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Office of the CIO/Projects & Strategic Initiatives
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BG@100 FMS Specific FAQ's |
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 BG@100 FAQ's
HCM Specific FAQ's
Applicant Tracking FAQ's
FMS Procedures Update FAQ
| Q: What does FMS stand for?
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| A: FMS represents the Financial Management Solution portion of the BG@100 PeopleSoft project. |
| Q: What is the 'Go Live' date for FMS?
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| A: FMS 'Go Live' is scheduled for February 5, 2007. |
| Q: What does the Go Live of FMS mean?
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| A: The Go Live of FMS means that this system will be the university's official financial system. All financial transaction
will be processed using this system.
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| Q: How can I learn about FMS?
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| A: The FMS implementation is documented at the BG@100 web site: www.bgsu.edu/BGat100. This web site can provide a history of project progress as well as access to information for those who will be using FMS.
A short video entitled Preparing for FMS is also available for your viewing.
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| Q: Can paper documents continue to be used?
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| A: All departments will be required to use FMS online to transact business and AFIN paper documents will no longer be used.
The one exception is the continued use of paper to submit Travel and Business Entertainment Expenses.
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| Q: Will everyone have access to FMS?
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| A: Each department/school/area has a staff member(s) named for the role of Requester, Budget Administrator, Senior Administrator,
and Vice President. BG@100 training is provided to those assigned to these roles. Once training has been completed, employees
may request access to the FMS system.
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| Q: How do I obtain access to FMS?
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| A: Those who have attended BG@100 training have been provided with appropriate security forms to complete and return. Forms
(a FMS Security Request Form and Statement of Ethical Use) are provided at http://www.bgsu.edu/offices/cio/page26203.html for any employees who have been named to a FMS role, have attended training, and have not received their forms.
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| Q: Once I have completed the Security Request Form and Statement of Ethical Use, where do they need to be sent?
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| A: These forms may be sent to the Application Security Administrator at the BG@100 Project Office - 414 E. Wooster. |
| Q: I already have security access for PeopleSoft HCM. Will I need to obtain a separate security access for PeopleSoft FMS?
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| A: Yes. As with HCM, you will need to attend the required training before you are granted access to FMS. At the completion
of the required training, you must complete a security access form and send it to the Application Security Administrator at
the BG@100 project office. Once approved and you have been granted access, you will sign into FMS using your BGNet username
and password - the same password you use to sign into HCM and into MyBGSU.
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| Q: When and how can people have assistance in entering transactions into FMS?
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| A: It is understood that people may need additional help in using FMS after the initial training. The FMS training team
will be available during the open lab times listed on the BG@100 web page to assist users in completing FMS transactions. During these times, the campus community is invited to come to the specified
lab and trainers will be available to assist users in entering their actual work into FMS production.
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| Q: Who do I contact if I have questions about FMS?
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| A: Questions may be directed to the Technology Support Center (TSC) at 2-0999, tsc@bgsu.edu. TSC staff will be able to answer or appropriately direct the questions.
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| Q: When are the next FMS training sessions offered?
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| A: FMS training is based on the role each user is assigned. Users are invited by the BG@100 project team to training sessions
based on their FMS role. Please contact BG@100 by e-mail at: BGat100@bgsu.edu if you need to attend training.
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| Q: By attending the training program Navigating FMS, I see that FMS is quite different from AFIN in terms of how users access
screens. Is this because of a difference in technology?
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A: Yes. AFIN uses older technologies, such as a character-based user interface. For example, to access a screen to enter
a requisition (RXQ), you press the L key to "leaf" and then type "RXQ" to access the Quick Requisition Input Form.
PeopleSoft FMS, on the other hand, uses newer technologies, allowing for easier navigation. For example, if you want to access
the FMS screen to enter a requisition, you point and click on the menu item Add/Update Requisitions.
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| Q: Will I be able to access FMS from off-campus?
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| A: No. For security reasons you will only be able to access FMS from desktop systems on campus. |
| Q: Will I be able to access FMS using the wireless network?
