Navision-Serenic User Guide 20051205

Transcription

Missouri Botanical Garden & Affiliated Companies
-- Version 1.4.2 --
Serenic Navigator User Guide
October 2005
October 2005
File: User Guide 20051205
Page 1 of 185
Last printed 2/8/2008 9:14 AM
-- Version 1.4.2 --
October 2005
Document Distribution
Name
Organization / Role
Version Received
Dianne Schmitt
MBG – Grant Administrator
1.3.0, 1.4.1, 1.4.2
Chuck Miller
MBG – CIO
1.3.0, 1.4.0
Cheryl Mill
MBG – Controller’s Office
1.3.0, 1.4.1
Michael Olson
MBG – Controller
1.3.0
Scott Brennan
Consultant – ICS Advantage
1.3.0
Paul Bruges
1.3.0, 1.4.0, 1.4.1, 1.4.2
Bill Dale
MBG – IT Department
1.3.0, 1.4.0, 1.4.1
Sharon Harnes
1.3.0
Liz Barker
1.3.0
Linda Settles
1.3.0
Debbie Hayes
1.3.0, 1.4.0, 1.4.2
Bob Magill
MBG – Research
1.3.0
Paul Brockmann
MBG – General Services
1.3.0, 1.4.2
Jan Simons
MBG – Retail
1.4.0
Alzana Jakupovic
MBG – Retail
1.4.0, 1.4.2
Olga Martha Montiel
MBG – Center for Conservation & Sus. Devl.
1.4.0
Peggy Lents
MBG – Communications
1.4.0
Maggie Matthews
1.4.0
Marilyn Muegge
1.4.0
Joe Norton
MBG – Butterfly House
1.4.1, 1.4.2
Ellen Painter
1.4.1
Peggy Drackert
1.4.1
Shannon Smith
MBG – Horticulture
1.4.1
Jim Cocos
1.4.1, 1.4.2
Jo Byrne
1.4.1, 1.4.2
Lisa Francis
1.4.1, 1.4.2
Luther Williams
MBG – Education
1.4.1
Diane Bauer
MBG – Education
1.4.1
Rose Lauman
MBG – HRM
1.4.1
Deb Frank
MBG – EarthWays Center
1.4.1
Suzanne Gregory
MBG – EarthWays Center
1.4.1, 1.4.2
John Behrer
MBG – Shaw Nature Reserve
1.4.1
Helen McCallie
MBG – Shaw Nature Reserve
1.4.1
Patty Arnold
MBG – Membership & Development
1.4.1
Sharon Mertzluff
1.4.1
Jessica Smith
1.4.1
Pete Lowry
MBG – Research
1.4.1
Denise Hufford
1.4.2
Nancy Lissant
1.4.2
Emma Williams
1.4.2
Jackie Maciekowicz
1.4.2
Susan Ciluffo
1.4.2
Page 2 of 185
-- Version 1.4.2 --
October 2005
Name
Organization / Role
Version Received
Kevin Mattingly
1.4.2
Ramon Cusi
1.4.2
Pat Scott
1.4.2
Doug Hill
1.4.2
Lucy Hubert
1.4.2
Victoria Hollowell
MBG – MBG Press
1.4.2
Kathy Basso
MBG – Director’s Office
1.4.2
Barb Addelson
MBG – Education
1.4.2
Carol Baumann
MBG – Education
1.4.2
Adele Niblack
MBG – MBG Press
1.4.2
Jim Solomon
MBG – Research
1.4.2
Gary Mackey
MBG – Education
1.4.2
Kathryn Kennedy
CPC
1.4.2
Lydia Toth
MBG – Education
1.4.2
Sandy Lopez
MBG – Research
1.4.2
Doug Holland
MBG – Research
1.4.2
Mary Stiffler
MBG – Research
1.4.2
Monica Anderson
MBG – MBG Press
1.4.2
Chris Parmeter
MBG – HRM
1.4.2
Lynn Kerkemeyer
1.4.2
Phillip Egart
1.4.2
Joyce Gorrell
MBG – EarthWays
1.4.2
Barbara Widmer
1.4.2
Viktoria Krahling
1.4.2
Kathy Corey
MBG – HRM
1.4.2
Maria Bradford
CPC
1.4.2
Tracy Breckenridge
MBG – HRM
1.4.2
Chris Freeland
1.4.2
Jim Kalkbrenner
1.4.2
Document Change Record
Date
Author
Version
Reason for Change
9/10/04
Bill Dale
1.0
Draft for Project Reporting
10/20/04
Bill Dale
1.1
Updated draft for Project Reporting & Security
12/29/04
Bill Dale
1.2
Inclusion of Purchase – to – Pay functionality
02/04/05
Bill Dale
1.3.0
Updated Security section
02/28/05
Bill Dale
1.3.1
Added Running of 1099 documents text & ZUP file delete
05/03/05
Bill Dale
1.4.0
Added GL Reporting, User Setup examples, PTP changes
06/08/05
Bill Dale
1.4.1
Minor edits and additions (including Encumbrance graphic)
10/07/05
Bill Dale
1.4.2
Additional Appendix material and login material
Page 3 of 185
-- Version 1.4.2 --
October 2005
Table of Contents
Background ................................................................................................................... 7
Encumbrance Accounting............................................................................................ 8
1.
System............................................................................................................... 10
1.1.
Overview ......................................................................................................................... 10
1.2.
Overview – System Diagram........................................................................................... 11
1.3.
Security ........................................................................................................................... 12
1.3.1. Security – Administration..................................................................................... 12
1.3.2. Security & Controls – Operational Controls......................................................... 21
1.3.3. Security – Users .................................................................................................. 21
1.3.4. Security – Data Access ....................................................................................... 34
1.4.
Miscellaneous System / Setup “How To …”.................................................................... 42
1.4.1. Assign a default printer to a report ...................................................................... 42
1.4.2. Add a newly developed report to a Menu ............................................................ 43
2.
General Ledger ................................................................................................. 44
2.1.
Setup............................................................................................................................... 44
2.2.
Chart of Accounts............................................................................................................ 44
2.3.
Bank Accounts ................................................................................................................ 44
2.4.
Funds .............................................................................................................................. 44
2.5.
Budget Planning.............................................................................................................. 44
2.6.
Account Schedules ......................................................................................................... 44
2.7.
General Journals............................................................................................................. 44
2.8.
Monthly Closing Process................................................................................................. 44
2.9.
General Ledger Reports.................................................................................................. 44
2.9.1. Custom Trial Balance w/ Budget report............................................................... 45
2.9.2. Custom Trial Balance Detail and Summary reports ............................................ 48
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2.9.3. Custom Trial Balance Detail with Payroll report .................................................. 52
2.10.
Miscellaneous GL “How To …” ....................................................................................... 52
2.10.1. Change the work date ......................................................................................... 52
3.
Projects ............................................................................................................. 54
3.1.
Project Setup................................................................................................................... 54
3.1.1. Project Card ........................................................................................................ 54
3.1.2. Project Validation Business Rule Entry ............................................................... 54
3.1.3. Project Budget Business Rule Entry.................................................................... 54
3.1.4. Project Report Distribution .................................................................................. 54
3.2.
Project Reports ............................................................................................................... 55
3.2.1. Overview ............................................................................................................. 55
3.2.2. Generating Reports – Client/Server Application.................................................. 56
3.2.3. Generating Reports – Web-based....................................................................... 64
3.2.4. Reading / Using Project Reports ......................................................................... 65
4.
Purchases & Payables ..................................................................................... 92
4.1.
Setup............................................................................................................................... 93
4.1.1. User Setup .......................................................................................................... 93
4.1.2. Vendor View Setup.............................................................................................. 96
4.1.3. User Group Code Business Rule Setup ............................................................ 103
4.1.4. Workflow Setup ................................................................................................. 103
4.1.5. Approval Business Rule Setup .......................................................................... 106
4.1.6. Budget Validation Business Rule Setup ............................................................ 109
4.2.
Vendor Management..................................................................................................... 113
4.2.1. Vendor Setup .................................................................................................... 113
4.2.2. Vendor View Management ................................................................................ 113
4.2.3. Vendor Invoice Status Lookup .......................................................................... 114
4.2.4. Setting up and Printing 1099 Documents .......................................................... 119
4.3.
Item Management ......................................................................................................... 124
4.4.
Requisitioning Process.................................................................................................. 124
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4.5.
Purchasing Process ...................................................................................................... 124
4.5.1. Creating a Purchase Order – “The Basics” ....................................................... 126
4.5.2. Creating a Purchase Order – “In Detail” ............................................................ 128
4.5.3. Approval Processing – “The Basics” ................................................................. 132
4.5.4. Approval Processing – “In Detail” ...................................................................... 137
4.6.
Receiving Process ........................................................................................................ 138
4.6.1. Item Receiving – “The Basics” .......................................................................... 138
4.6.2. Item Receiving – “The Details” .......................................................................... 143
4.6.3. Invoice Receiving .............................................................................................. 143
4.7.
Accounts Payable Process ........................................................................................... 152
4.7.1. Creating an Invoice Batch ................................................................................. 152
4.7.2. Entering an Invoice into a batch – with no prior Serenic data ........................... 152
4.7.3. Entering an Invoice into a batch – with prior Serenic data ................................ 152
4.8.
Payment Process .......................................................................................................... 157
4.9.
Aging Status.................................................................................................................. 157
4.9.1. Aging Status – “The Basics”.............................................................................. 157
4.9.2. Aging Status – “The Details” ............................................................................. 160
4.10.
Miscellaneous Purchases & Payables “How To …” .......................................... 162
4.10.1. Add a “Buy-From” address to a Vendor............................................................. 162
5.
Sales & Receivables....................................................................................... 166
6.
Fixed Assets ................................................................................................... 167
7.
Appendix ......................................................................................................... 168
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-- Version 1.4.2 --
October 2005
Background
In August 2004, the Missouri Botanical Garden replaced their accounting software with the Serenic
Navigator software. The legacy accounting application was Microsoft Great Plains for the general ledger
and Wennsoft for the project accounting requirements. Serenic Navigator, the new software, is an
application developed by Serenic Software based on Microsoft’s Navision accounting software. Serenic
Software created custom features for the Navision accounting software so that it can better serve the notfor-profit industry.
In addition to the custom features developed by Serenic Software, the Missouri Botanical Garden and
affiliated companies have further customized the software to align with the specific needs of the
organizations. As a result, the standard training manuals or documentation available from Microsoft and
Serenic fall short of providing detailed user documentation for those functions which Missouri Botanical
Garden custom developed.
This user guide will document user functions across a variety of features. The documentation has
evolved over the course of the implementation, in order to address the specific needs of the user
community. In its final state, the documentation will be a compilation of user guide information developed
specifically for the Garden as well as reference material from the software vendors: Microsoft’s Navision,
Serenic’s Serenic Navigator and the reporting tool, Jet Reports.
The User Guide documentation will be used to support the expanding rollout of functionality across the
Garden’s organization. As new features, such as report access and Purchasing are rolled out across the
organization, new non-accounting users will be accessing the software. In some cases, their access will
not be as frequent as what routinely occurs within the Controller’s Office. As a result, the new users will
need supporting documentation to serve as a guide in how to complete infrequently attempted
procedures.
This User Guide documentation will continue to evolve as new features require and as time permits.
Page 7 of 185
-- Version 1.4.2 --
October 2005
Encumbrance Accounting
The new accounting software enables encumbrance accounting for the organization. Traditionally, the
Missouri Botanical Garden has not had the capability to perform encumbrance accounting. As a result,
the benefits of encumbrance accounting may not be universally familiar to the user community.
All accounting systems record expenses to the general ledger. When entries are made to the general
ledger to recognize the receipt of an item and the obligation to pay for that item, an expense entry is
made. If expense entries are the only type of entry made to an accounting system, then the users of the
accounting data and reports only have data visibility to amounts that have already been “spent”. The
timeliness of the expense data in the accounting system is dependent on the amount of “transportation
lag” inherent in the user’s business processes. For example, if goods and an invoice are received by an
organization, but it takes the organization 10 days to create an accounting entry about those goods and
invoice, then the organization has the potential risk of carrying 10-days of expenses, payable to vendors,
without having visibility to the data.
The use of encumbrance accounting and a purchasing system intends to reduce or eliminate the
organization’s exposure to the expense dollars incurred, but “unseen” due to the transportation lag of their
business processes.
An encumbrance is created in one of two ways:
1. Serenic Navigator whenever a new Purchase Order is created and approved, o
2. In the case of an Invoice without an associated Serenic PO, when that invoice is approved
(successfully completes the “Submit for Review” process).
For situation #1, above, the encumbrance amount is equal to the total amount shown on the PO
For situation #2, above, the encumbrance amount is equal to the total amount shown on the invoice as
received by the operating departments
With encumbrances posted at the time a buyer makes a commitment to a vendor, rather than after the
vendor invoices for the goods/services, the users of the accounting system have a more timely and
complete view of their budgets.
This is illustrated in the graphic below:
Page 8 of 185
-- Version 1.4.2 --
October 2005
The Purchasing Process and Encumbrance Accounting
Improves the TIMELINESS of data visibility
Previous
software
and
practices
Typical Buying
Process
With
Serenic +
Report
Access
With
Serenic +
Invoice
Receiving
With
Serenic +
Purchasing
A Request is
made for "goods"
Day
0
Verbal,
email,
note
Verbal,
email,
note
Verbal,
email,
note
Verbal,
email,
note
A Purchase
Order is created
Day
1
Paper,
3-part
form
Paper,
3-part
form
Paper,
3-part
form
Use of Serenic PO
The Purchase
Order is approved
Day
2
Paperbased
or
verbal
Paperbased
or
verbal
Paperbased
or
verbal
The Purchase
Order is place with
the Vendor
Day
2
Paperbased
or
verbal
Paperbased
or
verbal
Paperbased
or
verbal
Goods are
Received
Day
9
Paperbased
Paperbased
Paperbased
Receipts performed
in Serenic
The Vendor
Invoice is
Received
Day
10
Paperbased
Paperbased
Paperbased
Paper-based
The Department
Processes the Invoice
Day
12
Stamp,
code,
sign,
copy,
file
Stamp,
code,
sign,
copy,
file
Send Invoice to
Controller's Office
Day
13
via
Garden
mail
via
Garden
mail
Day
20
100%
keyed
entry
Controller's Office
Processes the
Invoice
Expense is
posted to
the GL
Paper
Reports are
available
~4-6 weeks
after end of
month
Day
55
Paper-based, email
or verbal
Data
entry &
submit
First "VISIBILITY"
to the data
Data entry &
submit
via Garden mail &
via software
via Garden mail &
via software
Review / Correct.
Encumbrance
relieved, Expense
posted.
Review / Correct.
Encumbrance
relieved, Expense
posted.
Paper check
100% audited
Paper check
100% audited
Paper check
100% audited
~35 days
sooner !
~43 days
sooner !
~53 days
sooner !
100%
keyed
entry
First "VISIBILITY"
to the data
Paper
check
100%
signed
Payment is
made to the
Vendor
In
Serenic
First "VISIBILITY"
to the data
Receive
printed
reports
First "VISIBILITY"
to the data
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1. System
1.1. Overview
The Serenic Navigator accounting software is one of the Microsoft Business Solutions for
the not for profit industry. Serenic Navigator strongly supports the need for fund
accounting and offers flexibility to customize the user interface and business processes to
meet the requirements of the company. The Serenic Navigator solution is based on
Microsoft’s Navision accounting software. Serenic Software, Inc., a partner company to
Microsoft, has modified the standard Navision accounting software to better support the
needs of the not for profit industry. Computer Applications Solutions, Inc. (CASI) is the
consulting / implementation company for the installation at Missouri Botanical Garden.
CASI has added multiple customizations to the software at the request of MBG, in order to
better support the business requirements.
The details of the general ledger structure and other functional aspects of the software are
contained later in this document. In order to support the needs of Missouri Botanical
Garden and affiliated companies, the software has been setup to account for five (5)
separate companies:
•
Missouri Botanical Garden
•
MBG Properties
•
Center for Plant Conservation, Inc.
•
Gateway Greening, Inc.
•
Garden District Commission
Additionally, there have been, and will be, multiple “environments” or databases used for
the software. The “Production” environment is the one in which all live data is to be
entered and all reporting is to be generated. The “Sandbox” environment is the one used
for testing data entry techniques, new processes and reports. The “Sandbox”
environment gets refreshed regularly, but is not to be used for “real” production entry, nor
should it be considered as a backup of the “Production” environment.
Some users will have access to multiple companies, as well as both the “Production” and
“Sandbox” environments. Security setups will restrict which users will have access to
which companies and which environments.
WARNING:
Users with access permissions to multiple companies and / or
environments need to insure that they have logged into the company /
environment of their choice, prior to generating reports of doing data entry.
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1.2. Overview – System Diagram
Technology Administrators:
MBG IT - Cassandra
Consulting - ICS Advantage
Super Users:
MBG CO - Cheryl Mill
MBG CO - Linda Settles
MBG CO - Paul Bruges
Consulting - Bill Dale
Serenic Server
Contains 5 Companies:
MBG
MBG Properties
GGI
CPCI
GDC
Serenic Production
Contains 5
Companies
Contains 5
Companies
Serenic Sandbox
Serenic Development
Client PC Setup:
Serenic Navigator
Accounting Software
Internet
Pending
Technical
Developments
Excel with Jet Reports
ExpandIT Utilities
Network Connected
Departmental Users
Remote Users
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1.3. Security
Establishing proper application and data security for the Serenic Navigator Accounting
Software is a key factor in providing an accurate and highly functional software solution for
the needs of MBG and affiliated companies. The security setups provide both the
limitations to data access, prudent for any accounting application, and the controlled
access to functionality to better support ongoing user operation. By controlling individual
user’s access to only those portions of the application required to support their role within
the business, a level of operational efficiency is provided.
The security and controls framework used for the Serenic Navigator Accounting Software
have been developed in anticipation of a broad base of users having some level of access
to accounting functionality and data. Historically, only members of the Controller’s Office
have interacted directly with the accounting software. The implementation of Serenic
Navigator was based on the need to have MBG employees outside of the Controller’s
Office interacting with the software for the purposes of retrieving reports and ad hoc data,
as well as fulfilling a role in the Purchasing business process.
The application security and controls are managed on an Administrative level, an
Operational Controls level and on a User level. The Administrative level is responsible to
define and grant access, roles and permissions to the users. The Operational Controls
grant access to reports and usage of accounts. The User level security responsibilities
include insuring proper logins to the correct environment (database) and company, as well
as setting and maintaining secure password access. Additionally, users must practice
prescribed good security practices (such as not sharing Userid and Password information)
to support application and data security
1.3.1. Security – Administration
The security administration involves four key facets or steps to create and maintain secure
data and application operation.
1st – User Database Login (access to SQL Server and database logins via Serenic)
2nd – Assignment of User Roles and Permissions within the application
3rd – Maintenance of User Information for application operations
4th – Data access controls
1.3.1.1. Adding a Database Login
Creating a database login involves a two step process. The first step is to grant the user
access to the SQL Server used for the application. This is managed exclusively by the IT
department at MBG. The second step is to create a database login within the Serenic
Navigator application. This can be done by anyone with Super user permissions, but will
primarily be done by Cheryl Mill at MBG).
To create a database login, follow this procedure:
1.
If a non-IT person is initiating the need to add a user to the Serenic Navigator
Accounting System, that person should contact the IT Department and request that
they need a new User be added to the SQL Server used for the Serenic Navigator
Accounting System.
a) The actual request to IT Department personnel should be: “I need a new
user added to the SQL Server used for the Serenic Navigator
Accounting System.”
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b) The IT Department personnel will need to know what the new user ID
should be. The MBG convention is to use the first initial of the user’s first
name and their last name as the user ID (e.g. Joe Smith’s User ID would
be JSMITH). The person requesting the user setup should tell the IT
Department personnel, “The new User ID is for < fill in First Name >
< fill in Last Name > and the User ID will be < fill in User ID >”
c) When the IT Department personnel set up the access to the SQL Server,
they will need to assign a password to the User ID. The initial password
for a user will be set by IT following the convention they employ. The
person requesting the user setup should ask IT for the initial password, so
that the user access and permissions can be tested prior to having the
user login for the first time.
