base object costing in conjunction
with CO versions.)
A: Sponsored projects and agency funds: I don't think we need this.
Gifts: Same as sponsored projects.
Centers/Chairs: N/A
Loans: A
Endowments/Trusts: N/A
Q: 8) Do you track changes to plans? (If yes, consider configuring change documents for
your plan line items.)
A: Sponsored projects and agency funds: As noted in previous questions, one version of
the plan should equal the approved budget if users will have access to plan vs. actual
reports.
Gifts: Same as sponsored projects.
Centers/Chairs: N/A
Loans: N/A
Endowments/Trusts: N/A
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Q: 9) Do you need to do detailed analysis of the plan (plan line items)? (If yes, consider
using plan line item reporting in the information system.)
A: Standard CE reports will be utilized in the PS system.
Centers/Chairs: standard reports
Loans: N/A
Endowments/Trusts: N/A
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
Allow PS cost planning for projects to eliminate current DMS shadow system for cost
planning:
Cost planning functionality may be used by Grants and Contracts,
appropriations/chairs/centers, and agency (Gail).
Cost planning is not required for: Loans, agency (Verna), plant, endowments, or
life income.
Cost planning would be at the cost element level (historically the 3 digit object
code level ex: 121 longevity pay, 122 extra service pay) but some clean up of the
codes is required (ex: stores for resale). The CE group is one that can be
centrally used by all funds. These object codes (about 150) can be summarized
at the 2 digit level (ex: 12 salary)
To plan for F&A a value will be keyed in for this CE. We will not be planning
period end processes (for example indirect costs) with a special plan type with
rates etc.at this time.
2. General Explanations
Purpose of Cost Planning
You use this component if cost planning and controlling are the elements of project
processing which are most important to you.
You enter cost, activities, and business processes which you expect to occur as the
project is executed. You can use cost planning to compare plan and actual costs and
analyze variances.
Planning in More Than One Plan Version
The information available on a project changes as the planning phase progresses. This
sometimes makes cost planning in more than one version a good idea. This is also how
planning usually proceeds in everyday business. You can plan CO versions as you wish
in the system.
Cost Element Planning
Cost planning by cost element (detailed planning) is used when you have detailed
information available. In most cases, this is only possible when the project has reached
an advanced stage. Detailed planning is carried out yearly and covers cost-elementbased planning of Primary costs
3. Explanations of Functions and Events
Currently cost planning occurs in the DMS system (or manually) and is done for less than
10% of the restricted funds - gifts, agency (G&C), and grants & contracts). Current cost
planners are the College of Business, Aquatic Center, Chemistry Department, and
University-Wide Computing. A few of the grants and contracts cost plan currently.
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Plant (unexpended only) - George could use cost planning for plant unexpended funds to
determine the impact of cost proposals changes before they are approved, etc. The
other types of plant funds will not require cost planning.
Endowments & Life Income, loan funds, and agency funds (Melissa, Verna) do not
currently require cost planning nor do they need to cost plan in the future.
Note that R/3 revenue elements map to UT's revenue ledger activity codes (003, 009,
010, 045 - indirect F&A for example) on the balance account and R/3 cost elements map
to UT's object codes on the expenditure accounts! Cost element and revenue element
groups will be created based on the list below by restricted fund type.
GRANTS AND CONTRACTS, GIFTS, AND AGENCY - UNIVERSITY DETAIL OBJECT
CODES (to be converted into Cost Elements)
This is a University defined code used to classify in more detail than the University
primary object code the nature of costs incurred.
11 - ADMIN & PROFESSIONAL SALARIES
111 SALARIES
112 EXTRA SERVICE
114 LONGEVITY PAY
119 SALARY RECOVERIES
12 - ACADEMIC SALARIES
121 ACADEMIC SALARIES
122 ACADEMIC EXTRA SERVICE
124 LONGEVITY PAY
129 ACADEMIC RECOVERIES
13 - GTA, GA, GRA SALARIES
131 GTA, GA, GRA SALARIES
139 GTA, GA, GRA RECOVERIES
14 - STUDENT EMPLOYEES-SALARIED
141 STUDENT SALARIES
142 STUDENT SALARIES-OVERTIME
149 STUDENT SALARIES-RECOVERIES
15 - SUMMER SCHOOL
151 SUMMER SCHOOL SALARIES
159 SUMMER SCHOOL RECOVERIES
16 - CLERICAL & SUPPORTING-SALARIED
161 SALARIES
162 OVERTIME
164 LONGEVITY PAY
169 SALARY RECOVERIES
17 - CLERICAL & SUPPORTING-HOURLY
171 WAGES-HOURLY
172 OVERTIME-HOURLY
174 LONGEVITY PAY
179 RECOVERIES-HOURLY
18 - STUDENT EMPLOYEES - HOURLY
181 STUDENT WAGES-HOURLY
189 STUDENT WAGES-HRLY-RECOVERIES
19 - NON-WAGE & CONTRACTUAL PAY
192 OTHER NON-WAGE PAYMENTS
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39 - SUPPLIES
391 OPERATING SUPPLIES
392 COMPUTER SOFTWARE
393 LABORATORY SUPPLIES
399 SUPPLY RECOVERIES
41 - RENTALS
411 RENTALS-COPYING MACHINES
412 RENTALS-COMPUTER EQUIPMENT
413 RENTALS-REAL PROPERTY
414 RENTALS-OTHER
419 RENTAL RECOVERIES
42 - INSURANCE, INTEREST & BAD DEBT
421 INSURANCE
422 INTEREST-INSTAL/LEASE PURCHASE
423 INTEREST-PROMPT PAY ACT
424 AUTOMOBILE LOSS LIABILITY
425 WORKERS COMPENSATION LIABILITY
426 BAD DEBT EXPENSE
429 INSURANCE & INTEREST RECOVERIES
43 - AWARDS
431 AWARDS-STUDENT AID & STIPENDS
432 AWARDS-FACULTY & OTHER
439 AWARDS RECOVERIES
44 - GRANTS AND SUBSIDIES
441 STUDENT FEES
442 HOSPITALIZATIONS (GRANTS ONLY)
443 ALTERATIONS (GRANTS ONLY)
444 COST SHARING
449 GRANTS & SUBSIDIES RECOVERIES
45 - MANDATORY TRANSFERS
451 INTEREST
452 DEBT RETIREMENT
46 - CONTRACTUAL & SPECIAL SERVICES
461 CASUAL LABOR
462 GROUP ARRANGED FOOD & LODGING
463 CULTURAL OR ENTERTAINMENT FEES
464 OTHER EDUC OR GOV AGENCIES
465 SPECIAL COMMERCIAL SERVICES
466 OTHER UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENTS
467 OTHER PERSONAL SERVICES
468 SEMINAR & CONF REGISTRA FEES
469 CONTRACTUAL SER RECOVERIES
49 - OTHER EXPENDITURES
491 OTHER EXPENDITURES
499 OTHER RECOVERIES
50 - STORES FOR RESALE
501 STORES FOR RESALE 01
502 STORES FOR RESALE 02
503 STORES FOR RESALE 03
504 STORES FOR RESALE 04
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74 - DEPRECIATION
741 DEPRECIATION EXPENSE
742 ALLOWANCE FOR DEPRECIATION
81 - SUBGRT & SUBCNT TO $25,000
811 SUBGRT & SUBCNT TO $25,000
82 - SUBGRT & SUBCNT OVER $25,000
821 SUBGRT & SUBCNT OVER $25,000
83 - SALES TAX
831 SALES TAX
FOR USE BY RESTRICTED ACCOUNTS ONLY
NOTE: THERE IS A QUESTION ON HOW MANY OF THE STORES FOR RESALE
OBJECT CODES WILL BE USED. CLEAN UP REQUIRED.
Plant Renewal & Plant ROI ONLY (H & K ACCOUNTS) - LEDGER ACTIVITY CODES
Since planning is not as detailed for plant funds the following cost elements will be used
and grouped for cost planning on plant funds. LEDGER ACTIVITY CODES ARE USED
TO CLASSIFY THE TYPE OF DEBIT OR CREDIT ACTIVITY OCCURRING ON A
BALANCE ACCOUNT.
003
006
007
011
012
013
014
015
016
017
019
020
021
051
052
053
054
056
057
061
099
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99
7. Description of Improvements
standardize the cost planning process (currently PIs all have different planning
processes)
eliminate the shadow system
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sponsors restrictions, the fund could now have $100,000 to plan spending for or, if you
are able to keep this income, then $110,000. Therefore, UT can plan cost spending for
different scenarios ($90,000, $100,000, $110,000). Planning is a non-binding tool that
allows you to play out possible scenarios for spending. It is not the same as a budget
that is binding.
11. System Configuration Considerations
Manual Cost Planning in WBS Notes:
Cost element level planning required. Cost Elements need to be reviewed and
cost element groups determined by UT.
Annual and overall planning will be allowed.
5 years in the past and 5 years into the future.
Configuration: Create/Change Plan Profile
In this step, you create new plan profiles or change existing plan profiles.
To be able to carry out project cost planning, you must create a plan profile or use an
existing one.
The following settings are relevant to project cost planning:
Planning in all WBS elements or only in planning elements
Bottom-up planning within structure-oriented planning
The indicator determines whether the bottom-up procedure is used in planning.
If you set the indicator, the system automatically carries out the "Total" function in
cost structure planning each time a save with check function is performed. The
superior WBS element receives the total of all the plan values in the WBS
elements below it as its plan value.
Time horizon
Here, you define the following:
Period into the past, from the start year, for which you can plan
Period into the future, from the start year, for which you can plan
Cost planning start year
Planning of overall and/or annual values
Value representation
Standard view displayed as well as the planned value when you access the
function
Decimal places and scaling factor as default values
Detail planning and unit costing
Here, you define default values for cost element planning, activity input planning,
and unit costing.
Create cost element groups
Primary costs
Revenues
For planning activity input:
Define cost center group
Create CO activities and activity groups
Create statistical key figures and key figure groups
For unit costing:
"Create costing variant"
Automatic revenue planning
Here, you stipulate whether plan revenues and, if required, plan payments from
sales and distribution documents assigned to the project are recorded in the
relevant billing element.
Action
1. Use "Detail" to check the plan profiles delivered as standard in the R/3 System.
2. Change the details as necessary in the plan profiles, or create new ones as
appropriate.
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Additional information
You have the following alternative ways of assigning a plan profile to a project:
As a default value in the Project System configuration menu
In the project profile for a project definition (Operative structures)
In the project profile for a standard project definition (Basic data)
In the Project System application menu
In the project definition control data, if you have not stored a plan profile in the
project profile. (In the area menu, choose Operative structures -> Work
breakdown structure -> Change -> Detail -> Control -> Plan profile).
12. Authorization and User Roles
Create / Change / Display cost plans in PS: If UT decides to do cost planning
(currently less than 10% of restricted funds are cost planned in DMS) the process will be
decentralized. Authorization will be controlled by transaction (CJ40 to create a cost plan
for example) and profit center. Currently 98% of the bookkeepers can see another
bookkeepers projects but in some cases it is not acceptable for bookkeepers to be able
to see another bookkeepers plans. In this situation, security will be tightened by creating
profit centers down to the PI level (sub department level). This design is beneficial
because professors will be able to see a summary of projects including E and I accounts
(cost centers). Below are the authorization objects R/3 checks for these transactions:
No check
No check
No check
No check
No check
No check
No check
Check/maintain
No check
Check/maintain
Check/maintain
Check/maintain
Check/maintain
Check/maintain
Check/maintain
Check
Check
Check
Check
Check
Check/maintain
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Check
Check
Check
Check
Check
Check
Check
Check
Check
Check
Check
Check
3.2.4.
Planning Dates
Questions:
Q: 1) Do your projects involve extensive scheduling? (If yes, consider using network,
because WBS elements are not schedule.)
A: No, we are not using networks (or therefore scheduling). However the start and finish
date will be captured for reporting purposes on the project and maybe the WBS elements?
Sponsored projects and agency funds: No, there is not extensive scheduling for the technical
work of the projects. This will be handled manually, outside the system, by the PI or project
director. We will need to schedule start and end dates for each individual WBS element.
There is scheduling required for invoicing, financial reporting, and closeout.
Gifts: Same as sponsored projects.
Centers/Chairs: Only informally
The calendar required is:
University fiscal year calendar: 7/1 - 6/30, 16 periods (12 months and 4 for
adjustments)
'Factory' calendar - defer for HR integration workshop.
Loans: N/A
Endowments/Trusts: N/A. Ending date shown as 99/99
Q: 2) Is your project time limited? (If yes, consider using activity constraints to control this
during date planning.)
A: Sponsored projects and agency funds: Many projects are for a period of one-year.
However, the period of performance for projects is also often multi-year and may be as much
as 10 years or longer. Projects with multiple tasks may have tasks with very short time
frames (2 weeks to 2 months). Project periods are in no way related to UT's fiscal year
periods.
Gifts: Same as sponsored projects. Some gifts are not restricted by an ending date from the
sponsor. UT has started giving arbitrary ending dates (e.g. five years) that can be extended
over and over again. This was started to satisfy an internal audit finding that we shouldn't
use indefinite or open end-dates.
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Q:
A: Sponsored projects and agency funds: Many projects are for a period of one-year.
However, the period of performance for projects is also often multi-year and may be as much
as 10 years or longer. Projects with multiple tasks may have tasks with very short time
frames (2 weeks to 2 months). Project periods are in no way related to UT's fiscal year
periods.
Gifts: Same as sponsored projects. Some gifts are not restricted by an ending date from the
sponsor. UT has started giving arbitrary ending dates (e.g. five years) that can be extended
over and over again. This was started to satisfy an internal audit finding that we shouldn't
use indefinite or open end-dates.
Centers/Chairs: 1 year
Loans: N/A
Endowments/Trusts: Endowments are perpetual. Trust durations vary, but last for several
years.
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
2. General Explanations
7. Description of Improvements
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3.2.4.1.
Questions:
Q:
1) How do you plan dates at each stage of the project life cycle?
A: Sponsored projects and agency funds: We want to capture the start- and end-date for the
project. Dates will be entered for individual WBS from the bottom up but in some cases top
down. We can use open planning for the greatest flexibility.
Gifts: Same as sponsored projects.
Centers/Chairs: Same as sponsored projects.
Other Restricted: We want capture the start and end-dates of the project. We will plan the
dates at the set-up of the WBS elements. Dates will most likely be bottom up.
UC Foundation does short-range funding. F accounts are typically perpetual. Set-up of
some endowment accounts would be set up with a fixed date in order to verify that sufficient
funds were received to continue as a true endowment. Dates would most likely be bottomup from the WBS elements.
Loans: Usually are perpetual.
Endowments/Trusts: N/A. Endowments are usually perpetual. Trusts have no known enddate.
Q: 2) Do you do only summary level date planning on your project? (If yes, consider WBS
time scheduling.)
A: Sponsored projects and agency funds: No, only display or reporting information.
Gifts: Same as sponsored projects.
Centers/Chairs: Yes
Other Restricted: Yes
Loans: Yes, if at all.
Endowments/Trusts: N/A - No Planning
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Q: 6) Which reports do project managers use to monitor dates? (Remember that the
information system offers a wide range of schedule reports.)
A: Sponsored projects and agency funds: Structure reports and/or Business Warehouse will
allow simple date reports.
For project management, we need reports that show all projects for a given PI, department
head, departmental bookkeeper, Controller's Office accountant in descending date order.
We have a standard process in place now whereby we send written notices to all PIs of
sponsored projects and gifts when there is 45 days until project end date. This notification
letter prompts the PI to either start working on a project extension with the sponsor or
account closeout procedures. Is there a way to do this in R/3?
Centers/Chairs: Same as sponsored projects, except no 45-day project closeout reminder
letter is sent.
Other Restricted: Structure reports and/or Business Warehouse will allow simple date
reports.
Loans: N/A
Endowments/Trusts: Reports on endowments less than $15,000 to monitor length of time
until $15,000 is reached so that endowment account is closed if $15,000 is not met.
Q: 7) Do you currently track date revisions? (If yes, consider using project snapshot
versions and simulation versions to track schedule baselines.)
A: Sponsored projects and agency funds: The critical tracking is for costs, not dates.
Centers/Chairs: Same as sponsored projects.
Gifts: Same as sponsored projects.
Restricted Funds: The critical tracking is for costs, not dates.
Endowments/Trusts: No
Loans: N/A
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
For G&C and Agency dates need to be planned on the project definition and the WBS
elements for informational purposes only. There may be a need to set up validation rules
in FI based on the dates else control from the date on the fund (binding date). All
projects will have the functionality to plan dates.
2. General Explanations
Dates in the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
As soon as you create WBS elements, you can start planning dates for them. In roughcut planning, you specify dates that are binding for more detailed planning. You can use
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this rough-cut planning as a starting point for more detailed planning. In the Project
System, there are various functions with which you can adjust, reconcile or extrapolate
dates in the work breakdown structure.
Network scheduling does not apply at UT since we are not using networks but dates will
be planned on the WBS elements.
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3.3.
Execution
3.3.1.
Project Release
Questions:
Q:
1) Describe the current lifecycle(s) for your most important project types.
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8
1
2
2
2
2
Q:
2) How do you separate the planning and the execution phase of your project?
A: Sponsored projects and agency funds: We do not currently have automated planning
capabilities. Planning could occur before a proposal is submitted, after the award is received,
or any other time during the completion of the project. We should have one of the plans
equal to the official project budget if users will have access to any plan to actual reporting.
Gifts: Same as sponsored projects.
Endowments/Trusts: There is no planning.
Q:
A: Sponsored projects and gifts: The PI is responsible for releasing the technical work
provided to the sponsor. At the Knoxville campus, the pre-award office has authority over all
post-award, non-accounting progress. That office monitors the submission of required
technical and progress reports.
The sponsor is responsible for accepting the technical work performed on the project.
Acceptance is usually not formal. Payment of invoices generally means acceptance of
technical work. Some sponsors will actually send UT a letter at the conclusion of the project
that formally states project and reporting acceptance and closeout.
Gifts: The PI is responsible for ensuring that funds are spent in accordance with donor's
restrictions. Most gifts do not require technical or financial reporting to the donor.
Endowments/Trusts: The Treasurer's Office Investment group is responsible for releasing
projects (F&G accounts) and for posting to the projects. The related R&B accounts are
released by the Controller's Office, and the departments are responsible for the expenditure
postings. The Treasurer's Office Investment group posts the earned income to the B
accounts.
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
2. General Explanations
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7. Description of Improvements
Project Release
Questions:
Q: 1) Do you release your whole project at once or in stages - for example, project object by
project object?
A: Sponsored projects and agency funds: Normally UT's Controller's Office opens a project
for cost posting when (1) a proposal exists in the pre-award system, and (2) either the award
document or a signed "Advance Account Request Form is received, and (3) a budget is
received.
Some sponsors fund projects incrementally. A sponsor might give UT a 5-year award at $1
million per year for a total award of $5 million. However, the sponsor may only commit to
funding the first year of the 5-year award. Therefore, only $1 million is available for the PI to
spend. At the beginning of year 2, we usually receive a funding letter from the sponsor
authorizing UT to spend the second year's award of $1 million, for a project-to-date award of
$2 million.
Ideally, UT's project system should store all of this important funding information, but it should
be clear to users how much has been legally committed by the sponsor.
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Q:
A: Sponsored projects and agency funds: Normally, UT's Controller's Office or a campus
business office opens a project for cost posting when (1) a proposal exists in the pre-award
system, and (2) either the award document or a signed "Advance Account Request Form is
received, and (3) a budget is received. The Controller's Office has final authority to open
projects.
Gifts: Normally, UT's Controller's Office or the campus business office opens a gift for cost
posting when (1) a request is received from the development office or a campus business
office, and (2) a budget is received. The Controller's Office has final authority to open
projects.
Centers/Chairs: Each new fiscal year new projects are released based on needs
Loans: N/A
Endowments & Trusts: MOA completion
Q:
A: Sponsored projects: No
Agency funds: No
Gifts: No
Centers/Chairs: No
Loans: N/A
Endowments & Trusts: No
Q:
A: Sponsored projects and agency funds: Yes, approvals required are noted in previous
questions.
Gifts: Yes. Answered in previous questions.
Centers/Chairs: Currently yes
Loans: N/A
Endowments & Trusts: Copy of the signed MOA contract agreement with the donor
Q:
5) Do you want to save a version of your project when you release your project?
A: Sponsored projects: No
Agency funds: No
Gifts: No
Centers/Chairs: No
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Loans: N/A
Endowments & Trusts: N/A
Q: 6) Do you have several stages for releasing a project? (If yes, consider the use of user
statuses.)
A: Sponsored projects and agency funds: Normally UT's Controller's Office opens a project
for cost posting when (1) a proposal exists in the pre-award system, and (2) either the award
document or a signed "Advance Account Request Form is received, and (3) a budget is
received.
Some sponsors fund projects incrementally. A sponsor might give UT a 5-year award at $1
million per year for a total award of $5 million. However, the sponsor may only commit to
funding the first year of the 5-year award. Therefore, only $1 million is available for the PI to
spend. At the beginning of year 2, we usually receive a funding letter from the sponsor
authorizing UT to spend the second year's award of $1 million, for a project-to-date award of
$2 million.
Ideally, UT's project system should store all of this important funding information, but it should
be clear to users how much has been legally committed by the sponsor.
Gifts: Whole projects at once
Centers/Chairs: Yes
Loans: N/A
Endowments & Trusts: No
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
The Controller's Office and Campus Business Offices will use the project system status to
release (open) a project for posting.
2. General Explanations
The current status of a project or an object in a project determines which business
transactions can be executed. Statuses document the current processing stage of an
object. Status management in R/3 differentiates between system statuses and user
statuses.
A project is not a static object. It has it own life cycle that begins when it is created and
continues till completion. During this period various business transactions change the
project. For instance you plan tasks, post costs and perform settlements.
Each project passes through various system statuses. One of which is always set. For
example,
Created
In this status you cannot, for instance, make actual postings.
Released
In this status virtually all business transactions are permitted.
If you want to decide when certain business transactions are permissible, define user
statuses. These enhance existing system statuses.
Created (CRTD)
This is the initial system status for new WBS elements. In this status you structure the
plan dates, costs and revenues. The system set the status automatically, when you
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7. Description of Improvements
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3.3.2.
Questions:
Q:
A:
Q:
A:
Q:
A:
Q: 4) Within the framework of a project, do you have fixed price agreements, according to
which a group makes deliveries based on a predefined revenue/cost agreement? (If yes,
consider using transfer pricing for projects.)
A:
CI Template:
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1. Requirements/Expectations
[CIT TO-BE DESIGN IS IN THE SD SECTION.]
8. Description of Functional Deficits
Restricted revenue recognition: R/3 does not have the ability to recognize restricted
revenue the way that the University is required. In R/3, revenue is recognized at billing.
UT is required to recognize restricted revenue as expenditures are made.
UT has many restricted projects that are never billed. This is the majority and includes all
gifts and some sponsored projects. In this case in R/3, revenue will be overstated
because a revenue entry is made when the cash is received. Also, UT has some
projects that are billed in advance. Again, revenue is overstated.
Most sponsored projects are billed on a cost-reimbursement basis. UT spends the
money first and then bills the sponsor for reimbursement. All unbilled expenditures are
not recognized as revenue by R/3 for month-end financial statements because billing has
not yet occurred. In this case, revenue is understated.
9. Approaches to Covering Functional Deficits
To solve this problem, the following solution was determined to be an easy, invisible way
to accomplish proper revenue recognition. All cash receipts to projects will be recognized
as revenue at the time of receipt. At month-end, a report will be run of project balances.
Those with a debit balance represent understated revenue while those with a credit
balance represent overstated revenue. A journal entry will be made during the monthend close based on this report. The journal entry will correct the revenue recognition for
the monthly financial statements and will then be reversed at the beginning of the next
month.
UT will need this monthly report and journal entry to be automated because of the
thousands of project accounts that must be queried. Also, revenue must be adjusted for
Federal, State, Local and private revenue categories.
T-accounts for these transactions follow.
Example 1 Projects with billing:
R01251421
Direct charges
F&A
100
40
100
40
I account
F&A Federal
Ag
2
40 R01251421
A/P
Revenue
Revenue
A/R
100 R01251421
I account
Ag Campus Recovery
140
2 R01251421
P2
100 rev
direct 70
balance 30
120 rev
direct
130
balance 10
Revenue
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JV P1
3.3.2.1.
100
120
30
10
200
P1
P2
JV P2
corrected month-end revenue
Questions:
Q: 1) Which department is responsible for billing the customer (for example, service
department, accounting department)?
A:
Q: 2) Do you already carry out resource-related billing? Do you use transaction VA90 in the
process?
A:
Q: 3) If you only invoice the customer once, what other criteria do you use to decide when
an invoice is sent to the customer (for example, operating time of equipment)?
A:
Q: 4) When do you create the invoices for the customer (for example, at the end of each
period, or on specific dates defined by the customer)?
A:
Q:
A:
Q: 6) Do you need the detailed information from the CO line items or is it enough to bill
summarized CO totals records?)
A:
Q:
A:
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Q:
A:
Q:
A:
Q: 11) Do you want to define a particular default rate (in %) for particular sources of
expense requiring billing? If yes, define the sources and the relevant percentages.
A:
Q: 12) Do you use specific accounting indicators when confirming expenses (examples:
guarantees or grace periods)? If yes, which?
A:
Q:
Resource-Related Billing
Questions:
Q: 1) Do you bill customers on a time and material basis? (If yes, consider using resourcerelated billing.)
A:
Q: 2) Do you bill internal labor at an hourly, daily rate etc? (If yes, you need to enter the
activity types in Customizing for expense-related billing.)
A:
Q: 3) Describe the different ways that labor and expense are billed for your projects e.g. is
labor billed at fixed billing rates, or as a straight cost plus a markup, or a combination of both,
etc.
A:
Q:
4) Describe your billing process. How often are time and material invoices issued?
A:
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A:
Q: 6) What is the relationship between activities reported against a project and activities
billed to the customer?
A:
Q:
A:
Q: 8) Do you use time and material-related billing? Do you exclude some expenses from
projects from billing?
A:
Q:
A:
Q:
A:
Q: 11) If so, describe the way caps are applied e.g. on the total of labor and expense, on
specific expenses etc.
A:
Q: 12) Is there an approval process for these project invoices? (If yes, consider using
workflow and involving the project manager in the process.)
A:
Q: 13) Do you show detailed info in the invoice for time and material-related billing?
Provide us with examples. (If yes, consider using project reports to support the detail
required.)
A:
Q: 14) Do you post actual revenues, discounts, or allowances to your project? (If yes,
consider the accounts and the implications for value categories in project reporting.)
A:
3.3.3.
Period-End Closing
Questions:
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Q:
A: Sponsored projects and agency fund: Projects can last for virtually any time period - 2
weeks to 10 years.
Gifts: Yes
Centers/Chairs: Yes
Loans funds do not typically end.
Endowments/Trusts: Endowments typically do not end; Trusts last for more than a month until the last beneficiary dies or the stated term ends.
Plant: Yes
Q:
Q:
Q:
Q:
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Q:
7) Who is responsible for ensuring that all month end processes have been completed?
Q:
A: DVs, BVs, CVs, and TVs are closed the last day of the month.
DVs and BVs are posted to the new month.
CVs are posted to the new month.
TVs are posted to the new month.
JVs are posted to the old month for two days. Programs are run for the automated entries
(F&A, F&A cost sharing, and direct cost sharing) after all manual entries are finished.
Endowments/Life Income:
Life Income - A JV to invest free cash must be given to Controllers Office by the 2nd working
day of month.
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
Restricted funds will use the PS functionality of overhead, settlement, and SD
functionality of billing to meet period end requirements as follows:
Grants & Contracts Only:
1. Calculate F&A / indirect cost on projects - Overhead
2. Calculate cost sharing on projects - Settlement from the WBS elements
Sponsored Projects Only (G&C, Agency, Gift):
3. Bill all sponsored reimbursable projects (G&C, gifts, agency/G&C). Costs incurred will
be collected on the projects in PS and then billing will be done out of SD. Please see the
SD section for the AS IS and TO BE design for billing processes.
G&C, Gifts, Appropriations, Chairs & Centers (R accounts):
4. Revenue recognition at month end (for P&L reporting) showing expenses and
revenues (for all restricted projects??) - Month end settlement from the project definition
to a WIP account then reverse settlement after month end.
All projects:
5. Full or partial allocation of costs from one cost object (likely from WBS to WBS or
WBS to cost center, or WBS to AuC) - Settlement. For example plant (unexpended)
projects will need to settle to the AuC.
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2. General Explanations
OVERHEAD:
Controlling (CO)
Costs that cannot be traced directly to a particular allocation base (such as a product).
These include costs that could conceivably be traced directly to cost objects or cost
centers, but are allocated by means of overhead keys instead because it is not
economically feasible to trace such costs (for example, the costs for screws and other
small parts).
Overhead Key
Product Cost Controlling (CO-PC)
Allows you to calculate a percentage overhead rate for specific orders or materials.
Costing Sheets
Defines how values posted in the R/3 System are calculated.
A costing sheet consists of one or more of the following lines:
Base lines
These contain the amount or quantity on which the overhead is calculated.
Calculation lines
These contain the percentage rate to be applied to one or more base lines.
Totals lines
These contain the sum of the base amount and calculated amounts.
Costing sheets are used in the following components:
Overhead Orders (CO-OM-OPA) and Product Cost Controlling (CO-PC), where
they are used to calculate overhead
Profitability Analysis (CO-PA), where they are used to calculate anticipated
values
Overhead Cost Controlling (CO-OM), where they are used to calculate resource
prices
SETTLEMENT:
Costs and revenues are collected in projects only temporarily. They are settled to one or
more receivers as part of period-end processing.
You use settlement to:
Capitalized the balance from results analysis, which is capable of capitalization in
the balance sheet.
Obtain detailed data in results analysis for enterprise controlling.
In capital-investment measures, to settle the charge to assets under construction
which can or must be capitalized.
See also Settlement Functions for capital investment.
Include actual costs from the project in actual price calculation in Cost Center
Accounting.
Integration
You cannot transfer settlement rules to simulation versions or maintain them
there.
Depending on the settings in the settlement profile, you must settle the costs of
an object in full before you can archive it.
You use the settlement profile to define the following for actual costs:
Must be settled in full
Can be settled
Must not be settled
Features
Settlement is the process where the actual costs incurred for a WBS element, network, or
activity are allocated, in whole or in part, to one or more receivers. In the process, offset
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bucket. This way we can meet the sponsor requirements and the costs will not have to
be broken out for overhead / non-overhead as it is currently done. This case should be
the exception not the rule.
Process for revenue recognition for month end P&L for G&C, Gifts,
Appropriations/Chairs & Centers (R&B accounts):
UT's requirement is when an expense occurs the offset to revenue must be shown for
month end reporting for Restricted Current Funds, which includes (Grants and Contracts,
Gift funds, and Appropriations/ Chairs & Centers). This functionality currently exists at
UT and will be required in R/3. In order to meet the requirement, there are two possible
solutions:
Likely solution: A program can be written showing a report. UT has a need to see
revenue and expense on the restricted funds P&L at month end. A report needs to be
written to shows the net of the revenue and expense. Note: In R/3 revenue is normally
recognized when AR/SD invoicing occurs (which will not happen by the end of the month
and will not happened for all the funds which need this requirement since only G&C will
invoice). This program has been speced as per blueprint RICES requirements.
Another possible option: At the month end UT can run settlement from the project
definition to a WIP resulting in the difference in the revenue and expense (debits and
credits net out). Settlement will reduce the revenue account then reverse settlement after
month end. Billing process is independent and will occur only for G&C.
7. Description of Improvements
Currently indirect cost/ overhead hits the B account now and in the future it will hit the Rs.
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Questions:
Q: 1) What costs is the cost estimate based on when you compute overhead for internal
orders?
A: Sponsored projects: I don't think we are using internal orders.
Agency funds: N/A
Gifts: N/A
Centers/Chairs: N/A
Loans: N/A
Endowments/Trusts: N/A for all overhead questions. Therefore, none of the subsequent 48
questions answered. There is no overhead charged to Endowments or Trusts.
Q:
A: Sponsored projects: Yes, UT has a matrix of applicable Federal, audited F&A rates that
are applied to all sponsored projects. The rate to be used from the matrix is dependent upon
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(1) campus where work is to be performed, (2) function (instruction, research, other
sponsored projects), and (3) whether or not the majority of the work is to be performed on or
off campus.
Centers/Chairs: N/A
Q: 3) Will you perform automatic recovery of overheads on specific types of
costs/expenses?
A: Yes
Q: 4) List the different groups of costs/expenses (for example, applying a fixed percentage
rate for recovery of overhead to material issues).
A: Sponsored projects: See question #2 above
Q: 5) For each assignment type, do you distribute overhead as a fixed percentage or based
on the actual total costs?
A: Sponsored projects: See question #2 above
Q:
A: Sponsored projects: The project account is debited and the appropriate income account
is credited. UT has four income accounts per entity for F&A - Federal, state, local, and
private.
Q:
Q: 10) For each allocation category, do you distribute overhead as a fixed percentage or
based on the actual total costs?
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Q: 11) If you use fixed percentages for assignments, how do you handle remaining
variances?
A: Sponsored projects: We do not expect to have any variances. There are no variances in
our current system.
Q: 12) For each of these assignments, what causes the overhead (for example, direct labor
expense, labor hours, total WBS expense, others)?
A: Sponsored projects: See question #2 above
Q:
A: Sponsored projects: The project account is debited and the appropriate income account
is credited. UT has four income accounts for F&A - Federal, state, local, and private.
Q:
A: Our rates are our F & A rates that are negotiated with DHHS for a specified time period.
We currently have 10 rate agreements for entities 01,02,04,05,07, 10, 11,12,13,and 18.
These agreements contain multiple rates such as on and off campus for instruction, research,
and other sponsored programs.
Q:
16) Do you want to define a percentage for the overhead rate in the cost object?
Q:
18) Do you want to add a percentage for overhead to the production cost collector?
A: Sponsored projects: No
Q:
20) Do you perform automatic overhead allocation for specific types of costs/expenses?
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Q: 21) Do you want to define automatic allocation using overhead rates for a certain type of
costs/expenses on orders?
A: Sponsored projects: See question #2 above
Q: 22) List the different groups of costs/expenses (for example, applying a fixed percentage
rate for recovery of overhead to material issues).
A: Sponsored projects: See question #2 above
Q:
Q: 25) Are there any overhead expenses that are not calculated with reference to the
production order but are to be assigned directly to the sales order?
A: Sponsored projects: N/A - no production order
Q:
Q: 27) Who is responsible for reconciling the run? (This person will be responsible for
running/monitoring planned overhead.)
A: Sponsored projects: The Controller's Office, if any reconciliation is required. We do not
expect this because we do not currently have any reconciliation.
Q: 28) Do you calculate overhead for all objects at once or individually for each object.
(Detailed calculation can affect system performance.)
A: Sponsored projects: See question #2 above
UT has several Federally-approve F&A calculation bases. One of UT's F&A bases is
Modified Total Direct Costs (MTDC), which is total direct costs less certain modifying cost
categories. Equipment, student fees, and subcontracts greater than $25,000 are examples of
modifiers and are excluded from the F&A calculation, but salaries, benefits, supplies, etc. are
included in the F&A allocation. Other F&A calculation bases in use include: (1) TDC - total
direct costs, (2) Salaries & wages, and (3) custom bases for certain sponsors. For example,
the US Dept of Education requires total direct costs less student support expenditures that
may be in 5 different cost categories.
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Q:
29) Do you have a specific plan version when you calculate overhead?
Q:
Q:
Q: 32) Describe how you calculate overhead for (1) direct costs (2) indirect costs (3) fixed
costs (4) variable costs).
A: Sponsored projects: Planned F&A is based on the planned distribution of expenditures in
certain cost categories. If the actual project expenditures are in different cost categories than
planned, the F&A may be affected so that the actual is either more or less than planned. For
example, if the project plan included $2,000 for equipment expenditures, but the PI actually
spent the funds in supplies, actual F&A would be more than planned F&A. This is because
one of UT's F&A bases is Modified Total Direct Costs (MTDC), which is total direct costs less
certain modifying cost categories. Equipment is a modifier and is excluded from the F&A
calculation, but Supplies is included in the F&A allocation.
Q: 33) Do you include sales and marketing and general and administrative costs in your
overhead calculation?
A: The F&A rate has facilities and administrative components. The costs to be included in
the rate are specified in our rate agreement with the Federal government. UT does not
specifically have sales and marketing expenses, but specified percentages of general and
administrative costs are included.
Q:
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certain modifying cost categories. Equipment is a modifier and is excluded from the F&A
calculation, but Supplies is included in the F&A allocation.
Q:
Q:
Q:
37) Do you have different overhead costs for each business unit?
Q:
A: Yes
Q:
Q:
A: Yes
Q:
A: Yes
Q:
A: The F&A rate has facilities and administrative components. The costs to be included in
the rate are specified in our rate agreement with the Federal government. UT has several
Federally-approve F&A calculation bases. One of UT's F&A bases is Modified Total Direct
Costs (MTDC), which is total direct costs less certain modifying cost categories. Equipment,
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student fees, and subcontracts greater than $25,000 are examples of modifiers and are
excluded from the F&A calculation, but salaries, benefits, supplies, etc. are included in the
F&A allocation. Other F&A calculation bases in use include: (1) TDC - total direct costs, (2)
Salaries & wages, and (3) custom bases for certain sponsors. For example, the US Dept of
Education requires total direct costs less student support expenditures that may be in 5
different cost categories.
Q: 43) Is the basis for overhead planned costs the same as the basis for actual overhead
costs?
A: Sponsored projects: Planned F&A is based on the planned distribution of expenditures in
certain cost categories. If the actual project expenditures are in different cost categories than
planned, the F&A may be affected so that the actual is either more or less than planned. For
example, if the project plan included $2,000 for equipment expenditures, but the PI actually
spent the funds in supplies, actual F&A would be more than planned F&A. This is because
one of UT's F&A bases is Modified Total Direct Costs (MTDC), which is total direct costs less
certain modifying cost categories. Equipment is a modifier and is excluded from the F&A
calculation, but supplies are included in the F&A allocation.
Q:
A: Sponsored projects: Yes, UT has a matrix of applicable Federal, audited F&A rates that
are applied to all sponsored projects. The rate to be used from the matrix is dependent upon
(1) campus where work is to be performed, (2) function (instruction, research, other
sponsored projects), and (3) whether or not the majority of the work is to be performed on or
off campus.
Q:
A: Monthly
Q:
A: Sponsored projects: The project account is debited and the appropriate income account
is credited. UT has four income accounts for F&A - Federal, state, local, and private
Q:
47) Does the basis for the overhead costs change during the lifecycle of the project?
A: Sponsored projects: It is rare, but it can happen. A more common occurrence is that the
base remains the same, but either the F&A rate, the F&A cost sharing, or the net F&A
allowable changes during the life of the project. When this has happened in the past, we
have established a new R account. In the future, perhaps we could establish another WBS
element.
Q: 48) Who is responsible for overhead costs? (This person is responsible for running the
overhead calculation.)
A: Sponsored projects: The Controller's Office
Q:
A: No
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CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
The University requires the ability to record F & A postings and revenues as it currently
processes F&A. We expect to run a monthly program after all direct costs are posted to
restricted accounts. We expect the program to generate JV's to post the F & A and the
resulting revenues.
7. Description of Improvements
3.3.3.2.
Actual Settlement
Questions:
Q: 1) What are the dependencies between your project actuals and your cost center
actuals?
A: Sponsored projects and agency funds: There is no dependency. Projects carry
attributes that assign them to a particular cost center hierarchy. Also, settlement rules might
tie a project to a cost center.
Gifts: Same as sponsored projects.
Centers/chairs: Same as sponsored projects.
Loans: N/A
Q: 2) It is possible to settle actual values between projects and cost centers. What is the
relationship between work performed by cost centers on projects and non-project work?
A: Sponsored projects: Costs for a particular cost center, e.g. Chemistry, are assigned to
either the general departmental cost center or to one of many projects. Costs that are
incorrectly allocated must be corrected to the proper cost center / project.
Some projects require direct cost sharing. For example, an NSF grant in the chemistry
department might require the donation of a chemistry professor's time and a physics
professor's time. In the project settlement rules or in the WBS structure, UT is required to
show the cost of these two professor's time on the project, and show the eventual settlement
of the costs back to the chemistry departmental cost center and the physics departmental
cost center.
Other Restricted: We may have settlements from Endowment and Grants and Contracts
project costs to cost centers. In addition, there will be settlements from one WBS element to
other WBS elements.
Centers/Chairs: Same as other restricted
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Q:
A: Sponsored projects: Automated, group settlement will occur at the end of each month.
Centers/chairs: Same as sponsored projects
Q: 5) Do you evaluate actual figures in multiple dimensions such as product line,
geography, and project? (If yes, consider doing settlement in Profitability analysis (CO-PA).)
A: no
Q:
Q:
Q:
A: Networks: N/A
Sponsored projects: Yes, we intend to settle WBS elements directly to cost centers or other
WBS elements.
Centers/chairs: Same as sponsored projects.
Q:
10) * Which cost object receivers do you intend to settle project costs to?
A: Sponsored projects: UT currently has a cost element that is called "direct cost sharing"
(object code 444). We need similar functionality.
Centers/chairs: Same as sponsored projects
Plant: Assets and possibly WBS.
Q: 11) * Who enters settlement rule for projects? Or would you rather use the IM feature of
the automatic creation of AuCs?
A: Sponsored projects: The Controller's Office or Campus Business Office that initially
establish the project would establish the settlement rule. In the future, we might receive this
information through an interface with COEUS.
Centers/chairs: Same as above, except no COEUS.
Plant: Controller's Office would enter settlement rules, along with guidance from Facilities
Planning.
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Q:
3.3.4.
Questions:
Q:
1) What information from existing reports do you need in the new project reports?
A: Sponsored projects, agency, and gift funds: Too much to list here. Gail will need to
supply separately.
Centers/Chairs: Budget, Expenditures, and Remaining Balance
Loans: additions and deductions and fund balances and assets by loan fund.
Plant: Additions (revenues) by type of revenue. Deductions (expenditures) based on type of
expenditure: i.e. building, land, equipment, improvement, and expense.
Endowment/Life Income: Activity reports of additions and deletions. Attribute information.
Monthly Treasurer's Report schedules. (Life Income: Monthly - Schedule A, Schedule J, and
P ledgers are used to reconcile balances of trust accounts in the UT trust accounting
software; Yearend - Schedule 6 to which trust officer format and adds notes for inclusion on
year-end Treasurer Report.)
A new report needed if FM collects the Pool Unit Market Price is a report for each pooled
endowment account that lists by month the number of shares purchased, the unit price per
share, and the book value of shares purchased. Also, the report would include Year-To-Date
totals that accumulate the number of shares purchased and the book value of new shares
purchased.
Q:
A: Sponsored projects and agency funds: The PI, departmental bookkeeper, Controller's
Office accountant, and Campus Business Office.
Gifts: The PI, departmental bookkeeper, Controllers Office accountant, campus business
office.
Centers/Chairs: The PI, departmental Business Officer, campus business officer.
Endowments/Life Income: The only individuals who are involved in the project accounting
including analysis are the Treasurer's Office Investment group. (Life Income: Trust Officer &
assistant) Endowments (Investment Officer and Financial Specialist)
Loans: N/ A
Plant: Treasurer's office and Facilities Planning.
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Q:
A: Sponsored projects and agency funds: The PI, departmental bookkeeper, Controller's
Office accountant, and Campus Business Office.
Gifts: The PI, departmental bookkeeper, Controllers Office accountant, campus business
office.
Centers/Chairs: The PI, departmental Business Officer, campus business officer.
Endowment/Life Income: Treasurer's Office Investment Group reports on all of College's
endowments and reports on single endowments for bookkeepers or other individuals.
Loans: N/ A
Plant: Treasurer's office and Facilities Planning.
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During the generation process, the system creates classification characteristics that
reference fields in the project master record. You must generate these characteristics in
every client where you want to select a project using classification or define
summarization hierarchy structures using classification.
1. Create user-defined characteristics.
In this step, you branch to the classification system and create the characteristics that
you want to evaluate.
To be able to use classification to summarize projects, you create hierarchy IDs that
define the setup of the summarization hierarchies in your client. Enter one characteristic
per hierarchy level.
During the summarization run, projects are selected using these characteristics, and the
individual values are added together. In the information system, you can access a report
for every hierarchy node.
A project may arise in more than one summarization hierarchy.
After the summarization run, you can display the summarization run online in the
cost/revenue/payment information system. To this end, you must first define an
appropriate data view and a database profile.
Further notes
As of Release 4.5A, the new facility for summarizing using master data characteristics is
available. Summarization using classification remains available for compatibility reasons
only; support will be withdrawn in the medium term.
We recommend that you do not use summarization using classification any longer.
For the projects summarized using classification, convert the user- defined characteristics
into the additional fields for the new summarization. Summarization using master data
characteristics is activated after the conversion.
7. Description of Improvements
End users will be able to view data relevant to their projects/funds in a real time
integrated system.
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Questions:
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Q: 1) Project summarization hierarchies WBS element groups, and level of drilldown detail
can all impact performance. Do you analyze your project on a single project basis or across
projects?
A: Sponsored projects: Projects are analyzed individually at the WBS element level, at the
project level, PI level, department level, sponsor level, college level, campus level, etc.
(Probably more that I'm not thinking of right now.)
Agency funds: Mostly at the WBS element, project, department, PI level, I think. Need to ask
Don.
Gifts: Mostly at the WBS element, project, department, PI level, I think.
Endowments/Life Income: Analyze across projects and on single project basis. Endowments
- Treasurer Report schedule run and then manual footnotes are added. Life Income Schedule J is used to reconcile balances on an account-by-account basis. Schedule A is
used to look at asset totals (sock, bond, etc.) by trust category (life income, agency).
Q:
A: Sponsored projects and agency funds: The key figure for PI's is "How much money do I
have left to spend" at any point in time. Other key information includes billed and collectedto-date, specific transaction postings, line item budget-to-actual, and project budget-to-actual.
There is a lot more probably that I haven't thought of yet.
Gifts: same as sponsored projects
Endowment/Life Income: balances, ledger activity on income for the CIP and for separately
invested endowments, gifts (F accts), and transfers (F to F, B to F, and F to B). Life Income Asset totals, fund balances, cash balances
Q:
A: Sponsored projects and agency funds: Yes (To us, plan has traditionally meant budget).
Gifts: Yes
Centers/Chairs: Yes
Endowments/Trusts: N/A
Q:
Q: 5) Do you use progress measurement tools such as milestone trend analysis (MTA) or
earned value management methods (EVMS)?
A: Sponsored projects: N/A
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Q:
A: Sponsored projects and agency funds: We have no reporting tools available to most
users. We have standard reports generated from our mainframe accounting system. Some
use shadow accounting systems such as DMS. Others use Excel spreadsheets.
Gifts: Same as sponsored projects.
Endowment/Life Income: Uses internal investment accounting software for most of the
reporting. The Consolidated Investment Pool (CIP) internal software for reporting of pooled
endowment funds. Life Income - Schedule 6 information is downloaded from the general
ledger system to excel. The on-screen inquiry capabilities of the legacy account system.
Q:
A: Sponsored projects and agency funds: External reporting of funds stewardship is the
primary reason for implementing project systems. Yes, we have multiple external reporting
requirements. We have multiple invoicing arrangements and forms. We have multiple
financial reporting arrangements and forms.
Gifts: Not usually.
Endowment/Life Income:
Endowments: Pooled endowment information is posted on a web site.
Life Income: Tax returns to IRS and donor statements prepared from ETA or tax preparation
software.
Q:
Q:
A: Sponsored projects and agency funds: We need to produce reports organized in multiple
ways by multiple project attributes (cost center, PI, etc.). I think that we probably need this
capability, but cannot think of a specific example.
Gifts: Same as sponsored projects.
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Endowment/Life Income: Schedules are sorted by ALB sequencer. Reports may be sorted
by entity or by college and department. There are some endowments that are coded as
Knoxville that are actually for more than one campus (or entity).
3.4.
Closing
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
Just as the UT Controller's Office / Campus Business Offices will use the project system
status to release (open) a project, they will also manage the closing of a project. In
general, the project status will control whether or not FI postings to the project are
permitted.
2. General Explanations
The active system status determines which business transactions you can perform with
work breakdown structures and WBS elements. System statuses are passed from the
definition to the WBS elements and from the WBS elements to the subordinate WBS
elements. The system statuses Locked and Final billing are exceptions to this.
You can cancel certain statuses, for instance Technically completed, and Deletion Flag.
When you do so, the previous status is set. You cancel system statuses one by one, until
you arrive at a status that cannot be canceled. You cannot cancel system statuses that
are set automatically (in the background by the system); for example, Partially released.
If you cancel the statuses Technically completed or, the system automatically cancels
this status in the superior WBS element. However, the system does not cancel the
status in subordinate WBS elements.
The Deletion Flag status is not set automatically in superior WBS elements.
Project Status: Technically completed (TECO)
You use this status for WBS elements that are completed from a technical point of view,
but where you still expect costs to accrue.
Prerequisites
The Created or Released status must have been set.
Features
In the Technically completed status, you can create new subordinate WBS elements
(with a warning). The status is passed on to subordinate WBS elements.
The status:
allows you to assign networks, production orders or CO orders to the WBS
element
allows you to post actual costs
allows you to transfer actual costs
You can cancel the Technically completed status. In this case the system sets the
Released status.
