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OVERVIEW Nov 2009 FINANCIAL INFORMATION SYSTEM
OVERVIEW
Nov 2009
FINANCIAL INFORMATION
SYSTEM
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Course Objectives
• Understand the basic components of the Financial Information System (FIS) and their applications at the University of Toronto
• Understand how FIS components work together to process and document a financial transaction
• Become familiar with the basic navigation tools used in FIS
• Search for and locate FIS data
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Course Map• Overview of the Financial Information System (FIS)
– Financial Accounting (FI)– Funds Management (FM)– Controlling (CO)
• Demo 1: Basic Navigation – 1.1 Screen Navigation and Tools
• Demo 2: Finding FIS Accounts– 2.1 Finding Funds Centers and Funds – 2.2 Finding Cost Centers and Internal Orders– 2.3 Finding General Ledger Accounts
• Using the Match Code Search Tool
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• In order to provide decision makers with useful information, financial transactions must be entered accurately.
• Accurate recording and tracking of financial transactions enables the production of various useful Management Reports, as well as the Financial Statements.
• Incorrect or incomplete information results in:additional time required to correct the original transaction andthe possibility of incorrect decisions being made, based on that information
Fundamental Accounting Considerations
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Overview of FIS
FIS
FMFUNDS
MANAGEMENT
CCCost
Center
IOInternalOrder
COCONTROLLING
GeneralLedger
Chart of Accounts(numeric code)
CECost
Element(numeric code)
Fund
FCFunds Center
CICommitment
Item(alphabetic code)
FIFINANCIAL
ACCOUNTING
A/PAccounts Payable
A/RAccounts
Receivable
BABusiness Area
Which department or project spent the $?
CO plans are
converted to budget dollars &
loaded within the
FC or FC/Fund at
the CI level.
On what were the $ spent?
What is the source of $?
The plans are loaded within CCs and IOs at the CE level.
Accounts in bolded boxes would be use in transactions…
Funds Availability checking occurs
in FM
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Example of an FIS transactionThis is an example of a correcting Journal Entry transaction in FIS, in which all of the account code have been used. Notice how ALL line items use a G/L acct, Business Area and Funds Center, yet only 1 also uses a Fund; 2 use a Cost Center and only one an Internal Order (Order). Additionally, Funds Availability checking will only verify that there are funds available for the debit lines.
FI COFI CO FM FM FM
The commitment item defaults from the G/L Acct.
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FI is the core component of FIS…
• it provides the common account codes (i.e. G/L accounts) used by everyone to record revenue, expense, accounts receivable and accounts payable financial activity.
• it’s used to generate more than one set of financial statements, through the use of the Business Area code, which separates Ancillary Operations from the rest of UofT’s business activities.
• it’s designed to meet the overall general reporting requirements of UofT, but not the detailed reporting requirements needed at the departmental level.
Financial Accounting (FI)
FI
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Funds Center Fund
Brief description a six digit code that is used to record and report the funding and spending for the Operating Fund and Ancillary Operationson a fiscal year basis
a six digit code that is used to record and report the funding and spending for the Restricted and Capital Funds on a "life to date" basis
Periodic Reporting fiscal year (May 1 to April 30) any start or end date
Hierarchy reflects the organizational structure at UofT no hierarchy of its own; is linked to an organizational unit through transaction postings; must be used in conjunction with the appropriate Funds Center
Budgeting fiscal year basis overall basis
FM codes for Funds Centers or Funds Center / Fund combinations, and codes for Commitment Items are used in ALL transactions to identify the funding source for that specific transaction. Funds Centers are structured to reflect UofT’s operational hierarchy.
FM
Funds Management (FM)
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Individual Divisions and Departments are located within these portfolios.
Divisions/Departments may have several Operating Funds Centers (1xxxxxx) and PI Funds Centers (2xxxxxx). Again, FCs may or may not be associated with a "Fund".
CFC 100546 is subordinate to CFC 101123 and parent to CFC 202675
Highest levels of the funds center hierarchy reflect main operational portfolios at UofT.
FM
Operational Hierarchy at UofT as reflected in FIS through the use of Funds Centers
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The commitment item is the level at which budget is established for a Funds Center or FC/Fund. Additionally, CIs:
• are arranged in a hierarchy• provide the flexibility to select the level of budgetary
control that is desired• tell FM where to start looking for budget• hold the budget for funds availability checking• have a "1 to many" relationship with the general ledger
(G/L) accounts, conversely, each G/L account is assigned to a specific commitment item (see next slide)
• are assigned to revenue and expense G/L accounts• are used to report summary revenue and expense
postings to individual G/L accounts FM
Commitment Items (CI)
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EXPENSE-S (level 1) Total Expense
COMPENS-S (level 2) Total compensation
HRIS-APPT (level 3) Appointed Salary
HRIS-BEN (level 3) Benefits
SUPPL-S (level 2) Total supplies
Supplies (level 3) General supplies
Services (level 3) General services
Example Commitment Item Hierarchy
This is a partial list of the general ledger accounts to which the Commitment Item “Supplies” has been assigned, which illustrates the "1 to many" concept from the previous slide.
