1. A Gentle Introduction to UAccess Planning
Foundations for Adaptive Planning at the UA
Tara Mysak,
Analyst – Planning, Consulting and Data Solutions Team
Good morning! This is a gentle introduction to UAccess Planning. The intended audience is financial professionals and people who want to be financial professionals on campus.
My name is Tara Mysak. I am currently an analyst for Agriculture, Life and Veterinary Sciences and Cooperative Extension.
I am also a former financial person. I started on campus as an accountant associate and worked as a business manager. In those roles, I worked primarily with grant and contract accounts.

2. The GBBO
As you have guessed from the picture, I decided to go with a Great British Bake Off theme. It’s the kindest, gentlest TV show I know. Also, I enjoy cooking and I love a good metaphor.
In the US, it is called The Great British Baking Show and it’s available for streaming on Netflix.
Twelve bakers complete for the title of Best Amateur Baker in Britain and an engraved cake stand.
It takes place in a tent in the British countryside during the summer
And it’s just lovely. I binge watch it when I’m stressed.
If you haven’t watched it, I’m going to include some spoilers, so my apologies in advance.

3. “I’m never gonna say, ‘I don’t think I can.’ I can and I will.”
Why “Gentle”?
“I’m never gonna say, ‘I don’t think I can.’ I can and I will.”
If you’re a fan, you’ll recognize Nadiya Hussain, the winner of the 2015 series, looking very serious. For her final challenge, she baked the wedding cake she would have liked to have had when she first married her husband.
I cried when she won. The judges cried when she won. And Nadiya cried when she won. But, when she did, she said [CLICK] I’m never gonna say “I don’t think I can. “I can and I will.”
Not only is the show delicious, you get these awesome life lessons.
She has gone on to have her own series on the BBC, and she baked a cake that was eaten by Queen Elizabeth for her 90th birthday. How awesome is that?
I had a bit of pushback over my use of the word “gentle” because I am going to get into to technical stuff. The reaction to that was “that’s not gentle at all?!”
Here’s why I feel it works.
Who here remembers when we upgraded from all paper forms and FRS to KFS and Analytics? (raise hand)
I do and I was really overwhelmed by the amount of new stuff. I had taken the available training but I still had a really hard time connecting the new systems to how I did my work. Nothing looked the same and I felt like couldn’t find anything I needed.
Now, I think Analytics is an amazing tool. Ten years ago, I was just frustrated with everything UAccess related. As a result, I didn’t really take advantage of what the new system could do for me for a very long time.
I felt the same way when I looked at Planning for the first time.
The vocabulary is totally different
The look is different.
- Everything feels different
I what I’ve discovered is, when I’m learning a new system, I need some concrete examples to tie it back to the old system and my business process-- a cross walk, if you will. Details? Great! That’s what I want. I’ll extrapolate out from there but I need something solid first.
So, we’re going to dive into a overview of the Planning and then take a more detailed look at how the system relates back to Analytics.
My colleagues, Brian Berrellez, Michiko Pinnington and Jason von Fange, will discuss two big business processes that can be managed in Planning – Budgeting and Grants Management. Some of our material will overlap but my goal for this presentation is to give you a foundation….a basic set of ingredients, if you will, to that you can mix as needed for a fancier cake.

4. Before we get started… Thank you!
Brian Berrellez, ALVSCE Data Solutions
José Fragoso, Housing and Residential Life
Zach Hoffman, Budget and Planning
Garth Perry, Budget and Planning
Andrew Wang, RDI Business Services
Greg Wessels, UITS Project BA Services
Cameron Wiles, UITS Student/Academic Tech
Catherine Zavala, UITS Training Team
Before we go any further, I’d like to take a moment to thank [CLICK] the following people for fact-checking help or taking the time to see the draft presentation and providing feedback.
Any errors, or criticisms you might have, are solely the responsibility of your presenter and not these kind folks.

