Core Financial System Requirements
Checklist for Reviewing Systems under the Federal Financial Management Improvement Act (Supersedes AIMD-00-21.2.2) Gao ID: GAO-05-225G February 1, 2005This publications supersedes AIMD-00-21.2.2, Core Financial System Requirements: Checklist for Reviewing Systems Under the Federal Financial Management Improvement Act, February 2000. The Federal Financial Management Improvement Act of 1996 (FFMIA) requires, among other things, that agencies implement and maintain financial management systems that substantially comply with federal financial management system requirements. These requirements are detailed in the Federal Financial Management System Requirements series issued by the Joint Financial Management Improvement Program (JFMIP) and in the guidance issued by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB): Circular No. A-127, Financial Management Systems, and the January 4, 2001, Revised Implementation Guidance for the Federal Financial Management Improvement Act (FFMIA) of 1996. JFMIP intended for the requirements to promote understanding of key financial management systems concepts and requirements, to provide a framework for establishing integrated financial management systems to support program and financial managers, and to describe specific requirements of financial management systems. We are issuing this checklist, which reflects JFMIP's revised Core Financial System Requirements (JFMIP-SR-02-01, November 2001), to assist (1) financial systems analysts, systems accountants, systems developers, program managers, and others who design, develop, implement, operate, or maintain financial management systems and (2) management and auditors in reviewing agency core systems to determine if the systems substantially comply with FFMIA.
GAO-05-225G Core Financial System Requirements: Checklist for Reviewing Systems under the Federal Financial Management Improvement Act
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February 2005:
United States Government Accountability Office:
GAO:
Financial Management Series:
CORE FINANCIAL SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:
Checklist for Reviewing Systems under the Federal Financial Management
Improvement Act:
GAO-05-225G:
February 2005:
The Federal Financial Management Improvement Act of 1996 (FFMIA)
requires, among other things, that agencies implement and maintain
financial management systems that substantially comply with federal
financial management system requirements. These requirements are
detailed in the Federal Financial Management System Requirements series
issued by the Joint Financial Management Improvement Program (JFMIP)
and in the guidance issued by the Office of Management and Budget
(OMB): Circular No. A-127, Financial Management Systems, and the
January 4, 2001, Revised Implementation Guidance for the Federal
Financial Management Improvement Act (FFMIA) of 1996. JFMIP intended
for the requirements to promote understanding of key financial
management systems concepts and requirements, to provide a framework
for establishing integrated financial management systems to support
program and financial managers, and to describe specific requirements
of financial management systems.
We are issuing this checklist, which reflects JFMIP's revised Core
Financial System Requirements (JFMIP-SR-02-01, November 2001), to
assist (1) financial systems analysts, systems accountants, systems
developers, program managers, and others who design, develop,
implement, operate, or maintain financial management systems and (2)
management and auditors in reviewing agency core systems to determine
if the systems substantially comply with FFMIA.[Footnote 1]
There is no requirement that this checklist be used in assessing core
financial systems. Rather, it is provided as a tool for use by
experienced staff and is one in a series of documents we have issued to
assist agencies in improving or maintaining effective operations. (See
the last page of this document for a list of related products.) This
checklist, the JFMIP source document, and the two previously mentioned
OMB documents should be used concurrently. Those using this tool must
apply experienced judgment in its interpretation and application. They
must consider the impact of the completed checklist on an entire core
system and whether the system, as a whole, substantially complies with
requirements.
The JFMIP had been issuing requirements as part of the Federal
Financial Management System Requirements series that formed the
foundation for a system evaluation effort. Our checklists were designed
to capture the JFMIP requirements in a format that can be used to
easily determine the JFMIP requirements that are applicable to federal
financial management systems.
At the time we were processing comments received on the exposure draft
of this checklist, significant changes were made to the role of JFMIP.
On December 1, 2004, the principals[Footnote 2] of JFMIP signed an
agreement that reassigned responsibility for certifying financial
system software from JFMIP to the Chief Financial Officers (CFO)
Council. In addition, OMB's Office of Federal Financial Management will
issue requirements for financial systems and systems that interface
with financial systems. OMB issued a memorandum on December 2, 2004
that discusses in detail the changes to JFMIP's role, the transfer of
JFMIP's Project Management Office to the CFO Council, the creation of a
new Financial Systems Integration Committee of the CFO Council, and
other transition issues. In light of these changes, we do not plan to
issue additional system requirements checklists as new or revised
requirements documents are issued by OMB.
This checklist is available on the GAO Web site (http://www.gao.gov)
under "Reports and Testimony," by browsing the topic "Financial
Management." JFMIP's source document can be downloaded from the JFMIP
Web site (http://www.jfmip.gov) under "JFMIP Documents" and the
subheading "System Requirements.“
Signed by:
Jeffrey C. Steinhoff:
Managing Director:
Financial Management and Assurance:
[End of letter]
Contents:
Preface:
Overview:
Authoritative Guidance:
How to Use This Checklist:
Core Financial System Requirements:
Functional Requirements:
Core Financial System Management Function:
Accounting Classification Management Process:
Transaction Control Process:
General Ledger Management Function:
General Ledger Account Definition Process:
Accruals, Closing, and Consolidation Process:
General Ledger Analysis and Reconciliation Process:
Funds Management Function:
Budget Preparation Process:
Budget Formulation Process:
Funds Allocation Process:
Budget Execution Process:
Funds Control Process:
Payment Management Function:
Payee Information Maintenance Process:
Payment Warehousing Process:
Payment Execution Process:
Payment Confirmation and Follow-up Process:
Receivable Management Function:
Customer Information Maintenance Process:
Receivable Establishment Process:
Debt Management Process:
Collections Process:
Cost Management Function:
Cost Setup and Accumulation Process:
Cost Recognition Process:
Cost Distribution Process:
Working Capital and Revolving Fund Process:
Reporting Function:
General Reporting Process:
External Reporting:
Internal Reporting:
Ad Hoc Query:
Technical Requirements:
General Design/Architecture:
Infrastructure:
User Interfaces:
Interoperability:
Workflow/Messaging:
Document Management:
Internet Access:
Security:
Operations and Computing Performance:
Related GAO Products:
Figure 1: Agency Systems Architecture:
Abbreviations:
ACH: Automated Clearing House:
ALC: agency location code:
API: application program interface:
CCD: cash concentration or disbursement:
CCD+: cash concentration or disbursement plus addendum:
CCR: Central Contractor Registration:
C.F.R.: Code of Federal Regulations:
COTR: Contract Officer's Technical Representative:
COTS: commercial-off-the-shelf:
CTX: corporate trade exchange:
DUNS: Data Universal Numbering System:
ECS: Electronic Certification System:
EFT: electronic funds transfer:
FACTS: Federal Agencies Centralized Trial Balance System:
FASAB: Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board:
FFMIA: Federal Financial Management Improvement Act of 1996:
FMS: Financial Management Service:
IPAC: Intra-governmental Payment and Collection System:
IRS: Internal Revenue Service:
IT: information technology:
JFMIP: Joint Financial Management Improvement Program:
NIST: National Institute of Standards and Technology:
OFFM: Office of Federal Financial Management:
OMB: Office of Management and Budget:
PPD: prearranged payment and deposit:
PPD+: prearranged payment and deposit plus addendum:
RTN: Routing Transit Number:
SFFAS: Statements of Federal Financial Accounting Standards:
SGL: U.S. Government Standard General Ledger:
TAFS: treasury account fund symbol:
TAS: treasury account symbol:
TFM: Treasury Financial Manual:
TIN: taxpayer identification number:
U.S.C.: United States Code:
XML: Extensible Markup Language:
[End of contents]
Overview:
The Federal Financial Management Improvement Act of 1996 (FFMIA)
requires, among other things, that agencies implement and maintain
financial management systems that substantially comply with federal
financial management system requirements. These requirements are
detailed in the Federal Financial Management System Requirements series
issued by the Joint Financial Management Improvement Program (JFMIP)
[Footnote 3]and in Circular No. A-127, Financial Management Systems,
issued by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). The JFMIP
requirements document describes the federal financial system
architecture as consisting of (1) core financial systems; (2) other
financial and mixed systems, not all of which are applicable to all
agencies; (3) shared systems; and (4) departmental executive
information systems (systems to provide management information to all
levels of management).[Footnote 4] Figure 1 is the JFMIP model that
illustrates how these systems interrelate in an agency's overall
systems architecture.
Figure 1: Agency Systems Architecture:
[See PDF for image]
Source: JFMIP.
[End of figure]
To date, JFMIP has issued 13 of the 15 functional requirements shown in
figure 1.[Footnote 5]
We are issuing this checklist, which reflects JFMIP's revised Core
Financial System Requirements (JFMIP-SR-02-01, November 2001) and the
Addendum to Core Financial System Requirements (March 2004), to assist
(1) financial systems analysts, systems accountants, systems
developers, program managers, and others who design, develop,
implement, operate, or maintain financial management systems and (2)
management and auditors in reviewing agency core systems to determine
if the systems substantially comply with FFMIA.
This checklist is not a requirement. It is provided as a tool for use
by experienced staff. This checklist; the JFMIP source document, Core
Financial System Requirements (JFMIP-SR-02-01, November 2001); OMB
Circular No. A-127, Financial Management Systems;[Footnote 6] and OMB's
Revised Implementation Guidance for the Federal Financial Management
Improvement Act (FFMIA), issued January 4, 2001, should be used
concurrently. Staff members who use this tool must apply experienced
judgment in its interpretation and application. They must consider the
impact of the completed checklist on the entire core financial system
and whether the system, as a whole, substantially complies with
requirements.
Authoritative Guidance:
OMB Circular No. A-127, Financial Management Systems, and OMB's January
4, 2001, Revised Implementation Guidance for the Federal Financial
Management Improvement Act provide the guidance for assessing
compliance with FFMIA requirements. The OMB guidance identifies various
criteria that agency systems must meet to substantially comply with
these requirements. One set of criteria listed in the OMB guidance is
the JFMIP system requirements series.
The source of all the questions in this checklist is the JFMIP Core
Financial System Requirements (JFMIP-SR-02-01, November 2001) and the
Addendum to Core Financial System Requirements (March 2004). The JFMIP
document and the addendum represent the latest update to the core
document first issued in January 1988. These updates reflect recent
changes in laws and regulations and in governmentwide reporting
systems, such as the Department of the Treasury's Federal Agencies
Centralized Trial Balance System (FACTS) II, and the OMB policy
requiring agencies to use the Intragovernmental Transaction Exchange
Portal for executing certain types of financial transactions. The
updates also clarify some existing requirements, delete redundant or
outdated requirements, incorporate value-added requirements, change the
priority (i.e., mandatory or value added) of certain requirements, and
add new requirements to reflect the current needs of federal agencies.
The JFMIP Core Financial Systems Requirements document is the basis for
evaluating core financial system software for compliance with JFMIP
requirements. It is done through a testing process that links test
scenarios to the JFMIP requirements. JFMIP tests commercial software
functionality against these requirements and qualifies the software as
meeting mandatory requirements. JFMIP also uses this process to test
government agency software compliance for those agencies that provide
accounting systems to other government agencies on a cross-service
agreement.
The JFMIP document segregates functional requirements into two general
categories--mandatory and value-added. The mandatory requirements
describe what the system must do. They consist of the minimum
acceptable functionality necessary to establish a system and are based
on federal laws, regulations, and directives or judicial decisions.
Mandatory requirements are those against which agency heads are to
evaluate their systems to determine the systems' substantial compliance
with FFMIA. These requirements apply to existing systems in operation
and new systems planned or under development. The checklist uses "M"
immediately following the question to indicate a mandatory system
requirement.
The value-added requirements describe optional features or
characteristics and may consist of any combination of the following:
(1) using state-of-the-art technology, (2) employing the preferred or
best business practices, or (3) meeting the special management needs of
an individual agency. Agencies should consider value-added features
when judging systems options. The need for these value-added features
in agency systems is left to the discretion of each agency head. The
checklist uses "V" immediately following the question to indicate that
the item is value-added and not mandatory.
How to Use This Checklist:
OMB's 2001 implementation guidance provides the agency heads and
inspectors general with a means for determining whether their agencies'
financial management systems substantially comply with federal
financial management system requirements. Agencies can use this
checklist as a tool to help determine compliance with federal financial
management system requirements as well as to assist in their annual
reporting on such compliance as required by 31 U.S.C. § 3512(d).
Completing this checklist will allow agencies to systematically
determine whether specific systems requirements are being met. In
determining compliance with FFMIA requirements, agencies should assess
the results of the completed checklist based on the core financial
system requirements taken as a whole.
The checklist contains three columns with the first citing the
question. Use the second column to answer each question "Yes," "No," or
"N/A." Use the third column to explain your answer. A "Yes" answer
should indicate that the agency's core financial system provides for
the capability described in the question. For each "Yes" answer, the
third column should contain a brief description of how the core
financial system satisfies that capability and should also refer to a
source that explains or shows the capability.
A "No" answer indicates that the capability does not exist. For a "No"
answer, the third column should provide an explanation[Footnote 7] and,
where applicable, a reference to any related supporting documentation.
Cost-benefit studies or support for a "No" answer should be identified
in the explanation column. If there are no cost-benefit studies or
other support, a full explanation should be provided.
"No" answers should not be viewed individually or taken out of context.
Rather, "No" answers should be assessed as to their impact on the
overall core financial system and the extent to which the "No" answers
inhibit the entire core financial system from achieving compliance.
Certain questions within the checklist may not be applicable to the
agency. Answer these question(s) with "N/A" and provide an appropriate
explanation in the third column.
This checklist is designed to capture the JFMIP requirements in a
format that can be used to easily determine the JFMIP requirements that
are applicable to federal financial management systems. The JFMIP
requirements form the foundation for a system evaluation effort, and
agencies must determine and document the agency-specific requirements
that must be developed to best meet their needs while ensuring that the
JFMIP requirements are fulfilled. This is consistent with how the JFMIP
requirements should be used in an agency's effort to develop or
implement a financial management system.
Moreover, systems requirements continually evolve as new laws and
regulations are promulgated. Because there may be a time lag between
the issuance of new laws and regulations and when the JFMIP systems
requirements documents are updated, this checklist may also not include
all relevant laws and regulations that should be considered when
evaluating a system. Therefore, consideration must be given to
identifying any changes in laws and regulations that could affect the
requirements included in this checklist.
Core Financial System Requirements:
Government core financial systems, as an integral component of the
federal agency systems architecture (see fig. 1), are relied on to
control and support the key financial management functions of an
agency. The core financial system receives data from other financial
and mixed systems and from direct user input, and provides data and
supports processing for other systems. JFMIP's Core Financial System
Requirements provides functional requirements for financial managers,
program managers, and others to control and account for federal
programs as defined in governmentwide statutes, regulations, and
guidelines. It is divided into two major sections, "functional
requirements" and "technical requirements," which are described below.
Functional requirements have been established to provide the basic
information and control needed to carry out financial management
functions; manage the financial operations of an agency; and report on
the agency's financial status to central agencies, Congress, and the
public. This includes data needed to prepare the principal financial
statements for federal agencies in accordance with OMB Bulletin No. 01-
09, Form and Content of Agency Financial Statements. The major
functions supported by a core financial system are discussed below:
1. Core financial system management consists of the processes necessary
to maintain the financial system in a manner that is consistent with
established financial management laws, regulations, and policy. This
function sets the framework for all other core financial system
functions.
