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Finance

General Accounting Internal Awards

Answers to frequently asked questions about Internal Awards can be found below. Clicking on a question's text will display the corresponding answer. If you have a question that is not answered below, please email finance@ohio.edu.

For more information on Internal Awards, please visit the Internal Awards section of our training website: https://www.ohio.edu/finance/trainings

What is the distinction between projects and awards?
  • Revenue can only be adjusted in Oracle by personnel on the award – not by journal entry
    • Award members control how much can be spent on a project-task-award
  • Expenses on a project can be adjusted by journal entry
    • Project members control the expenses charged to the project-task-award
  • Research incentive accounts – Task 13
    • Compliances Events (revenue) in Oracle is not used on RI awards
    • Funding/Revenue is provided by journal entry
What monthly review is required for Overspent and Expired Awards?
  • Internal awards are not permitted to have a negative available balance
    • Project members should be monitoring overspends.
    • Complete journal entries or payroll corrections to reduce expenses. Expense object codes beginning with 7xxxxx can only be used.
    • The Grants Module does not limit the amount of spending. It only verifies spending is valid within the start and end dates.
  • Internal award accounts attached to projects that have passed the end date should not have an available balance
    • Project members should ensure all spending was correctly charged and award managers can decrease the award if needed.
  • All correcting entries are required to be submitted within 90 days of the posting of the expense.  Failure to complete these entries timely could result in a reversal of the entry.
How do I control what email notifications are sent on changes made?
  • Tools – Notification Control (in header at top)
    • Notification event
How do I check that Funding Amt=Budget ITD=Revenue ITD or correct if needed?
  • It is IMPORTANT that you check the OBI Grants Funds Available dashboard the day after award setup or any changes made to ensure all steps were completed correctly and to verify Funding Amt = Budget ITD = Revenue ITD for the Award.
  • For corrections, refer to the following sections in the Internal Award - How to Guide
    • See Project Funding to correct Funding Amt
    • See Budgeting Awards to correct Budget ITD
    • See Compliances to correct Revenue ITD
How is the PTA end date determined?
  • The PTA end date is the earliest of the following 3 end dates.
    • The project end date
    • The task end date
    • The award end date
    • Projects and tasks are not required to have an end date so generally the award end date is the PTA end date.
How is the PTA start date determined?
  • The PTA start date is the latest of the following 3 start dates.
    • The project start date
    • The task start date
    • The award start date
How can start and end dates be changed?
  • Key members can change project and task dates.
  • Award personnel can change award dates.
  • Go to the project or award in Oracle e-Biz and click on the date fields and change as needed.
  • Appendix C in the Internal Award – How to Guide gives a detailed explanation of start, end, and close dates and may need to be reviewed as you change dates.
  • Normally projects and tasks do not have end dates.
  • After a project has been set up, changing a project date does not automatically change the task dates. The task dates will have to be changed separately as needed.
  • Start and end dates on tasks can be used to limit spending for specific time periods that the award does not limit.  These would be for specific tasks that are set up and not for one of the standard pre-setup tasks.
  • Award close dates may need to be extended to allow a journal entry or invoice to post that has correct expenditure item dates but the current date is past the award close date.
  • When extending award end dates, the award close date and active installment end dates need to be extended as well as resubmitting and re-baselining budgets.
  • Award end dates cannot exceed the PA dates set up in the Grants Module.  The PA dates are periodically extended to reflect the general ledger future dates allowed.
Can I end date a PTA string?
  • A PTA string cannot be closed/end dated by itself.
  • End dates are by award and/or by project/tasks. To be attached to other projects and awards, they need to remain in active status and not end dated.
When will my project or award have an effect on the general ledger?
  • Creating a project with tasks will not have any effect on the general ledger as a project contains no money.
  • A project/task needs to be attached to an award.
  • The Compliance – Revenue event entry needs to be created for the general ledger entry to be submitted.
  • Entering installments, funding and budget only will have no effect on the general ledger.
  • When successfully completed, the Compliance revenue entry creates a transfer journal entry similar to the following.  If the event is future dated, the JE will not post until the future date.
    • DEBIT – 10-100000-130700-0000-00-610100 (cost center from the Awards Descriptive Flexfield)
    • CREDIT – 10-112600-130800-0000-00-610100 (source from the Award Type and the task Organization and Service Type)
Where do I find internal awards transactions in the GL Transaction Export?
  • Revenue event transactions record initially in the Grants Module, are transferred to the general ledger, and are labeled with “Projects” in the JE Source Name column and “Revenue” in the JE Category Name.
    • To see detail of the revenue transactions, refer to the Grants Revenue Drilldown section of the GL Funds Available Quick Reference Guide.
  • Journal entry transactions submitted to a PTA internal award string record initially in the Grants module, are transferred to the general ledger, and are labeled as “Projects” in the JE Source Name column and “Miscellaneous Transaction” in the JE Category Name column.
