Overview
This article contains navigation and use recommendations for budget managers using Colleague Self Service.
Recommendations
- Budget managers should use the “Finance Query” view (Financial Management>Finance Query) to view budget information. In this view managers can see all of their accounts, line by line, similar to how they have become used to seeing them in the Portal. The “Budgets to Actuals” view can be more challenging to work with, as the data is summarized for overview purposes and in a way that may not be intuitive or relevant for most budget managers. (The “Budgets to Actuals” selection will be valuable for budget transfer requests, however, once that functionality has been fully tested and implemented.)
- In the “Finance Query” view, it is recommended that budget managers make a couple of adjustments and set up at least one default filter, as follows:
- To make the view look more like what was displayed in the Portal(previous system), the “Actuals” column can be moved to the right two spaces. Do this by clicking on the “Actuals” header and selecting “Move column right.” This will need to be done twice to put the columns in the same display order as in the Portal. Alternatively, the header can be clicked and dragged to the desired location.
- To display the accounts so they are grouped by unit, with subtotals, and in order within each unit by object code, make the selections below in the “Sort Options” dropdown of the filter box, click “Save Criteria,” and give the setting a name that’s meaningful to you (such as “Default View”)
- Displaying only the expense accounts over which the budget manager has discretion (not revenue, permanent employee salary and benefit, and cash balance accounts) allows managers to easily review remaining budget balances and avoid potential confusion, it is recommended that users create a second set of saved criteria. To do this, add the following filters to the “Object” dropdown after adding the sort options in the previous step, click “Save Criteria,” and give this setting another name that’s meaningful to you (such as “Discretionary Spending Accounts Only”)
Once these two “Saved Selection Criteria” are created, they will appear as options to select at the top of the Filter view so the user won’t have to re configure every time they go into the application. Budget managers are also encouraged to create additional saved filters to suit their specific needs.
To use the saved criteria created, click “Select a criteria” from the “Saved Selection Criteria” section at the top the Filter box, then make a choice from the dropdown that appears. Once this has been done, additional filter criteria can be added by making the desired entries into the Fund, Division, Function, Unit, Object, and Sort Options dropdowns. Finally, click “Apply Filter” to view the results.
- Opening “Finance Query” and clicking “Apply Filter” at the bottom of the Filter menu without making any specific filter selections will display all of the budget manager’s accounts.
- To have a full screen-width view of the account information (which I find much easier to read), click “Filter” to hide the filter selections menu. Clicking it again will cause the menu to reappear, if needed.
- Users can now choose different date ranges of data to display, including the ability to see historical information back to FY2018 by choosing the desired year from the dropdown that appears above the results display. (Note: Always review which fiscal year is selected; the system reopens with the last year viewed without resetting even if the filter has been updated.
- Users can now easily export account information to Excel using the “Export” dropdown above the results display. This includes the ability to export the summary account data as displayed (Download CSV) and the option to export the underlying transaction detail (Detail CSV). Note that the column order within the export file will match the original default, not your customized order.
- Click on any line item in the display for a view of the transactions that have posted to that line in the selected time period, including Budget, Actuals, Requisitions, and Encumbrances. For some transactions that appear there users will then be able to click to see even more detail.
Additional Information
Hopefully this information will help acclimate budget managers to using the new Colleague Self-Service system for viewing their budgets and other account information. Please reach out to Traci Grainger, Director of Budget and Planning, with any questions.