Welcome to your new financial reports in Cognos reflecting PeopleSoft 9.2 data!

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2 Welcome to your new financial reports in Cognos reflecting PeopleSoft 9.2 data! We have developed this basic guide to help introduce you to your new reports and provide you with some basic navigation and feature processes. As our reports evolve over time this document will be updated to reflect these changes. It is important to note that with the Chart of Accounts conversion to PeopleSoft 9.2 new fields were added to UNT Budget Chart Strings. These fields provide you with improved insights into a more granular level of financial data. While change always requires a period of adjustment we believe our new reports will meet your needs for basic functionality and insights into your accounts. CAUTION: Users should not expect old financial Cognos reports in 9.0 to align with new reports in 9.2. Work is required outside of the reports to align the two reporting environments. This user guide will: Help you know where to navigate to access the new reports Explain the steps required to opening up your specific Budget or Project report Highlight our new reports and explain basic functionality Identify next steps and where to turn for additional assistance Of special note. Please recall that this guide is anticipated for use by users at UNT Dallas, UNT Denton, UNT Health Science Center and UNT System. As such, the report headers are individually branded to specific UNT components. Images in this user guide may not reflect each System component but rather are intended to highlight the structure and function of each report. Note: For Phase 1 we recommend utilizing Mozilla Firefox as Cognos is optimized for this environment. Getting Started Assuming you already have access to Financial Reporting access in Cognos, simply navigate to your specific component portal. These include: my.unt.edu, my.hsc.unt.edu, or my.untdallas.edu If you experience difficulty you can also navigate to the Employee Self Service site at: PAGE 2

3 Once you login to your portal click on the Reports tab (this may appear in a different order in your environment) see red circle below. Once you click on this tab, you will see all of the reports that you have access to in your portal environment. Look for the section titled Financial Reporting which will have this icon at the top: Under this report heading you will see a sub-section for Budgets with the following icon at the top of the list of newly created Financial Reports: As part of Phase 1 deliverables for the new Financial Reports you will have several new reports delivered to you. These include a Department Budget Summary report PAGE 3

4 (with associated drill through reports to the Account and Transaction levels) and a separate Project Budget Summary report (with associated drill through reports to the Account and Transaction levels). These reports will appear on your pagelet as: New Department Budget Summary 9.0 Reports To Be Used for Historic Data Access. See cautionary note above for comparisons. New Project Budget Summary Report In order to make it easier for you to navigate to a specific department or budget we have developed a new search screen for you to navigate to your specific set of reports. Our goal was to help Budget Officers and Managers not have to remember a series of unique account numbers. When you click on the Department Budget Summary Report link you will see the following screen: PAGE 4

5 To navigate to your specific report (always start at the highest level of reporting, in this case the Department Budget Summary) you would do the following: STEP 1: Select your business unit by clicking on the appropriate radio button. STEP 3: Enter in a last name of the account holder, department name, or department code you want to see data. STEP 2: Choose Budget Year. Please know that 2016 is the only option at this time. See section later in this guide on Accessing legacy reports for pre-3/1/16 data. STEP 4: Click the Search button. After you click Search you will see all available departments which fit this description in the white box located under the *Choice: text indicated above. Please contact your Budget Office if you believe you should see a budget that does not appear in the results box. Prior to calling, it may be helpful to ensure you do not have a typo in your Keyword search field. Once your list is populated with available choices your portal will look like: (continued on next page) PAGE 5

6 STEP 5: Click on the appropriate department and it will turn blue STEP 6: Click on the Submit button Once you click Submit your report will launch. Please be aware that you will see a Your report is running pop-up item that looks like: Note: Please be aware that return speed of requested reports is predicated on many factors. We are aware that some reports have taken up to several minutes to generate. Your patience is appreciated during this time. Please know that users can select an alternative delivery method by clicking on the blue highlighted link noted above. Once your report is delivered your screen will change and you will see the Department Budget Summary Report. Please note that this is the same exact process to access the Project Budget Summary Reports. You can tell the difference by looking at the top of the screen: Department Budget Summary Report Selection Black Header Box with White Letters Project Budget Summary Report Selection Screen White Header Box with Black Letters (See page 13 for Project Budget Summary prompt page instructions) PAGE 6

7 UNDERSTANDING THE REPORT: BUDGET DEPARTMENT SUMMARY OVERVIEW SAMPLE DATA Account Holder Name Header includes key information. Clicking here jumps the user to the Department Transaction Report that shows every transaction across all of the Chart String. Clicking on Grand Total drills to all accounts in the Account Detail Summary Report. If you scroll down further you will see de-aggregated sections of Fund Category and Fund. Note that these amounts roll up to the amounts indicated in the primary summary table. This section functions in the same manner as the Department Budget Summary above (Note: this is SAMPLE data). If you click on a budget account (e.g. C5070 M&O) you would automatically drill to the Account Detail Summary Report. Of special note, we designed the drill down process to open in a new Tab in your browser at the request of our users. Note: If you can t drill down, then you may be having an Internet Explorer compatibility issue. Please use Internet Explorer (IE) version: CO. If you need assistance with this please contact your help desk or IT support. Mirroring the same drill down function noted above in the main Department Budget Summary report section if you click on a budget account (e.g. C5070 M&O) you would automatically drill to the Account Detail Summary Report (sample on next page). PAGE 7