NOTE: It is important for all users to create their own unique password to the
accounting application after they have signed on for the first time. The
initial password convention will become well known in the user community
and, as a result, offers a security weakness that will require ongoing
management.
IT encourages accounting application users to create a password for the
accounting application that is different from their other passwords.
d) Finally, you will need to instruct the IT Department personnel as to which
environment (database) the new user should have access. Recall, that
the environments (databases) commonly used by MBG include
“Production”, for live accounting data, and “Sandbox”, for test & try-out
purposes. Many users will only need access to the Production
environment. Instruct the IT Personnel as to grant access to the
appropriate environment(s) by saying, “User ID < fill in User ID > needs
access to the < fill in correct environment(s) > environment(s).”
e) After getting confirmation by the IT Department personnel that the SQL
Server User ID and Password have been established, proceed to step 2.
NOTE: If the only reason for creating the Userid is to enable the user to be assigned
as a recipient of Project reports, then the user setup process can be
considered complete at this point. If the user will ever need to login to the
application, then the remainder of the user setup process must be
completed.
2.
The application system administrator, with a Super User Role, should navigate to the
Database Login function of Serenic Navigator by following the upper toolbar menu
path of Tools – Security – Database Logins.
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3.
The Database Logins window appears:
4.
In the User ID field, enter the user ID of the new person. Be sure to have the User ID
typed in Serenic match the User ID set-up by the IT personnel for the SQL Server.
The program converts all letters you type into uppercase. You can change the user ID
in this field at a later time.
5.
In the Name field, enter the name of the user of the ID.
6.
MBG and affiliated companies will use database server authentication, as an
alternative to Windows authentication. With the database server authentication, the
user will be required to use a password to access the Serenic Navigator Accounting
system, even if they are already logged on to Windows. The initial SQL server setup
(done by IT personnel – step 1) for the User ID and the password assignment,
establishes the initial password to be used within Serenic Navigator. Any changes to
the password initiated by a user, after the initial setup will keep the Serenic Navigator
password and the SQL Server passwords in sync.
As an alternative (not recommended), the User ID’s password can also be entered in
the Serenic Navigator Database Login “Password” field. This password must match
the password used in the SQL Server access setup for the User ID. You will notice
that the password is encrypted as you type, so neither you nor anyone else can see it.
A password can contain a maximum of 10 characters. It is important to remember
where you have used uppercase and lowercase letters because passwords are casesensitive. The password can be used for as long as you want.
In a multi-user installation (such as MBG’s) where a system manager has set up all the
user IDs, each user should change their own password immediately after logging on
for the first time, so that no one else knows their password. It cannot be seen
anywhere in the system.
7.
In the Expiration Date field, you can enter a final date on which a user will be able to
log on to the program. As a security precaution, super users should NOT be given a
date limitation. It will be MBG’s practice and convention to not use the Expiration
Date field, unless a user needs to have all permissions revoked immediately. In that
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case, the user login privileges can be revoked as of the day required, by entering that
date in the Expiration Date field.
8.
As with other forms & fields in Serenic Navigator, the record is created by leaving the
field. So, in order to finalize the creation of the database login, the user should press
ENTER and move the cursor to a new line.
NOTE: At this point in the new user setup process the new user has a SQL Server
login and a login to the Serenic Navigator application. However, because
no Roles and Permissions have been assigned within Serenic Navigator,
the new user can’t even open up the application to the first menu. The
next steps must be completed in order to allow the user access to the
client server version of the application forms & menus.
1.3.1.2. Assigning Roles and Permissions
To assign Roles and Permissions, the system administrator / super user should follow this
procedure:
1.
From the Main Menu, click through the following menu path: General Ledger – Setup
– Users – User Rights Setup. The User Rights Setup window appears:
The User Rights Setup form displayed above reflects the setup work already
completed for a user (in the example “DMILLER”). The content of the form you see
after navigating to the User Rights Setup screen is dependent on the values displayed
in the header fields.
2.
By selecting a User ID in the top left corner of the form, the Roles currently assigned to
that user will appear down the left side of the form. As a default, permissions apply to
all the companies in the database, but they can be restricted to a particular company.
To do this, you should enter the name of the company in the Company field. To have
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permissions apply to several (but not all) companies, you must set up one line per
company (each line starting with the same role ID). In the example above, all of the
roles assigned to the userid, DMILLER, are specific to the Sandbox - MBG Company
except for the role called “ALL”. This role applies to all companies. Adding a role is as
simple as proceeding to the next blank line and inserting a new role.
NOTE: The “ALL” Role
The role called “ALL” is required for anyone who needs to gain
access to the Main Menu. The role “ALL” is given to ALL USERS. It
does not give access to everything in the application, as the role name
may imply. Every user is required to have the ALL Role. However, the
only thing that a user could do if they only had the ALL Role, is to login,
access the Main Menu, and move around in the program. The ALL Role
does not allow access to any tables, table data or forms. So, simply
granting the ALL Role to someone is not sufficient to have them functional
with the application. At least one other role must be assigned if the user is
actually intended to do anything with the application.
NOTE: Super User Roles – IMPORTANT !!!
At least one user must have the SUPER role for all companies. The super
user only needs to be assigned a single role, because the SUPERUSER
role has permissions to everything in the system. All other users, however,
will need to be assigned at least two or more roles. Any user who is not a
super user must be assigned the ALL role as well as roles/permissions
that give access to the specific areas of the program that they will need to
use.
3.
By specifying the Company Filter, you may filter out the roles for the specified Userid
for a specific company.
4.
As shown in the previous screenshot, by highlighting one of the roles, the permissions
associated with that role will be displayed in the adjacent window. The screenshot
depicts the specific permissions (right side of form) associated with the “Read G/L
accounts and entries” highlighted on the left side of the form. Each role describes a
set of access permissions to tables, reports, functions and so on. Various permission
types allow the user to:
•
Read (information in a table, for example)
•
Insert (information in a table, for example)
•
Modify (information in a table, for example)
•
Delete (information in a table, for example)
•
Execute (information in a table, for example)
NOTE: Changing the permissions for a role (Read, Insert, Modify, Delete, Execute)
while on a specific individual’s User Rights Setup card will modify the role
for anyone who has been assigned the role.
Remember that:
• Each Role has a set of defined permissions
• Each User will probably have multiple Roles
• Since many Users could have the same Roles, they will have the
same permissions within the shared role
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5.
To assign a new user roles and permissions, the new User ID should be selected in
the header field, along with the appropriate User Main Menu form. For a non-Super
User (the vast majority of all users), the Role ID “ALL” should be selected. At least
one other role should be selected for the user to provide them with a level of functional
capability within the application.
6.
The User Rights Setup form can be displayed in two formats determined by the Show
field in the Header of the form. You’ve seen the “Permissions for Selected Role”
format above. The other format is called “Users with Selected Role” and is displayed
in the screenshot below:
As shown above, by highlighting one of the roles (left side of form), the users assigned that
role will be displayed in the adjacent window (right side of form).
NOTE: Samples of User Permission Setups are included in Appendix __ as a guide for
other future permission setups
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1.3.1.3. Completing User Setup Card
To complete the User Setup process, a set of “base facts” about the user should be
defined within the Serenic Navigator Accounting software. These facts are required to
support the function and operation of the software. In order to complete this last step of
the User Setup process, follow the following procedure:
1. From the General Ledger menu click through the following navigation path: Setup –
Users – User Setup. The User Rights Card window appears:
2. In order to complete the User Setup process, complete the remaining fields as follows:
TAB
FIELD
NOTES
General
Title
The user’s job title
General
User Group Code *
The User Group Code is used in conjunction with
Business Rules for data access to provide a level
of data security. A user with a User Group Code
of DIV-839, will only be able to access GL data for
Division 839, based on restrictions imposed via an
access Business Rule (see section 1.2.4)
General
User Level Code *
The level within the organization. Level codes are
established during setup. User Level Codes are
used in conjunction with Purchasing capability &
control the extent of the Purchasing data available
to the user.
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TAB
FIELD
NOTES
General
Reports To *
The User ID for this user’s direct report. Only
users with Manager checked are displayed in the
lookup. This reporting hierarchy is used by the
approval system to evaluate the organization
structure to determine the user’s supervisors at
each level of the organization
General
Deliver-to Address
Code
The code identifying the address information for
delivery of requisitioned items
General
Invoice-to Address
The Serenic Purchasing functionality is being
used in a variety of locations (such as the main
Garden grounds, Shaw Nature Reserve and the
Butterfly House). Each of these locations can
receive invoices from vendors for purchases. This
field associates an invoice-to address with the
user & will cause the chosen address to default on
purchasing documentation created by the user.
General
Manager
Check if this user is allowed to have subordinates
Communication
Primary email address
MBG encourages the addition of the email
address to the user card. Typically email
addresses are relatively static for a user, once
they are a member of an organization.
Communication
Phone No.
Phone number information is optional
Communication
Extension
Phone number information is optional
Security
Main Menu ID *
If you want the user to see a particular main menu
when they start the program, you must specify it
here. If you cannot remember whether any special
menus have been created, click the Assist Button
to the right of the field. A list appears. If you do not
select any special main menu, the user will see
the standard main menu.
Security
Allow Posting From /
To
These two fields allow a Superuser to establish
the valid date range within which the user being
setup can post GL entries. If the fields are left
blank, as they should be in the majority of cases,
then the global posting date range, setup within
the GL will control the allowed posting dates for
the user. As an example, some users may need
to post budgetary information into a future year or
month. The global settings would disallow this
future dated postings, so a user specific date
range would need to be established.
Security
Allow FA Posting
From / To
These date fields allow a Superuser to establish a
valid date range for Fixed Assets posting which is
different than the global date range established in
the GL setup.
Security
Register Time
If checked, then the users elapsed time on the
system will be logged in hours/minutes. This does
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TAB
FIELD
NOTES
not enable specific user time tracking, but rather
only accumulates the hours a user is on the
system. This feature is intended for operations
which need to record and bill time for accounting
activities specific to a company (e.g. contract
bookkeepers). It has little/no practical purpose for
Missouri Botanical Garden
Security
Global Inbox
If checked, then the user will have an oversight
view of all activity through the approval processes
inboxes. It is recommended that at least one
Superuser in an organization have this authority
for troubleshooting purposes.
Security
Project Admin Report
Access
Project Administrators have authority to view &
print all project reports. Other users, assisting the
Project Administrators may also require this
access authority. It can be granted by checking
this box. Otherwise access to project reports by
non-Superusers is controlled by assignment at the
report level.
Security
Access to All Reports
By selecting this box, the user will have access to
all reports and the User Report List will be
irrelevant.
Security
Access to All Vendors
By selecting this box, the user will have access to
all vendors and the Vendor Views by Division will
be irrelevant.
Security
Purch. Doc. Filter
Level*
The user has the following choices;
Buyer – Upon entering the forms to enter or view
a purchase order or invoice, the user will only be
shown the purchase orders or invoices that they
have created or have the Request For field in the
document header populated with their USERID.
Manager - Upon entering the forms to enter or
view a purchase order or invoice, the user will
only be shown the purchase orders or invoices
that they have created, that anyone assigned to
their division or have the Request For field in the
document header populated with their USERID.
Accounting – Upon entering the forms to enter or
view a purchase order or invoice, the user will see
all documents.
Security
Authorized to include /
exclude closing entries
from reports
A limited number of users will need to produce
Project reports in both a way which includes the
closing entries (enabling FYTD reporting) or
excludes the closing entries (enabling Project TD
reporting).
Security
Exclude from Project
Report Distributor **
The Project Report Distributor functionality
produces Project reports “en masse”. All report
recipients are printed a copy of their reports via
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TAB
FIELD
NOTES
the Report Distributor functionality. As more
users gain self-service access to reports, they
many not need to be included in the en masse
production of reports. Checking this box will
exclude their userid from the Report Distributor
functionality
Defaults
Division Code*
This is the only default segment that is mandatory.
*
Mandatory Field
** Pending development
1.3.2. Security & Controls – Operational Controls
The application provides a layer of data access security through the administration and use
of operation controls such as granted access to project reports and the establishment of
valid accounts and defaults. The Operational Controls are managed through the
Controller’s Office personnel.
These topics are explored in greater detail in other sections of the User Guide.
1.3.3. Security – Users
1.3.3.1. Security – ZUP Files
ZUP files retain the individual user preferences or form modifications. ZUP files do not
provide security to the application, but they do support the user accessing the application
in ways in which they are familiar. For instance, when a user moves some columns on a
form for ease of data review and entry, the application will store the users preferred way to
view the form in the ZUP file on the users PC. If there are values to be retained on a form,
for future use, those values will be stored on the form in the ZUP file.
Normally, in the course of operation, if the user is presented with a message of “Do you
wish to save the ZUP file, the typical answer is “YES”. The application will recognize any
changes that have been made to the way in which a user views forms during the operation
of the application. When the application is closed, the user will be presented with a
message that allows them to save those changes to the ZUP file.
There is one ZUP file stored for every icon on the users desktop. If the user has multiple
icons of Serenic Navigator on their PC desktop, then they will have multiple ZUP files
stored on their PC. ZUP files are stored as hidden files on the users PC.
1.3.3.2. Deleting a ZUP file
Normally, there is no need to delete a ZUP file. If stored values on a form are preventing
the form from being accessed, then the solution to this issue may be to delete the ZUP file.
MBG experienced this in early March ’05 when a budget filter parameter for a project
included a trailing pipe ( “|” ) and no value. When this occurred, the system recognized the
error in the logical operation, but would not allow the user access to the form to correct the
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error while on their PC. The logical error was corrected on another user’s PC and the ZUP
file on the original user’s PC was deleted to re-enable their access to the form.
If there is ever a need to delete a ZUP file from a users PC, it can be done by, first, finding
the file & then deleting it as you would with any file.
Since ZUP files are stored as “hidden” files on the user’s PC, in order to locate the file, the
user should first insure that they can view hidden files. This is done by navigating to the
choice via Control Panel Æ Folder Options Æ View Æ Select radio button to “Show hidden
files and folders”. This radio button is not normally selected, as a typical user would not
need to view the hidden files, nor folders. After insuring that hidden files and folders can
be viewed, the user can search for a file using “ *zup* “ as the search parameters.
Alternatively, the user can follow this navigation path to locate the ZUP file: My Computer
Æ Search the local drive (typically “C:”) Æ Documents and Settings Æ Select the correct
user name Æ Application Data. Normally the ZUP (fin.zup) file will be stored in the
Application Data folder for the user.
After locating the ZUP file, through either navigational approach, simply delete it.
After deleting the ZUP file, when the user performs their next Serenic Navigator login, they
will need to complete the “long version” of the login, which includes selecting the proper
server (MBGSERV07), etc.
Once logged in, the user will notice that their preferences for form layout and/or any values
defaulted onto forms will be gone. Over time, the user will re-establishes how they use the
application by saving their settings into the ZUP file.
1.3.3.3. User Login Procedure
After a user has been granted access to the database, and has been setup in the
accounting software with roles and permissions, they may access the software.
The initial rollout of access to the software will be with the client / server version of the
software. So, in addition to the user setup requirements, the user must have the software
installed on the PC from which they are choosing to work. As part of the installation
routine, a desktop icon will be created to ease the user’s navigation to the software.
The desktop icon will look something like the one displayed below:
The appearance of the icon could differ in the descriptive wording, depending on how the
icon is created on the user’s desktop.
Typical Login Procedure:
1. Double click on the desktop icon
2. The screen below is presented:
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3. Enter User ID (or confirm that the one defaulted is correct). Enter
Password. Click “Okay” Button.
4. The main menu form will be presented as shown below:
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5. The user should confirm that they have gained access to the portion of
the accounting software that they were intending to access. The screen
header indicates the Environment and Company (in this case, “Sandbox
– MBG”). The main menu form also displays the company name and / or
logo for added visual reference.
6. The user should choose the portion of the application they intend to
access from the choices in the left navigation of the menu form.
Alternative login procedure – with Database login screen:
1. If the user opens the software and the simple login form does not
appear, but rather the database login form is presented (shown below):
The user should insure that the Server Name is “MBGSERV07”. The
database name should be selected (if blank). The Authentication should
be “Database Server Authentication”. The user id should be entered, if
not defaulted in. The User’s password should be entered in the
Password field. The “Okay” button should be clicked.
2. If values for all fields are defaulted onto the form (as is shown in the
screenshot above), then the user must type in his/her password prior to
attempting to make any changes to the form. After the user’s password
is entered, and the “Okay” button is clicked, they will be granted access
to the software.
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3. After logging into the software, the user should confirm which
environment (database) and company they have logged into. If they are
in the wrong environment or company, they should navigate to the new
company or database (see next procedure)
Alternative login procedure – with nearly “blank” screen:
1. If the user opens the software by clicking on their desktop icon, or by
otherwise navigating to the software, and they are presented with the
nearly blank screen shown below:
The user should click on the “File” command in the upper toolbar. After
clicking on “File” the user should be presented with a screen similar to
the one shown below:
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2. From this screen, the user has a couple of options to complete the login
process.
a. Option A: If the user has a history of logins displayed on the
bottom of the drop down menu (as is shown above), the user can
click on the appropriate database-company combination. They
will be presented with a typical login screen after selecting the
database-company combination.
b. Option B: The user can complete a new navigation to, first, a
database and then, secondly, a company. This can be
accomplished by following the steps outlined below.
3. To navigate to a new database, from the screen shown above, select
“Database Æ Open” as shown below:
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4. After selecting “File Æ Database Æ Open”, the user will be presented
with the database login (discussed in the section above, and depicted
below):
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5. From the database login screen (shown above), the user should insure
that the Server Name is “MBGSERV07”, the Authentication is “Database
Server Authentication” and that their User ID is entered, prior to
attempting to enter any other information. After the User ID field
information is entered, the user should enter their password. Prior to
clicking “OK”, the user should select the appropriate Database
Name, or insure that the one which is entered in this field is correct.
When all of the fields are correctly entered, the user should click the
“OK” button.
6. After completing the process described above (logging into the
database), the user will be presented with another screen which appears
to be mostly blank, as shown below. The user should note that the
header of the screen should contain the database name information for
the database to which they just logged in.
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7. To continue, the user should log into the Company they desire. To do
this, the user should navigate “File Æ Company Æ Open”, as shown
below:
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8. After completing the navigation of “File Æ Company Æ Open”, the user
will be presented a list of companies to which they have access. For
many users, the list will only contain one company name. When
presented with the list of companies, the user should select the one they
desire and click the “OK” button. After the “OK” button is clicked, the
main menu navigation for that company will appear to the user & they will
have completed the database and company login procedure.
Moving from Company to Company or Environment (database) to Environment
(database) Procedure
If a user has logged onto the software and finds that they are not in the correct company or
correct environment (database), they will need to navigate to the correct company or
environment.
Company – to – Company moves (within one database) can be accomplished without the
need to login to the new company (provided the user has access rights to the new
company). As an example, if a user has access to both MBG and MBG Properties, they
can move from “Production – MBG” to “Production – MBG Properties” without having to
login to the new company.
Environment (database) – to- Environment (database) moves will always require that a
new login procedure be used. This is true, even if the company names are the same. As
an example, if a user has access to MBG, when they move from “Production – MBG” to
“Sandbox – MBG”, a new login will be required. If they also have access to MBG
Properties, when they move from “Production – MBG” to “Sandbox – MBG Properties”, a
new login will be required.
Cross Company and/or Environment (database) Navigation – Option 1:
1. Once the user is logged in to the software, they can select one of their 5
most recently visited “Environment – Company” combinations by clicking
“File” in the header menu. The menu that drops down will display the
most recently visited “Environment – Company” combinations (up to the
most recent 5). Additionally, a checkmark will be placed next to the
“Environment – Company” combination in which you are currently logged
in. (Sandbox – MBG, in the example below):
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2. The number of most recently visited Environment – Company
combinations displayed in the drop down list can vary from user to user,
but will not exceed 5. In order to navigate to another Environment –
Company combination, click on the appropriate combination.