    • To see detail of the journal entry transactions, go to Expenditure Inquiry in the Grants Dashboard
  • Invoices/Concur transactions charged to internal awards recorded in the payables system are recorded in the general ledger initially and then are transferred to the Grants Module.
    • There can be a delay from entry in the general ledger to entry in the Grants Module.
    • To see more detail of these transactions, go to Expenditure Inquiry in the Grants Dashboard.
What steps are needed to Decrease the Budget/Revenue/Funding? (non RI Accounts)
  • An award that receives a budget decrease will need ALL the following steps completed and need to be completed in the order listed.
    • Decrease Budget to the correct amount in proper project and task. (see Budgeting Awards on page 29)
    • Decrease Revenue by completing a negative Revenue event.  (see Compliances on page 26)
      • This is processed centrally each evening after 6 pm and must be processed before proceeding.
    • Decrease Project Funding to the correct amount in project and task.  (see Project Funding on page 23)
    • Decrease the existing Installment to the correct amount. (see Award Installments on page 22 – make sure you are changing the Direct Cost column)
    • The Award Budget, Project Funding, Revenue and Installment must equal when completed.

 

What dates are of concern in July when both fiscal years are open in Grants Module?
  • When both June and July are open, and the date of the revenue event is kept at a prior year default or dated in any prior year, the event will post to the general ledger in June of the prior year. (The earliest open period)
  • If you need the revenue entry to post in July, verify the revenue event date is changed/dated to July of the current year.
  • Important to Note: The 6:00 pm processing posts all entries June and prior to prior fiscal year and the 6:30 pm processing posts all remaining entries July and prior to current fiscal year so it is important to not add any June and prior revenue events between 6:00 and 6:30 as those will post to July of current year.
  • To check the general ledger date, with the cursor on the event line, click on “Revenue Distribution Lines” and a pop-up box will provide the general ledger date of the revenue event as distributed.
  • Using the GL Funds Available dashboard under the Object Summary and Grants Revenue Transactions, the DFF and revenue credit can also be found.  Refer to the Grants Revenue Drilldown section of the GL Funds Available Quick Reference Guide.
  • Take care to date the funding and budget either in June or July as needed.
How do I find and clear commitment amounts on PTAs?
  • To find commitments, Go to Oracle > Awards > Award Status > Find Award Status > Enter Award Number > Click on Commitments
  • Review invoices on the purchase order in Bobcat Buy and close the PO as necessary.
  • Open Purchase orders on awards need to be closed to prevent further commitment charges on the award.
  • Contact purchasing@ohio.edu with any issues.
Why can't I access OUGMS Internal Award User in Oracle e-Biz?
  • Access to OUGMS Internal Award User must be approved and Internal award training completed.  Contact IT Support for access.
  • If off campus, you must be connected to the VPN.
  • Verify that you have installed the correct version of JAVA and that the ebiz address is listed in the Exception Site List.
  • Review the launching instructions for the browser you are using.  Refer to the eBiz Configuring Java and eBiz Connection Requirements Quick Reference Guides.
How can employees be added or deleted from the templates?
  • Campus internal award users cannot update the templates.
  • Send an email to finance@ohio.edu to request an update to the templates.
Why can't I see a project or award in Oracle e-Biz that I know has been set up?
  • You must be a key member on a project or on the award personnel in the award to be able to view the project/award in Oracle.
  • If you set up a project or award but future date the From date on your name in the key members or award personnel, you will not be able to access the project or award until that date.
  • Contact Finance@ohio.edu if you need to be added to the project or award or if you need from dates adjusted.
  • A listing of all awards can be viewed in the Grants Dashboard in OBI.
Why do I not get any results when entering a project in the Grants Funds Available?
  • Only projects that have been attached to an award will show in the results.
  • Projects/awards set up in the current day will not show in the Grants Dashboard until the next day (after OBI nightly processing)
  • All Project/Tasks can be found in the Finance Lookups Dashboard by choosing Segment = Project/Task and Apply.  Prompts can be used to filter the results.
  • Project/Tasks need to be attached to an award for spending to be allowed.  Project/Tasks set up do not have money in and of themselves.
Is a mass change available for project key members & award personnel on awards?
  • An automated process is available to end date project key members or to end date and replace project key members.  Contact finance@ohio.edu for changes needed.
  • Adding a new project member without end dating a previous member still needs to be done manually.
  • Currently there is not an automated process available to change award personnel, so all award personnel changes need to be made manually.
  • Project members and award personnel need to be updated when employees either leave the University or move out of the department.
Who sets up internal projects/tasks?
  • Department employees who have been trained and have access to the Oracle Internal Award Grants Module will set up any projects for faculty, employees, and/or organizations in their planning unit.