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| A: Users may access FMS using the on-campus wireless network. |
| Q: Can month end reports be checked through Page Center? Will I have the capability to use Page Center?
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| A: After "go live" in February, you will be able to look at budget history in AFIN, but that will be all you can do. Any
budget information entered after "go live" will only be accessible through FMS. Page Center will be available after FMS goes
live to review your previous month end reports.
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| Q: Will AFIN data continue to be accessible after the FMS Go-Live?
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A: The FMS system will contain historical financial information at the general ledger journal level for the 2005-06 fiscal
year and for the period spanning July 1, 2006 through Jan. 31, 2007 for the 2006-07 fiscal year. AFIN will be available for
viewing history until the history is moved to a data warehouse.
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| Q: What will happen to orders that were "open" in AFIN?
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A: Any purchase orders that were open in AFIN on January 31 will be manually rebuilt in FMS and available for process completion.
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| Q: Will I be able to process orders if I do not have sufficient funds available?
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| A: No. If sufficient funds are not available, users are advised to consult with their supervisor in order to resolve. |
| Q: Will I get a notification if a requisition I enter does not pass budget checking?
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| A: No. Part of the creation of a requisition is the budget checking process which will tell you immediately whether or not
the requisition will pass budget checking. If you did not budget check a requisition when it was created, you will have to
check the status of the requisition to find out whether or not it passed budget checking.
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| Q: What happens if fixed costs (e.g., telephone) are charged to a depleted operating budget, how will the new system handle that
situation?
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A: When the funds in a budget are depleted or insufficient to transact a purchase through the requisition process, the requisition
will be denied and returned to the requester. When charges are submitted against a budget that has insufficient funds through
an interface (e., telephone), the charges will cause the budget to go negative.
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| Q: Can a requester for one department enter a department cost center (DCC) for another department?
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| A: A requester must have purchasing authority for the DCC that the requisition is being entered against. A requester should
not enter a DCC that is not included in his or her security setup.
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| Q: How do I pay an invoice for entertainment and meals?
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| A: The process for paying travel and business entertainment and meal expenses is not changing. Paper forms will continue
to be used and at this time, FMS will not be used to enter travel and business entertainment expenses. Please be sure to obtain
a FMS updated form from the Business Office web site. Complete the form on white paper and send to the Business Office.
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| Q: How will payment for which multiple areas are jointly responsible be processed (e.g., an expense that is cost shared by a
department operating budget, an external grant, and CEE)?
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A: When a requisition is entered in the system, the sharing Department Cost Centers can be entered on the distribution lines.
The cost is shared on a percent basis by the Department Cost Centers. When the requisition goes forward in the approval workflow,
both Budget Administrators would be required to approve the purchase.
A second option would be for one department to finance the purchase and then through a budget transfer share the cost of the
purchase between two budgets.
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| Q: How will expenses for budgets that cross fiscal years be handled (e.g., summer 2007 expenses that are incurred before the
fiscal year that includes summer 2007 is created)?
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A: For the summer term, the Department Cost Centers will not change. A program code will be utilized to flag the expenditure
in either the current or the future fiscal year.
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| Q: Why has the title/position of "budget initiator" in the budgeting process not been shared or made available? In some units,
this might be preferred to the current first step of "budget requester".
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A: The initiator role was a special role developed late in the implementation to satisfy a special need that the Residence
Life group brought to our attention.
The Residence Life area had a large number of student employees that they wanted to give access to create requisitions. However,
they did not want the students to have the ability to purchase up to $1,499 without higher level approval. The initiator role
can create a requisition but a requester must approve it before it enters the normal workflow process. We chose not to put
this role into general use because it was developed very late in the project. The Purchasing Office may offer it as an option
for departments in the future.
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| Q: What is the Chart of Accounts?
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| A: In FMS the Chart of Accounts is a list of general ledger account numbers that subdivide basic accounting equations, with
associated titles and definitions, used for posting accounting transitions to the general ledger.
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| Q: What is Commitment Control?
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| A: A stand alone feature in the General Ledger module that enables BGSU to control expenditure against predefined, authorized
budgets. This feature ensures that budget commitments are kept.