3. If you have chosen to move into a new Environment (database) (e.g.
Production to Sandbox or vice versa), you will be prompted to login to
the software.
Cross Company and/or Environment (database) Navigation – Option 2:
1. Once the user is logged in to the software, they can select a company or
Environment (database) by using the navigation under “File” in the
header.
2. To move to another company, follow the menu path of:
File – Company – Open. The user will be presented with a menu of
companies, from which to select the company to which they would like to
navigate. As shown below:
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3. From the list of companies, the user can select the company to which
they would like to navigate and click “okay”. The user will be will then be
presented the main menu screen of the destination company.
WARNING:
Do not follow the menu path of “File – Company – New”. This path is
available to some users so that new companies can be created in the
software. Most users will not be able to access the software using the “File
– Company – New” path.
4. To move to another database (or Environment), follow the menu path
of “File – Database – Open”. The user will be presented with the login
screen, as shown below:
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5. The user should enter their password in the login screen, prior to
attempting to change any other entries on the login screen.
6. After the user’s password is entered in the Password field, the user can
select another Database Name, from the drop down list provided on the
form.
7. After the form is populated with the destination database name, the user
should click the “Okay” button.
8. After clicking “Okay”, the user will be navigated to the desired
Environment (database), but not associated to any specific company. To
access a specific company, see the instructions listed above.
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1.3.3.4. Changing User Password
To change the password of a user, follow this procedure:
1. From anywhere within the application, click your way through the upper toolbar
menu path of: Tools – Security – Password.
2. The Change Password window appears:
3. After entering your current password and then entering and reentering your new
password, click OK and the user password has been undated. It is important to
remember that the new password will not take effect until the next time the user
logs into the system.
1.3.4.
Security – Data Access
User’s data access can be controlled through Access Business Rules and through Report
access/permissions. For example, the Division leads, generally, are to be setup with
access to the data for their division only. This is controlled by assigning the user to a User
Group of “DIV-839”, and, by creating an Access Business Rule for anyone who has a User
Group of “DIV-839”. This section of the User Guide will provide information on:
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• Establishing User Groups
• Establishing Access Business Rules
• Assigning Report Access
1.3.4.1. Establishing User Groups
User Groups can be established as a way to assign access rules to a number of users
(rather than a single specific user). User Groups can also be used for no functional
purpose other than as a way to create a characteristic of a user, or a label, which may be
used for some reporting purpose. The Garden is leveraging the functional reason for
establishing User Groups, by having the User Group designation work in conjunction with
Access Business Rules, to limit data access.
To setup a User Group, from the General Ledger menu, the user should navigate to:
Setup Æ Users Æ User Groups, as shown below:
After completing the navigation, the user will be presented with the screen below:
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To create a new User Group, the user should simply navigate to the first open line and
enter a code, then tab to the next field to enter a description for that code.
You may notice from the screenshot above, that, to date, the Garden has established two
types of User Codes. One type of Code is simply used as a label or characteristic of a
user (e.g. Accounting, Consultant, Executive, MGR, Users). These User Codes have no
functional purpose associated with them, other than to serve as a way to group types of
users.
After the application had been in use for some time, and after the Garden decided to grant
access to users outside of the Controller’s Office, the need to control access to GL data
became apparent. Since Access Business Rules could be applied to User Groups, it was
decided that the use of the User Group field would be changed from its original use (e.g.
Accounting, Consultant, etc.) to a more specific use so that user’s could be assigned data
access permissions.
NOTE:
Each user can only be assigned to one User Group. It is important to
know how the User Group designation is used for data control purposes
within the application. As an example: An individual user may be both a
Manager and require access to Division 839’s data. It is not possible to
associate them to both the MGR group and the DIV-839 group. Since the
MGR group provides no functionality & since the DIV-839 group
assignment is required to control data access, the user should be
assigned a User Group of DIV-839
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In the future, the Garden may want to provide an even more refined level of control to data
access (say, to the Department level). This can be accomplished by creating User Groups
for the appropriate Departments, and then developing Access Business Rules for the
Departments as well.
1.3.4.2. Establishing Access Business Rules
“Business Rules” provide a way in which a Super user can control user access to data,
account validations, approval processing requirements, budgetary controls or procurement
controls.
The most frequent use of the Business Rule capability is to create valid combinations of
account segments (or dimension values). This capability is used to establish which GL
accounts will work with which funds, departments, projects, etc. In order to support the
frequent use of this capability, the Garden invested in creating some special forms to ease
the creation of the business rules. These special forms (discussed in the GL section and
Projects section of this document) produce business rules, which can be accessed through
the form shown below.
To find the business rule form, the Super user should navigate from the General Ledger
menu from Setup Æ Business Rules, as shown below:
Upon completing the navigation, the Super user will have access to a form similar to the
one shown below:
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As with other forms in Serenic Navigator, the user can key “F3” to be provided with a blank
version of the form. To create a User Access business rule, the user should first assign
the business rule a code. The Garden has chosen to use a convention for access
business rules, beginning with UG (for User Group), followed by the abbreviation of the
segment used for control (in this case “DIV” for Division), followed by the value of the
segment used for control (in the example above “839” for division 839).
After establishing the code for the rule, the Super user should set the Effective Date and
Description of the rule to help support the future administration and maintenance of the
rules. The Super user should also indicate, by checking the appropriate box, the type(s) of
business rule being developed. It should be noted that, to date, the Garden has only
constructed business rules which serve a single purpose (e.g. either Approval, or Budget,
etc.). The Garden has not attempted to take on the complexity associated with creating
single rules with multiple purposes.
After completing the information in the header of the General tab of the business rule, the
Super user should define to which transactions the rule will be applied. In this case, the
rule will be applied based on User Groups, so the “Business Object Code” designation of
“USERGROUP” is selected, and the specific User Group of “DIV-839” is identified. Given
all of what has been entered on the General Tab of the Business Rule card, the software
now “knows” that for transactions originating from a user, with a User Group designation of
DIV-839, some specific actions are to be taken. Those specific actions are defined on the
subsequent tabs of the business rule.
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Since this section is about creating a business rule for User Access, the Super user should
open the tab labeled “User Access”. The will see a form similar to the one shown below:
On this tab of the business rule card, the Super user should specify the data to be
controlled. As shown above, the Business Object Code of “Division” is identified and the
Filter value of “839” has been chosen.
This rule has established that users, who belong to User Group “DIV-839”, now have data
access only to data posted to Division 839. To put this rule into effect, the Super user
should click “Functions Æ Verify”. This step will both verify that the rule is possible (e.g.
that it has been written for a valid Division number) and that it is Active (currently being
used by the software). If a rule is Inactive, it will not create its intended outcome. In this
case, if the Access business rule was inactive, then the software would not use the User
Group designation of DIV-839 to control access to Division 839 data only.
NOTE:
If a user has no User Group designation, or a User Group designation for
which no ACTIVE rules apply, then that user has access to all data
available through the users’ access permissions and reporting.
Since other aspects of security offer layers of control for user access to the
software and reports, it is possible to have users setup with non-functional
User Groups to which no Active business rules are attached without
providing a security issue. As an example, if a user is identified within the
application for the sole reason of being a recipient of specific project
reports and they will not have direct access to the application, then
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establishing a User Group and business rules may not be necessary. That
type of user’s access to data is already controlled via their access to
reports.
1.3.4.3. Assigning Report Access
An individual user’s access to reports can be controlled via their User Card Report List.
This list can be found by navigating from the General Ledger Menu Æ Setup Æ Users Æ
User Setup Æ on the User Card, click the User button at the bottom Æ Report List, as
shown below:
The User’s Report List will be displayed, as shown in the sample below:
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To ADD a report to the list, the Super user should click on the first available line under the
Report ID, delete the “0” if it appears and use the drop down list to select the report
number they wish to assign to the individual. When it is selected, tab out of the field and
the adjacent Report Name field to complete the assignment.
To DELETE a report from the list, simply highlight the line of the report to be deleted and
click the delete key.
In some instances, a Super user may not be able to assign a report to a user, because the
report is not available for the user menu assigned. For example, the Super user wouldn’t
be able to, nor likely want to assign a Purchases & Payables report to a user who does not
have menu access nor permissions for that aspect of the software. If a need arises to
make a report assignment that is not available on the user’s menu, the Super user should
contact the Implementation Consultants (ICSAdvantage).
See Appendix __ for details and samples of report setups for various roles.
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1.4. Miscellaneous System / Setup “How To …”
1.4.1.
Assign a default printer to a report
In some cases, such as with the label report, the users want to define where the report
should print so that their default Windows printer does not attempt to print the document.
The label report, generated while receiving invoices, should be printed to the local Dymo
LabelWriter printer rather than any other printer available to the user. To assign a default
printer to a report, from the General Ledger Menu, navigate to Setup Æ Printer Selections,
as shown below:
After selecting “Printer Selections” the user will be presented with the form shown below:
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To create a new printer selection, the user can simply navigate to the first available blank
line and begin to create the appropriate values. If the UserID field is left blank, the
selection will be applied to all users. To create a user specific use of a printer for a report,
simply insert the specific user id in the User ID field of the line. The next step is to identify
the report which is to be directed to a specific printer. This is best accomplished by
clicking on the look-up / drop down arrow available in the Report ID field. The user can
then select the report from the list provided. Lastly, the Printer Name should then be
selected. In order to avoid any possibility of data entry error, the printer selection should
be performed from the drop down list available for this field. After all the appropriate fields
have been completed, the user should simply tab out of the last field to save their changes.
1.4.2.
Add a newly developed report to a Menu
After a report has been developed it needs to be added into the list of reports available
under a menu. This is a prerequisite for assigning the report to individual users. In order
to complete this step, the report must first exist in the list of Objects in the Object Designer
table for Reports
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2. General Ledger
2.1. Setup
See Serenic Navigator Training Manual for detail
2.2. Chart of Accounts
2.3. Bank Accounts
2.4. Funds
2.5. Budget Planning
2.6. Account Schedules
2.7. General Journals
2.8. Monthly Closing Process
2.9. General Ledger Reports
There are a wide variety of reports available within Serenic to report on General Ledger
information. Three which are widely used, and will be discussed in some detail in this user
guide include:
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• Custom Trial Balance w/ Budget report
• Custom Trial Balance Detail or Summary report
• Custom Trial Balance Detail with Payroll report
2.9.1.
Custom Trial Balance w/ Budget report
This report displays actual results, encumbrances, budget and variances for both a userdefined period and fiscal year to date, per natural account. The data displayed is
controlled through the use of filters.
In order to produce this report, the user will navigate, on the General Ledger Menu to
Reports Æ Custom Trial Balance w/ Budget Æ Print, to see:
Most often, this report will be run on a Department basis. The user should select the
department of choice on this tab of the print parameters form. Alternatively, the user could
select a Division Field and Filter value to report at a Division level.
On the GL Account tab, the user will see something like the screenshot below:
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On this form, the user can restrict the report to a single GL number or range of GL
numbers. The user MUST also assign a Date Filter. The date filter normally will be the
range of dates across which the user wants to generate a report. As an example, if the
user wants to see the results for February 2005, they would enter “020105..022805” in the
date filter range. The system will also accept the use of “/’s” in the date format, but it is not
required. Typically, the user will also need to specify a Fund Filter, such as “01U”. Any
filter fields left blank will not be used to restrict the generation of the report.
The Options tab, shown below, can be used to further refine the way in which the report is
generated:
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After establishing all of the reporting parameters & setting the filters to the desired data
sets, the user can click either the “Print” button on the “Preview” button to generate the
report. The Preview button will allow the user to see the report on their monitor prior to
sending it to the printer.
A sample of the Custom Trial Balance w/ Budget report is shown below:
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2.9.2.
Custom Trial Balance Detail and Summary reports
The report parameters contained in the Dtl/Summ report determine whether it is produced
in the Detail or the Summary format. This report allows a number of different parameters &
filters to be used for generating the report. As a result, the “look” of the report will change
based on the report parameters and filtering defined by the user.
The Detail version of this report will depict summary and detail information for all accounts
with the exception of payroll related accounts. Only summary information will be provided
for payroll related accounts.
In order to produce this report, the user will navigate, on the General Ledger Menu to
Reports Æ Custom Trial Balance Dtl/Summ Æ Print, to see:
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The filter values on the GL Account Combos tab allows the user to specify:
•
The Transaction Type – almost always “Actual”
•
The GL Account No. – normally left blank to see all accounts, but can be
used to specify a single account or a range of accounts
•
The Date Filter – a required field, used to establish the range of dates
required for a report. Typically, this would be set for a month
•
The Fund No. – typically would be set for the Operating Fund (e.g. 01U
for MBG)
•
The Department Code – typically this would be set for a single
department
•
The Location Code – typically left blank. This field may come into use
when the Garden pursues the automation of indirect expenses
•
The Division Code – typically left blank, if the Department Code is used.
It the Department code is blank, the Division can be specified to collect
the GL info for the Division
•
Other fields – typically left blank
On the GL Entry tab, the user will see:
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Typically, both these fields are left blank, when the report is generated for operating
department / division results reporting.
On the Options tab, the user will see:
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This tab is very influential in controlling how the report is presented:
•
The “Show” button choices include:
o
o
o
All Accounts – displays all GL accounts regardless of whether
the accounts are “in use” for the department / division
Accounts with Balances – displays only those GL accounts that
contain balances for the chosen department / division
Accounts with Activities – displays only those GL accounts that
reflect transactional activity during the date range specified
•
The “New page per Account” checkbox – enables page breaks after
each account. This is typically not chosen when running department /
division reports
•
The “New page per Depart” checkbox – enables page breaks after each
department. This is typically not chosen when running a single
department’s reports. It is a helpful selection when running a division’s
report, which contains multiple departments.
•
The “Print Transactional Detail” checkbox – enables the presentation of
transaction level detail for the report parameters. To produce the
Summary report, leave this unchecked. To produce the Detail report,
check this checkbox.
•
The “Print Source Names” checkbox – enables a display of vendors or
customer names for transaction level detail if desired
•
The “Print MSGP Accounts” checkbox – enables a display of the
Microsoft Great Plains (previous accounting software) accounts. This
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selection has been helpful while the organization transitions their use
and knowledge of the new accounting codes. At some point, this option
will almost always be unused.
•
The “Use Additional Reporting Currency” – enables display in something
other than US Dollars, had the application been setup to handle multiple
currencies. This checkbox is always unused by the Garden.
•
Sort By:
o
o
2.9.3.
“Fund, Department, Natural Account” – orders the report printout
as described. This is the typical choice for printing department /
division reports
“Fund, Natural Account, Department” – orders the report printout
as described. This approach may be used by members of the
Controller’s Office or others who have a need to review data on a
cross-department basis.
•
The “Print” button sends the report to the selected printer without a
preview
•
The “Preview” button allows an on screen preview of the report prior to
sending it to a printer. This is the recommended approach, in that it
allows the user to assess the appropriateness and size of the report prior
to printing.
Custom Trial Balance Detail with Payroll report
The Custom Trial Balance Det/Summ report with Payroll report will provide Payroll detail,
which is associated with employee names/clock numbers. This information is treated as
confidential within the Garden organization. As a result, access to this report will be
controlled on a limited basis. This report will operate in the same way as the Custom Trial
Balance Detail report, with the exception that payroll related detail will be provided.
There is no “summary” version of this report, since presenting summary information for all,
except payroll accounts and detail information for payroll related accounts was deemed to
be an unusual way of presenting information.
2.10. Miscellaneous GL “How To …”
2.10.1.
Change the work date
If the user wants to consistently date their data entry work to a day other than “today” they
can change the work date used by the system for that user. This capability would only be
used by personnel in the Controller’s Office. The work date and the posting dates are
independent values. A posting date can be set to a value other than “today” without having
to change the work date.
In order to change the work date, the user should navigate through the top menu bar from
Tools Æ Work Date, to display the form shown below:
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After the user has reached this form, a new work date can be entered into the system. The
user should click the “OK” button to finalize their selection of a work date.
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3. Projects
Details to be provided later.
Consult the Projects Design Concept document for further details.
3.1. Project Setup
3.1.1.
Project Card
3.1.2.
Project Validation Business Rule Entry
3.1.3.
Project Budget Business Rule Entry
3.1.4.
Project Report Distribution
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3.2. Project Reports
3.2.1.
Overview
There are a variety of reports available within the accounting software that have been
prepared for use by the Garden and affiliated company personnel. In addition to the
prepared Serenic reports, the data contained within the accounting software can be
accessed through the application forms, queries and/or through the use of a custom
reporting tool (Jet Reports). Most of the time, users will interact with the data through the
use of the prepared Serenic reports. This portion of the Users Guide will address how the
prepared reports can be generated and reviewed in a client/server environment and over
the web.
The Serenic reports are constructed for projects that are budget based or for projects that
do not have a budget. The projects with budgets have their actual vs. budget variances
displayed through the “budget variance family” of reports.
Both budget based projects and projects without a budget can be reported using either the
non-budget project reports or the budget variance family of reports. If a project with a
budget is reported on through the use of the non-budget reports, the budget and variance
information is simply not displayed. If a non-budget project is reported through the use of
one of the budget variance family of reports, then the budget will be reflected as $0 and the
variance will be displayed as a comparison of the actual vs. a budget of $0. Hence all
revenues and expenses would appear as a variance.
To best utilize the reporting capabilities provided, projects with budgets should be reported
using the budget variance family of reports. Projects without budgets should be reported
using the non-budget family of reports.
The reports are structured to provide varying levels of data detail.
1st level Æ The Project Balance Report – provides a bottom line comparison of project
revenue and expenses for all projects reported.
2nd level Æ The Project Summary (or Project Budget Variance Summary) Report –
provides detail the natural account level
3rd level Æ The Project Detail (or Project Budget Variance Detail) Report – provides
transaction level detail information, except for salary related
expenses
4th level Æ The Project Detail with Payroll (or Project Budget Variance Detail with Payroll)
Report – provides transaction level detail for all accounts including
payroll detail
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This is illustrated in the table below:
Report Name(s)
Brief report description & how this report would be used
Project Listing
The Project Listing report provides a simple listing of all the
projects contained in the accounting application, their project
name, PI and status.
This report will be used by the Project Administrator(s) to
provide consolidated oversight to the project status levels
Project Report Recipients
The Project Report Recipients report contains a listing of all
the projects contained in the accounting application and who is
currently authorized to receive reports for each project.
This report will be used by the Project Administrator(s) to
provide consolidated oversight to the project report recipient
list.
Project Balances Report
The Project Balances Report provides “one line” status for all
the projects viewable by the user. It reports income & expense
totals status along with balance remaining. It also contains
notes added by the Project Administrator(s).
This report will be used by Project Administrators and Garden
management to provide consolidated oversight to the financial
status of project efforts.
Projects with
budgets
Project Budget
Variance Summary
Projects without
budgets
Project Summary
The Summary reports display financial results for the project,
for the desired period, summarizing data to the natural account
(e.g. 6000 - Salaries-Full Time, 7210 - Supplies, 7070 Consultants, etc.).
This report will be used by the Project Administrator, PI and
Division leaders to review project receipts and expenses to the
natural account level of detail.
Project Budget
Variance Detail
Project Detail
The Detail reports project transaction level information for the
desired period, and summarize the information to the natural
account.
This report will be used by the Project Administrator and PI to
review transactional level detail of the project receipts and
expenditures.
Project Budget
Variance Detail with
Payroll
Project Detail with
Payroll
The Detail with Payroll report will provide further detail to the
payroll related expenditures displayed in the Detail report.
This report will include transactional level detail for payroll
activities (after the detailed data is imported via an interface
from the payroll application)
Distribution of this report will be limited.
3.2.2.
Generating Reports – Client/Server Application
In order to generate reports in the client / server application, the user must first be
authorized to do so. Their authorization is controlled by the system administrator and is
secured through the user setup procedures for the software.
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After the user logs in to the application, within the appropriate company, they will be
presented with the initial menu of choices. From this menu (see below), the user should
select “Projects”, in the left navigation.