5. The Elephant in the Room
UAccess Planning
The Elephant in the Room
I also want to talk a little bit about the delicious chocolate elephant in the room…
As you may know, there was a Request for Proposal for a new budget system. Axiom has been chosen and the process is moving to the contracting phase. It is not a done deal.
The first project for the new system will be to combine the Local Fund Budget process and the All Funds Multi-Year reporting process. While Axiom has the capability to handle departmental and grant budgeting, it will be at least a few more years before those processes are added.
If you’re wanting to get away from your spreadsheets, Adaptive is still a viable option.

6. PLEASE SAVE QUESTIONS TO THE END
In the interest of timing, please hold your questions to the end.
Let’s dive into technology, reporting and yummy baked goods.

7. Agenda Signature Bake: Overview of Planning
Focus on Academic and Grants
The Technical: Planning and Analytics
Connecting the two systems
The Showstopper: Two Use Cases
Project Codes Budget to Actuals
Cost Share
We’re going to follow the show’s format for our agenda. There are three challenges on every episode
In the Signature Bake, bakers need to take a classic recipe and add their own twist to it. For this one, we’re going to take a look at the vocabulary and resources for Planning
For the Technical Challenge, bakers are given the same ingredients and the same recipe to test their baking knowledge. In our technical, we’re going to connect Analytics to Planning and talk a bit about the differences between the Academic and Grants intances.
Finally, during the Showstopper, bakers are challenged to produce a professional level product, showcasing multiple different skills.
In our Showstopper, we’re going to focus on two smaller use cases for Planning. The other two Planning presentations will discuss some really big processes --- grant management and all funds budgeting.
Those are really important processes on campus, but they’re also really big and potentially have big time commitment.
I want
In the Academic instance, we’re going to look at a report for tracking budget to expenses for project codes.
For the Grants instance, we’re going to do something similar, and track a cost share obligation.

8. The Signature Bake

9. Adaptive Insights Web-based planning tool Cloud storage
Information is not hidden on individual computers
Generally for business applications
Interested in the Higher Ed market
Out of the box, meant for businesses

10. UAccess Planning

11. UAccess Planning Instance:
What is an instance? It’s like a database and it holds information. On campus, we have instances by function, such as Planning [click] and the Grants and Contracts instance [click].
We also have some by unit or organization, such as the Academic instance [click]
If you’re involved with the Multi-year planning process, you’re familiar with the Planning instance. It’s used to submit your RCU or support center information to the Budget and Planning Office.
The Grants and Contracts instance does what it says on the label: It was built to manage Sponsored accounts at a more granular level than is currently available in Analytics, and using a project’s own period of performance rather than our fiscal year.
For example, it’s possible to plan expenses on a project that runs from April to March and for multiple years, at the object code level.
The Academic instance originally started as budget and planning platform for colleges and departments.
There are several other instances on campus. We are going to focus on Academic, and Grants and Contracts.
When I refer to Planning in this presentation, I am referring to UAccess as a whole, not the Planning instance.

12. UAccess Planning Sheets and Reports:
Sheets are where you enter your data.
Reports are where you view your data.

13. UAccess Planning Sheets:
Here are the main sheets you might use in Academic and Grants.

14. UAccess Planning Sheets:
We’re looking at the revenue sheet in the Academic instance.
Level refers to the organizational hierarchy. Description is a free text field. The other fields should be familiar.
[…add a subset of the columns to show the difference]

15. Academic vs Grants Levels:
Academic is the normal organizational hierarchy.
In Grants, project accounts are part of the organizational hierarchy. It matches the account organization as listed in KFS.

16. UAccess Planning Versions:
The official definition of a version is it “represents a particular financial scenario.”
In the Academic instance, we’ve defined several scenarios. The Grants Instance has a similar set up.
[CLICK] Actuals combined include [CLICK] [CLICK] [CLICK] Actuals, System Encumbrances, Fund Balances and UA Foundation monthly balances.
In Projection – Approved [CLICK], business officers enter their expected activity for the year and then, sometime in the second quarter, we lock it. Projection – Working is meant to be exactly that, and can be updated as your expectations for the year change.
The Planned version [CLICK] is used to record and update system and soft encumbrances. It’s particularly helpful if you have a large expense that will happen during the year but haven’t started the PO for it.
Obligations and Commitments [CLICK] are two other ways to record and manage planned expenses. In these cases, they can be used to manage commitments made within the university. A couple of examples are start-up funds or IDC sharing.
Obligations is a summary level view and Commitments are a more detailed view.
[CLICK] Internal Budget is meant a sand box version. It’s not included in any of the reports that use the other versions.

