Introduction General
Ledger {FRM-28}
- General Information
This is
the User Manual for
the
operation and maintenance of the ITS General
Ledger Subsystem. It is one of a series of user
and technical manuals that is available
for the ITS systems.
The reader is referred to
Section 3 for a global
overview of the ITS
Financial System and to
Section 4
for an overview of this Subsystem.
It is assumed that the reader is already familiar with the
general
operation of the menus, functions, keys and
the keyboard.
These
matters are fully discussed in User Manual: "Operational Aspects
of ITS Systems - Integrator 1". If a
drilldown is available on a field, a right click with the
mouse on a field with drilldown functionality, will invoke a pop-up
menu with a drilldown option. Selecting from the
pop up
menu will take the user directly to the relevant option. If user update
or select access restrictions apply to an option the same rules will be
applied to on the drill down option.
- Field Formats
- Numeric Fields
Numeric fields are
described, for
example, as N17.2 or N7. N17.2 means that there are 15 numeric
characters before the decimal point and two numeric characters after
the decimal point. The decimal point does not count as a
character. N7 means that there are a maximum of seven numeric
characters with no decimals.
- Alpha Fields
Alpha fields mean that
Alpha, numeric,
special characters or a combination thereof are permissible.
However, the following must be noted:
When requesting Start/Low/First values on reports, using a 0 (zero) or
multiple 0's (zeroes) does not mean that all data will be reported
on. The ASCII collation sequence is as follows:
Blank; Special characters (!, ", etc.); 0 (zero); 1 to 9; A to Z; a to
z; and then ~
Thus, for example, if a Blank (Space Bar) is used as the first
character and the start selection is '0' (zero), records beginning with
a Blank will not be reported on.
In order to prevent problems with the reporting on data, ensure that
the first character used in any field is a numeric or an
alpha.
Should any character other than an alpha or numeric be used as the
first character, it is done at your peril. In other words, do not
use a 'Blank' or 'Special Character' as the first character in alpha
fields.
The reader is reminded that the copyright
of the ITS systems and
documentation remains with ITS, and that users thereof are
contractually prohibited from providing information thereon to third
parties, such as other educational institutions.
- Overview of Financial
System
The ITS Financial
System consists of the following modules (Menu option in
brackets):
The modules are listed in sequence:
| 1 |
{FRM-1} |
Counter
Subsystem |
| 2 |
{FRM-2} |
Mail Recording |
| 3 |
{FRM-3} |
ACB System |
| 5 |
{FRM-5} |
Electronic Bank Conversion |
| 6 |
{FRM-6} |
E-Procurement B2B Vendors |
| 7 |
{FRM-7} |
Procurement Management (PMIS) |
| 21 |
{FRM-21} |
Student Accounts |
| 22 |
{FRM-22} |
Bursaries and Loans |
| 23 |
{FRM-23} |
Accounts Receivable |
| 24 |
{FRM-24} |
Debt Collection Interface |
| 27 |
{FRM-27} |
Code Structures |
| 28 |
{FRM-28} |
General Ledger |
| 29 |
{FRM-29} |
Income and Expense Budgeting |
All of these modules are fully integrated
with one another, and also with the other ITS Systems such as
Personnel, Student Information and Asset Inventory. More detail on the
individual modules are found in the appropriate User Manuals.
A comprehensive
system of access control
applies to these modules (refer to Section of this manual for more
detail.)
- Overview of General
Ledger Subsystem
- The General Ledger has been designed with two
primary aims in mind, namely:
- flexibility
in the accounting structure
to the extent that every institution can specify its own structure to
suit unique requirements
- incorporation
of the specific requirements of STATS Reporting in the
accounting structure. By keeping the rather
complex STATS aspects
at the high level of cost centre and account definition, the normal
users of the system need not concern themselves with this aspect,
whilst the STATS
Statements can be produced as standard reports from
the system.
- Each Allocation Account in the General Ledger consists of a
Cost
Centre part and an Account
part, and reporting or queries can focus on
either of the two. The two parts can be summarised as follows:
- Cost centres
represent the destination
of transactions or the "where"
of different types of costs, and as such
normal financial reporting like Trial Balances, Income and Revenue
Statements and Balance Sheets can be produced at this level. Cost
Centres can be
linked to Fund Groups and Departments for STATS
and management reporting
purposes. The
user can also define various
ways of consolidating Cost Centres, and
the number of levels is unlimited.
- Accounts
represent the type
of cost or revenue. When accounts are
created, the STATS reporting aspects must be specified as well, thus
ensuring that STATS reports may be produced with the minimum of
additional user involvement.
- Transaction Types,
with predetermined GL-Allocations, can be
created to speed up the processing of transactions.
Transactions
are handled in a consistent manner in all the financial modules, and all transactions
originating in other ITS modules are
posted to the
General Ledger as and when the user requires.