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When the Projects menu is available, the user should select “Reports” from the right side
of the main body of the menu (see below):
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The user will be presented with the menu of reports shown below once the user is in the
Reports section of the Project portion of the application (see below). The user should
select the name of the report to be run from this menu
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When the user selects a report, they will be presented with a menu of parameters and
options to consider when generating the report.
To begin the report generation process, the user should click the “Print” button. After
clicking the “Print” button, the Budget Variance Detail report parameters and options will be
displayed, as shown below:
The user can filter the data based on any of the displayed parameters, viewing the valid
choices by using the look-up arrow/button to the right of the filter data line. The user can
assign values or ranges of values to the “Field” parameters shown on the form.
NOTE:
When entering data ranges and data values, there are some specific
keystroke techniques that can be and should be used to facilitate the data
entry. These are listed in the appendix.
Some examples:
• Entering “050104..053104” in the date filter will produce a report
for the period of 5/1/2004 – 5/31/2004.
• Entering “’’..053104” (typed as: two single apostrophes period
period 053104) will produce a report for the period of “beginning of
accounting to 5/31/04
Additionally, the user can select any other “Field” parameter used by Projects by clicking
on the first blank line, and selecting (from the lookup) the type of field to be used for
filtering.
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As a simple example of parameter filtering, to see all of the Division 919 projects for the
period of 05/01/04 thru 05/31/04, the filtering data would be entered as shown below:
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After the filtering information is established to the user’s satisfaction, “Options” for the
report generation should be considered. The options tab appears as shown below:
Different reports have different options available for use. The listing of report names and
options is displayed below:
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After the parameters for the report and the options for the report have been established to
the user’s satisfaction then the “Print..” button or the “Preview” button can be clicked. The
“Print..” button sends the report to a printer, while the “Preview” button provides the user
with a display of the report on their monitor. In either case, selecting “Print..” or “Preview”
will cause the report to begin to generate. It is possible to first Preview a report, and then
to send it to a printer if the report is satisfactory. The time required to generate the report
will depend on how narrowly the user defined the parameters.
WARNING:
If no filter parameters are selected, the software application will generate
a report for all projects. This will result in a 1000+ page report.
The user also has the option to “Cancel” the report generation by selecting the “Cancel”
button at any time during the preparation of the report.
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3.2.3.
Generating Reports – Web-based
UNDER DEVELOPMENT
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3.2.4.
Reading / Using Project Reports
The reports commonly used by PI’s are illustrated and described in detail below:
3.2.4.1. Project Balance Report
Sample report:
Data or Field
Field label
Description
company:
Will display one of the five companies used in the accounting
Location
Upper-header
left
system (Missouri Botanical Garden, MBG Properties, Gateway
Greening, Inc., Center for Plant Conservation, Inc. or Garden
District Commission)
Upper-header
report:
Will display the name of the report.
left
Upper-header
as of:
left
Upper-header
Will display the date chosen on the Options tab when the report
was printed.
presented by:
Will display the order in which the report data is presented. The
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Data or Field
Field label
Description
Location
left
choice for the order of presentation is made on the Options tab
at the time the report is printed. Choices include: Fund,
Department, or Primary Investigator.
Most often this report will be run for a large number of projects
(e.g. all Fund 02U projects, or all of Division 921 projects). For
simplicity’s sake, the sample report displayed above was only
run for one project. Hence, the order of presentation is not
meaningful, as displayed, but it would be for a larger report.
Upper-header
Rollup:
Will display “Yes” or “No”. Some projects are organized within a
left
“parent-child” relationship, with the “parent” project being the
main project and/or the project under which receipts will be
recognized. If the report is generated to consolidate or “rollup”
all of the sub (or “child”) projects into the Parent project, then the
Rollup field will display “Yes”
Upper-header
Last Closed
The Last Closed Accounting Period reflects the month for which
left
Accounting Period:
all accounting entries are completed. Typically, some manual
accounting entries (such as posting of Indirect Expenses for a
period) occur after the calendar month is over, but are posted to
the period in which the expenses were incurred. When an
accounting period is closed, no more accounting entries will be
posted to that period.
It should also be noted that the date for which the report can be
generated can be different than the most recently closed
accounting period. As an example, the report can be run with
today’s date; even if the most recently closed accounting period
is some date in the past.
Upper-header
No label
left
Filter information: the information in this area of the report
indicates how the report was generated & how the data was
filtered for the report. In the example, only project FOR03612
was selected and only for the date of 5/31/04.
Upper-header
Unlabeled
The date and time of the report printing are displayed
Unlabeled
The page number is listed
Unlabeled
The user id of the person generating the report is displayed
No label
The “presented by” values are displayed as a “sub-header”. In
right
Upper-header
right
Upper-header
right
Column header
the example above, sorted by Fund, the sub-header of
“Fund: 02U” is displayed to the far left of the body of the report at
the top of the Fund 02U data.
Column header
Project No.
Displays the Project Numbers of all Projects included in the
reporting
Column header
Project Name
Displays the Project Name of all Projects included in the
reporting
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Data or Field
Field label
Description
Column header
Fund No.
Displays the Fund No. associated with the Project
Column header
Dept
Location
Displays the “home department” associated with the Project, if
any.
Many projects (all Fund 02U projects) will have a home
department associated with the projects. All non-labor expenses
will be associated to this department. Labor expenses will be
associated to the home departments of the individuals charging
the projects with time.
Column header
Revenue as
Displays the total amount of Revenue that is associated to the
of:
project as of the specified date.
MM/DD/YY
Column header
Expenses
Displays the total amount of Expenses posted to the project as
as of:
of the specified date.
MM/DD/YY
Column header
Encumbrances
Displays the total amount of Encumbrances posted to the project
as of:
as of the specified date.
MM/DD/YY
An encumbrance is created by through a posted purchase order
within the accounting system. Commitments with vendors for
purchases are made at the time the order is placed. After the
invoice is entered in the system by the Controller’s Office
personnel then encumbrances become “actual costs”. The
encumbrances as of the end of the filtered date range will be
displayed in the data.
Column header
Column header
Total Expended &
The project actual costs (life to date, as of the date displayed)
Encumbered
and encumbrances (as of the date displayed) will be added
as of
together to represent all of the “Expended & Encumbered
MM/DD/YY
dollars” for the project.
Available
Displays the net amount of Revenue less Total Expended &
Balance as
Encumbered.
of
MM/DD/YY
Column header
Primary Investigator
Displays the single person identified as the Primary Investigator
for the project. The project may have “co-PI’s” assigned to the
project efforts. Each project will have one person identified as
the Primary Investigator. For projects that are not related to
research efforts, the Primary Investigator is the key contact /
project manager of the project effort.
Report body
Data for the selected range of projects will be reported, as of the
date selected for reporting.
The data will be organized, as chosen on the Options tab when
printing the report. Totals will be generated to coincide with the
way in which the report is presented.
Typically many projects will be listed. If the Project Administrator
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Data or Field
Field label
Description
Location
has added comments to the project, for use in this report, the
comments will be displayed on the line(s) immediately under the
corresponding project. The sample does not show any
comments.
Receipts are displayed as positive numbers. Costs are
displayed as negative (-) numbers. If a Transfer removes funds
from the project it will be displayed as a negative (-) number. If a
Transfer adds funds to the project, it will be displayed as a
positive number.
Footer
No label
In order to clearly define the types of Revenue or Expenses that
are included in the report & where they are reflected in the
report, the footer comments have been added.
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3.2.4.2. Project Summary Report
Sample report:
Data or Field
Field label
Description
company:
Location
Upper-header
left
Upper-header
report:
left
Upper-header
left
Rollup:
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Data or Field
Field label
Description
Upper-header
Last Closed
left
Accounting Period:
Location
period) occur after the calendar month is over.
It should also be noted that the dates for which the reports can
be generated can be different than the most recently closed
accounting period. As an example, a report can be generated to
capture posted expenditures through the current date, even
though the last closed accounting period may be the end of the
previous month, several weeks prior.
Upper-header
No label
left
was selected and only for the dates of 5/1/04 through 5/31/04
Upper-header
Unlabeled
Unlabeled
Unlabeled
Mid-header left
Project No.:
The project number will be displayed in this field
Mid-header left
Project Name:
The project name will be displayed in this field
Mid-header left
Sponsor:
right
Upper-header
right
Upper-header
right
If the project is funded by an outside organization, then that
Sponsors name will be displayed in this field
Mid-header left
Sponsor Project No:
If the Sponsor has a number for the project, which may be
(probably is) different than the one used by the company, then
the Sponsor’s project number will be displayed in this field.
Mid-header right
Primary Investigator:
Each project will have one individual listed as the Primary
Investigator. While, there may be multiple Investigators
associated to the project effort, only one Primary Investigator will
be displayed on the accounting report
Mid-header right
Fund
The accounting Fund under which the project’s expenditures are
being tracked will be displayed
Mid-header right
Home Department:
Mid-header right
No label
Project status – The accounting controls project status level will
be displayed. In the example above, at the time of the report,
this project was “Open to All Posting”. Other status levels will
prevent additional labor or expenses from being posted, or will
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Data or Field
Field label
Description
Location
reflect that the project is “Closed” or “Archived”
Column header
No label
The category of expenses or receipts will be listed in the body of
the report (e.g. Receipts, Direct Costs, etc.)
Column header
Natural Account No.
The 4-digit natural account numbers for which there is activity to
report will be displayed.
Column header
Name
The natural account name for which there is activity to report will
be displayed.
Column header
Actual for the
Actual posted transactions for the defined period will be
Period of:
displayed in this column. The period will be defined in the report
MM/DD/YY –
generation process and will also be noted in the “filters” section
MM/DD/YY
of the header. Most often, the period will be a month, however
the date filters could define a different period (e.g. 1/1/04 –
3/31/04)
Column header
Total Project Actual
The actual transactions which were posted anytime between the
as of:
start of the project and the last date (most current) chosen in the
MM/DD/YY
filtering will be displayed. In the example, the transactions for
the project “life to date” through 5/31/04 are displayed.
Column header
Encumbrances as
of:
MM/DD/YY
Column header
Total Actual &
The project actual costs (life to date, through the end of the
Encumbrances as
filtered date range) and encumbrances (as of the end of the
of:
filtered date range) will be added together to represent all of the
MM/DD/YY
“spent and committed dollars” for the project.
Report body
Data for the selected date range will be reported. Receipts are
displayed as positive numbers. Costs are displayed as negative
(-) numbers. If a Transfers removes funds from the project it will
be displayed as a negative (-) number.
Report body –
Project XXX Excess
The columns of information will be summed, displaying the
totals
Revenue (Expense)
balance of receipts with costs. Excess revenue will reflect as
positive numbers. Excess expense will reflect as negative
numbers
Footer
No label
Notes created by the Project Administrator for use by the PI will
be displayed in the footer of the report.
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3.2.4.3. Project Budget Variance Summary Report
Sample report:
Data or Field
Field label
Description
company:
Location
Upper-header
left
Upper-header
report:
left
Upper-header
Rollup:
left
Upper-header
Last Closed
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Data or Field
Field label
Description
Location
left
Accounting Period:
Upper-header
No label
left
Upper-header
Unlabeled
Unlabeled
Unlabeled
Mid-header left
Project No.:
Mid-header left
Project Name:
Mid-header left
Sponsor:
right
Upper-header
right
Upper-header
right
Mid-header left
Sponsor Project No:
Mid-header right
Mid-header right
Fund
Mid-header right
Home Department:
Mid-header right
No label
Column header
No label
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Data or Field
Field label
Description
Location
Column header
Natural Account No.
Column header
Name
The natural account name for which there is activity to report will
be displayed.
Column header
Actual for the
Period of:
MM/DD/YY –
MM/DD/YY
3/31/04)
Column header
Total Project Actual
The actual transactions which were posted anytime between the
as of:
start of the project and the last date (most current) chosen in the
MM/DD/YY
filtering will be displayed. In the example, the transactions for
the project “life to date” through 5/31/04 are displayed.
Column header
Encumbrances as
of:
MM/DD/YY
Column header
Column header
Total Actual &
Encumbrances as
of:
MM/DD/YY
Budget as
If the Project Administrator has entered Project budget
of
information into the accounting system, then the budget values
MM/DD/YY
will be displayed.
Typically the project budget dollars will be entered as having
100% of budget dollars available on the first day of the project.
If the budget dollars are prorated through the life of the project,
then this column’s data will reflect only that portion of the budget
that is available as of the chosen date.
Column header
Variance
Favorable and unfavorable variances will be displayed. These
Fav / -Unfav
will be calculated values generated by comparing the actual +
as of
encumbrances to the budget.
MM/DD/YY
Report body
Report body –
Project XXX Excess
totals
Revenue (Expense)
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Data or Field
Field label
Description
Location
numbers
Footer
No label
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3.2.4.4. Project Detail Report
Sample report:
Data or Field
Field label
Description
company:
Location
Upper-header
left
Upper-header
report:
left
Upper-header
left
Rollup:
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Data or Field
Field label
Description
Upper-header
Last Closed
left
Accounting Period:
Location
Upper-header
No label
left
Upper-header
Unlabeled
Unlabeled
Unlabeled
Mid-header left
Project No.:
Mid-header left
Project Name:
Mid-header left
Sponsor:
right
Upper-header
right
Upper-header
right
Mid-header left
Sponsor Project No:
Mid-header right
Mid-header right
Fund
Mid-header right
Home Department:
Mid-header right
No label
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Data or Field
Field label
Description
Location
Column header
No label
Column header
Natural Account No.
Column header
Document No.
Display the accounting system’s document number for any
detailed transaction utilizing a document number. This is
provided to assist in traceability within the accounting system
Column header
Fnd-Prjct-Acct-Dept
Displays the GL account combination to which the detailed
transaction was charged. The GL account combination is
presented in Fund – Project – Natural Account – Department
Number sequence.
Column header
Posting Date
Displays the posting date for the detailed transaction.
Column header
Description
Displays the posting description, along with the vendor name (if
appropriate)
Column header
Actual for the
Period of:
MM/DD/YY –
MM/DD/YY
3/31/04)
Column header
Encumbrances as
of:
MM/DD/YY
Column header
Total Actual &
Encumbrances as
of:
MM/DD/YY
Report body
The data is organized and subtotaled by Natural Account
Number. The data is further subtotaled by category of receipts
or expenses.
Report body –
Project XXX Excess
totals
Revenue (Expense)
numbers
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Data or Field
Field label
Description
Location
Footer
No label
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3.2.4.5. Project Budget Variance Detail Report
Sample report:
Data or Field
Field label
Description
company:
Location
Upper-header
left
Upper-header
report:
left
Upper-header
left
Rollup:
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Data or Field
Field label
Description
Location
Upper-header
Last Closed
left
Accounting Period:
Upper-header
No label
left
Upper-header
Unlabeled
Unlabeled
Unlabeled
Mid-header left
Project No.:
Mid-header left
Project Name:
Mid-header left
Sponsor:
right
Upper-header
right
Upper-header
right
Mid-header left
Sponsor Project No:
Mid-header right
Mid-header right
Fund
Mid-header right
Home Department:
Mid-header right
No label
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Data or Field
Field label
Description
Location
Column header
No label
Column header
Natural Account No.
Column header
Document No.
Column header
Fnd-Prjct-Acct-Dept
Number sequence.
Column header
Posting Date
Column header
Description
appropriate)
Column header
Actual for the
Period of:
MM/DD/YY –
MM/DD/YY
3/31/04)
Column header
Encumbrances as
of:
MM/DD/YY
Column header
Column header
Total Actual &
Encumbrances as
of:
MM/DD/YY
Budget as
of
MM/DD/YY
will be displayed.
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Data or Field
Field label
Description
Variance
Fav / -Unfav
as of
Location
Column header
MM/DD/YY
Report body
or expenses.
Report body –
Project XXX Excess
totals
Revenue (Expense)
numbers
Footer
No label
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3.2.4.6. Project Detail Report with Payroll
Sample report:
Data or Field
Field label
Description
company:
Location
Upper-header
left
Upper-header
report:
left
Upper-header
left
Rollup:
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Data or Field
Field label
Description
Location
Upper-header
Last Closed
left
Accounting Period:
Upper-header
No label
left
Upper-header
Unlabeled
Unlabeled
Unlabeled
Mid-header left
Project No.:
Mid-header left
Project Name:
Mid-header left
Sponsor:
right
Upper-header
right
Upper-header
right
Mid-header left
Sponsor Project No:
Mid-header right
Mid-header right
Fund
Mid-header right
Home Department:
Mid-header right
No label
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Data or Field
Field label
Description
Location
Column header
No label
Column header
Natural Account No.
Column header
Document No.
Column header
Fnd-Prjct-Acct-Dept
Number sequence.
Column header
Posting Date
Column header
Description
appropriate)
Column header
Payroll Clock No.
Displays the payroll clock number of the individual for which a
detailed payroll transaction is displayed
Column header
Employee Name
Displays the employee name of the individual for which a
Column header
No. of Hours
Displays the number of employee hours charged to the project
for any detailed payroll transaction
Column header
Actual for the
Period of:
MM/DD/YY –
MM/DD/YY
3/31/04)
Column header
Encumbrances as
of:
MM/DD/YY
Column header
Report body
Total Actual &
Encumbrances as
of:
MM/DD/YY
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Data or Field
Field label
Description
Location
or expenses.
Report body –
Project XXX Excess
totals
Revenue (Expense)
numbers
Footer
No label
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3.2.4.7. Project Budget Variance Detail with Payroll
Sample report:
Data or Field
Field label
Description
company:
Location
Upper-header
left
Upper-header
report:
left
Upper-header
left
Rollup:
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Data or Field
Field label
Description
Location
Upper-header
Last Closed
left
Accounting Period:
Upper-header
No label
left
Upper-header
Unlabeled
Unlabeled
Unlabeled
Mid-header left
Project No.:
Mid-header left
Project Name:
Mid-header left
Sponsor:
right
Upper-header
right
Upper-header
right
Mid-header left
Sponsor Project No:
Mid-header right
Mid-header right
Fund
Mid-header right
Home Department:
Mid-header right
No label
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Data or Field
Field label
Description
Location
Column header
No label
Column header
Natural Account No.
Column header
Document No.
Column header
Fnd-Prjct-Acct-Dept
Number sequence.
Column header
Posting Date
Column header
Description
appropriate)
Column header
Payroll Clock No.
Displays the payroll clock number of the individual for which a
Column header
Employee Name
Displays the employee name of the individual for which a
Column header
No. of Hours
Displays the number of employee hours charged to the project
for any detailed payroll transaction
Column header
Actual for the
Period of:
MM/DD/YY –
MM/DD/YY
3/31/04)
Column header
Encumbrances as
of:
MM/DD/YY
Column header
Column header
Total Actual &
Encumbrances as
of:
MM/DD/YY
Budget as
of
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Data or Field
Field label
Description
MM/DD/YY
will be displayed.
Location
Column header
Variance
Fav / -Unfav
as of
MM/DD/YY
Report body
or expenses.
Report body –
Project XXX Excess
totals
Revenue (Expense)
numbers
Footer
No label
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4. Purchases & Payables
The Serenic Navigator Purchase & Payables functionality has been customized to meet
the Garden’s requirements. In a very general sense, the overall business process can be
depicted as shown below:
Purchase to Pay Business Process
Vendor Management
Requisition
Purchase
Receive
Accounts
Payable
Payment
Item Management
The Garden, and its affiliated companies have elected to deploy the Purchase & Payables
(or Purchase to Pay – aka: PTP) functionality in a way which best aligns with the intended
business process. The diagram only serves to illustrate a generic approach to PTP
functionality.
The PTP functionality developed within the Serenic Navigator software for the Garden can
be described as:
Vendor Management – The Vendor Management capability is based on two significant
components:
The Vendor Master: The vendor master information will be managed by the
Controller’s Office personnel. The Vendor Master is the long listing of vendors
available for use within the purchasing and accounts payable functionality of the
software. Think of it as “the phone book” for the accounting software. The Vendor
Master contains thousands of vendor cards & will continue to grow, over time,
through the use of the software.