17. UAccess Planning
Reports:
Personal vs Shared

18. UAccess Planning Some other Vocabulary: Account: UA Object code
Timespan: The official calendar
Dimension: Categories
UA Account, Object Codes, Fund/Sub- Fund
Attributes: Additional categories for dimensions

19. UAccess Planning Available support: Getting Access
You request access at the same place you would request access for other campus systems.

20. UAccess Planning Available support: UAccess Forums
In the Uaccess forums, there is a planning section under Budget.

21. UAccess Planning
Available support: ccessplanning
There is a site for UAccess Planning on Confluence….if you download the slide deck, the hyperlink to the site should work…
From here, you can log into Planning as well as access documentation to help you with your process.

22. UAccess Planning Available support: Adaptive Resources
Within Planning itself, [CLICK] if you click on the question mark in the top right [CLICK], you will be taken to the company’s training materials. [DRINK WATER]

23. UAccess Planning Available support: People!
Academic: Brian Berrellez,
Grants: Jason von Fange,

24. UAccess Planning Available support: People!
Student Affairs: Brian Pierson, and Erik Reinold,
College of Medicine – Tucson:
Rosa Fung,

25. The Technical
Disclaimer: My definitions are not the most technically perfect version.

26. What should I use and when?
Analytics vs Planning
What should I use and when?
Analytics is :
The auditable system of record
Reconciliation and trending data
Non-Financial information
Looking into the past

27. What should I use and when?
Analytics vs Planning
What should I use and when?
Planning is:
Focused on financial information
A tool for financial planning
A collaborative workspace
Future focused
Entering information…

28. Analytics vs Planning
We’re going to get a little technical here…[WATER]
We have a variety of transactional systems here on campus…budget…financials…student…research…etc.
For our purposes, we’re going to focus on Financials.
Every night, data from Financials go through a process where they are cleaned up, placed in a standardized format and organized. Then it goes into the Data Warehouse
From there, data are further formatted, placed into subject areas and loaded into Analytics.
Planning also receives information from the data warehouse, a subset of the same information that goes into Analytics. That information pulls from the same tables in the warehouse that are used to update the budget subject areas.

29. Analytics vs Planning Chart of Accounts in Analytics:
The same account information goes into both systems, but it’s organized slightly differently.
Here you see the hierarchy for our chart of accounts that is in Financials.
Starting at the fund level, each level connects to the one below and vice versa. Budget shell is an independent attribute of account, but, because everything is tied together in some way, you can pull a list of budget shells by Fund
Project code is used to tag transactions, not accounts. It kind of floats off to the side.

30. Analytics vs Planning Chart of Accounts in Analytics:
If you go to Current Account Balances in Analytics, and choose [CLICK] the State Fund Group, you will get a report with all the system information for State accounts.

31. Analytics vs Planning Chart of Accounts in Planning:
Here’s the chart of accounts in the Academic Instance. You’ll see there is no connection between them.
All transactions are tagged with the chart of accounts information. If you wanted to make a report that pulls in all the actuals and encumbrances for the State Fund Group, you’ll also bring in the related chart information.
---- However, the information you enter, you need to enter everything you want to use in your report---

32. Analytics vs Planning Chart of Accounts in Planning:
Here’s an example in Planning.
We’re looking at the Expense sheet in the Approved Projection version. The information is entered for the fund, not the account. And that’s fine. In this case, the business officer is only interested in projections at the fund level.
When I pull a report in Planning for that unit for all State information, the expenses show by account, because they are tagged with fund and account information. The projections appear as a total because they were entered at the fund level.
You will only return projections for those accounts if you entered the fund and account information.

33. Analytics vs Planning Official Budgets are not loaded into Planning:
Grants only has actual expenses
Academic has both actual revenue and expenses
YOU enter the budget at the level of detail YOU need
[WATER] Another important difference is the system generated budgets as entered into the budget system or Financials do not exist in Adaptive. The system only has actuals.
Let’s walk through a couple of reports in Analytics and Planning to see how this looks between the two systems.

