Finance Terminology/Concepts

Instances

Instances are distinct databases. Each campus has its own instances; the HR and Finance applications on a given campus have separate instances; and there may be multiple instances within an application. For example, the Finance production instance is FHUMPRD (F=Finance, HUM=Humboldt, PRD=production).

The name of the instance should appear within the URL in your browser window, when you are accessing or logged into a PS database.

Instance	Description	Use
FHUMPRD	Finance production	Purchasing, budget, financials inquiry
FHUMRPT	Finance reporting	No longer in use; Use FHUMPRD instead
HHUMPRD	HR production	Recruit workforce (faculty personnel)
HHUMRPT	HR reporting	Payroll detail inquiry

Modules

There are several modules within PS Finance. Each module defines a different functional area.

Module	Name	Function	Department
PO	Purchasing	Purchase goods & services	Procurement
AP	Accounts Payable	Pay vendors	Accounts Payable
GL	General Ledger	Record financial activity	Accounting

Accounting Periods

Accounting periods are accounting months. They are numbered relative to the fiscal year, not the calendar year. Ledgers are organized on accounting periods. Every financial transaction is posted to a specific period, which may be different than the actual transaction date.

Accounting Period	Description
1	July
2	August
3	September
4	October
5	November
6	December
7	January
8	February
9	March
10	April
11	May
12	June
0	Beginning balances
999	Year-end adjustments

Fiscal Year

The fiscal year runs July 1-June 30. In PeopleSoft, a fiscal year is designated as the first calendar year of the fiscal year. For example, FY 2004-05 is designated as fiscal year 2004. Whenever a query or report prompts for year, it is asking for fiscal year. So, January 2005 is Year 2004, Period 7.

Business Unit

A business unit is a set of accounting books. Most reports and lookups require you to specify a business unit. HSU has several sets of books, but the only one relevant to the general enduser is HMCMP (HM=Humboldt, CMP=campus). These are the Humboldt State University legal books.

Some users who work with student Financial Aid in the Accounts Payable module may see an additional business unit called HMSTD (HM=Humboldt, STD=Student). This unit is not used in General Ledger.

Chartfields

Chartfields are the elements that comprise the chart of accounts: how financial activity is categorized and coded in PS Finance. Humboldt State University uses six different chartfields:

Account
Fund
Department
Program
Class
Project

See Chart of Accounts for more information on the chartfields and their values.

Document Types

The following documents participate in PS Finance, and trace an accounting "life cycle" for purchases.

Document	Description	Module
Requisition	Pre-encumbrance; request for goods & services	PO
Purchase Order	Encumbrance; contract to buy goods & services	PO
Voucher	Authorization to pay a vendor	AP
Journal	Daily accounting activity batch; pathway to ledger	GL
Ledger	Chartfield balances by period	GL

See the Financials Data Flow diagram for a graphic representation of document flow in PS Finance.

Ledgers

The ledger is the final resting place for accounting transactions, the document of record for the organization’s financial state. There are actually multiple ledgers in PS Finance, depending on the nature of the dollars represented. You will see ledgers specified on reports and inquiry pages. The following ledgers are relevant to endusers:

Ledger Name	Contents
ACTUALS	Revenues, expenditures; assets, liabilities, equity
STANBUD	Budget
KK_DTL_ENC	Encumbrances (purchase orders in, vouchers out)
KK_DTL_PRE	Pre-encumbrances (requisitions in, purchase orders out)

A line in a PS ledger generally consists of a chartfield string, an accounting period/year, and a dollar amount. The dollar amount represents the net total of whatever quantity is stored in that ledger, for the specified chartfield string and period. There is no indication of the activities that make up that total; that information is stored at a lower level in the system.

Scenarios

A scenario is a category of budgetary activity. Scenarios appear in the budget ledger & journals, and associated reports. The following scenarios are used in the HMCMP business unit:

Scenario	Description
BDCAMPUS	Legacy conversion roll-forward
ORIGINAL	Original
REVISED	Revised (transfers)
ALLOCATION	CSU allocation orders

Journal Sources

Journal source is a field that appears in a journal header, describing the origin of the journal. The field is also used in the HUMGL015 transaction detail report, in the "Src" column. The following values are in use in the HMCMP business unit:

Journal Source	Description
ALO	Allocations (including budget roll-forward)
APS	Accounts payable (vouchers, payments, claims)
BNR	Banner student system (charges, payments)
BUD	Budget entry
HRS	Human Resources (payroll LCD)
IMP	Imported journal entry
ONL	Online journal entry
TIE	Trust investment earnings
YEC	Year-end closing

Banner Batch Types

Banner student charges and payments are sent to Finance in seven different batch types. These batch types appear in Banner detail (e.g., in the HUMGL015, or ledger/journal drilldown), and in journals generated from Banner data.

Batch Type	Description	Journal ID Mask
BNRAPPL	Application of payments	BAP
BNRCHGS	Charges to student accounts	JEB
BNRDEPI	Initial deposit	BDI
BNRDEPR	Release of deposit	BDR
BNRFINA	Financial Aid payments	BFA
BNRMISC	Miscellaneous payments	BMS
BNRPMTS	Payments to student accounts	BCR