The Vendor Views: The vendor views are subsets of the Vendor Master. Each
Purchasing user is associated to a Division of the organization. Each Division is
able to establish its own view of the vendor master for use in the purchasing
process. As an example, the vendor views will allow for users in Horticulture to
not have to see & sort through all the vendors that have nothing to do with their
aspect of the business. Vendor views are controlled by the users, but are shared
by all users within a Division. Think of the Vendor Views as your personal
Rolodex or address book, while the Vendor Master is the phone book for the
company.
The overall approach to Vendor Management will be described later in this document.
Item Management – Currently the Garden is not employing the item management
capability of the software. This is appropriate given its intended use. If, in the future, the
Garden desired to track inventories of specific items, then this capability could be
employed.
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Requisitions – Currently the Garden has chosen to not employ a formal requisitioning
process enabled through the software. Some user groups may have a practice of email
requisitions or handwritten notes as requisitions. These approaches, enabled & supported
outside of the accounting software, are deemed to be sufficient currently. While the
accounting software can support a requisition process, the Garden has chosen to not “turn
it on” at this time, but rather to rely on its traditional & satisfactory approaches to
requisitioning.
Purchasing – At the heart of the process, and reflective of a major change in Garden
operations, is the new Purchasing capability. The initial approaches to Purchasing are
described later in this document and will be prototyped through the MBG IT organization
(Division 839, Department 039). It is important to note that the purchasing functionality
enables the encumbrance accounting desired by the Garden. With encumbrance
accounting in place, the Garden will have a more timely view of their financial
commitments.
Receiving – The Garden’s approach to enable receiving in the software reflects some
needed flexibility to accommodate Purchase Orders (PO’s) which require the items to be
received, as well as PO’s for which there is not a physical receipt performed. Additionally,
the Garden has elected to continue the process of receiving invoices in the department
which bought the goods, so a procedure to recognize the receipt of a vendor invoice has
been included in the software’s functionality.
Accounts Payable – The Garden will continue to manage a centralized accounts payable
process, now supported through the improved tools provided by the software.
Payment Processing – The Garden will now be able to complete vendor payments based
on payment terms established with the vendor. The software will generate checks based
on when invoices are due to be paid, allowing invoices to age within the accounting
software. This automates a difficult task which had been managed outside of the
accounting software in the past.
4.1. Setup
We should begin our discussion of the PTP functionality by first acknowledging some
significant setup related issues. These topics will be encountered routinely by a System
Administrator who is responsible to insure that the PTP functionality is working properly
and supporting the needs of the Garden and affiliated companies. These setup needs are
in addition to the initial setup and configuration of the software which was performed by
CASI as part of the implementation effort.
4.1.1.
User Setup
As users are established in the system (see Section 1.2), each user is associated to a
Division and, if appropriate, assigned a Purchasing Role. For users with access to this
portion of the application, the User Setup card can be found by following the navigation
path of: General Ledger Æ Setup Æ User Setup Æ Security tab. See screenshot below:
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Note that the User Setup Card contains multiple tabs. On the GENERAL tab, the user’s ID
Name & Title are entered. If they manage other employees, they are notes as a manager
by inserting the check in the checkbox for that field. The User Group Code is established
to control their view of the data in the database. The User Level Code is established only
as a characteristic of the user. The User Level Code, at this time, does not control any
functionality within the software. The User’s Reporting relationship is noted, along with
their default “Deliver-to” address.
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The SECURTITY tab, shown above, sets the Main Menu ID. This feature controls the
appearance of the menus for the user. Users with a wide set of responsibilities in the
software will see a longer menu structure than those users with a more narrow set of
responsibilities. CASI can create new menu IDs if needed to insure that the items
available on the users’ menus align with their responsibilities. Additionally, on this portion
of the User Setup card, the user can be provided with access to all vendors (if that box is
checked). Providing access to all vendors disables the use of Vendor Views. Normally,
only personnel in the Controller’s Office would want access to all vendors.
Also on this portion of the User Setup card, the user is assigned a Purchasing Document
Filter Level. The choices include:
•
Buyer – limits the user’s view of Purchasing documents to those which they have
created. This limitation provides the user benefit of narrowing down the number of
documents to be reviewed if they are searching for a specific document. It also
limits buyers from viewing other users purchasing activities.
•
Manager – limits the user to view Purchasing documents within their Division,
which could include the work of multiple buyers.
•
Accounting – enables the user to view all Purchasing documents without regard
to user origination and Division association. This broad view is required for users
working across Divisions of the Garden
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4.1.2.
Vendor View Setup
In order to limit the number of vendors that need to be reviewed in selecting one for
inclusion on a PO, a “Vendor View” may be established. The view only serves to as a user
aid for the buyers as they look-up vendors. All vendors in the vendor master are available
for use by any buyer at any time. The Vendor View helps narrow the buyer’s focus to
those vendors used by the buyer’s division. As an example, the current vendor master
contains over 6,000 vendors; where as a specific division may only routinely use 200 of
those vendors. Vendor views are created to prevent the inconvenience of searching /
scrolling through 6,000+ vendors to find the one to be used on a PO.
NOTE:
If no vendors are listed in a vendor view for a division, then all Buyers and
Managers will have access to ALL vendors in the Vendor Master,
regardless of how the “Access to all Vendors” checkbox is set on the user
card. If however, the Vendor View is populated by only one vendor for the
Buyer or Manager’s division and they do not have authority to view all
vendors, then they will only see one vendor in their lookup lists
To “activate” the Vendor View functionality for a Division, at least one vendor
must be included in the Vendor View.
Vendor Views are “self-administered” by the users of the system. Vendor Views are
unique to a Division and shared across users within that Division. Users can add or delete
vendors from their divisions vendor view.
To change the content of the divisions vendor view, navigate through Purchase &
Payables Æ Setup Æ Vendor Views by Division, as shown below:
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You will find one Division’s listing presented (it may be blank & contain neither vendor
codes nor names). A sample of Division 839’s is shown below:
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To navigate to another Division, click anywhere in the window and hit the F5 key. This will
return a listing of Division numbers and names, as shown below:
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You can select a Division code/name by clicking in the left gray box associated with the
selection. This click should highlight the row, as shown below:
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After the correct row is highlighted, click the “OK” button to see the Vendor View listing for
the selected Division
As you can see in the screen shot above, the Vendor View listing for the Human Resource
Management Division is blank. No Vendors have been added to the view, at this time. As
a result, the Buyers and Managers of the Human Resource Management Division would
have to view 100% of the vendor master in order to select a vendor from a list.
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To add a vendor to a division view, click on the lookup arrow in the first available row in the
Vendor No. column and the Vendor List will be presented. The user can scroll or navigate
to the Vendor that they would like to add to the list and hit Enter to add them to the list.
Alternatively, if the user knows the Vendor No. they can simply type it in the Vendor No.
field on the first empty row of the Vendor View list
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In the screen shot below, the user has navigated to the Ceridian Employer Services vendor
(CEREMP) and has highlighted the vendor in the Vendor list. Simply clicking “OK” at this
point will add the vendor to the Vendor View.
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After clicking “OK”, the vendor is added to the vendor view:
To delete a vendor from a vendor view, simply highlight that vendor and click the “Delete”
key or click the “F4” key on your keyboard.
4.1.3.
User Group Code Business Rule Setup
The User Group Codes and associated business rules are used to control access to data
in the GL. The procedures for establishing the User Groups and for setting up the
Business Rules have been detailed in sections 1.2.4.1 and 1.2.4.2 of this user guide.
4.1.4.
Workflow Setup
Workflow definitions are required in order to enable the Approval Processing associated
with the Purchasing & Payables functionality. A workflow setup is a set of instructions for
the application to use, in processing transactions through the Approval Processing. There
are many workflow setups required to provide sufficient “granularity” for an organization the
size of the Garden. The Approval Business rules serve to define which transactions are
used with which workflow routings.
We’ll look at two examples of a workflow routing. To view the workflows, the Super user
should navigate from the General Ledger Menu Æ Setup Æ Workflow Management Æ
Routing Codes, to get to a workflow card. To see all of the workflows listed, the Super
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user should click the F5 key to generate a list. The list will look like the screenshot
provided below:
Currently, every Division of the Garden has 4 unique workflows. One is for non-project
transactions less than $10,000. Another is for non-project transactions equal to or greater
than $10,000. The third is for project transactions less than $10,000 and the fourth is for
project transactions equal to or greater than $10,000. A workflow must be defined for each
unique approval routing.
Workflow 839-NPM is illustrated in the screenshot below:
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This workflow simply specifies that CMILLER will be the first and only person in this
workflow and that their approval of the transaction is required in order to satisfy the
approval processing for any transactions managed by this workflow. This is as simple as it
gets!
Workflow 839-PE is illustrated in the screenshot below:
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This workflow indicates that there are 3 users involved in a defined sequence. Initially,
CMILLER must approve the transaction being managed by the workflow. Upon
CMILLER’s approval, DSCHMITT’s approval will be required. Lastly, after the first two
have successfully approved the transaction, MOLSON must approve the transaction.
WARNING:
4.1.5.
Serenic Navigator’s capability to define Workflows and Approval Business
Rules allows for the possibility of very detailed or “granular” control of
transactions within the accounting software. However, as the rules are
made more granular (i.e. to a Department level rather than Division level)
there is more maintenance and setup required within the application.
Business leaders will need to choose an effective balance between
systemic controls and maintenance requirements.
Approval Business Rule Setup
The Approval Business rules created in support of the Purchasing & Payables functionality
determine when a transaction should be submitted through the approval process, using
defined workflows. Only Super users have the authority to create and/or edit business
rules.
To edit or create an Approval Business rule, the Super user should navigate from General
Ledger Menu Æ Setup Æ Business Rules, to get to the Business Rule card. Clicking the
F5 key will list the business rules and display the screenshot shown below:
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Since approval business rules and defined workflows work in conjunction with one another,
the type of approval business rules created is a reflection of the workflow complexity. For
the Garden’s operation there are currently two types of Approval Rules that have been
developed. One rule is for transactions that do not include a project code. The other rule
is for transactions including a project code. We’ll look at examples of each.
The screenshots below are the approval rule for non-project transactions for Division 839:
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On the General tab, the Code for the business rule is established. The naming convention
for the Garden for Approval business rules has been to use a code of “APRV – NP or P –
Dept/Division #”. The rule displayed above is “APRV-NP-839”, or the Approval Business
Rule for Non-Project transactions for Division 839. The checkboxes in the header
indicates that this business rule is an “Approval” business rule and that it is “Active”.
The type of transactions to which the rule applies is defined in the lower section of the
Business Rule form. In this case, the rule applies to any GL account transaction for which
the GLACCOUNT code is greater than or equal to 6000 (eliminates balance sheet and
income accounts from the rule), and, where the PROJECT code is blank (‘’), and, where
the DIVISION is equal to 839. This combined set of conditions defines what transactions
are to be treated with this business rule.
The “Approval” tab defines what happens to the transactions that have been defined on the
General tab. The screenshot of the Approval tab for the business rule is shown below:
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All transactions defined by the setup on the General tab will be subject to the approval rule
criteria shown in the screenshot. All line transactions between $500.00 and $9,999.99 will
use Workflow Routing Code “839-NPM”. All line transactions between $10,000.00 and
$999,999,999.00 will use Workflow Routing Code “839-NPE”.
When creating a new Approval Business rule, the Super user will want to have considered
which workflow to use & will have needed to create a new workflow, prior to creating the
Approval Business Rule, if a new workflow is required. Additionally, the Super user will
need to click the “Functions” button and select “Verify” in order to both test the validity of
the rule they have created and to activate the rule. Inactive rules provide no governance to
transactions.
4.1.6.
Budget Validation Business Rule Setup
As most purchasing transactions are processed, they are subjected to a business rule
which compares the subject transaction to the budget available for the transaction’s
account code. This comparison is completed based on the appropriate business rule for
the transaction.
To view the business rules associated with budget comparisons, the Super user should
navigate from the General Ledger Menu Æ Setup Æ Business Rules to get to the business
rule card. Once the Super user is on the business rule card, they can click the F5 key to
view a list of business rules, such as the one shown below:
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The business rule for non-project transactions for Division 839 is coded “BDGT-NP-839”,
and is shown in the screenshot below:
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As with other business rules, the set of transactions for which this rule will apply is defined
on the General tab. The header of the business rule card defines the code, effective date,
description and the type of business rule (Budget). The lines on the business rule card
indicate that this rule will be applied to transactions that come from a Purchase Order
(SOURCECODE = PURCHORD), with a GLACCOUNT of greater than or equal to 6000
(the expense accounts), where the PROJECT is blank (‘’) and the DIVISION is 839.
After the General tab has defined the types of transactions for which the rule will be
applied, the specific business rule is defined on the Budget tab, as shown in the
screenshot below:
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This business rule is constructed to compare the budget $’s available year to date for the
GL Account, Fund, Department combination, with the Actual and Encumbered amount
year to date. When the rule is within 5% of being violated, workflow 839-NPM is utilized to
request approval for the expenditure via the Approval Processing function.
As a basis for an example, let’s say account 7210, for Fund 01U and Dept 039 was
budgeted for $1,000 per month beginning Jan 1, 2005. In January of that year, the
available budget would be $1,000. On February 1st, another $1,000 would be added to the
available budget, raising the year to date amount to $2,000. By May 1st, a total of $5,000
would be the year to date available budget. If by May 1st, $3,750 of Actual expenses for
account 7210, Fund 01U, Dept 039 had already been posted, and another $750 had been
encumbered to the same account, then this budget rule would consider $500 to be
“available” for new expenditures (or Purchase Orders). With this example, if a PO to the
account was written for $100, the PO would pass the rule and no Approval processing
would be invoked ($4,500 + $100 < 95%*$5,000). If however, a PO in the amount of $400
was written to this account, the business rule would cause the Approval Processing to
“flag” this transaction for someone’s attention & disposition.
WARNING:
As with workflows and Approval Business Rules, Serenic Navigator
provides the technical capability to define Budget business rules to a very
detailed or “granular” level. Business leaders will need to define the level
of detail to be monitored within the application. More detailed
requirements for monitoring result in more detailed requirements for setup
and maintenance of the business rules.
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WARNING:
The Garden has undertaken a practice of creating a set of budget
numbers for each fiscal/calendar year. Each year’s budget is named
uniquely (e.g. OPER-2005). This unique budget name is referenced in
each budget business rule. Updating this field of the budget business
rules will be an annual maintenance requirement for a Super user in the
Controller’s Office.
NOTE:
The budget oversight capability of the software is based on several
operational components. Most obviously, the budget business rules will
need to be in place. Additionally, an accurate budget must be recorded
within the system, as the basis for monitoring. Lasting, timely posting of
expenses needs to occur if the rules are to be beneficial to the end user.
Posting expense entries into accounting periods several weeks after that
accounting period’s calendar has lapsed, will not provide any support to
operational decisions within the calendar period. As an example, if
December’s expenses aren’t fully posted until mid-February, when the
Budget Manager is making Purchasing decisions in December, only those
transactions encumbered or expensed at the time will influence the
software’s ability to provide oversight. If the Budget Manager’s operation
is utilizing the Purchasing & Payable’s capability to create encumbrances,
then the software will probably have timely encumbrance data to use in the
budget analysis. If however, the Budget Manager’s operation is not using
the PTP capability to create encumbrances and is exclusively relying on
posted expense entries to provide budget management, then there is a
need for timely posting of expenses to support the budget oversight.
4.2. Vendor Management
The Vendor card setup will be performed by Controller’s Office personnel. The Vendor
Master (all of the Vendor cards) is at the heart of the Purchasing and Payables operation.
Details to the setup of the vendor card are provided elsewhere in this Users Guide. Most
PTP users will have “View Only” access to the Vendor Cards
4.2.1.
Vendor Setup
New vendor administration and setup will be done by AP users in the Controller’s Office. If
a buyer has the need to establish a new vendor in the accounting software, they should
contact Cheryl Mill and Sharon Harnes via email with the details required for the setup.
Setting up a vendor ….
4.2.2.
Vendor View Management
A user’s view of the Vendor Master data may be constrained through the implementation of
a Vendor View.
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Vendor views are discussed in detail in the Purchases & Payables Setup section of this
User Guide. Please refer to Section 4.1.2 for additional detail.
4.2.3.
Vendor Invoice Status Lookup
PTP Users may find themselves wanting to respond to a vendor question or internal
question about the status of a vendor invoice, the user should first navigate to the Vendor
Card, by selecting “Vendors” on the Purchases and Payables menu:
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The user should find the vendor card for the vendor in question, through any means of
navigation (Fast Find, Forward / Back, etc.). After the user has selected the appropriate
vendor card, the user should click the “Vendor” button and choose the “Ledger Entries”
option
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The Ledger Entries for the chosen vendor will be displayed as shown below. The data
presented on the vendor ledger entry screen will be filtered based on the User’s Group
Code. User Group Codes have been established to limit users to seeing data that is
specific to their Department or Division, as well as prohibiting the viewing of Balance Sheet
or Payroll-related transactions. Users in the Controller’s Office will have access to all data
within the database.
To find a specific vendor invoice number, the user can place their cursor in the External
Document No. field and type the vendor’s invoice number. The Fast Find functionality will
guide the user to the chosen/typed vendor invoice number. The user can also scroll
through the screen to find the chosen vendor invoice number.
After a specific vendor invoice number (External Document No.) has been chosen, the
user should check the ledger entry line to see if the line is Open or has a Remaining
Amount of >$0. If there is a Remaining Amount of $0, then the invoice has been Paid in
Full.
To find the MBG check number for the invoice payment, the user should click on the
“Application” button, and then select the “Applied Entries” choice
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After selecting “Applied Entries”, the user will be presented with the Applied Vendor Entry
information. In the example shown below, MBG payment was made with Check No.
(Document No.) 220494, posted 9/07/04
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4.2.4. Setting up and Printing 1099 Documents
In January and February of every year, each company must print and distribute 1099
documentation reflecting the 1099 eligible transactions of the prior year for each vendor
with which a material level of 1099 transactions had occurred.
The 1099 documentation is produced on pre-printed forms. Serenic Navigator can
produce the information for any year in history, at any point in time. The information in
Serenic Navigator can be printed to plain paper, prior to the final production of the 1099
documents, in order to proof the information prior to final production.
4.2.4.1. Establishing the Minimum Reporting Level
To set the minimum reporting level for each company, navigate to the Purchases &
Payables menu, select “Setup” in the lower right portion of the menu. From the Setup
menu, select “1099 Forms-Boxes”, as shown below:
After completing the navigation listed above, the user will be presented with the screen
shown below:
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Please note that there are a large number of 1099 codes from which to choose. The user
should select the code for which they wish to establish a minimum reportable value (as
shown in the right hand column of the form). To change a value, the user should simply
navigate to the correct code line and type a new value in the “Minimum Reportable”
column. In the screenshot displayed above, the MISC-07 code has a minimum reportable
quantity of $600.
After having set the minimum reportable quantity, any production of the 1099
documentation will filter out the vendors whose transactions do not total at least the
minimum reportable value for the reporting period.
NOTE: The Minimum Reportable value must be set for each COMPANY for
each 1099 type. Therefore, it is possible to have a different reporting
“threshold” for each company. Establishing the value in one company,
DOES NOT establish the value for all companies.
4.2.4.2. Running 1099 reports
To produce 1099 documentation, the user should navigate to the Purchase & Payables
menu, selecting the “Documents” menu item in the upper right portion of the menu. After
selecting “Documents”, the user will be presented with the screen shown below:
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To print the “Vendor 1099 Misc” documentation, select that record and click the “Print”
button. After the user clicks the “Print” button, they will have an opportunity to set some
reporting parameters as shown in the screenshots below:
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On the “Vendor Filter” tab, the user can enter vendor codes on the “No.” line, if the user
wishes to selectively produce the 1099 documentation. As an example, if the user wants
to only print the 1099 documentation for vendor “John Smith”, they count enter the vendor
code “JOHSMI” in the filter field of the No. line to selectively produce only that vendor’s
1099 documentation.
Leaving the filter blank will cause documentation to be produced for all of the eligible
vendors (based on the minimum reporting value established in the previous section).