You can prevent the Technically completed status from being canceled. Create a user
status that prohibits the Revoke technical completion business transaction.
Project Status: CLOSED (CLSD)
You use this status for a work breakdown structure or WBS element that has been
completed from both a logistic and an accounting point of view.
Prerequisites
You can only set the status, if:
The definition or the WBS element has either the Released or the technically
completed status.
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The actual costs have been balanced for the WBS element
Features
In the status you can no longer make any changes to the hierarchy. The status is passed
on to subordinate WBS elements.
The status:
Allows you to post actual costs to orders and networks that are assigned to the
WBS element, as long as their status permit this
Prohibits you from assigning networks, production orders or CO orders to the
WBS element.
Prohibits you from posting actual costs to the WBS element.
The status deactivates assets in construction that are assigned to the WBS element.
You can cancel the status. In this case the system sets the Technically completed status.
Project Status: Deletion flag (DLFL)
Use
The Deletion flag status designates work breakdown structures or WBS elements that
have been flagged for deletion. This means that the objects are deleted logically, but not
physically.
Prerequisites
You can set the Deletion flag if
The WBS element has been settled completely or is not relevant for settlement.
If you set the Must not be settled indicator in the settlement profile in Customizing for
Product Cost Controlling, you can still set the Deletion flag status even if the actual costs
are not balanced.
Assigned orders and activities also have Deletion flag status.
There are no commitments for the WBS element
There are no reservations or purchase requisitions that are account assigned to
the WBS element.
Features
The status is passed on to subordinate WBS elements. It prohibits all business
transactions.
The status deactivates assets in construction that are assigned to the WBS element.
As long you have not set a deletion indicator, you can cancel the Deletion flag status.
Final Billing (FNBL)
With this status you can prevent further billing for this WBS element. However, you can
still post costs (for instance, due to warranty claims).
You can set the Final Billing status in addition to every other status except Deletion flag.
The Final Billing status is not passed on to subordinate WBS elements.
Prerequisites
The WBS element is a billing element.
Features
The status prohibits
Creation of a billing document
Creation of a quotation
Creation of an inquiry
You can cancel the status.
Locked
Use
You can either lock individual business transactions or all the data in a work breakdown
structure or WBS element. You can set the following statuses:
Date definition locked (DDLK)
Planning locked (PLLK)
Budget management locked (BMLK)
Account assignment locked (AALK)
Master data locked (MDLK )
You can set these statuses in addition to every other status except Deletion flag. The
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7. Description of Improvements
UT will be able to control the status easily and report (PS structure) on the status of
projects if needed.
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3.4.1.
Questions:
Q:
1) When in your project life cycle can you decide to close a project?
A: Sponsored projects and agency funds: A project can be closed at any time. Normally,
projects are run "full-term" to the project ending date as stated in the award document.
Sponsors or UT can terminate project early.
UT's fiscal policy (currently not enforced) states that all charges should be posted to the
project account within 60 days of the project ending date. This is so that the project can be
closed and final financial reporting sent.
Gifts: When the money has been spent.
Centers/Chairs: When the project is over
Loans are rarely closed unless the University decides to leave a program.
Endowments/Trusts: Endowments rarely close. Trusts close upon the death of the
beneficiary or the end of the state term. Endowments are generally perpetual accounts, and
trusts terminate upon the death of the beneficiary or the end of the stated term. Closure is
based on the MOA.
Plant: At the completion of the project
Q:
A: Sponsored projects and agency funds: For the Knoxville campus, the Controller's Office
G&C Manager approves the final invoice prepared by the Controller's Office accountant. The
figures used in the final invoice normally have the verbal or written approval of the PI or
departmental bookkeeper. We use a "Schedule of Final Charges" form to ensure that all
charges in process are reflected on the final invoice.
At other campuses, the final invoice is similarly prepared, but final approval is with the
campus business office.
Centers/Chairs: N/A
Loans: N/ A
Endowments/Trusts: N/A
Plant: the University Architect.
Q:
A: Sponsored projects and agency funds: Yes, UT and most sponsors have project
closeout guidelines.
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Gifts: UT guidelines.
Centers/Chairs: N/A
Loans: N/A
Endowments/Trusts: N/A
Life Income: Account is closed based on an event as identified in the trust document (such
as death of last surviving beneficiary or end of term).
Q:
A: Sponsored projects and agency funds: There are legal requirements for most project
closeout. UT is contractually obligated to deliver technical results as specified in the award
document that is a legally binding document. Also, UT is required by this legal document to
submit required financial reports and invoices. The requirements usually specify the format,
timing, etc. for financial reports. Some sponsors require signed, notarized closeout
documents by a certain date after award ending date. There are legal requirements
regarding project record retention.
UT is legally required by A-21 to have effort certification forms completed by all PI's. We will
need to either write and effort certification system or an interface to UT's current system.
Gifts: N/A
Endowment/Life Income:
Life Income - trust document is legal document that identifies the donor's instructions as to
how the trust assets are to be used upon termination of the trust.
Q:
2. General Explanations
3.4.1.1.
Final Settlement
Questions:
Q:
1) How do you ensure that your contractual obligations have been completed?
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Q:
2) How do you ensure that all project costs have been received and paid?
A: Sponsored projects and gifts: UT fiscal policy allows 60 days after project end date to
post all applicable project charges. In reality, this policy is not enforced. When it is time to
send a final invoice on a project, we have two methods of ensuring that all charges have
posted: (1) call the bookkeeper and get verbal assurance that all charges have posted, and
(2) send a Schedule of Final Charges form to the bookkeeper which lists all charges to come
and all transfers off that will be posted in the future. Based on this response, the final invoice
is filed.
We ensure that all project costs have been paid by invoicing up to the cumulative award
expenditures with the award amount as the cap. We monitor the collection of invoices
through our accounts receivable system.
Gifts: It is the responsibility of the PI not to spend more than gifts received. An annual
review of these accounts is made by the campus business offices.
Q:
A: Sponsored projects and agency funds: If there are final costs that cannot be billed to the
sponsor, these costs are normally either (1) transferred to another cost center or WBS by the
bookkeeper, or (2) settled to a cost center or WBS element by the campus business office
using a specific object code for cost sharing, 444.
Gifts: N/A
Plant: Asset. Could be WBS.
Q:
A: Sponsored projects and agency funds: If there are final costs that cannot be billed to the
sponsor, these costs are normally either (1) transferred to another cost center or WBS by the
bookkeeper, or (2) settled to a cost center or WBS element by the campus business office
using a specific object code for cost sharing, 444.
Ultimately, the responsible cost center listed on the WBS element is responsible for costs.
Gifts: N/A
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Q:
5) How do you handle debits to the project if the project has been closed?
A: Sponsored projects and agency funds: If there are final costs that cannot be billed to the
sponsor, these costs are normally either (1) transferred to another cost center or WBS by the
bookkeeper, or (2) settled to a cost center or WBS element by the campus business office
using a specific object code for cost sharing, 444.
Ultimately, the responsible cost center listed on the WBS element is responsible for costs.
We would like for late charges not to be posted to closed project accounts.
Gifts: N/A
Plant: If costs continue to trickle in (i.e. funds are still available in the account) we would
continue to settle those costs back to the asset. Probably are immaterial, however.
Endowment/Life Income: A cost/revenue transfer by Journal Entry is made by the
Treasurer's Office Investment Group to zero out the account, and then a post-control is
placed on the accounts so that no other charges can hit the project. For endowments, this
happens approximately 2-5 times during a fiscal year.
3.4.2.
Project Completion
Questions:
Q:
A: Sponsored projects, agency funds, and gifts: Yes, the UT fiscal policy requires that all
project-related expenditures be posted to the project within 60 days of the project end date.
This policy is currently not enforced.
Centers/Chairs: N/A
Loans: N/A
Plant: No. Only that the work must be accepted by the University.
Q:
A: Sponsored projects and agency funds: There are legal requirements for most project
closeout. UT is contractually obligated to deliver technical results as specified in the award
document that is a legally binding document. Also, UT is required by this legal document to
submit required financial reports and invoices. The requirements usually specify the format,
timing, etc. for financial reports. Some sponsors require signed, notarized closeout
documents by a certain date after award ending date. There are legal requirements
regarding project record retention.
UT is legally required by A-21 to have effort certification forms completed by all PI's. We will
need to either write and effort certification system or an interface to UT's current system.
Gifts: N/A
Q:
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A: Sponsored projects, agency funds, and gifts: The campus business office or Controller's
Office is responsible for actual closing; however, the PI and bookkeeper are responsible for
getting the project ready to close.
Endowments/Life Income:
Life Income - The trust officer request the Controller's Office to post-close the account.
Endowments - Financial Specialist or Investment Officer requests the Controller's Office to
post-close the account.
Q:
A: Sponsored projects and agency funds: No, but we do use notes of contract requirements
manually transferred from the award document to a project file.
Gifts: No.
Endowments/Life Income: No
3.4.2.1.
Questions:
Q:
1) How do you assess whether all of the project requirements have been fulfilled?
Q:
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Q:
4) How do you ensure that all the purchase orders are completed?
A: Sponsored projects, agency funds, and gifts: Projects cannot be closed if there are any
outstanding PO's. The PO balance must be zero.
Plant: They have been paid in full and there are no outstanding change orders in process.
Q:
4. Financial Accounting
4.1.
Basic Settings
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4.1.1.
Questions:
Q:
A: No, Our fiscal year begins July 1 and ends June 30.
Q:
A: Thirteen: one period for each calendar month to record basic transactions and a
thirteenth period for special accrual, deferral, special allocation, and other closing entries.
Q: 3) If your fiscal year is not identical with the calendar year, please provide a schedule of
period closing for the past, current and next year.
A: Every regular period officially contains items that occurred through the last calendar day
of the month. For August through May, we take 3 business days to collect and post regular
and closing entries, then the month is closed the night of the third business day. June is
allowed approximately 2 weeks instead of 3 days before closing. June is followed by period
13, when reconciling, adjusting, and closing entries are captured; it is closed approximately
August 15. Then July is closed approximately August 22.
Q: 4) Do all your company codes have the same fiscal year/fiscal year variant? Provide
details if this is not the case.
A: Yes
Q:
A: June 30 is the official dating, but closing occurs about August 15.
Q: 6) Who is responsible for opening and closing accounting periods (including for materials
management)?
A: The Controller's Office. All accounts and areas closed together.
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
The University's fiscal year is July 1 through June 30.
1. UT requires 12 posting periods based on the calendar months.
2. UT requires a special posting period for closing and adjustments.
2. General Explanations
A fiscal year is divided into posting periods. Each posting period is defined by a start and
a finish date. Before you can post documents, you must define posting periods, which in
turn define the fiscal year. In addition to the posting periods, you can also define special
periods for year-end closing.
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In the general ledger, the system saves the transaction figures for all accounts for each
posting period and each special period separately according to debits and credits
A fiscal year consists of several posting periods and if necessary, special periods that
can be posted to after a temporary year-end. You define how the fiscal year is set up in
R/3 by creating a fiscal year variant. Each company code is assigned a fiscal year
variant.
The fiscal year variant defines the number of posting periods, special periods and dates
that fall within the posting periods. Every transaction that is posted in the system is
assigned to a particular posting period. The transaction figures are then updated for this
period.
Posting periods can be configured to reflect a calendar month end or specific days within
a month (i.e. last Friday of month). The posting periods can be configured to address
UT's fiscal year of July 1 June 30.
4. Business Model
N/A
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N/A
4.1.2.
Document
Questions:
Q:
A: BV - Batch Voucher - Excess financial aid check, refund check or other non - DV / PV
CV - Cash Receipts Voucher - Cash received by the university
DV - Disbursement voucher - Check paid to vendor for goods or services
JV - Journal Voucher - Centrally prepared entry or adjustment
LB - Budget Revision- Budget change to unrestricted account
PE - Payroll Encumbrance - Initial or change to salary encumbrance
PO - Purchase Order - Order for goods or services placed through Purchasing Office
PV - Payroll Voucher - Check paid for employee services
RB - Restricted Budget - Budget change to restricted account (form T-1 or direct interface
from sponsored Pg)
TV - Transfer Voucher - Departmentally prepared charge/credit or adjustment
Accounts Payable:
Documents Used: vendor invoice, credit memo, T-29 (Special Remittance and Order Form),
T-27 (Request for Special Payment), T-4 & T-44 (Petty Cash), refund of expenditure, voucher
authorization, T-3 (Travel reimbursement), travel advance form, direct bill for airfare, TV (T16, transfer voucher), BV (batch voucher) and a list of disbursements from any campus.
Unique number ranges: None used, vendor # is the prime key - the system does not assign
a document number.
It will be decided whether or not we wish to have the numbers assigned by the system.
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Q:
A: Entries into the legacy University general ledger are identified by a transaction type and
8-digit reference number. Every transaction type is free to assign reference numbers without
regard to any other transaction type. This means that reference numbers are not unique
between transaction types. For instance, it is possible to have at the same time a BV # 1, CV
# 1, DV # 1, JV # 1, etc. There are also instances where the legacy posting job or feeder
module will assign the number "99999999" to a ledger entry. The use of duplicate numbers
does not impact the integrity of the legacy ledger database.
With each transaction type, numbering conventions and ranges have been devised to meet a
variety of needs. In cases where there is more than one processing office, ranges are
established to avoid duplicate number assignment and just as importantly, to identify the
particular processing office. A processing office is not just an initiator of a transaction, but
has authority to control document use and numbering and in some cases may encode
transactions and submit them to the legacy system for processing. Since the legacy ledger
entries do not contain fields to identify the processing office or operator-id, the transaction
number range serves that purpose. This is the case for DVs, JVs, POs, RBs, and TVs.
In the payroll area, the reference number assignment convention is used to categorize
payrolls by types.
PV 0-99 "Regular" or original payrolls: monthly, biweekly, supplement, longevity, and evening
school.
PV 101-112 approx.: Check cancellations
PE 200-212 approx.: Payroll encumbrance adjustments used to bring the ledger into balance
with HR.
PV 301-324 approx.: Salary transfers (retroactive cost re-distributions to cost centers and
projects)
PV 401-452 approx.: Small misc. weekly payrolls mostly to pay unincorporated contractors
(object 195).
All LBs are routed to the Controller's Office for keying and a single number range reset to 1
each fiscal year is used. The Original (approved) budget is posted as LB # 1. Subsequent
revisions are sequentially assigned.
Although Martin, Chattanooga, and Memphis submit CVs by electronic interface, they must
be merged with the daily CV prepared by the Knoxville Campus Bursar's Office. There is one
CV number assigned for the day, which is encoded on all CV transactions for that day. The
first CV of the fiscal year begins with 1.
All BV batches are summarized by date, batch, account, and object for recording to the
ledger. All BV ledger entries have "99,999,999" for the reference number. The original check
numbers (which do not post to the ledger) are divided into ranges to avoid duplicates and to
signify the processing office.
CHECK NUMBERING RANGES (only DVs post in detail rather than summary form and the
reference number is the same as the check number).
Range
Assignment
100,001-999,999
Regular DVs
400,001-499,999
UWA typed DVs emergency checks
* Note there is a collision with the range above.
201-1200+
PV checks Note: PVs post in summary form (see separate discussion of PV number ranges).
Note: payroll also pays employees by direct deposit, which has a separate numbering range.
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000,001 to 999,999
9,000,001-9,899,999
Checks remotely prepared and printed but presented to the financial system as pre-written
BVs for summarization and ledger posting, microfiching, and other electronic storage to
facilitate other processes:
9,900,001-9,999,999
CSA BVs
5,000,000-5,999,999
Martin BVs
4,000,001-4,999,999
Chattanooga BVs
7,000,001-7,999,999
Memphis BVs
Q:
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RB - Restricted Budget - Budget change to restricted account (form T-1 or direct interface
from sponsored Pg)
TV - Transfer Voucher - Departmentally prepared charge/credit or adjustment
Expectations in General: Document type may be a distinction we want to use for security
as indicated in certain documents. All documents need to collect the data required to
support fund accounting in the special ledger or a process exist to fulfill a known gap.
BV - Three years ago the University changed BV processing to allow student bursar
systems to issue their own pre-written BVs and export the transactions to the financial
system for posting with an indicator to designate pre-written. These "pre-written" BVs
skip the check writing process, but follow the other procedures the same as BV requests
to write checks. This process includes a process to save the BV detail transactions,
produce microfiche in two orders, send check numbers to the bank daily so the bank can
reconcile the account, hold the detail transactions for approx. 24 months so checks can
be cancelled or written off by reference to the check number alone, summarize the BVs
prior to ledger posting on certain keys (I believe this is legacy account, object, batch, and
date).
R/3 will also need to distinguish between "to be written" which will go to payables and
"pre-written" which will be a journal entry of some kind. We still may want to summarize
before posting so that we do not clutter the ledger sheets with detail. We will need to
evaluate very carefully if we are not able to continue to cancel or write-off checks by
number alone, create a microfiche of facsimile. We may want to use a different R/3
document type to distinguish "to be written" and "pre-written".
CV - In the legacy system the CV is used to record all cash receipts, although there have
been limited occasions at a closing deadline that a one sided JV has been used. In the
legacy system, Chattanooga and Memphis bursar systems generate CV transactions,
which are brought in as interfaced transactions. In R/3, we may want to distinguish
bursar system interfaced transactions from transactions directly keyed into R/3. We may
also want to distinguish investment system interfaced transactions. These distinctions
may facilitate the transaction and data level (where needed) security or authorization
processes.
In the legacy system, CVs are entered as one-sided transactions. The posting program
performs a table lookup to create an offsetting entry to a fund group entity cash account.
This function will have to be performed, but may be done periodically rather than in realtime. However, R/3's normal offset would be a G/L account that represents an account at
a commercial bank. This is information is posted to an auxiliary file in the legacy system.
However, CV transactions carry a "bank code" field that identifies the account at a
commercial bank. R/3 may need the interface program to generate a cash offset entry
based on the bank code.
Certain cash receipts such as receipts that apply to grant and contract invoices, may
need to be entered directly through R/3 rather than coming through an interface.
In the legacy system, cash receipts are reconciled outside of the financial system. UT
will probably want to use R/3's capability to reconcile inside the system for certain high
volume bank accounts for which a download can be obtained. This would affect the
nature of the cash account established in R/3 and the associated configuration and the
behavior of cash receipt processing.
DVs are an A/P transaction.
JVs are centrally prepared journal vouchers. We may wish to maintain this distinction to
facilitate authorization processes and to assist departments in recognizing the type of
transfer. See also TV.
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2. General Explanations
Documents are the link between the business transaction and the posting in accounting.
An accounting document is the result of a posting in Financial Accounting either directly
or indirectly via integration points (i.e. payroll postings). The document types are
assigned to document number ranges. A unique document number within the assigned
range is assigned to the document at the time of posting.
Only complete documents can be posted. A document is complete when its debit and
credit items balance to zero. You must enter the minimum account assignments
designated by the system: For example, document date, posting date, document type,
posting key, account number, and amount. Data must also be entered in all other fields
that were defined as required fields when making system settings.
3. Explanations of Functions and Events
There are several types of documents with R/3 such as asset postings, journal entry,
vendor invoice, customer credit memo, etc. Each document type is defined within the
system and assigned to a document number range. This will allow you to assign a
particular number ranges to individual document types. Documents numbers will be
assigned internally by the system based on the assigned number range for that
document type.
4. Business Model
N/A
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7. Description of Improvements
Each document will have a unique document number/fiscal year combination.
4.1.3.
Questions:
Q:
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A: Generally, the University is tax exempt from sales tax for goods that it purchases.
The motor pool may pay taxes on gas purchased and subsequently request refunds. No tax
amount is calculated by the financial system.
The University pays occupancy tax on direct billing for lodging. The tax amount is noted on
the bill and is paid to the hotel that must remit and report.
The University pays tax related to out of state conferences. The amount is calculated outside
of the financial system (probably noted on the bill sent to the University).
In a recent determination, the University must collect sales tax on certain contract projects. A
new expense object code "831" was added for this purpose.
Some University departments sell products for which sales must be collected. Tax amounts
are calculated outside the Financial system by the department's own system. DVs are
processed to remit these tax payments to the State of Tennessee.
Some University departments event tickets (ex: football) for which amusement tax must be
collected. Tax amounts are calculated outside the Financial system by the department's own
system. DVs are processed to remit these tax payments to the City or County.
Q:
A: Selling departments usually record total sales including sales tax to the cost center
income account. A DV is processed to remit a check to the State of Tennessee, the City, or
the County as appropriate and the cost center income account is debited.
A department making a purchase subject to sales tax would include the tax amount in the
charge to the cost center and the natural object of the item being acquired.
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
The University does not have a requirement to calculate tax on purchases.
4.1.4.
Posting Help
Questions:
Q: 1) Which help for posting do you need (such as account assignment models, sample
documents, control totals, and user parameters)?
A: We need account assignment models, sample documents and user parameters for all
single value fields.
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
The legacy system has features that simplify the input of documents. The features
related to journal entries and the limited departmental journal (TV) follows:
Create a storable template journal with line item detail that can be copied as a
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7. Description of Improvements
None noted
4.1.5.
Withholding Tax
Questions:
Q: 1) What are the reporting requirements for contractors, self-employed etc. in your
country?
A: Any cumulative totals for a vendor over $600 require a 1099 to be issued. A T-5 form
must be completed for moving type expenses. These amounts show up in the employee's W 2.
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Q:
2) How do you transmit this information to the tax authorities and your vendors?
A: There is a separate info system. All entries are either automatically picked up from IMS or
keyed into the system. For any totals over $600/calendar year, a 1099 is issued and sent to
the vendor. This information is transmitted by the Payroll department to the IRS. Some items
that are taxable to employees are keyed by A/P but show up in their W - 2.
Q:
A: No.
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
Any cumulative totals for a vendor over $600 require a 1099 to be issued.
2. General Explanations
Univ. of Tennessee is required by law to perform tax withholding on certain tax-liable
vendors whenever payments for services are processed.
4. Business Model
None
7. Description of Improvements
Provides comprehensive details associated with Withholding tax allowances and vendor
liabilities.
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4.1.6.
Schedule Manager
Questions:
Q: 1) Are the processes that you run on a regular basis (such as period-end closing,
payment run, dunning run) scheduled and monitored using a Scheduler?
A: Yes
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
The University requires tools for the management of multi-step processes and expects
that those tools will interact in an integrated way. Currently, the University uses:
o
o
o
o
o
R/3 scheduler should provide us a single location to execute and control comprehensive
multi-step processes. Not only are the tasks listed in one place, but they can be
scheduled or lauched, progress monitored, and operational procedures (documentation)
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attached.
2. General Explanations
4.2.
4.2.1.
4.2.1.1.
Postings in G/L
Park G/L Account Document
Questions:
Q:
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7. Description of Improvements
Parking in R/3 is perceived to behave the same way across all documents where parking
in the legacy system would be particular to the document being entered.
8. Description of Functional Deficits
None
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Questions:
Q:
Q:
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o
o
o
Periodic (probably daily) reporting of posting results should be available to insure that the
system is performing properly. In the legacy system, logs of incoming and outgoing
payments are compared with posting results for each originating subsystem (or check
range for manual payments) capable of creating payments. An independent offline record
of bank balances is maintained to validate the corresponding ledger values on a daily
basis. This is a control to insure that the system is performing properly and that all
transactions are being recorded. Other control checks will be needed appropriate to
insure the integrity of the ledgers based on the way R/3 works and the inherent risks.
2. General Explanations
G/L account posting is how detail accounting transactions will get into R/3 and
corresponding ledgers. Fields in documents must meet edit requirements and be posted
by an operator with authorization to all cost centers, WBS, Funds, and accounts.
Documents between parties without authorizations must either route through workflow for
approval by all parties or be posted by a third party with authorization to all posting
targets. If workflow is not used, (therefore central third party posting) it is desirable to tag
document lines so that "inter-authorization" postings can be identified.
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7. Description of Improvements
On line real-time posting for transactions.
8. Description of Functional Deficits
None noted at this time
Recurring Entry
Questions:
Q: 1) Do you have documents that occur on a regular basis (monthly or quarterly, for
example)?
A: YES
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
The University requires the ability to create and store for later retrieval an entry to serve
as the basis for entering common transactions repeatedly, with minimal additional typing.
We would want this ability both for the Controller's Office and with different security at the
department level.
2. General Explanations
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Postings which recur time and time again can be made using the recurring entry
program. To do this, you enter a recurring entry document, and then execute the
recurring entry program at certain intervals or schedule it for execution.
3. Explanations of Functions and Events
You can specify when an accounting document is created from a recurring entry
document as follows (choose from the alternatives below):
You enter the interval in the recurring entry document by specifying a date for the first run
and a date for the last run. You also enter the run intervals in months. By specifying a
calendar day, you can determine the day on which the program is executed. This is
useful if the postings are to be made at monthly intervals (calendar months).
You can define a run schedule in the system and specify in the recurring entry document
which schedule the system uses for the document. This procedure is useful if the
postings cannot be made at monthly intervals. Postings that are to be carried out in 13
periods or every other week, for example, can only be made by scheduling the run. In this
activity, you define the run schedules by specifying a key and a description. In a second
activity, you enter the required dates for each schedule.
4. Business Model
N/A
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Document Reversal
Questions:
Q:
1) How should a document reversal update the balances of the relevant accounts?
Q:
A: Probably
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
The university requires the ability to automatically generate reversing entries after month
end close and year-end close. We also require the ability to reverse single entries as
needed.
2. General Explanations
If you have entered an incorrect document, you can reverse it, thereby also clearing the
open items. A document can only be reversed if the following criteria are met:
1 - It contains no cleared items
2 - It contains only customer, vendor, and G/L account items
3 - It was posted with Financial Accounting
4 - All entered values (such as business area, cost center, and tax code) are still valid
The document and the reverse document increase the account transaction debit and
credit figures by the same amount. This will provide an audit trail.
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4. Business Model
N/A
5. Special Organizational Considerations
Initially, the reversal of documents will be a centralized function at the Controllers Office.
7. Description of Improvements
None noted at this time
8. Description of Functional Deficits
None noted at this time
Mass Reversal
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
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The University requires the ability to reverse multiple G/L accounts at one time. We
require the ability to reverse all payables, accruals and deferrals in mass. We expect this
to happen at the beginning of each fiscal year and at the beginning of each month.
2. General Explanations
Mass reversal allows you to reverse multiple documents at one time. All of the
documents to be reversed must meet the following criteria:
It contains no cleared items
It contains only customer, vendor, and G/L account items
It was posted with Financial Accounting
All entered values (such as business area, cost center, and tax code) are still valid
7. Description of Improvements
Instead of having to reverse documents one at a time, you now have the ability to reverse
several documents at once with an audit trail.
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Accrual/Deferral Posting
Questions:
Q:
A: Each year-end, we accrue deferred charges, deferred revenue, salaries and benefits, and
general payables. We receive this information from the various campus business offices and
manually create these entries. These entries are reversed in the new year.
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
The University requires the ability to accrue and defer certain expenditures and revenues.
We expect this to be accomplished in certain G/L accounts.
2. General Explanations
Accruals/Deferrals are the assignment of an organization's receipts and expenditure to
particular periods, for purposes of calculating the net income for a given period. An
accrual is any expenditure before the closing key date, which represents an expense for
any period after this date. Deferred income is any receipts before the closing key date
that represent revenue for any period after this date.
Accruals and deferrals are entered in the system similar to a journal entry, however you
will enter the reversal date/period on each transaction.
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4. Business Model
N/A
5. Special Organizational Considerations
Accrual and deferral postings will remain a centralized function within the Controllers
Office.
7. Description of Improvements
Accrual/deferral postings are entered with a reversal date.
Clearing
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
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4. Business Model
N/A
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7. Description of Improvements
With clearing, you are able to manage accounts on an open item basis. With the open
item management, only uncleared or open items are displayed. This will limit the line
items to review for the clearing accounts.
4.2.2.
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
The University requires the system to display and/or report the same line item detail and
balances that are available in our current system. These include detail transactions for
each G/L account. The University expects to be able to see beginning and ending
balances and debits and credits. We also expect to be able to drill down to the individual
transactions.
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2. General Explanations
When you post documents to an account, the system automatically updates the account
balance. In addition, for G/L accounts that are managed with line item display, the system
notes which items from the document were posted to the account. It is therefore possible
to view the account balances and (depending on the specifications in the master record)
the line items for every G/L account.
The account balance displays the opening balance (carry forward balance from the
previous year), the total of all transactions for each posting period, broken down into debit
and credit postings (transaction figures) and the accumulated balance of the account.
For those accounts that are managed on an open item basis, you can choose to display
open and/or cleared items. You can choose to display G/L account line items based on
selected criteria such as period posted, date posted, open items versus cleared items,
etc.
4. Business Model
N/A
7. Description of Improvements
None noted at this time
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Questions:
Q: 1) Is there certain information that you wish to be able to display when you view items
online?
A: Yes. We would like to be able to view the things we can currently view about an account
which include activity and balances. We can provide screen prints.
4.2.3.
Closing Operations
Questions:
Q:
A: We have a month-end schedule that we follow very closely to determine that all
processes are complete and that the computer jobs are run in the correct order. See Aldena's
schedule.
Q:
A: We write and post DVs and BVs every day, we post TVs and JVs everyday. We post
PEs and PVs when they occur. We post POs daily. We post LBs and RBs whenever they
occur. We post CV's every day. We run edit checks with the postings to ensure our account
numbers are correct.
Q:
3) Describe your current process and time frame for year-end closing.
A: We close the year from the middle of June until August 15. We have a very detailed plan
that is coordinated between the Controller's Office and the UCS Staff. Each staff has a
lengthy schedule of dates and instructions as when to perform certain tasks, create
transactions, and close certain parts of the University's books. For instance, we post all old
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CVs for several days into the new year. We write and post DVs and BVs for ten working days
into the new year. We close accounting period 12 on the 10th working day of July. After that
date only TV's' and JV 's are posted. See instructions for more detail.
Q:
A: Several persons in the Controller's Office and Treasurer's Office reconcile different fund
groups all during the closing process. The Controller reconciles Current Unrestricted Fund
balances, including E & G, Auxiliary and Hospitals. The Controller's General Account
Manager reconciles Restricted Funds, Loan Funds and Agency Funds. The Treasurers
accountants reconcile Endowments and Life Income Funds. Controller' Office Plant Fund
accountants reconcile all Plant Funds (which includes Unexpended Plant, Retirement of
Indebtedness, Renewals and Replacements and Investment in Plant).
The procedures are to reconcile from beginning fund balance to ending fund balance using
various Excel spreadsheets and monthly reports.
4.2.3.1.
Reclassification Receivables/Payables
Questions:
Q: 1) Do you classify open vendor/customer items in the financial statements according to
short, medium, or long term receivables/payables? Describe your procedure.
A: No.
Receivables are adjusted to actual for each account as appropriate.
Payables are created based on departmental request and Controller's Office review. All
invoices over $1,000 paid in July are reviewed to determine if the receipt date is prior to June
30. If so and they were not previously recorded, these amounts are set up as payables.
Q:
Questions:
Q: 1) Do you need to produce an internal balance sheet on business area or profit center
level?
A: Yes
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
The University requires that we produce financial statements at the entity and fund level
(business area). We may not need profit and loss adjustment capability as explained in
the next statement.
2. General Explanations
The profit and loss adjustment distributes cash discounts paid, cash discounts received,
lost cash discounts, exchange rate difference and backdated tax calculation based on
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cash discounts. This function will be carried out in the special ledger.
4.2.3.3.
Questions:
Q:
A: Our current system produces reports that are a monthly balance sheet by entity and fund
group. We produce university wide financial statements on an annual basis.
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
The University requires the ability to create financial statements as a whole and by fund
and entity. These statements include a balance sheet, statement of changes in fund
balances and statement of current fund revenues, expenditures and other changes as
required by GAAP.
2. General Explanations
A financial statement within FI is the standard Balance Sheet and P&L Statement. The
program for creating the financial statements determines the values for the annual net
profit or loss as well as the net profit or loss carried forward. Please note that the UT
Balance Sheet and P&L Statement by Business Area and/or Fund will be in the Split
Ledger. Therefore, the financial statement will not be created in FI.
4. Business Model
N/A
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7. Description of Improvements
None
8. Description of Functional Deficits
Functional deficits in the FI financial statement are handled in the financial statements
within the split ledger.
Periodic Reports
Questions:
Q:
1) What type of information flow do you have for the results of periodic asset reporting?
A: The Controller's Office receives a listing of equipment on a monthly basis that has been
added to the system. This report is used to reconcile to the checks written on the equipment
expenditure object code. Change reports are generated and mailed to departments when an
asset was added, changed, or deleted. An annual report of equipment additions and
deletions is generated that is used to prepare a journal entry to the asset accounts.
Q: 2) What are the critical monthly, quarterly and annual reports that you need for Asset
Accounting?
A: See the answer to #1, above
Q: 3) Which kind of reports do you use to reconcile asset accounting with the general
ledger?
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A: The monthly reports are used to reconcile to the equipment expenditure object code.
The annual reports capitalize to the G/L.
Q:
4) Are there any particular reports you would like for low value assets?
A: We will need reports on low value assets, much the same reports as what we'll need for
the regular assets.
Q:
5) Are there any particular reports you run for leased assets?
Q:
A: Currently, we run inventory lists from our equipment database. We don't have barcodes.
Q: 7) By which organizational units (or combinations of units) are asset reporting functions
structured (for example, company, cost center, etc)?
A: Equipment: Each asset is associated with a university departmental expenditure account.
Groups of accounts can be combined at a higher level under a "distribution code." The
distribution code is used to distribute reports or notifications of a change in accounting for
assets.
Other assets: are reported at a campus or university level only.
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
The University requires reports from the AM system that are equal to or better than
current reporting.
2. General Explanations
Financial periodic reports will be out of the special ledger. Please see special ledger
section for details.
4.2.3.5.
Questions:
Q:
A: We do not have retained earnings accounts. We are told that one would work for us.
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
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We require the ability to carry forward balances from one fiscal year to another.
2. General Explanations
You can carry forward account balances as often as you require. If the program has not
yet been run, you can still make postings to the new fiscal year. When the first posting is
made, the accounts are opened with a carry forward balance of 0. Postings made to the
previous year do increase the balance carried forward, but the total of the items posted in
the prior year remain in that year.
4. Business Model
N/A
7. Description of Improvements
N/A
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4.3.
4.3.1.
Questions:
Q: 1) In which cases do your vendors require you to make a payment prior to the
processing of an order or shipment?
A: Usually this happens with the purchase of a specialty item, large construction project,
personal service contracts, etc.
Endowments/Trusts: N/A
Q: 2) Please describe the complete process currently in place for down payments, including
the postings that are generated.
A: If the request is issued against a purchase order, the purchase order is reviewed to make
sure the down payment/progress payment is required (usually a separate line item on the
purchase order). If the request is against a contract, the contract is reviewed to see if the
down payment/progress payment is in compliance with the contract. When the check is
issued, the account and object code are charged. If a down payment/progress payment is
made, the next invoice will be received from the vendor with that payment showing as a
deduction.
Q:
3) Do you plan on paying down payments with the automatic payment program?
A: Yes
4.3.1.1.
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
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The University of Tennessee seldom requires that a vendor be paid an initial down
payment for products or services.
2. General Explanations
On rare occasions, the University of Tennessee requires that a vendor be paid an initial
down payment for products or services. When this occurs, the Down Payment module
may serve as a useful tool for UT's Accounts Payable department so that a concise
process can be put in place that manages the down payment transaction.
4. Business Model
There is the possibility that down payments will be used in coordination with ongoing
Sponsor's Projects. Further analysis is necessary to determine the processes devoted to
down payment usage and to match the requirements of UT with R/3's functionality.
7. Description of Improvements
When configured and used, the Down Payment module will assist UT with the proper
process to handle vendor down payments.
8. Description of Functional Deficits
None
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The Down Payment component in the FI module must be configured in the IMG prior to
usage.
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
The University of Tennessee seldom requires that a vendor be paid an initial down
payment for products or services.
2. General Explanations
On rare occasions, the University of Tennessee requires that a vendor be paid an initial
down payment for products or services. When this occurs, the Down Payment module
may serve as a useful tool for UT's Accounts Payable department so that a concise
process can be put in place that manages the down payment transaction.
4. Business Model
Standard SAP Business Model applies
7. Description of Improvements
When configured and used, the Down Payment module will assist UT with the proper
process to handle vendor down payments.
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CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
The University of Tennessee seldom requires that a vendor be paid an initial down
payment for products or services.
2. General Explanations
On rare occasions, the University of Tennessee requires that a vendor be paid an initial
down payment for products or services. When this occurs, the Down Payment module
may serve as a useful tool for UT's Accounts Payable department so that a concise
process can be put in place that manages the down payment transaction.
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7. Description of Improvements
When configured and used, the Down Payment module will assist UT with the proper
process to handle vendor down payments.
4.3.2.
Questions:
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Q: 1) What are your internal procedures and controls from the point of invoice receipt to
payment?
A: Without PO: The invoice (including advance payments) is received in the department
where purchase was made. They verify information, write on invoice the account number
and object code to be charged, and have approved as per policy. Invoice is sent to
appropriate A/P office (based on department location). Invoice is audited per policy and then
entered into a batch in the IMS system. Batch numbers are manually assigned by campus
(starts with a letter, followed by 4 digits; i.e. Mxxxx). In the Treasurer's A/P Office, a
percentage of invoices (selected by system) within each batch are audited and then the batch
is balanced (i.e., released for checks to be written). Currently all checks entered are released
for payment immediately. Written policy of processing flow is in place (located on web).
Travel reimbursements ("Txxxx", "TAxxx", "TCxxx", etc) batches and petty cash
reimbursements from other A/P offices are audited 100% at the campus business office and
again by the Treasurer's A/P Office.
Contract/Honorarium payment is compared with contract to make sure terms are adhered to
(both at department and campus business office). Treasurer's A/P office also audits against
the contract and keys request into IMS.
Specialty items (i.e., Payroll items, insurance payments, etc) are audited and entered in
Treasurer's A/P office and do not go through the random sampling audit.
Some types of payment requests are sent through Entrex where they are keyed in without
using vendor numbers. These are batched as DV batches (where a disbursement check is
issued - 6 digits) or BV batches (where a batch check is issued - 7 digits).
With PO: Same as above. The University does not have central receiving. However, at the
departmental level, the delivery ticket and invoice should be matched against the purchase
order to insure that all items were received and billed correctly. Delivery information is kept
at the departmental level and is not reviewed by A/P. When entered into IMSP by A/P, the
invoice is compared on-line to the purchase order for accuracy.
Contract payments: Same as above. Payment is compared with contract to make sure
terms are adhered to (both at department and A/P office). Treasurer's A/P office keys
request into IMS.
A purchase order is generally required when the amount of the purchase is $2,000 or greater.
Some exceptions to this would be entertainment, contracts, travel, memberships,
subscriptions, etc
If the amount is under $2,000, no purchase order is required.
There is a written policy on the web for processing invoices, travel, etc. (Section 060, Part
02; Section 070; Section 130, Parts 1 & 2) and for when a purchase order is required
(Section 050, Part 03, 06, 08; Section 070; Section 130, Parts 1 & 2).
4.3.2.1.
Questions:
Q:
1) What is your procedure for parking and releasing invoices and or/credit memos?
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CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
2. General Explanations
Invoice entry will take place using the vendor invoice entry screen. However, instead of
actually posting the document to the SAP R/3 system, the user will park the document,
which in essence will place the document in a Hold status. To release the parked
document, subsequent transactions will take place to release the parked documents to
the appropriate posting stages.
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7. Description of Improvements
The advantage of parking documents is that you can evaluate the data in the documents
online for reporting purposes from the moment they are parked, rather than having to wait
until they have been completed and posted. Using payment requests, parked invoices
can be paid punctually and without loss of discount
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N/A
4.3.2.2.
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
Parking of vendor documents is performed when invoices or credit memos are entered
which do not have all of the required details necessary to actually post the documents or
the information being entered needs to be researched further prior to document posting.
Parking of vendor documents allows the clerk to perform the initial document entry and
then hold the document until such time that it is necessary to process the document.
Invoice Release strategies also utilize Vendor Document Parking in order to manage the
process of approving and releasing vendor invoices for payment.
2. General Explanations
4. Business Model
Invoices that needs to be updated/researched: A/P clerks &/or department personnel will
enter invoices as fully as possible and then will park the document.
Invoices that require approvals: Department personnel (mostly) &/or A/P clerks will enter
invoices in their entirety; Invoice Release strategy will manage approval workflow
A document is first parked by an invoice entry clerk, and then sent to the person
responsible for authorizing payment amounts to vendors. Next the document may be
returned to the clerk for completion of data entry. Finally, the document is passed on to
the person responsible for account assignment approval. He releases the account
assignment and this in turn triggers the posting
7. Description of Improvements
The advantage of parking documents is that you can evaluate the data in the documents
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online for reporting purposes from the moment they are parked, rather than having to wait
until they have been completed and posted. Using payment requests, parked invoices
can be paid punctually and without loss of discount
8. Description of Functional Deficits
None are apparent at this time
Invoice Receipt
Questions:
Q:
1) Which invoices that are not related to a purchase order do you typically post?
A: Purchases < $2,000: vendor invoices (credit purchases from vendors who do not require
a PO); travel reimbursements (T-3); cash advances (see policy, Section 070);
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Prepayments/Advance Payments (T-29) (see policy, Section 050, Part 06); petty
cash/departmental purchases with personal funds (T-4 & T-44); honorariums/contracts (T-27)
(up to $2,000 for vendors or $1,000 for individuals - otherwise, a contract is needed); UT
credit card purchases.
Purchases any amount: Subscriptions; memberships; some types of advertising;
entertainment; utilities; refunds; scholarships; stipends; awards; insurance payments for
international students; payroll related activities (i.e., garnishments, annuities, etc); sales
tax/amusement tax/city & county tax
Q:
A: Sure - investigate
Q:
A: Majority are direct purchases, not on PO. Approved invoice is received from department.
In Treasurer's A/P Office, a letter is written to First Tennessee Bank requesting that foreign
drafts be issued for all invoices listed (some are converted to US $, others are issued in a
foreign currency). The drafts are prepared by First Tennessee Bank and returned to
Treasurer's A/P Office. The drafts are then mailed out (along with a copy of the payment
request). Each payment request is then entered into IMS (using First Tennessee's vendor
number) for the converted US$ amount (plus the bank service charge) and a check is issued
to First Tennessee Bank. The amount shows up on the department's ledger as a payment to
First Tennessee Bank instead of the vendor.
The majority of these transactions are for European countries (including Euro Dollars).
There are approximately 10 (+/-) per month.
Q:
A: Exempt from sales tax on personal property. If out of state, do pay sales tax, but it is
imbedded in amount to pay (not separate $).
Occupancy tax is sometimes paid based on listing from State Attorney General (county/city
specific) on direct-billed hotel/motel invoices (no calculation done by system).
Federal excise tax is paid (no calculation done by system).
Transportation (fuel, tire, etc) where Federal and State taxes apply (no calculation done by
system).
Q:
A: On most purchase order invoices, the cash discount is automatically calculated by the
system. Sometimes the calculation is done by the department (especially on non-PO
transactions). At the time of entry, the cash discount is shown as a negative amount on the
cash discount field.
Currently, if an invoice comes in with a discount taken by the department, the A/P office will
take the credit on the invoice (regardless if it's past the terms). If the vendor bills back for this
discount, that invoice is processed through regular procedures. The department gives the
check number where the cash discount was taken and the amount is charged back to the
original account number and object code the discount was taken on. However, if there is a
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cash discount date given on the invoice and the payment date will be after that date, the
discount is not taken.
Want to maximize discounts. We will look at the possible use of Discounts Earned and
Discounts Lost by Campus accounting.
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
Ability to enter non-PO related invoices including purchases < $2000 where
vendor requires PO, travel reimbursements (direct interface from travel),
short/long term travel advances, prepayments, petty cash/departmental
purchases, honorariums, UT credit card purchases, etc
Ability to post net of discount
Ability to maximize discount (possible use of Discounts Earned and Discounts
Lost)
Ability to hold retainage (2 types)
Ability to process foreign currency invoices in the Treasurer's A/P Office
Ability to process procurement card transactions
2. General Explanations
Non-PO related vendor invoices are entered via the Accounts Payable module by the
department for decentralized activity. Centralized invoice activity will be entered by the
Treasurer's Office Accounts Payable.
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Accounts Payable training is needed to ensure that invoices and credit memos are
properly posted. Since both Accounts Payable and key departmental personnel will be
responsible for invoice/credit memo entry, training will be a broad initiative.
6. Changes to Existing Organization
None
7. Description of Improvements
The Accounts Payable application component records and administers accounting data
for all vendors. It is also an integral part of sales management: Deliveries and invoices
are managed according to vendors. The system automatically makes postings in
response to the operative transactions. In the same way, the system supplies the Cash
Management application component with figures from invoices in order to optimize
liquidity planning.
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Questions:
Q:
A: Credit Memos: If against a PO, then entered in a "credit batch". If not against a PO, then
keyed as a credit in a regular batch along with invoices.
Retainage: 1. If UT holds funds: increase obligation against the PO. Manually do a monthly
JV to agency fund. In general fund, retainage, etc is not recorded as an outstanding liability
when net payment is made. 2. If bank holds funds: a separate check is cut for retainage
and sent to bank with payment for non-retainage. Primary occurrences are in construction,
not services.
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
Ability to post a credit memo and apply to next payment
2. General Explanations
Non-PO related vendor credit memos are entered via the Accounts Payable module by
the department for decentralized activity. Centralized credit memo activity will be entered
by the Treasurer's Office Accounts Payable.
3. Explanations of Functions and Events
Vendor credit memo entry when there is no referencing purchase order assignment.
4. Business Model
Invoice receipt is used to enter incoming or outgoing invoices or credit memos. The
Invoice/Credit Memo Entry Enjoy transaction is a single-screen transaction. This means
that an invoice can be entered, parked, and held on one screen without loss of context.
The entry screen remains the central reference screen, respective of the document
status.
The Enjoy transactions are included in the area menus for Accounts Receivable and
Accounts Payable according to the business transaction.
5. Special Organizational Considerations
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Accounts Payable training is needed to ensure that invoices and credit memos are
properly posted. Since both Accounts Payable and key departmental personnel will be
responsible for invoice/credit memo entry, training will be a broad initiative.
6. Changes to Existing Organization
None
7. Description of Improvements
The Accounts Payable application component records and administers accounting data
for all vendors. The system automatically makes postings in response to the operative
transactions. In the same way, the system supplies the Cash Management application
component with figures from invoices in order to optimize liquidity planning.
Document Reversal
Questions:
Q:
1) How should a document reversal update the balances of the relevant accounts?
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Q:
A: TBD - probably
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
2. General Explanations
If an incorrect document has been entered, it can be reversed, thereby also clearing the
open items. A document can only be reversed if the following criteria are met:
1 - It contains no cleared items
2 - It contains only customer, vendor, and G/L account items
3 - It was posted with Financial Accounting
4 - All entered values (such as business area, cost center, and tax code) are still valid
The document and the reverse document increase the account transaction debit and
credit figures by the same amount. This will provide an audit trail.
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Mass Reversal
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
To reverse a large number of transactional documents, the recommended solution is to
use the Mass Reversal program.
2. General Explanations
Mass reversal allows multiple documents to be reversed at one time. All of the
documents to be reversed must meet the following criteria:
* It contains no cleared items
* It contains only customer, vendor, and G/L account items
* It was posted with Financial Accounting
* All entered values (such as business area, cost center, and tax code) are still valid
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4. Business Model
Standard SAP Business Model applies
5. Special Organizational Considerations
Although A/P document processing is at a department level, mass reversal of documents
will be centralized in A/P to limit the possibility of reversing mass documents in error.
7. Description of Improvements
Instead of having to reverse documents one at a time, you now have the ability to reverse
several documents at once with an audit trail.
8. Description of Functional Deficits
Recurring Entry
Questions:
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Q: 1) Do you have documents that occur on a regular basis (monthly or quarterly, for
example)?
A: Yes - rents/leases, contract payments, maintenance, utilities
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
Ability to set up recurring entries if needed
2. General Explanations
Recurring documents can be setup to handle recurring vendor invoices. Typically these
are invoices for rent/leases, contractual obligations, fixed-priced utilities/services, etc.
Vendor-related transaction postings that recur time and time again can be made using
the recurring entry program. To do this, you enter a recurring entry document, and then
execute the recurring entry program at certain intervals or schedule it for execution.
3. Explanations of Functions and Events
You can specify when an accounting document is created from a recurring entry
document as follows (choose from the alternatives below):
You enter the interval in the recurring entry document by specifying a date for the first run
and a date for the last run. You also enter the run intervals in months. By specifying a
calendar day, you can determine the day on which the program is executed. This is
useful if the postings are to be made at monthly intervals (calendar months).
You can define a run schedule in the system, and specify in the recurring entry document
which schedule the system uses for the document. This procedure is useful if the
postings cannot be made at monthly intervals. Postings that are to be carried out in
thirteen periods or every other week, for example, can only be made by scheduling the
run. In this activity, you define the run schedules by specifying a key and a description. In
a second activity, you enter the required dates for each schedule.
4. Business Model
Standard SAP Business Model applies
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With recurring entries, you are able to schedule and post a document multiple times.
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
Internal accounting processes to debit or credit vendor accounts can be performed with
this transaction without creating an actual invoice document.