2. General ledger management is the central function of the core
financial system. The general ledger is the highest level of
summarization and must maintain account balances by the accounting
classification elements established in the core financial system
management function.
3. Funds management is the function that ensures that the agency does
not obligate or disburse funds in excess of those appropriated or
authorized.
4. Payment management is the function that provides appropriate control
over all payments made by or on behalf of the agency.
5. Receivable management is the function that supports activities
associated with recognizing and recording debts due to the government,
performing follow-up actions to collect on these debts, and recording
agency cash receipts.
6. Cost management is the function that attempts to measure the total
cost and revenue of federal programs and their various elements,
activities, and outputs.
7. Reporting is the function that provides timely and useful financial
information to support management's fiduciary role, budget formulation
and execution functions, fiscal management of program delivery and
program decision making, and internal and external reporting
requirements.
* Technical requirements have been established to help ensure that a
core financial system is capable of meeting a wide variety of workload
processing demands; provides transaction processing integrity and
general operating reliability; incorporates standard installation,
configuration, and operating procedures; and does not conflict with
other administrative/program systems or other agency-established
information technology (IT) standards. The JFMIP source document
categorizes the technical requirements as (1) general
design/architecture, (2) infrastructure, (3) user interfaces, (4)
interoperability, (5) workflow/messaging, (6) document management, (7)
Internet access, (8) security, and (9) operations and computing
performance.
All of the checklist questions come from the JFMIP source document,
JFMIP-SR-02-02, November 2001, and the March 2004 Addendum. Page number
references follow each of the questions. It should be noted that not
all questions will apply in all situations, and as with the use of any
checklist, professional judgment should be exercised. Using the JFMIP
source document and its "Appendix B: Glossary," which defines terms
used, along with OMB Circular No. A-127, Financial Management Systems,
and OMB's Revised Implementation Guidance for the Federal Financial
Management Improvement Act (FFMIA), issued January 4, 2001, will help
ensure that the user is aware of the background information necessary
to fully understand the questions.
Functional Requirements; Core Financial System Management
Function[Footnote 8]; Accounting classification [Footnote 9] management
process:
1. To support the accounting classification management process, does
the core financial system provide the capability to classify accounting
transactions by the following:
a. treasury account symbol/treasury account fund symbol
(TAS/TAFS),
b. internal fund code,
c. budget fiscal year,
d. accounting quarter and month,
e. program,
f. organization,
g. project,
h. activity,
i. cost center,
j. object class,
k. budget function (and subfunction code), and;
l. remaining U.S. Government Standard General Ledger (SGL) attributes
not specified above? M (JFMIP-SR-02-01, p. 18).
2. Does the core financial system provide the capability to define
additional accounting classification elements and classify and report
accounting transactions by each type of element? M (p. 18). [Footnote
10]
3. Does the core financial system provide the capability to achieve
consistency in budget and accounting classifications and
synchronization between those classifications and the organizational
structure, including the maintenance of data relationships between the
following:
a. budget formulation classifications (budget function and subfunction
classification codes, per OMB Circular No. A-11, Preparation,
Submission, and Execution of the Budget),
b. budget execution and accounting classifications (e.g., TAS/TAFS,
internal fund, program, project, and activity), and;
c. the agency's organizational structure? M (p. 18).
4. Does the core financial system have the capability to provide a fund
structure that identifies a TAS/TAFS established by OMB and Treasury? M
(p. 18).
5. Does the core financial system provide the capability to accommodate
additional detail below the TAS level, such as an internal fund code to
support fiscal year accounting and appropriation subaccounts used for
reporting to Treasury? M (p. 18).
6. Does the core financial system provide the capability to
differentiate among the type of budgeting, accounting, and reporting
treatments to be used based on various TAS/TAFS characteristics? M (p.
18).
7. At a minimum, does the core financial system provide the capability
to support the following fund characteristics in accordance with
Treasury and OMB reporting and budget execution requirements:
a. fund type, such as general fund, deposit fund, trust fund, special
fund, revolving fund, or receipt account;
b. funding source, such as borrowing authority, contract authority,
direct appropriation, or spending authority from offsetting
collections;
c. budget status, such as on budget, off budget, or financing account;
and;
d. TAS/TAFS status, such as annual, multiyear, and no year? M (p. 18).
8. Does the core financial system have the capability to provide a
program structure with sufficient levels of detail to allow reporting
for all categories on which budgetary decisions are made, whether
legally binding, as in appropriation limitations, or in the nature of
policy guidance, as in presidential pass backs and congressional markup
tables? M (pp. 18 & 19).
9. Does the core financial system provide the capability to establish
an organizational structure based on responsibility segments, such as
bureaus, divisions, and branches? M (p. 19).
10. Does the core financial system provide the capability to tie
responsible organizational units to programs, projects, and activities?
M (p. 19).
11. Does the core financial system provide the capability to support
the management of multiple agency location codes (ALC) and associate
the appropriate ALC with each transaction involving fund balance with
Treasury to facilitate external reporting [Footnote 11] and
reconciliation with Treasury? M (p. 19).
12. Does the core financial system have the capability to provide a
project structure that is independent of the other accounting
classification elements to allow multiple organizations, programs, and
funding sources to be associated with a project? M (p. 19).
13. Does the core financial system have the capability to provide an
object class structure consistent with the standard object class codes
contained in OMB Circular No. A-11? M (p. 19).
14. Does the core financial system have the capability to provide
flexibility to accommodate additional levels (lower) in the object
class structure? M (p. 19).
15. Does the core financial system provide the capability to process
additions, changes, and deletions to elements of the accounting
classification design, and related valid domain values within
accounting classifications, without extensive program or system changes
(e.g., through online table updates)? M (p. 19).
16. Does the core financial system provide the capability to allow the
user to enter, edit, and store accounting classification table changes
so that the changes automatically become effective at any future date
determined by the user? M (p. 19).
17. Does the core financial system have the capability to reject or
suspend interfaced transactions that contain accounting classification
elements or domain values that have been deactivated or discontinued? M
(p. 19).
18. Does the core financial system have the capability to provide a
revenue source code structure to identify and classify types of revenue
and receipts as defined [Footnote 12] by the user? V (p. 19).
19. Does the core financial system provide the capability to validate
all transactions involving Treasury and other disbursing centers for
valid combinations of ALC and TAS/TAFS, as defined by the user? V (p.
19).
20. Does the core financial system provide the capability to derive the
full accounting classifications from abbreviated user input so that
user input [Footnote 13] is minimized, data entry is made easier, and
errors are controlled and reduced? V (p. 19).
21. Does the core financial system have the capability to provide for
an automated method to reclassify accounting data at the document level
when a restructuring of the existing values pertaining to the mandatory
accounting classification elements [Footnote 14] is needed? V (p. 19).
22. Does the core financial system provide the capability to maintain
an audit trail from the original postings to the final posting? V (p.
19).
Functional Requirements; Core Financial System Management Function;
Transaction control process [Footnote 15]; Transaction definition and
processing [Footnote 16]:
23. To support the transaction definition and processing activity, does
the core financial system provide the capability to use standard
transactions when recording accounting events? M (p. 20).
24. Do the standard transactions specify the postings to the general
ledger accounts, and update document balances and any related tables,
such as available funding? M (p. 20).
25. Does the core financial system provide the capability to allow the
user to include proprietary, budgetary, and memorandum accounts in the
definition of a standard transaction? M (p. 20).
26. Does the core financial system provide the capability to record
transactions consistent with SGL posting rules? M (p. 20).
27. Does the core financial system provide the capability to reject a
transaction or provide a warning message when attempting to post a
transaction that would cause general ledger debits and credits to be
out of balance at a level below the TAS/TAFS, such as internal fund or
organization level? M (p. 20).
28. Does the core financial system provide the capability to allow
users to define and maintain standard rules that control general ledger
account postings [Footnote 17] for all accounting events? M (p. 20).
29. Does the core financial system provide the capability to enable
users to selectively require, omit, or set a default value for
individual accounting classification [Footnote 18] elements? M (p. 20).
30. Does the core financial system provide the capability to update all
applicable general ledger account balances (i.e., budgetary,
proprietary, and memorandum accounts) based on a single input
transaction? M (p. 21).
31. Does the core financial system have the capability to define,
generate, and post compound general ledger debit and credit entries for
a single transaction? M (p. 21).
32. Does the core financial system provide the capability to
accommodate at least 10 debit and credit pairs or 20 accounts when
defining and processing a single transaction? M (p. 21).
33. Does the core financial system provide the capability to allow
users to define and process system-generated transactions, such as
automated accruals (e.g., payroll accrual entries), preclosing and
closing entries, cost assignment transactions, recurring payments, and
transactions that generate other transactions when a single transaction
is not sufficient? M (p. 21).
34. Does the core financial system provide the capability to
automatically liquidate, partially or in full, the balance of open
documents by line item? [Footnote 19] M (p. 21).
35. Does the core financial system provide the capability to
automatically determine and record the amount of upward or downward
adjustments to existing obligations [Footnote 20] upon liquidation,
cancellation, or other adjustment? M (p. 21).
36. When adjustments are made to existing obligations or previously
recorded expenditures, does the core financial system automatically
distinguish between upward and downward adjustments to unexpired and
expired budget authority, and generate the appropriate general ledger
postings, without user intervention? M (p. 21).
37. Relative to expired funds, does the core financial system have the
capability to provide an overrideable error message when attempting to
post (previously unrecorded) obligations to current year general ledger
obligation accounts (such as SGL accounts 4801 or 4802)? M (p. 21).
38. When recording adjustments to prior year obligations (including
previously expended authority), does the core financial system provide
the capability to automatically classify upward and downward
adjustments [Footnote 21] as paid and or unpaid according to the status
of the related obligation or expenditure? M (p. 21).
39. Does the core financial system provide the capability to control
the correction and reprocessing of all erroneous transactions through
the use of error/suspense files? M (p. 21).
40. Does the core financial system provide the capability to maintain
erroneous transactions until either corrected and posted or deleted at
the specific request of a user? M (p. 21).
41. Does the core financial system have the capability to provide
immediate, online notification to the user of erroneous transactions,
the reason for the errors, and the ability to enter corrections online?
M (p. 21).
42. Does the core financial system have the capability to provide
controls to prevent the creation of duplicate transactions? [Footnote
22] M (p. 21).
43. Does the core financial system have the capability to provide a
warning message when the user attempts to input an external vendor
invoice number that has already been recorded for the related vendor? M
(p. 21).
44. Does the core financial system provide the capability to validate
the fields [Footnote 23] for all accounting classification elements
required to process the transaction prior to posting? M (p. 22).
45. Does the core financial system provide the capability to enter,
edit, and store transactions in the current accounting period for
automatic processing in a future accounting period? M (p. 22).
46. Does the core financial system provide the capability to put
transactions in a hold status (saved, but not processed or posted)
within the core system (i.e., when importing transactions from a
spreadsheet or database application is not acceptable)? M (p. 22).
47. Does the core financial system provide the capability to allow
users to select held transactions and continue processing at a later
date? M (p. 22).
48. Does the core financial system provide the capability to capture
the six-digit trading partner code (as specified by Treasury) when
processing all transactions that directly involve another federal
entity (i.e., both parties to a transaction are federal entities)? M
(p. 22).
49. For all transactions, does the core financial system provide the
capability to capture transaction dates (effective date of the
transaction) and posting dates (date transaction posted to general
ledger)? M (p. 22).
50. Does the core financial system provide the capability to
automatically determine the posting date from the system date for all
transactions? M (p. 22).
51. Does the core financial system provide the capability to
automatically associate a default accounting period for each
transaction, while allowing for user override? M (p. 22).
52. Does the core financial system provide the capability to
automatically reverse entries by the following parameters:
a. transaction or document type,
b. date range,
c. schedule numbers,
d. transaction identification number (i.e., document number) range,
and;
e. trading partner? M (p. 22).
53. Does the core financial system provide the capability to post to
the current and prior months concurrently until the prior month closing
is complete? M (p. 22).
54. Does the core financial system have the capability to provide and
maintain online queries and reports on balances separately for the
current and prior months? M (p. 22).
55. At a minimum, does the core financial system provide the capability
to maintain balances online for both the current and prior months until
the prior month closing is complete? M (p. 22).
56. Does the core financial system provide the capability to post to
the current fiscal year and prior fiscal year concurrently until prior
year-end closing is complete? M (p. 22).
57. Does the core financial system have the capability to provide and
maintain online queries and reports on balances separately for the
current and prior fiscal years? M (p. 22).
58. At a minimum, does the core financial system have the capability to
provide and maintain online balances for both the current and prior
fiscal years until the prior fiscal year closing is complete? M (p. 22).
59. Does the core financial system provide the capability to perform
validation checks for use of certain general ledger accounts associated
with specific Record Type 7 authority, such as imprest fund or
borrowing authority, prior to posting a transaction? V (p. 22).
60. Does the core financial system provide the capability to have all
functions of the system, including budgeting, spending, accounts
payable, and accounts receivable, process and track transactions in
both foreign currency and U.S. dollars? V (p. 23).
61. Does the core financial system provide the capability to calculate
progress payments to foreign vendors based on current exchange rates? V
(p. 23).
Functional Requirements; Core Financial System Management Function;
Transaction control process; Audit trails [Footnote 24]:
62. To support the audit trail activity, does the core financial system
have the capability to provide audit trails to trace transactions from
their initial source [Footnote 25] through all stages of related system
processing? M (p. 23).
63. Does the core financial system provide the capability to select
items for review based on user-defined criteria by type of transaction
(e.g., by obligation transactions, vendor, or date range)? [Footnote
26] M (p. 23).
64. Does the core financial system have the capability to provide audit
trails that identify document input, change, approval, and deletions by
user? M (p. 23).
Functional Requirements; General Ledger Management Function; General
ledger account definition process [Footnote 27]:
65. To support the general ledger account definition process, does the
core financial system provide the capability to allow users to define
and maintain a chart of accounts consistent with the SGL, including
account titles and the basic numbering structure? M (p. 25).
66. Does the core financial system provide the capability to
incorporate proprietary, budgetary, and memorandum (credit reform)
accounts in the system, and maintain the relationships between SGL
accounts as described in the current Treasury Financial Manual (TFM)
Supplement? M (p. 25).
67. Does the core financial system have the capability to provide SGL
control accounts for detailed subsidiary accounts in the core or
external systems? M (p. 25).
68. Does the core financial system provide the capability to create
additional subaccounts to the SGL for agency-specific tracking and
control that will summarize to the appropriate SGL accounts? M (p. 25).
69. Does the core financial system provide the capability to capture
SGL attribute information required for both FACTS I and FACTS II
reporting as specified by the current supplement(s) to the TFM? M (p.
25).
70. Does the core financial system have the capability to provide
flexibility so that the system can adapt to changes in reporting
requirements of FACTS I and FACTS II? [Footnote 28] M (p. 25).