On the “Options” tab, the user will, more than likely, need to change the year value, as
shown below:
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The Calendar Year value will be defaulted based on the working date of the application at
the time this process is executed. Since 1099 documentation is routinely produced in
January and February of the year following the reporting calendar year, the value in the
Calendar Year field will, more than likely need to be reset to the previous calendar year. In
the screenshot above, the calendar year is defaulted to 2005, yet the period for which
reports are to be generated is likely calendar year 2004. So the date will need to be reset.
1099 documentation can be produced at any time, for any period for which there is history
using this feature.
After the correct period is selected, the user can either click “Preview” to see the
documentation produced on the monitor, or click “Print” to send the documentation to the
printer.
When producing the final version of the documentation, the user should take care to insure
that the pre-printed form orientation is correct. This can be accomplished through trial and
error, using a Xerox copy of the pre-printed form.
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4.3. Item Management
Item management processes are typically employed in businesses which require inventory
tracking. Serenic Navigator has item tracking capability, but the Garden has elected to not
invest in that capability. The Retail Operations of the Garden have independent software
applications which provide item management processes for their operation. No further
detail about item management processes are included in this User Guide.
4.4. Requisitioning Process
Requisition business processes provide the way in which the need to purchase is
recognized by a purchasing system. Serenic Navigator provides capability to support the
requisition process, however it was determined that the Serenic Navigator requisitioning
process would not be implemented at the Garden at this time. Rather, the Garden’s
operations will rely on its historical approaches to requisition management. These
approaches will be specified and managed within the divisions. Typically the approaches
include the use of written notes, email, phone calls, personal conversations, etc. to prompt
the creation of a purchase order.
4.5. Purchasing Process
The Purchasing business process flow is depicted below:
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Buyer creates PO
(with or without
item receiving
required)
Buyer submits PO
for review
PO < $500
?
PO >$500 but
<$10,000 ?
No
Yes
No
OK ?
Yes
therefore PO Amount > $10,000
Yes
Budget Validation
Performed
Rework PO or
Budget or override
Budget via Budget
Mgr
No
Budget Validation
Performed
Yes
PO include
Fund 02U
expense ?
Approval routing to:
1st - Budget Mgr,
2nd - Project Admin
Budget Validation
Performed
No
Yes
Approval routing
to:
Budget Mgr
Approval routing to:
1st - Budget Mgr,
2nd - Project Admin,
3rd - Controller
Rework
Approve
PO is Approved
and accounts are
Encumbered
No
No
PO include
Fund 02U
expense ?
No
Approval routing
to:
1st - Budget Mgr,
2nd - Controller
Rework
Approve
Yes
Yes
No
Approve
Yes
No
Approve
Yes
Serenic Navigator supports the Purchasing Process by offering an automated way to:
• Create a PO which requires item receiving
• Create a PO which does not require item receiving
• Validate planned expenditures against budget
• Manage approval workflows
• Encumbering accounts after budgetary validation and approvals have occurred
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4.5.1.
Creating a Purchase Order – “The Basics”
In order to create a purchase order within Serenic Navigator, the buyer should be prepared
with information about the item(s) to be ordered, the vendor from which it is to be ordered,
the specifics of the items (including description and price) and the company accounting
codes to be used for the transaction.
Purchase orders can be created in a way which requires the items to go through a
receiving process, or they can be exempt from a receiving process. Typically, service
items would not be received. As an example, contracting for 4 hours of a musical group’s
time could be documented through the use of a purchase order, but it is unlikely that the
buyer would want to use the receiving process to indicate that the 4 hours of service had
been performed. Similarly, some small purchases may not warrant the rigor of the
receiving process. As an example, if two cables, with a total price of $20 were ordered via
a purchase order, it may not be efficient to use the receiving process to provide the
additional controls for the transaction. Whereas, if an order for 3 servers totaling $45,000
is placed, receiving controls would likely be used to track the transaction through to
completion. Divisional users will determine when receiving controls are to be activated on
a purchase order by purchase order basis.
To create a Purchase Order the user should navigate to the Purchases & Payables menu:
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The user will click on the menu item for “Purchase Orders” to display:
To complete the Purchase Order the user will:
1. Tab out of the “No.” field to have the system automatically assign a PO number
2. Select a “Buy-from Vendor No.” either from the list or by typing the correct value
3. Confirm that the Buy-from information which is automatically populated onto the
form is correct.
4. Optionally, select a different “Buy-from Address Code” if the vendor has multiple
addresses
5. Optionally complete the “Requested For” field
6. Optionally complete the “Deliver-to Address Code”
7. Optionally check the “Item Receiving Required” checkbox
NOTE:
It is the policy of the Garden to create purchase order documentation for
orders equal to or greater than $500 in value. PO’s can be created for
total values of less than $500. The operating department’s discretion
should be applied when considering the use of Purchase Orders for values
of less than $500.
It is the policy of the Garden to require receiving functions be performed for PO
lines greater than or equal to $500
8. On the PO line select or type the Natural Account, Project Code (if needed), the
Fund No., and the Department Code to be charged. Note any Validation Errors
that occur during the assignment of the accounting codes
9. Optionally, enter an Item Class (e.g. cables, monitors, etc.)
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10. Either accept the Description which is defaulted from the Natural Account Number
or, most likely, enter a description of the item/service to be purchased
11. Enter the Order Qty
12. Enter the Order Unit Cost
13. A Comment may be added to the PO line by clicking the “Line” button at the
bottom of the form and following the “Comment” menu item displayed.
14. Repeat PO line entries until the Purchase Order is complete
15. Note that the Line Status level will be “NEW”
16. Click the “Submit Order for Review” button on the bottom of the form to complete
the Purchase Order process
17. Note that the Line Status level has changes to either “Pending Approval” or
“Approved”.
18. After the PO has been fully “Approved” the order may be optionally printed by
clicking the “Print Order” button at the bottom of the form. The user can then print
any of three formats for the PO. Options include the “For Vendor”, “For
Department”, “For Receiving”
19. The buyer should communicate the PO information to the Vendor for fulfillment.
4.5.2.
Creating a Purchase Order – “In Detail”
An explanation of each field on the Purchase Order form is provided in greater detail
below:
Data or Field
Field label
Description
Location
General Tab –
No.
This is the Purchase Order Number. It is automatically assigned
header left side
by the software. In order to get a PO number assigned, the user
should tab through the field.
General Tab –
Buy-from Vendor No.
header left side
This is the Vendor number associated with each vendor.
Typically it is the first three letters of the first name of the vendor
along with the first three letters of the second name of the
vendor (e.g. Ace Hardware = ACEHAR). The user can either
type the code or lookup the code to find the correct vendor.
Vendors have “Buy-from” addresses and “Pay-to” addresses.
Buyers should only care about the “Buy-from” addresses. The
Accounts Payable function will insure that the correct “Pay-to”
address is used in making payment to the vendor.
If a new Vendor is needed, then the Controller’s Office should be
contacted to setup the vendor information.
General Tab –
Buy-from Address
Some vendors may have multiple Buy From addresses. As an
header left side
Code
example, Ace Hardware may have multiple locations from which
to buy goods. The Buyer should insure that they are using the
correct Buy-from Address Code when multiple addresses are
possible. Typically, the most popular address will be defaulted
into the address information for the vendor.
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Data or Field
Field label
Description
Location
If a new Buy-from Address is required, the Buyer can add the
address following the procedure in this document.
General Tab –
Buy-from Vendor
This name is defaulted from the Vendor Card. The user should
header left side
Name
not have to enter a new name. If the vendor name is not
appropriate, but the vendor code is, then the Controller’s Office
should be contacted to fix the Vendor Card
General Tab –
Buy-from Address
header left side
General Tab –
will change if a Buy-from Address code is selected
Buy-from Address 2
header left side
General Tab –
Bu-from Address City
Buy-from State
This information is defaulted from the vendor card, initially, but
Buy-from Zip Code
header left side
General Tab –
header left side
General Tab –
This is simply an additional address line which may be used for
the vendor.
header left side
General Tab –
Buy-from Contact
header left side
will change if a Buy-from Address code is selected. The buyer
may type information into this field that is specific to the PO. It is
an optional field
General Tab –
Order Date
This field defaults in the working date for the user. The working
header right side
date is typically the same as the calendar date. This data can
be changed by the buyer if necessary.
General Tab –
Created By
The information in this field is auto populated & will display the
header right side
General Tab –
userid of the individual logged in to create the PO
Requested For
This field is optional & can allow the Buyer to note for whom the
header right side
PO is created. This may be particularly useful for tracking PO
information. This information is also populated on the PO print
out for Receiving and for the Department.
General Tab –
Deliver-to Address
There are a variety of receiving locations that have been noted
header right side
Code
within the software. A “Deliver-to Address” may be chosen by
selecting from the available codes. If additional codes are
required, contact the System Administrator. This code controls
the “Ship to Information” on the printed PO
General Tab –
header right side
Order Status:
Approval
Receipt
This field is populated by the software & will track the status of
the order in its Approval cycle, as well as the status of any
receipts to be performed for the order and the status of the
Invoice(s) associated with the Order
Invoice
Mid Header
Item Received
This checkbox should be clicked/checked if the user knows that
Required
they want to use the item receiving process as part of the
operational and financial controls associated with the Purchase
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Data or Field
Field label
Description
Location
Order. If the box is not checked, upon the completion of each
line of the PO the user will be provided a reminder message that
asks them if receiving is required. Responding with a “Yes” to
the reminder message will place a check in this box.
Shipping Tab –
Ship-to Name
This is automatically populated based on the company within
header left side
Shipping Tab –
which the Purchase Order is created
Ship-to Address
This is automatically populated based on the Deliver-to Address
header left side
Shipping Tab –
Code chosen on the General tab
Ship-to Address 2
header left side
Shipping Tab –
Ship-to City
header left side
Shipping Tab –
Ship-to State
header left side
Shipping Tab –
Ship-to Zip Code
header left side
Shipping Tab –
Ship-to Contact
header left side
Shipping Tab –
Ship-to UPS Zone
header left side
Shipping Tab –
Shipment Method
header right side
Code
Currently not utilized, but available if needed
Shipping Tab –
Payment Method
header right side
Code
Shipping Tab –
Requested Receipt
User defined date that will appear on the Purchase Order as the
header right side
Date
“Requested Delivery Date”
Shipping Tab –
Promised Receipt
User entered value based on date provided by the vendor
header right side
Date
Shipping Tab –
Expected Receipt
User entered value – typically not important unless inventory
header right side
Date
planning is being utilized. Value will appear on the Purchase
Currently not utilized, but available if needed
Order as the “Expected Shipment Arrival Date”
Shipping Tab –
Cancel After Date
header right side
PO Line
User defined date that will appear on the Purchase Order as the
“Cancel After” date
Val. Error
This field is populated by the system after the data entry on the
line has been processed through the business rules to check the
account coding. Typically this check happens after the last field
has been entered for the line. If a check mark appears, the
entered accounting code is invalid. The user can highlight the
line and click the “Check Errors” button on the bottom of the form
to determine what entry caused the problem. The Controller’s
Office defines valid account code combinations and should be
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Data or Field
Field label
Description
Location
contacted if additional account code combinations are required.
PO Line
Line No.
Each Line on the Purchase Order will be assigned a line number
automatically by the system. Typically, the first line is number
10000, and the second is 20000. If a line is inserted between
the first and second line it can be assigned a line number
between 10000 and 20000. Line numbers are important in
resolving data entry errors as they are referenced in error
messages.
PO Line
Status
The status of a PO Line is automatically assigned by the system.
Values can include: New, Approval Pending, Transfer Budget
Pending (not used in the Garden setup), Approved,
Disapproved, Encumbered, Partial Received, Received,
Invoiced, and Cancelled. The software controls the line status
levels. Line status levels are used to control the PO Header
status levels.
PO Line
No. Of Approvals
The system will display an integer value for the number of
approvals that the line has completed. The number required to
achieve full approval depends on the approval rules which have
been constructed. As an example, a $15,000 purchase on a
project must be approved by the Division Mgr, the Project Admin
and the Controller. 3 approvals are required.
PO Line
Natural Account No.
Required for all transactions. The Natural Account Number is
one of the base accounting codes to be assigned to a
transaction. The user can enter the value or look up and choose
the value from the list. For some vendors, a default value has
been assigned (as an example, if Laclede Gas is the chosen
vendor, the Natural Acct No. will be defaulted to 7460 (Gas).
Not all departments can use all Natural Account numbers and
not all Projects can use all Natural Account numbers. Which
Natural Account numbers can be used in the account coding is
controlled by the Controller’s Office
PO Line
Project Code
Optional for data entry. F an expense is to be coded to a
Project, the correct Project Code must be assigned in this field.
The user can either type the code in or can use the lookup
feature to select the proper code. Only transactions to be
charged to projects require data entry in this field. Non-project
transactions should leave this field blank.
PO Line
Fund No.
Required for all transactions. The user must enter the Fund No.
for the expenditure. The number can be typed in or can be
found via the lookup. Recall that the fund numbers are a
combination of a number and letter, such as 01U.
PO Line
Department Code
Required for all transactions. The user can enter the correct
value or can use the lookup feature to select the value.
PO Line
Item Class
Optional for data entry. This field is available to the user to
classify the type of purchase for reporting purposes. As an
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Data or Field
Field label
Description
Location
example, the IT Dept may want to have Item Classes such as
“cables”, “monitors”, “service contracts”, etc. The values used in
this field are user editable and are unique to the Division. So, if
Horticulture was Item classes of “seeds” and “bulbs”, the IT
Division users will not have “seeds” and “bulbs” amongst their
potential Item class choices
PO Line
Description
The Description field will be populated by the system with the
name of the Natural Account. In many cases a description such
as “Supplies” for Acct 7210 is not sufficient for the PO to reflect
what is intended to be purchased. The user can edit the
Description field to provide sufficient detail to the PO.
PO Line
Order Quantity
Required for all transactions. The user should enter the count
that they are expecting to purchase & receive of the item they
have ordered. Many times this value will be “1”. The user
should be careful to have the Order Qty be consistent with the
way in which they described the item to be purchased. As an
example, if the user wants 144 pencils & the description is “a
Gross of No. 2 pencils”, then the Qty is 1. Alternatively, if the
description is “No. 2 pencils”, then the Qty should be 144.
Receiving & invoicing counts must be consistent with the Order
counts (in terms of units)
PO Line
Order Unit Cost
Required for all transactions. The Order Unit Cost should reflect
the Buyer’s best information about the price of the item being
ordered. It may be a catalog price, a value determined through
a quote, or just a “best guess”. The accounts will be
encumbered based on this value, multiplied by the Quantity
value. Accurate Order Unit Costs will result in accurate
encumbrances.
PO Line
Order Amount
The system will calculate the extension of Order Quantity
multiplied by Order Unit Cost. The user should be careful to
have the cost information and quantity information based on the
same units.
PO Line
Comment
The system will display a check mark in this field if the user has
created a comment on the PO. Comments can be created and
viewed by clicking the “Line” button at the bottom of the form.
4.5.3.
Approval Processing – “The Basics”
When a Purchase Order or Invoice without Purchase Order are submitted for review, the
Budget checking business rules and Approval business rules are invoked. Individuals who
are the “Approvers” in the workflow process should periodically (daily) check their Approval
Processing menu for items requiring their review / approval.
The Purchase Order shown below is ready to be submitted for review:
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Note that the line Status is “New”.
After the user has clicked the “Submit Order for Review” button, the line Status changes as
shown below:
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The line status is now “Approval Pending”
In order to Process the Approval, the Approver (in this case CMiller) navigates to the
Approval Processing portion of the software:
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On the Approval Processing form, we see that Chuck Miller has two approvals awaiting his
response for this order. The first is a Type = Approval, which is a result of the business
rule requiring that expenditures in Division 839 >$500 must be approved by Chuck. The
second is a Type = Budget, which is a result of this expenditure causing this account to
exceed the budgeted amount year to date.
After responding, as shown below, Chuck would click the “Process” button to update the
Purchase Order:
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After the Approvals have been processed, the Purchase Order line is now at an
“Approved” header status, with the line showing that it is “Encumbered”
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NOTE: Purchase Orders should have an Order Approval Status of “Approved” prior to
sending the Purchase Order to the Vendor. The Order Approval Status is
printed on the PO and is required to be at an “Approved” status in order for
the order to constitute a valid financial commitment to the vendor.
If a Purchase Order is printed prior to achieving the “Approved” status, then a
status level of “New” or “Approval Pending” will print on the order. The
buyer should not send an order like this to the vendor and the vendor
should reject this order, since it is not yet approved.
In addition to having the Approvers manage their Approval Processing “Inbox”; they can
also keep track of their responses to previous approval requests. These are retained in
the Approvers “Outbox”. These entries can be viewed by having the Approver chose
“Outbox” in the header of the Approval Processing form.
4.5.4.
Approval Processing – “In Detail”
The Approval Processing function in Serenic Navigator is a way in which business
processes are supported by workflows within software. The workflow component of the
Purchase Order process has been setup in order to route the approvals to the people
designated in the business rules. Normally, those individuals are at work and have access
to the software. When they are at work, they will have a routine of checking their Approval
Processing inbox so that they can determine the disposition of the items contained therein.
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If the individuals in the approval workflow do not have access to the software for a
significant period of time, their inbox will continue to gather approval requests, in the same
way that their paper mailbox gathers inbound mail for their review. Their inability to be
attentive to their inbox will halt the workflow and will prevent Purchase Orders from being
able to be completed with vendors. So, in the event of an extended absence from work
&/or the software, the approvers may need to have someone else assume their approval
duties.
There are two ways in which this can be enabled. An alternative user can be defined for
the approval process every time an extended absence is expected (long trips, etc.). The
alternative user can be any user that the Approver would like to designate. Another
safeguard to monitor approval inboxes is that some users (likely superusers in the
Controller’s Office) can be provided with a “Global Inbox” view. With that capability, they
can see and process any approvals for any users in the system. This capability should be
restricted to few individuals who, typically, only have to use their approval authorities as a
backup to the normal approval routing.
The Approval Processing form detail is depicted below:
<table>
4.5.4.1. Setting up Alternative Users
4.5.4.2. Setting up Global Inbox authority for a user
4.6. Receiving Process
In the Garden’s business process design, the receiving process is completed by the
departments which initiate the purchase order. There are two components to the
department receiving process. Item receipts will sometimes be required and will be
performed within the accounting software to support the necessary controls for purchases
of some significance. The second form of receiving that occurs in the departments is
“invoice receiving”. The Garden is electing to continue the practice of vendor invoices
being directed to the departments which originate the purchase. This is done in order to
have the buying organizations authorize payment and establish the correct accounting
codes. These two processes and the supporting software are explained below:
4.6.1.
Item Receiving – “The Basics”
When a buyer has elected to require item receiving for a purchase order, additional data
entry in the accounting software must be performed in order to authorize and complete
payment to the vendor. The additional data entry serves as a form of accounting controls
and provides data / history which can be gathered for reporting.
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Data entry into Serenic Navigator will normally be performed by users who have some
experience with the software. If a department has an employee perform the physical
receipt of the goods / items and a separate administrative employee complete the data
entry, then the “Receiving Version” of the Purchase Order can be used (paper & pencil) to
assist in the communication between the two employees. Departments may adopt other
practices, such as using signed and dated bills of lading or shipping paperwork, to convey
the information from the point of physical receipt to whoever is doing the data entry in
Serenic Navigator. Regardless of how the data is collected, the Serenic Navigator user will
navigate to the Item Receiving menu on the Purchases & Payables menu form, as shown
below:
When the user navigates to the Item Receiving functionality, they will be presented with a
form that looks a lot like a blank PO form, as shown below:
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Since the items being received were ordered on a Serenic PO, the user needs to go find
the original Serenic PO
NOTE: The Item Receiving process can only be performed on Items ordered on a
Serenic PO for which Item Receiving was required. If a user ordered
some goods over the phone and never created a Serenic PO, the Item
Receiving process is the wrong place to start the data entry process. A
Serenic PO must first be created prior to performing an Item Receipt in the
software..
