Question Parking Lot and Notes from
MnSCU WebEx Session with SWIFT Trainers
8/11/2011
last update 8/22/2011
Link to recording of this meeting:
https://mnscu.webex.com/mnscu/lsr.php?AT=pb&SP=MC&rID=29725632&r
Key=c542e79ee360ad74
Q. What is the most efficient way to find and fix payment vouchers that are
held up due to error, recycled, budget exception, or other issue?
A: The path to get there is: >Accounts Payable>Vouchers>Maintain>Voucher
Build Error Detail. Here you will want to put in the Business Unit of E2601
and then another piece of information that you know such as the Invoice
Number or Vendor Number and then search. The subsequent page will
display all vouchers with errors. When you perform the query and get the
message, “No matching values were found.” You know you do not currently
have any errors. Note: When looking at specific payments, the Summary tab
is the best place to go to see all related errors. (Video 0:00 - 10:20)
VENDORS and PAYMENT STATUS: (Video 10:20-22:56)
Q. What is the best way for a user to check on the status of a vendor entered,
but not yet approved?
A. SWIFT Path: Main Menu>Vendors>Vendor
Information>Add/Update>Review Vendors OR through the Accounts Payable
menu: >Review Accounts Payable Info>Vendors Look at Vendor Status field
Q. On some vendors the "bill to" and "ship to" addresses are not easily
distinguishable. Are there tips for how to determine if the vendor (+ location)
has the correct addresses?
A. Path in SWIFT: >Vendor>Add/Update>Change Vendor Address
(Video 16:00-17:00)
Q. How do you see the Remit to address?
A. You need access to the Vendor Addresses area.
>Vendors>Add/Update>Change Address
Q. How can we look up a payment that should have been received?
A. Payment Inquiry area. Path in SWIFT: >Accounts Payable>Review Accounts
Payable Information>Payments>Payment: Put in some information you know
such as payment amount, Bank, Reference Number and Search. Scroll down
and look for the Reconciliation Status. Unreconciled means we haven’t
received verification back from their bank that the payment was received.
Reconciled means their bank has received the payment. (Video 17:45)
Notes from this section:
• Wild card in SWIFT is the ‘%’ sign.
• Vendor details tab shows the Remit to Address
• Financial Gateway tab would have more information if the payment was
an ACH payment.
Q. How can we look up a payment that should have had been received by
another state agency via bi-lateral netting, but failed to pay off the receivable
for some reason? e.g. The amount or invoice number did not match receivable.
A. Watch this section of the video to see information on looking up payments
in general, with and without errors: Path in SWIFT: >Accounts
Payable>Review Accounts Payable Info. Notes from this section:
• Remit Vendor is the same as the vendor number.
• Reference: If it starts with a FIVE it is a WARRANT. If it starts with a
ZERO it is an ACH Payment.
• Bank Set ID = ‘SHARE’ (used by everyone)
• Inter-agency payments will always appear to be ‘Unreconciled’
Q: The MnSCU transaction number is interfaced to SWIFT as the "Item
Description" field for each voucher. Where is that field in SWIFT?
A: Path in SWIFT: >Main Menu>Accounts
Payable>Vouchers>Add/Update>Regular Entry: If you know the voucher
number is you could see it through the Voucher Build Process. Go to the
invoice line area.and look for a field labeled Description. This is where the
ISRS Serial Number will exist.(Video 26:15)
Q: Can we get the reports we used to be able to get via Crystal such as
DB_BEXIB & T0101_AGY.RPT?
A: They are supposed to be recreating them and there are some delivered
reports in SWIFT. >Reporting Tools>Queries>>Query Viewer> In the one field
you see type M for Minnesota and you will see all of the available queries.
Also as part of the new IA warehouse, one of their goals was to recreate the
historical queries.
Q: What security is needed to be able to get to
Voucher>Maintenance>Voucher Build Error Detail?
A: The role is M_FS_AP_MAINT_VOUCHR_ERROR_DTL (8/22/2011)
Q: How is a TG (Targeted) Vendor Identified?
A: TG and ED vendors are identified on the Vendor Header and Location. The
Department of Administration is updating the vendors as TG and ED. The
primary contact is Wendy Vankuyk. The TG or ED vendor is marked as either
on the VNDR_GOV_CERT record and then whichever location is the TG or ED
location is checked accordingly. (8/22/2011)
Q: Where do you look to see if a payment has been captured by the revenue
department?
A: Answer Pending (d)
Q: MnSCU Schools will benefit by having the data be pulled up by Financial
Department ID. Is it possible to get this built into the criteria screens?
A: This would be an enhancement request to the software. Maybe a query
could be built to accommodate your needs?
Q: We created a vendor and it is approved in SWIFT but is not available to use
in PCS.
A: If you are seeing the vendor in SWIFT but it hasn't appeared in ISRS, you
should send in a ticket to the ISRS help desk so our technical staff can research
the problem as to why that vendor is not making it over to us.
FYI: The DBA (Doing Business As) name is what is displaying in ISRS for vendors.
Q. I was told by another state agency that I HAD to pay them within SWIFT,
how can I do that? Also, with no PV distinctions anymore, how do we process
a payment to another state agency?
A: You were told wrong. All of MnSCU’s payments go through ISRS. We don’t
make any payments directly in SWIFT. Instead of PV distinctions, these
payments go through a process called Bi-lateral netting which is as follows.