71. Does the core financial system provide the capability to process
additions, deletions, and changes to the chart of accounts without
extensive program or system changes (e.g., through online table
updates)? M (p. 25).
72. Does the core financial system provide the capability to prohibit
new transactions from posting to general ledger accounts that have been
deactivated? M (p. 25).
Functional Requirements; General Ledger Management Function; Accruals,
closing, and consolidation process [Footnote 29]:
73. To support the accruals, closing, and consolidation process, does
the core financial system provide the capability to allow for accruals
relating to contracts or other items that cross fiscal years? M (p. 25).
74. Does the core financial system provide the capability to
automatically generate selected recurring accrual entries and reversals
in subsequent accounting periods (e.g., payroll accrual)? M (p. 26).
75. Does the core financial system provide the capability to close an
accounting period and prohibit subsequent postings to the closed
period? M (p. 26).
76. Does the core financial system provide the capability to
automatically determine an accounting period's opening balances based
on the prior accounting period's closing balances, without user
intervention or adjustment? M (p. 26).
77. Does the core financial system provide the capability to accomplish
the rollover of general ledger balances in a detailed manner that
maintains the SGL attribute information required to satisfy FACTS I and
FACTS II reporting requirements? M (p. 26).
78. Does the core financial system provide the capability to perform
multiple preliminary year-end closings, while maintaining the
capability to post current and prior period data? M (p. 26).
79. Does the core financial system provide the capability to
automatically generate fiscal year-end preclosing and closing entries
as they relate to fund types? M (p. 26).
80. Does the core financial system have the capability to provide for
an automated year-end rollover of appropriate system tables into the
new fiscal year? M (p. 26).
Functional Requirements; General Ledger Management Function; General
ledger analysis and reconciliation process [Footnote 30]:
81. To support the general ledger analysis and reconciliation process,
does the core financial system provide the capability to compare
amounts in the general ledger accounts with the amounts in the related
subsidiary records and create reports for those accounts that are out
of balance? M (p. 26).
82. Is the capability described in the previous question available for
all open accounting period balances and at frequencies defined by the
user, such as daily, weekly, and monthly? M (p. 26).
83. Does the core financial system provide the capability to perform
online "drill downs" from general ledger summary balances to detail
transactions and referenced documents (e.g., purchase orders and
receiving reports)? M (p. 26).
84. Does the core financial system provide the capability to record
subsequent activity related to a closed document under a unique
document ID and provide an audit trail that associates the new activity
with the transaction history of the original document? M (p. 26).
Functional Requirements; Funds Management Function [Footnote 31];
Budget preparation process [Footnote 32]:
85. To support the budget preparation process, does the core financial
system provide the capability to establish and maintain
operating/financial plans at or below the level of funds control? M (p.
28).
86. Does the core financial system provide the capability to establish
operating/financial plans by month and quarter at any level of the
organizational structure specified by the user? M (p. 28).
87. Does the core financial system provide the capability to track and
report on the use of funds against operating/financial plans? M (p. 28).
88. Does the core financial system provide the capability to prepare
operating/financial plans based on multiple measures, including
obligations, costs, labor hours, and full-time equivalents? V (p. 29).
89. Does the core financial system provide the capability to
modify/revise an existing operating/financial plan by line item? V (p.
29).
90. Does the core financial system provide the capability to maintain
original and modified operating/financial plans? V (p. 29).
91. Does the core financial system provide the capability to identify
legal and administrative limitations on funds in operating/financial
plans? V (p. 29).
92. Does the core financial system provide the capability to generate
allotments and suballotments (including limitations based on approved
changes to operating/financial plans)? V (p. 29).
93. Does the core financial system provide the capability to enter
operating/financial plans for future operating periods? V (p. 29).
94. Does the core financial system provide the capability to roll
future plans into active budget plans based on future date or retrieval
function? V (p. 29).
Functional Requirements; Funds Management Function; Budget formulation
process [Footnote 33]:
95. To support the budget formulation process, does the core financial
system provide the capability to report information for all categories
on which budgetary decisions are made, whether legally binding (e.g.,
appropriation limitations) or in the nature of policy guidance and
decision making (e.g., Presidential/OMB pass backs, congressional
markup documents, or internal agency decisions)? V (p. 29).
96. Does the core financial system have the capability to populate the
budget formulation system with prior-year budgeted and actual amounts?
V (p. 29).
97. Does the core financial system provide the capability to perform
projections of obligations, income, and expenditures at any level of
the organizational structure (e.g., projecting obligations based on
prior periods and applying these to a future period)? V (p. 29).
98. Does the core financial system provide the capability to adjust
projection rates (e.g., 90 percent, 100 percent, and 110 percent) and
exclude specified obligations from projection? V (p. 30).
99. Does the core financial system provide the capability to create,
store, and modify payroll forecasts, including anticipated monthly
compensation and benefits, at the individual employee level? V (p. 30).
100. Does the core financial system provide the capability to
incorporate overhead distribution as part of budget formulation? V (p.
30).
101. Does the core financial system provide the capability to develop
budgets online and via upload from spreadsheets? V (p. 30).
102. Does the core financial system provide the capability to prepare
budget submission guidance, budget narratives, and budget briefing
packages online and via upload from desktop software applications? V
(p. 30).
103. Does the core financial system provide the capability to
distribute budget submission guidance to subordinate organizations
electronically? V (p. 30).
104. Does the core financial system provide the capability to establish
and maintain multiple budget cycles? V (p. 30).
105. Does the core financial system provide the capability to tie
budget formulation to the agency's stated goals and objectives required
by the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993? V (p. 30).
Functional Requirements; Funds Management Function; Funds allocation
process [Footnote 34]:
106. To support the funds allocation process, does the core financial
system provide the capability to record funding and related budget
execution documents (e.g., warrants, apportionments, and allotments)
and limitations? M (p. 30).
107. Does the core financial system provide the capability to control
the use of funds against limitations consistent with appropriation and
authorization language and administrative limitations established by
agency management? M (p. 30).
108. Does the core financial system provide the capability to
distribute, track, and control funds at various levels, based on the
elements of the accounting classification and project structure? M (p.
30).
109. Does the core financial system provide the capability to verify
that funds distributed do not exceed the amount of funds available for
allotment or suballotment at each distribution level? M (p. 30).
110. Does the core financial system provide the capability to support
subchapter IV of chapter 15 of title 31, [Footnote 35] United States
Code (closing accounts), by assuring that amounts paid out of current
year funds to cover obligations made against a closed account do not
exceed 1 percent of the current year appropriation? M (p. 30).
111. Does the core financial system provide the capability to record
and control all types of budgetary authority, including appropriations,
spending authority from offsetting collections, borrowing authority,
and contract authority? M (p. 31).
112. Does the core financial system provide the capability to identify
the type of authority and track obligations by funding source? M (p.
31).
113. Does the core financial system provide the capability to record
the expiration and cancellation of appropriation authority in
accordance with OMB Circular No. A-11, Preparation, Submission, and
Execution of the Budget, Part 4, [Footnote 36] and the SGL? M (p. 31).
114. Does the core financial system provide the capability to account
for spending transactions at a lower level in the accounting
classification than they are budgeted? M (p. 31).
115. Does the core financial system provide the capability to account
for budgetary resources at a lower level in the accounting
classification than they are budgeted and controlled? M (p. 31).
116. Does the core financial system provide the capability to prepare
and electronically transmit SF-132s (Apportionment and Reapportionment
Schedules and associated financial information) to OMB? M (p. 31).
117. Does the core financial system provide the capability to store
prepared requests as submitted for future use? M (p. 31).
118. Does the core financial system provide the capability to generate
budgetary data in the format required by OMB's MAX [Footnote 37]
system? V (p. 31).
119. Does the core financial system provide the capability to
automatically prepare the formal allotment and suballotment documents
and electronically distribute them to subordinate organizations? V (p.
31).
120. Does the core financial system provide the capability to create
continuing resolution funding levels based on a percentage of prior-
year funding? V (p. 31).
Functional Requirements; Funds Management Function; Budget execution
process [Footnote 38];
121. To support the budget execution process, does the core financial
system provide the capability to record budget authority at multiple
[Footnote 39] levels of distribution? M (p. 31).
122. Does the core financial system provide the capability to track and
record all changes to budget authority at multiple levels of
distribution, including rescissions, supplementals, transfers between
TAS/TAFS, reprogramming, limitations, and changes to continuing
resolutions prior to appropriation enactment? M (p. 31).
123. Does the core financial system provide the capability to track
actual amounts and verify commitments and obligations against the
budget as revised, consistent with each budget distribution level? M
(p. 32).
124. Does the core financial system provide the capability to modify
funding distribution (including apportionments and allotments) at
multiple organizational levels? M (p. 32).
125. Does the core financial system provide the capability to manage
and control prior-year funds in the current year? M (p. 32).
126. Does the core financial system provide the capability to establish
and maintain user-defined variance tolerances by document type,
percentage, and a "not-to-exceed" dollar threshold? M (p. 32).
127. Does the core financial system provide the capability to
automatically withdraw (or cancel) uncommitted and unobligated
allotments and suballotments for all or selected TAS/TAFS at the end of
a specific fiscal period? M (p. 32).
128. Does the core financial system provide the capability to
automatically withdraw (or cancel) uncommitted and unobligated
allotments and suballotments for selected organizations at the end of a
specific fiscal period? M (p. 32).
129. Does the core financial system provide the capability to
distribute the annual budget in accordance with the latest SF-132,
Apportionment and Reapportionment Schedule, approved by OMB? M (p. 32).
130. Does the core financial system provide the capability to request
approval for reprogramming as well as to request additional funds
outside the periodic budget review process? V (p. 32).
131. Does the core financial system provide the capability to allow
requests identified in the previous question to be submitted, reviewed,
revised, and approved, with approval updating current operating
budgets? V (p. 32).
Functional Requirements; Funds Management Function; Funds control
process [Footnote 40]; Funds availability editing [Footnote 41]:
132. To support the funds availability editing activity, does the core
financial system provide the capability to establish and modify
multiple levels of funds control using elements of defined accounting
classifications, including object class, program, organization,
project, and fund? M (p. 33).
133. Does the core financial system provide the capability to establish
and modify the system's response (either reject a transaction or
provide a warning) to the failure of funds availability edits for each
transaction type? M (p. 33).
134. Does the core financial system provide the capability to perform
online inquiry of funds availability prior to the processing of
spending transactions (commitments, obligations, and expenditures)? M
(p. 33).
135. Does the core financial system provide the capability to determine
funds availability based on whether funds cited are current, expired,
or canceled and record appropriate accounting entries when deobligation
of expired funding occurs? M (p. 33).
136. Does the core financial system provide the capability to disallow
the use of deobligated prior-year funds for current year expenditures?
M (p. 33).
137. Does the core financial system provide the capability to record
transactions that affect the availability of funds, including
commitments, obligations, and expenditures? M (p. 33).
138. Does the core financial system have the capability to provide for
modification to spending documents (commitments, obligations, and
expenditures), including ones that change the dollar amount or the
accounting classification cited? M (p. 33).
139. Does the core financial system provide the capability to check for
funds availability when changes are made? M (p. 33).
140. Does the core financial system have the capability to notify users
online when transactions fail funds availability edits and make the
rejected transactions [Footnote 42] available for corrective action? M
(p. 33).
141. Does the core financial system provide the capability to override
funds availability edits, including automatically releasing and
processing transactions previously rejected for exceeding user-defined
tolerances? M (p. 33).
142. Does the core financial system provide the capability to produce a
report or otherwise notify management of the overobligation of funds? M
(p. 33).
143. Does the core financial system provide the capability to
automatically update all appropriate budgetary accounts, tables, or
both to ensure that the system always maintains and reports the current
status of funds? M (p. 33).
144. Does the core financial system provide the capability to check for
funds availability when the obligation exceeds the commitment or when
the expenditure (upon receipt or disbursement) exceeds the obligation
due to quantity or price variances, additional shipping charges, and so
forth, within tolerances? M (p. 33).
145. Does the core financial system have the capability to provide
online notification when tolerances are exceeded? M (p. 33).
146. When variances are within tolerances, does the core financial
system provide the capability to process and adjust the obligation
accordingly? M (p. 33).
147. Does the core financial system provide the capability to allow for
available fund balances to be based on reimbursable customer orders
accepted? M (p. 33).
148. In the case of reimbursable orders from the public, does the core
financial system provide the capability to ensure that an advance also
be received before additional funding authority is recorded? M (p. 33).
149. Does the core financial system provide the capability to track all
activity related to an individual reimbursable agreement? M (p. 33).
150. When recording commitments, obligations, and expenditures incurred
in support of reimbursable agreements, does the core financial system
provide the capability to check for funds availability against the
amount authorized by the agreement and the corresponding start and end
dates? M (pp. 33 & 34).
151. Does the core financial system provide the capability to record
and maintain reimbursable agreements (e.g., interagency agreements) so
that monthly, quarterly, and fiscal-year-to-date as well as inception-
to- date information can be presented? M (p. 34).
152. Does the core financial system provide the capability to
automatically notify users when funds availability is reduced by
transactions from external systems (e.g., credit card payments and
payroll)? V (p. 34).
Functional Requirements; Funds Management Function; Funds control
process; Commitments [Footnote 43]:
153. To support the commitment activity, does the core financial system
provide the capability to capture and maintain the following
information related to each commitment document, including amendments:
a. requisition number,
b. appropriate accounting classification values, and;
c. estimated amounts? M (p. 34).
154. Does the core financial system provide the capability to input
line item detail for commitment documents, including item description,
unit price, quantity of goods and services, accounting information, and
amounts? M (p. 34).
155. Does the core financial system provide the capability to future-
date, store, and automatically post commitment documents at the
appropriate date? M (p. 34).
156. Does the core financial system provide the capability to subject
commitment documents to edit and validation procedures prior to
posting? M (p. 34).
157. Does the core financial system have the capability to provide
notification when commitment transactions are posted? M (p. 34).
158. Does the core financial system provide the capability to close
commitments by document and line item under the following
circumstances:
a. automatically by the system upon issuance of an obligating document,
b. by an authorized user, and;
c. automatically as part of the year-end preclosing process? M (p. 34).
Functional Requirements; Funds Management Function; Funds control
process; Obligations [Footnote 44]:
159. To support the obligation activity, does the core financial system
provide the capability to record obligations for which there is no
related commitment? M (p. 35).
160. Does the core financial system provide the capability to maintain
information related to obligation documents and related amendments,
including obligating document number and type, vendor information,
accounting classification elements, referenced commitment (if
applicable), and dollar amounts? M (p. 35).
161. Does the core financial system provide the capability to future-
date, store, and automatically post obligation documents at the
appropriate date? M (p. 35).
162. Does the core financial system provide the capability to subject
obligation documents to edit and validation procedures prior to
posting? M (p. 35).
163. Does the core financial system have the capability to provide
notification when obligation transactions are posted? M (p. 35).
164. Does the core financial system provide the capability to enter
recurring obligation transactions that will be automatically posted at
various time intervals, such as monthly, quarterly, or a specific
number of days determined by the user? M (p. 35).
165. Does the core financial system provide the capability to allow
multiple commitments to be combined into one obligating document? M (p.
35).