8 UNDERSTANDING THE REPORTS: DEPARTMENT ACCOUNT DETAIL OVERVIEW SAMPLE DATA FOR ACCOUNT C5070 Account Holder Name Mirroring the same drill down function noted above in the main Department Budget Summary report section if you click on an individual Account code (e.g. D5301 M&O) you would automatically drill to the Department Transaction Detail When you click on an individual Account code you will see the new report open in a separate tab. The transaction detail report provides you with the most comprehensive view of all of your spending for a given account. Remember, if you clicked on Department Transaction Summary Link from the main Budget Department Summary Report you would jump to this page directly but see ALL transactions across ALL Accounts. UNDERSTANDING THE REPORTS: DEPARTMENT TRANSACTION DETAIL OVERVIEW SAMPLE DATA FOR ACCOUNT D5301 PAGE 8

9 TRANSACTION DETAIL REPORT The Transaction Detail Report is also assessable through the portal as a standalone report. This will enable you to access transaction level detail without going through the Department Budget Summary Report. The Department Transaction Detail report is located under the portal section titled Financial Reporting, in the sub-section for Budgets. Like the Budget Summary Report above, the Department Transaction Detail report allows you to search by a specific department, code, or manager s name. Likewise, to make it easier for you to search by a specific chart field(s) accounting period, account, fund category, fund, function, program, purpose, and site have been added as optional search parameters. To create a report begin by entering the appropriate Business Unit. Step1: Business Unit is the only mandatory Parameter. PAGE 9

10 Note, there are also searchable parameters. By clicking on the Options hyperlink below the Keywords search you may select search parameters to assist in locating a department, code, or manager s name. STEP 2: Choose a Budget Year. Please know that 2016 is the only option at this time. STEP 3: Enter in the last name of the account holder, department name, or department code you want to see data. You may use the Options hyperlink to assist your search. Results will show in Results box. By selecting the appropriate department in the Results box on the left (highlighted in blue below) and clicking Insert, your choice(s) will move to the Choice box on the right. To choose multiple departments hold down the Ctrl button on your keyboard while making the additional selections, see below. PAGE 10

11 STEP 4: Select the desired results and click Insert to move your department(s) to the Choice box on the right. After choosing the appropriate department(s) you may narrow your report results by specifying one or more chart field(s): accounting period, account, fund category, fund, function, program, purpose, and site (this is optional). STEP 5: Select chart field(s) this is optional: Account, Fund Category, Fund, Function, Program, Purpose, and Site. PAGE 11

12 The format option is new. It is strictly optional. The option allows the user to select the report to be returned in various formats (i.e., PDF, EXCEL 2007 and Delimited text (CSV)). If you re unsure about the new Chart Fields, select My FoaPs Crosswalk Look up at the bottom of the prompt page to assist you. Once done with your selections click on the Submit button at the bottom of the page to view your report. PAGE 12

13 UNDERSTANDING THE OPERATIONAL DEFINITIONS FOR THE NEW CHART STRING APPEARING ON THE TRANSACTION DETAIL REPORTS: CODE ITEM LABEL ITEM DEFINITION A Department Defines academic areas, research units, or administrative offices with an appointed manager that have programmatic, operational, fiscal and/or budgetary responsibility for a specific set of activities and projects/grants. Corresponds to the organizational structure identified by each campus. Forms the basis for the university's budgets. B Project Used for activities that are temporary in duration and for which revenues and expenditures may be accumulated over more than one fiscal year. Must have defined start and end dates that may or may not correspond to a fiscal year. C Fund Category Used to classify resources according to uses and/or regulations, restrictions or limitations on the uses in compliance with the financial reporting requirements of GASB and NACUBO. Includes separate funds for unrestricted operating, auxiliary, designated operating, unrestricted non-operating, restricted expendable (operating & non-operating), etc. D Fund Identifies the fund source - used to segregate, control, and monitor resources to help ensure and demonstrate compliance with legal/administrative requirements. Represents the pot of money. E Account Type This denotes the type of account for revenue and expenses. F C-Level Account This is the roll up account for budget checking. G Account Captures the nature of financial transactions such as Revenues and Expenditures. Provides the detail breakdown for Balance Sheet and Revenue/Expenditure reporting and is the lowest level of detail required for campus-wide reporting. H Function Function designates the purpose of transactions to meet federal and other external reporting requirements related to the functional classification of expenses. I Program Defines a set of ongoing general activities for which financial activity needs to be tracked. Unlike a Project, does not have to have a start and end date. It is typically an ongoing effort. Used to track those activities deemed to be a Program based on reporting needs and/or campus policy. J Purpose Identifies activities or events directed towards the accomplishment of a set of objectives (e.g. conference, workshop, event, program). The identifier is used to track management information across all other boundaries, including department and fund. K Site Site is the physical location at which a transaction is occurring. L A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S PC Business Unit Categorization of the type and component of the project contained in the project chartfield. There are four types of PC Business Units: DISC - Discretionary, FCAP - Capital Projects, GRCT - Grants, and INTP - Internal Projects. Each PC Business Unit has a prefix that reflects the Institution "DGRCT" - UNT Dallas, "HRGCT"- UNTHSC, "NGRCT"- UNT Denton, "SGRCT" System. M JournalId Unique ID that can be used for source referencing and internal auditing. N Description Journal or Line Description attached to each transaction. O JournalDate Date attached the each journal transaction; when the journal was entered. P Budget Identifies the fund source - used to segregate, control, and monitor resources to help ensure and demonstrate compliance with legal/administrative requirements. Represents the pot of money. Q Actual Amount of funds expended. Formerly referred to as expenditures or earned as revenue. R Pre Encumbrance S Encumbrance The funds that were held in pre encumbrance that have been spent per the terms of the pre encumbrance. Purchase Orders can be included as a form of encumbrance. The funds held in reserve that an area intends to expend at some point in the future. Requisitions can be included as a form of pre encumbrance. PAGE 13

