Aurora Finance 100 Introduction to Aurora Finance

1. Aurora Finance 100Introduction to Aurora Finance

2. Objectives At the end of this training session, you will be able to: • Identify the elements of the new financial information system, including Banner, FAST, and the Chart of Accounts • Use basic security rules • Use budget checking rules • Describe the main elements of the FAST finance reporting tool

3. Agenda • Introduction • System Overview • Aurora Chart of Accounts - FOAP(AL) • Security Setup • Budget Checking • FAST Demonstration

4. 100 Introto Auroraand FAST 200 Hands-OnFAST Reporting 201 Banner Navigation 202 JE’s IDC’s BA’s 301 A/R Invoicing Aurora Finance Training Courses

5. What is Aurora Finance? The Aurora Finance project replaced the University’s previous mainframe accounting system (IMS) with a new financial information management system. It includes: • General Ledger • Accounts Receivable and Billing System • Purchasing/Payables • Budget Striking and Maintenance (FAST) • I.D. Charges • Capital Equipment Inventory System

6. System Overview Telephone Postage Libraries Bookstore Purchasing SIS Accounts Payable Accounts Receivable Raiser’s Edge FAST Reporting FAST Budgeting BANNER G/L Grants Capital Equipment Inventory VIP Endowments Special Functions CORE External Suppliers EITS

7. How are budget codes constructed? • Budget codes consist of six elements commonly referred to as a FOAP(AL). The acronym is broken down as follows: F Fund Required 6 digits O Organization Required 6 digits A Account Required 6 digits P Program Required 4 digits A Activity Optional6 digits L Location Optional6 digits • Normally 22 characters long, up to a maximum of 34 • Codes are no longer hard coded; every element is variable, and can be used to create an infinite number of possibilities

8. FOAP: What is it? Fund= SOURCE of income (Operating, Research, Grants, Endowment, etc.) Organization= WHO spent the money (Faculty, Admin Unit, Dept., etc.) Account =WHAT the money was spent on (expenditures: supplies, travel, etc.) **also for reporting income** Program =PURPOSE of the expense or revenue (Academic, Administration, Research, Revenue, etc.)

9. FOAPAL Example 110000 – 312000 – 700101 – 1100 General Dean’s Office Domestic Instruction Operating Agriculture Airfare Fund Academic

10. Coding of Transactions Coding of Transactions • Often transactions will use the same FOP elements, and various Accounts

11. F O A P A L Account • Identifies WHAT the money was spent on, the type of revenue, and also used to define assets and liabilities. In the IMS system, this was typically the “Expense/Object Code”. • There are 8 Account types: • Assets • Liabilities • Control Accounts (never used for data entry) • Fund Balance • Revenue • Salaries, Benefits & Pay Levy • Expenditures • Fund Transfers

12. F O A P A L The main Account types that you will generally use are: NameData Entry Prefix Revenue 5 Salaries & Benefits 6 Non Salary Expenses 7 • 4 levels in the Account hierarchy • Data entry level (salaries, benefits & pay levy Accounts only) = 5 digits • Data entry level (all other Aurora Accounts) = 6 digits

13. Helpful Hints

14. Helpful Hints (continued)

15. Aurora Finance Website

16. Security in Aurora Finance • Security is based on what forms and processes a user can access, as well as what Funds and Orgs they are responsible for. Each user will be authorized to access specific Funds or Organizations. • For example: a person who needs Dean’s Office Agriculture will have access to Fund 110000 (Operating Fund) and Org 312000 (Dean’s Office). (continued)

17. Security in Aurora Finance, continued • A person can have both signing and posting capability or just query access. • FAST Budgeting and FAST Reporting use the same security setup as the Banner system. • Aurora does not provide security over the Account element. Hence any user can view and post to all Accounts (including salaries).

18. Security Example If a person in the Dean’s Office Agriculture needs view and posting access, they will get: Fund Org View 110000 312000 Posting 110000 312000 If the same person also needs the same access to a Grant in Food Science Agriculture, the following would be added: Fund Org View 302550 312500 Posting 302550 312500 However, what they will end up with is the following: Fund Org View/post 110000 312000 302550 312500 110000 312500 Because this person originally had view access to Fund 110000 (Operating), when they received access to Fund 302550 for the Research Fund, they also received access to the Operating Fund for Food Science (Org 312500).

19. Budget Checking • Budget checking occurs for the combined FOP. • “Account” is ignored, which allows you to be overspent in one Account (e.g. Printing) and under spent in another (e.g. Telephone, Equipment Rental) and still allow the transaction to be posted. • Only when the total FOP is overspent will a transaction be denied posting.

20. Budget Example

21. Budget Example, continued Note: Total Wages are overspent - A Budget Adjustment should be done to cover this. Although Account Type 7M is overspent, the transaction was allowed to continue as the total FOP is under spent.

22. Introduction to FAST • FAST - What is it? • Key features • How to access FAST • FAST Functionality • Demonstration of FAST

23. FAST – What is it? • F.A.S.T. = Financial Administration Support Tool (Millennium Computer Systems) • A dynamic, web-based budgeting and reporting tool • Downloads data from Banner, stores it in the FAST database, and presents financial information in an easy-to-read and understandable format • Replaces IMS screen FRGLA

24. Key Features of FAST • Web based • Point and click navigation • Drill down to transaction level detail • Comparative and date range views of data • Filter on any combination of FOAPAL elements • Report on any period or date range • Export to Microsoft Excel

25. Demonstration of FAST

26. Support Resources • Aurora resources: • Training - sessions - e-Learning • Website – online help • Help desk – 272-1555 • Security – (John Dinoto – 9754)

27. Questions?