166. Does the core financial system provide the capability to allow one
commitment document to be split between multiple obligating documents?
M (p. 35).
167. Does the core financial system provide the capability to reference
multiple funding sources on a single commitment or obligation? M (p.
35).
168. Does the core financial system provide the capability to allow
authorized modifications and cancellations of posted obligating
documents? M (p. 35).
169. Does the core financial system provide online access to all
obligations by selection criteria (e.g., document number, vendor
number, and accounting classification elements)? M (p. 35).
170. Does the core financial system provide the capability to maintain
an online history file of closed-out documents for a user-defined
period? M (p. 35).
171. Does the core financial system provide the capability to allow the
vendor used on an obligation to be different from suggested vendor
recorded on the related commitment document? M (p. 35).
172. Does the core financial system provide the capability to close
obligation documents under the following circumstances:
a. automatically by the system upon final payment for goods or services
or;
b. by an authorized user? M (p. 35).
173. Upon the closing of an obligation, does the core financial system
provide the capability to automatically classify any deobligation of
excess funds to the appropriate budgetary status (i.e., expired,
unexpired, available for obligation, or unavailable)? M (p. 35).
174. Does the core financial system provide the capability to record
and maintain contracts and grants and related financial activity so
that fiscal year-to-date and inception-to-date information can be
presented? M (p. 36).
175. Does the core financial system provide the capability to record
blanket purchase agreements and record, control, and track records of
call? M (p. 36).
176. Does the core financial system provide the capability to record,
control, and track delivery orders against a contract limitation? M (p.
36).
177. Does the core financial system provide the capability to record
advance payments made, such as travel advances, contract advances, and
grants? M (p. 36).
178. Does the core financial system provide the capability to ensure
that an obligation exists prior to recording an advance? M (p. 36).
179. Does the core financial system provide the capability to record
expenditures claimed against advance payments made, and automatically
liquidate the advance either partially or fully, as appropriate? M (p.
36).
180. Does the core financial system provide the capability to allow the
recording of advance refunds? M (p. 36).
181. Does the core financial system provide the capability to
automatically link transactions in the spending chain, and bring
forward accounting and nonfinancial information from one document to
another, when the previously accepted document is referenced (e.g.,
commitment to obligation or obligation to receiving report)? M (p. 36).
182. Does the core financial system provide the capability to maintain
the following additional data fields for each obligating document:
a. requester's name,
b. telephone number of requester,
c. contract number/General Services Administration schedule number,
d. deliver to location (e.g., room number or division),
e. comment field,
f. contact name,
g. name of contract officer's technical representative (COTR),
h. COTR telephone number,
i. prompt pay indicator,
j. approval date, and;
k. discount payment terms? V (p. 36).
Functional Requirements; Funds Management Function; Funds control
process; Analysis [Footnote 45]:
183. To support the analysis activity, does the core financial system
provide the capability to maintain current information on commitments
and obligations according to the required accounting classification
elements? [Footnote 46] M (p. 36).
184. Does the core financial system provide the capability to produce
detailed listings and summary reports of commitments, obligations, and
expenditures by the elements of the defined accounting classifications?
M (p. 36).
185. Does the core financial system have the capability to provide
control features that ensure that the amounts reflected in the fund
control structure agree with the related general ledger account
balances at the end of each update cycle? M (p. 37).
186. Does the core financial system provide the capability to maintain
historical data on all commitment, obligation, payment, and collection
transactions? M (p. 37).
187. Does the core financial system provide the capability to maintain
open documents to show the status of commitments, obligations,
accruals, and disbursements by document line item? M (p. 37).
188. Does the core financial system provide the ability to perform
document cross-referencing in which a user can query on any document
and identify the document numbers of associated transactions in the
processing "chain"? [Footnote 47] M (p. 37).
Functional Requirements; Payment Management Function [Footnote 48];
Payee information maintenance process [Footnote 49];
189. To support the payee information maintenance process, does the
core financial system provide the capability to maintain payee (vendor)
information to support obligation, accounts payable, and disbursement
processes, including the following:
a. vendor name (legal name and "doing business as" (DBA), as
appropriate);
b. tax identification number (TIN);
c. vendor ID number (agency assigned);
d. data universal numbering system (DUNS) number, including the
maintenance of the ability to associate multiple DUNS numbers to a TIN;
e. organization type that can accommodate Central Contractor
Registration (CCR) published business rules for organization types,
such as sole proprietorship/individual, partnership, or employee;
f. business type that can accommodate CCR published business rules for
business type, such as federal agency or local government;
g. federal versus nonfederal indicator for FACTS reporting;
h. ALC number (for federal vendors);
i. six-digit trading partner code (for federal vendors);
j. multiple payment methods, such as electronic funds transfer (EFT) or
check;
k. three or more "remit to" addresses (to facilitate payments to
vendors not required to register in CCR);
l. three or more separate instances of banking information required to
execute an EFT transaction, such as account and routing transit
numbers;
m. for CCR vendors (i.e., organizations that are required to register
in the CCR), DUNS + Four for each instance of banking information;
n. bank account type (checking or savings);
o. three or more contact names and telephone numbers (i.e., accommodate
contact types defined as "mandatory" in CCR business rules);
p. third-party information, such as payee TIN for notice of assignment,
as appropriate;
q. subject to prompt-pay indicator;
r. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Form 1099 indicator;
s. W-2 indicator;
t. CCR indicator (required or exempt);
u. CCR status (i.e., active, inactive, or unregistered);
v. comment field;
w. date of last update; and;
x. User ID of last update? M (Addendum to Core Financial Management
System, March 31, 2004, p. 2 of 3).
190. Does the core financial system provide the capability to support
payments made to third parties (payees) that act as agents for the
payee (vendor)? M (p. 39).
191. Does the core financial system provide the capability to maintain
information needed to produce IRS Forms 1099 for the principal party
rather than the agent? M (p. 39).
192. Does the core financial system provide the capability to prevent
the duplicate entry of vendor records (e.g., by editing vendor ID
numbers or vendor names.)? M (p. 39).
193. Does the core financial system have the capability to provide an
online warning message to the user when duplication is identified? M
(p. 39).
194. Does the core financial system provide the capability to track and
maintain a history of changes to the vendor file, including vendor
additions and purges, and changes to vendor-specific information, such
as payment address, bank account and routing information, and payment
type? M (p. 39).
195. Does the core financial system provide the capability to maintain
an audit trail of payments made to historical vendor information? M (p.
39).
196. Does the core financial system provide the capability to query and
report on payee information by user-defined criteria, such as payee
name, payee number, and IRS Form 1099 reporting status? M (p. 40).
197. Does the core financial system provide the capability to activate
and deactivate vendors that meet user-selected criteria (e.g., length
of time with no activity)? M (p. 40).
198. To support an agency's use of CCR by providing the ability to
import and automatically process data that are pertinent to the core
financial system, does the system provide the capability to;
a. automatically update the mandatory payee information [Footnote 50]
in existing vendor records to reflect the relevant changes contained in
the daily updates provided by CCR via extract files;
b. accommodate the data definitions (e.g., data types, field names, and
field lengths) used in CCR for all fields that are common in both CCR
and the core vendor file; and;
c. prevent users' from manually updating the data fields [Footnote 51]
that relate to vendors that are required to register in CCR? M
(Addendum to Core Financial Management System, March 31, 2004, p. 3 of
3).
Functional Requirements; Payment Management Function; Payment
warehousing process [Footnote 52];
199. To support the payment warehousing process, does the core
financial system provide the capability to record an accrued liability
upon receipt and acceptance of goods and services and properly identify
the item as a capital asset, expense, prepaid expense, or construction
in progress? M (p. 40).
200. Does the core financial system provide the capability to record
"full" or "partial" receipt and acceptance of goods and services by
line item? M (p. 40).
201. Does the core financial system provide the capability to
automatically update the funds control and budget execution balances to
reflect changes in the status of obligations and expended
appropriations, as well as changes in amounts? M (p. 40).
202. Does the core financial system provide the capability to warehouse
payment vouchers for future scheduling? M (p. 40).
203. Does the core financial system provide the capability to allow a
warehoused payment to be modified, canceled, and put on hold? M (p. 40).
204. Does the core financial system provide the capability to
automatically match invoices to obligations and receiving reports by
document and line item? M (p. 41).
205. Does the core financial system have the capability to provide for
two- way matching (obligation and invoice) and three-way matching
(obligation, receiving report, and receipt of invoice)? M (p. 41).
206. Does the core financial system provide the capability to process
"obligate and pay" transactions where payment scheduling and obligation
occur simultaneously? M (p. 41).
207. Does the core financial system provide the capability to reference
multiple obligations on a single invoice document? M (p. 41).
208. Does the core financial system provide the capability to set up
recurring payments in the system and automatically schedule items
(e.g., contracts or leases) for payment on an interval determined by
the user (i.e., weekly, biweekly, monthly, quarterly, or a specified
number of days)? M (p. 41).
209. Does the core financial system provide the capability to modify
recurring payment information for changes in agreement terms, amounts,
frequency, and so forth? M (p. 41).
210. Does the core financial system provide the capability to capture,
store, and process the following information for each vendor invoice,
for audit trail, research, and query purposes:
a. invoice number;
b. invoice date;
c. invoice receipt date;
d. invoice due date;
e. invoice amount;
f. unit price and quantity;
g. description;
h. discount terms, as applicable;
i. obligating document reference(s); and;
j. vendor identification number and address code? M (p. 41).
211. Does the core financial system provide the capability to edit the
TIN field to ensure that it is a nine-digit numeric field, does not
include dashes, and is not all zeroes? M (p. 41).
212. Does the core financial system provide the capability in the TIN
field to allow for override for agency-specific requirements? M (p. 41).
213. Does the core financial system provide the capability to
accommodate an invoice number field of up to 30 characters or the
current requirement of I TFM-6-5000, Administrative Accounting System
Requirements? M (p. 41).
214. Does the core financial system provide the capability to determine
the due date and amount of vendor payments in accordance with Title 5,
Part 1315, of the Code of Federal Regulations (C.F.R.), which states,
in part, that for agencies subject to prompt payment requirements,
payment is due on one of the following dates:
a. 30 days after the receipt of a proper invoice for services and
nondairy products,
b. 10 days after the receipt of a proper invoice for dairy products,
c. the date specified in the contract,
d. in accordance with discount terms when discounts are offered and
taken, or; in accordance with accelerated payments methods? M (p. 41).
215. Does the core financial system provide the capability to manually
override a system-calculated payment due date? M (p. 41).
216. Does the core financial system provide the capability to split an
invoice into multiple payments on the appropriate due dates when items
on the invoice have different due dates or discount terms? M (p. 41).
217. Does the core financial system provide the capability to record
discount terms and automatically determine whether taking the discount
is economically justified, as defined in I TFM-6-8040, Disbursements? M
(p. 41).
218. Does the core financial system provide the capability to record
additional shipping and other charges to adjust the payment amount, if
they are authorized and within variance tolerances? M (p. 42).
219. Does the core financial system provide the capability to record
obligations, expenses, assets, and so forth associated with payments
made through use of imprest funds, third-party drafts, and government
credit cards? M (p. 42).
220. Does the core financial system provide the capability to establish
payables to replenish the imprest fund? M (p. 42).
221. Does the core financial system provide the capability to record
detailed transactions associated with credit card purchases? M (p. 42).
222. Does the core financial system provide the capability to allow
users to change accounting classification information by line item for
specific transactions involving credit card purchases? M (p. 42).
223. Does the core financial system provide the capability to schedule
payments of advances, prepaid expenses, loans, and grants, with the
appropriate accounting entries for each? M (p. 42).
224. Does the core financial system provide the capability to establish
payables and make payments on behalf of another agency, citing the
other agency's funding information? M (p. 42).
225. For each disbursement made on behalf of another agency, does the
core financial system have the capability to provide the information
required [Footnote 53] by central agency systems [Footnote 54] to the
appropriate central agency system? M (p. 42).
226. Does the core financial system provide the capability to record
expense or assets when goods have been received, or services have been
performed, for items that were funded by advances, prepaid expenses,
and grants as well as make the appropriate liquidations? M (p. 42).
227. Does the core financial system provide the capability to verify
funds availability and to automatically update funds control account
balances, table balances, or both to reflect obligation changes? M (p.
42).
228. Does the core financial system provide the capability to indicate
if a payment is "partial" or "final"? M (p. 42).
229. If payment is final, does the core financial system provide the
capability to automatically deobligate any unliquidated balances? M (p.
42).
230. Does the core financial system provide the capability to
automatically generate a payment voucher if the purchase order matches
the receiver information, and provide this option as a function of the
matching process? V (p. 42).
231. Does the core financial system provide the capability to use the
fast payment clause indicator on the obligating document to determine
whether an accelerated payment is to be made? V (p. 42).
232. Does the core financial system provide the capability to compare
discount terms on the invoice with discount terms on the related
obligating document? V (p. 42).
233. In comparing discount terms on the invoice with discount terms on
the related obligating document, does the core financial system provide
the capability to notify the user when differences are identified? V
(p. 42).
234. Does the core financial system have the capability to provide a
system- generated letter or e-mail to the vendor stating the reason for
rejection or "notice of intent to disallow" an invoice within 7 days of
receipt of invoice? V (p. 42).
Functional Requirements; Payment Management Function; Payment execution
process [Footnote 55];
235. To support the payment execution process, does the core financial
system provide the capability to automatically identify and select
payments to be disbursed in a particular payment cycle based on their
due dates? M (p. 43).
236. Does the core financial system have the capability to provide for
online review and certification by an authorized certifying officer? M
(p. 43).
237. Does the core financial system provide the capability to
automatically compute amounts to be disbursed, including discounts,
interest, and penalties, in accordance with Title 5, Part 1315, of the
C.F.R.? M (p. 43).
238. Does the core financial system provide the capability to generate
the appropriate transactions to reflect the payment deductions and
additions? M (p. 43).
239. Does the core financial system provide the capability to
automatically apply interest and discounts across multiple accounting
lines on an invoice in the same rule used to apply the original
payment? M (p. 43).
240. Does the core financial system provide the capability to apply the
appropriate Treasury interest rate tables (e.g., prompt pay rate and
current value of funds rate)? M (p. 43).
241. Does the core financial system provide the capability to capture
prompt payment information required by Title 5, Part 1315, of the
C.F.R., including discounts taken, discounts lost, and interest paid? M
(p. 43).
242. Does the core financial system provide the capability to
automatically include relevant identification information on each
remittance, including;
a. vendor invoice number(s);
b. obligating document number or other reference number; and;
c. discount, interest, and offset amounts, as applicable? M (p. 43).
243. Does the core financial system provide the capability to record
user comments for each voucher/invoice? M (p. 43).
244. Does the core financial system have the capability to provide for
up to 9,999 line items per invoice? M (p. 43).
245. Does the core financial system provide the capability to record
reason codes for returned and adjusted invoices, lost discounts, and
late payments? M (p. 43).
246. Does the core financial system provide the capability to track the
status of invoices in the payment process, including those that were
not accepted and returned to the vendor and those that are awaiting
administrative approval? M (p. 43).
247. Does the core financial system provide the capability to maintain
the time and aging of approvals in relation to payments? M (p. 43).
