Reports General Information
STARS generates reports based on the information contained in various files on STARS. Reports can be view through the Online Reporting application. For a person to have access to Online Reporting, the agency's Security Request Administrator must select Online Reporting on the person's Security Access Request Form. Sign In to the SCO web site to select the Security Access Request Form.
Most STARS information is also on IBIS. Sign In to the SCO web site to select IBIS
STARS reports can only report the level of information posted by the transactions as entered by an agency. However, the same report can be generated at various levels of transaction detail on the Report Request Table.
STARS Accounting reports start with the letters 'DAFR'. Payroll/EIS reports start with the letters 'AU'. STARS reports have:
- Level of Detail - The level to which the report is summarized.
- Reporting Period - The time period that the data on the report covers.
- Report headers - Shows what data is on the report.
- Report Request/Distribution Tables
There are two types of STARS reports: Control and Requestable.
Control reports are system-generated reports that have a fixed format design, and will generate when data is processed in STARS. These reports show the status of all outstanding batches as well as successfully posted transactions. Control reports can be used to see transactions that did not successfully post and the corresponding error messages.
Requestable reports are generated by request of a user. Some requestable reports allow the user to define the format. Others have a fixed-design format. A user-defined report is a data sheet report with selected data fields. Some of these reports allow you to filter information for more efficient reporting. These reports may generate on a weekly, quarterly, monthly, or yearly basis, depending on the report.
Some reports are requestable statewide, and are usually requested by the Division of Financial Management, Legislative Services Office, State Treasurer's Office, State Controller's Office, Department of Administration, etc.
When reporting on the financial balances, you can typically report at more general, summarized STARS classification levels. For instance, operating expense object and subobject codes have the following classification structure:
This classification structure is a hierarchy. Even though you do not enter transactions at a summary level, you can order reports at a summary level.
Since reports comes from different STARS files, the lowest level that your reports will show is whatever lowest level at which your agency posts data to the files. Some files, like the general ledger, grant, and project files, may have variable detail, depending on how an individual grant or project is set up on their respective tables.
Reports can contain transaction data from selected time periods - current month, prior month, current quarter, prior quarter, current fiscal year, or prior fiscal year. For grants and projects, STARS contains the financial balance from inception to current date, even across fiscal years.
1. Agency sends a request to have a report set up.
2. SCO Division of Statewide Accounting sets up a report to have STARS generate the report.
3. Reports will be available in Online Reporting the next day.