2. General Explanations
Using the Internal Transfer Posting function, you enter document line items and then
select the open items that are to be cleared. Once the total amount of selected open
items equals the amount of entered line items, the system clears the open items by
creating one or more offsetting entries.
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4. Business Model
Standard SAP Business Model applies
7. Description of Improvements
Internal Transfer Posting function provides an internal process to clear open vendor items
without processing an actual payment.
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the posting keys defined for the incoming payment and outgoing payment transactions.
You cannot delete these transactions.
Posting keys for the invoice and credit memo fast entry function are defined separately in
the system.
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
Posting with clearing function provides an internal process to clear open vendor items
without processing an actual payment.
2. General Explanations
Using the posting with clearing function, you enter document line items and then select
the open items that are to be cleared. Once the total amount of selected open items
equals the amount of entered line items, the system clears the open items by creating
one or more offsetting entries.
4. Business Model
Standard SAP Business Model applies
5. Special Organizational Considerations
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7. Description of Improvements
Internal Transfer Posting with clearing function provides an internal process to clear open
vendor items without processing an actual payment.
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4.3.3.
4.3.3.1.
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
Ability to query and report on vendor line items
Within the Accounts Payable module, you can analyze individual operational areas as
often as you require. You can evaluate, among other things, payment history, cash
discount history, currency exposure among customers and vendors, or aging reports.
2. General Explanations
Query screens/report that provide vendor-related line item detail data associated with
vendor documents
4. Business Model
N/A
7. Description of Improvements
N/A
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None
Balance Analysis
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
Within the Accounts Payable module, you can analyze individual operational areas as
often as you require. You can evaluate, among other things, payment history, cash
discount history, currency exposure among customers and vendors, or aging reports.
2. General Explanations
Query screens/report that provide vendor balance totals associated with vendor
documents
7. Description of Improvements
N/A
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Questions:
Q:
2. General Explanations
Query screens/report that provide vendor account evaluations associated with vendor
documents
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7. Description of Improvements
N/A
4.3.4.
Vendor Payments
Questions:
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Q: 1) Which payment methods do you use (check, bank transfers, bills of exchange, direct
debit, etc.)?
A: Checks
Electronic transactions (bank wires and ACH) with bank
Examples of these transaction types include supplemental retirement benefits, concert
settlements, payments to foreign banks, and trust remittances.
Q:
2) How do you pay your domestic vendors (by check, bank transfer etc.)?
Q:
3) How do you pay your foreign vendors (by check, bank transfer, etc.)
Q:
A: By check through Treasurer's A/P Office (see question #1 under Invoices and Credits
section). However, awards for employees are handled through the Payroll Office.
Q:
Q: 6) Do you always issue a single payment for multiple invoices to the same vendor? If not
please specify the exceptions.
A: The majority of payments are for multiple invoices to a single vendor, except for T-29 and
travel payments. However, we have the option of using the "Not Combined" batching
capability.
Q:
Q:
A: If the credit memo is against a PO, then it is entered in a "credit batch". If it is not against
a PO, then it is keyed as a credit in a regular batch along with invoices.
Credit memos without a corresponding invoice are held by the system until sufficient invoices
are processed to issue a check. If no invoices are entered, the credit memo must be deleted
(manually) from the system.
Q:
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A: On most purchase order invoices, the cash discount is automatically calculated by the
system. Sometimes the calculation is done by the department (especially on non-PO
transactions). At the time of entry, the cash discount is shown as a negative amount on the
cash discount field.
Currently, if an invoice comes in with a discount taken by the department, the A/P office will
take the credit on the invoice (regardless if it's past the terms). If the vendor bills back for this
discount, that invoice is processed through regular procedures. The department gives the
check number where the cash discount was taken and the amount is charged back to the
original account number and object code the discount was taken on. However, if there is a
cash discount date given on the invoice and the payment date will be after that date, the
discount is not taken.
Q:
10) How do you handle exchange rate differences in foreign currency payments?
A: Majority are direct purchases, not on PO. Approved invoice is received from department.
In Treasurer's A/P Office, a letter is written to First Tennessee Bank requesting that foreign
drafts be issued for all invoices listed (some are converted to US$, others are issued in a
foreign currency). The drafts are prepared by First Tennessee Bank and returned to
Treasurer's A/P office. The drafts are then mailed out (along with a copy of the payment
request). Each payment request is then entered into IMS (using First TN Bank's vendor
number) for the converted US$ amount (plus the bank service charge) and a check is issued
to First TN Bank. The amount shows up on the department's ledger as a payment to First TN
Bank instead of the vendor.
All conversions are handled through First Tennessee Bank and not done by the current
system.
The majority of these transactions are for European countries (including Euro Dollars). There
are approximately 10 (+/-) per month.
Q: 11) How do you create the payment media (payment forms, remittance advices or
electronic files) for these payment methods?
A: Checks: The payment run is done nightly and the checks are printed the next morning.
At this time, all the information is printed on the check (including the check number). The
remittance advice is automatically created by the system. Currently it includes the invoice
date, invoice number, amount, purchase order number (if applicable), University account
number, object code and amount to be charged to each acct/object code.
If the invoice quantity exceeds the lines on the remittance advice, a separate sheet is printed
listing all invoices paid on that check.
Wire Transfers: A settlement sheet (from concerts, arena events, etc) or invoice is received
from Treasurer's A/P office. Tim Mapes goes to his pc and logs into Prime Connection (First
Tennessee Bank's pc banking program). He goes into the wire transfer module and enters
the name and address of the bank the funds are being wired to, routing number for that bank,
account name and number to which funds are being deposited, amount and a description of
why funds are being deposited. This is transmitted to the bank. The bank accepts the
transmission and sends a confirmation code to the Treasurer's Office. The confirmation code
sheet is attached to the payment request and taken to the Controller's Office where a JV is
processed. 99% of the wires are handled this way. Some wires (i.e. international wires,
wires with excessive information, etc) are handled the same way except that the information
is called into the bank instead of being transmitted.
Wire transfers are same day transactions.
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ACH: A cash concentration ACH is processed (pull money from all the banks that have
taken in money). Tim Mapes logs into the pc and enters the same information as required for
a wire transfer but also includes an effective date for the ACH. An ACH file is created and
transmitted to the bank. A confirmation is received from the bank and goes to the University's
central cashier who processes a CV. ACH are not same day transactions - they are next day
transactions at the earliest and can be later.
Information Required:
Remittance Advice: Invoice date; invoice number or description; PO #; invoice amount; UT
account number and object code being charged by dollar amount (determine if this is needed
going forward). PROBLEM: Vendors are misapplying amounts by looking at UT account
number and object code (even though this area is darker than other parts of remittance
advice and states "For University Use Only". VENDOR WANTS: Their customer number
shown for each invoice or transaction listed. For multiple transactions, they want to know
which campus the transaction is for (although if their customer number is on the remittance
advice, this should give the vendor the information they need).
Wire Transfers: Name and address of bank the funds are being wired to, routing number for
that bank, account name and number to which funds are being deposited, amount and a
description of why funds are being deposited.
ACH: All the same information needed for a wire transfer but also an effective date for the
transfer (money is not received on the same date of the transaction, so an effective date is
needed.)
Q:
A: No
Q:
A: Everyday a check register is run showing the check number, payee, amount, account
number and object code charged for each check written (both DV and BV). This register is
gone through to make sure no check numbers are missing (gaps, etc). They are then logged
in to a cash account log.
Transmit issue tape to the bank. When a check is presented at the bank, the check comes
off the issue tape.
Anything left over after 1 year is written off. They are credited to unclaimed property. Checks
are issued when a payee calls regarding a check.
Q:
14) How do you transfer your electronic payment file to the bank?
A: First Tennessee Prime Connection is used for ACH transactions. See #11. Federal
wages are paid using "Tax Link". Fedwire is backup in case of computer failure (obtain
details from Tim Mapes, Treasurer's Office).
4.3.4.1.
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
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2. General Explanations
A payment request is a noted item and it triggers a payment by the payment program.
You can enter payment requests both for invoices that have already been posted and
invoices that have been parked. Payment requests enable you to use a partial payment
for an invoice that has already been posted. If you do this, the invoice is blocked for
payment and a payment request is entered for the partial amount.
4. Business Model
Standard SAP Business Model applies
5. Special Organizational Considerations
Although A/P document processing is at a department level, Payment Requests will be
centralized in A/P to limit the possibility of documents errors.
7. Description of Improvements
Payment requests are particularly useful for paying parked invoices on time and with
maximum cash discount, even when the invoice is not actually posted until after the
payment.
8. Description of Functional Deficits
None are apparent at this time
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Questions:
Q:
1) How do you release invoices that have been blocked for payment?
A: Currently there is no automatic system blocking (i.e. for price variance, quality check,
etc). Invoices and credit memos are entered at the campus business office (or Treasurer's
A/P office for Knoxville campus) and sent to the Treasurer's A/P office. After batch is audited
and reviewed, it is "balanced" (batch number, operator initials, $ amount and number of
invoices). This audit, review and balance procedure is only done by the Treasurer's A/P
office. The edit run is done at night and the checks are written the next morning. Pull and
release is 100% manual.
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
2. General Explanations
A payment release can be triggered based on a specified amount detailed in each
workflow variant.
The release program can differentiate between one, two and three-level release. This
enables between one and three people to be involved in the release procedure, thus
supporting both dual and triple control.
3. Explanations of Functions and Events
A payment block can be set for any accounting line items. This sets off a payment
release procedure in which individual items can be reviewed by various employees
before any payment is made. If this procedure is successfully completed, the payment
block is canceled and the line item can be paid.
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4. Business Model
Since UT is interested in allowing decentralized invoice entry at the department level,
using the Payment Release strategy could afford the Accounts Payable department the
ability to control vendor payments prior to the payment program process. By setting
certain criteria, vendor payments that exceed targeted amounts or are being assigned to
specific accounts can be reviewed prior to payment.
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Questions:
Q:
A: Treasurer's A/P office maintains control over all manual vendor payments. At the
discretion of A/P, and with proper documentation, checks are typed as needed. The check
number is recorded in two logbooks and sent through Entrex for entry into the system. At this
point, the account number and object code is charged.
Q:
2) Do you print or hand-write the payment media (for example, checks, transfer forms)?
A: These are typed on typewriter and manually signature stamped. These are "emergency"
transactions. There are approximately 5-10 transactions/month.
Excess financial aid checks are written at other campus Bursar's Offices on a different
system. These requests and checks are handled completely at the other campuses.
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
Ability to print "on-demand" checks through the system
2. General Explanations
Clearing vendor invoices is done at the time of payment. Accrual accounting is not used.
A/P can produce a listing of open invoices and credit memos if a check has not been
generated. SAP R/3 provides the same functionality; in addition, vendor invoices and
credit memos for all cleared items will also be provided along with the payment
documents that generated the vendor checks.
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7. Description of Improvements
None
Questions:
Q: 1) How do you post payments? Which G/L accounts are used? Which additional account
assignments (for example, cost centers) do you need for bank postings, bank charges
accounts, cash discount accounts, and exchange rate differences?
A: Bank Postings: Dr
Cr
Expense to department
Cash
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Cash Discounts: Dr
Cr
Bank Charges: Dr
Cr
XXXX
No postings, discounts are keyed as reduction to payable amount at
time of entry: netted on invoice
Expense to department
Cash
Q: 2) Do you wish to clear vendor invoices at the time of payment or at the time the bank
statement is posted?
A: Currently, this is done at the time of payment. Accrual accounting is not used. A/P
systems can produce a listing of open invoices and credit memos if check has not been
generated.
Q: 5) From which bank account(s) do you make payments? List the bank accounts by
payment method, by foreign currency, or any other criteria relevant for bank selection.
A: We have one primary depository account where we initially deposit Knoxville funds:
other account funds are swept into this account
our wires go out of that account and our ACH goes in and out
no checks are written from this account
We have 1 main disbursements account from which only checks (DVs and BVs) are written.
This is a controlled disbursement account. Disbursement Vouchers (DVs) are payments to
vendors, and Batch Vouchers (BVs) are typically refunds to students written in batch because
we do not need to keep the detail of these payments on our G/L.
There is 1 payroll account, which is ZBA. We move money to cover payroll payments from
our primary depository account. The bank handles the draw, and this is done daily. Outflows
include direct deposits and checks. Payroll transmits this information to the bank. The direct
deposit information is fed through a phone modem via FedLine II (a means for banks to
interact with the federal reserve bank, but UT has been allowed to use it). Currently, we have
150 payroll runs a year, and these include monthly, biweekly, longevity, supplemental (on the
10th of each month), and special payrolls.
Note: In R/3, a directory must be set up for all the banks that are used by UT employees for
direct deposit of payroll. Benson can assist in this. If 1st TN can share its quarterly CD from
Thomson Financial, it would be helpful to get the directory setup. Alternatively, the
information can be extracted from the legacy system.
There are 4 other ZBA accounts for batch vouchers (BVs) for which checks are written by the
campus Bursars at Knoxville, Chattanooga, Martin and Memphis. These are for on -demand
student aid refunds. The Chattanooga ZBA account uses this account to make lender
refunds through ACH. The exception is that Knoxville refunds the lender through the primary
depository account.
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Q: 6) How does your actual cash position influence the way you assign funds to the
different banks in the payment program?
A: Not currently (based on Cash Management Workshop).
See Cash Management Workshop for complete details.
Q:
A: Foreign drafts: The bank charge is included with the amount of the invoice and is
charged to the same account number and object code.
Wire Transfer: The bank charge is charged back to the department requesting the wire. It is
also charged to the same account number and object code as the original invoice.
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
2. General Explanations
Clearing vendor invoices is done at the time of payment. Accrual accounting is not used.
A/P can produce a listing of open invoices and credit memos if a check has not been
generated. SAP R/3 provides the same functionality; in addition, vendor invoices and
credit memos for all cleared items will also be provided along with the payment
documents that generated the vendor checks.
4. Business Model
Standard SAP Business Model applies
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7. Description of Improvements
Payables are paid with the payment program. Outstanding payables are settled by the
payment program, which supports all standard payment methods (such as checks and
transfers) in printed form as well as in electronic form (data medium exchange on disk
and electronic data interchange). Country-specific payment methods are also covered by
this program.
8. Description of Functional Deficits
None are apparent at this time
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The above rules and conditions must be defined if the payment program is to determine
the above-mentioned information automatically. However, you can also specify this
information manually.
12. Authorization and User Roles
In Accounts Payable, only the A/P supervisor or above should be able to process the
Payment Program.
4.3.5.
Questions:
Q:
1) In which cases are open items cleared other than through payment receipts?
A: Currently, since items are entered into the system and paid almost immediately, there are
no true "open" items. In R/3 we can foresee having an item paid to a wrong vendor and the
correct vendor being still open. In that case, we would have an "open" item.
Currently, once a department receives an invoice, they have the option to pay against the
procurement card instead of processing invoice for payment. This sometimes creates a
duplicate payment (both procurement card and invoice). This is a control issue.
4.3.5.1.
Manual Clearing
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
Ability to clear open items which are not cleared automatically
2. General Explanations
You can clear only items that are posted to accounts that are kept on an open item basis.
Open item management is automatically set for customer and vendor accounts. For G/L
accounts, however, you have to set the open item management option in their master
record yourself.
4. Business Model
Standard SAP Business Model applies
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7. Description of Improvements
None
Automatic Clearing
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
Ability to clear open items automatically
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2. General Explanations
You can clear only items that are posted to accounts that are kept on an open item basis.
Open item management is automatically set for customer and vendor accounts. For G/L
accounts, however, you have to set the open item management option in their master
record yourself.
Open items on an account can be cleared manually using the Account clearing function,
or they can be cleared automatically by the system. Automatic clearing is specially
designed for clearing accounts such as the Checks Receivable Clearing, Goods
Receipt/Invoice Receipt Clearing, Vendor/Customer accounts in the general ledger.
Other system processes can be configured to perform similar automatic clearing
activities.
4. Business Model
Standard SAP Business Model applies
7. Description of Improvements
Customer and vendor accounts are always kept on an open item basis. This lets you
monitor your outstanding receivables and payables at any time.
Open item management ensures that all items that have not yet been cleared are
available in the system. Only after every open item in a document is cleared can a
document be archived.
8. Description of Functional Deficits
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4.3.6.
4.3.6.1.
Questions:
Q: 1) What correspondence (such as balance confirmation) and internal evaluations (such
as internal documents) do you create for your vendors?
A: Correspondence to vendors: (1) Attachment list when number of invoices paid is greater
than remittance advice allows. (2) Letter for short pay of sales tax and deduction of freight
charges. (3) Fax copies of checks to help vendor understand payment.
Correspondence to Initiating University Department: (1) Report of Errors for Key Operators
and for Prompt Pay Violations. (2) Outstanding Purchase Orders (QTR) (3) On-line form for
return of or adjustments to travel reimbursements where errors are made.
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
Check to vendors
-0- Balance Remittance letter
Remittance advice including multi-page overflow attachment
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2. General Explanations
Any desired correspondence can be requested either automatically or manually.
The automatic procedure is possible for the following correspondence types:
* The system can create payment notices automatically by making an entry in the
master record of the vendor, or by making this dependent on the company code.
* Account statements are automatically printed periodically, without a request having
been made, if the vender has a corresponding key for this in the master record.
Correspondence is usually printed automatically. To this end, the request program
SAPF140 is run in the background (without any entered parameters for it), for example
once every day, to print the correspondence. The report prints all the correspondence
types requested but not yet printed.
4. Business Model
Standard SAP Business Model applies
7. Description of Improvements
Correspondences can be automatically generated as opposed as only manually
processed.
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4.4.
4.4.1.
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
UT intends to use A/R invoicing for decentralized sponsored project invoicing at the
departmental level. These invoices will be entered and parked by departments. The
Controller's Office or campus business office will approve parked invoices for release.
This is primarily intended for agreements requiring departmental input of information,
such as clinical trials.
Ability to query and report on customer line items
Within the Accounts Receivable module, you can analyze individual operational areas as
often as you require. You can evaluate, among other things, payment history, currency
exposure among customers and vendors, or aging reports.
4.4.1.1.
Questions:
Q:
1) Do customer invoices require any type of approval before they are posted?
A: Yes. Departments may generate invoices outside SD and park them in A/R. Before the
parked documents are released, they require approval by the campus business office.
Q:
2) What is your procedure for parking and releasing invoices and or/credit memos?
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1. Requirements/Expectations
2. General Explanations
Customer Invoice entry will take place using the customer invoice entry screen.
However, instead of actually posting the document to the SAP R/3 system, the user will
park the document, which in essence will place the document in a Hold status. To
release the parked document, subsequent transactions will take place to release the
parked documents to the appropriate posting stages.
4. Business Model
Customer bills that need to be updated/researched: A/R clerks &/or department
personnel will enter customer invoices as fully as possible and then will park the
document.
Customer invoices that require approvals: Department personnel (mostly) &/or A/R
clerks will enter customer invoices in their entirety; Invoice Release strategy will manage
approval workflow
A document is first parked by an A/R entry or department clerk, then sent to the person
responsible for authorizing billing amounts to customers. The document is passed on to
the person responsible for account assignment approval. He releases the account
assignment and this in turn triggers the posting
7. Description of Improvements
The advantage of parking documents is that you can evaluate the data in the documents
online for reporting purposes from the moment they are parked, rather than having to wait
until they have been completed and posted.
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CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
Parking of customer documents is performed when invoices or credit memos are entered
which do not have all of the required details necessary to actually post the documents or
the information being entered needs to be researched further prior to document posting.
Parking of customer documents allows the clerk to perform the initial document entry and
then hold the document until such time that it is necessary to process the document.
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Invoice Release strategies also utilize Customer Document Parking in order to manage
the process of approving and releasing customer invoices for billing.
2. General Explanations
You can post parked documents either individually or via a list. If you post several parked
documents via a list, the system issues a list when you have finished which details which
documents were successfully posted.
From this list, you can then carry out any necessary post-processing to parked
documents that could not be posted due to missing information such as a cost accounting
assignment. You can also create a batch input session to post the parked documents.
The data in parked documents is deleted when they are posted, a document is written to
the document database and the appropriate data (transaction figures etc.) is updated.
The number of the parked document is transferred to the posted document.
4. Business Model
Customer bills that need to be updated/researched: A/R clerks &/or department
personnel will enter customer invoices as fully as possible and then will park the
document.
Customer invoices that require approvals: Department personnel (mostly) &/or A/R
clerks will enter customer invoices in their entirety; Invoice Release strategy will manage
approval workflow
A document is first parked by an A/R entry or department clerk, then sent to the person
responsible for authorizing billing amounts to customers. The document is passed on to
the person responsible for account assignment approval. He releases the account
assignment and this in turn triggers the posting
5. Special Organizational Considerations
Special A/R training is needed to ensure that customer invoices are properly parked.
Since both Accounts Receivable and key departmental personnel will be responsible for
customer invoice entry, training will be a broad initiative.
7. Description of Improvements
The advantage of parking documents is that you can evaluate the data in the documents
online for reporting purposes from the moment they are parked, rather than having to wait
until they have been completed and posted.
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Outgoing Invoice
Questions:
Q:
A: Only part of these invoices is currently being captured in A/R. All invoices are the same
document type - sponsor invoices. Document numbers are manually assigned by
decentralized departments and do not need to be replicated by R/3.
Q:
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A: Yes.
Q:
A: No
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
UT would like to capture all sponsored project billing in A/R: either through SD or
manual posting to A/R.
UT currently allows some decentralized billing by departments that would be eligible
for manual posting to A/R.
One or two standard invoice templates (customized for UT) would be useful for users.
A primary, expected user of this functionality is expected to be clinical trials billing.
2. General Explanations
Customer invoices are entered in Accounts Receivable when there is not a referencing
Sales Order to match the customer billing invoice.
7. Description of Improvements
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Questions:
Q:
A: UT does not currently have this functionality, but would like to use it.
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
UT would like to use the R/3 functionality for credit memos. Currently, UT makes manual
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2. General Explanations
Customer credit memos are entered in Accounts Receivable when there is not a
referencing Sales Order to match to the credit memo.
4. Business Model
Invoice receipt is used to enter incoming or outgoing invoices or credit memos. The
Invoice/Credit Memo Entry Enjoy transaction is a single-screen transaction. This means
that an invoice can be entered, parked, and held on one screen without loss of context.
The entry screen remains the central reference screen, respective of the document
status.
The Enjoy transactions are included in the area menus for Accounts Receivable and
Accounts Payable according to the business transaction.
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None
Document Reversal
Questions:
Q:
1) How should a document reversal update the balances of the relevant accounts?
A: UT would like to have a good audit trail for document reversals. Reversals should not be
netted against the original entry; instead, an opposing entry should be made so that both
activities can be seen in the balance.
Q:
2. General Explanations
If an incorrect document has been entered, it can be reversed, thereby also clearing the
open items. A document can only be reversed if the following criteria are met:
1. It contains no cleared items
2. It contains only customer, vendor, and G/L account items
3. It was posted with Financial Accounting
4. All entered values (such as business area, cost center, and tax code) are still
valid
The document and the reverse document increase the account transaction debit and
credit figures by the same amount. This will provide an audit trail.
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4. Business Model
Standard SAP Business Model applies
7. Description of Improvements
Provides audit trail process associated with correcting incorrect invoice or credit memo
documents.
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Mass Reversal
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
To reverse a large number of transactional documents, the recommended solution is to
use the Mass Reversal program.
2. General Explanations
Mass reversal allows multiple documents to be reversed at one time. All of the
documents to be reversed must meet the following criteria:
* It contains no cleared items
* It contains only customer, vendor, and G/L account items
* It was posted with Financial Accounting
* All entered values (such as business area, cost center, and tax code) are still valid
4. Business Model
Standard SAP Business Model applies
5. Special Organizational Considerations
Although A/R document processing is at a department level, mass reversal of documents
will be centralized in A/R or A/P to limit the possibility of reversing mass documents in
error.
7. Description of Improvements
Instead of having to reverse documents one at a time, you now have the ability to reverse
several documents at once with an audit trail.
8. Description of Functional Deficits
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Recurring Entry
Questions:
Q: 1) Do you have documents that occur on a regular basis (monthly or quarterly, for
example)?
A: Yes, some of these sponsor agreements may call for regular invoicing.
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
Ability to set up recurring entries if needed
2. General Explanations
Recurring documents can be setup to handle recurring customer invoices. Typically for
UT, these are Sponsor invoices for continuing project research.
Customer-related transactional postings, which recur time and time again, can be made
using the recurring entry program. To do this, you enter a recurring entry document, and
then execute the recurring entry program at certain intervals or schedule it for execution.
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4. Business Model
Standard SAP Business Model applies
5. Special Organizational Considerations
The invoice entry process is at the department level. Recurring entries will be entered at
the department level but executed centrally in A/R (UT Controller's Office).
7. Description of Improvements
With recurring entries, you are able to schedule and post a document multiple times.
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the company codes that use them. You have to use key X1 for the number range. The
system takes numbers for the recurring entry document from this number range.
Program SAPF120 creates accounting documents using the recurring entry documents.
You have to run the program at regular intervals. It checks each recurring entry document
to see if a document should be created.
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
Internal accounting processes to debit or credit vendor accounts can be performed with
this transaction without creating an actual invoice document.
2. General Explanations
Using the Internal Transfer Posting function, you enter document line items and then
select the open items that are to be cleared. Once the total amount of selected open
items equals the amount of entered line items, the system clears the open items by
creating one or more offsetting entries.
4. Business Model
Standard SAP Business Model applies
5. Special Organizational Considerations
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7. Description of Improvements
Internal Transfer Posting function provides an internal process to clear open customer
items without processing an actual billing invoice.
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4.4.1.9.
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
Posting with clearing function provides an internal process to clear open customer items
without processing an actual billing invoice.
2. General Explanations
Using the posting with clearing function, you enter document line items and then select
the open items that are to be cleared. Once the total amount of selected open items
equals the amount of entered line items, the system clears the open items by creating
one or more offsetting entries.
4. Business Model
Standard SAP Business Model applies
7. Description of Improvements
Internal Transfer Posting with clearing function provides an internal process to clear open
customer items without processing an actual billing invoice.
8. Description of Functional Deficits
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4.4.2.
4.4.2.1.
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
Ability to query and report on customer line items
Within the Accounts Receivable module, you can analyze individual operational areas as
often as you require. You can evaluate, among other things, payment history, currency
exposure among customers and vendors, or aging reports.
2. General Explanations
Query screens/report that provide customer-related line item detail data associated with
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customer documents.
4. Business Model
N/A
Balance Analysis
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CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
Ability to query and report on customer line items
Within the Accounts Receivable module, you can analyze individual operational areas as
often as you require. You can evaluate, among other things, payment history, currency
exposure among customers and vendors, or aging reports.
2. General Explanations
Query screens/report that provide customer-related line item detail data associated with
customer documents.
7. Description of Improvements
N/A
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Screen variants can be developed during configuration to assist the end user.
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
Ability to query and report on customer line items
Within the Accounts Receivable module, you can analyze individual operational areas as
often as you require. You can evaluate, among other things, payment history, currency
exposure among customers and vendors, or aging reports.
2. General Explanations
Query screens/report that provide customer-related line item detail data associated with
customer documents.
4. Business Model
N/A
7. Description of Improvements
N/A
8. Description of Functional Deficits
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4.4.3.
Customer Payments
Questions:
Q:
A: Customer payments are deposited at each campus. Paperwork is sent to the Knoxville
campus, central cashier, for general ledger posting. Payments are matched to outstanding
A/R manually based on sponsor name, payment amount, and invoice number (if referenced
by the sponsor). Unknown payments are posted to a central clearing account for
investigation.
Q:
A: If a sponsor underpays, the remaining balance remains due and payable for the invoice.
UT then pursues collection of the unpaid amount.
If a sponsor overpays, the overpayment is investigated. If it is truly an overpayment, it is
applied to future invoices or refunded to the sponsor. Sometimes, sponsors pay us interest,
even though we do not charge it. UT transfers the interest payment to an interest income
account.
Q:
A: No.
Q:
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A: No.
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
Customer payments are deposited at each campus. Paperwork is sent to the Knoxville
campus, central cashier, for general ledger posting. Payments are matched to
outstanding A/R manually based on sponsor name, payment amount, and invoice
number (if referenced by the sponsor). Unknown payments are posted to a central
clearing account for investigation.
4.4.3.1.
Questions:
Q:
A: Yes
Q:
A: Yes
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
UT receives payment advices along with customer payments. The Cashier manually
posts the payment by using information on the payment advice.
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N/A
4.4.3.2.
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
A customer payment request is a customer document that triggers a customer accounts
receivable by the payment program.
2. General Explanations
A payment request is a noted item and it triggers a dunning notice through the dunning
program. You can enter payment requests both for invoices that have already been
posted and invoices that have been parked.
Questions:
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Q:
1) How do you release invoices that have been blocked for payment?
Questions:
Q:
A: Customer payments are deposited at each campus. Paperwork is sent to the Knoxville
campus, central cashier, for general ledger posting. Payments are matched to outstanding
A/R manually based on sponsor name, payment amount, and invoice number (if referenced
by the sponsor). Unknown payments are posted to a central clearing account for
investigation.
Q:
A: Customer payments are deposited at each campus. Paperwork is sent to the Knoxville
campus, central cashier, for general ledger posting. Payments are matched to outstanding
A/R manually based on sponsor name, payment amount, and invoice number (if referenced
by the sponsor). Unknown payments are posted to a central clearing account for
investigation.
Q:
3) Do you print or hand-write the payment media (for example, checks, transfer forms)?
A: N/A
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CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
Customer payments are deposited at each campus. Paperwork is sent to the Knoxville
campus, central cashier, for general ledger posting. Payments are matched to
outstanding A/R manually based on sponsor name, payment amount, and invoice
number (if referenced by the sponsor). Unknown payments are posted to a central
clearing account for investigation.
Questions:
Q: 1) How do you post payments? Which G/L accounts are used? Which additional account
assignments (for example, cost centers) do you need for bank postings, bank charges
accounts, cash discount accounts, and exchange rate differences?
A: Customer payments are deposited at each campus. Paperwork is sent to the Knoxville
campus, central cashier, for general ledger posting. Payments are matched to outstanding
A/R manually based on sponsor name, payment amount, and invoice number (if referenced
by the sponsor). Unknown payments are posted to a central clearing account for
investigation.
Q: 2) Do you process automatic payments for your customers, such as direct debits and
bills of exchange? Please describe in detail how these payments are processed.
A: No
Q: 3) Do you apply payments automatically based on an electronic statement of account or
a lockbox file? Describe in detail how these payments are processed.
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A: No
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
UT posts all payments manually. We do not expect to do automatic posting.
CI Template:
6. Changes to Existing Organization
None
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4.4.4.
Questions:
Q:
1) In which cases are open items cleared other than through payment receipts?
A: In the rare instances where a receivable is deemed unable to be collected, a journal entry
is manually prepared to transfer costs to a departmental cost center to cover the uncollected
amount.
Q:
Manual Clearing
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
Ability to clear open items which are not cleared automatically
2. General Explanations
You can clear only items that are posted to accounts that are kept on an open item basis.
Open item management is automatically set for customer and vendor accounts. For G/L
accounts, however, you have to set the open item management option in their master
record yourself.
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7. Description of Improvements
None
Automatic Clearing
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
Ability to clear open items automatically
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2. General Explanations
You can clear only items that are posted to accounts that are kept on an open item basis.
Open item management is automatically set for customer and vendor accounts. For G/L
accounts, however, you have to set the open item management option in their master
record yourself.
Open items on an account can be cleared manually using the Account clearing function,
or they can be cleared automatically by the system. Automatic clearing is specially
designed for clearing accounts such as the Checks Receivable Clearing, Goods
Receipt/Invoice Receipt Clearing, Vendor/Customer accounts in the general ledger.
Other system processes can be configured to perform similar automatic clearing
activities.
4. Business Model
Standard SAP Business Model applies
7. Description of Improvements
Customer and vendor accounts are always kept on an open item basis. This lets you
monitor your outstanding receivables and payables at any time.
Open item management ensures that all items that have not yet been cleared are
available in the system. Only after every open item in a document is cleared can a
document be archived.
8. Description of Functional Deficits
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None
4.4.5.
Dunning Notice
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
UT currently has automatic dunning capability. UT has the option of sending late letters
for invoices at 90, 120, and 150 days old. The standard letters are three formats of
increasing severity.
4.4.5.1.
Automatic Dunning
Questions:
Q:
A: Invoices are aged from the date mailed. When an invoice becomes 90 days old, it is
eligible for a late letter. UT needs the capability of not sending a late letter if we know of
circumstances where it would not be appropriate.
Q:
A: UT sends collection letters monthly, at 90, 120, 150 days old. After 2 or 3 letters, UT
starts calling the sponsor.
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Q:
A: No.
Q:
Q:
A: Three.
Q: 6) Which organizational units are responsible for dunning (for example, company code,
division)?
A: This should be handled at the campus business office or Controller's Office level.
Q:
A: No.
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
UT currently has automatic dunning capability. UT has the option of sending late letters
for invoices at 90, 120, and 150 days old. The standard letters are three formats of
increasing severity.
2. General Explanations
The dunning process consists of the following stages:
1. Creating the dunning proposal: You start the dunning program and enter the
company codes for the dunning run. You can only run the program for certain
accounts. The dunning program determines the accounts and items that are to
be dunned, the dunning level and all other details necessary for dunning. The
dunning program produces a dunning proposal list. The dunning proposal list can
be created as often as required since the dunning data for the item and in the
account is not updated until the dunning notices have been printed.
2. Editing the dunning proposal list: You edit the dunning proposal list by raising
or lowering the dunning level of some line items, blocking some line items from
being dunned, or removing dunning blocks.
3. Printing the dunning notices The print program prints the dunning notices. It
updates the fields Dunning level and Dunning date in each line item, and dunning
date and level in the master records.
3. Explanations of Functions and Events
The dunning program duns open items in customer and vendor accounts if the overdue
items result in a debit balance.
When configuring the dunning program, you can specify further criteria by which
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7. Description of Improvements
The R/3 System allows you to dun business partners automatically. The system duns the
open items from business partner accounts in which the overdue items create a debit
balance. The dunning program selects the overdue open items, determines the dunning
level of the account in question, and creates a dunning notice. It then saves the dunning
data created for the items and accounts affected.
8. Description of Functional Deficits
None are apparent at this time
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None
4.4.6.
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
Currently, UT only has two types of correspondence with sponsors - invoices and late
letters. UT would like to be able to use credit memos, statement of account, and other
types of standard correspondence.
UT needs a way to officially document collection efforts with a customer. We currently
write this down manually in our project file. This documentation should be at the invoice
level. This documentation substantiates our verbal correspondence. This is usually
notes from conversations with various customer personnel, our PI, etc.
4.4.6.1.
Questions:
Q: 1) What correspondence (such as balance confirmation) and internal evaluations (such
as internal documents) do you create for your vendors?
A: Currently, UT only has two types of correspondence with sponsors - invoices and late
letters. UT would like to be able to use credit memos, statement of account, and other types
of standard correspondence.
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UT needs a way to officially document collection efforts with a customer. We currently write
this down manually in our project file. This documentation should be at the invoice level.
This documentation substantiates our verbal correspondence. This is usually notes from
conversations with various customer personnel, our PI, etc.
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
Currently, UT only has two types of correspondence with sponsors - invoices and late
letters. UT would like to be able to use credit memos, statement of account, and other
types of standard correspondence.
UT needs a way to officially document collection efforts with a customer. We currently
write this down manually in our project file. This documentation should be at the invoice
level. This documentation substantiates our verbal correspondence. This is usually
notes from conversations with various customer personnel, our PI, etc.
2. General Explanations
Any desired correspondence can be requested either automatically or manually.
The automatic procedure is possible for the following correspondence types:
* The system can create payment notices automatically by making an entry in the master
record of the vendor, or by making this dependent on the company code.
* Account statements are automatically printed periodically, without a request having
been made, if the vender has a corresponding key for this in the master record.
Correspondence is usually printed automatically. To this end, the request program
SAPF140 is run in the background (without any entered parameters for it), for example
once every day, to print the correspondence. The report prints all the correspondence
types requested but not yet printed.
7. Description of Improvements
Correspondences can be automatically generated as opposed as only manually
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processed.
4.5.
Bank Accounting
4.5.1.
4.5.1.1.
Incomings
Cash Journal
Questions:
Q:
A: Any department in the University may receive or disburse cash. The Treasurer's office is
responsible for managing all university cash through the main bank account at the First
Tennessee bank and several other depository banks located all over the state.
The Treasurer's Office (Tim Mapes) manages the Cash Accounts. The individual campus
Bursar Offices (or primary depositor, if there is no Bursar's Office) must provide the total daily
cash deposits in their respective depository accounts to Tim Mapes so that he may make
investment decisions. Departments deposit cash with the Bursar's Office and prepare a T-33,
Report of Collections, that details the amounts and the accounts to which the cash should be
credited.
Tim Mapes' role is to manage the overall cash position and to invest excess funds. Each
morning, Tim looks on Prime Connection for primary depository account balance (i.e. Acct
15) Tim gets the UT-maintained spreadsheet of the UT investment portfolio for that day's
investment maturities. The excess/deficit is determined, and appropriate investment activity
is done based on the daily liquidity analysis.
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2) For which business transactions are incoming cash journal postings made?
Q:
A: Deposit activity is primarily recorded/posted through the CV (Cash Voucher system). The
CV is managed/operated by the Central Cashier located in the Bursars Office on the
Knoxville Campus. Numerous accounts are debited/credited including income, expenditure,
agency, loan funds, etc.
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
Any department in the University may receive or disburse cash. The Treasurer's office is
responsible for managing all University cash through the main bank account at the First
Tennessee bank and several other depository banks located all over the state. The
Treasurer's Office (Tim Mapes) manages the Cash Accounts. The individual campus
Bursar Offices (or primary depositor, if there is no Bursar's Office) must provide the total
daily cash deposits in their respective depository accounts to Tim Mapes so that he may
make investment decisions. Departments deposit cash with the Bursar's Office and
prepare a T-33, Report of Collections, that details the amounts and the accounts to which
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the cash should be credited. Tim Mapes' role is to manage the overall cash position and
to invest excess funds. Each morning, Tim looks on Prime Connection for primary
depository account balance (i.e. Acct 15) Tim gets the UT-maintained spreadsheet of the
UT investment portfolio for that day's investment maturities. The excess/deficit is
determined, and appropriate investment activity is done based on the daily liquidity
analysis.
Daily Liquidity Analysis of Primary Depository Account Worksheet:
BEGINNING BALANCE (previous day's closing balance)
PLUS:
Securities maturing that day (from portfolio spreadsheet)
Semi-annual coupon additions (from portfolio spreadsheet)
Net ACH debits/credits activity postings that will post on current day (from Prime
Connection)
Lockbox additions (through Prime Connections) There are 3 lockboxes. Day 1deposited/ Day 2-moved to primary
depository account
Overnight Repos (from the portfolio spreadsheet)
LESS:
Funds required to cover the controlled disbursements clearings (A/P checks DVs
and BVs)
Direct Deposit portion of the Payroll that will clear that day.
Estimated amount of payroll checks that will clear that day.
Outgoing wire transfers (e.g. Debt service payments, retirement payments)
Outgoing ACH payments (e.g. Payroll taxes)
EQUALS:
Amount of Excess Cash to Invest or Deficit to Cover through Sale of Investments
The Controller's Office does the reconciliation and the G/L functions.
UT has 1 primary depository account where they initially deposit Knoxville funds. The
primary depository account is their cash management account. UT invests based on the
balance in that account.
Other account funds are swept into this account.
Wires go out of that account and our ACH goes in and out
No checks are written from this account.
Working capital investment purchases/sales are from this account
st
Besides the primary depository account at Knoxville, there are 3 other 1 TN depository
accounts at different locations (Cookeville, Memphis, and Chattanooga). Activities in
these depository accounts are tied to certain G/L accounts. Cash is concentrated out of
them. UT gets a daily download on the Memphis account. The Controller's Office
(Sharon Lee) faxes a copy of the daily download to Memphis so that the Memphis Bursar
knows what ACH and wires (such as grant & contract payments) were received.
There are 30 accounts at 22 banks.
We do not keep information on vendor banks.
OTHER BANKS
There is one depository account per location of bank. All depository accounts
st
concentrate to 1 TN, but a minimum balance is left in these accounts. University
personnel from the various campuses call Tim Mapes and inform him the amount of daily
activity, and then Tim transfers the appropriate amount.
AmSouth Bank (Knoxville, Nashville) 2 locations
National Bank of Commerce 1 location
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City State (Martin) 1 location [we don't download any checks from this account]
Union Planters (Chattanooga, Martin) - 2 locations
SunTrust (Chattanooga)
1st Farmers & Merchants National (Columbia) -1 location
BanCorp South (Jackson, Milan) - 2 locations
Greene County (Greenville)
Bank of America (Greenville, Nashville, Lewisburg) - 3 locations
Cumberland County (Crossville) 1 location
First Union National Bank (Springfield)
First State (Covington) 1 location
First National (Tullahoma)
Ag Extension County (Agency funds (cash) being held across TN Not actually a bank,
only a compilation of cash-holdings)
The types of incoming cash are:
Cash and Checks
Fed Wire
ACH
Credit Cards (Mainly from students or ticket purchasers)
Bank credits (interest earnings and other adjustments)
Our 95 UT Agriculture Extension accounts have agency funds that University personnel
manage. This amount is reported only at the end of the year for Financial Statement
purposes.
Student payments may be paid over the counter at each campus Bursar's Office and also
in the Evening School. Payments for current payments may also be done through
lockbox. There are approximate 10 locations that receive student payments.
Food service is contracted out; however, payments for food services are received during
the initial semester registration/fee payment. The Bookstores and libraries also receive
payments from students.
Loan payments are collected through an ACH auto-loan program, collected directly at the
Bursar's Office, and collected through lockbox.
Monies are received for gifts through Development. Grants & Contracts payments may
be received by checks, ACH and wire transfers.
Auxiliaries generate cash. The Athletic Department and the Arenas sell tickets. The
Hospital at Memphis generates cash as well.
Miscellaneous cash receipts occur at times throughout the year.
Deposit activity is primarily recorded/posted through the CV (Cash Voucher system,
Entrex). The CV is managed/operated by the Central Cashier located in the Bursars
Office on the Knoxville Campus. Numerous accounts are debited/credited including
income, expenditure, agency, loan funds, etc.
2. General Explanations
The cash journal is a sub ledger of Bank Accounting. It is used to manage a company's
cash transactions. The system automatically calculates and displays the opening and
closing balances, and the receipts and payments totals. One can run several cash
journals for each company code. One can also carry out postings to G/L accounts, as
well as vendor and customer accounts.
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7. Description of Improvements
If Entrex is replaced, all users will enter their cash receipts to one integrated system
therefore eliminating all interfaces.
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Each house bank of a company code is represented by a bank ID in the R/3 system must
be defined, every account at a house bank by an account ID. In the R/3 system, one
uses the bank ID and the account ID to specify bank details. These specifications are
used, for example, for automatic payment transactions to determine the bank details for
payment.
12. Authorization and User Roles
Only authorized users that have the responsibility to make bank deposits.
Questions:
Q: 1) For which house banks would it make sense to use electronic bank statements? Do
these banks have the required technical capability?
A: The First Tennessee bank. There are 11 accounts at First Tennessee.
SunTrust - Chattanooga would also be useful.
Q:
A: Daily download-file information is accessed by Bill Thompson for the primary depository
account (in Knoxville) and the Memphis and Chattanooga depository accounts. Information
that is included is the BAI code, the description that shows up on statement information, and
any internally assigned reference number (i.e. deposit ticket number).
Lockbox information provided is the total cash in (deposits) and cash out (transfers).
We have look-up capabilities through Prime Connection for check clearing detail, some
deposit detail (outgoing wire detail and individual deposit totals) and balances. We can also
use Prime Connection to create wire transfers, and create/release stop payments.
UT uses "positive pay": We send the bank a daily electronic file so the bank knows what
checks UT has written. The bank performs daily review of the presented checks against the
UT daily electronic file to ensure that checks are genuine. The bank performs the matching
process for the 1st TN disbursement and payroll accounts. Non-matching presentments are
faxed to UT for approval to pay daily.
The bank sends a monthly reconciliation statement. The Controller's Office does further
reconciliation. Dates and total amounts are used for UT's reconciliation of individual deposits.
Bankcard deposits are identified and reconciled by merchant number.
OTHER BANKS
City State bank provides display capabilities on the UT Martin depository account through the
Internet. Tim Mapes relies on the UT Martin personnel who actually look on the Internet at
their account. All banks provide monthly, hard copy statements.
Comments: Banking software and hardware used for cash management processing:
o Prime Connection - 1st TN only; this may be discontinued. Plans to go to an Internetbased system as of June 2001.
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o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
Q: 3) What specific information do the bank statements contain (e.g. invoice numbers)? If
you wish to use the information for the payee to allocate items, you need to select a suitable
interpretation algorithm.
A: Via download we receive BAI2 formatted info, which includes amount, description, and
reference numbers (deposit ticket #, check #, merchant #, other payee #s).
Q: 4) Does you house bank transfer business transaction codes with the bank statements to
help you classify the postings?
A: Yes.
Q:
A: Description
Cash Offset
Generated Transaction
Q:
Account
A01020001
A99059901
Debit
Credit
26,146.13
26,146.13
A: None
Q:
A: N/A
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Q: 8) Do you want to distinguish between posting documents for manual and electronic
bank statements for accounting and reporting purposes?
A: Yes, but the distinction should be for central office use only.
Q: 9) Do your house banks transfer business transaction codes with the bank statements to
help you classify the postings?
A: Yes.
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
Daily, download-file information is accessed by Bill Thompson for the 1st TN primary
depository account (in Knoxville) and the Memphis and Chattanooga depository
accounts. Information that is included is the BAI code, the description that shows up on
statement information, and any internally assigned reference number (i.e. deposit ticket
number).
Lockbox information provided is the total cash in (deposits) and cash out (transfers).
UT has look-up capabilities through Prime Connection for check clearing detail, some
deposit detail (outgoing wire detail and individual deposit totals) and balances. UT can
also use Prime Connection to create wire transfers, and create/release stop payments.
UT uses "positive pay": UT sends the bank a daily electronic file so the bank knows what
checks UT has written. The bank performs daily review of the presented checks against
the UT daily electronic file to ensure that checks are genuine. The bank performs the
matching process for the 1 st TN disbursement and payroll accounts. Non-matching
presentments are faxed to UT for approval to pay daily.
The bank sends a monthly reconciliation statement. The Controller's Office does further
reconciliation. Dates and total amounts are used for UT's reconciliation of individual
deposits. Bankcard deposits are identified and reconciled by merchant number.
OTHER BANKS
City State bank provides display capabilities on the UT Martin depository account through
the Internet. Tim Mapes relies on the UT Martin personnel who actually look on the
Internet at their account. All banks provide monthly, hard copy statements.
Comments: Banking software and hardware used for cash management processing.
Prime Connection 1st TN only; this may be discontinued. Plans to go to an Internetbased system as of June 2001.
DTC terminal (for investment management)
E-mail to get bank pricing at month-end
ProComm/FedLine 2 (the FedLine 2 is resident at the Bank, and we use ProComm
dialogue to transfer the file to the bank)
Prime Connection ACH stand-alone pc software to process ACH (Used for cash
concentration, remittance to trust beneficiaries, return excess financial aid (Stafford
Loans) to lending institutions, etc.)
MCI Mailbox Transfer procedure for disk storage (mailbox) on an external server.
Accessed by dial-up.
CDs Optical imagery of cancelled checks
BAI2 For bank reconciliation. BAI is obtained via MCI Mailbox and up-loaded daily onto
the mainframe for matching. In-house developed reconciliation program is maintained on
AS400. Reconciliation is done monthly. In R/3, BAI will be pulled in directly; thus, inF:\zameer SAP\blueprint\Blueprint_finance_IRIS.doc
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4. Business Model
N/A
5. Special Organizational Considerations
None
7. Description of Improvements
R/3 provides the following functionality:
All disbursement bank account checks issued are extracted into an electronic file
and sent to the bank for "positive pay" confirmation against items presented for
payment.
R/3's online Check Register displays the status of a check, e.g. paid, stopped,
voided etc, which can also be accessed directly by the vendor.
Stop payments are initiated by Accounts Payable (or other authorized personnel)
and the updated status is immediately reflected on the register. This voided
check can be extracted similar to issued checks and sent to the bank to process
the stop payment request.
With the automatic posting feature, reconciliation process is faster and can be
done daily.
The cumbersome process of confirming paid checks to payees who question whether
they got the check will be greatly enhanced. Potential fraud will be identified sooner with
the "positive pay" process. Stop pay transactions will require less paperwork and the
possibility of error will be reduced.
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One should carry out the configuration of the electronic account statement in the
following order:
1. Define transaction types. One should group together all banks that use the same
external transaction code for certain business transactions under the same
transaction type.
2. Allocate banks to each transaction type using the bank key and bank account
number.
3. Create posting rules. The system needs these to find the posting specifications.
4. Allocate the external transactions to the posting rules.
5. Define posting rules and/or posting specifications.
Bank account file.
G/L balances per fund.
Questions:
Q: 1) What specific information do your bank statements contain (for example, invoice
numbers)?
A: Monthly, hard copy statements are issued for each account. Information that is included
is the BAI code, the description that shows up on statement information, and any internally
assigned reference number. On our G/L, we keep cash by fund and entity (Cash in Bank).
