Overview: Commitment Data on Oracle Financials Reports

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Commitments Defined

Commitments are expected costs associated with future transactions. The main types of commitment data included on Oracle Financials reports are salary, student aid, and purchasing commitments as described in the table below.

Commitment Type Description
Salary Commitments
(Staff, Faculty, and Student)

Future salary as entered in PeopleSoft and allocated in Oracle via Labor Distribution schedules.

  • On detail PTA reports, future salary commitments are rolled up and displayed on one line per assignment, per person and expenditure type.
  • For sponsored projects, salary is committed through the earlier of the Labor Schedule line or the end of the PTA or award installment end date.
  • For non-sponsored projects, salary is committed through the earlier of the Labor Schedule line, PTA end date, or the end of the fiscal year.
  • HR changes (salary, etc.) and Labor Schedule changes are updated each night.
  • See Overview: Salary Commitments for more information.
Student Aid Commitments

Future student aid commitments as entered in PeopleSoft Graduate Financial Support (GFS), Financial Aid, or Student Financial modules.

  • On detail PTA reports, student aid is displayed as unique lines for each term per student and expenditure type.
  • All student aid commitments are entered by academic year, including summer term, so fiscal year-based accounts may include commitments that will not become actual costs until the following September.
  • Aid data is updated monthly, except for GFS salary data which is updated twice a month.
  • See Overview: Student Commitments for more information.
Purchasing Commitments

Remaining balances on approved Requisitions or Purchase Orders that have not been suppressed.

  • On detail PTA reports, purchasing commitments are displayed as unique lines per Requisition or Purchase Order and expenditure type.
  • Users are able to "suppress" lingering purchasing commitments that they don't believe will result in an actual cost. See How To: View or Suppress Commitments on an approved Purchase Order.
  • Outstanding purchasing commitments exclude any actual invoice payments recorded as expenditures.
  • Because the system cannot predict when future invoices will be received, the remaining purchase order balance will be included as a commitment on both fiscal- or project-to-date reports.
  • Purchasing commitment changes are updated each night.
  • See Overview: Purchasing Commitments for more information.
Burdens on the above

Burdens (fringe benefits, indirect costs, etc.) that will be applied to the above costs.

  • On detail PTA reports, burdening commitments are displayed at the same level of detail as actual burdens.
  • Burdening commitments are updated each night.

The terms commitments and encumbrances can be used interchangeably. Transaction source codes for all commitments listed on Oracle Financials reports begin with "E" for encumbrance. These types of commitments are also known as "hard commitments", meaning that the source transaction has been recorded in the system; it is not just a future plan or "soft commitment".

For a complete list of Source Codes (expenditures and commitments), refer to Resources & Job Aids: Oracle Reference Code Table.

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Commitment Data Not Included on Oracle Financials Reports

Certain types of commitment data are not readily available and therefore are NOT included on Oracle Financials reports. Users should consider these when forecasting future expenses.

Commitment Data NOT Included in Oracle Financials Reports
Commitment Type Description
Hourly wage payments Future payments for hourly and bargaining unit employees
Additional recurring pay Supplemental pay (supplemental pay, housing or vehicle allowance, honorarium, etc.)
Vacation Credits for future vacation
Expense Requests transactions
(Advances, Reimbursements, Non-PO payments or Petty Cash)		 In-process Expense Requests transactions (not yet recorded as actual expenditures)
PCard Unverified or unapproved PCard transactions
iJournals iJournals transactions not yet posted
Feeder Journals
(i.e. Service Center Charges)		 Batch journals typically received once a month to record transactions from service centers or other units that allocate costs.
Burdens on the above Burdens (fringe benefits, indirect costs, etc.) that will be applied to the above types of actual costs.
Suppressed Purchasing Commitments Users are able to suppress lingering purchasing commitments when they do not expect them to result in an actual cost. See How To: View or Suppress Commitments on an approved Purchase Order. Automatic suppression based on business rules will also be periodically performed. For more information, see Overview: Purchasing Commitments.

 

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Oracle Financials Reports Displaying Commitment Data

Oracle Business Intelligence (OBI) Consolidated Expenditure Reporting (CER) dashboard reports include summary and detailed commitment data in a single interface to help you monitor hard commitments for comparison with available funding.

Additionally, the following ReportMart3 reports present commitment data at a summary or detailed level:

  • FIN_EXP_149_Qtrly_Exp_Cert
  • FIN_CAP_107_Prj_to_Date_Mo
  • FIN_EXP_275_Award_View
  • FIN_EXP_276_Project_View
  • FIN_EXP_277_Task_View
  • FIN_EXP_278_Executive_Summary
  • FIN_EXP_282_ERA_Rollup
  • FIN_EXP_285_Mo_Detail_Statement
  • FIN_FUND_253_YTD_Award_Status
  • FIN_OSR_179_Exp_Award
  • FIN_CAP_192_Cap_and_Noncap_Proj

Transaction Reference Data

Each commitment line displayed on detail reports will include reference data to assist you in better understanding the source of the commitment.

  • The Source Code indicates the type of commitment. All commitment source codes begin with "E". For a complete list of Source Codes (expenditures and commitments), refer to Resources & Job Aids: Oracle Reference Code Table. Additional explanation, including central resource contact information for each Source Code and explanations of what is displayed in the Reference Data and Description columns can be found in the job aid.
  • For student commitments, the "Acct Ref" column is populated with the term related to the commitment. For example 1082 is the reference code for academic year 2008, Autumn term.
    • 1 = Century (21st)
    • 0 = Decade (2000's)
    • 8 = Academic Year ('08)
    • 2 = Term (Autumn), 4 = Winter, 6 = Spring, 8 = Summer
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Timing of Commitment Data on Reports

  • Commitments will be included on ReportMart3 Expenditure reports for the most recently closed month. Commitments related to the most recently closed month are "frozen" and will reflect commitments that existed when the month was closed.
  • Commitments will also be included on ReportMart3 Expenditure reports run for the current month (including activity posted to Oracle as of the prior day).
  • OBI CER reports allow you to view commitments as of a prior, current or future time period.
  • Student commitments are updated in Oracle at the end of each month (or each pay period for GFS salary commitments).
  • Salary and purchasing commitments (including burdening) are updated each night.
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Utilizing Reports to Forecast Future Expenditures and Available Balances

Oracle Financials reports are a tool to help you forecast future expenditures while considering commitments. This becomes important the closer one gets to the end of a project period or fiscal year. For help determining if funding for sponsored or non-sponsored projects will last through the project period (or fiscal year), see Overview: Forecasting Future Expenditures and Available Balances.

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