To find the original PO, from the header of the blank form, the user can click F5, or
navigate to the “Order” button, click it & then click the “List” menu item. The user will be
presented a list of orders. This list of orders is not the entire open order list, but rather has
been filtered based on the user’s assigned role in the purchasing function. Buyers will see
any orders they created or orders that were requested for them. Managers will see any
orders in the Division, regardless of buyer id, any orders they originated, and any orders
which were requested for them. In all cases, the list or PO’s returned will be constrained to
only those for which Item Receiving was required.
A filtered list of orders is shown below:
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Since the user will have some documentation to indicate the nature of the items received,
they will need to select the PO used to order the items received. The user can do that by
selecting the line of the order and click on “OK”. After they click “OK” they will be
presented with a form which looks like the original PO will a couple exceptions. An
example is shown below:
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The user will need to enter a “Received by” name in the header. This name can be any
company employee and is not restricted to just the users of the software. This name
provides some historical documentation to who performed the physical receipt of the
goods. It is recommended that the name entered is the person who verified the receipt of
goods & collected any paperwork and knows of the whereabouts of the items. It would be
less meaningful to enter the name of the person typing in the data, unless they too met the
criteria listed above. After the name is entered in the header field, the user should enter
the correct data. This could include receiving exactly what was ordered or less or more.
One option is to use the button at the bottom of the form to “Receive all unreceived Items”.
This is a bit of a short cut to data entry, but should only be used if it is appropriate to the
circumstances. A completed form may look like:
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After completing entry in the “Receive Quantity”, “Received By” and “Date of Receipt”
fields, the item receipt is ready to post. The user must post the item receipts in order to
eventually pay the vendor. Note that after posting the receipt the “Already Received
Quantity’ and the “Yet to Receive Quantity” will change their values from the original values
held in those fields.
After posting the items received, the item receiving process is complete.
4.6.2.
Item Receiving – “The Details”
To be completed
4.6.3.
Invoice Receiving
Vendor invoices have historically been received by the department responsible for buying
the items or services on the invoice. The departments historically have reviewed the
invoice for accuracy and have authorized payment of the invoice, and have also
established the account coding to be used for the expense. The Garden desires to retain
the process of invoice receipt by the departments. Over time the operating departments of
the Garden have developed tracking mechanisms in support of the administrative work of
processing invoices to the Controller’s Office for payment. The features and functions of
Serenic Navigator have been designed to create some efficiency to the administrative work
of processing invoices for eventual payment. Additionally, with the invoice data retained as
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part of the accounting database, reports can be created to support both the Controller’s
Office need for information and the Operating Department’s needs.
The Invoice Receiving procedure is dependent on the type of Purchase Order to be
processed. The choices include:
•
Serenic PO’s with Receipts (Item Receipts)
•
Serenic PO’s without Receipts
•
Invoices without Serenic PO’s
4.6.3.1. Serenic PO’s with Receipts
After navigating to the “Invoice Receiving” menu item on the Purchases & Payables main
menu, the user will be provided with the choice of Invoice Receipt type via a message box
and radio button selections, as shown below:
By choosing “Serenic PO’s with Receipts” and clicking “OK” the user will be presented with
a blank PO form. Once on this form, the user should find the PO which is related to the
invoice they are receiving. This can be done by clicking F5 while the user’s cursor is
positioned in the header of the document or by clicking the “Order” button and choosing
“List” on that menu. Having done that, the user will see a screen similar to the one
displayed below:
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This list contains PO’s which have had an item receipt required and are related to the
user’s department or division (depending on the user’s Purchasing role). From this list the
user should select the order for which they have received the invoice – note that Orders
Numbers with both an “Approved” and Not Submitted status are displayed with a bold font.
After selecting the associated order, the user will see:
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This screen contains the PO information and an indication of how many receipts of items
have been performed for the PO. By navigating to the “No. of Receipts” field in the header
section of the document and clicking on the field and the dropdown arrow, the user will be
able to view the receipts for the order as shown below:
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This form is “wide” and has a lot of important columns of information available for each
line. The screenshot above displays the information on the right side of the form which is
most related to the Invoice Receiving process. The columns with BOLD lettering are
those which require data entry to complete the invoice receiving process. They include:
“Invoice Quantity”, “Invoice Unit Cost”, “Invoice Received By”, “Date Invoice Received (by
the dept) “Vendor Invoice No.”, and “Vendor Invoice Date”.
By completing the fields and clicking the “Submit to AP” button, the display will change (as
shown below) and a label will be printed from the user’s computer to be affixed to the
invoice prior to deliver to the Controller’s Office.
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The label printed by the Submit to AP button replaces the need for the department to
stamp, code & sign the invoice. The label will also give the Controller’s Office an indication
that the order and invoice have been processed in Serenic Navigator. Note that the line on
the form now indicates that it has been submitted to AP for payment (check box in right
hand column). If the user notes an error in the vendor invoice (e.g. wrong invoice number
entered) they can “UnSubmit from AP”, change the vendor invoice number and re”Submit
to AP” printing a new label. The Unsubmit functionality will become unavailable to the user
when AP has started processing the invoice for payment.
After affixing the label to the invoice, the paper should be delivered to the Controller’s
Office for payment review, final data entry and payment scheduling.
By completing this process in its entirety, the software (along with the user!) has
associated the original PO with any/all item receipts and any/all invoices. This “three-way”
match provides the necessary association of the data elements in support of the business
process and accounting controls requirements.
4.6.3.2. Serenic PO without Receipts
The receipt of an invoice for a Serenic PO that does not require receipt of items requires
one less navigational step. After navigating to the Invoice Receiving, Serenic PO without
Receipts form the user will see:
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To receive the invoice, the user should find the associated PO by clicking the F5 key or
navigating to the “Order” button, clicking and the clicking the “List” menu item. From the
list of PO’s the user can select the one associated with the invoice. After their selection,
they will be presented with a view similar to:
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The user is able to enter the invoice information directly on the line of this document
without having to navigate to the item receipts. With this simplifying step, the software is
able to associate the invoice to the PO and create a “two-way” match. This level of
controls may be deemed sufficient for some buying events. After entering the information,
the user will click the “Submit to AP” button to produce the label for the invoice, in
preparation for sending to the Controller’s Office.
4.6.3.3. Invoice without a Serenic PO
An important and added feature of the Invoice Receiving functionality is the ability to
receive an invoice which has not been originated by a Serenic PO. The PO may have
originated in the paper system or perhaps through some other software, but, because
Serenic Navigator controls vendor payments, the Invoice eventually needs to be entered
into the Serenic Navigator software. By using the Invoice without Serenic PO capability,
the user benefits by:
•
Creating traceability to the invoice prior to sending it to the Controller’s
Organization
•
Avoids hand stamping and coding of the invoice document
•
Enables the use of the Aging Status view (discussed later)
•
Creates encumbrances for the expense, providing a more timely view of
the budgetary impact of an invoice.
•
Supports better reporting available through the Serenic Navigator
software
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The overall business process for processing Invoices without a Serenic PO is displayed
below:
Invoice without a
Serenic Purchase Order
Vendor
AP
Invoicing
Create &
Send
Invoice
Dept Invoice
Receiving
Receiving
Purchase
Order
Approvals
Receive
Invoice
Inv
Inv
Receive
Invoice in
Serenic
Submit
Invoice for
Review
Auto-create
Serenic PO
Resolve
Pass
No
Budget
Check ?
Yes
Pass
No
Approval
s?
Line Status
Set to
Encumbered
Submit Inv.
to AP in
Serenic
Yes
Auto-create
Receipt
matching
Invoice
Cost & Qty
Invoice
Labels Print
Copy
Invoice Doc
for Dept
File
Receive Inv
Doc
Inv
Send
Invoice Doc
to AP
Inv
Enter
Invoice in
Serenic
Wait for
Due Date
Make
Payment
Receive
Payment
Send
Payment
In order to use the Invoice without Serenic PO capability the user will navigate to this
screen:
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The user should tab out of the first “No.” field to have the number automatically assigned.
By completing the remainder of the form, much in the way the use would if completing a
Purchase Order, and then submitting the Order/Invoice for review, via “Submit Order for
Review” button, the user will employ all of the validation and approval capabilities
automated within Serenic Navigator. Periodically, the user will review this form & all the
Invoices listed hereunder and will find that some have been approved and are ready for to
be Submitted to AP. In fact, for some invoices (e.g. <$500 and without any budget
overruns) the invoice will be ready to submit to AP shortly after submitting for review.
4.7. Accounts Payable Process
4.7.1.
Creating an Invoice Batch
4.7.2.
Entering an Invoice into a batch – with no prior Serenic data
4.7.3.
Entering an Invoice into a batch – with prior Serenic data
After the AP user has created a batch and is prepared to enter an invoice, if the paper
invoice is labeled, indicating that the invoice has associated data within Serenic Navigator,
the AP user should:
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1. Tab through the “No.” field, to assign a Serenic Navigator invoice number to the
data
2. Select or enter the “Vendor No.” associated with the invoice
3. After entering the Vendor No. information, Invoice header information will default
onto the header of the form, based on defaults established for the Vendor and for
the Invoice batch, as shown below:
4. After the header information has been defaulted onto the form, the user should
click the “Functions” button & click the “Get Invoices” menu item, as shown below:
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5. When the “Get Invoices” menu item is selected, the software will retrieve all of the
invoice information entered into the system for that vendor, as shown below:
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6. From this list of entered Order / Invoice information the AP user should select the
correct document. This can be done by matching the Order No. on the invoice
label with the Order No. on the form above. The AP user highlights the correct line
and clicks “OK”.
7. After clicking “OK” the details of the Order / Invoice are populated onto the invoice
form, as shown below:
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8. The AP User should review the paper vendor invoice to confirm information on the
form such as “Pay-to” address, Invoice Date & Terms any Discounts or 1099 Code
assignments that are necessary. The AP User needs to process the invoice in a
way which delivers accuracy to the data contained therein. It is possible that the
AP User will only have to review the data for accuracy, if it is all appropriately
entered.
9. After the AP User has verified or changed the information on the invoice form, the
next blank invoice form can be created using the F3 key.
10. After all the invoices for a batch have been entered, the batch may be posted.
11. In order to provide updated information to the Aging Status view, AP users should
post their work daily.
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4.8. Payment Process
Detail to be provided later
4.9. Aging Status
4.9.1.
Aging Status – “The Basics”
WARNING:
The computer will take some time to populate this form. The form is
executing many complex queries to present the data. As a result, it is
relatively slow in populating the form with data.
The Serenic Navigator software has been customized to provide a single form from which
oversight management of the Purchase to Pay business process can be performed. A
view of that form is shown below. This form can be found by navigating to the Purchases
& Payables menu. The “Aging Status” menu item is in the right column of menu items.
This form provides a view of the Purchase Order and Purchase Invoice status for orders
and invoices entered using the Purchase Order and Invoice Receipt processes.
The header of the form allows the user to filter the data that is presented. The data
analysis is always performed on the data as of the time of the viewing of the form. Filters
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can be set for Division, Department, Vendor, PO Number or Invoice Number. Any
combination of all, some or none of the filters may be used to suit the users preferences.
The data on the form will be refreshed after the filter values are entered.
The status levels of Purchase Orders and Purchase Invoices are displayed along the
vertical axis of the table. Each status level will be explained in greater detail below. The
horizontal axis of the table depicts “time buckets”. The “0 – 7 Days” time frame reflects
date that is current to 7 days old, essentially, the past week’s activity. The “8 – 14 Days”
time frame reflects data from the week prior. The form provides time buckets until the data
is 365 days old, after which the data is not accessible via this form.
It is important to note that Purchase Orders are tracked form the Order Date – so a
Purchase Order with an order date of 1/05/2005 would appear to be 15 days old on
1/20/2005. Similarly, the Purchase Invoices are aged from the Vendor Invoice Date.
The time frames have been color coded to offer a “stoplight” analysis view of the data.
Status levels & time frames with a green background are thought to be within the normal
operating range of the Purchases & Payables process. Yellow status levels & time frames
indicate that attention should be provided to these orders or invoices to determine what is
keeping them from progressing through to completion. Red status levels indicate a
problem that warrants attention, such as an invoice received and submitted to AP for entry
that has yet to become a posted invoice after 31 days.
Once the Aging Status form has been populated the user can “drill down” on data to reveal
the underlying information. As an example, if the user wanted to understand which PO has
been Fully Received, but without a posted invoice in the 61-90 day timeframe, the user can
click on that cell of the form and click the drop down arrow to reveal some information
about that transaction, as shown below:
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The first layer of the drill down reveals the PO number, the vendor name and other
pertinent summary information. To get to the original transaction, the user can click on the
line, then the “Line” button, then “Card” to reveal the original PO information, as shown
below:
Simply closing the windows, by clicking the “X” in the upper right corner, returns the user to
the Aging Status form.
The Aging Status form provides a consolidated view of the Purchasing & Payables
processes and can serve as a way for management to provide oversight to the Purchasing
& Payables processing.
4.9.2.
Aging Status – “The Details”
Details of the Aging Status Levels are provided below:
It should be noted that for an Invoice to be recognized in the status levels, it must be
posted by AP. Invoice receipt processes performed by the departments are not treated as
Accounts Payable activities by the software. The accounting controls set the organization,
and used in the software, determine that Accounts Payable activities should occur
independently from the Buying and Receiving processes.
Document
Status Level
Description
Type
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Document
Status Level
Description
New – Pending Approval
Any Purchase Order which has just been created or has been
Type
Purchase
Order
submitted for approval, but has not yet completed the approval
process will be reflected on this line. If an order has been
created and submitted for approval and it has not been
addressed within a week, someone should look into it (hence the
yellow coding in the 8-14 day time bucket)
Purchase
New – Partially Approved
Order
These orders have been reviewed in the approval process but
have not completed the approval process. If they linger at this
status for two weeks someone should be paying attention to
them!
Purchase
Fully Approved – No Inv., No
When an order is at this status level, the “ball is in the vendor’s
Order
Rcpt.
court”. The vendor should have the PO in hand and be acting
on it. At this status level, the vendor has not yet delivered any
items, nor have they sent the company an invoice. Invoices that
stay at this status level may be invoices that were cancelled with
the vendor but never cancelled within Serenic, or they may
simply be long lead time items.
Purchase
Partially Received, No Invoice
Order
These Purchase Invoices are ones that are in the process of
being fulfilled by the vendor. They should not linger indefinitely
at this status level.
Purchase
Fully Received, No Invoice
Order
The status level name is fairly descriptive. Orders that do not
require receipts will be reflected as fully received upon creation
of the order.
Purchase
Partially Received, Partially
Orders at this level for too long should be reviewed to insure that
Order
Invoiced
the order quantity is in fact backordered rather than cancelled. If
the unsatisfied portion of the order is cancelled the order should
be adjusted to reflect this fact.
Purchase
Fully Received, Partially
This is likely a temporary stage as the vendor has their invoicing
Order
Invoiced
process catch up with their item fulfillment process.
Purchase
Fully Received, Fully Invoiced
Order
Purchase
At this status level, all transactions other than payment have
occurred for the Order
Order Complete & Paid
All transactions including payment of the order are complete
Purchase
Invoice Received, Submitted
For an invoice to be at this status level, it has been entered into
Invoices
to AP
the software by the department users & has been submitted to
Order
AP, but has not yet been posted by AP.
Purchase
Invoice Posted by AP, but not
Invoices at this status level are “aging” until their payment terms
Invoice
Paid
dictate that payment should be made
Purchase
Invoice Paid
Invoice
This status level is similar to the Purchase Order status level of
“Order Complete & Paid”, indicating that the accounting
transactions are complete
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4.10. Miscellaneous Purchases & Payables “How To …”
4.10.1.
Add a “Buy-From” address to a Vendor
Periodically, Purchasing users will have the need to add a new “buy from” address to a
vendor card. Recall that the “buy-from” address is independent of the “pay-to” (or “remitto”) address. Only members of the Controller’s Office are authorized to change the “payto” address for a vendor. However, because the buying community may have a routine
need to add a buy-from address, the capability to create those addresses is more broadly
available.
To add a “buy-from” address, the user should navigate to the appropriate Vendor Card Æ
click the Vendor button at the bottom of the page Æ select “Order Addresses” Æ click F5 to
get a list of all Order Addresses (or “buy-from” addresses) currently available to the
vendor. The list will look something like the screen shot below:
The user should review the list of existing Order (or Buy-from) Addresses to see if the
address that they intend to add is already in use for the vendor. If it is, there is no need to
add the Order (or Buy-from) address. If the address is not available, and should be added,
the user should note the next available code number for the vendor. In the screen shot
provided above, Order addresses 01 through 07 currently exist. The next new address
should be coded as “08”.
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In order to add the new address, the user should return to the vendor card Æ select the
“Vendor” button Æ click the “Order Addresses” menu item. At that time they will be
presented with an Order (or Buy-from) address card, as shown below:
To add a new Order (or Buy-from) address card, the user should click F3 to get a new
blank card. Recall that the new address is to be coded as “08”, so the user should insert
that value in the Code field. The user should then complete the remaining fields as
appropriate to their need and close out of the address card, using the “X” in the upper right
corner. The user’s data entry will create the new Order (or Buy-from) address, as shown
below:
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This newly added address instantly becomes one of the addresses available for use for
that vendor, as shown in the list screen shot below:
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5. Sales & Receivables
Detail to be provided later
Consult the Serenic Navigator training documentation
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6. Fixed Assets
Details to be provided later.
Consult the Serenic Navigator training documentation
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7. Appendix
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Appendix A: Glossary of Terms – updated 1/8
Due to the variety of terms used in reference to the groupings of work for which accounting activities are
performed, this document will attempt to follow this naming convention:
“Project” – the most generic way to describe a grouping of work for which accounting is to be performed
and reported.
“Grant” – a specific form of a Project, characterized by the nature of the funding supporting the effort.
Grants are the predominant form of Projects currently being worked on and accounted for by MBG.
Grants have unique administrative requirements, as defined by the Grantor. Grants are always in
Fund 02 of MBG’s accounting structure.
“Special Deposit” – a specific form of a Project, originating from a restricted Gift to the Garden.
“Contract” – a specific form of a Project, defined by the legal document which describes the working
relationship established between MBG and the organization originating the legal document.
“Event” – a specific form of a Project, composed of a group of related activities for which the Garden
wants to track the associated costs. Events are managed as part of Fund 01.
“Project Administrator (PA)” – this is the role that has been filled by <insert name> primarily, along with
Cheryl Mill for some projects. In the future, this role may be filled by one or both of them, in either a
“co-administrator” capacity, or in primary & backup capacities. The “Future State” portions of this
document have been constructed to refer to the Project Administrator in a non-specific fashion, so
that the split of responsibilities between the individuals can be determined in a way which is
independent of defining the business process.
“Principal Investigator (PI)” – the individual who is primarily responsible for undertaking the research or
effort associated with a project (or grant). For the sake of MBG’s Project Accounting, the terms
Project Manager and Principal Investigator will be used interchangeably.
“TMA Administrator” – TMA is the computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) used by
MBG for the maintenance of its facilities. The application is used primarily by the General Services
Division of MBG. Susan Ciluffo is the TMA Administrator.
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Appendix B: GL Reporting “How to’s”
3 Basic Reports:
Custom Trial Balance w/ Budget Report
Custom Trial Balance Dtl/Summ Report
Custom Trial Bal. Dtl w/ Payrl
How do I …
Generate the Custom Trial Balance w/ Budget Report ?
1st – Navigation: General Ledger Menu Æ Reports Æ Select “Custom Trial Balance w/ Budget”
report Æ Print
2nd – Set Report Parameters or Filters: (as an example)
Department Tab: “014”
GL Account Tab: Date Filter: “060105..063005”
Fund Filter: “01U”
Options Tab: select “Round to … Pennies”
Check: “Skip Accounts with All Zero Amounts”
rd
3 – Preview and then Review, Print or redo
How do I …
Generate the Custom Trial Balance Dtl/Summ Report ?
