Q&A: Oracle Budget & COA Management Tool

• Please note that this workshop can only be understood after completing the LMS web-based training for Oracle Budget. If you do not complete the web-based training, this workshop will not make sense. Also note that this recording is a few months old and may contain information that is subject to change. Recorded Oracle Budget Workshop:

  • https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tUDvila_AXne_WB4DvqjEQsHW5oVAnAT/view?usp=drive_link 

• Updated reports, based on feedback from campus users, are now available or soon to be available in Oracle Budget:

Activity Summary Report (Expenses:) There are 3 versions of this report- Basic, Flex Detail, and Multiple Selection: Use this report to review your expense budget from the perspective of the activity dimension. This is a good report to see what funding is available in an activity. The sort is activity, function-program, fund, and budget category. There are options to view the Flex fields or to select multiple items on the activity dimension. On the multiple-selection option, you can select 6 different departments under 2 different Orgs and see a subtotal of the selected criteria. ​

Function Summary (Expenses): Use this report to see budget and actuals for an activity/fund combination. Selections for activity and fund can be made at any level of the hierarchy. Use this report to see a certain fund in your Org or Dept or to see a group of funds, unrestricted funds, restricted gift funds, or sales & service funds, or in your Org. The sort is activity, function-program, fund, and budget category and subtotaled on the function-program. By downloading this report into Excel, you can change the sorts and subtotals to meet your specific needs.​

Staffing Reports – in progress: These reports will compare the Workforce/BDP detail with the Perm Budget in Budget Execution to ensure that staffing is balanced.​

Flex1 Summary Report: Use this report to review your budget and actuals from the perspective of the Flex1 dimension. This is a good report to see all the Flex1 fields in your Org or Dept or to see all of the activity/fund combinations that have used a Flex1 field. The report is subtotaled by Flex1 but also shows all other COA dimensions. ​

Flex2 Faculty Non-Project Portfolio Report – in progress: This report was designed in the same layout as the PI Summary Report. A faculty member or their financial analyst can run this report to see the current balances of their non-project/C&G funding.​

Fund Summary (Revenue & Expenses): There are 3 versions of this report- Basic, Expandable, and Flex Detail: Use this report to review your budget and actuals from the perspective of the fund dimension. This is a good report to use for non-core funds like gifts, student fees, auxiliaries, and sales & services. There are subtotals for revenue and expense, so it is recommended to select an actual fund, but you can select a group of funds to download into Excel and do sorts and subtotals to accommodate your specific needs. The Expandable version only makes sense using the HTML format. ​

Deficit Analysis Report: There are 2 versions of this report- Basic and Flex Detail: These reports are out-of-the-box to review the deficit balances of overall revenue and expense combinations. This report should be very short.​

Variance Reports: There are 4 versions of this report- Expenses, Expenses with Flex, Revenue, and Expandable: These reports are out-of-the-box to display budget to actuals detail in order to resolve deficits with Oracle Budget budget transfers.  ​
 

Q: How do I get access to Oracle Budget or the COA Management Tool?
A: Speak with your SAA about whether you should have access to these systems. 

Q: In Oracle Budget, why do my User Variables look incorrect? How do I set up my User Preferences?
A: You must run the User Preferences from Home Page>Tasks>Planner One Time>Set User Preferences>Launch> OK. Do not worry about other options listed under Tasks. The User Variables are also configured randomly so do not worry about these as they may not match your expected fields.

Q: Do I need to budget for flex fields? 
A: Flex 2 fields need to be budgeted as soon as possible for accurate Faculty Reporting – start with this concept then tapper down to flex fields are not required for budgetary control or monthly financial reconciliations. For budgetary control, you do not need to have a budget in a Flex field. However, in other fields you should have a budget. Since campus wants to budget by flex fields, you need to put budget into flex fields so that you do not have a problem with deficits at year-end. You don’t have to have it set up in July but at some point, you have to transfer from default into the flex field. You need a fully qualified COA combination even if they are default codes. Don’t wait until the end of the year to allocate funding because we need to be able to do deficit analysis.  

Q: How do I cancel the process once initiated for a Control Budget Entry? 
A: Once you add a BC row in Budget Execution, you cannot remove the code. However, you can move the funds around and just leave the row blank.

Q: What happens when you do a zero $ budget adjustment with no flex 1 and flex 2? Does this still work? Or do you have to specify default flex 1 and 2?
A: You should be making adjustments to the default flexes. The NO FLEX nodes should have been for reporting purposes only, so they will be disabled in Oracle Budget and any values entered in no flexes will be merged to the default flexes. If you use a NO FLEX node, the adjustment should still flow correctly to the GL and the change will be done in Oracle Budget so that you see everything in one place.

