C-BIG Frequently Asked Questions

C-BIG Frequently Asked Questions 1. Fiscal Year 2008-09 Planning Application vs. Fiscal Year 2007-08 (and Prior) Planning Application: Q: When I access www.cbig.ucla.edu, I see two links. What is the difference between the Fiscal Year 2008-09 Planning Application and the Fiscal Year 2007-08 (and Prior) Planning Application? A: The C-BIG software has been upgraded for the FY 2008-09 budget input process. You should choose the first link to enter your budgets for FY 2008-09 and view the latest reports. Actual data for FY 2003-04 through FY 2007-08, as well as final budget data from FY 2007-08 have been loaded to this new system. You should not need to access the FY 2007-08 (and prior) application unless you would like to view Supporting Detail or Cell Text entered for the FY 2007-08 budgets; the original application has been made available for this purpose. Users who are new to the C-BIG process for FY 2008-09 will only have access to the FY 2008-09 application. 2. Log-on ID and password Q: In the past, I was able to log onto C-BIG using my QDB log-on ID and password. Why can’t I log onto the FY 2008-09 application with these credentials? A: There are additional Microsoft Office components available in the new application that will be utilized in later budget years. These components are non-web-based and thus could not be integrated with the ISIS campus authentication. Therefore, new user ID’s and passwords have been set-up for C-BIG purposes. User passwords are not stored by APB, but could be reset at any time. If you forget your User ID or password, please contact Karen Pak. 3. Appropriated vs. Non-Appropriated Funds Q: What is the difference between Appropriated and Non-Appropriated Funds? A: Appropriated funds are those that receive funding through an allocation usually central or administrative in nature, rather than through direct revenue. Normally this designation of funds receive money from the state (i.e., General Funds), registration fees, or overhead (i.e., Opportunity Funds) to name a few familiar funds. Non-appropriated funds, on the other hand, receive money directly from a non-University source, which is deposited into a revenue account (i.e., 200000-299999). Normally this designation of funds is represented in sales and service activities, self-supporting degree programs, and course materials. 4. Organizational and Fund Roll-up: Q: I made changes to my departmental numbers but I do not see the change in the Organizational amounts. Why? A: Every 15 minutes on the hour, a calculation runs within the system to aggregate budgets within the Entity dimension. How does this affect you? As you are inputting budgets for the individual departments, it is important to keep in mind that the budget reports at the sub-division, division, or organization levels may not reflect the recent departmental inputs. You may wait for the automated calculation to occur, or your may launch the business rule to aggregate your sub-division, division, or organization. If you wish to immediately view your input changes at the sub-division, division, or organization levels at any time during your budget input process, launch the Aggregate Entity Business Rule, which is the fourth step within the Task List. 39f3e15f-9018-4b2a-b3d9-fe1152510e75.doc 1 of 3 August 200 5. Business Rules/Pop-Up Blocker: Q: After clicking on Launch Rules, and selecting a business rule from the list, I click launch but the Run-Time Prompt window does not appear. What should I do? A: You need to disable the pop-up blocker for this web site only. You may receive a message on the top of the first launch rules window, stating that the site has been blocked and asking you to click there to disable the pop-up blocker. Click on the message and select, Enable pop-ups for this site only. Within Internet Explorer, you may also click on Tools/ Pop-up blocker to enable pop-ups for specific web pages. Another option is to hold down the CTRL key on your keyboard while clicking on the Launch button. 6. Search Feature on Forms: Q: How do I use the search feature to pull up a department or fund in the page selection area? A: For users who have access to over 25 funds or entities, a binoculars icon will appear to the right of your drop down menus. Click on the icon. In the search prompt, type in a search word or fund/entity number and click on the up or down binocular icon to search. If you wish to have this search feature available to menus with less than 25 funds or entities, select File/Preferences/Planning/Display Options, and change the Allow Search When Number of Pages Exceeds option from 25 to the number of your choice. 7. Undo Button: Q: Does the system have an undo button? A: Once data is saved, the database has been over-written with the new data and cannot be undone. However, if you make changes to your input forms, the cells that have changed will appear in bright yellow. Before hitting the Save button, if you choose to undo these changes, you may click on the Refresh button. 