General Ledger

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General Ledger

• Business Case Review

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Journal Mover

• OVERVIEW This Journal Mover engine would
  dramatically simplify the process to perform a
  bulk reclass as the user could simply search and
  select the lines to reclass and enter the reclass
  destination.  The engine would create all of the
  necessary debits and credits.  This process would
  be easier than creating a traditional Journal
  Entry via the delivered Journal Entry pages.
  There are several areas where this process would
  solve existing problems
• A lot of the data movement/reclass needs today
  result from Grant transactions that need to be
  reclassified due to (1) Fund Codes corrections
  (2) cost transfers (3) cost sharing
• Grant Out of Bounds Corrections this is another
  type of correction entry that originates due to
  transactions attempting to charge a grant after
  the allowable project close window.
• Details of current reclassification or correction
  entries are currently lost and are therefore not
  easily traceable in the data warehouse reporting.

RECOMMENDATION Create a new custom Journal
application that has the ability to move/reclass
Journal Lines using the transaction level detail
from All Trans query results as the data source.
 All Trans contains details from certain
accounting line tables all pulled together into
one location with a one-day lag. Transaction
level details including Vendor, Invoice, and
Payment information from All Trans are necessary
for the user to easily identify the transactions
to reclass plus GL only holds summarized data
from the accounting tables due to Journal
Generation process. The tool should allow a User
to  (1) search for transactions that are
candidates to move/reclass (2) have the ability
to select specific lines to move/reclass
(3) the ability to enter the reclass SpeedType loc
ation.   
Owners Owners
Overall Process Policy Change Owners Belva White, Kerry Peluso
Module Owners David Giles
Project Work Owners David Giles
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Journal Mover
Impacts Impacts Impacts
People Module Support
People Central Administration Grants Administration would be able to more efficiently review cost transfers and adjustments due to the detail included in the proposed entry.
People Campus Users The engine would create all of the necessary debits and credits so accounting backgrounds for end users would be less than required for a regular journal entry.
Process Module Support Allows combo rules to be bypassed without turning them off system wide.
Process Central Administration Allows for the correction of journals using an invalid chartfield string.
Process Campus Users Simplify the process to perform a bulk reclass as the user could simply search and select the lines to reclass and enter the reclass destination.
System Module Support Eliminates the need for technical assistance for each GOOB journal.
System Central Administration  
System Campus Users Allows campus users the ability to move transaction lines at the detail level instead of the summarized level.
Training Module Support
Training Central Administration
Training Campus Users
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Journal Entry Engine
OVERVIEW Emory has a significant number (30-40)
of external systems that must send financial
entries to the Compass/PeopleSoft General Ledger
(GL). The process to post these entries is known
as the Journal Sweeper/Journal Entry Engine.   An
underlying assumption was built into
the original Journal Entry Engine (JEE) process
that all entries must post somewhere.  This
design assumption led to a larger
than anticipated downstream cleanup effort that
is more complex than expected and that also came
along with unintended negative consequences.
After living with the JEE over the last five
years, we are proposing a series of changes based
upon lessons learned to remedy some of the common
issues that currently complicate the process to
post these 3rd party entries and complicate the
Month End Close process.  The proposed
change removes the assumption that all entries
must immediately post somewhere as part of the
JEE.   Rather than posting immediately, the
existence within the file of any of the following
conditions would result in that line being
removed from the file and the file being
re-balanced using a default ChartField
combination defined based upon Source (1)
invalid Account value (2) blank Account value 
(3) Any Journal line with a Project Status not
set to Open or with a Project Status not set
to Ended as compared with Current Date as opposed
to the Accounting Date in the source file (4)
Combo Edit errors. The line that is removed from
the file will be placed in a Hold table and a
reclass will be possible through an easy to use
page.  This reclass will result in
the automated clearing of the default ChartField
combination that was used to balance the original
file.
RECOMMENDATION Take the lessons learned over the
past five years and enhance the existing Journal
Entry Engine customization.  The process would
remain the same on the front end but as bad or
invalid lines are detected during processing they
would be removed and placed on a HOLD table. The
file would then be balanced using a default
ChartField combination defined for each Source. 
This would allow valid accounting lines to post
as intended but prevent invalid lines from
posting to suspense or using a default SmartKey fo
r accounting lines with project status
issues (which results the need for a GOOB).
Owners Owners
Overall Process Policy Change Owners Nancy Mears
Module Owners David Giles
Project Work Owners David Giles
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Journal Entry Engine
Impacts Impacts If Approved
People Module Support Dramatically improve current state correction/suspense process.
People Central Administration A change in roles as the function moves from decentralized to centralized.
People Campus Users Prevents the downstream issues with the data warehouse so reporting will be improved, which will help end users.
Process Module Support Dramatically improve current state correction/suspense process.
Process Central Administration (1) Prevents improper cost collection for Projects (2) Allows all valid lines to post as intended but prevents invalid lines from posting to incorrect chartfield strings.  (3) The 3rd party source that originates the file will not get 100 of recharge revenue until all lines post to proper ChartField string. This may provide an incentive for the 3rd party sources to provide error free files in the future, they will have a vested interest.
Process Campus Users Allows all valid lines to post as intended but prevents (1) Combo Edit errors from posting to a Suspense Account and  requiring a Suspense Correction (2) The need for a GOOB to reclass Project Status errors which result in the use of a default SmartKey
System Module Support Dramatically improve current state correction/suspense process.
System Central Administration Will streamline the correction process. Today not all GOOBs are corrected from the default SmartKey. There is no central oversight to monitor and ensure that a correction was made to reclass the entry from the default SmartKey.
System Campus Users Will lead to better data and reporting.
Training Central Administration Requires new business process to monitor and age items on the HOLD table. Please note  there is a desire to auto reclass items in the HOLD table if the item ages beyond a certain point, however, this is not yet defined.
Training Campus Users No training required or needed.