34. Analytics vs Planning Current Account Balance Adaptive Income/Expense
136, ,792,316 =1,929,113
The top report is simply the current account balance for a state account. It shows the budget for expenses and the actual expenses for the account
The next report is the Income and Expenses for the same account, and we’re showing both the income side and the expense side. You can see the budget for expenses matches the budget in Current Account Balances. There is no budget for income because a state account does not accept revenue. But, we do have income. That amount equals the budget transfer into the account to cover expenses for the current year.
Finally, we have a simple income and expense report from the Academic Instance in Planning. Income matches the budget transfer into the account while expenses match expenses.
Now, let’s take a look at a grant account in Analytics and Planning [WATER]

35. Analytics vs Planning Current Account Balance Adaptive Income/Expense
Again, we have the current account balance, with the budget and, in this case, the Inception to Date expenses. Again, we are using the Academic Instance, not the Grants Instance
In Income and Expense, we see our expense budget. In this case, we also have a budget for income. This should match the total spending authority for the full project. The income for this fiscal year represents the amount of money the sponsor has actually paid, to cover expenses so far.
Pulling the data from Academic, we see the income paid so far this year, as well as the expenses.

36. Analytics vs Planning A couple quick notes: System Encumbrances
They are loaded into both instances from the data warehouse
We didn’t include them in the standard reports
Recommend entering system and soft encumbrances in the Planned versions
Every time encumbrances are updated when loaded into Planning. Prior encumbrances are not saved.
While you can pull up a report in Analytics that shows the actuals and encumbrances for past months…In Planning, you only have actuals.
Planning is for looking forward, not back in time.

37. Analytics vs Planning A couple quick notes: Cost Share
Cost share transfer object code expenses (7932, 7933, etc.) are not loaded in either instance
They appear under the original object code for the expense
If you’re not familiar with cost share, it is the support the institution pledges to a sponsored project for the project’s success. This support must be quantifiable in monetary terms and it generally must come from a non-grant account. This support is included with their proposal to the sponsor.
There are a series of transfers that occur when cost share is expensed. The ins and outs of the transfer are not loaded. Instead, we see the original expense associated with the grant account and then the final expense on the cost share account

38. Analytics vs Planning
A couple quick notes: Cost Share
[WATER]

39. Analytics vs Planning A couple few quick notes: Updates
Analytics is updated nightly
Grants is updated nightly
New accounts are added on Monday
Academic is updated on Monday

40. The Showstopper
Switch out for Candice’s tavern???
bake-off/

41. Ingredients for Good Reports
Accurate
Have Context
Complete
Documented
Clear
Reproducible
[WATER]

42. Use Case: Academic
Budgeting to Project Code:

43. Use Case: Academic
Budgeting to Project Code:

44. Use Case: Academic
Budgeting to Project Code:

45. Use Case: Academic
Budgeting to Project Code:

46. Use Case: Grants
Budgeting Cost Share:

47. Project Period Entry Sheet, Budget Original Version
Use Case: Grants
Budgeting Cost Share:
Project Period Entry Sheet, Budget Original Version

48. Use Case: Grants Budgeting Cost Share:
Budget Entry Sheet, Budget Original Version
Enter Cost Share Account #

49. Use Case: Grants
Budgeting Cost Share:

50. UAccess Planning Finale…
At 2.00, we’re going to have a round table discussion about Planning and if there’s enough interest, I would be happy to walk through this reports and how to make them in greater detail.

51. UAccess Planning
Why?
So, why do this?

52. UAccess Planning
Questions?
So, questions??

53. Analyst-Planning, Consulting & Data Solutions Team, ALVSCE
UAccess Planning
Questions?
Tara Mysak
Analyst-Planning, Consulting & Data Solutions Team, ALVSCE
If you’re like me , I always think up my questions a couple days later, after I’ve had a chance to digest new information, please feel free to contact me.
I’m always happy to share Analytics and Planning reports, or discuss baked goods.

54. Thank you!!!! UAccess Planning Thank you [CLICK]
And I hope you enjoy the rest of the Symposium