8. Page Drop-Down Menus: Q: When I’m inputting my budget within a form, how do I know which category the fund belongs to? A: In the Fund drop-down menu on each form, the fund category will appear below the funds within its category. The fund categories appear in blue font while the fund numbers appear in black font. Likewise, in the Entity drop-down menu, sub-division appears below the departments, division appears below the sub-divisions, and organization appears below the divisions. Sub-divisions, divisions, and organizations appear in blue font while the departments appear in black font. 9. Fund Drop-Down Menu: Q: When pulling down the fund list, all the funds in my division are shown. Why not just pull the funds that are currently linked to the department selected in my Entity menu? A: Users who have access to one department will only see funds related to that department in the drop-down menu. Users who have access to more than one department, such as a division, will see all the divisional funds in the drop-down menu. Unfortunately, at this time, there is no systematic option to further limit this view according to Entity selection. 10. Contracts & Grants, and Gifts & Endowments Q: I’m trying to input my budget for Contracts & Grants and Gifts & Endowments but the cells are grayed out. Why? A: When budgeting for Contracts & Grants and Gifts & Endowments, you will notice that there are two items listed within the fund drop-down menu for each of these fund categories (e.g., Contracts and Grants (UCLA), as well as Contracts and Grants). The (UCLA) annotated items represent the higher level roll-ups and are presented in the blue font. The input level is presented in the black font and should be chosen when 39f3e15f-9018-4b2a-b3d9-fe1152510e75.doc 2 of 3 August 200 budgeting. As a reminder, Contracts & Grants, and Gifts & Endowments are budgeted as fund categories as opposed to at the individual fund numbers. 11. Use of Supporting Detail to add multiple lines of data: Q: I have multiple FAU’s that need to be loaded into one cell on the Budget Input Form. How could I input these details in the system? A: You could use the Supporting Detail feature to add up multiple subsets of data. Supporting Detail allows a behind the scene spreadsheet to compute totals, which are placed on the input form. For detailed instructions on this feature, please refer to the Training Manual. 12. Summer Session Q: My department offers summer session classes. How should I budget this? A: Since the revenue portion for Summer Session – Even Years (20290) and Summer Session – Odd Years (20291) is recognized only by the Summer Session Department, you should budget expenditures in the months that you believe they will be incurred, keeping in mind that a deferral occurs in June and a reversal occurs in July. The revenue sharing appropriation and expenditures should be budgeted to Summer Session Revenue Sharing (69460). 13. Shared Funds with other Departments Q: I have a sales and service fund that is shared between my department and a department within a different organization. How do I budget the activity for this fund? A: For funds shared by more than one department, particularly Sales & Service Funds and other unallocated funds, you should budget your portion of the financial activity only, including the allocations made by Transfer of Funds (TOF). For example, in the case where there is a Sales and Service Fund with one central revenue account and more than one expenditure account (for different departments), one department would budget the total revenue minus any type entry 11 perm budget amounts appropriated to the other departments on the Perm/Revenue row, the TOF amounts as a negative on the Temp Approp row, and its departmental expenditures in the appropriate rows. The other departments would budget the type entry 11 perm budget amounts on the Perm/Revenue row, the TOF amounts coming into their department as a positive amount on the Temp Approp row, and its departmental expenditures in the appropriate rows. 14. Object Codes and Object Categories: Q: Where could I find the object code mapping? A: Object Code mapping is available both on the APB website, as well as in QDB and Cognos. The Object Category table within QDB is called apb_object_ctgy. In addition, for those who use Bi/Query-Hummingbird software, a C-BIG model has been provided for querying these tables on QDB. To download the model, use the QDB website link: http://www.qdb.ucla.edu. 15. Fund Numbers and Fund Categories: Q: Where could I find the fund number mapping? A: Fund Number mapping is available both on the APB website, as well as within QDB and Cognos. The Fund mapping table in QDB is called bud_plng_fund_ctgy. In addition, for those who use Bi/Query-Hummingbird software, a C-BIG model has been provided for querying these tables on QDB. To download the model, use the QDB website link: http://www.qdb.ucla.edu. 39f3e15f-9018-4b2a-b3d9-fe1152510e75.doc 3 of 3 August 200