The other state agency will set up a receivable and give you the appropriate
information to make the payment to go against that receivable. You MUST pay
them using the exact information they have given you, including their agency
number, invoice number, amount, etc. You may NOT make partial payments.
You must pay the whole thing using all of the correct information or the Bilateral netting will not be successful.
Q: We have an instance where yesterday's entries had yesterday's date as
payment date also. Why is this?
A: All of MnSCU’s payments will be like this. They are set up as Immediate
Pay. The payment is triggered instantly.
Q: I am trying to pay department of Revenue for some collection fees.
A: Answer Pending.. Here is a beginning draft but more detail should be
coming soon: When the department of Revenue collects bad debts for us, they
will receipt it and then do a receipt correction to get the money to us.
Q: How do we receive interagency payments?
A. Other agencies will pay us like we are an outside vendor. You will receipt
the check putting and N in the State Treasury field so that the funds will be
swept back up to the State Treasury.
Q. What happens when MAPS goes away? How do we find payment
information for FY 2011 and prior?
A. MAPS will remain available for queries for some time to come.
Q. When will each individual college need to start checking the errors or will
the Office of the Chancellor staff continue to do this?
A. Office of the Chancellor is doing it now but a transition will be made and
you will be informed when that happens.
Q: On the local, university level...how do we get access to the direct entry
screens? We need these tools to perform our jobs in the absence of the
run/edit functions that were available in MAPS??!
A. In the past when you fixed a payment you could press F7 or F8. Now there
is a ‘process’ button.
Q: Are IAP's (Inter-Agency Payments)to be processed as direct payments or
can they be processed from purchase orders?
A: You can use either direct pay or PO payment to make these payments.
Q: How do you isolate to just find your individual college in the error detail.
The query lists all of MnSCU. In Maps we had a unique identifier on the batch
listing.
A: There really isn’t a way that we know of but the list should get shorter and
shorter as we go. (44:20 - 47:00)
Q: What is the best method to find those EFT payments made to us?
A: Check your bank account or the e-supplier portal which is the equivalent of
the old Vendor screen that they had for MAPS. That should have all the
information that used to be on the check stub when they got warrants. We do
have a problem however because we all have the same FIN number. They are
working on that. TIP from Mankato: I signed up with the E-supplier using the
same vendor number from MAPS, rather than the tax id number. It has worked
very well and I can look them up every day. (45:00)
Q: We're receiving alot of calls from vendors stating they cannot find their
payment information easily on the web. They complain that it is not clear.
A: Instruct your vendors to call the SWIFT help desk. Also, there is a tutorial
out on the e-supplier portal that should be helpful.
Q: Other state agencies are not giving us clear information on how to pay
them.
A. Remember they just came off a shut down and have a large learning curve.
Q: We need the detail of what that payment is to the bank. I haven't found a
good method to find that detail yet
A. We think the e-portal will help with this and are hoping it will be available
within the next week or so.
Q: If an institution is going to have multiple cost centers to the same vendor or
other state agency and we are going to get a single invoice is it in our best
interest to have one PO using multiple cost centers?
A: Yes
Q: Why would multiple invoices processed for the same vendor with the same
location code be sent to two different remit addresses, 1 via check and 1 via
EFT?
A. There possibly were changes made mid-stream on the vendor information?
It was most likely a timing issue.
Q: Can there be a master list created with vendor numbers for state agencies
so each agency doesn't need to contact each school individually?
A. These are available on SWIFT website:
http://www.swift.state.mn.us/financials/support-materials. Select Inter and
Intra Agency Vendor IDs. (8/22/2011)
Q: Has there been any progress in getting reports for reconciliations that show
payroll detail?
A.: We have had problems getting data from the State but have had more
success recently. Watch the SWIFT Weekly Updates for more information on
this.
Q: When will MAPS go away? When that happens, how do we find payment
information for FY 2011 and prior?
A: The IA Warehouse will be out there for a very long time. You also will be
able to log in to MAPS to query data for quite some time.
Q: Has anyone actually reconciled SWIFT to MnSCU for July yet?
A: We just don’t have enough information from SWIFT yet. Open office hours
will continue until we know it is done.
Q: What screens in Swift are the equivalent to MAPS screens RSUM, EESM,
EAP2 (Revenue Summary, Expense Summary and Appropriation Inquiry):
A. Full Answer Pending. Appropriation Overview screen is a good place to
start. (d) (01:30:04)
Q: Where will the reconciliation queries be?
A. BRIO
Q: Where do you find your SWIFT reports?
A: Answer Pending
Q: How do we look up MDOR or MCE payments that we receive in SWIFT
A. Full answer pending. This is where they will be doing cash receipt
corrections and we will have to figure out how to find them. We are still
working on this. (c)
Q: What is the equivalent of the EXB and the T010 would be. I'm not really
asking about payment "queries." This is more summary info by object code
A: Answer Pending (c)
Q: How do we get access or when will we get access to the details in the
revenue and expenditure areas similar to revenue budget summary inquiry
and expense budget summary inquiries?
A: Answer Pending (c)
Comment: I used the totals from the Appropriation Inquiry and the HR 2280
with to isolate unposted FY11 and FY12 payroll. Other expenses are a little
more difficult.
Q: Where can we look in SWIFT to see what cash receipts we’ve gotten for the
day?
A: Answer Pending (c)