Actual bank information is maintained in a bank file. As we post to the ledger we post to the
bank file without transaction detail (only bank balances of the house banks). There is an
attribute on the G/L transaction that shows what bank was debited/credited.
Q: 2) Does you house bank transfer business transaction codes with the bank statements to
help you classify the postings?
A: Yes
Q:
A: Description
Account
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Debit
Credit
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Cash Offset
Generated Transaction
Q:
A01020001
A99059901
26,146.13
26,146.13
A: None
Q:
A: N/A
Q: 6) Do you want to distinguish between posting documents for manual and electronic
bank statements for accounting and reporting purposes?
A: Yes - but the distinction should be for central office use only.
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
Monthly, hard copy statements are issued for each account. Information that is included
is the BAI code, the description that shows up on statement information, and any
internally assigned reference number. On the G/L, UT keeps cash by fund and entity
(Cash in Bank). Actual bank information is maintained in a bank file. As they post to the
ledger they post to the bank file without transaction detail (only bank balances of the
house banks). There is an attribute on the G/L transaction that shows what bank was
debited/credited.
2. General Explanations
One can manually enter bank account statements once received. Statement entry is
usually a two-step process:
First, one enters the account line items in the system. One can vary the row
format for this.
In addition, the system supports individual account determination and checks
data consistency.
Then one posts the line items once it has been entered.
In the manual bank statement function, one can create up to two postings for each line
item.
A bank account posting (for example, debit bank account and credit bank
clearing account)
A sub ledger posting (for example, debit bank clearing account and credit
customer account with clearing)
3. Explanations of Functions and Events
To process the bank statement, proceed from the Cash Management menu, as follows:
1. Choose Input Manual bank statement.
2. On the next screen, enter the following basic data.
o Bank key and/or bank data
o Statement number and statement date
o Beginning balance and ending balance
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3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
4. Business Model
N/A
5. Special Organizational Considerations
None
7. Description of Improvements
R/3 can process hardcopy statement with minimal line items with the same benefits as
electronic bank statement processing. The difference is instead of downloading an
electronic file from the bank, manual input is required.
8. Description of Functional Deficits
None
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Questions:
Q:
1) How many checks do you present to your house banks per day?
A: 3000+
Q:
A: We send in deposit information manually on a hard-copy list of deposits. We list the date
and amount of each deposit in total and the amount of each check within the deposit. This
deposit ticket number is noted on the electronic file provided by the Bank.
Departments collect checks and cash, and make daily deposits when cash has been
received. Sealed departmental deposits are taken to the Bursar's Office with a Report of
Collections (T-33), which shows the cost center or WBS element that should be credited.
The actual deposits are not counted but are taken to the Bank by Police. The Bank is
responsible for counting the deposit as it processes the deposit. This process was set up to
reduce the number of University personnel who handle cash.
Q: 3) What information given by the check issuer can be used to allocate items (check
number, invoice number)?
A: Student ID #, grant & contract invoice number.
Q: 4) Sketch the posting steps for check deposits (are checks posted directly to customer
accounts or via clearing accounts)?
A: Both - checks are posted directly to accounts and to clearing accounts. Those posted to
clearing accounts are typically posted to individual student/customer accounts via a
subsidiary A/R system.
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Q: 5) Do you want to separate check postings for general ledger accounting and sub ledger
accounting?
A: Yes
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
The current process of making actual deposits are done differently depends on the
location of the individual.
For local departments (Knoxville) making deposits, they will fill out a form, T-33, with all
the required information and account and the deposit ticket. Then the paperwork will be
submitted to the Bursar's Office where it is entered in Entrex and the actual deposit are
made to the bank.
For out-of-town departments (e.g. Memphis, Martin, Chattanooga, etc.), they will also fill
out the form, T-33, with all the required information and account and the deposit ticket
which will be deposited to their local banks. After the deposit is complete, they will send
the form, T-33, and a copy of the deposit slip to the Bursar's Office in Knoxville. The
Bursar's Office will enter the deposit information into Entrex with the exception to
Chattanooga and Memphis. These two campuses enter the deposit information in a
separate system called Banner, which is then loaded into Entrex.
UT sends in deposit information manually on a hard-copy list of deposits. They list the
date and amount of each deposit in total and the amount of each check within the
deposit. This deposit ticket number is noted on the electronic file provided by the Bank.
UT presents over 3,000 checks to their house bank.
Departments collect checks and cash, and make daily deposits when cash has been
received. Sealed departmental deposits are taken to the Bursar's Office with a Report of
Collections (T-33), which shows the cost center or WBS element that should be credited.
The actual deposits are not counted but are taken to the Bank by Police. The Bank is
responsible for counting the deposit as it processes the deposit. This process was set up
to reduce the number of University personnel who handle cash.
The information given by the check issuer can be used to allocate items by student ID #,
grant & contract invoice number.
Both checks are posted directly to accounts and to clearing accounts. Those posted to
clearing accounts are typically posted to individual student/customer accounts via a
subsidiary A/R system.
UT would like to separate check postings for general ledger accounting and sub ledger
accounting.
2. General Explanations
R/3 Cash Management provides two types of check deposit functions. There is an
electronic check deposit which enables one to process data supplied by an external entry
system (check reader). One can use electronic check deposit as an entry function, and
then complete and post individual data with the manual check deposit. If data is
complete, the electronic check deposit can also create the batch input session directly.
For manual check deposit, this function is used to enter checks one receives.
On the entry screen, the system will display different fields for each account assignment
variant one chooses. Depending on the number of account assignment fields in a variant,
up to three lines are available for entering a memo record.
One can change the account assignment variant at any time during processing. If one
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has used more account assignment fields than are available in the current variant, the
system will display this information in an additional field.
One can, for example, enter several document numbers and different invoice amounts for
one memo record. This is useful if a customer pays several invoices with one check. The
system highlights the account assignment field when one has entered several values in it.
3. Explanations of Functions and Events
Electronic Check Deposit:
1.Choose Input Electronic check deposit Import.
The system displays the selection screen.
2. Enter the path name and file name for the statement file and the line item file.
3. Select Upload file from PC if required.
4. Specify whether or not both sessions should be created. As an alternative method,
the sub ledger session can be generated in a second run.
5. Specify the import options.
6. Specify the output options.
7. Add any data not supplied by the external system via the appropriate parameters.
8. Choose Program Execute.
Manual check deposit:
1. Enter the specifications.
2. On the next screen, enter the following basic data.
Company code and/or bank data
Specifications necessary for differentiating check deposit lists
Transaction indicator
Date and currency
Specifications for the postings
4. Business Model
None
7. Description of Improvements
When the deposit ticket is saved, an automatic journal entry is generated to post to the
appropriate bank account and G/L.
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N/A
Cashed Checks
Questions:
Q: 1) Do you wish to have an overview of the average period outstanding, quantity, and
total amount of outstanding (cashed and open) checks?
A: No
Q: 2) Do you wish to have an overview per vendor of the outstanding checks for the G/L
accounts managed on an open item basis?
A: No
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
UT uses "positive pay": They send the bank a daily electronic file so the bank knows what
checks UT has written. The bank performs daily review of the presented checks against
the UT daily electronic file to ensure that checks are genuine. The bank performs the
matching process for the 1st TN disbursement and payroll accounts. Non-matching
presentments are faxed to UT for approval to pay daily.
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UT uses pre-numbered checks that are assigned in lots. They are kept in sequence and
can be identified by the digit assignment. For example, for disbursement and payroll
vouchers are 6 digits long. The batch voucher number is seven digits.
2. General Explanations
In R/3 cash management, a program, RFEBCK00, imports the information on cashed
checks delivered by the bank and generates the clearing entries (debit outgoing checks
account, credit bank account). It also indicates as "paid" the checks in the check register
that could be posted. The clearing entries can be placed in a batch input session (batch
input mode) or be posted immediately (call transaction mode).
Since there is no standard for data on cashed checks in the USA and most other
countries, a preprocessing program is needed to convert the bank format to the entry
format of this program.
R/3 cash management can distinguish different types of checks by lots.
4. Business Model
None
7. Description of Improvements
Cashed check is a subset of electronic bank statement. In the event that reconciliation
cannot be done on a daily basis, this cash checked functionality could be invoked.
Similar to account statement processing, upon reading the downloaded transactions from
the bank, R/3 generate an automatic journal to post to the cash account and update the
check register.
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Lockbox (USA)
Questions:
Q:
A: Yes
Q:
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won't really hit R/3 until it has passed through CSA and the Student Loan office and then
feeds back to the Financial system.
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
Lockboxes speed up the deposit processing and eliminate UT manpower to prepare
deposits and credit account receivable accounts. UT will send invoices to
students/former students. The invoice's remittance address is a post-office address
(Lockbox) that the bank has access to. The bank picks up the payments from the post
office and makes the deposits. Then the bank sends a file of the deposits that it made for
the University. Electronic file from bank contains student account number, amount of
payment and date of payment.
There are 3 lockboxes, all at 1 st Tennessee:
1) UT Memphis Student Loans: this will be outsourced as of 4/30/00.
2) UT Knoxville Student Loans
3) UT Knoxville Student Fees
There is a unique bank account for each lockbox. (These bank accounts are not set up
on our G/L.) The lockbox deposits hit their respective unique bank account on Day 1. On
Day 2, the deposits from Day 1 are transferred to the primary depository account. The
detail for these deposits is posted to the MCI mailbox through a file each day. Lockbox is
usually available about 1 PM. The file includes the amount, the date, and the social
security number. The file is picked up by a Bursar's Office personnel from the MCI
mailbox and is loaded into the Bursar's Office Student Information System loan or fee file.
Lockbox (as it is used now) won't really hit R/3 until it has passed through CSA and the
Student Loan office and then feeds back to the Financial system. The CSA (Central
Services Accounting) system identifies the student fee and loan. Cindy from the Bursar's
Office gets a copy from the Loan Dept. in which she will enter into Entrex. She matches
total by day.
2. General Explanations
One uses this component to collect and process incoming payments using the lockbox
procedure. This is a service offered by banks in the USA. Instead of sending one's
payments and payment advice notes to the bank's office, one sends them to a central
bank (normally a P.O. Box). Once the payments have been received, the bank creates a
data file from the payment advice data and payment amounts of the customer. The check
amounts are credited to your bank account. The file itself is sent to you at regular
intervals to enable you to update your ledgers.
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3. Specify the processing parameters. Enter the procedure LOCKBOX as well as the
file format BAI or BAI2.
4. Select the type of document number being supplied on the file (financial
accounting document number for AR invoice; financial accounting reference
document number for SD billing document number or number from an external
system).
5. Select enhanced invoice check if using centralized customer accounts (using
Alternate Payer structure).
6. Finally, choose the algorithm for clearing (generally 001).
7. Enter account assignments. Enter whether the value date from the file should be
transferred to the bank general ledger posting. Also enter a default business area
and profit center if required (new for 3.0F).
8. Choose Program
.
4. Business Model
None
7. Description of Improvements
None are apparent at this time
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4.5.2.
Outgoings
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
Most outgoing payments are made through the Treasurer's Office. Vendor payments are
made from Treasurer's Office and A/P. The Payroll department is part of the Treasurer's
Office. Investment payments and trust distributions are made from the Treasurer's
Office.
Individual campuses have zero-balance accounts and write some checks directly from
their Bursar's Office. The Controller's Office reconciles these accounts. This is just for
refund of Student financial aid money to students.
There are 117 main petty cash accounts in our Financial Statements that are held by
individual departments across all campuses. Imprest amounts are posted to the G/L..
Some of the 117 that are located at other campuses are subdivided.
Each department is responsible for sending in a formal reconciliation at the end of the
fiscal year to Internal Audit.
We have 1 main disbursements account from which only checks (DVs and BVs) are
written. This is a controlled disbursement account. Disbursement Vouchers (DVs) are
payments to vendors, and Batch Vouchers (BVs) are typically refunds to students written
in batch because we do not need to keep the detail of these payments on our G/L.
There is 1 payroll account, which is ZBA. We move money to cover payroll payments
from our primary depository account. The bank handles the draw, and this is done daily.
Outflows include direct deposits and checks. Payroll transmits this information to the
bank. The direct deposit information is fed through a phone modem via FedLine II (a
means for banks to interact with the federal reserve bank, but UT has been allowed to
use it). Currently, we have 150 payroll runs a year, and these include monthly, biweekly,
th
longevity, supplemental (on the 10 of each month), and special payrolls.
Note: In R/3, a directory must be set up for all the banks that are used by UT employees
for direct deposit of payroll. Benson can assist in this. If 1st TN can share its quarterly
CD from Thomson Financial, it would be helpful to get the directory setup. Alternatively,
the information can be extracted from the legacy system.
st
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There are 4 other ZBA accounts for batch vouchers (BVs) for which checks are written
by the campus Bursars at Knoxville, Chattanooga, Martin and Memphis. These are for
on-demand student aid refunds. The Chattanooga ZBA account uses this account to
make lender refunds through ACH. The exception is that Knoxville refunds the lender
through the primary depository account.
The types of outgoing transactions:
Cash (Petty Cash)
Checks
Procurement Card Program
Fed Wire
ACH (Payroll and other)
International Wires
Automatic debits by State
Bank debits
Typically posted as checks (DVs, BVs and PVs) are written. Other transactions are
posted via journals (JVs) and through the CV system. Thousands of accounts are
debited with this type of activity.
2. General Explanations
The cash journal is a sub ledger of Bank Accounting. It is used to manage a company's
cash transactions. The system automatically calculates and displays the opening and
closing balances, and the receipts and payments totals. One can run several cash
journals for each company code. One can also carry out postings to G/L accounts, as
well as vendor and customer accounts.
The payment program for payment requests contains an enhancement for automatic
payment in the SAP R/3 System. This program can be used to settle payments to and/or
by vendors and customers as well as between G/L accounts. Unlike the standard
payment program, it is not the open items (FI documents) but the payment requests that
form the basis for payment.
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4. Business Model
None
5. Special Organizational Considerations
None
7. Description of Improvements
None
Questions:
Q: 1) In addition to payments to or from customers and vendors, should payments between
G/L accounts also be dealt with using the payment program?
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A: No
4.5.2.2.
Cash Journal
Questions:
Q:
A: Most outgoing payments are made through the Treasurer's Office. Vendor payments are
made from Treasurer's Office and A/P. The Payroll department is part of the Treasurer's
Office. Investment payments and trust distributions are made from the Treasurer's Office.
Individual campuses have zero-balance accounts and write some checks directly from their
Bursar's Office. The Controller's Office reconciles these accounts. This is just for refund of
Student financial aid money to students.
There are 117 main petty cash accounts in our Financial Statements that are held by
individual departments across all campuses. Interest amounts are posted to the G/L. Some
of the 117 that are located at other campuses are subdivided.
Each department is responsible for sending in a formal reconciliation at the end of the fiscal
year to Internal Audit.
We have 1 main disbursements account from which only checks (DVs and BVs) are written.
This is a controlled disbursement account. Disbursement Vouchers (DVs) are payments to
vendors, and Batch Vouchers (BVs) are typically refunds to students written in batch because
we do not need to keep the detail of these payments on our G/L.
There is 1 payroll account, which is ZBA. We move money to cover payroll payments from
our primary depository account. The bank handles the draw, and this is done daily. Outflows
include direct deposits and checks. Payroll transmits this information to the bank. The direct
deposit information is fed through a phone modem via FedLine II (a means for banks to
interact with the federal reserve bank, but UT has been allowed to use it). Currently, we have
150 payroll runs a year, and these include monthly, biweekly, longevity, supplemental (on the
10th of each month), and special payrolls.
Note: In R/3, a directory must be set up for all the banks that are used by UT employees for
direct deposit of payroll. Benson can assist in this. If 1st TN can share its quarterly CD from
Thomson Financial, it would be helpful to get the directory setup. Alternatively, the
information can be extracted from the legacy system.
There is 1 primary investment account. This represents cash that the 1st TN investment
managers have available to them to invest for the University. Each manager has a subaccount to reflect his or her position. These sub-accounts are only maintained by 1st TN and
in the UT investment system. Buy and sell activities flow through this account. UT retrieves
the investment managers' transactions information through DTC (Depository Trust
Company). Journal entries are made daily to reflect all payments and receipts. It is
important at the end of the month to post a journal entry for the balances on the last day of
the month.
There are 4 other ZBA accounts for batch vouchers (BVs) for which checks are written by the
campus Bursars at Knoxville, Chattanooga, Martin and Memphis. These are for on -demand
student aid refunds. The Chattanooga ZBA account uses this account to make lender
refunds through ACH. The exception is that Knoxville refunds the lender through the primary
depository account.
Q:
2) For which business transactions are incoming cash journal postings made?
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Q:
A: Typically posted as checks (DVs, BVs and PVs) are written. Other transactions are
posted via journals (JVs) and through the CV system. Thousands of accounts are debited
with this type of activity.
4.5.3.
4.5.3.1.
Check Management
Manage Check Balance
Questions:
Q: 1) Do you use pre-numbered checks, or do you assign your checks numbers from selfdefined number ranges?
A: Yes
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
See CITs for "Check Deposit Transaction" and "Cashed Checks".
4.5.4.
4.5.4.1.
Questions:
Q: 1) For which G/L accounts do you calculate interest on balances? Give a brief
description.
A: Restricted accounts, loan funds, unexpended plant funds, athletic department funds,
retirement of indebtedness funds, agency funds.
Q:
A: Internally calculated cost of funds rate and LGIP rate (Local Government Investment
Pool).
Q:
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A: According to Sharon, Tim uses a program that calculates the investment interest
automatically.
Q: 4) Do you combine the debit and credit balances of different accounts for interest
calculation?
A: Yes
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
UT calculates interest on restricted accounts, loan funds, unexpended plant funds,
athletic department funds, retirement of indebtedness funds, agency funds. It is internally
calculated by cost of funds rate and LGIP rate (Local Government Investment Pool). UT
does combine the debit and credit balances of different accounts for interest calculation.
2. General Explanations
In cash flows, it is critical that interest accruals be adjusted out for an accurate cash flow.
7. Description of Improvements
R/3 cash management planning module provides a powerful tool to plan cash flow with
planned interest that is integrated with actual interest earned.
8. Description of Functional Deficits
None
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N/A
4.6.
Questions:
Q: 1) Do you want to use the cost of sales accounting method of reporting, and implement
the Special Purpose Ledger for this purpose?
A: Yes
Q: 2) Is the coding block adequate for your reporting requirements, or do you plan to make
changes to the coding block?
A: The coding block is adequate. UT will use the following dimensions: Fund, G/L Account,
Cost Element, Commitment Item, Business Area, Functional Area, Cost Center, WBS
Element, Fund Center, Profit Center, and Plant.
4.6.1.
4.6.1.1.
Prepare Ledger
Set Up Ledger
Questions:
Q:
A: The University requires balance sheet reporting by Fund Group and Budget Entity.
Balance sheet reporting by individual fund is also considered desirable. In the standard
general ledger, postings to accounts receivable, accounts payable and cash accounts are not
assigned to a fund or fund group. Therefore this requirement cannot be met in the standard
general ledger.
Q:
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A: The special purpose ledger can be used in conjunction with the split processor to post
receivables, payables and cash line items by fund to enable balance sheet reports by fund.
Q:
A: No
Q:
4) From what source is the data to be taken, and how will it be transferred?
A: Data is taken from financial accounting, materials management, sales and distribution,
controlling and project accounting.
Q:
A: Data must be summarized by Fund Group and Business Entity and Fund.
4.6.2.
Table Maintenance
4.6.2.1.
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
1. UT would like to create a balance sheet for each fund and also for each business area.
2. UT would like to create a statement of revenues, expenditures and changes in net
assets by fund, functional area and business area.
2. General Explanations
Before you install and set up your FI-SL System, you must carefully design your system
structure. It is very important that you take time to design your system and data
structures. A well-organized system structure leads to efficient running of your production
system and improves system performance. Depending on your reporting requirements,
you must determine which dimensions and field movements you want to use in your
ledgers. (A dimension represents specific criteria in business processes. Technically, a
dimension is a single field or column of a database table.)
4. Business Model
None
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4.6.3.
Actual Posting
Questions:
Q: 1) Do you need to maintain controls on the accounting periods for posting into your
special ledger?
A: Yes
4.6.3.1.
Questions:
Q: 1) Will you have entries that have to be carried out in the special purpose ledger and not
in the rest of the R/3 System?
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A: No
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
No requirements have been defined for direct data entry
2. General Explanations
NA
4. Business Model
NA
7. Description of Improvements
NA
8. Description of Functional Deficits
NA
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Integration Interface
Questions:
Q: 1) What will be the source of R/3 transactions that you wish to have posted to your
special purpose ledger?
A: [X] Financial Accounting
[X] Cost Accounting
[X] Materials Management
[X] Sales and Distribution
[ ] Special purpose ledger (direct data entry)
Q: 2) Are allocations being carried out within cost accounting that you wish to reflect in the
special purpose ledger?
A: Yes. Overhead entries being made in PS and CO need to be reflected in SPL.
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
1. UT requires data in the SPL to match data in other systems. Actual postings (FI, CO,
PS, MM and SD) will be made once in the feeder system and automatically posted to
SPL.
2. All original postings in SPL are required to be on line and real time.
3. All postings must be split and balanced by fund and business area.
4. All expenditure postings must be split and balanced by functional area.
2. General Explanations
Data can enter the FI-SL System via three different mediums:
From other R/3 application components, such as Financial Accounting (FI),
Materials Management (MM), Controlling (CO), and Sales and Distribution (SD)
Directly, using FI-SL's document entry function (for example, when posting
correction documents)
From external systems (for non-FI-SL data)
All R/3 Systems operate under the philosophy that business transactions should only
enter the system once. These transactions are then available to all other R/3 Systems
real-time. The FI-SL System collects data at the original entry point and validates it
immediately during entry. Update into FI-SL from other R/3 applications is real-time.
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1. Data will be posted automatically into SPL from FI, CO, MM and SD. No data will be
entered directly into SPL.
2. The split processor will be configured to split FI data and balance it by fund. Since
Fund Group and Budget Entity (Business Areas) are a roll-up of fund, this will
automatically allow balance sheets by Fund Group and Budget Entity. (Public Sector
Special Customer Requirements department has been notified and has approved the
use of the split-processor).
3. Since functional area is also a roll-up of fund, this will allow Revenue and Expenditure
statements to be created by fund.
4. No plan data will be created in SPL.
4. Business Model
None
7. Description of Improvements
None
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Data Transfer
Questions:
Q: 1) Does the new special ledger require data that was posted in the R/3 System prior to
the ledger being created? (Customizing)
A: No
Q:
2) Do you wish to fill the special ledger with data when required?
A: No
4.6.4.
Periodic Processing
Questions:
Q: 1) Are there additional allocations that you want to carry out only in the Special Purpose
Ledger?
A: No.
4.6.4.1.
Rollup
Questions:
Q:
A: No
4.6.4.2.
Questions:
Q:
A: Yes
Q:
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A: No
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
1. UT requires the ability to carry forward balances in balance sheet accounts to the
opening balance by fund.
2. UT also needs the ability to close out balances of P&L type accounts to multiple fund
balance accounts (retained earning account).
2. General Explanations
You use the Balance carry forward function to carry forward the balances of accounts
from the previous fiscal year to the beginning balance of the new fiscal year. You can
carry forward Balance sheet account balances and profit and loss account balances to a
retained earnings account
Balance Sheet Accounts
At the end of the fiscal year, you can carry forward the balances of your balance sheet
accounts to the beginning balance of the new fiscal year. All account assignments are
transferred for balance sheet accounts when the balance is carried forward. You can also
define your system so that specific dimension information is not carried forward. Using
the Customizing function, you can change the field movements so that specific dimension
information defined in the standard balance carry forward (such as the Business Area) is
not taken over into the new fiscal year.
Profit and Loss Accounts/Retained Earnings Accounts
You can also carry forward the balance of your profit and loss accounts to a retained
earnings account for the new fiscal year. No account assignments are transferred for
profit and loss accounts. You can also define your system so that additional dimension
information (such as the Business Area) is carried forward for the profit and loss
accounts.
4. Business Model
None
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7. Description of Improvements
Carry forward function can be run on demand to account for adjustments.
4.6.5.
Evaluations
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4.6.5.1.
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
1. UT requires a balance sheet report by fund and by business area.
2. UT requires a revenue and expenditure statement by fund and business area in which
functional areas appear as rows under expenditure.
3. UT requires an authorization check to prevent users running the reports for funds or
business areas other than those they are authorized for.
2. General Explanations
You use the Report Writer and Report Painter to create reports from data in Special
Purpose Ledger (FI-SL) and other R/3 application components.
4. Business Model
None
7. Description of Improvements
A balance sheet report by fund will be available.
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1. Create set based authorization groups and check the authorization group object
2. Copy generated report writer program and include an authorizations check.
The most appropriate approach will be selected by the ABAP team.
10. Notes on Further Improvements
None
4.6.6.
Tools
4.6.6.1.
Maintain Sets/Variables
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
UT requires complex revenue and expenditure reports in which the expenditures appear
in rows corresponding to business areas but revenues appear by natural account.
2. General Explanations
The Report Writer uses sets to structure and select report data. Report structure and
contents are defined according to the sets that are used for rows, columns, and selection
criteria. These sets include basic, key figure, single-dimension, and multi-dimension sets.
You can use sets as:
A row block: The row block contains the characteristics that you want to include in the
rows of your report (for example, cost center and account numbers)
A column block: The column block contains the characteristics that you want to include in
the columns of your report (for example, periods, currencies, and amounts).
General selection criteria: The selection criteria contain the characteristics that you want
to use to select the report data (for example, year, period, company, and ledger).
4. Business Model
None
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7. Description of Improvements
None
4.7.
Funds Management
Questions:
Q: 1) At which level/for which organizational unit do financial statements have to be
generated?
A: The University prepares a single financial statement with breakouts for fund, budget
entity, etc.
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Q: 3) At which level/for which organizational unit do you use cost accounting (Controlling)?
Where are the overlaps between Controlling, Funds Management, and Financial Accounting?
A: At the account level.
Q:
4) Describe the legal framework conditions for/in funds management in your enterprise.
Q:
5) How do you think this budget structure will change in the future?
A: Unknown.
Q: 6) Which accounting method for your funds management do you use (accrual, modified
accrual, etc.)? Please give a detailed description of the current situation.
A: UT is on a cash basis during the year and accrual at year-end. UT accrues payroll and
defers expenses and revenues at year-end.
Q: 8) How do you manage the current handling of additional documents that are needed in
budget preparation and budget execution?
A: Shadow systems, for example the Martin budget system, are used to record any
additional data in the budget preparation and budget execution. In the restricted funds, a
contract tracking system and a sponsored programs system contain proposal/contract
documents.
Campus systems:
Knoxville
AS400 system monitors current and base budget.
Web based system is used to enter budget requests.
Chattanooga
Access database.
Includes salary and operating budgets.
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Q: 9) How long are the amount fields (number of places before and after decimal point) that
you currently use for handling budget and assigned values?
A: The fields are of the format 9.2 with overflow in Plant Funds.
Q: 10) Do you use Internet applications within funds management? Describe the existing
scenarios.
A: Yes. UT has developed an Internet application using Interdev to collect data and
communicate control numbers with departments for the preparation of the new year budget.
Currently, employees are being trained on the application that will be implemented for the
2001budget proposal.
Q: 11) Describe the current/future role of the Internet and how it affects your funds
management.
A: It is expected that R/3 will replace InterDev.
Q: 12) Provide an overview of the current IT landscape. Which applications are used in
Funds Management?
A: Classic systems are mostly in IMS databases, with a few DB2 databases. The online
screens operate under the IMS monitor.
Departmental Budget System, budgets by object code.
Proposed Salary Budget (PSB) system
Human Resource System
Financial Accounting System
Shadow systems maintained by individual campuses contain additional budget data.
Agricultural Experiment Station has a system they use for Federal reporting of actual data
only on a federal fiscal year basis.
Attached is a map of how other systems affect the accounting system.
Q: 13) How is the budget generation process currently supported in your organization? Who
uses the system (budget department, etc.)? How is budget planning information consolidated
in the budget?
A: Unrestricted Funds:
Requests are solicited in January, six months prior to when the budget year will begin. Data
entry is decentralized where departments/colleges use shadow systems to develop their
budget. There is one version of numbers that is the base. Then departmental requests for
one-time expenditures are entered to change the base. Version 2 can be the request.
Version 3 can be recommended, version 4 can be approved. Versions are approved at
different points in time. No more base changes are accepted after a base version is selected
for use in the budget process.
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Hearings are held at campus levels. After campus level approval, the budget request is sent
to the systems level.
Salary Budget:
The Proposed Salary Budget (PSB) system is loaded in late April from payroll data, including
employees, distribution accounts, and amounts, but not including vacant positions or lump
sum positions, which have to be added manually. The system projects benefit costs using
defaults and employee attributes. The PSB is available for 3-4 weeks for users to make
changes, and for reporting through June 30.
When the PSB is finalized, it is reconciled to the Departmental Budget (object code line
totals) centrally during May - June. In late June PSB figures are fed back to the payroll
system. Changes that would affect the proposed budget made to current year payroll files
during the time from load of PSB to year-end must be reconciled with PSB and entered
manually to the new year payroll.
Benefits are budgeted at the function /budget entity level for E & G accounts. Benefits for
auxiliary and restricted accounts are budgeted and expended at the account level.
Budget for Revenues and Recoveries:
Revenue is budgeted centrally, at the campus level, or occasionally at the college or
department level.
SYSTEM-WIDE
Investment/endowment income: forecast next year based on past performance
CAMPUS LEVEL
State appropriation
o Formula linked. Formula information is not in the UT planning system.
Tuition and fees
o Gross level determined based on forecasted enrollment and rates.
o Financial aid is budgeted separately.
o Memphis budgets graduate assistantships at the dept. level.
Indirect costs (F & A)
o Forecasting varies by campus; UTSI, Chat, Knoxville: last year
performance/ next year expectations.
o By source: fed, state, local, private
Federal appropriation
o Institute of Agriculture only
Local appropriations
o Institute of Agriculture and IPS only (city & county money)
Departmental revenue
o Chat: radio station, student health center, university center
Gifts
o Forecast based on past performance
COLLEGE/DEPARTMENT LEVEL
Gifts: forecast based on past performance plus plans (e.g., capital campaign)
Auxiliaries
Service centers
Conferences
Athletics
Sales and services
Course and lab fees
Recoveries
Separate budget figures are entered for gross and recovery. Net amount is shown as budget
on account statements. Justification may be required for recovery budget amounts.
Service center type recoveries
External agency recoveries
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Q: 14) Will there be external systems feeding commitments or actual charges; if so, in
which area?
A: Yes
Accounts Payable:
Procurement Card system will create actual expenses to be posted.
Investment System:
Infovisa - ETA system (for charitable trusts) will create actual revenues and expenses to
be posted.
Endowments system creates actual revenues and transfers between accounts
Bookstore, Telephone, Computer Center:
Maintain their own computer files of departmental charges for supplies and service. At
the end of the month, each sends a file to UCS to load into the accounting system.
Each main campus has a student financial aid system that will send activity of actual
disbursements for "excess financial aid" (total loan or scholarship less tuition and fees).
Q: 15) How will transactions from external systems into the funds management exceeding
the available budget be treated?
A: The legacy system does not provide funds availability checking.
For Procurement Cards, parked document functionality will be used. Charges not transferred
to other cost centers by the end of the month default to the cost centers responsible for the
cards. Either way, this posting could result in an account exceeding its budget.
Q: 16) Describe the current procedure for internal checks and security relating to budget
preparation, budget modification, and budget execution.
A: Proposed Salary Budget (PSB) and Departmental Budget systems have individual logon
ID and password. Each ID is restricted to ranges of accounts.
Budget modification/execution has the same procedures.
Q: 17) Describe the existing approval procedure (workflow) at organizational level. Provide
an overview of the participants and their roles.
A: Everyday transactions:
Requestor initiates the process -> A person with signature authority to budget will approve
the request. Differing levels of approval within a Vice Chancellor Area exist for budget
changes. Ultimately, the change is sent to the campus business office for approval and entry
to the financial system.
Changes within accounts and within departments require minimal approval. Changes
between departments are probably initiated and approved at a higher level department (e.g.,
the dean's office).
Approval for expenditures occurs at the department level. Large amounts or certain types of
goods need additional approval.
Fiscal Policies and Procedures details specific categories of amounts and types of goods or
services and the appropriate approvals.
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Q: 18) Describe the existing approval procedure (workflow) at the level of the systems
involved. Provide an overview of the participants and their roles.
A: The Procurement Card system has built-in approval procedures:
1. Each cardholder has access to his/her own card statement data and is supposed to
verify the correctness of the charges each month.
2. Each cardholder, or perhaps a bookkeeper on behalf of the cardholder, may send the
statement electronically to the department head, principal investigator or other person
responsible for any account that is identified to be charged.
3. The approver has until the end of the month to approve (or not).
4. Procurement Card charges are always posted, either when approved or at the end of
the month for unapproved statements. But a record for Procurement Card usage
audits is kept of which statements were never reviewed/approved.
The Travel system has built-in approval procedures:
1). The traveler (or someone on their behalf) enters details of a proposed trip and sends
the "itinerary" electronically their boss.
2). That individual receives notification and can view the trip details. He/she approves
(or not).
3) After the trip, the traveler enters expense information and sends the resulting
"invoice" to the person responsible for the account(s) to be charged.
4). The responsible person receives notification and can view the expense details.
He/she approves (or not).
Q: 19) Describe the existing approval procedure (workflow) within the budgeting process.
Provide an overview of the participants and their roles.
A: Approval in the budgeting process is all offline. It starts at the department -> to the
college/division level -> to Vice Chancellor -> to Budget Committee for approval.
Q: 20) Describe your existing/future requirements for access control and system security
(smart cards, etc.).
A: Access to university financial records requires a User ID and password that is associated
with specific transactions and data ranges. Requirements will be the same in the future.
Q:
21) Describe the confidentiality restrictions (if any) for funds, budgets, transactions etc.
Q: 22) What applications are currently integrated into funds management and need to be
integrated in the future?
A: Departmental Budget system
Proposed Salary Budget system
Payroll system
Procurement Card system
Web Budget System (to be decided)
Sponsored Programs system
Grants/Contracts system
Q: 23) For integrated functions, what data resides in the budgetary part (is this limited to
financial data or also information on quantities etc.)
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A: UT does not budget on quantities. The additional data (i.e. headcounts, FTE, etc.) are
kept in the shadow systems. Budget is done at the account level not at the department level,
but it will roll up to the department level based on the account attributes.
Q: 24) Do the sales system and funds management need to be integrated? Describe the
current integration.
A: Yes. The Grants/Contracts System tracks receivables and receipts for most billed grants
and contracts. A program reads the G/L once a month to post cost reimbursable expenses
to A/R.
There is also a Proposal system that is part of the Sponsored Programs system. It has a
detailed description of a grant, including a proposed project budget. When a grant is
awarded, a UT account number is assigned and its budget is input to the G/L system in the
form of ordinary budget revisions (T-1s). Subsequent supplements or extensions may be
either added to the same account or established as new accounts.
Q: 25) Do controlling and funds management need to be integrated? Describe the current
integration.
A: Yes. The budget resides in the G/L. Current reporting is mostly budget versus actuals,
rather than revenue versus actuals.
Q: 26) Do asset accounting and funds management need to be integrated? Describe the
current integration.
A: Yes. Plant Funds accounts are in the G/L. There are several databases that are used to
track UT assets.
The equipment database contains tagged/untagged items. This database generates reports
that are used to update G/L.
The Facility database is used for the registry of buildings.
The Land database is to record properties other than buildings.
Q:
28) Purchasing integration: Do you use the functions of a warehouse funds center?
Q: 29) Integration between purchasing and warehouse funds center: Describe the impact
on funds management (what impact will goods receipt and goods issue have?).
A: N/A
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Q: 30) Plant maintenance integration: Do plant maintenance and funds management need
to be integrated? Describe the current integration.
A: Yes. The G/L has a separate account for repairs and renovations. Also, there is a
separate system for plant maintenance.
Q: 31) Describe the logic currently used when posting tax on sales/purchases (accounts
affected, posting examples).
A: During invoice entry, tax is removed, recorded as a deduction to the gross amount.
Payment is made for the net amount. Therefore, it is netted off at the front end.
Q: 32) If a special handling of Sales Tax is currently applied in funds management please
describe the impact on the budget (availability check, budget consumption)
A: N/A
Q: 33) Describe your current funds management environment: At which level is the budget
data entered, the assigned funds entered, and the availability check carried out? Are changes
planned? If so, what are the changes, and where will they be made?
A: Expense budget numbers are stored by account and primary (2-digit) object. Actual
expenses are recorded by account and detail (3-digit) object. The person in charge of the
account is responsible for checking that there are enough funds in the account as a whole to
cover obligations and expenses. If an account exceeds its budget, that is corrected by
transferring budget in from another account or transferring the expense out to another
account.
We expect this to be the policy generally in the future.
Income accounts are budgeted at the whole account level and are realized at the account or,
less often, at the account/user revenue level.
Q: 34) What legacy data do you need to implement the R/3 System live (current year
budget, funds balances, etc.?
A: Snapshot of budget, encumbrances, expenses/revenues, and fund balance at April 2,
2001.
Q: 35) Describe how legacy data should be included in your new system (which data,
degree of detail, time period, etc.).
A: Same as above, also maybe aggregate $ per month at each account/object.
4.7.1.
4.7.1.1.
Questions:
Q: 1) Is there a relationship between accounts in Accounting (expense, revenue, etc.) and
FM?
A: Yes
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Q: 2) Are FM expenditure categories the same as G/L accounts in Accounting? If not, how
are G/L accounts mapped to the budget categories?
A: No. G/L accounts aggregate to FM budget categories.
Q: 3) Describe in detail the relationship between expenditure categories in the budget and
the FI accounts.
A: Budget is at a 2-digit level. G/L (expenditures) is at a 3-digit level.
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
Detail commitment Items (those corresponding to 3-digit object codes, minor sources of
funds, and balance transfer codes) will be related to Cost Elements one to one.
Summarization items, essentially a roll-up of detail items, will correspond to cost element
Groups, but there will not be a formal assignment between these higher level things.
2. General Explanations
Commitment Items are of two types:
1) Those assigned to Cost/Revenue Elements because they are posting objects
and contain encumbrances and expenses or revenues. They include the 3 digit
objects codes, the minor sources of funds, user revenue codes, and the balance
account transfer codes (in and out).
2) Those not assigned to Cost/Revenue Elements because they are
summarization items or nodes. They are budget objects and contain budgets as
well as the summary of encumbrance, expense, or revenue postings at the node
level. They include the 2 digit object codes, the major sources of funds, and the
balance account transfer codes (in and out).
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4. Business Model
As s e ts GL Account
As s e ts C
Ite m
Liabilitie s GL
Account
Liabili
Com m it
Fund Balance GL
Account
Fund Ba
Com m it
Re ve nue s GL
Account
Re ve nue Ele m e nt
Re ve n
Com m it
Expe nditure s GL
Account
Prim ary
Com m it
Se condary Cos t
Ele m e nt
Se conda
Com m it
7. Description of Improvements
More options are available to budget and control costs. For example, the "3 digit" level
can be used for budgeting and posting in R/3.
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N/A
Questions:
Q:
A: There are currently no funds that use revenue increasing budgets. However, there are
some revenue accounts linked directly to expenditure accounts. The revenues are dedicated
only to those expenditure accounts. The situation that that may warrant looking at this option
in R/3 would be the Service Centers - self-supporting departments that provide services to
other departments that are funded through user charges. Currently Service Centers use
negative expenditure accounts to balance.
Mark will provide a list.
Q: 2) Does the budget increase manually (manual entry) or automatically (programmatically
done) when revenue is received?
A: Budget adjustments are not tied to accounting transactions. UT currently has the
flexibility to adjust both revenue and expenditures budgets as needed via a manual process.
In the current UT system, there are no warnings - accounts can overspend as needed with
follow-up budget revisions.
Q: 3) Is a budget increase permitted as soon as the customer invoice is issued or only when
payment is received?
A: A budget increase is allowed whenever the estimated/budgeted revenue needs
changing.
Q: 4) What is the percentage to which revenue can be distributed to the expenditure
account to whose budget is increased?
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A: Expenditure budgets can be increased via increased revenues, use of fund balance,
and/or the movement of funds among expenditure accounts. Correspondingly, increased
revenues do not automatically result in increases to expenditure accounts. 100% of an
increase due to more revenue can be distributed to an expenditure account.
Q: 5) Is there an interval (minimum revenue and upper limit) to stipulate the range of
amounts for revenues posted to the revenue account and the expenditure account whose
budget is increased?
A: For dedicated revenue accounts, if the revenue budget is increased, all of the increase
has to be reflected in the linked expenditure account.
Q: 6) For residual revenues that do not increase the budget in the expenditure account,
what account should the "surplus" go?
A: N/A
Q:
A: No.
Q: 8) Can the budget-increase rule stipulated be changed when documents are entered or
whether it is only for checking purposes?
A: Only for checking purposes.
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
There are currently no funds that use revenue increasing budgets. However, there are
some revenue accounts linked directly to expenditure accounts. The revenues are
dedicated only to those expenditure accounts. The situation that that may warrant
looking at this option in R/3 would be the Service Centers - self-supporting departments
that provide services to other departments that are funded through user charges.
Currently Service Centers use negative expenditure accounts to balance. Some revenue
accounts are linked directly to expenditure accounts, where the revenues are dedicated
only to those expenditure accounts. If revenues exceed the estimate in such an account,
that increase should be available in the related expenditure account. An increase to a
revenue account budget generally has an offsetting entry to an expense account budget
or a decrease to another revenue account. (The only other option is to increase a fund
balance account.) For example, increased food service revenues could be reflected in an
increase to the appropriate revenue account budget offset by an increase to the budget
of a food service expense account. Or it could be split between the expense account and
a related fund balance account (to reserve for future).
In restricted funds, increased gifts, for example, would be posted to the fund balance
account and recognized as revenue when expenses on the related expense ("R")
accounts occur. The increase may be shown as a budget increase to the "R" account,
but often is not.
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2. General Explanations
Those revenue accounts that fund a particular expenditure account will be updated with
the rule for making this distribution. At the end of each month, the program for evaluating
these revenues and calculating the expenditure budget increases will be run.
Since the active availability control works only against elements that already have their
"own" budget, these elements must carry budget independently of the revenues
increasing the budget.
4. Business Model
N/A
5. Special Organizational Considerations
Initially, the Controller will define the revenue/expense account assignment relationships.
7. Description of Improvements
Expense budgets will be adjusted monthly in line with revenue without manual review.
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distribution process
default rule
Questions:
Q:
A: Yes
Q:
2) Integration PS: Describe the current integration between your project system and FM.
A: Budget originates in the Sponsored Programs system via "T-1"s sent to the general
ledger system.
Budget and expenses are tracked in our general ledger system.
The Grants/Contracts system tracks A/R and billings.
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
Restricted Funds WBS Element will be set up for projects (e.g. grants/contracts) based
on the terms and conditions of the project. A fund will be set up and assigned to each
WBS Element.
2. General Explanations
A WBS element is an element in a project work breakdown structure (WBS) and is used
as a revenue and cost collector for activities with discrete start and end dates. At least
one WBS element must exist in a project. A WBS element can be linked to a company
code, a business area, a functional area (through substitution), a fund, a fund center and
a profit center allowing all these codes to be defaulted when a user enters a WBS
Element in a document. Costs and revenues posted to a WBS Element can be
automatically posted to the company code, business area, fund, fund center and profit
center linked to the WBS Element. Therefore University will use WBS Elements to collect
revenues and costs associated with cost-reimbursable grants, and all other funds other
than current unrestricted funds. Thus WBS elements will be used to collect revenues and
costs for current restricted funds, endowment, annuity and life income funds (or will
special ledgers be used?), plant funds, loan funds and agency funds.
Restricted Funds are represented in R/3 by projects in the Project Systems (PS),
including a Project Definition and at least one Work Breakdown Structure Element (WBS
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Element).
There are several WBS Element types (called project types) within a restricted fund. The
appropriate project type must be selected for each WBS Element to maintain the integrity
of the research base for F & A cost studies and proposals.
Most Restricted Funds require significant budget monitoring. As a result, each WBS
elements must be linked to a fund and a fund center in R/3 Funds Management.
Company Code UT
WBS Element
B01001024
Fund
B01001024
WBS Element
R011024010
Fund
R011024010
Business Area
Cur Rest E&G Knoxv ille
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7. Description of Improvements
N/A
8. Description of Functional Deficits
The Sponsored Proposal system will not be integrated with the G/L because R/3 does not
have the functionality to hold detail information that the current system is designed to.
Questions:
Q:
1) Is it possible to establish a direct link between cost centers and the budget?
A: Yes
Q:
2) Describe in detail the relationship/link between cost centers and the budget (FM).
A: There will be a one to one relationship between cost centers and fund sources.
Commitment items will aggregate G/L accounts at the 2-digit level.
Q: 3) At which level of your organization is budget data implemented? Is this the same
level as cost center cost planning, or is it a higher level?
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A: At the account (fund source) level, the same level for cost center planning.
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
1) Cost Centers will be approximately the current General Ledger Expense and
Revenue Accounts.
2) Cost Centers should be organized into hierarchies of Department -> College -> Vice
Chancellor Area -> Budget Entity.
3) Cost Center will equal a fund.
4.) Cost Centers will be assigned to Profit Centers.
5.) Cost Centers will likewise.
Cost Center data should include the ID and description of the cost center that is part of
the account attribute. For example: Account E011006 belongs to Budget Entity
01(Knoxville), Vice Chancellor 33 (Provost & Sr. VC Acad. Aff.), College 01 (General
Administration), Department 043 (McClung Museum). The cost centers are always valid;
there is no expiration date. There are no special requirements for categories, though it
might be useful to categorize the cost centers by Budget Entity for reporting. Cost
2. General Explanations
When a new cost center is needed, the responsible Campus Business Office will enter
the data and route it through the approved organizational structure/workflow. If it is
approved, the Controllers Office will enter the remaining data and establish the cost
center. A fund will be set up either manually or automatically at the same time for each
cost center.
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4. Business Model
See
above
Company Code UT
Cost Center
E011024001
Fund E011024001
Business Area
Cur Unrest E&G Knoxv ille
7. Description of Improvements
Cost Centers will functionally be equivalent to the current G/L accounts. A more accurate
and streamlined request process will be improvements.
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4.7.2.
Budget Planning
Questions:
Q:
1) Describe in detail the relationship/link between the profit center and the budget (FM).
A: Yes
Q:
2) Please describe the budget timeframe and the relation to the fiscal / budgetary year.
A: The University's fiscal year is July through June. A budget's lifespan is:
1. Proposed or "requested" budget--is the approved budget proposed to the Board of
Trustees.
2. Original budget--is the Board-approved budget recorded for July 1. It generally is
the same as the Proposed, but doesn't have to be.
3. Revised budget--is a snapshot of the current budget as of October 31. The state
requires these figures.
4. Probable budget--is a snapshot of the current budget as of April 30. The state
requires these figures.
5. Final budget--is the budget with all revisions applied during the year.
6. Current budget--is the dynamic budge, including revisions to date.
Q: 3) Do you have special budget structures for the interim period / special periods (e.g. if a
budget has not been authorized on time: temporary budgets)?
A: No special structures
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Q: 4) Are there different types of budget (commitment, payment, etc.)? What is the
difference between those types?
A: N/A
Q: 5) Describe how the budget is processed within a year and over a period of years
(supplements, returns, transfers, etc.).
A: Unrestricted Funds: Annual budget. July 1 original budget is created. Revisions are
made during the year. The types of revisions are transfers, supplements (appropriation
increases), and returns (appropriation decreases). There is no automatic carry forward to the
next fiscal year.
Restricted Funds: Based on the award date of the grant. At the beginning of the grant period,
total direct costs are budgeted. Revisions may be made during the year. If the grant spans a
fiscal year, the budget and expenses to date are NOT reset at the start of the fiscal year.
Q:
A: Type of Expenditure:
salaries
summer school
clerical/supporting
biweekly wages
operating
equipment & capital outlay
Q:
A: Revenue sources are appropriations (state, federal, local), tuition and fees, gifts, grants &
contracts (state, federal, local, and private), endowment income, sales & services, and other
sources. Revenue comes in as drawdown on appropriations and letters of credit, checks,
cash, charge cards, or ACH.
Q: 8) Describe the budget preparation process: Dates, process, etc. Describe the hierarchy
(hierarchy of the system within the organization; sequence of the different steps in budget
preparation, revisions, approvals, etc.).
A: Fiscal year = July to June
Budget timeframe:
November to April
- plan for next FY budget: conferences, negotiations, trial
spreadsheets, etc.
April - early May
- load payroll data into salary budget system; modify for new FY
figures. Results reviewed by Department Heads and Deans,
early May
- enter account/object code detail into Campus business office
system. Includes salary objects as well as operating.
Reviewed, corrected, balanced to control figures at
campus level.
mid-May
- Schedule 3 data transmitted or entered into UT budget planning
system.
late May - June
- Schedule 3 data reviewed, corrected, balanced to control
figures at UT leve
mid June
- Board of Trustees reviews, approves budget.
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late June
Q: 9) Describe the approval procedure required when creating and changing the budget.
Describe the participants and their roles for the budget process.
A: Creating:
Department chair prepares a request to the Dean.
Dean compiles list of departmental requests to the Vice Chancellor.
Vice Chancellors negotiate within the Budget Committee to distribute the campus control
amount.