248. Does the core financial system have the capability to provide for
various forms of payment to be used (i.e., check or EFT)? [Footnote 56]
M (p. 43).
249. Does the core financial system provide the capability to capture,
store, and process information needed to create EFT payments in
accordance with Treasury standards, including the following:
a. American Bankers Association Routing Transit Number (RTN),
b. recipient bank account number, and;
c. bank account type (checking or savings)? M (p. 43).
250. In processing information needed to create EFT payments in
accordance with Treasury standards, does the core financial system also
provide the capability to identify employees versus companies to ensure
use of correct Automated Clearing House (ACH) formats? M (p. 43).
251. Does the core financial system provide the capability to generate
ACH payments in the following formats:
a. corporate trade exchange (CTX) (820 or Flat File),
b. cash concentration or disbursement (CCD),
c. cash concentration or disbursement plus addendum (CCD+),
d. prearranged payment and deposit (PPD), and;
e. prearranged payment and deposit plus addendum (PPD+)? M (p. 43).
252. Does the core financial system provide the capability to ensure
that employee ACH payments are generated only as PPD or PPD+ payments?
M (p. 44).
253. Does the core financial system provide the capability to ensure
that vendor ACH payments are generated only as CCD, CCD+, or CTX
formats? M (p. 44).
254. Does the core financial system provide the capability to prohibit
the creation of an ACH payment in any format (PPD, PPD+, CCD+, or CTX)
that does not contain a RTN and an account number? M (p. 44).
255. Does the core financial system provide the capability to
consolidate multiple payments to a single payee in accordance with TFM
prescribed limitations? [Footnote 57] M (p. 44).
256. Does the core financial system provide the capability to itemize
all payments covered by the one check or EFT (CTX only), while allowing
for separate checks to a payee? M (p. 44).
257. Does the core financial system provide the capability to create
check files and EFT payment files in all formats [Footnote 58] using
different media? [Footnote 59] M (p. 44).
258. Does the core financial system provide the following edits on the
RTN field:
a. prohibition of fewer or more than nine characters,
b. allowance for only numeric characters, and;
c. prohibition of the entry of all zeroes in this field? M (p. 44).
259. Does the core financial system provide the capability to edit RTNs
against the data supplied in the financial organization master file (or
other verified update file) to ensure the validity of the check digit
(Modulus 10 check)? M (p. 44).
260. Does the core financial system provide the capability to edit the
invoice number field to ensure it is populated? M (p. 44).
261. Does the core financial system provide the capability to prohibit
the generation of a (vendor) payment that does not contain properly
structured remittance information on the addendum? M (p. 44).
262. Does the core financial system provide the capability to generate
multiple payments using the same invoice number to accommodate utility
and telecommunication companies' use of an account number as a
recurring invoice number? M (p. 44).
263. Does the core financial system provide the capability to edit the
ALC field to ensure it is an eight-digit numeric field, and does it
allow for override? [Footnote 60] M (p. 44).
264. Does the core financial system provide the capability to create
one check file regardless of payee type, be it employee or vendor? M
(p. 44).
265. Does the core financial system provide the capability to combine
payment files from multiple ALCs into a single file for transmission to
Treasury? M (p. 44).
266. Does the core financial system provide the capability to provide
summary totals (i.e., items and dollars) by ALC and for the entire file
for certification purposes? M (p. 44).
267. Does the core financial system provide the capability to make CTX
payments using a separate file? M (p. 44).
268. Does the core financial system provide the capability to balance
CTX payment transactions (i.e., the sum of all the remittance records
must equal the transaction total)? M (p. 44).
269. For CTX payment transactions, does the core financial system
provide the capability for the file to include a valid settlement date
(i.e., next business day or later)? M (p. 44).
270. For CTX payment transactions, does the core financial system
provide the capability for the file to accommodate the inclusion of
credit memorandums? M (p. 44).
271. Does the core financial system provide the capability to schedule
and disburse U.S. dollar payments (SF 1166) through Treasury's
Electronic Certification System (ECS)? M (p. 44).
272. For U.S. dollar payments through the Treasury's ECS, does the core
financial system provide the capability to limit each schedule to 60
payments and each ECS terminal to 100 schedules per day? M (p. 44).
273. Does the core financial system provide the capability to process
payment transactions from other systems, such as payroll and travel? M
(p. 45).
274. Does the core financial system provide the capability to identify
whether a disbursement has already been made and record the appropriate
accounting entries? M (p. 45).
275. Does the core financial system provide the capability to schedule
those disbursements not already made for payment through the core
financial system? M (p. 45).
276. Does the core financial system provide the capability to
automatically generate transactions to reflect disbursement activity
initiated by other agencies and recorded in central agency electronic
systems (such as the On-line Payment and Collection System and the
Intra-governmental Payment and Collection System (IPAC)? M (p. 45).
277. Does the core financial system provide the capability to capture
related information [Footnote 61] required by the central agency system
for each transaction? M (p. 45).
278. Does the core financial system provide the capability to flag
vouchers selected for payment that will disburse a fund into a negative
cash position? [Footnote 62] M (p. 45).
279. Does the core financial system provide the capability to process
credit memorandums for returned goods or other adjustments? M (p. 45).
280. Does the core financial system provide the capability to apply the
credit to the specific obligation that resulted in the credit, reducing
the expenditure attributed to that obligation? M (p. 45).
281. If a credit is not fully liquidated by one payment, does the core
financial system provide the capability to maintain the balance of the
credit (e.g., as an account receivable) for application against a
future payment? M (p. 45).
282. Does the core financial system provide the capability to create
the appropriate notice to the vendor that a credit has been applied to
the affected payment? M (p. 45).
283. Does the core financial system provide the capability to apply
credits against subsequent disbursements to the same vendor regardless
of the funding source? M (p. 45).
284. Does the core financial system provide the capability to allow for
the exclusion of payments from agency offset based on user-defined
criteria, including funding source, object class, vendor type, and
vendor number? M (p. 45).
285. Does the core financial system provide the capability to provide,
generate, and maintain a sequential numbering system for scheduling
payments to the disbursing office? M (p. 45).
286. Does the core financial system provide the capability to assign
different schedule number ranges for different payment types, such as
travel schedules, transportation schedules, payroll schedules, and
vendor schedules? M (p. 45).
287. Does the core financial system provide the capability to require
each payment schedule number to be unique? M (p. 45).
288. Does the core financial system provide the capability to report
totals by TAS/TAFS on each payment schedule/file? M (p. 45).
289. Does the core financial system provide the capability to cancel an
entire payment schedule, or a single payment within a payment schedule,
prior to transmission to Treasury; allow for reversal of an entire
schedule in a single, interactive action; and perform the appropriate
accounting reversals? M (p. 45).
290. Does the core financial system provide the capability to cancel an
entire payment schedule prior to actual disbursement by or upon
rejection by Treasury; allow for reversal of an entire schedule in a
single, interactive action; and perform the appropriate accounting
reversals? M (p. 45).
291. When consolidating multiple payments to a single payee, does the
core financial system provide the capability to include the TAS/TAFS
associated with each payment in the payment file? V (p. 45).
292. When combining payment files for multiple ALCs into a single file
for transmission to Treasury, does the core financial system provide
the capability to provide summary totals by TAS/TAFS? V (p. 45).
293. Does the core financial system provide the capability to provide
National Automated Clearing House Association payment formats for non-
Treasury disbursing offices? V (p. 46).
294. Does the core financial system provide the capability to split a
single payment into separate bank accounts? [Footnote 63] V (p. 46).
295. Does the core financial system have the capability to provide
statistical sampling capabilities to support agency payment
certification? V (p. 46).
296. Does the core financial system provide the capability to identify
and report payment and deposit amounts at a level of detail suitable
for reporting large-dollar notifications, as described in I TFM-6-8500,
Cash Forecasting Requirements? V (p. 46).
Functional Requirements; Payment Management Function; Payment
confirmation and follow-up process [Footnote 64];
297. To support the payment confirmation and follow-up process, does
the core financial system have the capability to provide information
about each payment to reflect the stage of the scheduling process that
the payment has reached and the date each step was reached for the
following processing steps:
a. payment scheduled,
b. schedule sent to appropriate disbursing office, and;
c. payment issued by appropriate disbursing office? M (p. 46).
298. For each payment made, does the core financial system provide the
capability to maintain a history of the following information:
a. vendor invoice number;
b. invoice amount;
c. vendor identification number;
d. vendor name;
e. payment address or banking information;
f. payment amount;
g. interest paid, when applicable;
h. discount taken, when applicable;
i. offset made, when applicable;
j. payment method, such as check or EFT;
k. referenced obligation number; and; appropriation charged? M (p. 46).
299. Does the core financial system provide the capability to
automatically update the payment information when confirmation is
received from the disbursing office, including the paid schedule
number, payment date, and check number or trace number? M (p. 46).
300. Does the core financial system provide the capability to
automatically liquidate the in-transit amount and reclassify budgetary
accounts from unpaid to paid when the payment confirmation updates the
system? M (p. 47).
301. Does the core financial system provide the capability to record
more than one check range for a payment schedule, along with a break in
check numbers? M (p. 47).
302. Does the core financial system have the capability to provide
online access to vendor and payment information? M (p. 47).
303. Does the core financial system have the capability to provide
online access to open documents based on agency selection criteria,
including the accounting classification elements, document number, and
vendor number? M (p. 47).
304. Does the core financial system provide the capability to reverse
disbursement transactions for voided checks or for other payments that
have not been negotiated? M (p. 47).
305. Does the core financial system provide the capability to produce
IRS Forms 1099 [Footnote 65] in accordance with IRS regulations
[Footnote 66] and current IRS acceptable format, including hard copy
and electronic form? M (p. 47).
306. Does the core financial system provide the capability to
electronically download monthly "Fund Balance with Treasury" and
activity recorded by Treasury (and related warrant information) for
comparison to cash activity in the agency's general ledger, and can the
system produce a report of differences? M (p. 47).
307. Does the core financial system provide the capability to include
the TAS/TAFS charged and the associated amount(s) in the history of
each payment made by the core financial system? V (p. 47).
308. Does the core financial system have the capability to provide an
automated interface to the Department of the Treasury system containing
paid schedule data? [Footnote 67] V (p. 47).
309. Does the core financial system have the capability to provide
written notification to payees (e.g., vendors and travelers) of
payments made by disbursing offices? V (p. 47).
310. Does the core financial system provide the capability to allow for
agency flexibility in defining the contents of the notifications? V (p.
47).
311. Does the core financial system have the capability to provide e-
mail notification to employees of travel payments made by disbursing
office? V (p. 47).
312. Does the core financial system provide the capability to track and
report on aged, unmatched vendor invoices? V (p. 47).
313. Does the core financial system provide the capability to track and
report on spending agencywide by state and congressional district? V
(p. 47).
Functional Requirements; Receivable Management Function [Footnote 68];
Customer information maintenance process [Footnote 69]:
314. To support the customer information maintenance process, does the
core financial system provide the capability to maintain customer
information to support receivable management processes, including, at a
minimum the following:
a. customer name,
b. customer ID number,
c. customer type (federal agency, state/local government, commercial
entity, individual, or employee),
d. TIN,
e. customer address,
f. contact names,
g. contact telephone number,
h. federal versus nonfederal indicator,
i. six-digit trading partner codes,
j. ALC number (for federal customers),
k. IRS Form 1099 indicator,
l. comment field,
m. date of last update,
n. user ID of last update, and;
o. DUNS number? M (p. 49).
315. Does the core financial system provide the capability to maintain
customer account information for audit trail purposes and to support
billing, reporting, and research activities, including the following:
a. account number;
b. account balance;
c. associated customer ID number;
d. date due and age of accounts receivable; and;
e. reimbursable order number, travel order number, and so forth, where
applicable? M (p. 49).
Functional Requirements; Receivable Management Function; Receivable
establishment process [Footnote 70]:
316. To support the receivable establishment process, does the core
financial system provide the capability to record the establishment of
receivables along with the corresponding revenues, expense reductions,
or other offsets? M (p. 50).
317. Does the core financial system provide the capability to accept
transactions that generate receivables from other systems in a standard
format for entry into the core financial system? M (p. 50).
318. Does the core financial system provide the capability to support
the calculation and establishment of accounts receivable based upon
billing source, event and time period, and type of claim? M (p. 50).
319. Does the core financial system provide the capability to
automatically generate related bills [Footnote 71] to customers? M (p.
50).
320. Does the core financial system provide the capability to establish
receivables and credit memorandums from vendors to which the agency has
made duplicate or erroneous payments? M (p. 50).
321. Does the core financial system provide the capability to uniquely
identify multiple types of bills (e.g., overpayment and user-fee-based)
and the supporting data used to verify the specific charges? M (p. 50).
322. Does the core financial system provide the capability to
automatically establish receivables to be paid under installment plans,
including plans for which payments have been rescheduled? M (p. 50).
323. Does the core financial system provide the capability to generate
flexible repayment schedules for delinquent indebtedness? M (p. 50).
324. Does the core financial system provide the capability to record
billings and collections by line item in order to identify unique
accounting classification codes? M (p. 50).
325. Does the core financial system provide the capability to support
bills and collections between federal agencies through the use of
electronic systems, such as IPAC? M (p. 50).
326. Does the core financial system have the capability to provide
supporting data to agencies billed that can be used to verify the
charges? M (p. 50).
327. Does the core financial system provide the capability to print
bills, accommodating the generation of standard forms, such as SF-1080s
or SF- 1081s, and turnaround documents to be used as remittance advice?
M (p. 50).
328. Does the core financial system provide the capability to allow for
customized text in generated billing documents? M (p. 50).
329. Does the core financial system provide the capability to date the
bills with the system-generated date or with the date supplied by the
user? M (p. 50).
330. Does the core financial system provide the capability to
consolidate multiple accounts receivable for a customer onto one bill?
M (p. 50).
331. Does the core financial system provide the capability to allow
transactions related to manually prepared bills to be entered by
authorized personnel? M (p. 51).
332. Does the core financial system provide the capability to record
adjustments to bills and post to customer accounts? M (p. 51).
333. Does the core financial system provide the capability to generate
monthly statements to customers showing account activity? M (p. 51).
Functional Requirements; Receivable Management Function; Debt
management process [Footnote 72]:
334. To support the debt management process, does the core financial
system provide the capability to maintain data on individual
receivables and referenced transactions supporting the receivable? M
(p. 51).
335. Does the core financial system provide the capability to maintain
accounts for reimbursable orders and identify government and
nongovernment accounts that are designated as advance funding? M (p.
51).
336. Does the core financial system provide the capability to update
each customer account when
a. billing documents are generated;
b. collections are received;
c. interest, penalty, or administrative fees are applied; and;
d. amounts are written off or offset? M (p. 51).
337. Does the core financial system provide the capability to
automatically calculate interest charges using the appropriate Treasury
late payment charge rate and user-defined criteria, such as customer
and customer type? M (p. 51).
338. Does the core financial system provide the capability to
automatically generate a separate line item for interest charges on the
customer bill? M (p. 51).
339. Does the core financial system provide the capability to allow the
user to specify administrative and penalty amounts and record these
amounts to different accounting classification elements, for which the
principle amount is recorded? M (p. 51).
