Introduction

After an invoice has been entered and authorized, a Fiscal Coder can begin entering fiscal codes.

As a Fiscal Coder, you can search for certain fiscal codes (including the TC) and, if needed, distribute the invoice payment among Indexes, PCAs, Encumbrances, and related Funds, etc. If your agency has created a preconfigured template for fiscal coding, you can use that - click here for information about using a template.

Once the fiscal coding is completed, it will be ready for an Approver.

Batch Numbers

In addition, if your agency records or tracks batch numbers, Today’s Batch # is displayed at the top of the Payment Services page. When invoice payments are approved and released from Payment Services, they will be automatically assigned this batch number (this applies to all invoice payments released that day).

Figure 1 - Batch number

Select an Invoice

1. From the Payment Services main menu, click Invoice.

2. If needed, you can search for invoices on the Status screen:

a. Select the appropriate status - “Awaiting Cost Distribution” or “Cost Distribution in Progress” - from the Status drop down menu.

b. Enter any other search criteria to help you find an invoice, such as Vendor Name, Invoice Date, etc.

b. Click Find.

3. Click Select next to an invoice on the Status screen. (The status of the invoice should be “Awaiting Cost Distribution” or “Cost Distribution in Progress”.)

Figure 2 - Search for an invoice

Enter Fiscal Codes

The Distribute screen will display the invoice details and a distribution grid in which the fiscal codes are entered and costs are distributed.

1. Enter a transaction code in the TC field on the first row and press TAB or click into another field. (Since Payment Services is a payment system, be sure to use a TC that will create a warrant or EFT.)

2. Other fiscal code fields required by the TC will be highlighted. A few transaction codes do not require a vendor number, or allow one.

Figure 2 – Fiscal Code highlighted fields

3. If paying by encumbrance, search for the encumbrance document number to select and automatically enter it (recommended) or enter the encumbrance document number in the Ref Doc and Sfx fields. If you manually enter the RefDoc and Sfx, you must also enter the BFY of the encumbrance.

To search for an encumbrance:

• Place the cursor in the RefDoc field and press F3.
• In the look up dialog box, enter some search criteria. You can enter just the first few numbers or letters or use the wildcard (%).
• Click Find. Click the encumbrance document you want to use.
• The RefDoc number any related fiscal codes will be entered automatically.

4. Enter the PCA or Index or search for them to select and automatically enter them (recommended).

To search for a PCA or Index:

• Place the cursor in the PCA or Index field and press F3.
• In the look up dialog box, enter some search criteria. In text fields, you can enter just the first few numbers or letters or use the wildcard (%).
• Click Find.
• Click the fiscal code you want to use. The code and any related fiscal codes will be entered automatically. (The PCA or Index can automatically populate the Budget Unit and Fund. If so, do not change these.)

Figure 3 - Search for a PCA example

 

• If you inadvertently change the Budget Unit, Fund, or Fund Detail after they have been automatically entered by the PCA or Index look up, do not manually correct them. Rather, re-do the steps to search for and select the PCA or Index so that the look up will populate the correct codes.

5. The Invoice Description is automatically populated with the description from the Invoice screen. You can change the description on any individual cost distribution line. Do not use special characters or symbols, including &, ', “, <, and \.

• If paying a U.S. Bank P-Card bill, the Invoice Description must begin with the agency’s unique 16-digit account number. The remaining 14 characters of the dscription can be descriptive information.
• The description(s) from the Distribute screen is sent to STARS, printed on the remittance advice to the vendor, and can be seen on reports if a detail view is selected.
• If you change the description on the Distribute screen, this will not update the description on the Invoice screen

6. Continue entering additional fiscal codes as needed.

• For any fiscal code field marked with an asterisk, you can search for and select the code. Place your cursor in the field, and press F3. See the PCA example above. If you manually enter a code, error messages may be displayed if the code is not valid.
• If a vendor number has not been required, it must be enterd on the Invoice screen.  A few transaction codes do not require a vendor number, or allow one.

7. To create an additional row to distribute payments to different PCAs, funds, etc., click Add Row or Dup. (See the Additional Rows section below.) If you are adding several rows for distribution, click Save & Continue often.