The decisions made in the Budget Committee are then communicated back down the
organizational structure.
For restricted expense accounts, the budget is submitted by the Principal Investigator
according to the terms of the contract. It is then entered to the system. The Research Office
may review these budgets.
Changing:
Person responsible for an account originates a "T-15 Budget Revision", sending it to the
Department Head, who approves and forwards to Dean or to the campus business office,
depending on the policies of the college or division.
For restricted expense accounts, the principal investigator submits a "T-1 Budget Revision" to
the Grants and Contracts office for review and entry to the system.
Q: 10) Describe the different types of changes/adjustments to the budget if the approved
budget is changed.
A: Unrestricted: Original, Supplements, Transfers, Returns
Restricted: Supplements, Transfers, Returns
Q: 11) Please describe the methodology/budget approach used within budgeting (top-down,
bottom-up). How do you check correct budget distribution - is there a storage of the
distributed values at database level?
A: Unrestricted:
Bottom-Up - Budget requests are done at the account level that will roll up to the department
level and above.
Top-Down - Budget approval at the UT system level that trickles down to the account level.
Proposed budget figures are stored in the database at the account and object code level, for
expense accounts, and at the account level for income accounts. The Detail Budget
Schedule, containing proposed budget figures by account and object, is distributed during
budget preparation for responsible persons to check. This schedule also prints summary
pages for deans, chancellors, etc to check totals at their levels. They compare to shadow
system, spreadsheet, control numbers, etc.
Another program compares the account/object code totals in the Departmental Budget
system to a sum by object code from the Proposed Salary Budget system.
During the year, standard monthly reports, such as ledger, expenditure analysis, and monthly
treasurer's reports showing actuals against budget are distributed to responsible persons.
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Q:
A: Yes. Starting at the account level during the budget request process.
Q:
A: Yes, from total university to account level during the entry of the proposed budget.
Q: 14) Are there any special / other budget requests such as grants, trusts, special funds,
asset accounting, investment planning, etc.?
A: Grants/contracts: total direct costs by account/object are entered via T-1 Budget
Revision forms.
Plant Funds: are initially budgeted for the full project cost, then the remaining available
balance is calculated and recorded as the beginning budget for all subsequent fiscal years.
Q:
Q: 17) How many currencies exist in the budget: are there special funds that use currencies
different from the normal budget?
A: One
Q: 18) Are there any special budget or authorization restrictions alongside the normal
budget changes, which are triggered centrally or from specific agents, such as central budget
cuts or blocks?
A: In unrestricted funds there may be state funding rollbacks.
For restricted funds, certain object codes are disallowed, depending on the terms of the
grant.
Q: 19) Describe the level at which: - a budget is entered - assigned funds are entered budget assignments are updated - the availability check is carried out.
A: Budget and Assigned Funds are entered at the account/two-digit object level.
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Q:
Q:
A: Personnel are budgeted by FTE and amount at the distribution account level. Object
code to be charged is derived from the title and account characteristics.
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Q: 23) Beside the above stated "normal" budgeting features, are there any long-term
requirements for forecasting in the budget area?
A: For long-term forecasting of expenses or revenues, we need to record in the database
recurring versus non-recurring amounts.
Q:
24) Describe the rules applied to calculate the budget that is available for execution.
Q:
Q:
26) Describe the procedure followed when a transaction exceeds available budget
Q:
Q: 29) Describe the relationship between the budget and the warehouse (warehouse funds
center) (GR, GI -> impact on budget: Debit and credit).
A: N/A
Q: 30) Historic data conversion / take over: which data / detail for budget data needs to be
taken into account (which detail level, how many years, etc.)?
A: Current year-to-date data must be brought in for all funds.
Q:
31) Archiving: Which objects have to remain online in the system for how long?
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Q: 32) Specify the volume of master data (number of funds centers, funds, expenditure
categories, etc.).
A: Unrestricted Funds: 5,000
Restricted Funds: 27,000
4.7.2.1.
Questions:
Q: 1) Plan integration controlling and funds management: is there a link existing between
any plan figure used in internal costing and the budget.
A: Shadow systems holding the base (recurring changes) are equivalent to R/3 CO
planning. For R/3, CO planning will be used to track the base for FM Budget.
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
Plan 0 will be maintained throughout the year as the proposed budget for the next fiscal
year. Therefore, when the plan is approved in June, it is copied to FM budget as version
0 of the intended fiscal year.
2. General Explanations
Plan version 0 will be maintained as the maintained throughout the year as the proposed
budget for the next fiscal year. Once the version is approved, the central UT Budget
Office will copy it in its entirety to FM budget version 0. Budget version 0 will be
maintained independently from then on, with no mid-year copies from CO planning to FM
budget.
4. Business Model
None
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Questions:
Q: 1) For budget generation/management: Do you define which combinations of areas of
responsibility and expense category can receive budget or permit assigned funds? Do such
definitions exist for funds?
A: Total University
|
Budget Entity
|
Vice Chancellor
|
College/Division
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|
Department
|
Account
|
Budget Category
|
Object Code
General and Plant Funds: certain object codes are set to be used exclusively.
Restricted Funds: certain object codes can be disallowed.
Auxiliaries: additional user-defined objects are available for resale items, and also revenue
categories.
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
Structure
You must define budget objects and posting objects for the definition of a Budget
Structure from a number of Budget Structure elements of a fund.
The budget structure for all unrestricted accounts will most likely be the same when R/3
is started.
Budget structures may vary among restricted accounts depending on the terms of the
contracts.
--------Initial answer------The UT's organizational structure is defined as:
Total University
|
Budget Entity
|
Vice Chancellor
|
College/Division
|
Department
|
Account
|
Budget Category
|
Object Code
This structure must be followed in all budget and financial reports at any given levels (e.g.
Budget Entity).
2. General Explanations
R/3 will follow UT's organizational structure defined as a budget structure in Funds
Management.
FM Area -> Funds Center -> Fund -> Commitment Item
Therefore for each fund, the budget structure represents all the funds centers and
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commitment items where you can budget or make postings, in hierarchical form. Only
the funds center and commitment item will have its own hierarchy.
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None
Questions:
Q: 1) Is there a sample that can be used for the generation of the budget structure plan
(budget elements, account assignment elements)? Does this sample apply equally for all
funds?
A: The budget structure for planning expense accounts would be equivalent to our current
list of 2-digit object codes for recording budgets and 3-digit object codes for recording
expenses that roll up to the 2-digit and then to the account. Plant funds use a range of the
object codes that are not available to other funds; otherwise, all accounts use the same list of
objects.
For income accounts, budget planning occurs at the account level; realized income may be
recorded by user-defined revenue codes which roll up to the account, typically for auxiliary
funds, but technically may be used by any income account.
Q: 2) Describe the sample (budget structure) in detail: Year-dependency: One year, several
years/across years, number of samples, special features, etc.
A: Unrestricted Funds: one year.
Restricted Funds: the term of the contract, which can span fiscal years.
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CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
UT records budgets at a 2-digit object level and expenses at a 3-digit level that roll up to
the 2-digit and then to the account. Depending on the type of funds, certain object codes
are allowed and disallowed. For example, the Plant Funds use a range of object codes
that are not available to other funds. For the Restricted Funds, only certain object codes
may be permitted to be spent due to the nature of the grant/contract.
2. General Explanations
Commitment Item Group
Definition
Grouping of commitment items from an FM area for processing together.
Use
Commitment item groups are an aid to defining budget structures.
You can define a commitment item group either as year-dependent or as non-yeardependent. You use the year-dependent groups to define a year-dependent budget
structure (annual BS). You use the non-year-dependent groups to define a non-yeardependent budget structure (overall BS) if you work with funds and overall values.
When defining a group, you specify the object function (budget object/posting object) of
the commitment items contained in them. When defining a budget structure with group
assignment, you assign the commitment item groups to the funds centers. When
generating the budget structure, the system then automatically defines the objects for all
the commitment items contained in the commitment item group in the respective funds
center.
The two-digit level will be defined as budget objects. Three-digit level will be posting and
budget objects; use of three digits as budget objects will be optional.
-------original answer----Grouping of commitment items from an FM area for processing together. Commitment
item groups are an aid to defining budget structures. One can define a commitment item
group either as year-dependent or as non-year-dependent. One uses the year-dependent
groups to define a year-dependent budget structure (annual BS). One uses the non-yeardependent groups to define a non-year-dependent budget structure (overall BS) if one
works with funds and overall values. When defining a group, one specifies the object
function (budget object/posting object) of the commitment items contained in them. When
defining a budget structure with group assignment, you assign the commitment item
groups to the funds centers. When generating the budget structure, the system then
automatically defines the objects for all the commitment items contained in the
commitment item group in the respective funds center.
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4. Business Model
None
5. Special Organizational Considerations
The maintenance and generation of commitment item groups is controlled centrally.
7. Description of Improvements
Commitment item groups could provide greater flexibility in monitoring and control of
budgets by providing more system configuration options at the current object code level.
Questions:
Q:
1) Are there different budget versions (values) for the existing FM master data structure?
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A: Yes
Q: 2) Describe the information to be stored at the budget version level (list of fields, short
description, properties of fields).
A: The University records six official time-based versions of its unrestricted budget:
1. Proposed ("requested" in database)
Final administrative budget that is proposed to the trustees.
2. Original
Start of the year, trustee approved budget (generally the same as the proposed
budget but doesn't have to be).
3. Revised
October month-end snapshot. Some manual changes can be made at the system
level. Presented to the Board and reported to the state.
4. Probable
April month-end snapshot. Some manual changes can be made at the system level.
Approved by the board Presented to the Board and reported to the state.
5. Final
Snapshot at fiscal year close (currently Aug. 15)
6. Current
There are two concurrent versions
base budgets (recurring figures)
non-recurring
The information we store for each version includes:
Account Number
Object
Amount
Gross or Recovery
recurring or one-time
Date
and derived from the account:
Campus or Unit
Function
College or Division
Department
and derived from object:
Budget Category
Q: 3) For budget generation/management: Do you define which combinations of areas of
responsibility and expense category can receive budget or permit assigned funds? Do such
definitions exist for funds?
A: No different from one version to another. Rules are applied equally to all versions.
Q: 4) If you use different budget versions (amount versions): Do you need to block a version
for certain transactions?
A: Yes
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
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Unrestricted Funds:
There are two concurrent versions.
1. Current budget, including original budget and subsequent current year changes.
2. Base budget (next year's proposed budget: Original budget + annualized recurring
changes + one time funding for the next year.)
The University records six official time-based versions of its unrestricted budget:
1. Proposed ("requested" in database)
Final administrative budget that is proposed to the trustees.
2. Original
Start of the year, trustee approved budget (generally the same as the proposed
budget but doesn't have to be).
3. Revised
Ocober. month-end snapshot. Some manual changes can be made at the system
level after regular month end processing. Presented to the Board and reported to
the state.
4. Probable
April month-end snapshot. Some manual changes can be made at the system
level after regular month end processing. Presented to the Board and reported to
the state.
5. Final
Snapshot at fiscal year close (currently Aug. 15)
6. Current
Restricted Funds:
There is only one budget estimate for an account at any point in time, describing the
budget agreed upon with the sponsor.
2. General Explanations
In Funds Management, one can have up to 999 budget versions. Therefore, one can
manage more than one budget version in Funds Management. However, note that
availability control is only carried out in version 0.
Five of the six official time based versions described in question #1 above (Original,
Revised, Probable, Final, and Current) can be represented by R/3 budget versions, with
Current Budget always being represented by version 0.
The proposed budget will be carried in CO Planning and copied to FM version 0 when it
is approved by the Board of Trustees.
3. Explanations of Functions and Events
Copying Budget Versions
Use
This function supports you in budget planning. You can use this function to, for example,
copy budget data from the old year as the first version of the new budget for the new
year. You can adjust the data to take account inflation and other factors in the new year.
Prerequisites
You must create the new budget version first.
You can create new versions either in the Funds Management IMG, by choosing
Budgeting and Availability Control Budgeting Define budget versions, or in
the Funds Management application menu; choose Budgeting Versions
Create.
The budget version you want to copy must have passed the consistency checks.
For more information on budget consistency, refer to Checking the Budget
Allocation.
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Perhaps the short text field of Budget Transfers can be used to identify recurring changes
in the current budget for entry into CO Planning.
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
Refer to "Budget Structure Processing" CIT where this section will also be covered.
4.7.2.6.
Questions:
Q: 1) Describe in detail the information to be stored on the budget document (list of fields,
short description, properties of fields, etc.).
A: The information we store on the original budget document includes:
Account Number
Object
Original Amount
Gross or Recovery
recurring or one-time
Date
and derived from object:
Budget Category
The supplement document (T-1) serves also as the original budget document for restricted
expense accounts:
Account Number
Object
Original Amount
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2. General Explanations
The budget is assigned in Funds Management by distributing the budget directly to the
individual funds center and commitment items manually or by copying the CO plan into
FM (see "Copy CO Plan for FM Budget" CIT) .One can assign a budget both top-down
and bottom-up.
With top-down distribution you always assign a budget from superior funds
center and commitment items to subordinate ones. You can, for example,
budget the top commitment items within the top funds center first. Afterwards,
you break down gradually to the top items of the subordinate funds center.
With bottom-up distribution you always assign a budget to subordinate funds and
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commitment items. Only as much budget as is available in the superior item can
be assigned to a subordinate item. Using the Total Up function, you can total the
budgeted values from the subordinate funds and commitment items to the
superior level. Using the Roll Up function, you can enter a budget for specific
individual combinations of fund, funds center and commitment items and roll up
automatically to the top node.
It is strongly recommended that UT use the bottom-up distribution approach using the
Roll Up function when entering original budget.
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from other budget transactions. Therefore, one document is posted for each budget
object.
In FM, there are two processes to enter budget. They are Commitment Budget and
Payment Budget.
Commitment Budget is a normative framework within a particular area of responsibility for
entering commitments which will lead to expenditures or costs in the current year or in
subsequent years.
Payment Budget is a normative framework for the forecasted expenditures and revenues
or the costs, revenues and investments that can be expected within a fiscal year and
area of responsibility.
UT will only be using Payment Budget process to enter all budget types (e.g. Original,
Supplement, Return, Release, Transfer).
4. Business Model
None
7. Description of Improvements
None
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4.7.2.7.
Questions:
Q: 1) Describe in detail the information to be stored on the budget document (list of fields,
short description, properties of fields, etc.).
A: The information we store on the original budget document includes:
Account Number
Object
Original Amount
Gross or Recovery
recurring or one-time
Date
and derived from object:
Budget Category
The supplement document (T-1) serves also as the original budget document for restricted
expense accounts:
Account Number
Object
Original Amount
and derived from the account:
Sponsor Organization
Sponsor's Grant/Contract Number
Title of Project
Project Director
Performance Period Budgeted
Sponsor Funds
Total Direct Costs
Allowable Facilities and Administrative Costs
Total Costs to Sponsoring Agency
For revenue accounts:
Account Number
Original Amount
recurring or one-time
Date
On all forms, derived from the account:
Campus or Unit
Function
College or Division
Department
4.7.2.8.
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Questions:
Q: 1) Describe in detail which information should be stored in the budget release document
(list of fields, short description, field attributes and so on).
A: At UT, the entire budget is available from the first; we have not used the concept of
releasing a portion of the budget for use and holding a portion in reserve.
For Restricted Funds, certain grants can specify that only the authorized amount can be
spent during a given period.
Q: 2) Is the budget directly available, or is there a "release of funds" before the budget is
available?
A: No
4.7.2.9.
Questions:
Q: 1) Describe in detail which information should be stored in the budget release document
(list of fields, short description, field attributes and so on).
A: At UT, the entire budget is available from the first; we have not used the concept of
releasing a portion of the budget for use and holding a portion in reserve.
For Restricted Funds, certain grants can specify that only the authorized amount can be
spent during a given period.
Q: 2) Is the budget directly available, or is there a "release of funds" before the budget is
available?
A: No
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
For Unrestricted Funds, the entire budget is available once approved.
For Restricted Funds, certain grants can specify that only the authorized amount be
spent for a given period. Therefore, the total budget is entered for the total amount
awarded but will be released in authorized or "funded" increments. To identify which
grant has this provision, each account contains an attribute called "Award-Data" where
this provision is stored. This is an informational field where Controller's Office or campus
business office enters the whole total budget amount awarded. The actual released
amount of the budget amount is determined by the Pre-award Office or the award
document. A budget revision based on the authorized amount will be transmitted to the
accounting system. Since the whole budget is entered in a text field and the authorized
amount is entered into the accounting system, the use of budget release in FM may not
be used.
2. General Explanations
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Funds Management includes a budget release option, which can be used to release the
budget bit by bit. Releases can be expressed in percent or as absolute amounts. A
release can relate to annual values and/or overall values. If you have released the whole
budget or only part of it for an FM account assignment, you must also gradually release
the budget for all other FM account assignments. The release is based on the current
budget - that is, the original budget as amended by supplements, returns, and transfers.
It is strongly recommended that UT use the bottom-up distribution approach using the
Roll Up function when releasing budget.
4. Business Model
None
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7. Description of Improvements
The major improvement is that the user sees the total amount awarded and the
authorized amount released as "live data" compared to the current system where the
total amount awarded is entered as a text field. Therefore, Funds Management can be
set to have funds availability checking at the released budget.
Questions:
Q: 1) Describe in detail which information is to be stored on the budget document (list of
fields, short description, and properties of fields).
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A: UT would never use a one-sided transaction for budget changes; they always are
transfers among expenses, revenues, and fund balances.
The information on a supplement document (T-15) for unrestricted expense accounts is:
Account Number
Object
Increase or decrease Amount
Gross or Recovery
recurring or one-time
Date
and derived from object:
Budget Category
The information on a supplement document (T-1) for restricted expense accounts is:
Account Number
Object
Increase/decrease Amount
and derived from the account:
Sponsor Organization
Sponsor's Grant/Contract Number
Title of Project
Project Director
Performance Period Budgeted
Sponsor Funds
Total Direct Costs
Allowable Facilities and Administrative Costs
Total Costs to Sponsoring Agency
For revenue accounts:
Account Number
Decrease/Increase Amount
recurring or one-time
Date
On all forms, derived from the account:
Campus or Unit
Function
College or Division
Department
4.7.2.11.
Questions:
Q: 1) Describe in detail which information is to be stored on the budget document (list of
fields, short description, and properties of fields).
A: UT would never use a one-sided transaction for budget changes; they always are
transfers among expenses, revenues, and fund balances.
The information on a supplement document (T-15) for unrestricted expense accounts is:
Account Number
Object
Increase or decrease Amount
Gross or Recovery
recurring or one-time
Date
and derived from object:
Budget Category
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The information on a supplement document (T-1) for restricted expense accounts is:
Account Number
Object
Increase/decrease Amount
and derived from the account:
Sponsor Organization
Sponsor's Grant/Contract Number
Title of Project
Project Director
Performance Period Budgeted
Sponsor Funds
Total Direct Costs
Allowable Facilities and Administrative Costs
Total Costs to Sponsoring Agency
For revenue accounts:
Account Number
Decrease/Increase Amount
recurring or one-time
Date
On all forms, derived from the account:
Campus or Unit
Function
College or Division
Department
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
The types of budget supplements UT incurs are state funding increases and increases in
revenues.
UT would never use a one-sided transaction for budget supplements or returns; they
always are transfers among expenses, revenues, and fund balances.
It is not anticipated at this time that UT will use the budget supplement transaction, a one
sided transaction to increase budget amounts.
The Budget Transfer will be used for all adjustments after Original Budget is entered in
the system.
The information on a supplement document (T-15) for unrestricted expense accounts is:
Account Number
Object
Increase or decrease Amount
Gross or Recovery
recurring or one-time
Date
and derived from object:
Budget Category
The information on a supplement document (T-1) for restricted expense accounts is:
Account Number
Object
Increase/decrease Amount
and derived from the account:
Sponsor Organization
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It is not anticipated at this time that UT will use the budget supplement transaction, a one
sided transaction to increase budget amounts.
The Budget Transfer will be used for all adjustments after Original Budget is entered in
the system.
-------------------------If the Budget Supplement were to be used:
Same as Original Budget, Budget Supplement will be entered as a Payment Budget
using the Roll Up function. The required data to enter a Budget Supplement are:
Document Date
FM Area
Budget version. If you do not enter one, the system automatically uses version 0
where funds checking is done.
Fund
Timeframe. Year/Period
Funds Center
Commitment Item
Amount
In order to allocate overall values, one proceeds as described above. However, enter a
fund in the initial screen and select the field Overall.
If a budget profile is assigned to the fund, that allows you to enter overall values and
annual values, you can also allocate annual values for this fund by selecting the field
Overall and entering the appropriate fiscal year.
The result is that the system automatically rolls the budget allocation for a single funds
center and commitment item, or for several Budget Objects on a lower hierarchy level
and is automatically rolled up to the highest node.
Once the transaction is saved, one document is posted for each budget object using a
different budget type to identify it as a budget supplement.
4. Business Model
None
7. Description of Improvements
None
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Budget Transfer
Questions:
Q: 1) Describe in detail which information is to be stored on the budget document (list of
fields, short description, and properties of fields).
A: For each "side" of the transaction-The information on a budget transfer document (T-15) for unrestricted expense accounts is:
Account Number
Object
Increase or decrease Amount
Gross or Recovery
recurring or one-time
Date
and derived from object:
Budget Category
The information on a budget transfer document (T-1) for restricted expense accounts is:
Account Number
Object
Increase/decrease Amount
and derived from the account:
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Sponsor Organization
Sponsor's Grant/Contract Number
Title of Project
Project Director
Performance Period Budgeted
Sponsor Funds
Total Direct Costs
Allowable Facilities and Administrative Costs
Total Costs to Sponsoring Agency
For revenue accounts:
Account Number
Decrease/Increase Amount
recurring or one-time
Date
On all forms, derived from the account:
Campus or Unit
Function
College or Division
Department
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
The University anticipates using budget transfers for all budget transactions after CO plan
is copied to FM budget version 0.
Transfers between business areas (fund/entity combination) will not be allowed.
Unrestricted:
E & G - transfers among expenses, revenues, and fund balances.
Auxiliary- transfers among expenses, revenues, and fund balances.
Restricted:
Transfers offset between revenue and expense commitment items within the same
project. It is anticipated that restricted budget transfers will be entered through an
interface with the Sponsored Projects (Pre-awared) system.
2. General Explanations
It is anticipated that budget transfers will only be down within the same fiscal and
business area.
From the SAP Library:
Budget Activities
Definition
You use the "Budget activity" characteristic to subdivide the "Budget" characteristic value.
Structure
If you want to specify the "budget" characteristic value more precisely, you can use the
following characteristics for the budget activity:
KBUS Transfers (sender)
KBUE Transfers (receiver)
You can use these characteristic values to have the system list budget transfers from one
funds center to another, if they take place within one fiscal year.
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Supplements
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Display supplements
Supplements
You can also make budget updates using the change function of the original budget.
You should regulate your budgeting in such a way that the original budget is frozen and
budget changes are made in the form or supplements, returns, and transfers. This makes
the changes easier to identify later.
The "current budget" is the total of that year's original budget, as amended by
supplements, returns, and transfers. Besides this, the budget carry forward from the yearend closing and the budget from revenues increasing the budget are considered.
See also:
Budget Types in Funds Management
Allocating the Original Budget
Rolling Up Budget Values
Transfers
Use
It may happen that one funds center is running short of funds while another still has
plenty. Transfers are a tool in Funds Management, which you can use to place budget
from one Budget Structure Plan Element at the disposal of another. You can make
transfers for the commitment budget (CB) and the payment budget (PB).
Prerequisites
You cannot enter transfers for funds releases, but only for the current budget in a
particular version.
Features
Transfers between different funds centers and commitment items in the same
fiscal year (balance carried forward or advance)
Transfers between fiscal years in the same funds center and commitment item
(balance carried forward or advance)
Transfers between different funds centers and commitment items in different
fiscal years
Transfers between different funds, also across fiscal years
Short and long texts
Budget Consistency Checks when transferring
For transfers in which expenditures account assignments are addressed, the budget is
reduced for the sender and increased for the receiver.
For transfers addressing a revenues account assignment, either as sender or as receiver,
the budget is reduced for the sender and the receiver.
Activities
In the entry screen for the transfers, you must enter at least one sender and one receiver,
and the amount of the transfer. You can apportion the amount from the sender to more
than one receiver.
Choose Accounting Financial accounting Funds management Budgeting
Transfers Commitments for the (CB) and payments for the (PB).
See also:
Budget Types in Funds Management
4. Business Model
None
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7. Description of Improvements
Since this is a real-time integrated system, budgets are immediately updated when a
budget transfer is executed by an authorized user. Also as in all budget updates, a user
will be able to know when a budget document was created and by whom.
Questions:
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Account Number
Object
Increase or decrease Amount
Gross or Recovery
recurring or one-time
Date
and derived from object:
Budget Category
The information on a supplement document (T-1) for restricted expense accounts is:
Account Number
Object
Increase/decrease Amount
and derived from the account:
Sponsor Organization
Sponsor's Grant/Contract Number
Title of Project
Project Director
Performance Period Budgeted
Sponsor Funds
Total Direct Costs
Allowable Facilities and Administrative Costs
Total Costs to Sponsoring Agency
For revenue accounts:
Account Number
Decrease/Increase Amount
recurring or one-time
Date
On all forms, derived from the account:
Campus or Unit
Function
College or Division
Department
2. General Explanations
When there is a reduction in the total budget, there must be a means to reduce the
budget and should be distinguishable from other budget activities (e.g. original,
supplement, transfer). FM provides this means called a Budget Return. It is a one-sided
entry that only affects FM.
The University anticipates using budget transfers for all budget transactions after CO plan
is copied to FM budget version 0.
Transfers between business areas (fund/entity combination) will not be allowed.
Unrestricted:
E & G - transfers among expenses, revenues, and fund balances.
Auxiliary- transfers among expenses, revenues, and fund balances.
Restricted- transfers offset between revenue and expense commitment items within the
same project. It is anticipated that restricted budget transfers will be entered through an
interface with the Sponsored Projects (Pre-awared) system.
--------------------------------------There are two forms of return:
Returns within a hierarchy (budget structure)
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Budget is returned within the funds center and commitment item hierarchy, from
a subordinate funds center/commitment item to a superior one. You can only
return as much budget as is still available in the subordinate level. The overall
budget is not affected by the return, but the available value in the superior level is
increased by the amount returned from the subordinate level.
Returns from particular combinations of funds centers and commitment items to
external parties (such as sponsors) - Roll Up
Here, you are returning distributable or available budget from a particular fund
center/commitment item combination in your hierarchy to the superior funds
center or commitment item. This means that the overall budget decreases by the
amount returned.
It is strongly recommended that UT use the bottom-up distribution approach using the
Roll Up function when entering budget return.
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Fund
Timeframe. Year/Period
Funds Center
Commitment Item
Amount
In order to allocate overall values, one proceeds as described above. However, enter a
fund in the initial screen and select the field Overall.
If a budget profile is assigned to the fund, that allows you to enter overall values and
annual values, you can also allocate annual values for this fund by selecting the field
Overall and entering the appropriate fiscal year.
The result is that the system automatically rolls the budget allocation for a single funds
center and commitment item, or for several Budget Objects on a lower hierarchy level
and is automatically rolled up to the highest node.
Once the transaction is saved, one document is posted for each budget object using a
different budget type to identify it as a budget return.
4. Business Model
None
7. Description of Improvements
None
8. Description of Functional Deficits
None
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FM area and budget profiles for funds must be defined for annual budget (Unrestricted
Funds) and overall budget (Restricted Funds). Also, the appropriate update profile must
be assigned to the FM area.
12. Authorization and User Roles
Only authorized users (e.g. Office of the Vice President of Business and Finance,
Department - Campus Business Office) are allowed to make any changes to the total
budget. Using authorization objects will help define the roles for each user.
Questions:
Q: 1) Describe in detail which information is to be stored on the budget document (list of
fields, short description, and properties of fields).
A: UT would never use a one-sided transaction for budget changes; they always are
transfers among expenses, revenues, and fund balances.
The information on a supplement document (T-15) for unrestricted expense accounts is:
Account Number
Object
Increase or decrease Amount
Gross or Recovery
recurring or one-time
Date
and derived from object:
Budget Category
The information on a supplement document (T-1) for restricted expense accounts is:
Account Number
Object
Increase/decrease Amount
and derived from the account:
Sponsor Organization
Sponsor's Grant/Contract Number
Title of Project
Project Director
Performance Period Budgeted
Sponsor Funds
Total Direct Costs
Allowable Facilities and Administrative Costs
Total Costs to Sponsoring Agency
For revenue accounts:
Account Number
Decrease/Increase Amount
recurring or one-time
Date
On all forms, derived from the account:
Campus or Unit
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Function
College or Division
Department
4.7.2.15.
Questions:
Q: 1) Budget document change: Which fields/information can be changed in a budget
document that already exists?
A: Cannot change after form has been submitted. Must fill out another form to reflect the
changes.
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
A document (e.g. T-15, T-1) cannot be changed after it has been submitted. The
requestor must fill out another form to reflect the changes.
2. General Explanations
Once a budget document has been created by a budget transaction (e.g. original,
supplement, return, transfer), the only fields that can be changed are the short and long
text. Within the budgeting transactions, one can edit a 50-character short text and a
corresponding long text for the budget values so as to store explanations regarding the
budget values or changes to them. The budget texts are assigned to a totals record. So
one can enter budget texts for combinations of the following:
Funds center
Commitment item
Fund
Fiscal year
Budget transaction
3. Explanations of Functions and Events
In the change document transaction, a user can only enter a short text and, if required, a
long text. Other data fields are blocked from any changes. Within the document, there is
information about:
When the text was created
Who created it
When it was changed
Who changed it
4. Business Model
None
5. Special Organizational Considerations
A person who is responsible for the budget can edit the budget document.
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4.7.3.
Budget Execution
Questions:
Q:
1) Give a detailed list of legal requirements existing for the execution of the budget.
A: The primary legal requirement is that the budget be balanced (revenues & fund transfers
= expenditures).
There are internal policies and guidelines that assist in implementing legislated directives.
For example, the legislature may appropriate funds for a salary increase and the University
develops guidelines for implementation in accordance with the language contained in the
appropriations bill.
Unrestricted Funds: Line item appropriations where expenditures of funds must meet
requirement of the legislature.
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Restricted Funds: Terms of the grant/contract must be observed in spending from its budget.
Q: 3) Do you use a multi-level funds reservation chain? (Such as: earmarked funds to
consume budget directly, reference and reduce funds reservation or earmarked funds).
A: JVs can be used to encumber obligations that are not automatically encumbered.
Salaries on unrestricted accounts and purchase orders are encumbered.
Q: 4) Are there are any "funds assignment chains" for expenditure and revenue? Describe
these chains in detail.
A: Expenditure: Requisition -> PO (G/L updated) -> Invoice -> Check (G/L updated)
<---------------Release----------->
Revenue: A/R -> Cash Receipts
Q: 5) Describe the current/foreseen budget structure. At which level does the budget
assignment take place?
A: Total University
|
Budget Entity
|
Vice Chancellor
|
College/Division
|
Department
|
Account
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|
Budget Category
|
Object Code
Budget assignment (encumbrances and expenses) is at the 3-digit object level.
Q: 7) Is it possible to execute now for any future-/past years (budgets?). If so, please give a
detailed description of the processing currently in place.
A: At year-end (July), old and new year budgets are open for posting of disbursements,
transfers, cash receipts, and JV's.
Q: 8) Describe how down payments (such as trip advances) are posted, and how they
affect Funds Management.
A: Down payments are entered with a T-29 Form (Special Remittance and Order) and
posted just like ordinary expenditures against budget.
Q:
A: Revenue sources are appropriations (state, federal, local), tuition and fees, gifts, grants &
contracts (state, federal, local, and private), endowment income, sales & services, and other
sources. Revenue comes in as drawdown on appropriations and letters of credit, or checks,
cash, charge cards, or ACH.
Q:
10) Describe the process for allocating expenditures/revenues within the organization.
A: EXPENDITURES
Unrestricted: A program allocates benefit costs at the end of the month by function and
budget entity.
Restricted: Allowable expenses are read by a program at the end of each month to calculate
F&A (indirect costs) according to the terms of each grant or contract.
REVENUES
There are no automatic allocations of revenue for either unrestricted or restricted.
Q:
12) Describe in detail the impact that tax on sales/purchases posting has on the budget.
A: N/A
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Q: 13) Describe the processes for calculating interest on arrears and dunning, and how they
affect the budget/Funds Management.
A: N/A
Q: 14) Provide an overview of the purchasing process. Which part of the process is linked
to the budget and what sort of link is it (budget approval, at the time of open item posting, at
the time of actual costs creation, etc.)?
A:
Requisition ----> PO ---------> Invoice ---------> Check
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(1) Requisitions are entered to purchasing; no posting to general ledger.
(2) Purchase orders generate encumbrances to the general ledger.
(3) Invoices may refer to a purchase order or, for small dollar amounts, be the initial entry to
the Payables system; there is no posting to the general ledger.
(4) Checks are written for one or more invoices; they generate expenses to the general
ledger.
Q: 15) Do you have to follow certain public procurement rules ("RFP's"), please provide a
description of the rules to be applied.
A: Yes. State Law provides for Procurement and Bidding (Larger $ items) procedures.
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Q: 18) You use an integrated sales system. Is it necessary to estimate sales revenue on the
income side, or is this expected income not recognized in FM until the incoming cash is
posted (or an invoice is sent)?
A: Estimated income is recorded in revenue budgets, both "I" and "C" accounts.
In unrestricted funds, income is recognized at cash receipt.
In restricted funds, income is recognized at time of expense.
Q:
A: Yes
Q: 20) If there is a controlling system existing to determine and cross-charge internal
costs. Please describe the current logic applied and the relation / impact to the budget /
budget execution.
A: Inter-departmental charge actuals are coded with a 3-digit object ending in 9 to signify a
recovery. Expense budgets record both gross and recovery amounts by 2-digit object code.
Income accounts are not affected by internal re-allocations.
Q:
21) How is overhead cost (if any) treated for budget to actual comparison?
A: N/A
Q:
22) Is there also an availability control for postings to balance sheet accounts?
A: N/A
Q:
A: Yes
Q: 24) Describe the payroll integration into Finance and Budget. Please include the
handling of benefits too.
A: Salary budget system extracts data from payroll into an online system available for
update for a limited time, 3-4 weeks starting in late April. The Proposed Salary Budget
(PSB) system includes:
o breakdown by person and distribution accounts
o vacant positions, lump sum positions, or position history added manually
o benefit costs projected using defaults and employee attributes.
o high level reporting from April though June
The PSB is reconciled to department object code budgets May - June. After the budget is
finalized, PSB data is fed back to payroll to record salary changes. Changes to current year
positions (PAFs) from the start of budget process thru year-end are entered to payroll
manually (May - June 30).
Benefits are budgeted at the function/budget entity level for current unrestricted accounts.
They are charged to benefit type pool accounts and then are distributed at month-end to
budget entity/function pool accounts based on % of salary.
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Benefits for auxiliary and restricted accounts are budgeted and expended at the account
level.
Every payroll has an interface to Financial to charge the labor and benefits to the distribution
accounts and appropriate object codes. Financial interrogates the distribution account, and if
it does not bear its own staff benefits, that part of the cost is switched to the benefit-type pool
account.
Most salaries and wages in the unrestricted funds are encumbered at the beginning of the
year. Each payroll deobligates by the amount of pay and makes adjustments for rate of pay
changes for the remainder of the fiscal year.
Q: 26) Describe in detail how the inventory process is carried out, and which postings are
made in this context (represented in Funds Management). Are there any local, state, or
national requirements (USA)?
A: Actual postings are like any other types of expenditures on the G/L account. Inventories
are tracked through offline systems.
Q: 27) Do you use asset accounting? Describe how assets are posted (capitalization,
depreciation, retirement, etc.) and their impact on funds management. Are there any
differences for special funds?
A: ENCUMBRANCES AND OBLIGATIONS
The encumbrance of obligations against Unexpended Plant Fund projects occurs when
formal contracts, purchase orders, and change orders are issued as follows:
Contracts. Agreements with architects, principal contractors and, at times, engineering and
inspecting firms must be by formal contract. These contracts must be approved by the Board
of Trustees, signed by the President or a Vice President, and forwarded to the Treasurer's
Office. The amount of each contract then will be recorded as an encumbrance against the
project account, and the uncommitted balance of the project will be reduced.
Purchase Orders. A second method for encumbering plant funds is through purchase orders.
Normally, purchase orders will be issued for movable equipment purchases and for other
obligations of small amounts. Requisitions may be prepared either by the campus
representative or the Director of Facilities Planning. The Director will forward the requisitions
to the appropriate campus/unit Purchasing Department.
For certain large projects at campuses or units other than Knoxville, the Director may arrange
to use the Knoxville campus Purchasing Department. Normal Purchasing Department
procedures will be followed for plant fund projects. When the Treasurer's Office receives a
copy of the purchase order, this amount will be recorded as an encumbrance against the
project account, and the uncommitted balance will be reduced.
Change Orders. During a construction project, sometimes the amount specified in the
contract or purchase order may need to be increased or decreased. This is done with change
orders, which may be prepared by a project architect and must be approved by the Director
of Facilities Planning (after consultation with appropriate campus officials) and Vice President
for Business and Finance. Programmatic change orders requested by building users should
be approved by the appropriate campus officials and forwarded to the Director of Facilities
Planning.
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Because a change order modifies the original contract, it must be submitted through the
normal contract review process and executed by a Vice President. The original change order
then will be transmitted to the Treasurer's Office for recording. A copy of the change order
should be sent to the appropriate campus official. The Treasurer's Office is responsible for
following the current State Building Commission policy on change orders.
In rare circumstances, the Director of Facilities Planning may need to approve an emergency
change. This emergency approval normally will involve a small change in the contract
amount. The Director of Facilities Planning will notify the Vice President for Business and
Finance as soon as possible in writing, with copies to the Treasurer's Office and the
appropriate campus official. A formal change order will be executed at the earliest possible
date.
Q: 28) If there are different treatments with funds in the context of asset handling: in which
funds do you book your assets, how are those depreciated (e.g. for enterprise and
governmental funds).
A: Buildings: Expensed in Plant Funds "J" accounts for budgetary purposes. Later they are
capitalized in Invested in Plant "M" accounts for financial statements.
Equipment: Expensed in the appropriate expense account for budgetary purposes, and later
capitalized in Invested in Plant "M" accounts for financial statements. The rules are the same
for all types of funds.
The University has never had to depreciate before, but will be using straight-line depreciation,
beginning in FY2001.
Q:
29) Please describe the impact of asset maintenance efforts on the budget.
A: If this means building renovation: projects > $100,000 are established in University-Wide
Administration "J" expense accounts. < $100,000 projects are charged initially to "E"
expense accounts, then reclassified to "J" accounts. Both types of accounts are budgeted for
the entire project cost.
If this means equipment service contracts:
Q: 30) Is there an integration needed between human asset accounting and budget
management?
A: Yes
Q:
A: The grant and contract system prepares bills for sponsored projects using:
- the general ledger to determine eligible expenses,
- one of several possible billing bases (e.g.,. cost reimbursement),
- one of several possible billing cycles (monthly, quarterly, etc.),
- a related accounts receivable account to post the billed amount.
Cash receipts are matched with outstanding A/R to liquidate them.
Unpaid bills appear on a dunning and aging report after 45 days.
Q:
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A: Accounts Payable is used to enter payments against purchases orders and travel
itineraries, and also to initiate payments from invoices with no preceding documents. It uses
two vendor files: (1) the Vendor data base is shared with purchasing, and (2) the Payee data
base is used by AP alone, for employees due travel re-imbursements, temporary vendors,
and small-dollar payments to vendors not on the Vendor data base.
Payments are entered, spot-checked, and released in batches. Payments are processed five
nights a week, with a program combining all payments to the same vendor, unless the
payment has been marked to keep separate. Each check has a remittance advice itemizing
the invoices being paid and documenting the University accounts and objects being charged.
The check number and date are recorded on each invoice paid.
Credit memos are entered like invoices, and combined with payments to the same vendor.
"Emergency" checks are allowed; they are entered to the system like invoices, except the
check number is known at entry time.
Q: 33) Integration with Purchasing: Which documents/transactions exist and at what point
are budget assignments made (for example, purchase requisitions, purchase orders, contract
release, etc.)?
A: Purchases of $2000 or more must be initiated with a requisition sent to Purchasing.
There is no corresponding posting to the general ledger. $2000 is also the threshold for
purchases that should be bid, with some exceptions for proprietary products, etc. Purchasing
sends out an RFQ, and handles the bidding and vendor selection.
A successful bid on a requisition becomes a purchase order. At this point, an interface with
the general ledger creates an encumbrance for regular POs. Blanket POs are not
encumbered at UT.
Invoices against a regular purchase order de-obligate the encumbrance and create an
expense posting; on blanket POs, there is only the expense. The expense may be distributed
to multiple accounts and accounts different from the original obligation.
Note: In our system design of UT's account structure, the cost center in CO will be mapped
one-for-one to a fund and funds center in FM. With this in mind, in R/3 when a user decides
to change a cost center once a requisition has been saved, the fund and funds center will not
change based on the new cost center. According to Shyam, we will implement a "user exit"
to make sure that the correct fund and funds center will be reflected when a cost center is
changed.
Q:
34) Is there any integration between your travel management and funds management?
A: Yes
Q:
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Purchase Orders/encumbrances
Budget revisions
BV checks
Payroll encumbrances
Q: 36) Archiving: Which objects (transaction data) have to remain for how long in the
system?
A: 3 or 4 months of current budget, encumbrances, and expenditures
24 months of transaction detail/posting activities
3 years of budget data (benchmark budgets)
3 years of end of month balances
In tape archives, we have:
18 years of accounts with attributes and end of year balances.
20 years of posting activities.
Q: 37) Are there any interfaces to other applications at execution time? Please provide a
detailed interface description and present the data to be handed over.
A: Campus bookstores, computer centers, student information systems, and telephone
services provide tapes of charges (TVs) by account and object at every month end.
Trust Processor/Investment system provides files of cash receipts several times weekly; a
journal entry file monthly for transfers of funds to the Consolidated Investment Pool; and a
journal entry file quarterly to record distribution of Pool income to member accounts.
Q: 38) Describe which information that is currently available in your system also needs to
be present in the future.
A: We will continue to need end-of-month and current balances for each account by object
(or other appropriate) breakout code. We will want to view detailed transactions that support
budget, encumbrance, and actual figures.
We record four point-in-time budgets per year (Original, Revised, Probable, and Final).
4.7.3.1.
Funds Reservation
Questions:
Q: 1) Describe in detail the information to be stored on the funds reservation document (list
of fields, short description, properties of fields, etc.).
A: The University can use a JV to encumber obligations, but this is not practiced by the
departments. The document should identify:
o Account
o Object
o Short Description
o Amount
o Unique identifying number for subsequent liquidating transaction
o Entry Date
o Due Date
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Q: 2) Which information is possibly changed for the funds reservation document? Generate
a list of all fields/field contents.
A: A change to an essential field, such as account, should be reflected in a new
transaction(s) documenting the change; a change in the description, on the other hand, could
be made directly to the document with a minimal audit trail.
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
Earmarked Funds Document
Definition
Business transactions in Funds Management that claim already allocated budget for
expected revenues or expenditures.
The following business transactions are grouped together under the term Earmarked
Funds:
Funds reservations
Funds precommitments
Funds commitments
Funds blocking
Forecast of revenue
Use
Differentiation criteria for using these types can have the following aspects:
Budget-based commitment character
Application of funds by functional specification
External legal commitment
Funds reservations
Using funds reservations you can make an early claim for parts of the budget e.g. for a
project, without needing to know the exact application of funds. The funds reservation is
considered a preliminary step of funds precommitments and funds commitments in which
the user can refer to the funds reservation. So the funds reservation provides a
framework for future budget usage, within which all subsequent activities take place.
Funds precommitments
A funds precommitment can refer to a funds reservation. With a funds precommitment
the user is more familiar with the application of funds without having already entered into
a concrete contractual agreement with external parties.
Funds commitments
For funds commitments the legal commitment plays a role in addition to the application of
funds. Such legal commitments can for example be purchase orders with a supplier or
other contractual agreements. Using the funds commitment you can go back to funds
that were provided by a funds reservation or a funds pre-commitment.
=====================================
The equivalent of Funds Reservation in the current system is in DMS, a reservation of
funds by commitment item without a requisition or purchase order having been
processed.
Funds Reservation in R/3 will maintain some of DMS's functionality in earmarking
portions of a budget.
2. General Explanations
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Using funds reservations one can make an early claim for parts of the budget e.g. for a
project, without needing to know the exact application of funds. It allows the ability to
encumber costs for specific transactions that would normally not require a purchase
order.
3. Explanations of Functions and Events
Funds reservation does not go through the normal procurement process (i.e. from a
purchase requisition to a purchase order). Once created, it is an encumbrance to the
budget. Funds reservations entered in Funds Management are automatically reduced
when you enter corresponding postings (such as down payments, invoices, payments) in
Financial Accounting with the additional account assignment "Funds Reservation".
Creating Earmarked Funds
Prerequisites
Take into account that the current field selection when processing earmarked funds is
dependent on the respective document type and the specifications made for the
document type in the Funds Management Customizing. For further information on the
field control, see Field Control Earmarked Funds and in the Funds Management IMG
under
Earmarked funds and funds transfers.
For the processing of earmarked funds you require the authorization for authorization
object F_FUNDSRES per document type.
Procedures
Choose
the desired financial transaction Create.
Enter the header data on the initial screen:
You can process earmarked funds both on the overview screen and on the detail screen.
You can only enter account assignments, an amount or a reference to other earmarked
funds on the overview screen. On the detail screen you can use all functions that are
available to you for processing a document item. For more information, see Document
Entry Functions: Document Item.
Choose Quick entry to reach the overview screen.
Choose Detail line item to reach the detail screen.
Enter data as required.
If you enter a CO account assignment a commitment is generated in Controlling if the
commitments management in Controlling is active. This only takes place when posting
funds reservations, funds pre-commitments and funds commitments.
Save your input.
4. Business Model
None
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Any financial obligations can be encumbered without flowing through the normal business
processes (e.g. PO, salaries).
8. Description of Functional Deficits
None
Funds Pre-commitment
Questions:
Q: 1) Describe in detail the information to be included on the "funds pre-commitment"
document (field list, short description, field attributes, etc.).
A: The University has had nothing equivalent to funds pre-commitment, but we may use it in
the future. Such an item should identify:
o Account
o Object
o Short Description
o Amount
o Unique identifying number for subsequent liquidating transaction
o Entry Date
o Due Date
Q: 2) Which information could be changed for the "Funds pre-commitment" document?
Make a list of all fields/field contents.
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A: Changes should be entered in the originating system, payroll, but even then a change to
an essential field, such as account, should be reflected in a new transaction(s) documenting
the change.
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
Earmarked Funds Document
Definition
Business transactions in Funds Management that claim already allocated budget for
expected revenues or expenditures.
The following business transactions are grouped together under the term Earmarked
Funds:
Funds reservations
Funds precommitments
Funds commitments
Funds blocking
Forecast of revenue
Use
Differentiation criteria for using these types can have the following aspects:
Budget-based commitment character
Application of funds by functional specification
External legal commitment
Funds reservations
Using funds reservations you can make an early claim for parts of the budget e.g. for a
project, without needing to know the exact application of funds. The funds reservation is
considered a preliminary step of funds precommitments and funds commitments in which
the user can refer to the funds reservation. So the funds reservation provides a
framework for future budget usage, within which all subsequent activities take place.
Funds precommitments
A funds precommitment can refer to a funds reservation. With a funds precommitment
the user is more familiar with the application of funds without having already entered into
a concrete contractual agreement with external parties.
Funds commitments
For funds commitments the legal commitment plays a role in addition to the application of
funds. Such legal commitments can for example be purchase orders with a supplier or
other contractual agreements. Using the funds commitment you can go back to funds
that were provided by a funds reservation or a funds pre-commitment.
===============================
The University has nothing equivalent to funds pre-commitment. They will be used to
earmark funds reserved by vacant positions in the HR module.
Such an item should identify:
Account
Object
Short Description
Amount
Unique identifying number for subsequent liquidating transaction
Entry Date
Due Date
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2. General Explanations
Funds precommitments are FM funds reservations originated in the HR module when a
vacant position is created.
3. Explanations of Functions and Events
When a HR personnel creates a new position, an encumbrance will automatically be
created in the HR Funds and Position Management (HR-FPM) modules based on its pay
scale classification. The pay scale classification corresponds to a monetary value. This
monetary value determines the required funds of a position.
4. Business Model
None
7. Description of Improvements
Currently, UT does not have a position tracking/control system under HR. Funds precommitment will provide UT the capability to encumber funds for vacant positions.
8. Description of Functional Deficits
None
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A document type and company code must be defined per FM Area. Budget profiles for
funds must be defined for annual budget (Unrestricted Funds) and an overall budget
(Restricted Funds) funds. The appropriate update profile must be assigned to the FM
area.
12. Authorization and User Roles
Authorization must be given to a person responsible for the budget using authorization
objects that will help define the roles for each user. The actual creation of positions will
occur in the HR Funds and Position Management module.
Funds Commitment
Questions:
Q: 1) Describe in detail which information is to be stored on the budget document (list of
fields, short description, and properties of fields).