FM
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• Funds Availability (FA) is a program included in FM that prevents a transaction from being posted to a FC or FC/Fund combinations if there is insufficient budget to cover the charge.
• The FA program checks against funds available for expenditure transactions only.
• Funds Availability checking occurs at the Commitment Item level where a budget is loaded.
FM
What is Funds Availability?
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The FA program begins by locating the FC or FC/Fund combinationidentified in the transaction.
FA then proceeds to locate the Commitment Item (CI) identified in the transaction.
FA begins to look for budget at that CI level; if budget is not found at that level, FA proceeds up subsequent levels until budget is finally located.
For all Research fund accounts, FA checking occurs at the CI where budget is loaded only (i.e. if no budget found at that level, it does not proceed up subsequent levels looking for budget; it will, instead, not allow the transaction to be posted.)
Once budget has been located, FA begins the actual Funds Availability Checking using the following calculation:
Funds Available = Budget – (Actual Expenditures + Commitments)FM
How The Funds Availability Program Works
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Typically, for Research funds, the CI chosen to hold budget is where the spending restriction is required. The lower the level in the CI hierarchy the more restrictive.
Note that “SUPPL-S” has no funds available, however TRAVEL-S has $1,500.00. An expense posting for supplies will be rejected even though there is still FA in the overall account.
Using CI To Restrict Spending - Restrictive
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Budget can be loaded at the EXPENSE-S level which allows all of the account budget to be available for spending irrespective of what type of expense is being posted. This is typically the case for Operating and Ancillary Funds Centers.
Using CI To Restrict Spending – Less Restrictive
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Assume an expense posting to G/L account 825000 (CI = SUPPLIES)
1. Funds availability checking first occurs at the CI level SUPPLIES.
2. If no budget is found at this level, funds availability checking moves up one level to SUPPL-S.
3. If no budget is found at SUPPL-S funds availability checking moves up another level to EXPENSE-S.
3.
2.
1.
Where Funds Availability is Checked
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Funds Center FC Name Fund Sponsor Commitment
Item Budget Amount
100186 Med: General EXPENSE-S 1,000,000.00
100186 Med: General 409328 Ontario Art Council EXPENSE-S 30,000.00
200048 Dr. Baker EXPENSE-S 40,000.00
200048 Dr. Baker EXP-UTFA 5,500.00
200048 Dr. Baker 481482 Health Canada EXPENSE-S 35,000.00
200048 Dr. Baker 418215
Canadian Health Services
Research Foundation
COMPENS-SSUPPL-S
TRAVEL-SSPECIAL1
12,000.002,000.00
44,000.001,900.00
Example of different types of funding sources by:Funds Center, FC/Fund combinations or Commitment Item
Generally speaking, CI’s default from G/L accounts used in transactions; examples of CI’s that must manually be changed to access $, are shown under the Commitment Item column in BOLD.
OPERATING = RESTRICTED =FM
Funds Management (FM)
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Controlling (CO)• CO codes for Cost Centers or Internal Orders are used in every
transaction to identify which department or project is affected by a transaction.
• Cost Centers are structured in a hierarchy of Nodes and Groups that resemble the Parent and Subordinate structure in Funds Management.
• CO allows the planning of revenue and expense activity. This is similar to budgeting in FM but has no spending control feature.
Cost Center Internal Order
Brief description a five or six digit number that represents the organizational unit or program that initiated a financial transaction
a six digit number that can also represent an organizational unit or program that initiated a financial transaction
Periodic Reporting based on the fiscal year (May 1 to April 30) any start or end date, annual or "life to date"
Hierarchy grouped to reflect the organizational structure at UofT
no hierarchy of its own, is linked to an organizational unit through its link to a Cost Center
Planning fiscal year basis fiscal year basis or overall
CO
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Using Cost Centers to Reflect the Organizational Structure
• In order to facilitate reporting, Cost Centers are grouped using CC Nodes and CC Groups.
• CC Nodes are organized to reflect the organizational structure at UofT (similar to FM hierarchy).
• CC Groups are assigned to CC Nodes and allow an organizational unit to organize its Cost Centers in the most effective manner to satisfy departmental planning and reporting requirements.
CO
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Operational hierarchy at UofT as reflected in the CO module
The Cost Center hierarchy is organized according to reporting and planning requirements. This facilitates the planning part of the budget process and allows for reporting by cost center, CC group or CC node.
Cost Center Group
Cost Center Node
Individual CostCenters
As in the Funds Center hierarchy, the Divisions/ Departments are located within the main operating portfolios.
CO
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Internal Orders (IO)
• IOs have no hierarchy of their own so they must belong to a Cost Center in order to be linked to the organizational structure
• IOs may hold planning data (the basis for budgets)
CO
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Internal Orders are linked to the organizational structure through their link to a Cost Center.