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| Q: What is a tree in FMS?
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| A: FMS trees are used to roll-up or group portions of the Chart of Accounts such that reports and data views can be organized
by department, Vice President area, etc.
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| Q: What do I do if I have to pay a speaker, (for example a former Non Employee Compensation)?
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| A: First, check to see if the person is already listed as a vendor. If the speaker is not currently listed as a vendor,
the speaker needs to fill out the Vendor Data Sheet on the Business Office web site and submit it to the Business Office.
Once the person is listed as a vendor, just fill out a requisition. If the speaker is a current BGSU employee, they will
need to be paid through Payroll. In this case, please contact the Business Office for details.
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| Q: Blanket Requisition (BLK) specific: What if you have a BLK requisition that still has money and you know you are not going
to be doing any more purchasing from that blanket? How do you cancel the requisition so that those funds are no longer pre-encumbered?
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| A: Call Purchasing. They will close out the purchase order. Once Purchasing closes the PO, the funds will no longer be
pre-encumbered.
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| Q: Blanket Requisition (BLK) specific: What if you are about to run out of money on a BLK requisition and you need more money?
Can you add money to a blanket requisition or do you have to create a new one?
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| A: The easiest way to handle this is to create a new requisition for the original blanket PO. You enter a requisition with
the origin of CHG. In the description box make sure to state the PO# you want the money added to. This ensures the proper
workflow approvals. By writing the purchase order number in the description field, Purchasing can add the requisition to
the correct purchase order. (Answer updated 4-11-07)
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| Q: Blanket Requisition (BLK) specific: Can you change the account number on a BLK order when a receipt is entered?
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| A: No. Any time you want to make a change you have to do a change order. If you're finding that you want to make changes,
you may need to think through more clearly how to enter the requisition to begin with. If the requisition is set up correctly,
you shouldn't have to make changes to it.
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| Q: Service Contract (SVC) Requisition specific: How would you handle paying a consulting fee where there is a regular monthly
charge, but each month you might have additional charges such as telephone calls or toll charges? Can you still use a SVC
requisition?
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| A: If you don't know what the additional charges are going to be each month, use a Blanket requisition instead of a Service
Contract. The other option is to do a separate requisition for the additional charges.
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| Q: Request for Quote (RFQ) Requisition specific: On a RFQ, does purchasing notify the department of what they found for the
department's approval before the requisition is finalized?
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| A: If you have provided a specific model number so Purchasing knows exactly what it is you want, once they find the cheapest
price they may go ahead and place the order. However, if there are decisions to be made, different models to consider, for
example, Purchasing will call to consult with you on different options they have found.
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| Q: Request for Quote (RFQ) Requisition specific: If a requester enters a RFQ for a special category item, will the requisition
still go to the special category approver?
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| A: Yes. |
| Q: Quick Invoice (QCK) Requisition specific: For a quick invoice I need to enter an invoice number. What do you do when there
is no invoice number, for example the invoice is on a letterhead?
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| A: Enter a shortened version of the vendor's name followed by the date. If you have more than one invoice for the same day,
follow the date by a, b, c, and so on. For example you could use BEN031507a for the first of several invoices from Ben Franklin
dated March 15, 2007.
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| Q: Are there forgotten units? There is a concern that there are some units or budgets that may not have been included in planning.
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| A: All agency/orgs from AFIN that had activity in 2006 or 2007 have been converted. Departments that may have concerns regarding
missing budgets should e-mail BGat100@bgsu.edu. A copy is the Department Cost Center workflow spreadsheet is available for
your reference on the BG@100 web site: http://www.bgsu.edu/offices/cio/page25507.html.
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| Q: My question still is not answered, who do I ask?
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A: Self-guided interactive training modules and training manuals are available on the BG@100 web site: www.bgsu.edu/bgat100. Questions regarding completing FMS transaction process may be directed to the TSC at 2-0999, tsc@bgsu.edu. Any BG@100 related questions to the project office by e-mailing BGat100@bgsu.edu.
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Return to BG@100 Project Home Page
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