Kuali Financial System
Overview
David Lyons
NACUBO Liaison to Kuali
April 2007
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What is Kuali?
Kuali is a community source
initiative with the goal to develop a
comprehensive financial
information system that will serve
the needs of all Carnegie Class
college and universities.
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Current Participants
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Current Timeline
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Indiana University FIS
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12 Years of Operations
7 Campuses of Different Sizes
$2.4 Billion Annual Expenditures
Modular Design
Flexible Chart of Accounts
Need to Port to New Technology
Environment
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FIS Enhancements and Modifications
• Rigorous Review of Each Module
• “Webinar-Style” Presentations
• Critiqued by Specialists at Each
Institution
• Consensus on Enhancements and
Modifications
• Priorities Agreed Upon
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Technology Environment
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Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE)
XML (Workflow)
Modular Architecture
Standard Connections to Other Systems
Standards Based
No Proprietary Technology for the Long
Term
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Kuali System Core Modules
• Chart of Accounts
• General Ledger
• Transaction Processing
• Workflow (KEW)
• Kuali Nervous System (KNS)
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Kuali System Additional Modules
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Accounts Payable/Purchasing
Budget Construction
Labor Ledger
Grants and Contracts
(Scheduled Release October 2007)
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Kuali System Additional Modules (cont’d)
• Scheduled Release June 2008
– Accounts Receivable
– Capital Assets Management System
• Separate Projects
– Endowment (KEM)
– Research Administration (KRA)
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Kuali Chart of Accounts
• Simple Account Identification Number
• Transaction Object Code
• Sub Accounts/Sub Object Codes as
Needed
• Numerous Attributes Linked to the
Account Identification Number
• Multiple Charts if Needed
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Conceptual Data Model
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Transaction Processing
• Electronic Documents
• Built-in edits before routing for
approvals
• Only fully approved transactions
posted to general ledger
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Business Rules
• Maintained by financial system parameter
tables
• Functional users can maintain and create
business rules
• Institutions can customize based on their
policies
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Workflow
• Routing engine for validated
transactions
• Could be used for legacy and other
systems
• Routes transaction to proper approvers
• Highly customizable
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Standard Reports Base System
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Account Status
Consolidated account status
Consolidated object codes
Account transactions
Trial balance
External reports
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Balance Inquiry
• Balances by account, sub-account, object
code and sub-object code
• Balances by consolidation and drill down
to object code
• Budget balances after actual or
encumbrances
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Balance Inquiry (Cont’d)
• Drill down to detail transactions and to
electronic transactions
• Include/Exclude pending entries
• Export functions (e.g. Excel)
• Sort in ascending/descending order
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Financial Policy Guidance Base System
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Internal Control
Chart of Accounts
Cash Receipts
Cash Disbursements
Journal Vouchers
Workflow
Reports
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Fiscal Officer Development Series
• “Tool Kit” for success for Fiscal
Officers
• Development not training
• Establish relationships
• Assist Fiscal Officers in identifying
their role
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Not Included in Kauli
• Decision support environment
• Security Structure
• Check Writers
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Post-Project Sustainability
• Community of users
• User-controlled organization
• Commercial partners
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More KAULI Information
• WWW.KUALI.ORG
• Downloads and Resources
• Kuali Appliance
• Kuali News
• Sign up on the website for e-mail notices
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KUALI
• Questions?
• Comments?
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Chart of Accounts
Claire Tyson
San Joaquin Delta College
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What is the Chart of Accounts?
• Kuali has a flexible Chart of Accounts.
• CoA is made up of sets of tables that
define the codes and coding structures
within Kuali.
• Kuali CoA specifies organization
hierarchy and provides a framework
for reporting financial data.
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Purpose of the Chart
• What is the primary purpose of a chart of
accounts?
• To support and validate entries into a general
ledger
• What other functions does the Kuali chart of
accounts serve?
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Reporting, both internal and external
Internal controls
Document routing and approvals
Framework for budget construction
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Key Attributes of the Chart
• Multiple charts of accounts
• Organizations and the organization
hierarchy
• Accounts and sub-accounts
• Object code and sub-object codes
• Object level codes and object
consolidation codes
• Extended attributes
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Chart of Accounts at Sample U
SU COA
UA COA
West COA
East COA
WA COA
EA COA
Regional COAs
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Benefits of Multiple Charts
• Ability to handle complex reporting structures
• Campus charts are not required to contain object
codes unrelated to their activities (i.e. Cost of Goods
Sold, Inventory, etc.)
• Auxiliary Charts are not required to contain object
codes unrelated to their activities (i.e. Tuition, State
Appropriations)
• Easy access to campus level or Auxiliary reporting
• Increased information and knowledge at the campus
level
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Organizations
• Organization
– Example: FMOP (Financial Management
Operations)
– Collection of accounts and/or other organizations
– Some organization features:
• Chart of Accounts, Campus, Department,
Responsibility Center, Subunit
• Can include all fund groups
• Up to four alphanumeric characters (eg. FMOP)
• Extension HRMS table (customizable)
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Organization Hierarchy at SU
UNIV
WA
VPBus
FM
FMSY
FMOP
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Accounts
• Account Number
– Specific identifier for a pool of funds assigned
to a specific organization for a specific
function.