Q: How do we navigate to the Budgeted Positions report in Oracle Budget (formerly Budgeted Positions in UCRFS/Applications/Staffing)? In addition, Staffing Position List Detail Report in Oracle Budget does not reflect provisions. Is there a way to access Staffing Provisions in Oracle? 
A: We have not yet deployed the Budget Distribution Page (BDP) in Path in Production to manage the positions.  We are waiting to finalize the new COA mapping in UCPath to load in an initial view of positions and then once we verify data we will provide access to the BDP page to individuals the CFAO authorizes. We will keep you posted but don't expect it until August or September.

Q: When creating a temp budget, does it go into effect immediately or do we have to wait overnight in order to reference it in other systems such as the position funding tool?
A: The Budget transfers to the GL nightly.

Q: I just went into Oracle to attempt to create my first PO and realized that none of the activity codes we established several weeks ago were approved.  They’re all still “in flight.”  What do I do?  
A: Your activity requests need to be approved first by your ORG approver. Then they will go to FP&A for secondary approval. Please check with your approver if your request is still In Flight.  If your approver is unable to see them in Oracle COA Management, then it is likely that the requests were submitted prior to your approver being assigned their respective role. In that case, you would need to recall the requests and submit them again. 

Q: What do I do if my department is missing in Flex1?   
A: When you initiate your request in COA Management, you can add the department (example: D012880000) as a child value to the Org (example: Org1400000), and then create the child Flex1 values below that new department node. Be sure to click the New Request button before trying to select the ‘Add Child’ or ‘Add Sibling’ options. 

Q: Has FP&A established Org Approver (CFAO-level) roles in EACS for the Deployment of Oracle COA Management? 
A: Yes, the org approver level is set up in EACS, but only FP&A can assign that role. 

 
Q: Can you please double check I’m listed as Org approver for my ORG?  I didn’t receive a notification for a recent request.  
A: Approvers should check the ‘Requests for my approval’ on the Home screen. This option is on the Activity tab in the left panel under where the name shows. If the approver does not see the pending request there, then either: 

1. There are no pending requests.   

2. They are not set up as an approver for that org and chart segment (Activity, Flex1). 

3. They were set up as an approver after the request was submitted. If this is the case, then the requestor should recall the request and re-submit it after the approver is set up in the system. 

EACS can also be checked to confirm approver and requestor setups. 

Q: What function should I use for my transactions? 
A: The conversion of budget data included a function clean-up. The administrative functions in Colleges/Schools used to be function 40, but it should be function 43 for example. Please run the Activity Summary in Oracle Budget to see the correct function to use for your transactions. 

Q: Are Perm budgets in Oracle Budget? 
A: Perm budgets as of 5/31 converted to Oracle Budget, but the balances associated with those funds were not.  So if you did not have PERM budget in a certain activity that is an appropriate combination of values, the current workaround is to do a Temp Adjustment moving $1 from BC75 to another BC to process transactions (like a Zero$ BEA).  But note this should only be done if the COA combination is a valid and appropriate one where budget is expected.  Final 6/30 Perm Budgets will be loaded by 7/24 and Final Rollover (CFD) Balances will be loaded in mid-August. 

Q: Can funds be moved by a CFAO without approval?  
A: Yes. Using Budget Execution to move budget does not require any system approvals. 

Q: Can a Budget Request be created and approved by the same person?  
A: Budget Requests require approvals in the system.  However, a person with CFAO or CBO access can create a request and approve it themselves. 

Q: For a CFAO Budget Request approval, does it need to be done by a CFAO or might it have another designated approver?  
A: If you have the CFAO (power user access) you can approve requests whether you are the true CFAO or not. 

Q: What report can I pull to see the actual adjustments posted? Also, does anyone in our org receive PAN equivalents?
A: You can see the adjustments in the top form on the Control Budget Adjustment form (Financials / Budget Execution / Control Budget and Rollover tab (2^nd vertical icon on the left) / Control Budget Adjustment (1^st tab on the left for the horizontal tabs at the bottom).  This screen shows two forms.  The form at the top shows the adjustment amount. The form at the bottom shows the current budget.  You scroll all the way to the right on that one and see the total Balance.

Currently, the Activity Summary report also shows the budget balances. Please note that Oracle Budget is not a transactional system, so you will not see individual transactions for the adjustments. The new budget amounts will show on the forms and reports. There are no PAN equivalents in this system.

Q: How do I request new Flex2 values? 
A: To request new Flex2 values for graduate students or other academic employees outside of the ladder-rank faculty titles codes (i.e. Emeriti or researchers) email the request to your CFAO including the following information: 

1. First and last name 

2. NetID 

3. Employee ID (orther academics) or Student ID (graduate students) 

4. Non-C&G fund sources that require reporting with the Flex2 value 

Flex 2 is updated by the Central Budget Office once a month with payroll data for the title codes in the attached file (or below screenshot).  

Q: If I am having access issues with Oracle Budget or unsure of different roles, what should I do?
A: Refer to the below guidance for information on provisioning in EACS and the different roles in Oracle Budget.