Using Banner Finance Online
Link to access Banner Finance Online
https://online.csu.edu.au/Inter/Action?A=B&B=Finance_access%20
NB. Before using Banner Finance Online, you should read the Chart of Accounts Training document as it is required prior knowledge for this functionality.
Finance Inquiries
1 You are encouraged to use the Inquiry functions which are much easier to use than the reports and have the added advantage of assisting with the University’s sustainability goals of reducing paper usage.
2 These functions mirror functions in Banner INB and are geared for use by budget managers who access Banner Finance on a weekly or less frequent basis. If you are a more frequent user (daily) you should discuss with Finance access to Banner Finance INB to have access to a broader range of functionality.
3 In addition to offering a broader range of functions, Banner Finance INB allows you to extract your queries into Excel. Otherwise you will need to use the Reporting functions and load the report file into Excel (described later in this document).
4 Separate documents are available, if necessary, to show you in detail how to use these Inquiry forms. However, it is fairly intuitive if you are one who prefers to play before reading the User Manuals. J Below is a summary of the purpose of each Inquiry form.
Budget/YTD Summary Inquiry
5 The Budget/YTD Summary Inquiry is the most common form used by budget managers to view YTD (Year-to-date) details against budgets established in Banner. It will provide you with the option to select a Fund and Orgn code, and optionally a Prog code, to view a summary of your transactions year to date. You may only access those Fund and Orgn codes to which you have been granted security access. It will provide a summary per account code for the annual Budget you have established, the actual revenue or expenses since the beginning of the year, any outstanding commitments (Purchase Orders) and a calculation of Budget less YTD less Commitments = Available budget for the remainder of the year.
6 However, usually we budget at a Pool Account code level so this form is of minimal use to show you how you are tracking against your distributed budget. The next Inquiry form is the one to use for tracking your budget performance.
7 Any field that is coloured blue means that you can click on that field to drill down to further detail. You have the ability to drill down to review all transaction details summarised in any figure in blue. Once in individual transactions you can further drill down to view the ‘source’ document information.
8 This query works on both data enterable codes and hierarchy codes. If you select a hierarchy code the summary will be a roll up of all subordinate codes to the hierarchy code used.
Budget Availability Inquiry
9 This is most appropriate form to use to view how you are tracking against your budget. It provides the same columns of information as the previous Inquiry from but summarises it by Pool Account.
10 For example, travel expenses have 10 line item account codes that are data enterable. These will display in the previous form as individual entries. However, in this form they display as one summarised line for the Pool Account called Travel. Only budget entries can be made to the Pool Account codes.
11 Any line that displays a negative entry for the Available Balance means you have overspent your budget. You will need to provide a budget journal to adjust your planned spending for the rest of the year. This is the key management tool for budget managers to assist with decisions for budget management.
Document History Inquiry
12 This form enables you to view ‘source’ document information if you have the document number.
13 Select the document type from Requisition, Purchase Order, Invoice or Cheque and then enter the document number and click on the Submit button. The document details will display for you to scroll through.
Outstanding Orders Inquiry
14 This form allows you to interrogate what Purchase Orders are still outstanding and shows the amounts outstanding for each Purchase Order. Select the Fund and Orgn codes required and click on the Submit button to view the outstanding orders.
15 You should regularly review this list. If the goods/service have been received and paid for then contact the Purchasing Office to liquidate the order. This will release the remaining amount back to your budget available funds.
16 You will note that the Purchase Order numbers are in blue. This means you can drill down and view the encumbrance details. This is not the details of the Purchase Order but rather the details of payments against the Purchase Order (see next query).
Order Encumbrance Detail Inquiry
17 This form displays the detail of payments against an individual Purchase Order. If you know the PO number use this form otherwise you can use the previous form to identify the outstanding orders and drill down from there.
18 The Purchase Order number is in blue which means you can drill down to view the document details from this form.
Position Budget YTD Inquiry
19 This functionality has been superseded by the Salary Encumbrance reporting out of Alesco payroll system.
Finance Reports
1 If you want to get your transaction/summary details into Excel, then you need to run the relevant report and then save the report file and open it in Excel.
2 The reports available are very similar to the Inquiry forms.
3 The Executive Status report is equivalent to the Budget/YTD Inquiry form for hierarchy queries. The Status Budget report is the same but can only be used for data enterable ledger codes.
4 The Detail Transaction report enables you to select for a date range your ledger coding parameters. They must all be data enterable codes and care should be taken in not using too broad a date range as the amount of data returned can be quite large.
5 When you click on the Submit button, the report is initiated and you will see this screen:
6 Click on the cogs to review your output. The system will then take you to the List of Recent Reports screen. Click on the report name and it will open the report for you in the browser. Use the browser back arrow function to return to the reports list.
7 To save your report in Excel, right click on the report name and select the Save Target As option to save you file. It is a text file so when you then open it in Excel you will have to parse it using the Data/Text to columns functionality.
Budget Transfers
1 You have the ability to generate your own budget transfers within certain limitations. Once your one line budget has been entered into your Budget Centre (Fund/Orgn combination) you can distribute it as you wish within the Fund/Orgn account codes.
2 It is preferable to allocate only at the Pool budget level to save you effort, but there is nothing stopping you allocating budgets right down to each account code if you wish. The system will still add all the line item budgets back up into the pool for budget checking purposes.
3 There are three types of budget transfers available to you.
Expense transfer only allows you to transfer between expense account codes or expense account pool codes. The pluses and minuses must sum to zero for the transfer to complete.
Income transfer only allows you to transfer between income account codes or income account pool codes. The pluses and minuses must sum to zero for the transfer to complete.
Income and Expense transfer allows you to increase or decrease an income account codes or income account pool codes with corresponding increases or decrease to expense account codes or account pool codes. The variation to income must equal the variation to expenses for the transfer to complete.
NB. If you need any clarification to any aspects in this training document, please email to:
Banner Finance Online Training Page 5