- A Budget Control Facility is
available (as part of the ITS Management Information System) which
provides various user-defined consolidated figures in respect
of both the current and previous years. When orders are issued,
commitments are controlled against the availability of funds in the
relevant budget.
- System
Operational Rules
are available which provides the user flexibility when
applying institutional business rules. :
- Linking with other
ITS Systems
- The integration of the ITS systems results in the
interdependence
of systems. The extent to which this applies to the General
Ledger Subsystem is discussed in this section.
- The set-up
rules and access
control rules are maintained in the General Subsystem,
option {GOPS-6}.
The definitions of Cost Centres, Accounts, GL-Allocations and
Transaction Types are specified in the Code Structure Subsystem, and
such rules and definitions are used by all other Financial Subsystems,
including this one.
- Implementation
Sequence
- The existence of a complete table of Faculties and
Departments in the General System are prerequisites for the defining of
Cost Centres and GL-Allocations. A logical sequence of
implementation events would be the following, the relevant menu options
being indicated in braces.
- The first step is to create the necessary code structures
and other definitions contained in the Code Structure Subsystem, which
is activated when the system is installed by ITS:
| 1. |
{USERS-5} |
Users Access Definitions |
| 2 |
{USERS-2} |
Function Definitions |
| 3 |
{USERS-3} |
Link Users to Functions |
| 4 |
{USERS-25} |
Update User Access |
| 5 |
{FCSO-21} |
Maintain Foreign Currency |
| 6 |
{GCS-1} |
Set Currency for
Institution (Institution Information) |
| 7 |
{FCSC-3} |
Define Primary and Secondary
Ledgers (Create Ledgers) |
| 8 |
{FCSM-1} |
Define System Operation and
Create Set-up Rules |
| 9 |
{FCSM-2} |
Define Subsystem |
| 10 |
{FCSC-1} |
Maintain VAT
Rates |
| 11 |
{FCSC-2} |
Maintain
VAT Registration |
| 12 |
{FCSC-7} |
Create Account Categories,
defining those categories which are valid for this system |
| 13 |
{FCSC-4} |
Define Banks (The system is installed with a list of
banks.) |
| 14 |
{FCSC-5} |
Maintain Cash Book
Definition |
| 15 |
{FCSC-6} |
Create Fund Groups |
| 16 |
{FCSM-4} |
User Restrictions |
| 17 |
{FCSO-1} |
Create/validate Cost Centre Definition |
| 18 |
{FCSO-2} |
Validate Cost Centre Structure |
| 19 |
{FCSO-3} |
Create/validate Account
Definitions |
| 20 |
{FCSO-4} |
Create/validate Account
Structure |
| 21 |
{FCSO-5} |
Create/validate Account Lists |
| 22 |
{FCSO-6} |
Create GL-Allocations |
| 23 |
{FCSO-7} |
Create
Transaction
Types and the Combination of Transaction
Types and Transaction Events. |
Only after completion of the above is the General Ledger
Subsystem set-up to be maintained and operated. A logical
sequence would be the following:
| 1 |
{FGLO-2} |
Enter opening balance
journals |
| 2 |
{FGLO-1} |
Enter Transactions (Journal Transactions) |
| 3 |
{FGLO-3} |
Enter Transactions (Repeating Journal Transactions) |
| 4 |
{FGLO-4} |
Enter Transactions (Reversal of Transactions) |
| 5 |
{FGLO-5} |
Enter Transactions (Distribution of Transactions) |
| 6 |
{FGLM-1} |
Enter Corrective Journals |
| 7 |
|
Post Transaction to Other Subsystems |
|
{FGLP-1} |
Counter Subsystem
|
|
{FGLP-2} |
Student Debtors
|
|
{FGLP-3} |
Procurement Management
|
|
{FGLP-4} |
Accounts Receivable
|
|
{FGLP-5} |
Payroll Subsystem
|
|
{FGLP-7} |
Cash Book Subsystem
|
|
{FGLP-8} |
Meal Subsystem
|
|
{FGLP-9}
|
Asset Subsystem |
|
{FGLP-21} |
Research
|
|
{FGLP-28} |
All Subsystems
|
| 8 |
FGLOR1/2
|
Produce operational reports.
|
| 10 |
{FGLMR1} |
Produce maintenance reports.
|
f
History of Changes
| Date |
System Version |
By Whom |
Job |
Description |
| 15-May-2007 |
v01.0.0.0 |
Amanda Nell |
t137175 |
New manual format. |
18-Dec-2012
|
v02.0.0.0
|
Marchand Hildebrand
|
t183060
|
Add finance permissions
|
| 05-Dec-2016 |
V04.0.0.0 |
Ntshabele Morgan |
T208911 |
Removed any reference to discontinued "Investment" and "Long Term " Subsystems |