• Use Dup if you want to to copy all of the fiscal coding into the next row so you do not have to re-enter codes you will be using again. A good practice is to enter the transaction code (TC) first, change the amount (Amt) in the first row, and then add other fiscal coding as needed. Then Dup will create the next row and calculate the remaining balance in the Amt field of the next row. If you do not change the Amt on the first row, Dup will duplicate a row with a 0.00 amount.
• If you use Add Row, do not change the amount on the first line or add fiscal codes. Another row will be created with an amount (Amt) of 0.00 and just the Invoice Description field populated from the first row.
• Click Del on a row to delete the row, if needed.

8. Check the Perform STARS Lookup check box if you want to display the balances of Encumbrance funds for encumbered invoices, or the Cash Control file for cash balances, when you click Save. Question marks may be displayed on a Fund if it is in the General Ledger at the Fund/Grant level. STARS can only send Fund information to Payment Services on those Funds that do not have balances at the Grant level.

9. When finished with fiscal coding, click Save & Continue or Save & Clear.

• Save & Continue saves the distribution you have entered and keeps it displayed on screen.
• Save & Clear will save the data you have entered, close the Distribute screen, and then automatically open the Invoice screen.
• Click Delete Invoice if you need to delete the entire invoice. Caution: this will delete the entire record of the invoice and it cannot be retrieved.

Figure 3 - Save the fiscal coding

10. When finished saving, click Distribute Cost Complete. (The Total Amt and Distributed Amt must match for this to be available.) Depending on your agency’s process, you can do this on several different screens:

• As noted, on the Distribute screen, click Distribute Cost Complete.
• On the Approval screen, click Cost Disb. Complete.
• On the Multi Proc screen, select the check box in the Dist column and click one of the Save buttons.

Any data entry errors or incorrect fiscal codes will generate an error message and will be highlighted on the distribution grid. Once distribution is complete, fiscal coding can be changed only if the invoice/distribution is unapproved by an approver.

Notes About Certain Fiscal Codes

• Vendor name or number: The vendor cannot be changed on the Distribute screen. The fiscal coding must be completed and then the Approver would have to “unapprove” the invoice back to the Authorization stage where the Vendor Number can be changed on the invoice.
• Invoice Amount: If the invoice amount is incorrect, click the Invoice tab and change the amount.
• Grant or Project number 999999: Payment Services does not allow a Grant or Project number 999999 to be manually entered and will error if that number is used. Search for and select a valid Grant or Project.
• You can save your work on the Distribute screen without having to enter anything in the required fiscal code fields. Then you can finish the coding later.

Additional Rows to Pay from Different Funding Sources

If needed, create additional rows and enter different amounts and funding sources (fiscal codes) on each row. As noted above:

• Use Dup if you want to to copy all of the fiscal coding into the next row so you do not have to re-enter codes you will be using again. A good practice is to enter the transaction code (TC) first, change the amount (Amt) in the first row, and then add other fiscal coding as needed. Then Dup will create the next row and calculate the remaining balance in the Amt field of the next row. If you do not change the Amt on the first row, Dup will duplicate a row with a 0.00 amount.
• If you use Add Row, do not change the amount on the first line or add fiscal codes. Another row will be created with an amount (Amt) of 0.00 and just the Invoice Description field populated from the first row.
• Click Del on a row to delete a row, if needed.

Figure 5 - Create additional rows

Figure 6 - Amount balance

E-mail Notifications

You can send email notifications whether email functionality has been enabled by your admininstrator or not. If enabled, a prompt to send notifications will be displayed when you complete fiscal coding and/or distribution.

If e-mail functionality is enabled

1.  An e-mail dialog box will appear after you click Distribute Cost Complete. The e-mail dialogue box should list of all recipients for the next approval level.

2. Highlight a recipient’s name. (Press and hold CTRL and click the left mouse button to highlight multiple names.)

3. Type a comment if desired.

4. Click Send. Click Queue if you want to save notifications to be sent automatically at the end of the day.

• Queue: e-mails are queued for all distributions that you save. Then only one e-mail notification will be sent to each recipient automatically at the end of the day.
• Otherwise, click the Send E-mail Notification button at the bottom of the page to send queued notifications manually.

Figure 7 - E-mail notification

If e-mail functionality is not enabled

1. Click the Send Email Notifications button at the bottom of the page.

2. Follow the steps above to select and send notification.

Figure 8 - Send Email button