1st – Navigation: General Ledger Menu Æ Reports Æ Select “Custom Trial Balance Dtl/Summ”
report Æ Print
GL Account Combo’s Tab: Transaction Type = “Actual”
Date Filter = “060105..063005”
Fund No. = “01U”
Department Code = “014”
Options Tab: Select
“Show … All Accounts”
Print Transaction Detail (checked for detail, unchecked for summary)
Print Source Names (checked for detail, unchecked for summary)
rd
How do I …
Generate the Custom Trial Bal Dtl w/Payrl Report ?
1st – Access to this report is limited. Not all users can generate the report
2nd – If you do have access, follow the steps for the Custom Trial Balance Dtl/Summ Report
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Appendix C: Project Report “How to’s”
6 Basic Reports: (any report can be run for any project)
Projects w/o Budgets Projects w/ Budgets
Project Summary
Project Bdgt Var Summary
Project Detail
Project Bdgt Var. Detail
Project Detail w/Pyrl Project Bdgt Var Detail w/ Payroll
How do I …
Generate the Project Summary Report ?
1st – Navigation: Projects Menu Æ Reports Æ Select “Project Summary” report Æ Print
Grant Tab: Date Filter: “060105..063005”
Options Tab: leave all boxes unchecked
rd
( NOTE: This will result in the user generating all Project Summary reports for which they are a
named recipient )
How do I …
Generate the Project Bdgt Var Detail Report ?
1st – Navigation: Projects Menu Æ Reports Æ Select “Project Bdgt Var Detail ” report Æ Print
Grant Tab: Date Filter: “060105..063005”
Options Tab: leave all boxes unchecked
3rd – Preview and then Review, Print or redo
( NOTE: This will result in the user generating all Project Bdgt Var Detail reports for which they
are a named recipient )
How do I …
Generate the Project Bdgt Var Detail w/ Payroll Report ?
1st – Access to the reports containing Payroll detail information is limited.
2nd – If you do have access to the reports containing payroll information, follow a procedure
similar to the ones mentioned above to produce your reports
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Appendix D: Invoice without a Serenic PO “How to’s”
Invoices are recorded in Serenic by the department users to: enable the electronic approval process,
print labels for routing & to create traceability of the invoice from the department all the way through to
payment.
NOTE: Do not process Utility bills or Credit Card invoices using this procedure !!
How do I …
Record an Invoice without a Serenic PO:
1st – Navigation: Purchasing & Payables Menu Æ Invoice Receiving Æ select: “Invoice without
Serenic PO” Æ click “OK” button
2nd – Complete the “header” information:
No. Field – Tab out of this so that the system can automatically assign a number to
the document
Buy from Vendor No. field: Select the vendor of the invoice. If you can’t find it, try
adding it to your vendor view listing. If the vendor is not in the vendor master, either
process the invoice “the old way” using the stamp or contact the Controller’s Office to
have the vendor added.
Buy from Address Code field: You can select or create an alternative address if
needed
Requested for field: Add the user name associated with the Invoice (if desired)
Invoice Received by field: Required field – typically the data entry persons userid
Retail Only Information: These fields accommodate information used to process
retail invoices
3rd – Complete the “line” information:
note: you only need to have as many lines as there are unique accounting codes to
be charged, so some summarization of detail is recommended, if needed.
Enter all accounting information as needed. Bold Headings indicate required fields.
Tab off the line to “fire” the validation rule processing. If there is a validation problem
(wrong combination of account codes), a checkmark will appear in the “Val. Error”
column. You can find out what the error is by highlighting the line and clicking the
“Check Errors” button. If you can’t fix the validation error yourself, contact your
management and/or the Controller’s Office to resolve validation errors.
th
4 – Submit the “Order” for Review: (note: the Submit to AP button is unavailable)
Click the “Submit “Order” for Review” button. Depending on your
Division/Department’s budget checking and approval rules, the lines may change
from a “New” status to an “Approval Pending” status or to an “Encumbered” status
5th – Submit to AP: (note: the Submit Order for Review button is unavailable)
When the order is approved (all lines at an Encumbered status), you may submit the
order/invoice to AP (accounts payable in the Controller’s Office). Clicking this button
will make the invoice available to AP for editing, posting and eventually paying. This
button also causes the label printer to print approval labels for the invoice for the
transmittal to the Controller’s Office
th
6 – Route the Paper PO for Approvals and Delivery to the Controller’s Office
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Appendix E: Creating Purchase Orders “How to’s”
There are two basic kinds of Purchase Orders which can be created in Serenic Navigator: Serenic POs
with Receipts and Serenic POs without Receipts. If the user chooses to create a Serenic PO with
Receipts, then the accounting software will enforce controls which require that the receipt of the items
ordered is noted in the system prior to payment for the goods. The Serenic PO without Receipts is a bit
more “relaxed” from a controls standpoint and allows invoices to be processed on valid and approved
PO’s without recording information about the receipt of the items ordered.
How do I …
Create a Serenic Purchase Order:
1st – Navigation: Purchasing & Payables Menu Æ Purchase Order
2nd – Complete the “header” information:
No. Field – Tab out of this so that the system can automatically assign a number to
the document
Buy from Vendor No. field: Select the vendor of the invoice. If you can’t find it, try
adding it to your vendor view listing. If the vendor is not in the vendor master, contact
the Controller’s Office
Buy from Address Code field: You can select or create an alternative address if
needed
Requested for field: Add the user name associated with the Purchase Order
Deliver To Address Code field: Select the deliver to address to be printed on the
PO
SHIPPING TAB: If additional shipping information is required for the Order it can be
entered in the fields on the shipping tab
3rd – Determine if Item Receiving will be required:
The item receiving requirement is controlled by the user creating the PO. Requiring
item receiving enforces additional controls within the Serenic Purchasing process.
4th – Complete the line information for the PO, including the accounting codes to be charged for
the expense, a description of the items to be ordered and their exact or approximate
costs.
th
4 – Submit the Order for Review:
Click the “Submit Order for Review” button. Depending on your
Division/Department’s budget checking and approval rules, the lines may change
from a “New” status to an “Approval Pending” status or to an “Encumbered” status
5th – After Approval is provided – communicate the order to the vendor
When the order is approved all lines will be at an Encumbered status. You can also
review the approval status on the PO List (F5 from the PO form) or on a PO form in
the “No. of Approvals” field.
After the order is approved, it can be printed for delivery to the vendor &/or for
department record keeping
NOTE: When creating a PO which requires Item Receiving, all lines on the PO will
require Item Receiving in order to complete the transaction within Serenic.
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Appendix F: Item Receiving “How to’s”
When a Purchase Order has been created which requires Item Receiving, the accounting software will
prohibit the creation of an Invoice for more items than have been received. As an example, if IT orders
10 PCs for $1500 each & receives 6 of them, if the vendor invoices all 10 PCs, the software will prohibit
the invoice for 10 PCs to be created.
Partial receipts of orders and partial invoices (not exceeding the receipts) can be processed within the
software.
How do I …
Create an Item Receipt for a Serenic Purchase Order:
1st – Navigation: Purchasing & Payables Menu Æ Item Receiving
2nd – Find the PO for which you wish to create the receipt by using the F5 key to generate a list of
your POs requiring item receipts which have not yet been fully processed. Select the
correct PO.
3rd – Enter the receipts on the PO Line:
There is a button on the bottom of the form that allows the user to “Receive all
UnReceived Items”. If the order is a simple one and all items are to be received, this
button will facilitate the process of receiving and posting the receipt of items.
Otherwise, examine each line of the PO and the quantity received and date of receipt
for each item to be received. Partial receipts (e.g. Ordered 10, only received 6) are
allowed & should be made if that is the circumstance of the receiving. Receiving
more units than is currently “unreceived” is not allowed.
After entering the receipt information, post the receipts by clicking the “Post Item
Receipts” button.
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Appendix G: Receiving an invoice for a Serenic PO w/o
receipts “How to’s”
Invoices, based on Serenic POs are recorded in Serenic by the department users to: print labels for
routing & to create traceability of the invoice from the department all the way through to payment. There
is no Serenic-based approval process required for these invoices since the expenses associated with the
invoice were approved as part of the Purchasing process.
How do I …
Record an Invoice for a Serenic PO without Receipts:
1st – Navigation: Purchasing & Payables Menu Æ Invoice Receiving Æ select: “Serenic POs
without Receipts” Æ click “OK” button
nd
2 – From the form, click the F5 key to generate a list of your Serenic POs eligible for this type of
processing. Note: your Serenic POs with Receipts will not be on the list that is
produced. Find the correct PO, corresponding to the Invoice. The order should have
an “Approved” and “Not Submitted” status. If the order is not yet “Approved”, it must
be reviewed and Approved prior to processing the invoice. Note: if you need to
process an invoice on an order that is not yet approved, you violated the approval
process with your buying practices!
rd
3 – Once you have found the correct PO associated with the Invoice, with the header portion of
the PO:
Enter the “Invoice Received by” userid in the field in the header
4th – Enter the line level information about the Invoice:
Complete the line level information associated with the invoice. The required fields
have bold headings. Note that the invoice unit cost and ordered unit cost can be
different, and frequently are different depending on the accuracy of the information
used to create the order.
NOTE: If the invoice contains a freight charge (or other charge) not originally
created on the Purchase Order, do not attempt to enter the freight information
on this form. The Accounts Payable function in the Controller’s Office will
enter this information on your behalf when the invoice is processed. The
accounting controls used within the software will not allow a user to enter an
invoice value for an item that was not ordered (e.g. freight). The Controller’s
Office Accounts Payable function has the controls permission to make this
type of an adjustment.
5th – Submit to AP
When the invoice information has been entered, click the “Submit to AP” button.
Clicking this button will make the invoice available to AP for editing, posting and
eventually paying. This button also causes the label printer to print approval labels
for the invoice for the transmittal to the Controller’s Office
6th – Route the Paper PO for Approvals and Delivery to the Controller’s Office
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Appendix H: Receive an invoice for a Serenic PO with
receipts “How to’s”
Invoices, based on Serenic POs are recorded in Serenic by the department users to: print labels for
routing & to create traceability of the invoice from the department all the way through to payment. There
is no Serenic-based approval process required for these invoices since the expenses associated with the
invoice were approved as part of the Purchasing process.
How do I …
Record an Invoice for a Serenic PO with Receipts:
1st – Navigation: Purchasing & Payables Menu Æ Invoice Receiving Æ select: “Serenic POs
with Receipts” Æ click “OK” button
nd
2 – From the form, click the F5 key to generate a list of your Serenic POs eligible for this type of
processing. Note: your Serenic POs without Receipts will not be on the list that is
produced. Find the correct PO, corresponding to the Invoice. The order should have
an “Approved” and “Not Submitted” status. If the order is not yet “Approved”, it must
be reviewed and Approved prior to processing the invoice. Note: if you need to
process an invoice on an order that is not yet approved, you violated the approval
process with your buying practices!
rd
3 – Once you have found the correct PO associated with the Invoice, with the header portion of
the PO:
Click on the bolded “No. of Receipts” field to reveal the posted receipt lines.
Complete the line level information associated with the invoice. The required fields
have bold headings. Note that the invoice unit cost and ordered unit cost can be
different, and frequently are different depending on the accuracy of the information
used to create the order.
NOTE: If the invoice contains a freight charge (or other charge) not originally
created on the Purchase Order, do not attempt to enter the freight information
on this form. The Accounts Payable function in the Controller’s Office will
enter this information on your behalf when the invoice is processed. The
accounting controls used within the software will not allow a user to enter an
invoice value for an item that was not ordered (e.g. freight). The Controller’s
Office Accounts Payable function has the controls permission to make this
type of an adjustment.
4th – Submit to AP
When the invoice information has been entered, click the “Submit to AP” button.
Clicking this button will make the invoice available to AP for editing, posting and
eventually paying. This button also causes the label printer to print approval labels
for the invoice for the transmittal to the Controller’s Office
NOTE: The user has the ability to “Unsubmit” this type of invoice, by line, if
necessary (in order to make a correction). The user entering the Invoice
information can only “UnSubmit” the line information if the AP Processing of
the Invoice has not yet occurred. If a line or multiple lines are unsubmitted,
they will need to be resubmitted, generating new labels, after the corrections
have been made.
5th – Route the Paper PO for Approvals and Delivery to the Controller’s Office
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Appendix I: Approval Processing “How to’s”
The Serenic Navigator accounting software enables some approval workflows for Purchasing related
activities. By enabling the workflows, the software enforces a requirement for review and approval of the
transactions based on the “Business Rules” which apply to the transaction. Business Rules are
established on a Division by Division basis, but have some commonality across the Garden’s Operation.
As an example, any line transaction greater than, or equal to $10,000 will require the review and approval
of the Controller (Michael Olson). With the exception of the Garden-wide requirements, the budget
review and approval processing business rules have been constructed to meet the needs of the operating
divisions.
Various members of the Garden’s management and accounting team have a role in the approval process.
The workflow “engine” of Serenic Navigator, will notify these users when there is a transaction requiring
their review. For some users, who are infrequent users of Serenic, an email notification can be enabled.
The more frequent users of Serenic should regularly check their “Approval Inbox” to see if any
transactions need to be processed.
How do I …
Review and Approve Transactions:
1st – Navigation: Main Menu Æ Approval Processing Æ confirm that you are looking at your
“Inbox” in the drop down displayed in the upper left of the form
2nd – Determine if you have any transactions requiring review:
If there are any transactions awaiting your review, they will be listed individually on
the form. Transactions are reviewed at the “Line Level”, so a PO with multiple lines
will generate multiple lines of required approvals.
rd
3 – Review the lines awaiting your approval:
Some summary level information is provided on the approval form. In some cases,
that may be enough information for the user to determine to either approve or
disapprove of the transaction. If more detail is required, the approver can view the
original document by highlighting the line on the approval form and by clicking the
“Functions” button Æ Review document. After reviewing the detail of the original
document, the approver can close out the original document (using the X in the upper
right) to return to the approval form
th
4 – Conclude the approval process:
The approver can indicate their decision in the “Decision” field, indicating either an
“Approved” or “Disapproved” decision. After indicating the decision on the line,
the approver must click the “Process..” button in order to finalize their decision
and to have Serenic software “act” upon the decision.
NOTE: An Approver can allow the line to remain “undecided” simply by not choosing
a decision. This may allow the approver to do some investigation outside of the
software in order to reach a decision.
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Appendix J: Reviewing vendor payment status “How to’s”
Purchasing users may need to check on the status of a Vendor Payment on occasion. There are multiple
ways to do this.
How do I …
Review the status of a Vendor Invoice Payment:
1st – Navigation: Purchases & Payables Menu Æ Vendors Æ find the desired Vendor Card Æ
“Vendor” button Æ Ledger Entries
2nd – Visually review the vendor ledger:
If there are a limited number of transactions for the vendor, it may be possible to find
their invoice posting and the associated payment directly from the Vendor Ledger.
If the Invoice is indicated as “Open”, then payment has not yet been made.
If you are not able to find the Invoice, & you are sure you are looking at the correct
vendor, then the Invoice may not yet be posted.
3rd – Use the system to associate invoice and payments:
If you are able to find the vendor invoice, but are not sure of which payment satisfied
the invoice, you can highlight the invoice line and click on the “Application” button Æ
Applied entries, to display the payment and check number associated with closing
the invoice
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Appendix K: User Setup Samples
In order to setup a user in Serenic you must:
Obtain (from IT) a userid and password for the SQL database
Create the database login in Serenic
Identify a User Group for the user – build a new one if necessary
Identify a Menu for the user – build a new one if necessary
Complete the user card, assigning User Group and MenuID
Assign Permissions or Rights
Assign Report Access
Review data access rights as assigned to user group & confirm appropriateness
Confirm / change budget rules to be used by the user’s organization
Confirm approval rules to be used by the user’s organization
Establish their vendor view if not yet setup
(i) Sample Setup for Division Leads
a. User Card:
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Report List:
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User Rights:
Page 183 of 185
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Appendix L: How to Change the Account Codes on a
Purchasing Transaction
Serenic Purchase Order with
Receipts Required
Vendor
Invoicing
Receipts
Create PO
Line
Submit for
Approval
Process
Approval
Send PO to
Vendor
PO
PO
Physical
Receipt of
Items
Ship Items
Receive &
Post Items
in Serenic
Receive
Invoice
Send
Invoice
Inv
Inv
Submit Inv.
to AP in
Serenic
Receive Inv
Doc
Inv
Enter
Invoice in
Serenic
Wait for
Due Date
Make
Payment
Receive
Payment
Send
Payment
Send
Invoice Doc
to AP
Inv
Change the Account Coding ? "
Purchase
Order
Create
Order
Header
Receive
Purchase
Order
" How do I ...
To change an account code on a PO line that you have already entered (Line Status =
New), you need to:
1. Choose the account code segment on the line that you want to change
2. Enter the new value in the field
3. Confirm all the other required information on the line. The unit cost probably was
reset to $0.
4. Tab off the line to get the validation rules to test your account code
To change an account code on a PO line that you have submitted for Review (Line
Status = Approval Pending), you need to (on the PO document):
1. Select the line you want to change (click left margin to highlight the entire line)
2. Click the Line button at the bottom of the form
3. Select "Reset Approvals" - the line status will revert to "New"
4. Choose the account code segment on the line that you want to change
5. Enter the new value in the field
6. Confirm all the other required information on the line. The unit cost probably
was reset to $0.
8. Submit the Order for Review
To change an account code on a PO line that has been Approved and Encumbered
(Line Status = Encumbered), you need to (on the PO document):
1. Select the line you want to change (click left margin to highlight the entire line)
2. Click the Line button at the bottom of the form
3. Select "Cancel" - the line status will change to "Cancelled" and the encumbrance
for that account will be cleared
4. Select the next available line on the PO & enter the account coding and other
information as desired.
6. Submit the new line for Review
To change an account code on a PO line that has been Sent to a Vendor (Line Status =
Encumbered), you need to follow the same procedures as described above - for
changing a PO Line that has been Approved and Encumbered.
Recall that the account coding for the PO Lines is not relevant to the Vendor and
probably has not even been communicated to them.
Once the items on a PO Line have Posted Receipts in Serenic, there is no easy way to
change the account coding for that purchase. If you realize that the accounting for the
Purchase is incorrect & that the accounts encumbered by the purchase are not the
accounts that will eventually be expensed, then you will need to mark-up the invoice
when it arrives instructing AP to change the accounting.
Until the invoice is processed by AP and the accounting is changed, the incorrect
accounts will be encumbered by the purchase
After receipts have been posted on a PO Line, the accounting corrections must occur
only by Controller's Office personnel. If a Department Buyer recognizes that incorrect
account codes have been used, as part of processing the receipt of the invoice they
should print the invoice labels with the existing (& incorrect) coding. The Department
Buyer should mark-up and highlight the need for AP to change the account coding. As
part of entering the Invoice in AP, the Controller's Office personnel should:
1. Process the Invoice as is normally done, building the Invoice document in
Serenic
2. Change the unit cost on the incorrect coding line to $0 - resulting in $0 being
charged to the wrong account
3. Construct a new line on the invoice with the correct coding & pricing
4. This will result in the original and incorrect encumbrance being relieved and the
new and correct account code being charged with the expense
Any changes to the account coding required after the Invoice has been posted in
Serenic will need to be completed by the Controller's Office personnel via a Journal
Entry to transfer the expenses to the new account.
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Appendix M: Function Key Map
This is the mapping of functions to function key available for use with Serenic Navigator, as a feature provided through Navision.
F1
Ctrl F
Key
Shift F
Key
F KEY
Toggle
Mark
F2
F3
Designer
What is …
AssistEdit
HELP
EDIT
INSERT
NEW
F4
F5
Close
Entries
DELETE
Page 185 of 185
F6
Next
Window
Card
Drill-down
LIST
LOOKUP
F7
F8
F9
Table Filter
Zoom
Reconcile
FlowFilter
SortFilter
F11
F12
Apply
Post and
Object
Entries
Print
Designer
FIELD
COPY
STATISTIC
FILTER
PREVIOUS
S
F10
MENU BAR
POST
MAIN
MENU

Navision-Serenic User Guide 20051205

Transcription

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