A: At the University, salary encumbrances are equivalent to funds commitment. We identify:
o Account
o Object
o Short Description
o Amount
o Unique identifying number (possibly purchase order number) for subsequent
liquidating transaction
o Entry Date
o Effective date (maybe PO date)
Q: 2) Which information (fields) is possibly changed for the funds commitment document?
Please provide a list of all fields/field contents.
A: Changes should be entered in the originating systems, payroll or materials management,
but even then a change to an essential field, such as account, should be reflected in a new
transaction(s) documenting the change.
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
At the University, encumbrances are equivalent to fund commitments. They identify:
Account
Object
Short Description
Amount
Unique identifying number (possibly purchase order number) for subsequent
liquidating transaction
Entry Date
Effective date (maybe PO date)
At the end of the month, a payroll run sets up encumbrances based on the actuals.
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Operating encumbrances are set up as requisitions and purchase orders are created.
=====================================
Earmarked Funds Document
Definition
Business transactions in Funds Management that claim already allocated budget for
expected revenues or expenditures.
The following business transactions are grouped together under the term Earmarked
Funds:
Funds reservations
Funds precommitments
Funds commitments
Funds blocking
Forecast of revenue
Use
Differentiation criteria for using these types can have the following aspects:
Budget-based commitment character
Application of funds by functional specification
External legal commitment
Funds reservations
Using funds reservations you can make an early claim for parts of the budget e.g. for a
project, without needing to know the exact application of funds. The funds reservation is
considered a preliminary step of funds pre-commitments and funds commitments in
which the user can refer to the funds reservation. So the funds reservation provides a
framework for future budget usage, within which all subsequent activities take place.
Funds pre-commitments
A funds pre-commitment can refer to a funds reservation. With a funds pre-commitment
the user is more familiar with the application of funds without having already entered into
a concrete contractual agreement with external parties.
Funds commitments
For funds commitments the legal commitment plays a role in addition to the application of
funds. Such legal commitments can for example be purchase orders with a supplier or
other contractual agreements. Using the funds commitment you can go back to funds
that were provided by a funds reservation or a funds pre-commitment.
2. General Explanations
It is expected that requisitions, purchase orders, and HR activity in R/3 will continue to
create commitments (encumbrances).
===============================
The funds that are reserved in the R/3 Funds Management component when a person is
financed via a position (filled position).
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4. Business Model
7. Description of Improvements
The salary encumbrances can be tracked back to when the positions was created with all
historical data.
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will remain with the HR personnel, through the HR Funds and Position Management
module.
Questions:
Q: 1) Is it necessary to automatically flag the FM commitments documents (such as funds
reservation, funds pre-commitment, funds commitment, etc.) as "completed"?
A: Commitments documents should be so marked when they are fully liquidated.
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
Commitments documents should be so marked when they are fully liquidated.
Closing Operations on Commitments
Use
You can carry forward commitments posted in the current fiscal year (e.g. purchase
requisitions, purchase orders, Earmarked Funds) into the following fiscal year and these
are not reduced until the following fiscal year. The commitments carried forward then
debit the budget in the new year.
Prerequisites
The closing operations in the Funds Management feeder components should be
closed because changes to original documents made by the system are not
automatically supported in Funds Management.
Parked financial accounting documents (FI documents) should be reversed
because these may have already used budget but are not taken into account in
the commitments carry forward.
Note that you can only execute a commitment carry forward if it is specified in the
Funds Management Customizing (in the default settings for the year-end
operations) that the commitment carry forward is allowed. For more information
see Funds Management IMG, section Enter Default Settings. Using program
RFFMCFM1 you can get an overview of the current Customizing settings.
If you are working on a payment basis you must convert the line items from the
"invoice" status to the "payment" status using the program RFFMS200. You find
further information under Payment Transfer as well as in the program
documentation.
2. General Explanations
You set an Earmarked Funds (e.g. funds reservation, funds precommitment, funds
commitment) or a document item to complete if you want to return unused amounts of
earmarked funds to the budget. You reset the complete indicator if unused amounts of
earmarked funds are to claim budget again.
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If you set the whole document or individual document items to "complete", this has the
following effects:
The document is no longer changeable
This document can no longer be referred to during the posting procedure.
If all the document items have not yet been entirely exhausted by follow-on
documents (for example funds commitment, invoice), the assigned funds are
taken back. The assigned value of the respective FM account assignment is
reduced accordingly.
Closing Operations on Commitments
Use
You can carry forward commitments posted in the current fiscal year (e.g. purchase
requisitions, purchase orders, Earmarked Funds) into the following fiscal year and these
are not reduced until the following fiscal year. The commitments carried forward then
debits the budget in the new year.
Prerequisites
The closing operations in the Funds Management feeder components should be
closed because changes to original documents made by the system are not
automatically supported in Funds Management.
Parked financial accounting documents (FI documents) should be reversed
because these may have already used budget but are not taken into account in
the commitments carry forward.
Note that you can only execute a commitment carry forward if it is specified in the
Funds Management Customizing, in the default settings for the year-end
operations, that the commitment carry forward is allowed. For more information
see Funds Management IMG, section Enter Default Settings. Using program
RFFMCFM1 you can get an overview of the current Customizing settings.
If you are working on a payment basis you must convert the line items from the
"invoice" status to the "payment" status using the program RFFMS200. You find
further information under Payment Transfer as well as in the program
documentation.
Process Flow
The carry forward of open commitment documents takes place in several steps
Maintain Carry forward Rules
You must subsequently assign these to the desired value types in Funds Management
Customizing under Additional functions
Assign Carry forward Parameters for Commitments Carry forward.
Maintain Carry forward Rules
Select Documents (RFFMC001).
With this program you select the documents to be carried forward according to particular
selection criteria. After the program run the selected documents in the line item table
(FCABP) are marked as "earmarked for carry forward". Subsequently you can only carry
forward these documents into the new year.
Carry Forward Documents (RFFMC010).
Reconstruct assigned values for the old and the new fiscal year.
For more information on this, refer to Restructuring Assigned Values.
You should only execute steps 1-2 if you want to work with carry forward parameters.
For small document volumes (up to approx. 100 documents) you can adjust assigned
values during carry forward of the open commitment documents. In this case you must
not execute the reconstruction of the assigned values separately.
Result
You can display the commitment documents carried forward in the new information
system in the new year in the period 000. The documents can no longer be displayed for
the old fiscal year.
Budget already assigned in the old fiscal year is released again by the commitment carry
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forward. If the commitment carried forward does not debit the budget of the new fiscal
year you can carry forward the released Budget for the Commitments into the new fiscal
year.
Reversing the commitments carry forward
If open commitment documents were carried forward to the new fiscal year by mistake
when carrying forward the commitments, you can move these documents back to the old
fiscal year using program RFFMC040.
Changes to the original document
If an invoice which was already carried forward to the new year by the commitments carry
forward is reversed in Financial Accounting, the reversal document in Funds
Management receives the posting date of the FI document.
4. Business Model
None
7. Description of Improvements
None
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Authorization must be given to a person responsible for the budget using authorization
objects that will help define the roles for each user.
13. Project Specific CI Section
N/A
4.7.3.5.
Budget Increase
Questions:
Q: 1) Describe the relation between income budget and expense budget; are there
revenues that no common, once collected could give rise to expense?
A: An increase to a revenue account budget generally has an offsetting entry to an expense
account budget or a decrease to another revenue account. (The only other option is to
increase a fund balance account.) For example, increased food service revenues could be
reflected in an increase to the appropriate revenue account budget offset by an increase to
the budget of a food service expense account. Or it could be split between the expense
account and a related fund balance account (to reserve for future).
In restricted funds, increased gifts, for example, would be posted to the fund balance account
and recognized as revenue when expenses on the related expense ("R") accounts occur.
The increase may be shown as a budget increase to the "R" account, but often is not.
Q:
A: Yes
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
There are currently no funds that use revenue-increasing budgets. It is anticipated that
revenues increasing budget will not be used initially. However, there are some revenue
accounts linked directly to expenditure accounts. The revenues are dedicated only to
those expenditure accounts. A situation that may warrant looking at this option in R/3
would be the Service Centers - self-supporting departments that provide services to other
departments that are funded through user charges. Currently Service Centers use
negative expenditure accounts to balance. Some revenue accounts are linked directly to
expenditure accounts, where the revenues are dedicated only to those expenditure
accounts. If revenues exceed the estimate in such an account, that increase should be
available in the related expenditure account. An increase to a revenue account budget
generally has an offsetting entry to an expense account budget or a decrease to another
revenue account. (The only other option is to increase a fund balance account.) For
example, increased food service revenues could be reflected in an increase to the
appropriate revenue account budget offset by an increase to the budget of a food service
expense account. Or it could be split between the expense account and a related fund
balance account (to reserve for future).
In restricted funds, increased gifts, for example, would be posted to the fund balance
account and recognized as revenue when expenses on the related expense ("R")
accounts occur. The increase may be shown as a budget increase to the "R" account,
but often is not.
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2. General Explanations
Those revenue accounts that fund a particular expenditure account could be updated
with the rule for making this distribution. At the end of each month, the program for
evaluating these revenues and calculating the expenditure budget increases will be run.
Since the active availability control works only against elements that already have their
"own" budget, these elements must carry budget independently of the revenues
increasing the budget.
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revenue) and to which level (upper limit) revenues, which are posted to the
revenues FM account assignment, increase the budget of the expenditures FM
account assignments.
Percentage of the budget
If you have budgeted for revenues you can define the minimum revenue and
upper limit in relation to the current revenues budget, instead of a fixed amount.
For instance, you define by entering a percentage rate of 100% for the minimum
revenue, that only revenue which go beyond the budgeted revenues are budget
increasing.
If you do not define a minimum revenue and an upper limit each respective
revenue in accordance with the percentage rate described above is budget
increasing. Otherwise revenues are not budget increasing on the expenditures
FM account assignments until after reaching the minimum revenue and only up
to reaching the upper limit.
Surplus FM account assignment
The residual revenues flow into the surplus FM account assignment which should
not be budget increasing on the expenditures FM account assignments assigned
to the revenues FM account assignment. This includes:
Revenues that are under the minimum revenue or over the upper limit. If you
have defined in Customizing that the minimum revenue is not budget
increasing then this does not function as budget increasing on the surplus FM
account assignment, but remains on the revenues FM account assignment.
Residual revenues that do not increase the budget of the expenditure FM
account assignments due to an appropriate definition of the percentage values (<
100).
You can transfer the revenues collected on the surplus FM account assignment
to other FM account assignments.
For examples of distributing revenues to expenditures FM account assignments
and the surplus FM account assignment, see Distribution of the Additional
Revenues.
Integration
Budgeting and Availability Control
The active availability control can only check the assigned funds against the budget for
the elements with budget, which already have their "own" budget and so carry budget
independently of the revenues increasing the budget. Elements that only have budget
from revenues increasing the budget are not taken into account in the check.
You must therefore ensure that the expenditures FM account assignments, which you
assign to the revenues FM account assignments as receiver, are budgeted for. This also
applies to the surplus FM account assignment(s).
If you are working with Budget Objects the account assignments must be marked as
budget objects. If you have defined in Customizing, under Budgeting and availability
Define behavior of the availability control within the
hierarchy that the availability control should run against the first budget object, then these
budget objects must likewise have their "own budget".
For further information on determining the elements with budget, see Determining the
Elements with Budget: Procedure Without Budget Objects and Procedure With Budget
Objects
4. Business Model
None
5. Special Organizational Considerations
The Controller will define the revenue/expense account assignment relationships.
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4.7.4.
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
Here are the following reports for budget and budget execution used by UT.
Budget Reports:
Schedule 2, Historical Budget
Income Summary
Detail Budget Schedule by Budget Entity
Budget Summary
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Budget Execution:
- Departmental Budget and Expense Report (Ledger)
- Grants/Contracts Budget and Expense Report (Ledger)
- General and Subsidiary and Income Report (Ledger)
- General Funds Budget Analysis
- Restricted Budget Analysis
- Office of the Treasurer Monthly Report
2. General Explanations
One can use the information system to analyze the business transactions relevant to
Funds Management. This means it is possible, for example, to generate overviews of the
budgets (such as approved and released budget), budget usage (actual and commitment
values), and the residual budget (that is, budget still available) in your organization.
One can carry out both recurring standard evaluations and also create reports for any
specific questions and tasks. One can analyze all data interactively and directly after
entering it into the R/3 System, and trace its origin up to document level. One can also
run all reports available online in the background. This is particularly useful with very
comprehensive datasets.
Year-end Closing
- obtain an overview of the closing operations carried out when the fiscal year
changes
- display the commitments carried forward, the budget assigned to these
commitments and the other carry forward budget
Analyses
- compare different types of data, for example line items and totals records in
Funds Management
4. Business Model
None
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7. Description of Improvements
None
Reports
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Questions:
Q: 1) What statutory requirements must be considered (financial regulations, guidelines) for
reporting?
A: We have no statutory requirements for reporting, other than to provide the budget
document support information (detailed object code expenditures by account, and detailed
salary information) that we prepare for the budget recommendation.
We do have other reports requested by THEC, state of Tennessee F&A, and the Legislative
Budget Office that are standard reports but not statutory requirements.
Q:
2) Generate a list of all reports for the budget/budget execution. Provide examples.
Q: 3) Describe in detail how your financial statements are structured. Provide a copy (only if
you have not answered these questions for the ASAP area Financial Accounting).
A: See Financial Accounting Area (G/L).
Q:
A: UT has provided financial statements for each fund in the past: however, we are
considering early adoption of GASB 35 recommendations. See FI for details.
Q: 5) Apart from the above mentioned reports, are there any special requirements that only
apply to specific funds (example, reports/prints)?
A: Restricted funds can require special reporting based on the terms of the grant.
All Memphis account budgets must be reported with budget entity rollups (like other
campuses) and also with an alternative grouping called funding source that has to do with
state formula funding.
Q: 6) Do forms for documents, reports have to be produced by the FM system (print of
earmarked funds or invoices, etc.)? Attach these forms.
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A: UT has used the "flash-form" Schedule 3 for entering proposed departmental (object
code) budgets; we anticipate this form will be replaced by an online screen in R/3.
Schedule 2--Historical Data is on a pre-printed form.
Forms required for the Proposed Salary Budget system are detailed in HR.
Q:
Q:
Q: 9) Are there other reporting requirements within your organization that have not been
described yet? Is there one basis of information, or are there other approaches (US GAAP,
etc.)?
A: Ad-hoc.
Q: 10) Provide more details for the above stated reports: Reporting period (daily, monthly,
yearly, on request), detail of report (totals records, line item), etc.
A: Depends on the type of request per ad-hoc report.
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Q: 12) What special requirements exist for the preparation of report data (Views (alternative
hierarchies), special sorting, aggregation level, etc.)?
A: The standard reports produced centrally and distributed are typically sequenced by:
EXPENSE: Fund Group, Budget Entity, Function, College, Department, and Account [and
object].
INCOME: Fund Group, Budget Entity, Major Source of Funds, Minor Source of Funds,
and Account.
ALB:
Fund Group, Budget Entity, Function, College, Department, and Account
(ALB = Asset, Liability, Balance)
For budget preparation, the accounts in Memphis' eight budget entities are shown
alternatively aggregated by Fund Group, Funding Source, Function, College, Department,
and Account [and object].
Alternative special sorting and aggregation can be done by any of dozens of account
attributes through ad hoc reporting.
Q:
A: The annual (or year-end) report is similar to the Office of Treasurer Monthly Report
except that the annual report focuses on actuals and does not report budget figures.
Q: 15) Do you reconcile individual documents with totals records (for example,
reconciliation between Financial Accounting and FM)?
A: Yes
Q:
16) USA only: Do you have to report in accordance with GASB pronouncements?
A: Yes
4.7.5.
Questions:
Q:
A: Yes
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Q: 3) Please provide an overall description of the yearend closing of the budgetary area
(dates, timing, sequence).
A: Last posting of regular business and closing of encumbrances occur approximately on
July 15. Adjustments to budgets and actuals are made in the adjusting period from July 16August 15.
Q: 4) Describe the year-end procedure in the budgetary area: calculation of the remaining
budget, rules for carry-over, impact of changes of nomenclature, etc.
A: Individual accounts in the unrestricted funds do not carry over remaining budget.
However, the remaining budget is calculated and shown on final reports. Although balances
are not carried over, an account's contribution to the year-end fund balance can be budgeted
in the new fiscal year, for example, to cover a carried over purchase order. There are no
changes to nomenclature.
Each individual restricted fund carries forward its budget and actuals without regard to the
University's fiscal year.
Plant funds carry forward their remaining balances as new-year budgets.
Q: 5) Describe the year-end procedure: open documents (encumbrances, calculation, carryforward, handling of changes of nomenclature, etc.).
A: As one of the last postings of the regular fiscal year, (about July 15), we close all
remaining encumbrances on all accounts. Then all regular purchase orders with a remaining
balance of $100 or more are retained and these balances posted as encumbrances in period
1 of the new fiscal year. This affects unrestricted and restricted accounts alike. The cutoff
amount is loosely tied to the amount specified in state regulations that can be paid out
without benefit of purchase order, although it often lags behind changes in that limit.
From the purchase orders re-encumbered/carried over in the new fiscal year, we print a list of
those that are on unrestricted accounts and have a total remaining balance >$1000.
Someone in the Treasurer's Office distributes the list to see if the "owner" still wants the
purchase order. Often they say "no", but if they keep the PO, then the Treasurer's Office
enters a transfer from the fund balance to the Allocated Balance for Encumbrance liability
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accounts, a total amount for each budget entity. The University total reserve is documented
in the annual financial statements. As a second response, the "owner" of the PO may contact
the campus business office to arrange a transfer of budget to the expense account in the new
FY if the account ended the year with a balance large enough to cover the PO. This budget
change is always shown as a revision to the original budget, never "buried" in the Original
Budget figures.
Invoices dated before July 1 of $1000 or more paid during July and August are accrued using
Reserve for Encumbrance liability accounts.
July salary paid to faculty with nine-month appointments is accrued.
Q: 6) Please describe the specialties / special treatments currently existing within the
budgetary area to be applied for carry-over budget.
A: Within each of the two main groups of accounts, restricted and unrestricted, all accounts
are handled the same.
Q: 7) Describe additional specialties existing for the yearend handling of specific funds
(accruals of open items, remaining budgets, etc.); requirements and procedures for carrying
balances over the next year, etc.
A: Within each of the two main groups of accounts, restricted and unrestricted, all accounts
are handled the same.
Q: 8) Please describe the general ledger postings that need to be done within the yearend
closing / change of year and the link to budget carried over and open items carried forward to
the next year.
A: Unrestricted expense sub account balances are closed to an unrestricted expense
account.
Unrestricted account balances are closed to fund balance.
Open items carried forward to the new fiscal year do not have budget attached to them, but
fund balance can be requested to cover them.
Since restricted accounts continue their budgets across UT fiscal year boundaries, budgets,
expenditures, and open items are carried forward.
Q: 9) How are purchases/charges pertaining to previous year budget processed in the new
fiscal year?
A: Large purchases (invoice >$1000) paid during July and August on an invoice dated
before July 1 are accrued into the old fiscal year.
Goods and services ordered in the old fiscal year but not received or invoiced until the new
year are usually paid for out of the new budget, but if the amount exceeds $1000 and is on an
unrestricted account, the responsible person may ask for a budget transfer to supplement
their funding to cover it.
4.7.5.1.
Questions:
Q: 1) Do different rules exist for processing the commitment and payment budget at the
year end? Do you carry forward only commitment or payment budget?
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Questions:
Q: 1) Describe the budget area processes that exist in connection with the transfer of open
commitment items: Calculation of open items, rules for commitment transfer, order of
individual steps, approval procedures, etc.
A: Encumbrances that represent commitments of prior-year funds for goods that have been
ordered but not delivered or services that have not been rendered are recorded as an
allocation of the current funds balances. As one of the last postings of the regular fiscal year,
we close all remaining encumbrances on all accounts. Then all purchase orders with a
remaining balance of $100 or more are retained and these balances posted as
encumbrances in period 1 of the new fiscal year. This affects unrestricted and restricted
accounts alike. According to the Controller, the reasoning behind why only a PO with a
specific amount can be carried forward to the new year is because due to the current
financial system limitations and also the tedious task of carrying forward all POs with
minuscule amounts.
Invoices dated before July 1 of $1000 or more paid during July and August are accrued using
Reserve for Encumbrance liability accounts.
July salary paid to faculty with nine-month appointments is accrued.
Q: 2) What happens to open commitment items that are not transferred to the new year? Do
these documents need to be blocked against changes/reduction? Are there special rules that
need to be taken into account?
A: A purchase order that is not carried over will be paid as an invoice in the new year. The
agreement with the vendor is not cancelled. The vendor presents the invoice in the new year
and payment is made directly from the invoice out of the new year funds.
Some of the non-carried forward purchase orders were in fact "abandoned" (discontinued
merchandise, order cancelled with the vendor, etc), but accounting records were not updated.
In any case, old purchase orders should not be updated after they are archived.
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Q: 4) A commitment item was transferred to the following year. Amount changes (increase,
reduction) are to be carried out in the new year. Describe the influence on the available
budget.
A: Carried-over purchase orders post into the new year with encumbrance equal to the
remaining balance. These encumbrances reduce available budget the same as any other
encumbrance.
Q: 5) You work with different funds. Are there special rules that must be followed for special
funds or funds groups (procedures, constraints, processes in the new year)?
A: Restricted Funds carry forward entirely across UT fiscal year boundaries. Each fund
defines its own fiscal project life, and at the end date of the grant or contract, it has sixty days
as a grace period to complete outstanding activities. Ending deficits are covered by another
account.
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
UT closes all remaining encumbrances on all accounts. Then all regular purchase orders
with a remaining balance of $100 or more are retained and these balances posted as
encumbrances in the same accounts for period 1 of the new fiscal year. This affects
unrestricted and restricted accounts alike. The reasoning for the cutoff amount for POs is
due to the current financial system limitations and also the tedious task of carrying
forward all POs with minuscule amounts. The cutoff amount is loosely tied to the amount
specified in state regulations that can be paid out without benefit of purchase order,
although it often lags behind changes in that limit. Therefore, the current process to
close encumbrances should be re-visited to see if R/3 can better provide a solution to
carry forward encumbrances.
Invoices dated before July 1 of $1000 or more paid during July and August are accrued
using Reserve for Encumbrance liability accounts.
July salary paid to faculty with nine-month appointments is accrued.
2. General Explanations
In R/3 Funds Management, one can carry forward commitments posted in the current
fiscal year (e.g. purchase requisitions, purchase orders, Earmarked Funds) into the
following fiscal year and these are not reduced until the following fiscal year. The
commitments carry forward debits the budget in the new year. One has the ability to
choose the kind of commitments that should be carried forward to the new year. In that
sense, each commitment in FM is identified as a value type. By selecting the value types
to be carried forward, the FM closing process of commitments will flag and list all
documents to be carried forward to the new fiscal year.
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You must enter the following data to carry forward the open commitment documents:
FM area
Fiscal year
Payment Budget and or Commitment Budget
You can limit the selection of open commitment documents for particular FM Account
Assignments and for individual documents or Value Types.
You must deselect Test Run to carry forward the documents to the new fiscal year.
Start the program in the background.
Result
For a precise overview of what documents have been carried forward to the new fiscal
year, see the Year-End Closing Report. The information system now shows the
documents carried forward in period 000 of the following year, not in the period they have
been in up to now.
After carrying forward open commitment documents to the new year, you must
reconstruct the assigned values for the old year and the new year. For more information
on this, refer to Reconstructing Assigned Values.
If the open commitments were reduced or deleted in the feeder systems after being
carried forward to the new year (for example, because a purchase order has been
canceled), the documents affected are not automatically carried forward to the new year.
You must then repeat the commitment carry forward.
See also:
Documentation on the program RFFMCF10.
4. Business Model
None
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7. Description of Improvements
The carry forward of open commitments in FM is a simple process that does not require a
technical necessity for closing operations for the fiscal year change. A functional
knowledge of FM is required to understand programs executed in FM fiscal year closing
operations.
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Questions:
Q: 1) Carry forward rules exist. Sender and receiver addresses are defined here. You are
changing an existing rule: Which changes are allowed, and how is the change history
currently stored in the system?
A: Purchase Orders >$100 are transferred to the new fiscal year with the accounts
remaining the same. Purchase orders < $100 are recorded in archives with a June 30
deletion date.
Invoices <$1000 are accrued using journal vouchers with Reserve for Encumbrance accounts
to "transfer" across the fiscal year boundary.
Q: 2) Describe the relationship between the sender (old year) and the receiver address
(new year) required by the transfer rules. What information do the transfer rules portray?
A: Account/Object/Amount remain the same.
Q: 3) Is it possible, as part of the budget carry forward, to split the remaining budget of
different sender addresses or to combine them? Describe the existing rules.
A: No.
Q: 4) Is it possible, as part of the carry forward of open commitment items, to split
documents of different sender addresses or to combine them? Describe the existing rules.
A: No.
Q: 5) You work with different funds. Are there special rules that must be followed for special
funds or funds groups (procedures, constraints, processes in the new year)?
A: No.
Q: 6) Are the sender/receiver rules for year-end processing subject to changes each year,
or are the same rules used each year?
A: Same rules used each year-end.
4.7.5.4.
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Questions:
Q: 1) Do you produce your own transfer documents as part of the yearend processing for
the budget carry forward or the carry forward of open commitment items?
A: Yes
Q:
2) Describe in detail the information that is stored in the carry forward documents.
A: Account
Object
Amount
Description
4.7.5.5.
Reset Commitments Carried Forward
Project documentation:
[\\Kw_cont\asap\Shared\UT_FN_HR\QAdb\Documentation\FMci123r.*\FMci123r.*]
Questions:
Q: 1) Do you ever partially or completely reverse the carry forward of open commitment
items (from a document point of view)? What is the procedure and how does it affect the
(available) budget in the old and the new year.
A: No.
4.7.5.6.
Questions:
Q: 1) Balance is carried forward per fund/for certain funds. Describe in detail which
documents (value types) are taken into account when the balance is carried forward (open
items, actual, CO postings, etc.).
A: For unrestricted expense and revenue accounts, no budgets or actuals are continued into
the new fiscal year. Restricted accounts continue budgets and accumulated expense or
income across fiscal year boundaries.
Purchase orders all are closed out at the end of one fiscal year, and some/most of them are
re-instated in the new fiscal year.
No expense account may end the fiscal year with a negative balance.
Available balances in "sub accounts" (9-character "E" accounts) are closed out to the related
7-character "E" account.
Q: 2) Please describe the specialties / special treatments currently existing within the
budgetary area to be applied for carry-over budget.
A: None
4.7.5.7.
Questions:
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Q: 1) What are the requirements of the budget carry forward with regard to: Calculation of
remaining budget, rules for the budget carry forward, cross-year changes of budget
addresses, etc.
A: Remaining budgets are not carried over in the unrestricted funds.
In restricted funds, there is no calculation--the figures just continue forward across the fiscal
year boundary.
In the plant funds, a fiscal year beginning budget is calculated as:
previous fiscal year beginning fund balance + additions-fytd - deductions-fytd
Q: 2) What happens to remaining budget that was not carried forward to the following year?
Should the remaining budget be blocked or are there special rules/constraints that affect the
availability of the remaining budget in the previous year?
A: In the unrestricted funds, remaining balances are closed to the fund balance accounts;
they are not automatically carried over to the original expense account in the new fiscal year.
Q: 3) The remaining budget was carried forward to the new year. Now there are budget
changes or transfers. Are there special rules/constraints that should be considered in
connection with the budget carry forward?
A: N/A
Q: 4) You work with different funds. Are there special rules that must be followed for special
funds or funds groups (procedures, constraints, processes in the new year)?
A: N/A
Q: 5) What happens when FM expense addresses are in debit at the year-end? Is negative
budget carried forward? Under what conditions?
A: An unrestricted expense account that shows a deficit balance at the end of the fiscal year
is covered by a funds transfer from another unrestricted account.
Only the plant funds have a calculated carry forward budget, so it theoretically could be
negative.
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
For unrestricted expense and revenue accounts, no budgets or actuals are continued into
the new fiscal year. No expense account may end the fiscal year with a negative
balance. Individual accounts in the unrestricted funds do not carry over remaining
budget. However, the remaining budget is calculated and shown on final reports.
Although balances are not carried over, an account's contribution to the year-end fund
balance can be budgeted in the new fiscal year, for example, to cover a carried over
purchase order. From the purchase orders re-encumbered/carried over in the new fiscal
year, UT prints a list of those that are on unrestricted accounts and have a total
remaining balance >$1000. Someone in the Treasurer's Office distributes the list to see
if the "owner" still wants the purchase order. Often the "owner" would say "no", but if they
keep the PO, then the Treasurer's Office enters a transfer from the fund balance to the
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Allocated Balance for Encumbrance liability accounts, a total amount for each budget
entity. The University total reserve is documented in the annual financial statements. As
a second response, the "owner" of the PO may contact the campus business office to
arrange a transfer of budget to the expense account in the new FY if the account ended
the year with a balance large enough to cover the PO. This budget change is always
shown as a revision to the original budget, never "buried" in the Original Budget figures.
Restricted accounts continue budgets and accumulated expense or income across fiscal
year boundaries. Each individual restricted fund carries forward its budget and actuals
without regard to the University's fiscal year. Therefore, restricted accounts continue
their budgets across UT fiscal year boundaries, budgets, expenditures, and open items
are carried forward.
Plant funds carry forward their remaining balances as new-year budgets.
There are no changes to nomenclature.
2. General Explanations
In Funds Management budget closing operations, the budget for commitments and
residual budget can be carried forward from the old year to the new fiscal year. If one
has carried forward open commitments into the new year, the budget assigned in the old
new year becomes free again. If the commitment carried forward does not debit the
budget of the new fiscal year one can carry forward the budget for the commitments into
the new fiscal year.
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commitments themselves were carried forward to the new year and/or the residual
budget for the past year.
=================================
Carrying Forward Budget to Following Year
Prerequisites
The budget carry forward is prepared by the program BPINDX05
Determine the budget to be carried forward by running program RFFMCF25
Procedure
Choose
Enter the required data.
Start the program in the background.
Result
You can get an exact overview of the budget that has been carried forward by running
the Year-End Report
4. Business Model
None
7. Description of Improvements
The procedures to carry forward budget for commitments and residual budget in FM are
a simple process that does not require technical knowledge for closing operations for the
fiscal year change. A functional knowledge of FM is required to understand programs
executed in FM fiscal year closing operations.
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5.1.1.
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
The anticipated main use of the planning module in R/3 will be to track the budget base
(beginning budget with any recurring changes that have occurred since the start of the
fiscal year, or any planned changes for the coming year). It will be copied to FM to be the
initial budget of a fiscal year. The plan maintained in CO during a fiscal year will the
budget base of the next year.
The use of it is to model the budget of the coming fiscal year. It is stored at the Cost
Center/Cost Element (Account/Object) level.
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Attachments:
[]
2. General Explanations
The CO planning model will replace the various shadow systems used by the UT entities.
It is anticipated that plan version zero will be the official UT budget base. After being
copied to FM to be version zero budget, the plan in CO will be copied to the next fiscal
year as version zero and have any one time funds for the current year removed, and any
known one time funding for the next year will be added. It will be updated with base
changes through out the year. Since there are no document numbers in CO planning,
plan versions can be saved at each month end so that changes can be more readily
documented and traced.
Plan version zero will be updated with values from HR, in April at the latest, for inclusion
of the most current position data and funding needs when the next year budget
preparation is occurring. Once the budget process is finished, CO plan version zero will
be submitted to the Trustees for approval and the approved version will be copied to FM
budget version zero in July of the new fiscal year.
See the attached flow chart of the process.
Attachments: [\\UTK_AHT2\DEPTS\UTSAP\SAPADMIN\Personal Folders\Personal
Folders\Laurie\Planning-Budgeting.doc]
4. Business Model
N/A
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Questions:
Q:
A: The planning equivalents at UT are the budget bases carried on shadow systems. The
amounts carried in them are the beginning budget with any recurring changes that have
occurred since the start of the fiscal year, or any planned changes for the coming year.
Q: 2) Do you want to create your cost center/activity plan based on the planned values of
the previous year? (If so, what is the source of this data and in what form is it stored?
A: The anticipated main use of the planning module in R/3 will be to track the budget base
described above (beginning budget with any recurring changes that have occurred since the
start of the fiscal year, or any planned changes for the coming year). It will be copied to FM
to be the initial budget of a fiscal year. The plan maintained in CO during a fiscal year will the
budget base of the next year.
The use of it is to model the budget of the coming fiscal year. It is stored at the Cost
Center/Cost Element (Account/Object) level.
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
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It is anticipated that the CO plan version zero of one year will be copied into the next year
to be used as the initial budget base.
Attachments:
[]
2. General Explanations
Once the proposed CO plan is approved by the Board of Trustees, it will be copied into
FM budget and then copied in the CO plan for the next year to be used as the initial base
in the new fiscal year.
See the attached flow chart.
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Detailed lists
The SAP system creates a list with all copied data records and the planning processes
selected for copying.
To speed up copying and avoid unnecessary system use please observe the following
guidelines.
Select only the business transactions you have actually planned. If, for example,
you have not planned any secondary order costs, you should deactivate the
corresponding planning transaction.
If copying large quantities of data, ensure that you select background processing.
This means you can process data at times of minimal system usage.
If copying large quantities of data online, ensure that you start the copying
program per business transaction. Ensure that you copy the activity types before
you copy the other planning areas, since the system requires the activity types to
update activity-dependent records.
Avoid copying existing data with the indicator Reset and overwrite. This
minimizes the amount of data that has to be read during reset.
Do not use the detailed list if the list of copied records is not absolutely
necessary. The basic list (without copied records) is always displayed.
If possible, do not copy long texts, as this considerably increases program
runtime.
Copy only parts of the cost center hierarchy.
Copying multiple periods or an entire fiscal year has only a minimal effect on runtime
when compared with copying a single period.
4. Business Model
N/A
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None
Questions:
Q:
A: The planning equivalent at UT is the budget bases carried on shadow systems. The
amounts carried in them are the beginning budget with any recurring changes that have
occurred since the start of the fiscal year, or any planned changes for the coming year.
Q: 2) Do you want to create your cost center/activity plan based on the actual values of the
previous year? (If so, what is the source of this data and in what form is it stored?
A: No, actual expenditures and revenue will not be used to form the central plan of the
coming fiscal year. However individual departments may wish to copy actuals to create plans.
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
Actual expenditures and revenue will not be used to form the central plan of the coming
fiscal year. However individual departments may wish to copy actuals to create plans.
2. General Explanations
Users may have a need to use CO planning to work with actuals from various fiscal
periods.
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Reuse large parts of your actual data from the previous year for your current
fiscal year
Transfer actual values to planning within a fiscal year, independently of period
Use R/3 enhancements to extend the standard functionality for copying actual
data
================================
Copying Actual Values to Planning
Procedure
To copy actual values to a new plan, proceed as follows:
Choose Accounting Controlling Cost Center Accounting Planning Planning aids
Copy Copy actual to plan.
Select the target to be copied to. To do so, choose one of the following options:
A single cost center
A range of cost centers
A cost center group
All cost centers
You can also define a selection variant in which you specify selection criteria that meet
your particular requirements.
To do so, choose Selection variant and the Create icon.
Choose a reference.
Enter a From period, To period, and a Fiscal year.
Choose a target.
Enter a Version, From period, To period, and a Fiscal year.
You can copy:
Copying data within fiscal years and periods
Copying data between different fiscal years and periods
When copying, either all of the reference selection criteria can differ from the target
selection criteria or at least one of the selection criterion.
You can copy the following data:
Actual reference From period To period Year Target plan Version from period To
period Year
1 6 1997
1 1 6 1997
1 6 1996
1 7 12 1997
1 12 1996
1 1 12 1997
Select the actual data to be copied.
You have the following options:
All actual data
Data belonging to particular business transactions
You can either copy plan values for all planning transactions or just for individual
business transactions, such as primary costs, revenues, and activity quantities.
Structures with or without data
You can either copy the structures only (planning records without planning values) or you
can copy both the structures and the corresponding planning values.
Maintain the following processing options:
Do not change
If you do not want the system to change the data in the target, activate the Do not change
indicator.
If you want to copy data for a certain object that already has data in the target version,
the system does not copy the actual data if the indicator Do not change is active.
Reset and overwrite
When you set this indicator, the R/3 System deletes any existing data in the target
version. You therefore should check to make sure that you want to overwrite the existing
data.
Background
If you want to copy large volumes of data, you should schedule a background job for a
time when system workload is low and activate the Background processing indicator.
Test run
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If you do not want the system to update the results, select Test run. The system then
generates a log, but does not change any data.
Detailed lists
The system creates a list containing all the data records copied and the actual business
transactions that you selected for copying.
If you activated the Reset and overwrite indicator, and have already carried out a plan
cost split in the target version, the system does not overwrite the data that was split. You
need to carry out the split again after copying the data.
To speed up copying and avoid unnecessary system use please observe the following
guidelines.
Select only the business transactions you have actually planned.
If copying large quantities of data, ensure that you select background processing.
This means you can process data at times of minimal system usage.
If copying large quantities of data online, ensure that you start the copying
program per business transaction. Ensure that you copy the activity types before
you copy the other planning areas, since the system requires the activity types to
update activity-dependent records.
Avoid copying existing data with the indicator Reset and overwrite. This
minimizes the amount of data that has to be read during reset.
Do not use the detailed list if the list of copied records is not absolutely
necessary. The basic list (without copied records) is always displayed.
Copy only parts of the cost center hierarchy.
4. Business Model
N/A
7. Description of Improvements
N/A
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N/A
Questions:
Q:
A: The planning equivalents at UT are the budget bases carried on shadow systems. The
amounts carried in them are the beginning budget with any recurring changes that have
occurred since the start of the fiscal year, or any planned changes for the coming year.
Q:
A: Yes, it might be useful to have different planning scenarios in R/3 at the same time. The
officially maintained budget base would be one plan, and it could be desirable to carry other
plans at the same time.
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
Different planning scenarios at the same time might be useful in R/3. The officially
maintained budget base would be one plan, and it could be desirable to carry other plans
at the same time.
2. General Explanations
Plans other than version zero of the next fiscal year that could be carried are:
Archived monthly versions of plan zero could be used to track changes since CO
planning does not carry document numbers.
Individual users may want to make copies of the official plan to modify for their own uses.
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4. Business Model
N/A
7. Description of Improvements
The potential for users to work with unique versions of plans.
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Questions:
Q: 1) If you are also implementing SAP R/3 Human Resources, do you want to transfer the
results of personnel cost planning to Controlling (CO) as part of your planning for personnel
expenses?
A: Yes. Both the current year costs and annualized (base) costs of positions will be needed.
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
Since the official University budget base will be carried in CO plan version zero, it will
have to be periodically updated with position costs from HR.
Currently, a roughly equivalent process is done in April for the budget process. In R/3,
the transfer of personnel costs could be done in the same way or more often, if interest
and staffing to reconcile the position changes allow it.
2. General Explanations
Since the official University budget base will be carried in CO plan version zero, it will
have to be periodically updated with position costs from HR.
Currently, a roughly equivalent process is done in April for the budget process. In R/3,
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the transfer of personnel costs could be done in the same way or more often, if interest
and staffing to reconcile the position changes allow it.
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containing the data. The data is transferred with the plan scenario to CO-OM-CCA.
HR plan scenario/version
An HR plan scenario is assigned to one specific version. You can only transfer values
from one HR plan scenario to a version. If you want to transfer data from another HR plan
scenario, you must first reverse the data already transferred. To do this, choose Reverse
transferred data in the data transfer program.
For more information, see Transferring Personnel Costs from HR (as of Release 4.6A)
4. Business Model
N/A
7. Description of Improvements
Vacant and lump sum positions will be able to be tracked throughout the year.
Adjustments to positions in the budget base can occur through out the year, rather than
to an update of an April payroll snapshot, as with the current process.
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Questions:
Q: 1) Which procedure do you use for manual planning of primary costs, when you have
costs that are not transferred from other modules, such as HR or FI-AA?
A: When costs that are not transferred from other modules, such as HR or FI-AA, (examples
are energy costs, maintenance costs, and so on), they are modeled on subsystems or
spreadsheets and the results are entered in the plan (budget base).
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
The budget base is carried at the two-digit object code (cost element) level. CO planning
will need to support that level of detail.
2. General Explanations
Operating (non-salary) planning occurs at the two-digit cost element level (object code).
In order to stay within a control amount, operating objects often have to be adjusted when
salary amounts are updated in HR. Budgeting/planning for operating is typically on a
carry forward basis. Adjustments are made periodically and during the spring budget
cycle to reflect actual patterns.
Equivalent adjustments in the current system are done on Schedule 3 forms.
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4. Business Model
N/A
7. Description of Improvements
N/A
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N/A
Questions:
Q: 1) Which procedure do you use for manual planning of primary costs, when you have
costs that are not transferred from other modules, such as HR or FI-AA?
A: When costs that are not transferred from other modules, such as HR or FI-AA, (examples
are energy costs, maintenance costs, and so on), they are modeled on subsystems or
spreadsheets and the results are entered in the plan (budget base).
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
The budget base is carried at the two-digit object code (cost element) level. CO planning
will need to support that level of detail.
2. General Explanations
Operating (non-salary) planning occurs at the two-digit cost element level (object code).
In order to stay within a control amount, operating objects often have to be adjusted when
salary amounts are updated in HR. Budgeting/planning for operating is typically on a
carry forward basis. Adjustments are made periodically and during the spring budget
cycle to reflect actual patterns.
Equivalent adjustments in the current system are done on Schedule 3 forms.
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External services
Material costs
Operating supplies
Statistical cost elements for balance sheet accounts (see: Planning Statistical
Cost Elements for Balance Sheet Accounts)
Accrual costs
These accrual costs either have different values in CO than in FI (imputed interest or
depreciation), or are incurred at different times in CO than FI (special payments such as
vacation bonuses, or irregular costs, for example, repairs).
Features
In Cost Center Accounting, primary cost planning lets you enter costs and consumption
quantities for each cost center/activity type. This means that primary costs can be
planned by quantity, as well as by value.
In value-based primary cost planning, the R/3 System records only the plan costs for
each cost element. To do this, use, for example, planner profile SAP101 and standard
planning layout 1 - 101.
During quantity-based primary cost planning, you plan the consumption of goods and
services that the organization procures from external sources. No valuation occurs. For
example, you can use planner profile SAP101 and standard planning layout 1 - 101,
which includes the characteristics Fixed consumption and Variable consumption for
planning.
If you only know the quantities of the resources consumed, you also use resource
planning to carry out a quantity-based primary cost planning using planner profile
SAPR&R and standard planning layout 1 - 1R1. The R/3 System executes the valuation
using the prices you have stored.
Primary costs can be planned using different methods: The following methods are
available:
Manual primary cost planning
Activity-independent primary cost planning
Activity-dependent primary cost planning
Automatic primary cost planning
Plan distribution
Plan accrual calculation
See also:
Manual Planning
Periodic Allocations
4. Business Model
N/A
7. Description of Improvements
N/A
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Questions:
Q:
1) Do you want to represent activity relationships between cost centers in your planning?
A: Recoveries (service center charges and revenue for services rendered to external
organizations) will need to be reflected in unrestricted cost center plans (budget bases).
These are reflected in the current system through negative budget entries and actuals with
the third digit of the object code having the value of "9".
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
Recoveries (service center charges and revenue for services rendered to external
organizations) will need to be reflected in unrestricted cost center plans (budget bases).
These are reflected in the current system through negative budget entries and actuals
with the third digit of the object code having the value of "9"
2. General Explanations
Since R/3 does not accept negative planning and budget entries, revenue elements will
be used for recoveries.
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Prerequisites
You carry out allocations at period end (during period-end closing) using predefined
parameters (keys, sender-receiver relationships).
You can use different currencies for the periodic allocations. To do this, you must have
selected All currencies during controlling area maintenance.
The currencies are converted using the translation rates you entered in Customizing
when configuring the system (see also: Currencies).
The value date determines which currency translation rate is used for the currency
conversion. If you do not enter a value date, the system estimates the most accurate
translation rate for the period.
If you are working with transfer prices (parallel value flows) distribution and assessment
are executed in parallel in all valuations. The costs to be allocated are taken from the
corresponding valuation. The tracing factor is always taken from the operational
valuation. The values allocated may differ in the different valuation methods.
Senders and receivers are displayed in the results list, differentiated according to the
parallel actual versions of the various valuations.
For more information about transfer prices, see the SAP Library under
(see: Transfer
Prices) and Parallel Valuations.
4. Business Model
N/A
7. Description of Improvements
None apparent
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Questions:
Q:
1) Do you want to represent activity relationships between cost centers in your planning?
A: Recoveries (service center charges and revenue for services rendered to external
organizations) will need to be reflected in unrestricted cost center plans (budget bases).
These are reflected in the current system through negative budget entries and actuals with
the third digit of the object code having the value of "9".
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
Recoveries (service center charges and revenue for services rendered to external
organizations) will need to be reflected in unrestricted cost center plans (budget bases).
These are reflected in the current system through negative budget entries and actuals
with the third digit of the object code having the value of "9"
2. General Explanations
Since R/3 does not accept negative planning and budget entries, revenue elements will
be used for recoveries.
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Use
Manual planning covers the following planning areas:
Planning statistical key figures
Activity type planning
Primary cost planning
Secondary cost planning
Budget planning
Detailed planning
You plan activity types, statistical key figures and costs using the appropriate planning
methods (see also: Techniques for Supporting Manual Planning). In the standard system,
R/3 provides planner profiles and planning layouts for the relevant planning area (see
also: Structuring the Planning Screen). You can either use these profiles and layouts as
they stand, or adapt them to meet your own requirements.
Unlike Periodic Allocations where the system determines the plan values once at periodend with user-defined rules, in manual planning you plan each value yourself.
Integration
Manual planning is implemented in other application components belonging to the SAP
R/3 System.
{0> Application component <}0{> Application component <0} Information:
Internal orders Primary Cost and Revenue Planning
Activity-Based Costing Manual Process Planning
Real Estate Management
Cost and Revenue Planning on Real Estate Objects
Project System Manual Cost Planning in the Work Breakdown Structure
Periodic Allocations
Use
In distribution and assessment, you further allocate costs (or quantities for indirect
activity allocations) collected on a cost center during the accounting period to receivers,
according to user-defined keys. These are therefore indirect allocation methods, because
the exchange of activity is not the basis for allocating costs/quantities. Instead, userdefined keys such as percentage rates, amounts, statistical key figures, or posted
amounts provide the cost/quantity assignment basis.
The advantage of these methods is that they are easy to use. You usually define the keys
and the sender/receiver relationships only once.
Distribution and assessment are used primarily for cost centers. This is because direct
cost allocation is not possible here due to the variety of transactions, the lack of clearly
defined individual activity types and the fact that the entry of the activity is too timeconsuming. For example, the costs of the company cafeteria may be assigned based on
the number of employees in each cost center. Telephone costs are seldom allocated
directly to the individual cost centers, but are collected on a clearing cost center for each
period. They are then repotted or distributed at the end of the period according to the
number of telephone units or telephone installations in each cost center.
Prerequisites
You carry out allocations at period end (during period-end closing) using predefined
parameters (keys, sender-receiver relationships).
You can use different currencies for the periodic allocations. To do this, you must have
selected All currencies during controlling area maintenance.
The currencies are converted using the translation rates you entered in Customizing
when configuring the system (see also: Currencies).
The value date determines which currency translation rate is used for the currency
conversion. If you do not enter a value date, the system estimates the most accurate
translation rate for the period.
If you are working with transfer prices (parallel value flows) distribution and assessment
are executed in parallel in all valuations. The costs to be allocated are taken from the
corresponding valuation. The tracing factor is always taken from the operational
valuation. The values allocated may differ in the different valuation methods.
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Senders and receivers are displayed in the results list, differentiated according to the
parallel actual versions of the various valuations.
For more information about transfer prices, see the SAP Library under Financials
(see: Transfer
Prices) and Parallel Valuations.
4. Business Model
N/A
Resource Planning
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CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
Resource planning is a planning aid. If you only know the quantities of consumed
resources (see also: Resources) you can use resource planning to plan activitydependent or activity-independent primary costs or revenues by quantity. You can carry
out detailed planning of a cost element by subdividing the cost element on the basis of
the resources. The SAP R/3 System valuates the given resource consumption with a
price, which you can store separately in the system.
You can also link resources to a material or to a base-planning object. This means that a
resource or a base-planning object has been entered in the resource master record. For
the valuation of resource consumption during planning, the SAP R/3 System uses the
price of the material, regardless of whether you have defined a price for the resource
during pricing (see also: Pricing).
During primary cost planning, you can plan resources on cost centers, cost
center/activity type, orders and WBS elements.
You cannot plan resources during overall planning of orders and WBS elements.
Resource planning differs in the following ways from activity input planning, which also
provides a quantity-based planning approach:
From where is the activity/resource input/taken from?
Cost element, under which the consumption is posted
2. General Explanations
See #1 above
3. Explanations of Functions and Events
Resource Planning
Prerequisites
If you want to carry out resource planning without adopting the standard planner profile
SAPR&R, you must define your own planner profile and planning layout.
Procedure
To plan primary costs at resource level, proceed as follows:
Select a planner profile for resource planning such as the standard planner profile
SAPR&R.
To do so, in your application choose Planning Set planner profile.
Choose Planning Cost element/activity input Change.
Select a planning layout for resource planning.