CO
Linking of Internal Orders to Organizational Hierarchy
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• In FIS, Cost Elements mirror G/L accounts, in fact, they have the same account number.
• Cost Elements exist for revenue and expense items only.
• Cost Elements are grouped into similar Cost Element Groups which resemble the CI hierarchy.
• Planning is done at the Cost Element level enabling management reports to be run that compare the planned and actual expenses at a detailed level.
Cost Elements (CE)
CO
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Cost ElementsCost Elements are categorized into Revenue and Expense categories. They are further subdivided into categories similar to the Commitment Item hierarchy.
Cost elements mirror the Revenue and Expense G/Ls (they have the identical name and number).
CO
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Demo 1 – Basic Navigation
• Review some navigation tools
• Creating the “favorites” folder
• Use of the hardcopy function
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The Hardcopy function allows you to get a printed copy of whatever data is on the current screen.
“Favorites” Folder; add or delete favorites by either “drag & drop”, or use the SAP buttons…if you use the “add” button, part of the menu path is saved as the description.
• First Page• Previous Page• Next Page• Last Page
This button allows you to Create a new session; in the event that you want to check something else in the system, but don’t want to exit out of the screen you are currently in.
Enter / Accept
Expandable Nodes
Demo 1.1 – Screen Navigation and Tools
Find NextFind First
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2.1 Finding Funds Centers and Funds 2.2 Finding Cost Centers and Internal Orders2.3 Finding General Ledger Accounts
Hint: If the account is unknown, you can use the Match Code Search tool to find it.
Demo 2 – Finding FIS Accounts
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Click here and enter your Funds Center code for information regarding a single Funds Center.
FM
Demo 2.1 – Finding FCs
Click here and enter your top level Funds Center to see your Funds Center hierarchy.
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Take the following path to the Display Funds and enter your Fundcode or perform a match code search to find your Fund.
Menu PathDisplay
FM
Demo 2.1 – Finding Funds
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Click here and enter your Cost Center code to see information about a single Cost Center.
Click here and enter your Cost Center group or node to see information about your Cost Center hierarchy.
Demo 2.2 – Finding Cost Centers
CO
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Demo 2.2 – Finding Internal Orders
Click here and enter an IO number or perform a Match Code Search. The information in the Master Data will reveal the Cost Center that is responsible for this IO.
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Demo 2.3 – Finding General Ledger Accounts
Click here and perform a Match Code Search to find a single G/L account.
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To find a G/L account that belongs to a particular Commitment Item (CI) click here and enter the name of the CI or use the Match Code Search to restrict your G/L account search to revenue and expense accounts only.
This option will also give examples of items that could fall under a specific G/L account.
Demo 2.3 – Finding General Ledger Accounts
FM/FI
Alternate menu path: Accounting >> Financial Accounting >> General Ledger >> Information System >> General Ledger: Report Selection >> Master Data >> G/L Account List >> ZRFFMFK02 – G/L Account list with additional text
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Click here and then click on the hierarchy button to see an expandable hierarchy of all Cost Elements.
Another option for finding G/L accounts is to search through the Cost Elements. They have the same account number as the G/L accounts!
Demo 2.3 – Finding General Ledger Accounts
CO/FI
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The Match Code Search tool icon will automatically appear in fields where you must select from a range of values (i.e. dates and account numbers).
The asterisk “*” acts as a “wildcard” when searching for certain values. For example, a search for all general ledger accounts with the word “supplies” in their description could be entered *sup*.
Placing an * before AND after the value, plus using the least amount of letters in the search, will capture the largest number results. It will also allow for abbreviations, and the singular and plural usage of the word.
FI
Using the Match Code Search Tool
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WEB Documentation
Reference Guides http://www.finance.utoronto.ca/fast/qrg.htm
Financial Forms http://www.finance.utoronto.ca/forms/processing.htm
Policy & Documentation http://www.finance.utoronto.ca/gtfm.htm
Training Materials & Course Summaries http://www.finance.utoronto.ca/fast/training.htm
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Web site: http://www.finance.utoronto.ca/fast.htmFIS Standard Curriculum Evaluation: http://www.finance.utoronto.ca/fast/training/fissceval.htm
Manager Lorena Gaudio [email protected]
Assistant Manager Chris Dimitriadis [email protected]
Business Analyst Darshan Harrinanan 978-4042 [email protected]
Business Analyst Suzanne Macintyre 946-3373 [email protected]
Business Analyst Wanda Prochazka 946-3291 [email protected]
Business Analyst Angela Namaro 978-4675 (Training Coordinator) [email protected]
F.A.S.T. Team Contacts
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http://www.utoronto.ca/ams/help.htmHelp is a facility for all four AMS subsystems: FIS, HRIS, DIS and RIS; as well as general AMS questions.
• Use the WEB form found at the above address• Complete all the information required on the form • Select the appropriate AMS module (i.e. FIS)• Click on the “Send it” button
The FIS mail box is monitored during the following hours:Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Need Help?
THEEND!