340. Does the core financial system provide the capability to
automatically apply these charges to customer accounts and generate
separate line items for the charges on the customer bills? M (p. 51).
341. Does the core financial system provide the capability to
automatically generate dunning (collection) letters for overdue
receivables when accounts become delinquent, and incorporate, as
appropriate, due process notices for referring delinquent accounts? M
(p. 51).
342. Does the core financial system provide the capability to customize
the dunning process parameters and dunning letter text? M (p. 51).
343. Does the core financial system provide the capability to provide
information on the age of receivables to allow for management and
prioritization of collection activities? M (p. 51).
344. For receivables aging, does the core financial system provide the
capability to include aging information on individual receivables and
on a summary basis, such as by customer, type of customer, fund, and
general ledger account? M (pp. 51 & 52).
345. Does the core financial system provide the capability to identify
and report receivables that meet predetermined criteria for write-off
or referral and generate the appropriate entries? M (p. 52).
346. Does the core financial system provide the capability to
automatically calculate (as a percentage of gross receivables or
related revenues) and record the allowance for loss on accounts
receivable? M (p. 52).
347. Does the core financial system have the capability to provide
information to allow for the automated reporting of delinquent accounts
to commercial credit bureaus? M (p. 52).
348. Does the core financial system provide the capability to
automatically create files of delinquent accounts for electronic
submission to collection agencies and appropriate governmental
organizations? M (p. 52).
349. Does the core financial system provide the capability to maintain
data for receivables referred to other federal agencies and outside
organizations for collection? M (p. 52).
350. Does the core financial system provide the capability to record
the waiver and write-off of receivables, including interest, penalties,
and administrative charges? M (p. 52).
351. Does the core financial system provide the capability to maintain
data to monitor closed accounts? M (p. 52).
352. Does the core financial system provide the capability to track and
report on the date and nature of a change in the status of an account
receivable, including the following:
a. in forbearance or in formal appeals process,
b. in foreclosure,
c. in wage garnishment,
d. rescheduled,
e. waived/unwaived,
f. eligible for referral to Treasury for offset,
g. referred to Treasury for offset,
h. eligible for internal offset,
i. eligible for referral to Treasury or a designated debt collection
center for cross-servicing,
j. referred to Treasury for cross-servicing,
k. referred to a private collection agency,
l. referred to the Department of Justice,
m. offset,
n. suspended,
o. compromised,
p. written-off, and;
q. closed out? M (p. 52).
353. Does the core financial system provide the capability to perform
online queries of account activity (billing, collection, and
adjustment) by customer and receivable? M (p. 52).
354. Does the core financial system provide the capability to perform
online queries of miscellaneous cash receipts (applied to any Treasury
fund symbol) by customer, when identified, and by accounting period? M
(p. 52).
355. Does the core financial system provide the capability to uniquely
record, classify, and report on reimbursable funds, based on customer
and customer agreement number, including;
a. billing limit,
b. amount obligated,
c. amount expended,
d. amount billed,
e. advanced amount (unearned revenue), and;
f. earnings and collections received? M (pp. 52 & 53).
356. Does the core financial system provide the capability to support
the ability to query and report on the items referred to in the
previous question by any of the accounting classification elements,
such as fund or object class? M (p. 53).
357. Does the core financial system provide the capability to
automatically produce IRS Form 1099-Cs in the amounts of debts forgiven
that meet or exceed a user-defined dollar threshold? [Footnote 73] M
(p. 53).
Functional Requirements; Receivable Management Function; Collections
process [Footnote 74]:
358. To support the collections process, does the core financial system
provide the capability to automatically record the application of
complete and partial payments made by the debtor on a delinquent debt
to administrative fees, penalties, interest, and then to principal,
unless otherwise stated in program statute? M (p. 53).
359. Does the core financial system provide the capability to record
revenues, expenditure reductions, or other appropriate offsets
associated with collections for which no receivable was previously
established? M (p. 53).
360. Does the core financial system provide the capability to apply
collections [Footnote 75] back to the specific contract or purchase
order award to reduce cumulative payments and expenditures? M (p. 53).
361. Does the core financial system provide the capability to record
the receipt of an advance repayment and an advance from others with a
reference to the related reimbursable agreement obligation, regardless
of whether an account receivable was previously established? M (p. 53).
362. Does the core financial system provide the capability to process
cash or credit card collections? M (p. 53).
363. Does the core financial system provide the capability to match
collections to the appropriate receivables and update related bills and
customer accounts? M (p. 53).
364. Does the core financial system provide the capability to record
information associated with a collection at the time funds are applied
to an open receivable document, including the deposit ticket number and
date and ALC? M (p. 53).
365. Does the core financial system provide the capability to support
the receipt of collection files from banks for application to open
receivables? M (p. 53).
366. Does the core financial system provide the capability to record
collections received against advance payments made? M (p. 53).
367. Does the core financial system provide the capability to apply
collections to more than one receivable? M (p. 53).
368. Does the core financial system provide the capability to reopen
closed accounts to record collections after a waiver or write-off of a
receivable has been recorded? M (p. 53).
369. Does the core financial system provide the capability to
electronically download monthly deposit and debit voucher confirmation
information from Treasury and the banking system for comparison to
activity in the agency's general ledger, and produce a report of
differences? M (p. 54).
370. Does the core financial system provide the capability to support
the receipt of payment offset information from Treasury? M (p. 54).
371. Does the core financial system provide the capability to apply
offset collections to open receivables and generate the appropriate
accounting entries to record the collection? M (p. 54).
372. Does the core financial system have the capability to
automatically offset payments to vendors for amounts due to the agency?
[Footnote 76] M (p. 54).
373. When an entire payment is offset, does the core financial system
provide the capability to create the appropriate notice to the vendor
that the offset has been made? M (p. 54).
374. Does the core financial system provide the capability to record
TAS/TAFS(s) associated with collections received on deposit tickets and
debit vouchers? V (p. 54).
375. When downloading monthly deposit and debit voucher confirmation
information from Treasury and the banking system for comparison to the
agency general ledger, does the core financial system provide the
capability to include both the TAS/TAFS(s) and the associated
amount(s)? V (p. 54).
376. Does the core financial system provide the capability to interface
with CA$HLINK, [Footnote 77] in order to reconcile Treasury-recorded
collections to the collections recorded in the core financial system
and generate exception reports? V (p. 54).
Functional Requirements; Cost Management Function [Footnote 78]; Cost
setup and accumulation process [Footnote 79];
377. To support the cost setup and accumulation process, does the core
financial system provide the capability to use the agency's accounting
classification elements to identify and establish unique cost objects
for the purpose of cost and revenue capture, accumulation, and
reporting? M (p. 56).
378. Does the core financial system provide the capability to allocate
and distribute the full cost [Footnote 80] and revenue of cost objects
as defined in Statement of Federal Financial Accounting Standard
(SFFAS) No. 4? M (p. 56).
379. Does the core financial system provide the capability to allocate
and distribute the full cost of goods and services provided by one
federal entity to another? M (p. 56).
380. Does the core financial system provide the capability to track
current cost information against prior month and prior year-to-date
cost data for selected cost objects as well as to track progress
against predetermined plans? M (p. 56).
381. Does the core financial system provide the capability to identify
all costs incurred by the agency in support of activities of revolving
funds, trust funds, or commercial functions, including the applicable
portions of any related salaries and expense accounts identified with
those activities? M (p. 56).
382. Does the core financial system provide the capability to
accumulate nonfinancial data relating to cost objects, such as output
units, to allow the calculation of both total and unit costs? M (p. 56).
383. Does the core financial system provide the capability to transfer
and trace cost data directly to and from other cost
systems/applications that produce or allocate cost information? M (p.
56).
384. Does the core financial system provide the capability to calculate
prices, fees, and user charges for reimbursable agreements and other
purposes using full cost, consistent with the guidance of OMB Circular
No. A-25, User Charges? M (p. 56).
Functional Requirements; Cost Management Function; Cost recognition
process [Footnote 81]:
385. To support the cost recognition process, does the core financial
system provide the capability to use the accrual basis of accounting
when recognizing costs and revenue? M (p. 57).
386. Does the core financial system provide the capability to recognize
costs in the period when the events occurred regardless of when
ordered, received, or paid for? M (p. 57).
387. Does the core financial system provide the capability to recognize
revenue when earned? M (p. 57).
388. Does the core financial system provide the capability to associate
with the appropriate cost objects the reductions of balances, such as
inventories, prepaid expenses, and advance payments, as the balances
are used or liquidated? M (p. 57).
389. Does the core financial system provide the capability to identify
and record costs incurred by each cost object, including input of costs
from feeder systems, such as inventory, travel, property management
(depreciation), or payroll? M (p. 57).
390. Does the core financial system provide the capability to assign
indirect costs on a cause-and-effect basis or allocate costs through
any reasonable and consistent basis, such as a percentage of total cost
incurred, direct labor hours used, square footage, or metered usage? M
(p. 57).
391. Does the core financial system provide the capability to perform
multilayer overhead distributions that are user defined (at least three
levels of distribution), using multiple rates, fixed amount, and other
appropriate allocation methods? M (p. 57).
Functional Requirements; Cost Management Function; Cost distribution
process [Footnote 82]:
392. To support the cost distribution process, does the core financial
system provide the capability to distribute information [Footnote 83]
on costs and revenue associated with cost objects? M (p. 58).
393. Does the core financial system have the capability to provide
consistent information [Footnote 84] on financial, budget, and program
matters in different reports? M (p. 58).
394. Does the core financial system provide the capability to use
historical information to conduct variance and time-series analyses and
to demonstrate the fairness and appropriateness of rates and charges
that are based on actual historical costs? M (p. 58).
395. Does the core financial system provide the capability to
distribute costs to other cost objects regardless of how they were
originally assigned? M (p. 58).
396. Does the core financial system have the capability to provide an
audit trail that traces a transaction from its origin to the final cost
object(s)? M (p. 58).
Functional Requirements; Cost Management Function; Working capital and
revolving fund process [Footnote 85]:
397. To support the revolving fund function, does the core financial
system provide the capability to use cost management in revolving
funds, including working capital programs? M (p. 58).
398. Does the core financial system provide the capability to allocate
working capital and revolving fund costs across organization and
program lines and generate appropriate journal entries? M (p. 58).
399. Does the core financial system provide the capability to create
and track the funding associated with cost objects [Footnote 86] and
provide funding status on fiscal-year-to-date and project-inception-to-
date bases? M (p. 58).
400. Does the core financial system provide the capability to support
the aggregation of project cost and funding information to a higher
level? [Footnote 87] M (p. 58).
401. Does the core financial system provide the capability to verify
funds availability for orders placed against a specific contract, work
order, or agreement for a particular customer of the revolving fund
operation? M (p. 59).
402. Does the core financial system provide the capability to support
funding of revolving fund contracts, work orders, and projects through
the use of advances, prepayments, or reimbursements? M (p. 59).
Functional Requirements; Reporting Function [Footnote 88]; General
reporting process [Footnote 89]:
403. To support the financial reporting process, does the core
financial system provide the capability to produce reports and
transmittable files using data maintained by the core financial
management system? M (p. 60).
404. Does the core financial system provide the capability to report on
financial activity by any element of accounting classification?
[Footnote 90] M (p. 60).
405. Does the core financial system provide the capability to report
the financial information required for program management performance
reporting? V (p. 61).
Functional Requirements; Reporting Function; External reporting:
406. To support the external reporting process, does the core financial
system have the capability to provide data in hard copy and the
electronic formats required by the Department of the Treasury for the
following reports:
a. Financial Management Service (FMS) Form 224, Statement of Cash
Transactions;
b. FMS Form 1219, Statement of Accountability; and;
c. FMS Form 1220, Statement of Transactions According to
Appropriations, Funds, and Receipt Accounts? M (p. 61).
407. Does the core financial system provide the capability to provide
data in the electronic formats required by the Department of the
Treasury for FACTS I and FACTS II reporting? M (p. 61).
408. Does the core financial system provide the capability to produce a
monthly SF-133, Report on Budget Execution and Budgetary Resources, in
the hard copy and electronic formats required by OMB? M (p. 61).
409. Does the core financial system provide the capability to perform
the validation edits specified by Treasury to ensure the accuracy of
data transmitted for FACTS I and FACTS II reporting on a monthly basis,
at a minimum? [Footnote 91] M (p. 61).
410. Does the core financial system provide the capability to automate
the preparation of consolidated financial statements as required by OMB
Bulletin No. 01-09, Form and Content of Agency Financial Statements? M
(p. 61).
Functional Requirements; Reporting Function; Internal reporting:
411. To support the internal reporting process, does the core financial
system provide the capability to produce a report of transaction-level
details for the TAS/TAFS totals reported on FMS Form 224, Statement of
Cash Transactions? M (p. 62).
412. For each TAS/TAFS that is subject to FACTS II reporting
requirements, does the core financial system provide the capability to
produce a daily online available funds report(s)? M (p. 62).
413. For the available funds reporting, does the core financial system
provide the capability for reporting within the following parameters:
a. "internal fund,"
b. budget object class,
c. organization,
d. program,
e. project, and;
f. activity? M (p. 62).
414. When reporting on funds availability at the internal fund level,
does the core financial system provide the capability to report data on
budget execution as follows, including a summary at the TAS/TAFS level
with total amounts for each data element listed below:
a. total resources (by budget fiscal year and by authority type,
including warrant information) as follows:
i. total authority brought forward,
ii. total appropriated for the budget fiscal year,
iii. total contract authority,
iv. total borrowing authority (realized and unrealized), and;
v. total estimated and total actual spending authority from offsetting
collections;
b. funding distribution, including;
i. total not yet apportioned,
ii. total apportioned,
iii. total allotted, and;
iv. total allowances;
c. spending activity, including;
i. total amount of commitments,
ii. total obligations (including paid and unpaid), and;
iii. total expenditures (including paid and unpaid); and;
d. balances available, such as;
i. balance of apportionments available for allotment,
ii. balance of allowance available for commitment (uncommitted), and;
iii. balance of allowances available for obligation (unobligated)? M
(p. 62).
415. When reporting on funds availability by organization, budget
object class, program, project and activity level, does the core
financial system provide the capability to report on budget execution
as follows, including a summary at the TAS/TAFS level with total
amounts for each data element listed below:
a. funding distribution, including;
i. total not yet apportioned,
ii. total apportioned,
iii. total allotted, and;
iv. total allowances;
b. spending activity, including;
i. total amount of commitments,
ii. total obligations (including paid and unpaid), and;
iii. total expenditures (including paid and unpaid);
c. balances available, such as;
i. balance of apportionments available for allotment,
ii. balance of allowance available for commitment (uncommitted), and;
iii. balance of allowances available for obligation (unobligated)? M
(p. 62).
416. Does the core financial system have the capability to provide
online summary trial balances at the internal fund, organization, and
TAS/TAFS levels? M (p. 63).
417. Do the online summary trial balances provide the following minimum
data elements for each general ledger account:
a. the balance at the beginning of the accounting period,
b. the total amount of debits for the accounting period,
c. the total amount of credits for the accounting period, and;
d. the cumulative ending balance for the accounting period? M (p. 63).