To change existing plans or create new ones, choose Change. In the overview screen
you can enter the fixed and variable plan consumption for a resource. You use a
distribution key to distribute the plan values to the fiscal year periods. You can either
select a standard distribution key or define your own. On the period screen, you can also
distribute your period values manually to the individual periods.
If you have stored a price for the resource (see: Pricing) the system revaluates the
consumption using this resource price (see also Revaluating Resource Planning)
For more information about planning and changing planning screens, see Executing
Manual Planning and Techniques for Supporting Manual Planning
Resource Planning
Prerequisites
If you want to carry out resource planning without adopting the standard planner profile
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SAPR&R, you must define your own planner profile and planning layout.
Procedure
To plan primary costs at resource level, proceed as follows:
Select a planner profile for resource planning such as the standard planner profile
SAPR&R.
To do so, in your application choose Planning Set planner profile.
Choose Planning Cost element/activity input Change.
Select a planning layout for resource planning.
To change existing plans or create new ones, choose Change. In the overview screen
you can enter the fixed and variable plan consumption for a resource. You use a
distribution key to distribute the plan values to the fiscal year periods. You can either
select a standard distribution key or define your own. On the period screen, you can also
distribute your period values manually to the individual periods.
If you have stored a price for the resource (see: Pricing) the system revaluates the
consumption using this resource price (see also Revaluating Resource Planning)
For more information about planning and changing planning screens, see Executing
Manual Planning and Techniques for Supporting Manual Planning
4. Business Model
N/A
7. Description of Improvements
None
8. Description of Functional Deficits
None
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Questions:
Q: 1) Do you periodically move costs from a project/cost center (such as telephone costs) to
other projects/cost centers?
A: Yes
Q: 2) Did you define the basis for these allocations (such as, percentage, statistical key
figures, for example telephone units consumed, and so on)?
A: The allocation is usually actual usage.
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
UT usually posts re-allocation of charges from service centers and other cost centers
based actual usage.
=======================================
periodic reposting
Controlling (CO)
Function lets you correct postings to cost centers.
Periodic reposting is an allocation method that uses rules defined in the form of cycles to
credit allocation cost centers. These allocation cost centers are used to collect the
postings relevant for cost accounting.
Defining Periodic Reposting
Use
To allocate telephone costs, you should use the periodic reposting allocation method.
Periodic reposting has the advantage of requiring very little runtime to operate.
Periodic reposting uses the original cost element, meaning the primary cost element
remains intact. When you allocate telephone costs, the allocating cost center is
unimportant for the receiving cost centers. The system therefore stores data records for
periodic reposting in a way that uses less memory than for, say, distribution. The sender
cost center is not updated with this method.
To allocate telephone costs in Controlling (CO), you can use the following allocation
methods:
Periodic reposting
Distribution
Assessment
The allocation methods differ in the manner they transfer information from external
accounting to internal accounting
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2. General Explanations
See #1 above
3. Explanations of Functions and Events
Were periodic posting used at UT, this would be the procedure:
Defining Periodic Reposting
Procedure
To define a periodic reposting, carry out the following steps:
Create a cycle.
Create segments for the cycle.
Specify the tracing factors.
Creating Cycles
1. In the Cost Center Accounting initial screen, choose
2. In the Periodic Reposting initial screen, choose Extras
-end
.
You can also create the necessary cycles in the Implementation Guide (IMG) for Cost
Center Accounting (see Calling Up the Implementation Guide for Cost Center
Accounting). Choose
dDefining Periodic Repostings. In the dialog box, choose Create Actual Periodic
Reposting.
3. Enter a name for the cycle (such as tel01 ).
4. Enter a starting date for the cycle.
5. Choose Execute to go to the entry screen for cycle header data.
6. Enter the date marking the end of the validity period for the cycle.
7. Enter a descriptive text for the cycle (such as Per. Reposting Telephone Costs).
8. Deactivate the Iterative indicator because no sender/receiver relationships appear
during allocation of telephone costs.
Creating Segments
1. To create a segment, choose Attach segment.
2. Enter a name for the segment (such as 0001).
3. Enter a descriptive text for the segment (such as Credit Ctr 4712 ).
4. Accept the default settings for sender values and tracing factors.
The actual values posted on the senders allocate in their entirety on the receivers.
Therefore, you choose rule 1, Posted amounts and a Portion of 100%. In addition,
you accept the default setting Actual values.
The tracing factor for periodic reposting is the number of telephone calls carried
out by the receiver cost centers. These are variable portions. Therefore, under
Tracing factors, you accept rule 1, Variable portions.
Because you use variable receiver tracing factors on the basis of statistical key
figures, under Type of variable portion you enter 5 (actual statistical key figure).
You save the statistical key figure representing the number of telephone calls in
the next step, "Determining Tracing Factors".
Under Scaling negative tracing factors, accept the default setting of 1 (no scaling).
5. In the group Allocation characteristics, enter the sender cost center and its cost
element (such as your collection cost center 4712 and cost element 473.120
(telephone call units)).
6. Enter the cost centers acting as receivers (such as 4713, 4714 ).
Defining Tracing Factors
1. Choose Tracing factors to go to the Tracing Factors initial screen.
2. The default settings in the Segment name, Type of variable portions, and Scaling
negative tracing factors are taken from the segment entries.
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3. Under Selection criteria, enter the statistical key figures serving as the basis of the
periodic reposting. Enter your statistical key figure telephone. This represents the
number of telephone calls made from the receiver cost centers.
4. Save your entries.
You can determine the fields for sender and receiver data appearing in the segment and
in the tracing factors in the Implementation Guide (IMG) for Cost Center Accounting).
Choose Actual Postings
Define
Sender/Receiver Types for Periodic Reposting.
For more information on creating cycles, see the IMG for Cost Center Accounting under
Define Periodic
Repostings and under Definition of Periodic Repostings or Period-Based Allocations.
4. Business Model
N/A
7. Description of Improvements
None
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Questions:
Q: 1) Do you want to distribute costs from a cost center or a cost center group to CO
objects (cost center, orders, WBS element), and keep the original cost element from the
sender in the receiver object?
A: Probably.
Q: 2) Did you define the basis for these allocations (such as, percentage, statistical key
figures, for example telephone units consumed, and so on)?
A: Whatever the department wishes to move.
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
The University requires the ability to distribute costs from a cost center to other cost
centers and WBS elements.
2. General Explanations
Our understanding is that R/3 does not allow the changing of G/L accounts using the CO
transfer transaction.
4. Business Model
N/A
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N/A
6. Asset Accounting
Questions:
Q: 1) Are any of your asset values managed in a foreign currency? If so, specify the
relevant countries and currencies.
A: No
Q: 2) Does the fiscal year for asset accounting correspond to the calendar year? If not,
specify the start and end dates of your fiscal year.
A: All Assets: 07/01 - 06/30
Q: 3) Is your enterprise currently using a shortened fiscal year, or you have used a
shortened fiscal year in the past, for which you want the R/3 System to recalculate
depreciation as part of the asset data transfer?
A: No
Q:
A: No
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CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
-
Current Systems: UT has about 100,000 active assets (equipment only) in AS400 worth
$2 billion that will need to be depreciated due to new GASB requirements. In addition, UT
has facilities (buildings) in a separate database as well as land on a manual card system
(needs to be put in electronic format). All active assets will be brought over from these
three legacy systems into R/3 via conversion programs.
Although there is a new policy to take an asset from $1,000 to $5,000 the amount of
assets will decrease just a little due to another policy to track sensitive equipment
(between $1000 - $4999) in AM. We probably will need to convert into R/3 at least
80,000 assets on estimate. UT is interested in space management (real estate module)
but at this point this is not in scope so we need to interface AM to their existing space
management system. An interface will be maintained just to keep the link between the
asset master and the building/location. Insurance will not be managed in R/3. In phase 3
there will be a lot of clean up and conversion work to prepare for data conversion.
In public sector (e.g., government, universities, etc.), the requirement for asset
accounting is to record the asset in the balance sheet (plant fund) and record the
expense in the P&L (capital outlay expense). In addition, the University is implementing
GASB 34, which requires the depreciation of assets effective July 2001. Depreciation
expense will hit the source fund and accumulated depreciation will hit net investment in
plant (a contra account). The posting into AM are will hit the BS and P&L as follows:
Balance Sheet:
__Asset Account__
(1) 10k I
I
__Net Inv in Plant__
I (2*) 10k
I
__Accum Dep__
I (3) 100
I
Profit & Loss:
__Accounts Pay__
I (1) 10k
I
__Capital Outlay__
(2*) 10k I
I
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2. General Explanations
The Asset Accounting (FI-AA) component is used for managing and supervising fixed
assets with the SAP R/3 System. In SAP R/3 Financial Accounting, it serves as a
subsidiary ledger to the FI General Ledger, providing detailed information on transactions
involving fixed assets.
As a result of the integration in the R/3 System, Asset Accounting (FI-AA) transfers data
directly to and from other R/3 components. For example, it is possible to post from the
Materials Management (MM) component directly to FI-AA. When an asset is purchased
or produced in-house, you can directly post the invoice receipt or goods receipt, or the
withdrawal from the warehouse, to assets in the Asset Accounting component. At the
same time, you can pass on depreciation and interest directly to the Financial Accounting
(FI) and Controlling (CO) components.
Traditional asset accounting encompasses the entire lifetime of the asset from purchase
order or the initial acquisition (possibly managed as an asset under construction) through
its retirement. The system calculates, to a large extent automatically, the values for
depreciation, interest, insurance and other purposes between these two points in time,
and places this information at your disposal in varied form using the Information System.
There is a report for depreciation forecasting and simulation of the development of asset
values.
Business Process for acquisitions:
UT departments will create a purchase requisition. If it is for an asset the department will
also create the asset master record. The asset number will be recorded on the purchase
requisition. Upon goods receipt being posted in R/3, the system will post the asset
values to AM and update FI and FM accordingly.
Dr. Asset (Asset G/L in FI and Expenditure commitment item in FM)
Cr. GR/IR (Liability G/L in FI)
A batch program will run at night that will record the capital outlay expense in FI and CO.
Dr. Capital Outlay Expense (Expenditure G/L in FI and Cost Element in CO)
Cr. Investment in Plant (Equity G/L in FI)
Business Process for transfers
UT departments complete a transfer request and submit it to the Controller's Office. The
asset staff person will record the asset transfer in R/3.
Dr. Asset (Receiving Department)
Dr. Accumulated Depreciation (Sending Department)
Cr. Asset (Sending Department)
Cr. Accumulated Depreciation (Receiving Department)
Process for Retirement
UT departments will notify the Controller's office if an asset has been sold, demolished,
etc. Asset staff person will record the asset retirement in R/3
Dr. Accumulated Depreciation
Cr. Asset
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Asset Class 5: Asset under Construction (AuC) for Equipment (not depreciable)
Asset Class 6: Sensitive Equipment (100% depreciation immediately)
Asset Class 7: Infrastructure (5-50 years)
Asset Class 8: Equipment (5+ years)
Asset Class 9: Agricultural Machinery (?)
Asset Class 10: Vehicles (4-12 years)
Asset Class 11: Library Holdings (not depreciable)
Asset Class 12: Software (amortization)
Asset Class 13: Computers & Peripherals
Asset Class 14: Works of Art & Historical Treasures (not depreciable)
Asset Class 15: Livestock (not depreciable)
Asset Class 16: Government Owned Property (not depreciable)
Asset Class 17: Leased Equipment
Authorization object
Asset view
Company code/asset class
Asset class/transaction type
Asset classes
Authorization for periodic processing
Company code/asset class
Company code/business area
Company code/plant
Group asset
Chart of depreciation
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6.1.
CI Template:
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1. Requirements/Expectations
Requirements: UT would like to maintain the asset records from 2 legacy systems and
one manual system in R/3.
Expectations:
requirement)
Flexibility for mass changes, i.e. a variety of mass changes
needs to be handled centrally by the Controller's Office.
2. General Explanations
Master Data: This part of the master record contains concrete information about the fixed
asset. The following field groups exist:
General information (description, quantity, etc.)
Account assignment
Posting information (for example, capitalization date)
Time-dependent assignments (for example, cost center)
Information for plant maintenance
Entries for net worth tax
Information on real estate
Leasing conditions
Investment support measures
Information on the origins of the asset
Physical inventory data
Insurance data
User fields/evaluation groups
In addition, you can create long texts for the individual field groups belonging to the
general data part of the asset master record. You can simplify the creation of long texts
by using freely definable long text templates. You define these templates in FI-AA
Customizing under Define long text templates.
Depreciation: You can specify depreciation terms in the asset master record for each
depreciation area in the chart of depreciation. In order for you to make these
specifications, the master record contains an overview of the depreciation areas. In
addition, there is a detailed display available for each depreciation area. If there are
depreciation areas that are not needed for a specific asset, it is possible to deactivate
these depreciation areas at the asset level.
Acquisitions: You can perform integrated acquisition with materials management,
manual acquisitions, or acquisitions from construction in progress from project systems.
Transfers: You can transfer assets between business areas, cost centers, locations, etc.
Asset history information is available online for all transfer postings. Transfers are
integrated with the general ledger.
Retirements: You can retire assets from your records. The asset history information is
available online.
Reporting: You have online reporting on all asset transactions, balances, and
depreciation.
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6.1.1.
Asset Maintenance
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
2. General Explanations
6.1.1.1.
Questions:
Q: 1) Who is responsible for the initial creation of an asset maser record? Who provides
which information?
A: Equipment: Departments either complete an Equipment Acquisition Report (T-66) or
enter an electronic version into a suspense file on the Equipment Inventory System before an
invoice is paid. Once the invoice is paid, the equipment inventory section of the Controller's
Office checks the report or suspense file for accuracy and adds additional information such
as DV#.
Buildings: The accounting manager in the Controllers Office creates the initial asset master
record. Costs are accumulated in a plant fund account and these costs are capitalized at the
end of the year.
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Land: The land card is created in the Treasurer's Office 3rd floor after land is received or
purchased.
Infrastructure: The accounting manager in the Controller's Office creates the initial master
record. Costs are accumulated in a plant fund account and these costs are capitalized at the
end of the year.
Library and livestock: N/A
Q: 2) How does information flow back and forth between the person responsible for the
capital investment project and the accountant in Asset Accounting, with respect to the
creation of a master record for an asset under construction?
A: Equipment: N/A
Building: Once a construction contract is approved, Risk Management requests a building
asset master record to be created by the Controller's Office.
Land: Infrastructure: N/A
Q: 3) Which organizational units and/or which functional areas have authorization for
creating or displaying asset master records?
A: Equipment: Departments/Business Areas have authorization for creating and displaying
asset master records.
Buildings and Infrastructure: Controller's Office for creating / Campus Business Office or
Physical Plant view only.
Land: Treasurer's Office and Controller's Office for creation and viewing.
6.1.1.2.
Questions:
Q: 1) Do you need to manage and depreciate certain parts of your asset portfolio in the
form of group assets?
A: Yes. UT will need group assets for buildings. For example, the group asset would be the
building and the assets assigned to the group asset would be the main building, and
expansion assets, remodeling, etc. This allows the user to keep all individual asset records
relating to one main asset together.
6.1.1.3.
Questions:
Q: 1) In your enterprise, who has authorization to change asset master records? For which
areas? Are these authorized individuals different from those who create the master records?
A: Equipment: Controller's Office - all fields. Departments/Business Areas - certain fields
(example description, room, building but not tag, cost, or depreciation).
Buildings and Infrastructure: Controller's Office; Physical Plant and other authorized
individuals.
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Q: 2) How often is it necessary to change your asset master records? Which parts of the
asset master record are most often affected?
A: Equipment: constantly. Location; department (account #).
Buildings, Infrastructure, Land: Rarely
Q: 3) Are there certain asset master record fields that need to be protected against
changes? If so, which fields?
A: Equipment: The Controller's Office needs to be able to change all of an equipment
master record. Departments should not be able to change certain fields such as historical
cost, responsible department, etc.
Building: The Controller's Office will be able to change all the building asset master records
(ex insurance).
Departments should not be able to change certain fields.
Land: Infrastructure: same as buildings.
6.1.1.4.
Mass Changes
Questions:
Q: 1) In your enterprise, who has authorization to change a large number of assets
simultaneously?
A: Equipment: The accounting manager, the accounting clerk and data integrity supervisor
in the Controller's Office.
All other assets: The accounting manager and their designee.
Q:
A: Yes
Q:
A: Equipment: Moving all fixed assets from one location to another location; transferring all
assets from one department to another department.
In addition, a change in the capitalization policy might require massive changes.
Change of business area responsibility.
6.1.2.
Receipts
Questions:
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Q: 1) Does your organization have a specific amount, above which purchases are to be
capitalized as fixed assets? If so, what is this amount?
A: Equipment: currently $1,000. Effective 06/30/00, $5,000 - except for "sensitive items"
(items between $1,000 and $4,999.99).
Buildings and Infrastructure: $5,000
Land: ?
6.1.2.1.
Questions:
Q:
A: Equipment: Departments submit requisitions for items over $2000 to the Purchasing
Department. Purchasing creates a purchase order. Bids are most-often required unless the
items are sole-source. When the invoice is received, the departments fill out a paper asset
master record or complete the asset master record on-line. The invoice and asset master
record is sent to A/P who forwards the two documents to the Controllers Office. The
Controller's Office uses the paper asset master record to set up the equipment item (or to
release the record if it was previously created on-line.) The checks paid for equipment and
additions to the equipment inventory are reconciled on a monthly basis.
Buildings: Governed by University FPS 180
The capital budget process begins each spring for the fiscal year that begins approximately 1
1/2 year in the future. (Budgeting done Spring 2000 for work to be done beginning July 2001).
Projects are submitted to each campus office where the projects are prioritized and divided
into 3 categories 1) Capital outlays (>1million/new buildings) 2) Capital maintenance ($100,000 to 1million) and
3) internally funded projects (w/ funding from parking revenues, athletic dept. revenues, etc.)
The campus lists are sent to the UT President who develops an overall UT priority list. The
Board approves the UT priority list, and the list is sent to the TN Higher Education
Commission (THEC). THEC merges UT projects with the TN Board of Regents (TBR)
projects, and prioritizes this combined list, and forwards the list to the Governor. The
Governor merges projects from all over the State and sends a recommended list to the State
Legislature.
The State Legislature approves both state-funded and internally funded projects, and
appropriates funds in May (May 2001 for projects beginning July 2001).
When UT receives their approved projects, the projects are sent to the State Building
Commission (SBC) for its approval. The SBC gives each project a SBC #. Once UT
receives notice of the SBC #, the assistant manager in the UT Controller's Office sets up a
plant fund (project account) (J account). The project is also set up in a departmentally
maintained (in Facilities Planning) database for the internal tracking of various internal
costing and reporting.
Miscellaneous contracts are entered into with architects, surveyors, and testers. A contract is
set up with one general contractor. (The general contractors form agreements with the
subcontractors; thus, UT has no subcontracts.)
The J account collects all costs for the asset under construction as individual expenses.
Once a year at fiscal year-end close, the UT Controller' Office Assistant manager, makes
manual capitalization entries.
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Q:
A: Equipment: University FPS 050 and 170. All capitalized equipment items require a
purchase order above $2,000. Sensitive low-dollar items below $2000 do not have to have a
purchase order. The departments order these items directly from the vendors.
Land, building, infrastructure: University FPS 180 governs the procurement.
Q:
Q: 5) Do you want to show acquisitions to certain depreciation areas differently than you do
in the book depreciation area (for example, to fulfill certain cost accounting, tax or group
requirements)?
A: Equipment: No
Buildings and Infrastructure: No
Land, library and livestock: N/A
Q:
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A: Yes
Q: 8) If using asset sub-numbering, do you want to permit asset acquisitions only to the
main number in the year of capitalization, and post all later acquisitions to sub-numbers?
A: Yes
Q:
9) Do you keep a record of costs using acquisitions to the asset under construction?
A: Equipment: Yes
Buildings: Yes
Infrastructure: Yes
Q: 10) Do you plan and budget for capital investments in your enterprise? Should assets
that are capitalized directly also be included in the planning and budgeting processes?
A: Equipment: Yes departments budget for equipment.
Buildings: Each building and infrastructure item has a budget. Capital budgeting will not be
done in R/3???. We do have the option to use PS and AM functionality to do this. Will
investigate further.
Q: 11) How is the interaction between general ledger and asset accounting in the
acquisition process?
A: All assets: No integration in the acquisition process and asset accounting.
Q: 12) Which is the procedure from invoice receipt to posting of capitalization? Outline the
different steps.
A: All Assets:
At invoice payment:
Debit - Account (cost center) and Expenditure Object Code (G/L account)
Credit- Cash or A/P
At year end:
Debit - Asset by type (land, building, equipment)
Credit- Investment in Plant by asset (land, building, equipment)
6.1.2.2.
Subsequent Acquisition
Questions:
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6.1.3.
Depreciation
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
Needs to calculate depreciation on a straight-line basis for all university owned property.
1. Book Depreciation Area: Straight-line depreciation expense in FI (debit asset,
credit payable).
2. CO (Capital Outlay) Depreciation Area: total capital outlay expense in FI (debit cap
outlay exp, credit investment in plant). May write a program to meet this
requirement.
Won't keep track of gains/losses
No negative depreciation
2. General Explanations
Controllers Office will run depreciation program on a monthly basis and process the
batch input session. (This can be a scheduled job by the Basis team.) UT will be using
one Depreciation Area. Book depreciation area to record the debit and credit to
depreciation expense and accumulated depreciation. We considered using two
depreciation areas, the second depreciation area could have been to post the capital
outlay expense in FI and CO in the month of purchase. However, UT would like to see
the capital outlay expense post immediately so a program needs to be written to read all
asset acquisitions for the day and post the debit to capital outlay expense and the credit
to investment in plant.
Depreciation is run in the Asset Management module. When executed it updates the
individual asset records with the following: Posted depreciation, adjusts the remaining
useful life, adjust the book value. The depreciation program creates a batch session that
needs to be processed from the batch editor. The batch session updates the general
ledger. If the batch session is not processed then the general ledger is not updated.
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7. Description of Improvements
1. Currently there is no integration between the general ledger the asset accounting
process. Asset management will provide UT with detailed asset records and
integration to the general ledger.
2. Reports can be run at the department levels to view new asset acquisition rather than
having Verna print hard copies centrally and mail to the departments. Users need to
be trained. Also, standard reporting for asset balances, retirements, transfers, all
transaction, depreciation, etc.
3. Capital projects can be integrated with Asset Management. This will allow UT to
create a project in PS, manage the project, settle the costs for the asset to an AUC
(asset under construction) and capitalize the final asset(s) upon completion of the
assets.
4. Currently there is no integration to purchasing. Asset management can be integrated
with materials management allowing the users to purchase an asset and the system
will capitalize the asset upon goods receipt or invoice receipt (as determined by UT)
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postings for service centers to go to CO (10 need to see depreciation expense) so keep
just use the equipment asset class and use a dummy cost center for 90% of the services
then use the correct cost center for the 10 exceptions). Maybe create a G/L account for
service centers. Issue is it can be CO relevant or not. Can't be both. Solution TBD.
Service Center Equipment Requirements:
Want to see depreciation expense in CO we can create a new asset class with account
assignment to different G/L accounts (create an account for depreciation that is CO
relevant). Need to test both scenarios because the details in FI may be sufficient. UT
needs to see depreciation expense in CO so service centers can allocate these service
charges to other departments. Expenses posted to the WBS then depreciation is on the
cost center (asset master record).
Questions:
Q:
A: Yes
Q:
2) If so, provide examples. How do you post? What are the reasons?
Depreciation Processing
Questions:
Q:
1) What are the methods of depreciation that you are currently using?
A: Equipment: Currently none but effective July 1, 2001 depreciation will need to be run on
assets. Straight line is required.
Buildings: Currently none but effective July 1, 2001 depreciation will need to be run on
assets. Straight line is required.
Infrastructure: Currently none, but effective July 1, 2001 depreciation will be required. Straight
line is required.
Q:
A: Equipment: No
Buildings: No
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Infrastructure: No
Q: 3) In certain cases do you change over from declining-balance depreciation to straightline depreciation? If so, when?
A: Equipment: No
Buildings and Infrastructure: No
Q: 4) Do you want to allow negative depreciation for certain assets or categories of assets?
If so, please specify.
A: Equipment: No
Buildings and Infrastructure: No
Q:
A: Equipment: No
Buildings and Infrastructure: No
Q:
A: All assets: Depreciation will post in the month of acquisition. No depreciation will be
posted in the month of retirement.
6.1.3.3.
Questions:
Q:
A: Rarely.
Q:
Depreciation Posting
Questions:
Q: 1) Is there a business need to post depreciation directly to cost accounting? If so, what
receivers are to be charged when you do so (for example, cost centers, internal orders etc)?
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A: Equipment: Service Centers. Will post depreciation directly to a cost center, not a
dummy cost center (Service Centers may need a dummy cost center.).
Buildings and Infrastructure: No.
Q: 2) How often do you intend to post depreciation to the general ledger and to cost
accounting?
A: Equipment: Monthly
Buildings and Infrastructure: Monthly
Q:
A: Equipment: No
Buildings and Infrastructure: No.
Q:
A: One-to-one relationship for every asset class that requires depreciation: Accumulated
depreciation and depreciation expense.
16 asset balance sheet accounts for the 16 asset classes??????.
Q: 5) Do you want to show interest only in reports, or do you want to post interest directly to
cost accounting?
A: We want to post interest directly to cost accounting.
6.1.4.
Business Transactions
CI Template:
3. Explanations of Functions and Events
6.1.4.1.
Questions:
Q: 1) What steps are involved in your capitalization process? Do you show assets under
construction in asset accounting?
A: Building and Infrastructure: Costs by project are capitalized back to the appropriate
building or improvements other than buildings asset account at the end of the year.
Equipment is capitalized at the end of each year to the appropriate equipment asset account.
Land: Capitalized by Treasurer's Office staff at year-end based on changes to the land
cards.
Library holdings and livestock: Capitalized at year-end based on a list received from the
campus.
Assets under construction: Not capitalized.
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Q:
Q:
A: Yes
Q:
A: Equipment: No
Buildings and Infrastructure: No
Q: 5) Do you intend to use summary settlement or line item settlement for assets under
construction?
A: Equipment, Buildings, and Infrastructure: We believe that line item settlement will be
used because it gives us better tracking. It will allow us to see the individual costs that were
capitalized.
Q:
A: Equipment, Buildings and Infrastructure: In the majority of cases, we will settle to the
final asset or sub-asset. Could be a WBS element.
Q:
A: Yes
Q: 8) What kind of information flow do you have for when an investment measure is
completed and the asset under construction is ready for settlement to the final asset?
A: Buildings and Infrastructure: The AUC accountant calls the Controller's Office in order to
notify that the asset is complete.
Q:
A: No
6.1.4.2.
Post-capitalization
Questions:
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Q: 2) How do you intend to post post-capitalization: - Gross, that is, with historical values
(APC and depreciation)- Net, that is, depreciation begins on the posting date using the net
book value.
A: Net book value.
Q:
A: It depends. We will probably post at net book (historical cost) value and not re-open prior
periods.
6.1.4.3.
Write-up
Questions:
Q: 1) Do the value of your assets appreciate, and if so, do your ledgers need to be
adjusted?
A: Equipment: Yes, but only rarely. Once, the hospital had an outside appraisal that
subsequently increased asset values of some of their equipment.
Buildings: Yes, but only rarely.
Q: 2) Describe the reasons for a fixed asset revaluation, the process used, and give
examples of the assets that are to be revaluated.
A: See above answer.
6.1.4.4.
Reposting
Questions:
Q: 1) How and when do you transfer assets to other assets? What are the reasons?
(Example: You take the engine from one vehicle and install it in another).
A: It could occur in sub-assets, but true transfers would be rare. However, if errors were
made in the posting of the assets then they must be corrected via transfers.
Q:
2) Do you sometimes split an asset into one or more new assets? If so, please specify.
A: Sometimes we have cannibalization of assets where we dismantle one asset and create
a new one. This would be rare.
Q:
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A: Corrections of errors would be the main reason. In R/3, it must be done through the
system.
Q: 4) Is the changing of an assigned cost center or a business area, for example, a reason
for a transfer posting?
A: Yes
Q:
5) How do you find out about necessary transfer postings in asset accounting?
A: T-64s are received by the Controller's Office from personnel all over the University.
Transfers of assets to Surplus may also be accomplished in R/3 prior to retirement of the
assets that are sold by the Surplus department. In this instance, the department would
remain officially responsible until Surplus has sold the assets.
We need to review again this issue.
6.1.5.
6.1.5.1.
Group Requirements
Processing of Asset Acquisition
Questions:
Q:
A:
Q:
A:
Q:
Q: 4) Are asset acquisitions posted on a net basis (deducting any discounts) or as a gross
amount (discounts are deducted only on payment)?
A:
Q: 5) Do you want to show acquisitions to certain depreciation areas differently than you do
in the book depreciation area (for example, to fulfill certain cost accounting, tax or group
requirements)?
A:
Q:
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A:
Q:
A:
Q: 8) If using asset sub-numbering, do you want to permit asset acquisitions only to the
main number in the year of capitalization, and post all later acquisitions to sub-numbers?
A:
Q:
9) Do you keep a record of costs using acquisitions to the asset under construction?
A:
Q: 10) Do you plan and budget for capital investments in your enterprise? Should assets
that are capitalized directly also be included in the planning and budgeting processes?
A:
Q: 11) How is the interaction between general ledger and asset accounting in the
acquisition process?
A:
Q: 12) Which is the procedure from invoice receipt to posting of capitalization? Outline the
different steps.
A:
6.1.6.
6.1.6.1.
Retirements
Retirement
Questions:
Q:
A: Equipment: When the Controller's Office receives a T-64 Surplus form is received, a
police report that the asset has been lost or stolen, or a University representative calls.
Building: Call from Alvin Payne or read about demolition in the paper.
Q:
A: No
Q: 3) How do you process retirement of a low value asset (e.g. retirement with zero value;
retirement with revenue; account assignment for retirement with revenue)?
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A: Low value assets that are sensitive will be depreciated 100%, but they will remain on the
books at a zero value until retired. No revenue is expected to be received upon retirement.
Q:
Mass Retirement
Questions:
Q: 1) When retiring assets, is there ever a need to retire a large number of assets at the
same time?
A: Equipment: Yes
Q: 2) If yes, how many assets are normally concerned? Please provide an example with
documents.
A: We sell fleets of cars through auction. We buy new cars every year at a deep discount
and then sell the 3 or 4 year old ones for almost the same amount that we had purchased
them. Motor Pool acts as a service center. Thus, it needs its own cost center to collect the
revenue.
In addition, we sell groups of computers at a time. The revenue we receive on computers is
minimal. We must receive at least $15 per sold computer. The revenue received from
computer sales won't post to the asset.
6.1.7.
Questions:
Q:
1) What activities are included in the month-end process for asset accounting?
Q: 2) Which internal and external asset valuations belong to month-end closing process?
Please provide a sample of all required valuations.
A: Monthly reports are run on equipment as listed above. We don't go back and perform
appropriate asset valuation amounts.
Q:
3) What activities are included in the year-end closing process for asset accounting?
A: Equipment: Same process as the monthly close, except inventories for physical
verification are mailed to departments. Capitalization is done at year-end. And assets are
capitalized as previously described.
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Departments can change location but not amount, tag number or retire the asset. The
Controller's Office updates the other information for the departments. The Controller's Office
communicate what action must be taken to remove the asset such as getting police report to
say that it is lost or stolen.
Buildings: The building object code is reconciled against additions in the Facilities Data Base
(manual process). Currently, assets are created and capitalized at year-end.
Other assets are capitalized at year-end.
Q: 4) Which internal and external asset valuations belong to year-end closing process?
Please provide a sample of all required valuations.
A: We are only valuating assets at historical cost with straight-line depreciation as per the
GASB regulations.
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
Update the general ledger for changes in asset accounts as transactions occur. (Current
system in manual journal entries)
Post depreciation to the general ledger. (Currently depreciation is not posted.)
Post assets under construction to the general ledger. (Currently this is manually
calculated)
Manage inventory of assets.
2. General Explanations
The asset year-end closing is the cut-off date after the end of the fiscal year. The asset
year-end closing program checks all the data for the old fiscal year and blocks the year to
changes up to this date.
The year-end closing program checks the following:
complete posting of all asset values in the general ledger
complete posting of all depreciation
adherence to all rules for net book value
3. Explanations of Functions and Events
1) By campus: Each campus has several business areas making up the fund group and
entity. Equipment will be tied to cost center or WBS (depreciation posts here) and
BA. If CO capital outlay can post to both the cost center and the WBS' then we will
meet this need at period end (depreciation run) else consider a special program.
Land and buildings will be tied to only the BA.
2) Need to track asset by source of fund. There is not a field for fund sources. Funding
source can be tracked by using sub assets. Use evaluation group 1: source of fund
(Federal, state, plant fund, gifts, etc.) Funds are directly mapped to cost center and
WBS' therefore we can report by cost center and WBS to get data by individual fund.
(R/3 doesn't have a fund field on asset master record.) Also if we set up configuration
for budget object assignment the fund can be entered on the asset acquisition
transaction. TBD if we should have this turned on. Multiple funding = sub asset.
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7. Description of Improvements
Integration with the general ledger, materials management, and project systems.
UT will now have up to date accurate records in the general ledger. Purchases of capital
items will be capitalized at the time of purchase. Assets under construction will be
recorded on a monthly basis.
UT will have reports available online to users to monitor asset activity in their department.
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N/A
Multiple Valuations
Questions:
Q: 1) Do you have parallel valuation for your asset, e.g. for group valuation, for cost
accounting purposes or for legal reasons?
A: All assists: Possibly need parallel valuation for cost accounting. The portion of the asset
funded from federal funds needs to be excluded for cost accounting purposes.
Q:
A: No
Q: 3) Is there a distinction necessary between book depreciation (for balance sheet) and tax
values (for a tax balance sheet)?
A: No
6.1.7.2.
Questions:
Q:
Q: 2) Do you run the year-end closing process in asset accounting separate from general
ledger?
A: Yes They are currently separate systems. The Equipment system is reconciled to the
checks written for equipment on a monthly basis. Inventory sheets are mailed out to
departments for physical verification at a separate time than the year-end close.
Q:
3) Are leased assets treated like any other fixed assets in year-end closing?
A: Yes
6.1.7.3.
Mass Changes
Questions:
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Q:
A: Yes
Q:
A: Moving all fixed assets from one location to another location; transferring all assets from
one department to another department.
In addition, a change in the capitalization policy might require massive changes.
Change of business area responsibility.
6.1.7.4.
Depreciation posting
Questions:
Q: 1) Is there a business need to post depreciation directly to cost accounting? If so, what
receivers are to be charged when you do so (for example, cost centers, internal orders etc)?
A: Equipment Depreciation may be posted directly to cost accounting to service centers and
in some limited cases for auxiliaries.
Only see depreciation in CO for service centers.
Q: 2) How often do you intend to post depreciation to the general ledger and to cost
accounting?
A: Monthly
Q:
A: No.
Q:
A: In R/3 we plan to set up a "dummy" WBS in plant funds to capture all depreciation
postings except for certain auxiliaries and service centers that will have a separate cost
center for their depreciation.
Q: 5) Do you want to show interest only in reports, or do you want to post interest directly to
cost accounting?
A: We will post directly to cost accounting.
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6.1.7.5.
Questions:
Q: 1) How do you conduct the physical inventory for fixed assets (e.g. manually, using
barcode scanner)?
A: Currently, on an annual basis, the Controllers Office sends physical inventory sheets out
to the departments that show all the equipment that has been assigned to the department.
The individual departments manually verify that the equipment is still there. Any changes in
locations are hand-written on the form or corrected on-line if the department has on-line
access. If corrected on-line, the Controllers Office sends out a change report automatically
to the department. The original sheets must signed by the department verifying that the
changes made were correct and that the equipment is there. If items are not there because
the item has been surplused, the department must also send in a T-64 form. If the item has
been lost, the department must attach a copy of the police report and a T-64 form. If the
police report has not yet been obtained then the department notes that it will be forthcoming.
The sheets are returned to the Controller's Office, who makes any needed changes based on
the returned sheets and the T-64 forms.
There is no bar coding.
Q:
A: The responsible person is typically the department head. However, some colleges
officially assign a single person to be responsible for all inventories. This individual is often
the college's business manager.
Q: 3) What is the relation between the inventory number of an asset and the number of the
asset master record?
A: Equipment: The asset master record is an internally assigned number. The inventory
number is an externally assigned tag number.
Q:
4) Do you create inventory lists using the SAP R/3 System, or using a non-R/3 system?
Periodic Reports
Questions:
Q:
1) What type of information flow do you have for the results of periodic asset reporting?
A: The Controller's Office receives a listing of equipment on a monthly basis that has been
added to the system. This report is used to reconcile to the checks written on the equipment
expenditure object code. Change reports are generated and mailed to departments that
indicate an asset was added, changed, or deleted. An annual report of equipment additions
and deletions is generated that is used to prepare a journal entry to the asset accounts.
Q: 2) What are the critical monthly, quarterly and annual reports that you need for Asset
Accounting?
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Q: 3) Which kind of reports do you use to reconcile asset accounting with the general
ledger?
A: The monthly reports are used to reconcile to the equipment expenditure object code.
The annual reports capitalize to the G/L.
Q:
4) Are there any particular reports you would like for low value assets?
A: We will need reports on low value assets, much the same reports as what we'll need for
the regular assets.
Q:
A: Currently, we run inventory lists from our equipment database. We don't have barcodes.
Q: 6) By which organizational units (or combinations of units) are asset reporting functions
structured (for example, company, cost center etc)?
A: Equipment: Each asset is associated with a university departmental expenditure account.
Groups of accounts can be combined at a higher level under a "distribution code." The
distribution code is used to distribute reports or notifications of a change in accounting for
assets.
Other assets: are reported at a campus or university level only.
6.2.
Questions:
Q: 1) What kind of leasing agreements do you normally make? Operating leases (not
necessarily shown in Asset Accounting) or Capital Leases (Asset capitalized)?
A: For the University, it is generally cheaper to buy equipment than to lease it. The leases
we do have are generally operating leases. We lease buildings or partial buildings using
operating leases. We have leases on a few pieces of equipment.
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
See handling of fixed assets section
2. General Explanations
At end of FY debit the asset and credit lease hold payable liability to capitalize the asset.
Create amortization schedule and break payments into principle and interest for lease
payment. Process will be the same in R/3 but we need to discuss how we manage the
lease process. Transfers, changes, retirements, depreciations are the same as nonF:\zameer SAP\blueprint\Blueprint_finance_IRIS.doc
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leased assets.
6.2.1.
6.2.1.1.
Asset Maintenance
Asset Master Record Change
Questions:
Q:
A: No
Q: 2) If not transferred between legal entities, do you create a new master record when
location changes?
A: No. We only change the location but keep the asset record the same.
Q: 3) Describe possible ways of processing changes in location. What procedures are
currently in place?
A: The location of the whole department may change. Thus, when this happens all of the
equipment locations for that department must be updated to the new location. Currently we
can do this in mass. In addition, the use of certain individual pieces of equipment is changed
(another department begins using it). In these instances, the location and responsible
department is changed. A formal transfer form is completed in this instances by the two
departments involved. In addition, equipment may be surpluses. In this case, a surplus form
is completed by the responsible department. The equipment items remain the responsibility
of the using department until after the surplus department confirms that the item has been
sold at the surplus sale.
Q:
A: Yes
6.2.1.2.
Mass Changes
Questions:
Q: 1) In your enterprise, who has authorization to change a large number of assets
simultaneously?
A: The manager and assistant manager over plant and equipment have the authorization to
change a large number of assets simultaneously. Individual departments can go in and
change the locations of the equipment; however, they must make the change one asset at a
time.
Q:
A: Yes
Q:
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A: Mass changes are needed when the space changes for the whole department or unit.
For example, if a lease expires on a building, then the equipment must be moved to a new
location, and the asset master records are generally changed in mass.
6.2.2.
6.2.2.1.
Receipts
Acquisition of Leased Asset
Questions:
Q: 1) Who is responsible for the acquisition of a leased asset? Who will negotiate the
leasing agreement?
A: The individual departments have negotiated leases in the past, although they are not
supposed to. When this happens, the Controllers Office Manager of Plant & Equipment
finds out after the fact and creates the asset upon learning of the lease. The Purchasing
Department has the official responsibility of acquiring leased equipment. Tim Mapes of the
Treasurer's Office is responsible for the accounting for capital leases.
Q: 2) Describe the process for the acquisition of a leased asset, from the purchase order to
capitalization in Asset Accounting.
A: Very seldom are there ever any items that are leased. Items that have been leased in
the past include mainframe computers and large production printers. In these instances, the
leases have been capitalized, lease-purchase (with a buy-out option at the end of the lease
period).
Departments prepare a requisition for a lease. Purchasing puts out a bid, with both a request
for quote of lease and also out-right purchase. Then, Purchasing evaluates whether it is
cheaper to lease or buy the item. For some high-dollar leases, state bonds may be issued.
When Purchasing determines a lease is appropriate, the lease is prepared and sent to the UT
Legal department for review and recommendation for approval by a Vice President who must
ultimately approve the lease.
Purchasing sets up a purchase order to facilitate the payment process. Payments then go
through Accounts Payable with the vendor supplying invoices on a set schedule.
Purchasing gives a copy of the executed purchase order to the Controller's Office for the setup of the asset.
The asset is set up and capitalized as would any other asset.
6.2.3.
6.2.3.1.
Depreciation
Depreciation Processing
Questions:
Q:
1) What are the methods of depreciation that you are currently using?
A: Currently we do not depreciate any assets, but we believe our policy for depreciating
lease-purchase assets will be the same as purchased assets. If the leases are operating
leases without a purchase option, they will not be capitalized or depreciated.
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Q:
Q: 4) In certain cases do you change over from declining-balance depreciation to straightline depreciation? If so, when?
A: No.
Q: 5) Do you want to allow negative depreciation for certain assets or categories of assets?
If so, please specify.
A: No. Negative depreciation will only be done through manual adjustments.
Q:
A: No.
Q:
A: Depreciation will post in the month of acquisition. No depreciation will be posted in the
month of retirement.
6.2.3.2.
Depreciation Posting
Questions:
Q: 1) Is there a business need to post depreciation directly to cost accounting? If so, what
receivers are to be charged when you do so (for example, cost centers, internal orders etc)?
A: Depreciation may be posted directly to cost accounting in some limited cases for
auxiliaries.
Q: 2) How often do you intend to post depreciation to the general ledger and to cost
accounting?
A: Monthly
Q:
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A: In R/3 we plan to set up a "dummy" WBS to capture all depreciation postings except for
certain auxiliaries and service centers that have a separate WBS for their depreciation.
Q: 5) Do you want to show interest only in reports, or do you want to post interest directly to
cost accounting?
A: We will post directly to cost accounting.
6.2.4.
6.2.4.1.
Business Transactions
Transfer Leased Asset
Questions:
Q:
A: No
Q: 2) Would a transfer of a leased asset affect the leasing agreement? If so, please
describe.
A: A lease may be extended or shortened.
6.2.4.2.
Questions:
Q:
A: Not often; however payment amounts have been lowered and terms have been
extended. In addition funding out clauses are included in the lease which states that UT is
funded with state funds which are not guaranteed from year to year; thus, the vendor agrees
to allow UT to get out of the lease with no penalty is funding is not continued by the State.
Sometimes equipment upgrades are obtained via contract modifications. Upgrades are
generally not included in initial lease agreements. Any changes in lease agreements must be
coordinated through Purchasing and must be approved by the Vice President who approved
the initial lease agreement.
Q:
A: See above. The Purchasing Department is responsible for making the changes to the
lease.
Q: 3) In cases where changes to a leasing agreement are necessary, how many assets
would be affected?
A: In the future, the amount of the monthly depreciation posting would change.
Q:
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A: Generally, no. However, some leases may not allow for movement of the asset from the
initial agreed-to location. When a change of location is needed in this instance, the lease
must be re-negotiated. Any renegotiations or modifications must be approved by the Vice
President who signed the original lease agreement.
Q: 5) What is the information flow in your enterprise regarding a change in asset location or
a change of an asset to a different organizational unit?
A: On the Knoxville campus, 200 bookkeepers have access to the equipment system. On
the other campuses, generally the Business Office has access to the equipment system. The
bookkeepers are allowed to change the location (building & room #) of the equipment. They
may also change the description of the item. Some bookkeepers do not have access to the
equipment system. In this case, the bookkeepers send e-mails or other written request to the
Controllers Office, and the Controller's Office will make the change in the equipment system.
Only the Controller's Office may change the cost or the tag number.
If the responsible department changes, then a manual T-64 form must be signed by both the
transferring and the receiving department.
6.2.4.3.
Lease Payment
Questions:
Q: 1) Describe the payment conditions of your leasing agreements. Differentiate if
necessary between different kinds of agreements.
A: Payment conditions most often include a Funding-Out clause that allows UT to get out of
the lease without penalty if State funding is not provided in subsequent years.
Q:
A: Typical payment schedules are monthly, quarterly, or annually. Schedules might also be
biannually or bimonthly.
6.2.5.
6.2.5.1.
Retirements
Retirement of Leased Asset
Questions:
Q:
A: Equipment: At the end of the term (lease is up), we will take possession at lease-end for
those lease-purchases and dispose of it at the point it is no longer function.
Q:
2) What is your process for retiring leased assets? Please describe the postings.
A: The process for disposal of leased assets is the same as owned assets.
Q: 3) Do you normally buy leased assets after expiration of the leasing contract or do you
return them to the leasor?
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A: If the asset has been leased through a lease-purchase, UT normally buys the asset after
the contract expiration.
6.2.6.
Closing Operations
Questions:
Q:
1) What activities are included in the month-end process for asset accounting?
A: Same process as for purchased assets. EXCEPT there is a monthly payment to the
leasor. This payment is processed in parts: A portion is processed against the leasehold
principal balance and a portion is process against the interest. An amortization schedule
must be kept on the principal and interest. Principal and interest are identified as two
different cost elements on the same WBS. Generally the payment is posted to the principal
(the equipment code) and then the Asset Accountant journal vouchers a portion to the
interest object code on the same account.
Q: 2) Which internal and external asset valuations belong to month-end closing process?
Please provide a sample of all required valuations.
A: Same process as purchased assets.
Q:
3) What activities are included in the year-end closing process for asset accounting?
Q: 4) Which internal and external asset valuations belong to year-end closing process?
Please provide a sample of all required valuations.
A: Same process as purchased assets.
6.2.6.1.
Multiple Valuations
Questions:
Q: 1) Do you have parallel valuation for your asset, e.g. for group valuation, for cost
accounting purposes or for legal reasons?
A: See 1.1.7.1
Q:
A: No.
Q: 3) Is there a distinction necessary between book depreciation (for balance sheet) and tax
values (for a tax balance sheet)?
A: Only one method, straight-line depreciation, will be used.
6.2.6.2.
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Questions:
Q:
Q: 2) Do you run the year-end closing process in asset accounting separate from general
ledger?
A:
Q:
3) Are leased assets treated like any other fixed assets in year-end closing?
A: Yes
6.2.6.3.
Mass Changes
Questions:
Q: 1) In your enterprise, who has authorization to change a large number of assets
simultaneously?
A: Plant & Equipment manager
Q:
A: Yes
Q:
A: Mass changes are needed when space changes for the whole department or unit.
6.2.6.4.
Depreciation Posting
Questions:
Q: 1) Is there a business need to post depreciation directly to cost accounting? If so, what
receivers are to be charged when you do so (for example, cost centers, internal orders etc)?
A: Yes. May be posted directly for auxiliaries or service centers.
Q: 2) How often do you intend to post depreciation to the general ledger and to cost
accounting?
A: Monthly
Q:
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A: In R/3 we plan to set up a "dummy" WBS to capture all depreciation postings except for
certain auxiliaries and service centers that have a separate WBS for their depreciation.
Q: 5) Do you want to show interest only in reports, or do you want to post interest directly to
cost accounting?
A: We will post directly to cost accounting.
6.2.6.5.
Questions:
Q: 1) How do you conduct the physical inventory for fixed assets (e.g. manually, using
barcode scanner)?
A: Currently, on an annual basis, the Controller's Office sends physical inventory sheets to
the departments that show all the equipment that has been assigned to the department. The
individual departments manually verify that the equipment is still there. Any changes in
locations are hand-written on the form or corrected on-line if the department has on-line
access. If corrected on-line, the Controllers Office sends out a change report automatically
to the department. The original sheets must be signed by the department verifying that the
changes made were correct and that the equipment is there. If items are not there because
the item has been surplused, the department must also send in a T-64 form. If the item has
been lost, the department must attach a copy of the police report and a T-64 form. If the
police report has not yet been obtained then the department notes that it will be forthcoming.
The sheets are returned to the Controller's Office, who makes any needed changes based on
the returned sheets and the T-64 forms.
There is no bar coding.
Q:
A: The responsible person is typically the department head. However, some colleges
officially assign a single person to be responsible for all inventory. This individual is often the
college's business manager.
Q: 3) What is the relation between the inventory number of an asset and the number of the
asset master record?
A: The asset master record is an internally assigned number. The inventory number is an
externally assigned tag number.
Q:
4) Do you create inventory lists using the SAP R/3 System, or using a non-R/3 system?
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6.2.6.6.
Periodic Reports
Questions:
Q:
1) What type of information flow do you have for the results of periodic asset reporting?