14 The Department Transaction Detail Report will return the following format: There is a new column named: RQ/PO/VO ID#, which stands for Requisition number, Purchase Order number or Voucher Order number. Click on the corresponding number highlighted in the RQ/PO/VO column. The drill through will take you to the EPro Detail Transaction Report In the next example of Purchase Order ; there is a link connecting to a requisition, purchase order and voucher id behind the transaction. (Below is the drill through) PAGE 14

15 Please note that not all vouchers will have a purchase order or requisition associated with it. Below is an example of a voucher with actual expenses and no corresponding requisition or purchase order: Also, be aware that some transactions may have multiple vouchers or voucher lines. PAGE 15

16 To navigate to your specific report (start at the highest level of reporting, in this case the Project Budget Summary) do the following: Step 2: Enter in a Project, Code or Manager s name. Step 3: Click the Search button. After clicking Search you will see all available projects that fit your description in the white box located under *Choice: indicated above. PAGE 16

17 For externally sponsored projects, indirect cost (IDC) is shown separately from the sponsor direct funds. To identify the available (unspent) balance, refer to the sponsor direct section only. Total award amount, which is also reflected at the top of the report, is a combination of sponsor direct budget and IDC budget. The IDC budget is not available for spending by the Principal Investigator. Cognos reports include discretionary amounts. Exporting Data from Cognos Reports to an External Document The new Cognos reports are easily exported to other formats for further analysis or distribution. Note: In order to export data you MUST turn OFF the pop-up function in your browser. Step 1: Click on the drop down arrow next to the icon. Step 3: Choose the format you want the data exported to. We recommend that you use the Format. Step 2: You will see this next list of choices. Click on and you will see four Excel options. A Special Design Note About Tabs An improved environment to see the drill down reports has been created. We designed the new system to open each drill down report as a new tab. This improvement enables report viewers to easily jump between choices to track an expenditure through the various levels of drill through. As an added benefit to users, this approach also allows you to not have to re-run prior reports. This design feature is previewed below. PAGE 17

18 Special Considerations and Sources for Help Users should be aware of the following considerations and known conditions within the Cognos reporting environment. We present these as part of this guide to heighten awareness amongst our community for these enhancements. It is important to note that with the transition to the 9.2 environment there are numerous enhancements to the current reporting structure. It is important to understand this as it relates to reporting. Please familiarize yourself with the chart on page 9 of this document. We have prioritized display on expense. As revenue is currently being validated, users will eventually see revenue data added to the next phases of this report. This will be a fluid process. If you manage institutionally funded scholarships, the new report structure provides you a chance to see all of these items in one place. We anticipate this being a very positive outcome of this transition. The new PeopleSoft v9.2 Chart of Accounts has similar categorizations with different nomenclature. When viewing expenses, users will notice a category called Payroll Related Costs which is the new term for Fringe Benefits. This category will include expenses for retirement plans (TRS and ORP), medical insurance, payroll taxes, worker s compensation and unemployment, and other related payroll expenses. These costs will be automatically added to your accounts as costs are incurred. A special note on exporting data. Please recall that these data are transactional in nature. Reports update every evening through an automatic ETL process. Transactions posted to the PeopleSoft 9.2 system will appear the next business day. For specific questions related to budget structures, transactions, fund balances, transfers, and/or any financial related matter please contact your component budget function. For specific questions related to the report functionality, environment, or performance please contact the Data, Analytics, and Institutional Research team. PAGE 18

19 Until future webpages are built to address training and specific Cognos related issues, a special website has been created off of the main Financial Improvement Transition webpage to help users with resources and updates related to reporting. The site includes contact information to help assist with questions about either the new Chart of Accounts or the reports. Link to Cognos Reporting Webpage: Version History v.10/20/16 PAGE 19