418. Does the core financial system have the capability to provide
grand totals for TAS/TAFS for beginning balance, current period
activity, and ending balance columns? M (p. 63).
419. Does the core financial system provide the capability to produce
both preclosing and postclosing trial balances at year-end? M (p. 63).
420. Does the core financial system provide the capability to support
FACTS I and FACTS II reporting and analysis by producing online trial
balances at the internal fund, organization, and TAS/TAFS levels? M (p.
63).
421. Does the core financial system have the capability to produce
trial balances that provide the related official SGL account number for
each general ledger account? M (p. 63).
422. Does the core financial system have the capability to produce
trial balances that provide the following items at the SGL-attribute
level [Footnote 92] for each general ledger account:
a. the balance at the beginning of the accounting period,
b. the total amount of debits for the current accounting period,
c. the total amount of credits for the accounting period, and;
d. the cumulative ending balance for the accounting period? M (p. 63).
423. Does the core financial system have the capability to provide
grand totals for each TAS/TAFS for beginning balance, current period
activity, and ending balance columns? M (p. 63).
424. Does the core financial system provide the capability to produce
both preclosing and postclosing trial balances at year-end? M (p. 63).
425. Does the core financial system have the capability to provide an
online transaction register at the internal fund, organization, and
TAS/TAFS level for each accounting period that provides the following
data elements:
a. fiscal year,
b. TAS/TAFS,
c. internal fund,
d. document number,
e. document entry date,
f. document entry time,
g. document entry user ID,
h. document transaction date,
i. debit account number,
j. debit account object class,
k. debit amount,
l. credit account number,
m. credit account,
n. object class,
o. SGL attribute domain headings, and;
p. SGL attribute values associated with the transaction? M (p. 63).
426. Does the core financial system provide the capability for the
online transaction register report, referred to in the previous
question, to include all transactions occurring within the accounting
period specified? M (p. 63).
Functional Requirements; Reporting Function; Ad hoc query [Footnote
93];
427. To effectively support ad hoc data access, does the core financial
system provide an integrated data query facility that supports ad hoc
query access to agency financial data sources? M (p. 64).
428. Does the core financial system provide data analysis reporting
tools? M (p. 64).
429. Does the core financial system allow users to create and submit
parameter-based query scripts or to store them in a common library for
future use? M (p. 64).
430. Does the core financial system allow users to run queries online
or in batch mode and to stage output for later access by authorized
users? M (p. 64).
431. Does the core financial system allow users to automatically
distribute copies of report/query results via e-mail to multiple pre-
identified individuals or groups? M (p. 64).
432. Does the core financial system provide run-time controls to limit
"runaway" queries and large data download requests? M (p. 64).
433. Does the core financial system support graphical output display on
the desktop? M (p. 64).
434. Does the core financial system's output display also support
dynamic report reformatting, regrouping, and drill-down to detail
records from summary report lines? M (p. 64).
435. Does the core financial system allow authorized users to download
selected financial data? M (p. 64).
436. Is the core financial system's download capability able to
automatically reformat downloaded information for direct access by
common desktop applications (e.g., ASCII formatted)? M (p. 64).
437. Does the core financial system provide the ability to preview a
report, form, or other query result before printing? M (p. 65).
438. Does the core financial system support access to current year and
historical financial data? M (p. 65).
439. To provide additional ad hoc data access functionality, does the
core financial system have the following ad hoc query interface
features:
a. graphical display of data sources;
b. the ability to "point and click" on selectable table, data, and link
objects for inclusion in a custom query;
c. an active data dictionary to provide users with object definitions;
d. the ability to share user-developed query scripts with other
authorized agency users;
e. query optimization; and;
f. online help? V (p. 65).
Technical Requirements [Footnote 94]; General Design/Architecture:
440. Is the core financial system modular in design? M (p. 66).
441. Does the core financial system utilize open-systems architecture?
M (p. 66).
442. Is the core financial system upgradeable by core system module to
accommodate changes in laws, regulations, best practices, and new
technology? M (p. 66).
443. Is the core financial system a commercially available product,
subject to regular maintenance based on vendor-developed and scheduled
software releases? M (p. 66).
444. Does the core financial system include internal transaction
processing controls, including the capability in the event of a system
failure to automatically;
a. back out of incompletely processed transactions,
b. restore the system to its last consistent state before the failure
occurred, and;
c. reapply all incomplete transactions previously submitted by the
user? M (p. 67).
445. Does the core financial system enforce internal database
consistency during all online and batch update operations, including
distributed databases, if applicable? M (p. 67).
446. Does the core financial system have fully documented restart
capabilities for the application's online and batch processing
components? M (p. 67).
447. Does the core financial system segment batch jobs to facilitate
their recovery in the event of a system failure? M (p. 67).
448. Does the core financial system include complete installation,
operating, and system maintenance documentation covering the following:
a. product installation and configuration steps;
b. application access procedures;
c. user screen layout and content;
d. transaction entry procedures;
e. batch job setup, processing, and recovery/restart procedures;
f. error codes with full descriptions and recovery steps;
g. standard report layout and content;
h. internal processing controls;
i. application security;
j. operating specifications and system flowcharts;
k. database entity relationships, table formats, and data element
descriptions; and;
l. program module descriptions? M (p. 67).
449. Does the core financial system include revised documentation
concurrent with the distribution of new software releases? M (p. 67).
450. Does the core financial system employ common error handling
routines across functional modules and present error messages that
allow the user or system operator to respond to reported problems? M
(p. 67).
451. Is the agency able to customize the common error message text? M
(p. 67).
452. Does the core financial system generate output information to
formats specified by functional requirements? M (p. 67).
453. In cases where a functional requirement does not specify an output
format, is the required information viewable using the application's
online user interface by default? M (p. 67).
454. Can the agency customize the core financial system to meet its
specific business/accounting needs using agency-supplied application
configuration and operating parameters? M (p. 67).
455. Does the core financial system provide fault-free performance in
the processing of date and date-related data (including calculating,
comparing, and sequencing) by all hardware and software products
included as part of the application, both individually and in
combination (i.e., year 2000 compliance)? M (p. 67).
456. Does the core financial system include an integrated relational,
structured query-language-compliant database? V (p. 68).
457. Does the core financial system simultaneously process online
transactions and transactions submitted via system interface? V (p. 68).
Technical Requirements; Infrastructure:
458. Does the core financial system identify all software and hardware
products needed by an agency to install, operate, access, and maintain
the application, including the identification of distinct products that
are intended to be purchased or licensed as part of the product
licensing agreement? [Footnote 95] M (p. 68).
459. Does the core financial system utilize transaction
control/Internet communications protocol for application, database, and
workstation connectivity? M (p. 68).
460. At a minimum, does the core financial system support application
client operation on a 32-bit, Microsoft Windows-compatible operating
system? M (p. 68).
461. Does the core financial system operate in a mainframe environment
(e.g., Multiple Virtual System, Operating System 390)? V (p. 68).
462. Does the core financial system operate in a server-computing
environment running under UNIX or NT (e.g., Windows Server 2000)? V (p.
68).
463. Does the core financial system support application client
operation on an Apple Macintosh Windows-compatible operating system? V
(p. 68).
464. Does the core financial system support application client
operation on a UNIX operating system? V (p. 68).
465. Does the core financial system support automated touch-tone
telephone access for standardized, commonly requested inquiries (such
as payment status)? V (p. 68).
466. Does the core financial system support automated fax-back access
for standardized, commonly requested documents (such as account
statements)? V (p. 69).
467. Does the core financial system provide the capability to accept
barcoded documents? V (p. 69).
468. Does the core financial system include a report spooling
capability to enable online viewing, reprinting, and permanent
archiving of requested reports? V (p. 69).
Technical Requirements; User Interfaces [Footnote 96];
469. Does the core financial system provide a consistent, Windows-
compatible, online user interface to all modules and integrated
subsystems? V (p. 69).
470. Does interface consistency include the use of common command entry
syntax, dialog window styles, data entry structures, and information
presentation? V (p. 69).
471. Does the core financial system incorporate common graphical user
interface characteristics, such as the following:
a. mouse-activated icons;
b. buttons;
c. scroll bars;
d. drop-down lists;
e. check boxes;
f. menu bars;
g. text boxes;
h. tool tips;
i. resizable windows; and;
j. cut, copy, and paste functions? V (p. 69).
472. Does the core financial system incorporate data entry features
designed to reduce the amount of direct keying required to initiate
transaction processing, such as the following:
a. the use of default values;
b. look-up tables;
c. automatic data recall;
d. single-function windows (e.g., one input screen per transaction);
e. the ability to pass common data from screen to screen;
f. highlighting of required fields;
g. auto tabs;
h. function keys (e.g., to retrieve previous data, invoke help
facility, suspend transaction, or clear screen);
i. disabling of nonsupported function keys;
j. menu mode and an expert mode of screen navigation;
k. the ability to retrieve suspended transactions by user, document,
vendor, and so forth;
l. transaction entry undo/redo;
m. context-sensitive online help; and;
n. the ability to select records from a list by scrolling or by typing
in only part of an entry? V (p. 69 & 70).
473. Does the core financial system support desktop integration with
other common workstation applications used for word processing,
spreadsheets, data management, and graphics? V (p. 70).
474. Is the application help facility customizable by the agency? V (p.
70).
475. Does the core financial system provide an application user
interface that complies with the software application standards
required by 29 U.S.C. § 794d, [Footnote 97] as detailed in 36 C.F.R.
1194, Subpart B? V (p. 70).
Technical Requirements; Interoperability [Footnote 98];
476. To ensure that data can move effectively between the core
financial system and other financial applications operated by the
agency, does the core system include;
a. an application program interface (API) to accept and process
financial data generated by external [Footnote 99] and other internal
[Footnote 100] applications and;
b. the ability to export data required by governmentwide systems? M
(Addendum to Core Financial Management System, March 31, 2004, p. 3 of
3).
477. Does the API support the receipt and continued processing of
transactions for all core accounting components as well as vendor
information updates? M (Addendum to Core Financial Management System,
March 31, 2004, p. 3 of 3).
478. Does the core financial system process API-submitted transactions
using the same business rules, program logic, and edit table entries
that are used by the application in editing transactions submitted
online (e.g., via user interface)? M (p. 70).
479. Does the core financial system hold API-submitted transactions
that do not pass required edits in suspense pending appropriate
corrective action by the user? M (p. 70).
480. Does the API suspense process include the ability to;
a. view, update, or delete suspended transactions and;
b. automatically reprocess suspended transactions? M (p. 70).
481. Does the core financial system provide internal controls with the
API (e.g., control totals and record counts) to ensure the integrity of
received and processed transactions? M (p. 70).
482. For the API, does the core financial system generate transaction
editing error records in a standard format defined by the vendor for
return to the originating feeder application? [Footnote 101] M (p. 70).
483. Does the core financial system support direct electric data
interchange translation compliant with American National Standards
Institute X-12 standards to enable electronic data exchanges with
designated trading partners, such as a bank credit card service
provider, major supplier, or customer? V (p. 71).
484. Does the core financial system interface with the agency
electronic communications system to distribute application-generated
documents and messages to either intranet or Internet users? V (p. 71).
485. Does the core financial system accept vendor invoices and other
externally originated transactions over the Internet (e.g., Extensible
Markup Language (XML))? V (p. 71).
486. Does the core financial system support emerging XML-based
specifications for the exchange of financial data, such as Extensible
Business Reporting Language? V (p. 71).
Technical Requirements; Workflow/Messaging [Footnote 102];
487. Does the core financial system provide an integrated workflow
management capability, including generation and routing of internal
forms, reports, and other financial documents, for online approval or
subsequent processing? M (p. 71).
488. Does the core financial system enable authorized users to define
workflow processes and business rules, including approval levels, and
to modify workflow (e.g., assigning a proxy approving authority)? V (p.
71).
489. Does the core financial system provide the capability to establish
multiple levels of document approvals based on user-defined criteria,
including dollar amounts, types of items purchased, and document types?
V (p. 71).
490. Does the core financial system provide an internal calendar or
user- defined routing tables to generate rule-based or exception
reports to support the generation of workflow messages? [Footnote 103]
V (p. 71).
491. Does the core financial system provide the ability to track
approvals online by transaction, including the time, date, and
approving party? V (p. 71).
492. Does the core financial system provide the capability to
automatically generate electronic routing and status messages to
individuals or groups? V (p. 72).
493. Does the core financial system support Workflow Management
Coalition standards? V (p. 72).
494. Does the core financial system support Messaging API-Workflow
standards? V (p. 72).
495. Does the core financial system support Vendor Independent
Messaging standards? V (p. 72).
Technical Requirements; Document Management [Footnote 104];
496. Does the core financial system support Document Management
Alliance standards? V (p. 72).
497. Does the core financial system support Open Document Management
Architecture standards? V (p. 72).
498. Does the core financial system support Open Document
Architecture/Open Document Interface Format standards? V (p. 72).
499. Does the core financial system support Portable Document Format
standards? V (p. 72).
500. Does the core financial system support Standard Generalized Markup
Language standards? V (p. 72).
501. Does the core financial system provide the capability to
electronically image, index, store, and retrieve document reference
material? [Footnote 105] V (p. 72).
502. Does the core financial system notify the user of the presence of
associated document images and allow an on-screen display of this
material? V (p. 72).
Technical Requirements; Internet Access [Footnote 106];
503. Does the core financial system support secure Web browser access
to all financial management system modules, including workflow-related
features, for the purpose of entering new financial
documents/transactions and for reviewing/approving their processing? V
(p. 73).
504. Does the core financial system support secure Internet access to
the integrated ad hoc data query facility? V (p. 73).
505. Does the core financial system provide the capability to receive
public payment collections via the Internet? [Footnote 107] V (p. 73).
506. Does the core financial system support the use of standard public
key infrastructure technology to control access to sensitive data over
the Internet? V (p. 73).
Technical Requirements; Security [Footnote 108];
507. Does the core financial system have integrated security features
that are configurable by the system administrator to control access to
the application, functional modules, transactions, and data? M (p. 73).
508. Are the core financial system application's integrated security
features compliant with the National Institute of Standards and
Technology (NIST) security standards? M (p. 73).
509. Does the core financial system ensure that the agency's access
policies are consistently enforced against all attempts made by users
or other integrated system resources, including software used to submit
ad hoc data query requests or to generate standard reports? M (p. 73).
510. Does the core financial system require the use of unique user IDs
and passwords for authentication purposes? M (p. 73).
511. Are the core financial system passwords nonprinting and
nondisplaying? M (p. 73).
512. Does the core financial system application allow for the
following:
a. the enforcement of password standards, [Footnote 109]
b. the establishment of a specified period for password expiration,
and;
c. the prohibition of recent password reuse? M (p. 73).
513. Does the core financial system enable the system administrator to
define functional access rights [Footnote 110] and data access rights
[Footnote 111] by assigned user ID, functional role, [Footnote 112] and
owner organization? M (p. 73).
514. Does the core financial system permit the system administrator to
assign multiple levels of approval to a single user, while preventing
that user from applying more than one level of approval to a given
document? M (p. 73).
