Aurora Finance 100 Introduction to Aurora Finance

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Aurora Finance 100Introduction to Aurora Finance
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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

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Agenda

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

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Aurora Finance Training Courses
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What is Aurora Finance?

• The Aurora Finance project replaced the
  Universitys 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

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System Overview
Telephone
Postage
Libraries
Bookstore
Purchasing
SIS
Accounts Payable
Accounts Receivable
Raisers Edge
FAST Reporting
FAST Budgeting
BANNER
G/L
Grants
Capital Equipment Inventory
VIP
Endowments
Special Functions
CORE
External Suppliers
EITS
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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 Optional 6 digits
• L Location Optional 6 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

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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.)

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FOAPAL Example

• 110000 312000 700101 1100
• General Deans Office Domestic Instruction
  
• Operating Agriculture Airfare
• Fund Academic

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Coding of Transactions
Coding of Transactions

• Often transactions will use the same FOP
  elements, and various Accounts

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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

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F O A P A L

• The main Account types that you will generally
  use are
• Name Data 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

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Helpful Hints
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Helpful Hints (continued)
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Aurora Finance Website
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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 Deans Office
  Agriculture will have access to Fund 110000
  (Operating Fund) and Org 312000 (Deans Office).
• (continued)

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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).

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Security Example

• If a person in the Deans 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).

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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.

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Budget Example
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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.
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Introduction to FAST

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

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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

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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

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Demonstration of FAST
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Support Resources

• Aurora resources
• Training - sessions
• - e-Learning
• Website online help
• Help desk 272-1555
• Security (John Dinoto 9754)

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Questions?