A: The Controller's Office receives a listing of equipment on a monthly basis that has been
added to the system. This report is used to reconcile to the checks written on the equipment
expenditure object code. Change reports are generated and mailed to departments that
indicate an asset was added, changed, or deleted. An annual report of equipment additions
and deletions is generated that is used to prepare a journal entry to the asset accounts.
Q: 2) What are the critical monthly, quarterly and annual reports that you need for Asset
Accounting?
A: See the answer to #1, above
Q: 3) Which kind of reports do you use to reconcile asset accounting with the general
ledger?
A: The monthly reports are used to reconcile to the equipment expenditure object code.
The annual reports capitalize to the G/L.
Q:
4) Are there any particular reports you would like for low value assets?
A: We will need reports on low value assets, much the same reports as what we'll need for
the regular assets.
Q:
5) Are there any particular reports you run for leased assets?
A:
Q:
A: Currently, we run inventory lists from our equipment database. We don't have barcodes.
Q: 7) By which organizational units (or combinations of units) are asset reporting functions
structured (for example, company, cost center etc)?
A: Equipment: Each asset is associated with a university departmental expenditure account.
Groups of accounts can be combined at a higher level under a "distribution code." The
distribution code is used to distribute reports or notifications of a change in accounting for
assets.
Other assets: Reported at a campus or university level only.
6.3.
Direct Capitalization
CI Template:
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1. Requirements/Expectations
Integrate the purchase and capitalization of assets though MM and AM.
2. General Explanations
MM/ AM
UT intends to integrate assets purchased through MM to AM. Two options are being
discussed for Release Strategies. UT is leaning towards Option #1.
Decentralized Option #1: End users create the asset and the purchase requisition.
User's steps: Create asset master record -> Create PR with asset account assignment
category A on requisition -> release strategy for approval / review of master record for
accuracy from AM -> release strategy for creation of PO by Purchasing Department ->
Asset purchased -> Goods receipt posted when item received which initiates the
capitalization of the asset -> invoice verification -> AP pays the invoice.
Centralized Option #2: End user initiates the purchase requisition and Controllers Office
creates the asset and finishes the requisition.
PR with account assignment K (cost center) rather than A (asset) -> release strategy
sees using Capital outlay account (and above $5000) or sensitive equipment and trigger
approval in AM -> AM creates the asset, changes the PR to account assignment A, and
enters the asset on the PR -> release strategy for creation of PO by Purchasing
Department -> Asset purchased -> Goods receipt posted when item received which
initiates the capitalization of the asset -> invoice verification -> AP pays the invoice.
Note: Option 2 won't work because Release strategies can't be done at the G/L account
level; therefore, all purchase requisitions would have to be review by the Controllers
Office and this would not be feasible.
A/P AM integration
If we have an asset purchased with multiple funding (sub assets) can we validate that the
invoice maps to these funds? Is there a way to validate that the payment is coming from
the fund sources identified on the asset masters?
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7. Description of Improvements
Integrated purchasing with materials management allowing UT to capitalize assets at the
time of purchase rather than after the fact.
8. Description of Functional Deficits
Release strategies can not be activated at the G/L account level (it must be done on the
document header) therefore, users can purchase an item and charge it to a cost center
and use a G/L account for a capital item or a sensitive item and the system would not
prevent this.
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6.3.1.
6.3.1.1.
Questions:
Q: 1) Who is responsible for the initial creation of an asset maser record? Who provides
which information?
A: Equipment: Departments either complete an Equipment Acquisition Report (T-66) or
enter an electronic version into a suspense file on the Equipment Inventory System before an
invoice is paid. Once the invoice is paid, the equipment inventory section of the Controller's
Office checks the report or suspense file for accuracy and adds additional information such
as DV#.
Buildings: The accounting manager in the Controllers Office creates the initial asset master
record. Costs are accumulated in a plant fund account and these costs are capitalized at the
end of the year.
Land: The land card is created in the Treasurer's Office 3rd floor after land is received or
purchased.
Infrastructure: The accounting manager in the Controller's Office creates the initial master
record. Costs are accumulated in a plant fund account and these costs are capitalized at the
end of the year.
Library and livestock: N/A
Q: 2) How does information flow back and forth between the person responsible for the
capital investment project and the accountant in Asset Accounting, with respect to the
creation of a master record for an asset under construction?
A: Equipment: N/A
Building: Once a construction contract is approved, Risk Management requests a building
asset master record to be created by the Controller's Office.
Land, Infrastructure: N/A
Q: 3) Which organizational units and/or which functional areas have authorization for
creating or displaying asset master records?
A: Equipment: Departments/Business Areas have authorization for creating and displaying
asset master records.
Buildings and Infrastructure: Controller's Office for creating / Campus Business Office, or
Physical Plant view only.
Land: Treasurer's Office and Controller's Office for creation and viewing.
6.3.1.2.
Questions:
Q:
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A: Equipment: Departments submit requisitions for items over $2000 to the Purchasing
Department. Purchasing creates a purchase order. Bids are most-often required unless the
items are sole-source. When the invoice is received, the departments fill out a paper asset
master record or complete the asset master record on-line. The invoice and asset master
record is sent to A/P who forwards the two documents to the Controllers Office. The
Controller's Office uses the paper asset master record to set up the equipment item (or to
release the record if it was previously created on-line.) The checks paid for equipment and
additions to the equipment inventory are reconciled on a monthly basis.
Buildings: Governed by University FPS 180
The capital budget process begins each spring for the fiscal year that begins approximately 1
1/2 year in the future. (Budgeting done Spring 2000 for work to be done beginning July 2001).
Projects are submitted to each campus office where the projects are prioritized and divided
into 3 categories 1) Capital outlays (>1million/new buildings) 2) Capital maintenance ($100,000 to 1million) and
3) internally funded projects (w/ funding from parking revenues, athletic dept. revenues, etc.)
The campus lists are sent to the UT President who develops an overall UT priority list. The
Board approves the UT priority list, and the list is sent to the TN Higher Education
Commission (THEC). THEC merges UT projects with the TN Board of Regents (TBR)
projects, and prioritizes this combined list, and forwards the list to the Governor. The
Governor merges projects from all over the State and sends a recommended list to the State
Legislature.
The State Legislature approves both state-funded and internally funded projects, and
appropriates funds in May (May 2001 for projects beginning July 2001).
When UT receives their approved projects, the projects are sent to the State Building
Commission (SBC) for its approval. The SBC gives each project a SBC #. Once UT
receives notice of the SBC #, the assistant manager in the UT Controller's Office sets up a
plant fund (project account) (J account). The project is also set up in a departmentally
maintained (in Facilities Planning) database for the internal tracking of various internal
costing and reporting.
Miscellaneous contracts are entered into with architects, surveyors, and testers. A contract is
set up with one general contractor. (The general contractors form agreements with the
subcontractors; thus, UT has no subcontracts.)
The J account collects all costs for the asset under construction as individual expenses.
Once a year at fiscal year-end close, the UT Controller' Office Assistant manager, makes
manual capitalization entries.
UT withholds 5% of the contractor's billings each month as retainage. This retainage is
transferred into an agency account set up specifically for this project. Interest is earned on
the funds set aside in this agency account.
Q:
A: Equipment: University FPS 050 and 170. All capitalized equipment items require a
purchase order above $2,000. Sensitive low-dollar items below $2000 do not have to have a
purchase order. The departments order these items directly from the vendors.
Land, building, infrastructure: University FPS 180 governs the procurement.
Q:
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Q: 5) Do you want to show acquisitions to certain depreciation areas differently than you do
in the book depreciation area (for example, to fulfill certain cost accounting, tax or group
requirements)?
A: Equipment: No
Buildings and Infrastructure: No
Land, library and livestock: N/A
Q:
Q:
A: Yes
Q: 8) If using asset sub-numbering, do you want to permit asset acquisitions only to the
main number in the year of capitalization, and post all later acquisitions to sub-numbers?
A: Yes
Q:
9) Do you keep a record of costs using acquisitions to the asset under construction?
A: Equipment: Yes
Buildings: Yes
Infrastructure: Yes
Q: 10) Do you plan and budget for capital investments in your enterprise? Should assets
that are capitalized directly also be included in the planning and budgeting processes?
A: Equipment: Yes departments budget for equipment.
Buildings: Each building and infrastructure item has a budget. Capital budgeting will not be
done in R/3???. We do have the option to use PS and AM functionality to do this. Will
investigate further.
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Q: 11) How is the interaction between general ledger and asset accounting in the
acquisition process?
A: All assets: No integration in the acquisition process and asset accounting.
Q: 12) Which is the procedure from invoice receipt to posting of capitalization? Outline the
different steps.
A: All Assets:
At invoice payment:
Debit - Account (cost center) and Expenditure Object Code (G/L account)
Credit- Cash or A/P
At year-end:
Debit - Asset by type (land, building, equipment)
Credit- Investment in Plant by asset (land, building, equipment)
7. Travel Management
7.1.
Travel Expenses
7.1.1.
Questions:
Q:
A: All employees are eligible to travel with proper authorization. Students, candidates for
hire, guests and consultants are also reimbursed for University business related travel.
Q: 2) What rules, if any, are used to determine whether an employee is entitled to a trip
advance?
A: Trip advances are given to certain individuals where University travel would impose a
financial burden on the people involved. The following individuals can be given a travel
advance:
New employees (employed 3 months or less)
Student employees
Group leaders/directors of team or group travel (one responsible for distributing
cash/paying expenses)
Employees traveling outside the continental U.S.
Term employees
Non-exempt employees
There must be an approved travel authorization for all out-of-state and foreign trips
accompany the request for the travel advance.
Q:
3) Are these rules based on certain organizational structures within your enterprise?
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Q:
A: Yes. Any University employee or student traveling out-of-state must have an approved
authorization for the travel before they go. A Travel Authorization (Form T-18) needs to be
completed prior to the trip. The exception to this is the group labeled as "Senior
Administrative Officers". They are not required to have a travel authorization. Guests,
candidates for hire and consultants do not require travel authorizations.
Q: 5) What are the rules that specify which employees have to submit travel requests
before going on trips?
A: For out-of-state and foreign travel, all employees/UT students must complete the Travel
Authorization (Form T-18) prior to a trip. Sr. Administrative Officers are not required to
complete this form. Guests, candidates, and other non-University employees are not
required to complete the T-18.
Q:
A: There are no rules for specific countries. There are set per diems for meals and
maximum amounts for lodging but no other rules. However, foreign travel requires an
additional approval on the Travel Authorization (T-18). It requires the approval of a vice
president, chancellor or their designee.
Q: 7) Please classify all possible vehicle types, so that it is clear which vehicles can be used
by which employees and which vehicle types affect reimbursement amounts.
A: Personal vehicles, UT car, rental car (economical), motorcycle, train, commercial plane,
personal plane, UT plane, charter aircraft, animals (dog sleds, donkeys, etc), ship, bus, ferry,
bicycle, ground transportation (taxis, shuttles, limos)
Q:
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Q:
9) Are there general reimbursement amounts for specific countries in your company?
A: All foreign lodging is reimbursed at a higher rate ($180 plus tax/night). Foreign meal
rates are the same for out-of-state travel.
Q:
A: Yes, meals for trips where there is no overnight travel are considered taxable. However,
we currently do not report or deduct these taxes.
Q:
11) Do you classify your employees in different groups with regard to expense types?
Q: 12) Do you use enterprise-specific trip activities to determine per diems to be reimbursed
and maximum amounts?
A: Yes, athletic recruiting trips are reimbursed at different rates.
Q:
13) Please tell us your reimbursement rates for meals and accommodations.
A: MEALS:
Full Day
Within TN
Outside TN
Foreign travel
Partial Day
Overnight travel: Partial meal allowance (75% of the daily rate) is available for the date of
departure and the date of return.
One day travel: Meal allowance is available when working beyond the 8 hr work day and the
hours of departure and return are in accordance with the schedule below (not required to
show this on the reimbursement request):
In-State
Out-of-State
Departure/Return
Breakfast & Dinner
$20 ($25 - Sr Admin/Bd of Trustees) $29 ($33)
Before 7:00am & after 6:30pm
Breakfast
$6 ($7 - Sr Admin/Bd of Trustees)
$9 ($10)
Before 7:00am & before 6:30pm
Lunch (for Sr Admin only where entertainment is involved)
$10
$12
Dinner
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$20 ($23)
If one or two meals are included as part of the registration fee for a conference, seminar or
workshop, a partial meal allowance is available (75% of daily rate). If all meals are included,
no meal allowance is available. Continental breakfasts are not considered a meal.
Team, Group or Retreat Travel:
Meal
In-State
Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner
$ 6
$10
$14
Out-of-State
$ 9
$11
$20
Entertainment: The actual amount spent for the entertainment meal will be reimbursed. In
addition, a partial meal allowance (75% of daily rate) will be reimbursed in addition to the
entertainment meal unless it is a one-day trip. In this case, the rates for one-day trip will
apply depending on which meal is the entertainment meal. A receipt is required for all
entertainment.
Sr. Admin Officers: Group breakfasts, luncheons, and dinners are allowed provided written
advance approval is given or a receipt is given. When acting as a host to guests of the
University, actual expenses will be reimbursed.
Pilots: Meals may be allowed in excess of regulations when it is necessary to take meals at a
hotel or other area when eating facilities are limited. In those cases, where meals exceed
limitations, an explanation must be given and receipt furnished.
ACCOMMODATIONS:
In-State:
Level I
Level II
Out-of State:
$60 plus taxes ($67 plus taxes for all cities - Sr Admin)
$50 plus taxes ($85 plus taxes for all cities - Bd of Trustees)
General
Selected Cities
Special Cities
Athletics: While in recruiting status, actual expenses for lodging will be reimbursed.
Pilots: Actual lodging expenses will be reimbursed when accompanying University or State
officials on official business or when it is necessary to wait overnight for passengers.
NOTE: If lodging is at a conference hotel, the conference rate will be reimbursed provided
there is support for the conference rate or the name of the conference hotel is given on the T18 or T-3.
SEE QUESTION 8 FOR A LIST OF LEVEL I & II, GENERAL, SELECTED AND SPECIAL
CITIES.
Q:
Q: 15) Do you split your cost centers according to a certain scheme? Was it split
(Background: infotypes 0027, 0017, 0001)?
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A: No
Q: 16) Do you maintain special bank accounts for Travel Management (background:
infotype 0009, as reminder for new consultants)?
A: No, we currently process travel reimbursements through Accounts Payable as a
disbursement. We would like to use direct deposit for travel checks and would like to
support different bank accounts for travel reimbursements.
7.1.2.
Questions:
Q: 1) Please define exactly: your existing trip rules and the processes involved with trips.
For which employees do these trip rules and processes apply?
A: All travel must be for official University business. Authorization for travel and
reimbursement of expenses must be in accordance with provisions in policy and rates given.
A Travel Authorization must be completed and approved prior to all out-of-state and foreign
travel. Sr. Administrative Officers and guests do not need to complete a Travel Authorization.
Reimbursement of expenses incurred is subject to limitations of policy (rates given) and are
not the amounts that should be spent but rather the maximum amounts that can be
reimbursed. Original, itemized receipts must be submitted for lodging, registration fees,
airline tickets, rental cars and any other allowable expense over $50 (except for ground
transportation).
A T-3 (Travel Reimbursement Form), along with required receipts, must be processed upon
completion of trip. This form must be signed by the traveler and the department head
(individual responsible for account to be charged) or their designee. A department head can
approve his/her own travel expense but not the travel authorization. Any T-3's with
entertainment or exceptions to policy require a further approval.
Q:
2) What types of authorizations are required for the Business Trip Administrators?
Q:
A: Currently, travel receipts are entered and stored centrally at UT. Reimbursements can
be entered in the campus business offices, but all receipts and all releases for payment are
handled by the Treasurer's Office.
Q:
There is an online Travel system, currently only used by 2 -3 departments. In this system,
actual expenses are recorded.
In addition, all paper requests are entered online once they reach either the campus business
office or the Treasurer's Office.
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Q:
A: Only the 2-3 departments using the online Travel system are entering their own trip data.
All other departments send the information to a central office on the travel reimbursement
form.
Q: 7) How is the approval process conducted in your enterprise? Who is responsible for this
task in the different departments or for which group of employees?
A: The travel authorization must be approved by the department head, dean, or director
(individual responsible for account charged). In addition, all foreign travel must include the
approval of a vice president, chancellor or their designee.
The travel reimbursement request must be approved by the individual responsible for the
account charged. A department head can approve his/her own travel expenses. If
entertainment charges are included on the request, this requires the approval of a vice
president, chancellor or their designee. Any exceptions to policy require the approval of the
campus Chief Business Officer and the Vice President for Business and Finance.
Sr. Administrative Officers can approve their own expenses.
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Q: 13) Do you pay different reimbursement amounts for different countries, different regions
of certain countries or for the capital cities of countries?
A: All foreign lodging and meal rates are the same regardless of what country the travel is
in.
Q: 14) What kinds of travel expenses in the form of individual receipts does your company
reimburse? Do maximum amounts apply for some kinds of travel expenses?
A: Receipts are required for lodging, registration fees, airline tickets, rental cars and any
other allowable expense over $50 (except for ground transportation). There are maximum
amounts allowed for lodging.
Q: 15) What kinds of travel expenses are reimbursed by per diems/flat rates in your
company (with regard to: transportation, meals, and accommodations)? Are some kinds of
travel expenses always reimbursed by per diem/flat rate? (See below.
A: Per diems: Meals (entertainment is an exception)
There is a mileage rate given for personal automobiles and a maximum rate given for
lodging.
Q:
16) Does your company grant cash advances? If so, what is the internal procedure?
A: Yes. Travel advances are given to certain individuals: new employees (employed less
than 3 months), student employees, team/group directors, foreign travel, term and nonexempt employees.
Advances should not be requested for employees or students who are not expected to be on
campus to clear the advance.
A written request, signed by the department head, must be received by the appropriate
business office 5 days before the advance is needed. The original travel authorization and
an itemized estimate of expenses needed must accompany the request.
Cash advances cannot be made for prepaid items or items billed directly to the University. A
maximum of 80% of the estimate will be given for domestic travel and 100% for foreign or
team travel estimates.
Cash advance are made form petty cash funds except Short term and Long term travel
advances.
Upon completion of trip, the traveler must submit a request for reimbursement of expenses.
When the check has been prepared, the individual will be notified by the appropriate business
office or Treasurer's Office to come by and complete the transactions necessary to clear the
travel advance.
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All travel advances must be repaid within 30 days after completion of the travel. If not, a
deduction may be made from the employee's or student's payroll check. Any person from
whom 2 payroll deductions are made will forfeit future cash advance privileges.
Q: 17) What rules, if any, are used to determine whether an employee is entitled to a trip
advance?
A: See question 2 under "Presettings for Travel Expenses".
Q:
A: The travel reimbursement form (T-3) must be approved by the department head
(individual responsible for the account to be charged) or their designee. A department head
can approve his/her own travel expense form.
If a T-3 contains entertainment charges, this requires the approval of a vice president,
chancellor or their designee.
Any charges that would be considered exceptions to policy (i.e. excessive lodging rate)
requires the approval of the Chief Business Officer for that campus and the Vice President for
Business and Finance.
Q: 19) What rules are applied in your enterprise to determine that the estimated travel
expenses of an employee must be approved before he/she is entitled to a trip advance?
A: The written request for the travel advance requires the authorized signature for the
account being charged for the travel advance. All travel advances must have this approval.
A maximum of 80% of the estimate will be given for domestic travel and 100% for foreign or
team travel estimates.
Q:
A: The reimbursement is approved by the department head or individual responsible for the
account being charged (or their designee).
Q: 21) Are travel expenses reimbursed all of your employees? If so, are there different rules
for certain employee groups?
A: Yes, according to policy limitations.
Yes, see question 13 under "Presettings for Travel Expenses.
Q: 22) Do you send some kind of notification to your employees if a travel expense
reimbursement is rejected?
A: Yes, a notification is returned, along with the T-3, if the reimbursement has been rejected.
However, if an adjustment is made, a notification (stating the adjustment made) is sent along
with the traveler's check.
Q: 23) Who controls and approves the trip facts? (Does this always have to be approved for
all employees first?)
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A: This is done at the departmental level. Out-of-state and foreign trips are approved by
way of the Travel Authorization and must be done in advance.
Q: 24) What is the procedure for informing an employee that he has to change his trip data
entries?
A: At the campus business office and Treasurer's Office, notification is sent to the traveler of
changes that need to be made or what additional support is needed to process their
reimbursement. Either the notification is sent along with the T-3 or an adjustment is made
and the notification is returned with the check.
Q: 25) Please make a complete list of the expenses that are actually reimbursed in
accordance with the relevant expense account.
A: All reasonable expenses are reimbursed to the department account number. There is no
one set expense account.
Some types of expenses are (but not limited to): lodging, meals, mileage, airfare,
transportation to and from city, rental cars, taxis (not for personal activities), hotel check-in,
business phone calls, conference registrations and supplies, training fees, parking, tolls,
entertainment, excess baggage handling fees, laundry, airline change penalties, early checkout penalties, etc.
Q: 26) How do you manage your travel expenses? Do you need transfers of travel expense
results to HR Payroll, to FI, etc. or to some other non-R/3 system?
A: Checks are issued to the traveler from the Treasurer's A/P Office. The accounting is
done in A/P.
We would like to look further at direct deposit of traveler's checks.
Q: 27) Please describe the decision logic that is to be used to determine the house bank for
DME payments and for automatic creation of a vendor from HR Master Data.
A: Travel reimbursements are currently paid from the same account as other disbursement
checks. Payroll is processed from a different bank account.
Any individual employed by the University is authorized to travel on behalf of the University
(with proper departmental approval). However, there are some positions within the
University that never do any travel.
Q:
Q:
A: All employees are eligible to travel with proper authorization. Students, candidates for
hire, guests and consultants are also reimbursed for University business related travel.
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Q: 30) What rules, if any, are used to determine whether an employee is entitled to a trip
advance?
A: Trip advances are given to certain individuals where University travel would impose a
financial burden on the people involved. The following individuals can be given a travel
advance:
There must be an approved travel authorization for all out-of-state and foreign trips
accompany the request for the travel advance.
Q:
31) Are these rules based on certain organizational structures within your enterprise?
Q:
A: Yes. Any University employee or student traveling out-of-state must have an approved
authorization for the travel before they go. A Travel Authorization (Form T-18) needs to be
completed prior to the trip. The exception to this is the group labeled as "Senior
Administrative Officers". They are not required to have a travel authorization. Guests,
candidates for hire and consultants do not require travel authorizations.
Q: 33) What are the rules that specify which employees have to submit travel requests
before going on trips?
A: For out-of-state and foreign travel, all employees/UT students must complete the Travel
Authorization (Form T-18) prior to a trip. Sr. Administrative Officers are not required to
complete this form. Guests, candidates, and other non-University employees are not
required to complete the T-18.
Q:
A: There are no rules for specific countries. There are set per diems for meals and
maximum amounts for lodging but no other rules. However, foreign travel requires an
additional approval on the Travel Authorization (T-18). It requires the approval of a vice
president, chancellor or their designee.
Q: 35) How many different trip rules are used in your enterprise (for instance, meals per
diems, etc.)?
A: There are maximum amounts allowed for lodging and hotel check-in fees. There are per
diems for meals. All other expenses must be reasonable.
There are different categories of travelers and these have their own reimbursement rates. In
addition, some travel is done under contract, state or federal guidelines and these rates have
to be followed.
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Q: 36) Do you use deductions from per diem amounts in special cases in your enterprise
(for example, for unrecorded breakfasts, free meals)?
A: Yes, if one or two meals are provided as part of the registration fee or there is an
entertainment meal, then only a partial rate is allowed for that day. If all meals are provided,
then no allowance is provided.
Q:
A: Not at this time. The American Express card held by University employees is also used
for personal charges.
We would like to discuss the possibility of using this for direct bill of airfares.
Q: 38) Please classify all possible vehicle types, so that it is clear which vehicles can be
used by which employees and which vehicle types affect reimbursement amounts.
A: Personal vehicles, UT car, rental car (economical), motorcycle, train, commercial plane,
personal plane, UT plane, charter aircraft, animals (dog sleds, donkeys, etc), ship, bus, ferry,
bicycle, ground transportation (taxis, shuttles, limos)
Q:
39) Do you use different reimbursement amounts for different geographical areas?
Q:
40) Are there general reimbursement amounts for specific countries in your company?
A: All foreign lodging is reimbursed at a higher rate ($180 plus tax/night). Foreign meal
rates are the same for out-of-state travel.
Q:
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A: Yes, meals for trips where there is no overnight travel are considered taxable. However,
we currently do not report or deduct these taxes.
Q:
42) Do you classify your employees in different groups with regard to expense types?
Q: 43) Do you use enterprise-specific trip activities to determine per diems to be reimbursed
and maximum amounts?
A: Yes, athletic recruiting trips are reimbursed at different rates.
Q:
44) Please tell us your reimbursement rates for meals and accommodations.
A: MEALS:
Full Day
Within TN
Outside TN
Foreign travel
Partial Day
Overnight travel: Partial meal allowance (75% of the daily rate) is available for the date of
departure and the date of return.
One day travel: Meal allowance is available when working beyond the 8-hour work day and
the hours of departure and return are in accordance with the schedule below (not required to
show this on the reimbursement request):
In-State
Out-of-State Departure/Return
Breakfast & Dinner
$20 ($25 - Sr Admin/Bd of Trustees)
$29 ($33) Before 7:00am & after 6:30pm
Breakfast
$6 ($7 - Sr Admin/Bd of Trustees)
$9 ($10) Before 7:00am & before 6:30pm
Lunch (for Sr Admin only where entertainment is involved)
$10
$12
Dinner
$14 ($18 - Sr Admin/Bd of Trustees)
$20 ($23)
After 7:00am & after 6:30pm
If one or two meals are included as part of the registration fee for a conference, seminar or
workshop, a partial meal allowance is available (75% of daily rate). If all meals are included,
no meal allowance is available. Continental breakfasts are not considered a meal.
Team, Group or Retreat Travel:
Meal
In-State
Out-of-State
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Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner
$ 6
$10
$14
$ 9
$11
$20
Entertainment: The actual amount spent for the entertainment meal will be reimbursed. In
addition, a partial meal allowance (75% of daily rate) will be reimbursed in addition to the
entertainment meal unless it is a one-day trip. In this case, the rates for one-day trip will
apply depending on which meal is the entertainment meal. A receipt is required for all
entertainment.
Sr. Admin Officers: Group breakfasts, luncheons, and dinners are allowed provided written
advance approval is given or a receipt is given. When acting as a host to guests of the
University, actual expenses will be reimbursed.
Pilots: Meals may be allowed in excess of regulations when it is necessary to take meals at a
hotel or other area when eating facilities are limited. In those cases, where meals exceed
limitations, an explanation must be given and receipt furnished.
ACCOMMODATIONS:
In-State:
Level I
Level II
Out-of State:
$60 plus taxes ($67 plus taxes for all cities - Sr Admin)
$50 plus taxes ($85 plus taxes for all cities - Bd of Trustees)
General
Selected Cities
Special Cities
Athletics: While in recruiting status, actual expenses for lodging will be reimbursed.
Pilots: Actual lodging expenses will be reimbursed when accompanying University or State
officials on official business or when it is necessary to wait overnight for passengers.
NOTE: If lodging is at a conference hotel, the conference rate will be reimbursed provided
there is support for the conference rate or the name of the conference hotel is given on the T18 or T-3.
SEE QUESTION 8 FOR A LIST OF LEVEL I & II, GENERAL, SELECTED AND SPECIAL
CITIES.
Q: 45) Define the relevant conditions under which your organization reduces amounts to be
reimbursed on the basis of certain trip criteria (e.g. complimentary lunch included in costs of
course).
A: If meals are included as part of a registration fee or there are entertainment charges, the
full per diem for meals will not be reimbursed - only a partial rate.
If an individual claims a full meal per diem on the day of departure or day of return, then it will
be adjusted to a partial rate.
If a University employee or student does not use the Designated travel agency, they will only
be reimbursed 94.5% of the base price of the airfare.
Q:
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Q: 47) Do you split your cost centers according to a certain scheme? Was it split
(background: infotypes 0027, 0017, 0001)?
A: No
Q: 48) Do you maintain special bank accounts for Travel Management (background:
infotype 0009, as reminder for new consultants)?
A: No, we currently process travel reimbursements through Accounts Payable as a
disbursement. We would like to use direct deposit for travel checks and would like to
support different bank accounts for travel reimbursements.
Q:
A: Yes
Q: 50) Which means of travel (e.g. car, plane, train) are your employees authorized to use
on their business trips?
A: See question 38.
7.1.3.
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
Any University employee or student can travel. Also, guests, candidates for hire,
and consultants
A travel authorization must be completed and approved for all University
employees, students and guests that travel on behalf of the University (for
both in-state and out-of-state travel). We should have the ability to
discontinue the need for travel authorizations for in-state at a later date if
desired.
Need a personnel id for all travelers
Originating city, dates of travel, destination, hotel info, purpose (i.e. recruiting),
account number and object code to be charged are to be included on the travel
authorization
Approval of travel authorization is needed: In-State - no approval (for anyone);
Out-of-State - dean, director or department head (with the exception of Sr
Administrative Officers and guests - no approval); Foreign - the out-of-state
approval plus the approval of a vice president, chancellor or their designee (with
the exception of Sr Administrative Officers and guests - no approval)
Allow for on-line entry of travel authorization by traveler or designated individual
in department (decentralized office).
Allow for a maximum reimbursement amount to be entered for lodging and
check-in fee.
Allow for travel advance to be requested at this point if eligible
2. General Explanations
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This business process will be handled using Travel Expense Manager transaction (TRIP).
Traveler or designated person enters costs for each expense type incurred by receipts,
such as airfare, hotels, registration fees etc. for domestic and international trips. The
system calculates the per diems / flat rates (mileage) based on the destination and
duration per the business rules and policies set up by the University.
2)
3)
4)
5)
You start the travel manager by calling the Travel manager function in Travel
Accounting. The system gives you an overview of all of the trips that you have
entered for the employee.
You can either choose a trip and change it or create a new trip.
If you create a new trip, you first have to enter the framework data and the per
diem accounting.
To enter detailed trip facts, you can call other entry functions from the travel
manager. Which entry functions you can call depends on the trip schema that
you defined in Customizing for Travel Accounting for the travel manager.
You end the scenario by choosing the Save trip function.
The system saves the new or changed trip as "Trip Request" with status "to be
accounted" in the database.
7. Description of Improvements
Automatic pre-encumbrance of estimated trip costs
The Employee Self Service (ESS): Travel Expenses enables a decentralized recording of
trip by the travelers themselves.
Automatic calculation of per diems and travel allowance checks should reduce
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Questions:
Q:
A: Yes
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
2. General Explanations
4. Business Model
7. Description of Improvements
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7.1.4.
7.1.4.1.
Questions:
Q: 1) How is the approval process conducted in your enterprise? Who is responsible for this
task in the different departments or for which group of employees?
A: The travel authorization must be approved by the department head, dean, or director
(individual responsible for account charged). In addition, all foreign travel must include the
approval of a vice president, chancellor or their designee.
The travel reimbursement request must be approved by the individual responsible for the
account charged. A department head can approve his/her own travel expenses. If
entertainment charges are included on the request, this requires the approval of a vice
president, chancellor or their designee. Any exceptions to policy require the approval of the
campus Chief Business Officer and the Vice President for Business and Finance.
Sr. Administrative Officers can approve their own expenses.
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
2. General Explanations
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4. Business Model
Chart attached
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7. Description of Improvements
The workflow scenarios in Travel Management strongly support the decentralized trip
facts recording model. The advantage is that they connect all persons who are involved
in approval directly via the R/3 System, making the approval processes automatic and
much more efficient.
Approval process will be paperless and manual signatures are not required.
Questions:
Q: 1) Do you create statements regarding reimbursement of expenses for planned or
completed trips?
A: No. The traveler initiates the travel reimbursement form.
Questions:
Q: 1) Do you create statements regarding reimbursement of expenses for planned or
completed trips?
A: No. The traveler initiates the travel reimbursement form.
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Questions:
Q: 1) Do you create statements regarding reimbursement of expenses for planned or
completed trips?
A: No. The traveler initiates the travel reimbursement form.
7.1.5.
7.1.5.1.
Advance payment
Trip advance payment/transmission [standard]
Questions:
Q:
1) Does your company grant cash advances? If so, what is the internal procedure?
A: Yes. Travel advances are given to certain individuals: new employees (employed less
than 3 months), student employees, team/group directors, foreign travel, term, and nonexempt employees.
Advances should not be requested for employees or students who are not expected to be on
campus to clear the advance.
A written request, signed by the department head, must be received by the appropriate
business office 5 days before the advance is needed. The original travel authorization and
an itemized estimate of expenses needed must accompany the request.
Cash advances cannot be made for prepaid items or items billed directly to the University. A
maximum of 80% of the estimate will be given for domestic travel and 100% for foreign or
team travel estimates.
Cash advance are made form petty cash funds except Short term and Long term travel
advances.
Upon completion of trip, the traveler must submit a request for reimbursement of expenses.
When the check has been prepared, the individual will be notified by the appropriate business
office or Treasurer's Office to come by and complete the transactions necessary to clear the
travel advance.
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All travel advances must be repaid within 30 days after completion of the travel. If not, a
deduction may be made from the employee's or student's payroll check. Any person from
whom 2 payroll deductions are made will forfeit future cash advance privileges.
Q: 2) What rules, if any, are used to determine whether an employee is entitled to a trip
advance?
A: See question 2 under "Presettings for Travel Expenses".
Q: 3) What rules are applied in your enterprise to determine that the estimated travel
expenses of an employee must be approved before he/she is entitled to a trip advance?
A: The written request for the travel advance requires the authorized signature for the
account being charged for the travel advance. All travel advances must have this approval.
A maximum of 80% of the estimate will be given for domestic travel and 100% for foreign or
team travel estimates.
Q: 4) Please make a complete list of the expenses that are actually reimbursed in
accordance with the relevant expense account.
A: All reasonable expenses are reimbursed to the department account number. There is no
one set expense account.
Some types of expenses are (but not limited to): lodging, meals, mileage, airfare,
transportation to and from city, rental cars, taxis (not for personal activities), hotel check-in,
business phone calls, conference registrations and supplies, training fees, parking, tolls,
entertainment, excess baggage handling fees, laundry, airline change penalties, early checkout penalties, etc.
Q: 5) How do you manage your travel expenses? Do you need transfers of travel expense
results to HR Payroll, to FI, etc. or to some other non-R/3 system?
A: Checks are issued to the traveler from the Treasurer's A/P Office. The accounting is
done in A/P.
We would like to look further at direct deposit of traveler's checks.
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
Ability to provide travel advances for both domestic and foreign travel for eligible
employees
Ability for traveler or designated individual in department to submit request for
travel advance to A/P.
Ability to calculate estimated amount for travel advance requests based on
lodging, transportation (excluding airfare), food, automobile rental, other
(excluding registration)
Ability to calculate amount of travel advance based on the following:
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2. General Explanations
You record trip advances via the amount and the currency. If you want to record a cash
advance for documentary purposes, you have to set the cash indicator. Save the trip as a
request.
7. Description of Improvements
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Advance entered in trip request will be taken into consideration in the calculation of travel
expenses reimbursement. The accounting results are transferred to Accounting, and the
relevant accounts are balanced. Any remaining trip expenses are reimbursed to the
employee by bank or excess due from employee is posted as a debit on the Employee
account in Accounts Payable.
8. Description of Functional Deficits
7.1.6.
7.1.6.1.
Questions:
Q: 1) How many different trip rules are used in your enterprise (for instance, meals per
diems, etc.)?
A: There are maximum amounts allowed for lodging and hotel check-in fees. There are per
diems for meals. All other expenses must be reasonable.
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There are different categories of travelers and these have their own reimbursement rates. In
addition, some travel is done under contract, state or federal guidelines and these rates have
to be followed.
Q: 2) Do you use deductions from per diem amounts in special cases in your enterprise (for
example, for unrecorded breakfasts, free meals)?
A: Yes, if one or two meals are provided as part of the registration fee or there is an
entertainment meal, then only a partial rate is allowed for that day. If all meals are provided,
then no allowance is provided.
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
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2. General Explanations
4. Business Model
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7. Description of Improvements
The Employee Self Service (ESS): Travel Expenses enables a decentralized recording of
trip by the travelers themselves.
Automatic entry of some fields by system creates less entry by operator and
improves error ratio.
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Questions:
Q: 1) How many different trip rules are used in your enterprise (for instance, meals per
diems, etc.)?
A: There are maximum amounts allowed for lodging and hotel check-in fees. There are per
diems for meals. All other expenses must be reasonable.
There are different categories of travelers and these have their own reimbursement rates. In
addition, some travel is done under contract, state or federal guidelines and these rates have
to be followed.
Q: 2) Do you use deductions from per diem amounts in special cases in your enterprise (for
example, for unrecorded breakfasts, free meals)?
A: Yes, if one or two meals are provided as part of the registration fee or there is an
entertainment meal, then only a partial rate is allowed for that day. If all meals are provided,
then no allowance is provided.
7.1.6.3.
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
2. General Explanations
You can correct trips before posting to accounting and also trips that have been posted in
accounting.
Corrections made to a trip will be subjected to the same approval process all over again.
To effect correction after posting, an accounting program and posting is to be executed
again. Only the difference (additional/deduction) in amount will be posted to Employee
A/P account. Check/direct deposit will be generated for the additional amount, while the
deduction amount will stay as an amount owing in the Employee A/P account and should
be addressed the same way as Advance outstanding.
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7. Description of Improvements
Allows traveler or designated departmental employee to make corrections and
have approvals done electronically.
Allows for payroll deduction if necessary.
7.1.7.
7.1.7.1.
Questions:
Q:
A: The travel reimbursement form (T-3) must be approved by the department head
(individual responsible for the account to be charged) or their designee. A department head
can approve his/her own travel expense form.
If a T-3 contains entertainment charges, this requires the approval of a vice president,
chancellor or their designee.
Any charges that would be considered exceptions to policy (i.e. excessive lodging rate)
requires the approval of the Chief Business Officer for that campus and the Vice President for
Business and Finance.
Q: 2) What rules are applied in your enterprise to determine that the estimated travel
expenses of an employee must be approved before he/she is entitled to a trip advance?
A: The written request for the travel advance requires the authorized signature for the
account being charged for the travel advance. All travel advances must have this approval.
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A maximum of 80% of the estimate will be given for domestic travel and 100% for foreign or
team travel estimates.
Q:
A: The reimbursement is approved by the department head or individual responsible for the
account being charged (or their designee).
Q: 4) Are travel expenses reimbursed all of your employees? If so, are there different rules
for certain employee groups?
A: Yes, according to policy limitations.
Yes, see question 13 under "Presettings for Travel Expenses.
Q: 5) Who controls and approves the trip facts? (Does this always have to be approved for
all employees first?)
A: This is done at the departmental level. Out-of-state and foreign trips are approved by
way of the Travel Authorization and must be done in advance.
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
2. General Explanations
Use enterprise-specific trip activities to differentiate In-State, Out-of-State, Foreign and
Athletic Recruiting to handle different travel approval.
This approval business process will be handled using R/3 Business Workflow standard
task TS20000131 (Approve Trip Facts). The Approve Trip workflow is started when a trip
is saved with the trip completed/to be accounted status. The workflow item may be in the
form of an SAP mail or e-mail to the Approver's inbox. The approver can review the trip
request and can either approve, send back for correction, or reject.
If it is approved, the trip request is further routed to next in the approval hierarchy and
finally to Treasurer's Office (Accounts Payable) for preparation of a check if an advance
is requested.
Alternatively, approval can be performed without workflow using a program. The approval
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program includes a number of functions with which you can check and approve employee
trip requests in the Treasurer's Office (Accounts Payable) department.
4. Business Model
Chart attached.
7. Description of Improvements
The workflow scenarios in Travel Management strongly support the decentralized trip
facts recording model.
Electronic approvals will allow quicker processing of trip facts.
Automatically routes to authorized approver for exceptions and other expenses needing
additional approval.
Questions:
Q: 1) Do you send some kind of notification to your employees if a travel expense
reimbursement is rejected?
A: Yes, a notification is returned, along with the T-3, if the reimbursement has been rejected.
However, if an adjustment is made, a notification (stating the adjustment made) is sent along
with the traveler's check.
7.1.7.3.
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Questions:
Q:
A: The travel reimbursement form (T-3) must be approved by the department head
(individual responsible for the account to be charged) or their designee. A department head
can approve his/her own travel expense form.
If a T-3 contains entertainment charges, this requires the approval of a vice president,
chancellor or their designee.
Any charges that would be considered exceptions to policy (i.e. excessive lodging rate)
requires the approval of the Chief Business Officer for that campus and the Vice President for
Business and Finance.
Q: 2) What rules are applied in your enterprise to determine that the estimated travel
expenses of an employee must be approved before he/she is entitled to a trip advance?
A: The written request for the travel advance requires the authorized signature for the
account being charged for the travel advance. All travel advances must have this approval.
A maximum of 80% of the estimate will be given for domestic travel and 100% for foreign or
team travel estimates.
Q:
A: The reimbursement is approved by the department head or individual responsible for the
account being charged (or their designee).
7.1.7.4.
Questions:
Q: 1) What is the procedure for informing an employee that he has to change his trip data
entries?
A: At the campus business office and Treasurer's Office, notification is sent to the traveler of
changes that need to be made or what additional support is needed to process their
reimbursement. Either the notification is sent along with the T-3 or an adjustment is made
and the notification is returned with the check.
7.1.8.
7.1.8.1.
Travel Expenses
Performance of Travel Expenses [standard]
Questions:
Q: 1) How many different trip rules are used in your enterprise (for instance, meals per
diems, etc.)?
A: There are maximum amounts allowed for lodging and hotel check-in fees. There are per
diems for meals. All other expenses must be reasonable.
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There are different categories of travelers and these have their own reimbursement rates. In
addition, some travel is done under contract, state or federal guidelines and these rates have
to be followed.
Q: 2) Do you use deductions from per diem amounts in special cases in your enterprise (for
example, for unrecorded breakfasts, free meals)?
A: Yes, if one or two meals are provided as part of the registration fee or there is an
entertainment meal, then only a partial rate is allowed for that day. If all meals are provided,
then no allowance is provided.
Q: 5) Do you reimburse different employee groups with different amounts for meals and
accommodations?
A: Yes, see question 13 under "Presettings for Travel Expenses".
Q: 6) Define the relevant conditions under which your organization reduces amounts to be
reimbursed on the basis of certain trip criteria (e.g. complimentary lunch included in costs of
course).
A: If meals are included as part of a registration fee or there are entertainment charges, the
full per diem for meals will not be reimbursed - only a partial rate.
If an individual claims a full meal per diem on the day of departure or day of return, then it will
be adjusted to a partial rate.
If a University employee or student does not use the Designated travel agency, they will only
be reimbursed 94.5% of the base price of the airfare.
Q:
A: Yes
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Q: 9) Do you pay different reimbursement amounts for different countries, different regions
of certain countries or for the capital cities of countries?
A: All foreign lodging and meal rates are the same regardless of what country the travel is
in.
Q: 10) What kinds of travel expenses in the form of individual receipts does your company
reimburse? Do maximum amounts apply for some kinds of travel expenses?
A: Receipts are required for lodging, registration fees, airline tickets, rental cars and any
other allowable expense over $50 (except for ground transportation). There are maximum
amounts allowed for lodging.
Q: 11) What kinds of travel expenses are reimbursed by per diems/flat rates in your
company (with regard to: transportation, meals, accommodations)? Are some kinds of travel
expenses always reimbursed by per diem/flat rate? (See below.
A: Per diems: Meals (entertainment is an exception)
There is a mileage rate given for personal automobiles and a maximum rate given for
lodging.
7.1.8.2.
Questions:
Q: 1) Please make a complete list of the expenses that are actually reimbursed in
accordance with the relevant expense account.
A: All reasonable expenses are reimbursed to the department account number. There is no
one set expense account.
Some types of expenses are (but not limited to): lodging, meals, mileage, airfare,
transportation to and from city, rental cars, taxis (not for personal activities), hotel check-in,
business phone calls, conference registrations and supplies, training fees, parking, tolls,
entertainment, excess baggage handling fees, laundry, airline change penalties, early checkout penalties, etc.
Q: 2) How do you manage your travel expenses? Do you need transfers of travel expense
results to HR Payroll, to FI, etc. or to some other non-R/3 system?
A: Checks are issued to the traveler from the Treasurer's A/P Office. The accounting is
done in A/P.
We would like to look further at direct deposit of traveler's checks.
Q: 3) Please describe the decision logic that is to be used to determine the house bank for
DME payments and for automatic creation of a vendor from HR Master Data.
A: Travel reimbursements are currently paid from the same account as other disbursement
checks. Payroll is processed from a different bank account.
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Any individual employed by the University is authorized to travel on behalf of the University
(with proper departmental approval). However, there are some positions within the
University that never do any travel.
Q:
Ability to clear travel advances against trip facts using trip number
Ability to clear prepayment of airfare, registrations and hotel
Ability to post transaction type to the correct expense account
Ability to post against object codes for in-state (currently 311), out-of-state (312),
registrations (468) and entertainment (462)
Ability to apply different trip rules depending on employee classification (i.e., Sr
Administrative Officers)
Ability to use per diems
Ability for R/3 to identify what expense types are required to have receipts
Ability to reimburse for lodging, meals, mileage, airfare, all types of ground
transportation (i.e., taxis, bus, bicycles, donkeys, etc), hotel check-in, business
phone calls, conference registrations, supplies, parking tolls, entertainment,
excess baggage handling fees, laundry, airline change penalties, early check-out
penalties, etc
Ability to have both checks issued directly to traveler or direct deposit of checks
2. General Explanations
This business process will be handled using Trip costs accounting (PREC) and Posting to
accounting (PRFI) programs.
During accounting, the system creates accounting results for each trip from the recorded
trip facts and stores them in the database. They are the basis for payment, posting and
possible taxation of the travel expenses.
In a posting run, the results of travel accounting are collected as posting documents for
transfer to Accounting.
The pre-encumbered estimated costs will be relieved and the actual total costs will be
charged to the department cost center
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Using the trip data entered and the reimbursement rates specified in Customizing, the
Travel Management accounting program calculates the results (specifically, the
reimbursement amounts) for a trip for a certain accounting period.
Trips and travel requests can only be processed by the accounting program if they have
the approval status approved and the accounting status either to be accounted or
canceled.
Reimbursement rates are determined and stored in the database for all trips and
requests that have the approval status...approved and the accounting status to be
accounted and which take place before the end date of the accounting period. The
accounting status of the trip or request is set to accounted after accounting has taken
place.
In the case of trips with the approval status...approved and the accounting status
canceled, the accounting period which was valid until an accounting run is performed is
replaced by the accounting period with which the accounting program is started.
4. Business Model
Chart attached:
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7. Description of Improvements
During posting, budget availability check is performed and pre-encumbrance (if any) is
relieved.
Object code automatically derived from Expense Type, per-diem and flat rates.
Ability to either issue check to traveler or have direct deposit.
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CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
Allow for expense cover sheets to be printed for all trip facts
Expense cover sheet should contain a signature line for traveler
Expense cover sheet must contain statement "I certify that the above stated
expenses were incurred by me while traveling on business for The University of
Tennessee. The University of Tennessee Agricultural Extension Service and
U.S. Department of Agriculture cooperating."
Expense cover sheet must identify which expense types require receipts
Ability to issue rejection or adjustment sheets/notices to traveler
Ability to run reports by various criteria such as transaction type, destinations of
trips, hotel amounts and name, transportation costs, expense accounts,
comparisons between different cost centers, WBS, etc
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2. General Explanations
The standard form produces a printout for each trip.
Beneath the form header (which contains the employee's name, the master cost center
and the trip number) the trip itinerary is presented. The accounting section is structured
as follows:
Per-diem and flat-rate accounting
Accommodations
Meals
Travel costs
Receipt accounting
Receipts
Meals receipts (as an alternative to per diem accounting for meals)
Presentation of results
Total expenses of trip
Total advances (if any)
Total receipts paid by company (if any)
Reimbursement amount for employee
The standard form can be changed to include a signature line for traveler
The standard form can be changed to include statement "I certify that the above
stated expenses were incurred by me while traveling on business for The
University of Tennessee. The University of Tennessee Agricultural Extension
Service and U.S. Department of Agriculture cooperating."
Any additional information entered in trip facts will be printed on form
Same form is used
Standard R/3 reports are available with dynamic selection criteria and drill down
capability to get to the details of a trip.
7. Description of Improvements
Many comparison reports can be generated by A/P using various criteria.
Expense statements can be automatically generated.
12. Authorization and User Roles
Manager in Accounts Payable will be given authorization for the role of
Travel system manager (SAP_FI_TV_SYSTEM_MANAGER_AG) to perform customizing
tasks and create reports.
Heads of department will be assigned Approving manager role
(SAP_FI_TV_APPROVING_MANAGER_AG) to approve travel expenses and create
reports.
7.1.9.
Cancellation
7.1.9.1.
CI Template:
1. Requirements/Expectations
Ability to cancel a trip and notify the traveler (if necessary) after a travel request
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2. General Explanations
You can cancel trips before having posted to accounting or trips that have been posted in
accounting.
Workflow agent will generate the appropriate routing based on approval/rejection action.
Reversal accounting posting will be generated automatically
7. Description of Improvements
Ability to maintain travel advances easier if trip has been cancelled.
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N/A
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