  • Faculty/Employees should only have one internal project set up for them.
    • A possible exception is if they change planning units
  • If awarding money to an employee who does not have a project set up and is not in your planning unit, you will need to contact that employee’s planning unit for set up.
  • Refer to the Internal Award – How To Guide found at https://www.ohio.edu/finance/trainings for detailed instructions
Who should be the project manager?
  • For employee projects, the employee should be the project manager.
  • For department projects, the director of the department should be the project manager.
Should a new project be created when an employee moves to a new department?
  • Generally, a new project should be created so that the previous organization entries for the employee will remain intact.
  • The current project could be used, but the task organizations should be changed to the new organization (by finance only) and this will move all transactions in history to the new organization as well.
  • Refer to the F&A / IDC Distribution Process Quick Reference Guide for help in reviewing RI distributions.
  • Contact finance@ohio.edu to change any research incentive awards attached to the project.
  • Contact James Bond and orsp@ohio.edu to discuss current IDC distributions and where they should now be charged.
Can a closed project be re-opened?
  • Review the Organization and Service Types set up in the tasks to ensure they are still valid.
  • Contact finance@ohio.edu to re-open the closed project.
Can a project organization be changed?
  • The project organization on a project can be changed by a key member as it is used for reporting purposes only and has no effect on the general ledger.
Can the name of the project be changed?
  • The name of the project can be changed from a specific employee name to the department’s name, but the project manager may need to be changed as well.
  • This should be done only with caution as it limits some of the review of historical information as all previous transactions under the old project name will still pull up on the project even though it now has a new name.
When should projects be closed?
  • Projects can remain open with no end date as expenses cannot be charged to it unless it is attached to an award.
  • If an employee is no longer with Ohio University, their project should be end dated and closed.
  • Departments should be reviewing their project listing for any terminated employees, verify that the awards attached to the project have zero commitments and a zero available balance and then contact finance@ohio.edu for closure.
  • Refer to the F&A / IDC Distribution Process Quick Reference Guide for help in reviewing RI distributions.
  • Contact James Bond and orsp@ohio.edu to discuss moving any future award IDC distributions to another project or cost center.
How is a new task added?
  • Only key members on the project can add a new task.
  • Open the project in Oracle e-Biz and click on tasks and detail.
  • Refer to the Task Setup section of the Internal Award – How to Guide
  • Verify and review the task organization and service type (activity) as these are used for the general ledger transactions.
  • When adding a new task, it only applies to the project you are in.
Can the task organization or service type (activity) be changed?
  • The task organization or service type (activity) on a project can only be changed by contacting finance@ohio.edu and/or by submitting an internal award account maintenance form found in forms on the finance website as these changes affect the general ledger accounting.
  • NOTE:  Any task organizations or service types (activities) that are changed will also have prior transactions in the general ledger changed to the new organization or activity.
Do task descriptions on tasks set up by departments need to have all the same name?
  • Tasks 50-59 and 80-99 are set up by the departments and can be different across all the projects in their department.
  • As a department, you can decide to have tasks with the same number have the same name for each project, but the system will allow different names across projects.
  • Changing task names should be done with caution as the history of the name change will be lost when pulling up current project reports.
Who sets up internal awards?
  • Research Incentive (RI) Awards are set up centrally by General Accounting and Financial Reporting.  Send an email to finance@ohio.edu to request set up.
  • For all other internal awards, department employees who have been trained and have access to the Oracle Internal Award Grants Module will set up awards to distribute funds/money provided by their planning unit to any project/task that has been set up.
  • Refer to the Internal Award – How To Guide found at https://www.ohio.edu/finance/trainings for detailed instructions.
What should be considered when adding new award verse adding to existing award?
  • Do the end dates need to be different?
  • Does the funding account in the Award Descriptive Flexfield need to be different?
  • Is the award type or purpose different?
Why did the revenue not distribute? Why is Revenue Distributed BOX not checked?
  • The Revenue Distributed box will be checked automatically after the 6 PM evening processing has been completed successfully.  (Note: The billed box will not be checked. This is OK)
  • When decreasing an award, the negative revenue event must be entered and then the overnight processing must occur before decreasing the funding amount. If the funding was decreased too soon, delete the negative funding entries on the Fund Projects screen. The jobs that run during the nightly processing will then pick up your negative revenue event and generate the entries needed. The next day, you can verify the Revenue Distributed box has been checked and proceed through the remaining steps.
  • The accounting string entered in the Awards Descriptive Flexfield must pass all cross validation rules or the revenue entry will not be generated.  Review the accounting string for correctness.     ---    Is the entity and source combination valid?
Can I change the Awards Descriptive Flexfield on an award?
  • A journal entry can be used to change a DFF charged (it does not include any grants sources) rather than re-doing the whole award but the audit trail in the Grants module will be lost.