• Example: 1912610 (Financial Management
Administration)
Reports to org FMOP
– All accounts can be self-balancing
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Org Hierarchy with Accounts
UNIV
WA
VPBus
FM
FMSY
1912631
FMOP
1912610
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Sub-Accounts
• Sub-accounts achieve further division of an
account for internal reporting purposes.
• Example: custr (FM Admin Customer
Service)
Reports to 1912610
• Characteristics of a sub-account:
– Account specific
– Assumes all features of the account it reports to
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Org Heir with Accounts/Sub Accounts
UNIV
WA
VPBus
FM
FMSY
FMOP
1912631
1912610
aucap
custr
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Object Codes
• Object Codes are detailed identifiers for Income,
Expense, Asset, Liability and Fund Balances.
– Chart specific
– Four numeric digits
– Example 1: West-2000 “Academic Salaries”
East-2000 “Academic Salaries”
– Example 2: West-1504 “Animal Care Income”
East-1504 “Card Services Income”
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Sub-Object Codes
• Sub-object codes achieve further division of an object
code for internal reporting purposes
• Features of a sub-object include the following:
– Specific to an account and object code
– Assumes all features of the object code it reports to
• Example: In State Travel Object Code 6000
– Faculty Instate Travel, Fac
– Staff Instate Travel, Sta
– Student Instate Travel, Stu
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Levels and Consolidations
• All object codes report to a higher Level code and
each Level code reports to a higher Consolidation
code
– Approximately 80 Levels (although no limit)
– Approximately 20 Consolidations (no limit)
– Example:
Object Code
Level
Consolidation
4100
S&E
GENX
“Office Supplies”
“Supplies and Expense”
“General Expenses”
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Extended Attributes
• Extended Attributes are extensions of an
Account that enable:
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Search by attribute
Lookup by attribute
Balance inquiry retrieval by attribute
Reporting by attribute
• Extended Attributes can be alpha / numeric.
• They are optional.
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Enhancements to the Kuali chart
• Flexible Claim on Cash
– Post cash offsets to control accounts rather than
having each account be self balancing
• Budget Year
– Work in multiple fiscal years at the same time
– Required for reporting uses of state
appropriations in many states
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Management Control and COA
• How can I use the chart for organizational
management?
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Flexibility in Reporting
Flexibility in making Routing decisions
Hierarchy for Responsibility Management
Facilitates internal controls by assigning fiscal
officers, account managers, supervisors
– Transparency of data to measure performance of
departments and subunits
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Management Control and COA
• What tools are provided to achieve reporting
objectives?
– With the Approval of the Chart Manager
• Organizations
• Accounts
• Object codes
– Sub-accounts (budgeting / spending)
– Sub-object codes (budgeting / spending)
– On line balance inquiries and formal reports
through use of data warehouse
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CoA Next Steps
• Kuali Demo Labs
• Kualitestdrive.org
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Questions?
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Financial Transactions,
Workflow and General Ledger
Bill Overman
Indiana University
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TP Global Concepts
Transaction Processing
• Users create transactions with built-in edits
before transactions route for approval.
• Fully approved transactions are sent to the
general ledger.
• Allows read-only access to transactions via
document search.
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Electronic Documents
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Document groups:
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Accounts Receivable
Capital Assets
Contract & Grants
Financial Documents
Labor Distribution
Chart of Accounts Maintenance
Financial documents include:
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Budget Adjustment
Cash Receipt
Disbursement Voucher
Distribution of Income/Expense
General Error Correction
Internal Billing
Journal Voucher
Disbursement Voucher
Transfer of Funds
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Edits and Rules
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Validations
Restrictions
– Account
– Object code
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Balancing rules
Special features/Specific documents
Authorizations/Routing
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eDoc Account Edits
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eDoc Object Code Edits
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Kuali Business Rules
• Maintained by Financial System Parameter
Tables
• Allows Functional Users to maintain and
create business rules.
• Allows institutions to customize out of the
box business rules based on their codes and
policies.
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Moving Expense Business Rule
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Moving Expense Business Rule
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General Ledger Pending Entries
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After Validation
• Once an eDoc is validated it is routed
through workflow.
– Fiscal Officer Routing
– Organization Routing
– Special Conditions Routing
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What is Workflow?
Functionally . . .
Workflow is the art of moving transactions from one place to
another, requesting and recording actions related to that
transaction along the way.
Technically . . .
Workflow is a routing engine that works with Kuali. Workflow
functions by matching attributes of a transaction to existing
rules that indicate where a transaction with those attributes
should go. Most commonly Workflow is used to collect
approvals.
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How does Workflow work?
After a financial transaction is initiated, Workflow electronically routes the
transaction to the proper approvers.
