Introduction to Advantage

Introduction to Advantage Advantage Financial System

Advantage Financial System Advantage is ASU’s Financial System Financial transactions are recorded into Advantage Account balances and transaction tables are available in Advantage

Accounting Structure The Account Structure at ASU consists of: Fund Agency Organization (Org) Suborganization (Suborg)

Funds A Fund identifies a group of accounts This field is not entered on many documents as Advantage provides it based on Agency/Org

Agency/Org An Agency can identify the Department and Funding Source: Agencies ending in letters indicate Sponsored funding (grants) Agencies ending in numbers indicate state or local funding

Agency/Org An Org can identify the Campus and purpose of the Account A Suborg is optional and can be used to provide further detail on an Org

Agency/Org Agency Ending In: 1 = State Fund 2 = Auxiliary 4 = Summer Sessions 5 = Local Unrestricted 6 = Plant Funds 7 = Agency Accounts 8 = Endowments 9 = Restricted Funds Org Beginning With: 0 = Sponsored 1 = Tempe Campus 2 = Tempe Campus 3 = Tempe Campus 4 = Downtown Campus 5 = West Campus 6 = Reserved Use 7 = Polytechnic Campus 8 = Capital Replacement 9 = Specialized Accounts

Agency/Org TR5 1008 03 Music - Local Agency: TR5 Fine Arts School of Music Org: 1008 Tempe Campus Suborg: 03 Advertising

Agency/Org - Sponsored BTS 0033 Collaborative Research: Ecosys Agency: BTS RS: Institute of Sustainability Org: 0033

Accounting Structure The Account Structure at ASU consists of: Fund Agency Org A transaction within Advantage will require: Object Subobject

Object/Subobject The Object code identifies the category of expenditure or revenue The Subobject code is used with an Object code to further specify the expenditure or revenue type

Object/Subobject 7310 7310 is the Object code for Services 7310 28 The Subobject 28 combined with 7310 indicates Photocopy charges

Object/Subobject 7810 7810 is the Object code for Capital Equipment 7810 02 The Subobject 02 combined with 7810 indicates Software over $5,000

Introduction to Advantage Accessing Advantage

Accessing Advantage A combination of passwords is required to access Advantage: CICS– established by Computer Accounts and must be changed every 90 days Advantage ID – established by the Advantage Helpline and can be changed by user request

Accessing Advantage Remember to follow commonly used guidelines for passwords: Do not write down your passwords Do not use “common” passwords Do not share your passwords

Accessing Advantage Advantage Profiles determine the level of access a user has and what actions they can perform Common profiles include DAT1 – enter documents SCN1 – lookup and reports access MGR1 – enter and approve documents Some areas have specialized profiles

Accessing Advantage Profiles such as SCN1 and MGR1 can be assigned certain accounts for access as an Account Signer or Org Manager An Account Signer can approve documents on the account on behalf of the Org Manager An Org Manager is responsible for the account consistent with department, University, and state guidelines

Introduction to Advantage The Suspense File

Suspense File All documents that are started in Advantage are stored in the holding area called Suspense Documents that are fully accepted or deleted are removed in a nightly process

Suspense File Documents in Suspense are ordered by document type, agency, and document number

Suspense File The status and approval levels are shown for each document

Status Levels The status code indicates where a document is in the approval process ACCPT – accepted in Advantage SCHED – approved but not processed PEND# – waiting for approval REJCT – contains errors HELD – not ready for approvals

Approval Levels ASU uses three approval levels to process documents: Level 1 – Departmental Users and Signers Level 4 – Accounts Payable/Cashiering/ Accountants Level 5 – Accounting Managers Different levels of approval are required for different documents

Approval Levels The approval code on Suspense show which approvals are necessary using a series of Y, A, and 0 indicators A – approval required at that level Y – approval applied at that level 0 – approval not required at that level

Approval Levels Pending Level 1 approval Approval required at Levels 1 and 4

Approval Levels Pending Level 4 approval Approval applied at Level 1 Approval required at Level 4

Introduction to Advantage Approving Documents

Approving Documents All Advantage documents require approvals at one or more levels Different documents require different approvals The approval process consists of editing, approving, and processing a document

Approving Documents The Edit process checks for errors after the document has been entered Editing a document is done by hitting F7 or “ED” then Enter in the Function field A successful Edit will display the message “Ready for Approval”

Approving Documents Approval is applied by hitting F12 or “A+” then Enter in the Function field After final approval is applied, the document needs to be processed

Approving Documents Processing a document is done by hitting F8 or “R” then Enter in the Function field After a document is processed, it is accepted into Advantage No changes can be made to the document and all tables are updated

Unapproving Documents If approvals have been applied but the document has not been accepted, it may be changed or deleted All approvals must be removed in order to change or delete

Unapproving Documents Unapproving a document is done by typing “A-” then hitting Enter in the Function field Approvals must be removed by a user at that approval level Level 4 can be removed by someone with Level 4 approval authority

Deleting Documents Deleting documents will remove them from Suspense in the nightly process Once a document is deleted and removed from Suspense, it cannot be retrieved If the deletion was done in error, the document can be undeleted on the same day it was deleted

Deleting Documents To delete a document, hit F9 or “D” then Enter in the Function field To undelete a document, type “UD” then Enter in the function field

Introduction to Advantage