  • There is now a new process which can be used to find the DFF charged for an award.
    • With this new process, it can be determined what funded the award without relying on the current account in the DFF.
    • Refer to the Grants Revenue Drilldown section of the GL Funds Available Quick Reference Guide.
    • This may not be available for older funding.
    • Any subsequent manual journal entries will not be reflected in this look-up.
  • Looking at the current DFF on an award does not guarantee all funding used that charge.
  • Some like to keep the DFF the same and set up a new award for different funding.
  • Others prefer to keep everything on one award even though funded by different accounts.
Why is award set up invalid due to crossing Foundation and University accounts?
  • The Award Type chosen and the Entity in the Award Descriptive Flexfield must both be an Ohio University account or both be a Foundation account.
    • Determine whether the Award Type or Award DFF was incorrect.
  • While the Award Type and Award DFF are still incorrect, the budget, revenue, and funding on the award will need to be decreased back to zero. See Appendix G in the Internal Award – How to Guide.
  • Correct either the Award Type or the Award Descriptive Flexfield.  See Appendix F in the Internal Award – How to Guide for valid Award Types for each entity.
  • Enter the funding, budget, and revenue again for the award.
Why did I receive a budget/funding error message?
  • Error message - “The budget total amount is greater than the project funding amount”
  • Error message - “Budget for (month-year) exceeds funding amount available by $xxx.xx for Project xxxxx”
  • When decreasing an award, the budget must be decreased first.
  • When decreasing the budget, go back to the oldest dated available budget amounts and decrease as necessary rather than entering a negative in the current month.
Why can't I edit the budget?
  • The status on the budget screen should be “Working”.
  • If the status still shows “Submitted”, it indicates a previous change was not baselined and not fully completed.
  • Hit the baseline button and save and then edits should be allowed again.
How do I fix an award that was set without 7 digits?
  • Internal awards set up without exactly 7 digits will appear to be valid and go through the funding, revenue and budget process without any errors.
  • The issue is that Oracle expenditures cannot be charged to an award that is not 7 digits.
  • The award will have to be decreased (budget, revenue, funding, installment) so that the available balance is at zero and then contact finance@ohio.edu to close award.
  • A new award will then need to be set up to replace the non 7 digit award.
Can the name of the award be changed?
  • The name of the award can be changed by award personnel.
  • This should be done only with caution as it limits some of the review of historical information as all previous transactions under the old award name will still pull up on the award even though it now has a new name.
Do I need to request for an award to be closed after the end date?
  • Requesting an award to be closed will allow for a smaller listing of awards in your searches if you click to not include closed awards.
  • All projects attached to the award must have zero available balances.
  • Requests to close awards should be sent to finance@ohio.edu from award personnel.
What is an "expense type is not available for this award error" when submitting JET?
  • Even though an object type is set up in the general ledger, it may not be set up in the Grants Module system.  These are 2 separate listings.
  • Valid Expenditure Types can be found in the Finance Lookups Dashboard by choosing Segment = Expenditure Type and Apply.
  • To request a new expenditure type, complete a COA_seg_value_req excel file form found in the forms on the Finance website and send to financecustomercare@ohio.edu.
Can I deposit a check and record it to an internal award?
  • Internal awards are set up, by definition, with internal funds only.
  • You cannot deposit external funds into an internal award as revenue.
  • If a vendor has supplied you with a refund or reimbursed you for a previous expense, you can record the deposit of funds into the internal award as an expense reduction using an expense object code 7xxxxx. (use Grants accounting deposit form)
  • Other check receipts must be recorded to a revenue object code with a departmental cost center.
  • That departmental cost center can then be used to fund an internal award and entered in the Awards Descriptive Flexfield.
Can transfer codes be used to move funds on internal awards?
  • You can never use Object Code 610100 or 620100 on any internal award journal entry.
  • Transfer object code 630200 can be used for transfers on research incentive awards.
    • Transfers between RI accounts and departmental cost centers are only allowable if they benefit research. The intent of the RI accounts is to further research at the institution. (See Appendix H in How To Guide)
  • To move funding on non research incentive awards, award personnel can increase or decrease the internal award through the internal award process by adjusting the budget, revenue and funding in the Grants Module. (See Appendix G in How To Guide)
  • You can move expenses (object codes starting with 7) using journal entries with internal awards.
    • Refer to the original transaction in the JE line description and record the correct expenditure item date and PA date from the original transaction.
How do I transfer funds from an internal award or RI award to a capital award?
  • For this process, the capital expenditure must have been allowed on the internal or research incentive award.
  • Submit a journal entry using object code 630200 and transfer funds out of the internal/research incentive award (debit) into a departmental account (credit).
  • Give the departmental account number and amount to CPF (Kris Sano) to fund the capital project.