- Documents must route to fiscal officer(s)
- Optional organization routing may be in place for additional approvals
The path of approval can be influenced by:
– The type of transaction (example: a Cash Receipt document may route
differently than a Transfer of Funds)
and . . .
– The content of the transaction itself (example: a transaction charging
supplies to a grant account may need to route for special approval)
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Delegates
Fiscal Officers can delegate approval authority to other
users based on attributes of a specific transaction such as
document type and dollar amount.
Delegates can approve documents at the “Account Level”
of routing as if they were the Fiscal Officer.
Two kinds of delegates exist: Primary delegates and
Secondary delegates.
Fiscal Officers can choose to establish either type of
delegate or both.
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Workgroups
A workgroup is a collection of approvers who share a
similar responsibility.
If a document routes to a workgroup, all members of
the workgroup will see that document in their action
lists.
Once any member of the workgroup takes action on
that document, the document is removed from the
action list of all other members of that workgroup.
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General Ledger
• Once an eDoc is approved in workflow it is
ready to post to the general ledger.
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Accounting Cycle Components
Pre-Scrubber and Scrubber – Perform the following major functions:
Validation of Data
• Application of select missing values
• Reference to chart of accounts for validation (non-free form fields)
• Continuation account logic
Generation of offsets
• Document balancing
• Capitalization of assets and liabilities
• Plant indebtedness
• Cost share transfers
• Cost share encumbrances
Error handling
• Most common source for error files for input into the GLCP e-doc (in
conjunction with De-Merge process)
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Accounting Cycle Components Continued
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De-Merge Process – Pulls all of the transactions for a document that the scrubber found to have
errors and backs out any scrubber generated offsets. This is the main source of transactions for the
General Ledger Correction Process (GLCP) e-doc.
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GL Poster – Performs the following major functions:
Three instances of the poster
• Primary poster for the scrubbed transactions
• Automated reversal process
• Indirect Cost Recovery (ICR)
Limited validation of data (amount, account number, object type, balance type, fiscal year,
chart, debit/credit indicator, & reversal date)
Updates and inserts to GL tables
• GL Detail (GLEN)
• GL Balance (GLBL)
• Account Balance (ACBL)
• Sufficient Funds (SFBL)
• Open Encumbrances (GLEC)
• GL Reversals (GLRV)
Initial determination of expenses eligible for ICR
• GL Expense Transactions (GLEX) temporary table
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Accounting Cycle Components Continued
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Automated Reversal Process - Systematically reverses transactions that were created
with a reversal date. A copy of the original transaction remains in the GL Reversal
(GLRV) table until the reversal date is reached, at which time a reversing entry is
created and posted. The original entry is then removed from the GLRV table.
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Indirect Cost Recovery (ICR) – Calculates ICR based on the expenses found in the
GL Expense Transactions (GLEX) table. Generally, ICR is charged to the account
incurring the original charge and revenue is recorded in an associated income stream
account, usually a general fund Responsibility Center (RC) account (table driven).
The ICR process references attributes of account and supporting reference tables to
derive an amount.
– From account - financial series ID, ICR rate, ICR types, custom exclusions by
object code, and revenue chart and account
– From reference tables – ICR automated entry, ICR type, and account exclusions
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Accounting Cycle – Kuali Test Drive accounting cycle runs 11pm EDT Sunday –
Friday with refreshes of the test database each Saturday at 5:30am. Documents
fully approved by the 11pm accounting cycle will post to the General Ledger tables.
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Functionality and Chart Set-Up
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Attributes of Account Numbers
– Expiration date, closed indicator, and continuation accounting string for
continuation account processing
– Indirect cost rates, financial series ID’s, exclusions, and revenue accounts
for Indirect Cost Recovery (ICR) calculations
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Attributes of Sub-Account Numbers
– Identifies cost share sub accounts and the source accounting string for cost
share transfers and cost share encumbrance processing
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Attributes of Organizations
– Identify the plant fund account numbers for capitalization and plant
indebtedness
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Offset Definition Reference Table
– Determines the appropriate offset in the event a balancing transaction is
needed
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Many other examples for other GL fields and reference tables…
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GL Enhancements - Turn On/Off
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Flexible Offsets – Allows posting of generated offsets (cash, accounts payable,
salaries payable, etc…) to a specified offset accounting string. Each implementing
institution can determine if offsets should post to the same account as the original
transaction or to another defined accounting string. An offset accounting string can
be established by document type within an account.
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Bank Specific Claim on Cash – At the document level, allows the association of
receipts and disbursements with a specific bank account. When activated users can
specify a specific bank on appropriate e-docs (DV, ND, CR, PREQ, etc…). When
specified an additional set of cash transactions will be generated which reclassify the
original cash entry to a bank specific cash entry, likely in an institutional level
account. The accounting string for the additional bank specific entries is maintained
via bank reference tables.
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Indirect Cost Recovery (ICR) Encumbrances – An extension of the actual ICR
calculation for encumbrances. This is an optional feature, that when activated will
calculate ICR encumbrances based on the outstanding encumbrance balances for an
account. The intent is to provide a more complete view of an account’s position.
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Questions?
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