515. Does the core financial system allow the system administrator to
restrict access to sensitive data elements, such as Social Security
numbers and banking information, by named user, groups of users, or
functional role? M (p. 74).
516. Does the core financial system maintain an audit logging
capability to record access activity, including the following:
a. all log-in/log-out attempts by user and workstation;
b. user-submitted transactions;
c. initiated processes;
d. system override events; and;
e. direct additions, changes, or deletions to application-maintained
data? M (p. 74).
517. Does the core financial system provide the ability to query the
audit log by type of access, date and time stamp range, user ID, or
terminal ID? M (p. 74).
Technical Requirements; Operations and Computing Performance:
518. Does the core financial system include a process scheduling
capability that enables the operator to initiate, monitor, and stop
scheduled processes, such as online availability, batch jobs, and
system maintenance? M (p. 74).
519. Does the core financial system provide online status messages
indicating job or transaction type and name, when requested processing
starts and completes, and system errors? M (p. 74).
520. Does the core financial system allow reports to be produced in the
background while other system processing takes place? M (p. 74).
521. Does the core financial system provide the system administrator
the ability to control the archiving process? M (p. 74).
522. Does the core financial system include the capability to establish
and maintain user-defined archival criteria, such as date, accounting
period, closed items, and vendors inactive for a specific time period?
M (p. 74).
523. Does the core financial system allow selective action on those
documents that meet the user-defined archival criteria? M (p. 74).
524. Does the core financial system retain archived data and system
records in accordance with federal regulations established by the
National Archives and Records Administration, NIST, and any guidance
issued by GAO? M (p. 75).
525. Does the core financial system provide the ability to selectively
retrieve archived data based on user-defined criteria such as date,
accounting period, or vendor? M (p. 75).
526. Does the core financial system maintain and report on productivity
statistics about application usage? M (p. 75).
527. Does the core financial system provide audit trails to identify
changes made to system parameters and tables that would affect the
processing or reprocessing of any financial transactions? M (p. 75).
528. Does the core financial system provide computing performance
metrics, for platforms and systems environments on which the
application is certified to run? V (p. 75).
529. Do the core financial system's vendor-provided performance metrics
describe the following:
a. transaction processing throughput capacity,
b. expected workstation client response time by transaction type,
c. data storage capacity, and;
d. limitations on concurrent user connectivity? V (p. 75).
530. Does the core financial system process an agency's projected
accounting activity without affecting projected online response time? V
(p. 75).
531. Does the core financial system complete routine batch processing
[Footnote 113] within an agency-defined batch processing window? V (p.
75).
532. Does the core financial system maintain the agency's current and
historical financial data [Footnote 114] with no degradation to online
or batch processing performance? V (p. 75).
533. Does the core financial system support concurrent access to
functional modules by the agency's defined user community? V (p. 75).
534. Does the core financial system disclose processing jobs, steps,
and dependencies that are required to operate the system on a daily,
weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual basis? V (p. 75).
535. Does the core financial system provide the capability to process
batched transactions during online hours and accept online transactions
from interfacing systems with no online performance degradation? V (p.
75).
[End of table]
These related products address two main categories: internal control
and financial management systems. We have developed these guidelines
and tools to assist agencies in improving or maintaining effective
operations and financial management.
Internal Control:
Maintaining Effective Control Over Employee Time and Attendance
Reporting. GAO-03-352G. Washington, D.C.: January 2003; Streamlining
the Payment Process While Maintaining Effective Internal Control.
GAO/AIMD-00-21.3.2. Washington, D.C.: May 2000.
Internal Control Management and Evaluation Tool. GAO-01-1008G.
Washington, D.C.: August 2001; Determining Performance and
Accountability Challenges and High Risks. GAO-01-159SP. Washington,
D.C.: November 2000; Standards for Internal Control in the Federal
Government. GAO/AIMD-00-21.3.1. Washington, D.C.: November 1999.
Financial Management Systems Checklists.
Acquisition/Financial Systems Interface Requirements. GAO-04-650G.
Washington, D.C.: June 2004; Seized Property and Forfeited Assets
Requirements. GAO-01-99G. Washington, D.C.: October 2000.
Benefit System Requirements. GAO-04-22G. Washington, D.C.: October
2003; Inventory System. GAO/AIMD-98-21.2.4. Washington, D.C.: May 1998.
Property Management Systems Requirements. GAO-02-171G. Washington,
D.C.: December 2001; Human Resources and Payroll Systems Requirements.
GAO/AIMD-00-21.2.3. Washington, D.C.: March 2000.
Grant Financial System Requirements. GAO-01-911G. Washington, D.C.:
September 2001; System Requirements for Managerial Cost Accounting.
GAO/AIMD-99-21.2.9. Washington, D.C.: January 1999.
Guaranteed Loan System Requirements. GAO-01-371G. Washington, D.C.:
March 2001; Travel System Requirements. GAO/AIMD-00-21.2.8. Washington,
D.C.: May 2000.
[End of table]
(195055):
FOOTNOTES
[1] This document replaces GAO's prior financial management system
checklist, Core Financial System Requirements Checklist (GAO/AIMD-00-
21.2.2, February 2000).
[2] JFMIP principals are GAO, Treasury, OMB, and the Office of
Personnel Management (OPM).
[3] JFMIP has been a joint undertaking of the Office of Management and
Budget (OMB), GAO, the Department of the Treasury, and the Office of
Personnel Management (OPM), working in cooperation with each other and
with operating agencies to improve financial management practices
throughout the government. The program was initiated in 1948 by the
Secretary of the Treasury, the Director of the Bureau of the Budget
(now OMB), and the Comptroller General. JFMIP was authorized by the
Budget and Accounting Procedures Act of 1950 (subsequently codified at
31 U.S.C. § 3511 (d)). The Civil Service Commission, now OPM, joined
JFMIP in 1966. On December 1, 2004 the Principals (GAO, Treasury, OMB,
and OPM) of JFMIP signed an agreement that will end JFMIP's role as a
stand-alone organization. The agreement reassigns responsibility for
certifying financial system software from the JFMIP to the Chief
Financial Officers Council. OMB's Office of Federal Financial
Management (OFFM) will issue requirements for financial systems and
systems that interface with financial systems.
[4] JFMIP has also issued the Framework for Federal Financial
Management Systems (JFMIP-SR-01-04, April 2004), which is the
foundation document for the JFMIP Financial Management System
Requirements that sets forth the vision, desired capabilities,
performance outcomes, environment, and other attributes that all
federal financial management systems must be designed to support.
[5] Thus far, the series includes the (1) System Requirements for
Managerial Cost Accounting (February 1998); (2) Human Resources and
Payroll System Requirements (April 1999); (3) Direct Loan System
Requirements (June 1999); (4) Travel System Requirements (July 1999);
(5) Seized Property and Forfeited Assets System Requirements (December
1999); (6) Guaranteed Loan System Requirements (March 2000); (7) Grant
Financial System Requirements (June 2000); (8) Property Management
System Requirements (October 2000); (9) Benefit System Requirements
(September 2001); (10) Core Financial System Requirements (November
2001), which supersedes the 1999 Core Financial System Requirements
(February 1999); (11) Acquisitions Financial System Requirements (June
2002); (12) Revenue System Requirements (January 2003); and (13)
Inventory, Supplies, and Materials System Requirements (August 2003),
which supersedes the 1995 Inventory System Requirements (June 1995).
Functional requirements for budget formulation and insurance claims
systems have not yet been issued.
[6] OMB revised Circular No. A-127 on December 1, 2004, with OMB
Transmittal Memorandum No. 3, M-05-02.
[7] For example, the agency is working on modifying or implementing its
core financial system to have the capability available in subsequent
years; management believes the capability is not cost-effective and
will not enhance the core financial system's ability to manage
operations.
[8] The core financial system management function ensures that the
capability exists for capturing, classifying, processing, storing, and
retrieving the financial data federal agencies use in their daily
operations. It establishes the reporting entity and framework for
ensuring that data are shared among components of an agency‘s single
integrated financial management system. This function also ensures that
transactions are processed in a uniform and consistent manner.
[9] The accounting classification is a subset of the agency financial
information classification structure, which also includes financially
related personnel information, performance measurement information, and
other financial information needed by the agency. It provides the means
for categorizing financial information along several dimensions as
needed to support financial management and reporting functions. The
data elements a particular agency includes in its accounting
classification will depend on data aggregation requirements for
preparation of financial statements under the Chief Financial Officers
Act, the appropriation structure, and other reporting and management
needs of the agency.
[10] Unless otherwise indicated, page number references in the
checklist are to JFMIP-SR-02-01.
[11] For example, Financial Management Service (FMS) Form 224,
Statement of Transactions.
[12] For example, categories could be rental income, sales by product
type, and income by type of service performed.
[13] Examples of methods include entering ’shorthand codes,“ using a
keyboard function to look up additional elements, ’clicking“ on a ’pop-
up menu,“ and scanning a bar code.
[14] Checklist question 1 provides examples of mandatory accounting
classification elements.
[15] The transaction control process defines, maintains, and executes
the posting and editing rules for transactions that are processed in
the core financial system. The core financial system must be able to
process and record transactions originally entered into it as well as
transactions originating in other systems. In order to provide the
basis for central financial control, the core system must track such
transactions and related information. The transaction control process
is further categorized as transaction definition and processing
activities and audit trail activities.
[16] SGL accounting transactions typically update multiple budgetary
and proprietary accounts based on a single accounting event. The core
financial system must ensure that transactions are controlled properly
to provide reasonable assurance that the recording, processing, and
reporting of financial data are properly performed and that the
completeness and accuracy of authorized transactions are ensured.
[17] The process of defining posting rules can be accomplished in a
variety of ways, including, but not limited to, using transaction
codes, screen ’templates,“ and derivation rules.
[18] For example, a budget object class code value is not necessarily
needed when recording depreciation expense.
[19] This capability will be used in the liquidation of various
documents, such as commitments, obligations, undelivered orders,
payables, receivables, and advances, upon the processing of subsequent
related transactions (e.g., liquidate an obligation upon entry of the
related receiving report).
[20] This is to include transactions entered directly into the core
system and those received from interfaced modules or systems.
[21] This is to include transactions entered directly into the core
system and those received from interfaced modules or systems.
[22] For example, prevent the use of the same unique transaction
identification number (e.g., document number).
[23] For example, fields pertaining to TAS/TAFS, object class, vendor
code, and organization.
[24] Adequate audit trails are critical to providing support for
transactions and balances maintained by the core financial system.
While audit trails are essential to auditors and system evaluators,
they are also necessary for day-to-day operation of the system. For
example, they allow for the detection and systematic correction of
errors.
[25] The initial source may be source documents, transactions
originating from other systems (e.g., feeder systems), or internal
system generated transactions.
[26] Examples of reasons to select items are payment certification and
financial statement audits.
[27] The general ledger account definition process establishes the
general ledger account structure for the agency consistent with the SGL
and establishes the transaction edit and posting rules to record
financial events.
[28] For example, is the user able to add or modify valid values within
an existing attribute domain?
[29] This process creates accrual transactions (adjusting) and closing
entries needed at the end of a period (month or year) for reporting
purposes. It also controls and executes period-end system processes
needed by the system to open a new reporting period, such as rolling
forward account balances or reversing certain year-end entries. This
process supports the preparation of consolidated financial statements
by identifying information needed in that process.
[30] This process supports the control functions of the SGL. The core
financial system must provide information to use in determining that
balances in the general ledger control accounts agree with more
detailed subsidiary accounts and for reconciling system balances with
financial information contained in reports from Treasury and other
agencies.
[31] The funds management function must support agency policies on
internal funds allocation methods and controls. An agency will likely
have many other systems in addition to the core financial system that
affect funds management. For example, procurement and travel systems
generate documents that commit and obligate funds. These systems
typically access the funds availability editing activity before
allowing an obligation to be incurred, such as when entering into a
contract. However, in some cases, such as payroll, this may not be
practical.
[32] Budget preparation is the process of establishing initial agency
operating/financial plans and updating them as necessary throughout the
fiscal year. An operating/financial plan is a blueprint for using
financial resources during any given fiscal period or series of
periods. The function includes reporting on the use of resources
against these plans throughout the year.
[33] Budget formulation is the process of assembling estimates for the
upcoming fiscal year for transmittal to OMB and the congressional
appropriations committees, preparing justification materials to support
those estimates, and defending those estimates formally (at OMB and
congressional hearings) and informally (through staff contacts with
these entities).
[34] The funds allocation process records an agency‘s budgetary
resources and supports the establishment of budgetary limitations at
each of the levels required within the agency (e.g., apportionments and
allocations). The higher levels, such as appropriation, apportionment,
and allotment, have the weight of legal authority behind the
limitations. Lower levels of control are generally used for internal
management purposes.
[35] Pub. L. No. 101-510.
[36] OMB Circular No. A-11, Part 4, issued in June 2002 and revised in
May and July of 2003, rescinded OMB Circular No. A-34, Instructions in
Budget Execution.
[37] Used to support the federal budget process, the OMB MAX Budget
Information System is used to collect, validate, analyze, model, and
publish information. Perhaps the most visible end product of the MAX
system is the Budget of the United States Government, also known as the
President‘s budget.
[38] The budget execution process is the most detailed level of an
agency‘s funds control and consists of processes needed to ensure that
the agency‘s funds control systems are fully supported by its
accounting systems. It also consists of processes needed to track an
agency‘s budget authority and manage prior-year funds in the current
year. Allotment systems should be designed so that responsibility for
budget control is placed at the highest practical organizational level
consistent with effective and efficient management and control.
[39] There must be at least five organizational levels.
[40] This process records transactions affecting the resources and
status accounts in the budgetary section of the SGL. It also provides
appropriate warnings and controls to ensure that budgetary limitations
are not exceeded. The funds control process consists of (1) funds
availability editing, (2) commitments, (3) obligations, and (4)
analysis.
[41] This activity verifies that sufficient funds are available at the
various control levels specified in the funds allocation process for
each processed transaction that may affect available fund balances. If
sufficient funds are not available, notification is provided so that
appropriate action may be taken.
[42] This is to include transactions entered directly to the core
system and those received from interfaced modules or systems.
[43] Commitments are an optional stage of fund reservations prior to
the establishment of an obligation. This activity records commitment
documents, such as requisitions. Commitments can be a useful tool in
funds management by helping users to anticipate future procurements.
They should be used when helpful to an agency‘s management process, but
are not necessary, or even appropriate, for all situations. However,
the core financial management system must provide the capability to use
this stage of funds control.
[44] OMB Circular No. A-11 defines an obligation as a binding agreement
that will result in outlays, immediately or in the future. Budgetary
resources must be available before obligations can be incurred legally.
Examples are amounts of orders placed, contracts awarded, services
received, and similar transactions that will require payments during
the same or a future period. Such amounts include outlays for which
obligations had not been previously recorded and reflect adjustments
for differences between obligations previously recorded and actual
outlays to liquidate those obligations.
[45] The analysis activity provides information necessary to support
analysis of the funds management function. It provides information on
funds availability at the levels defined and compares data in the funds
management function to data in other functions to ensure consistency.
[46] The required accounting classification elements are listed in
question one under the accounting classification management process
within the core financial management system function.
[47] For example, querying on a purchase order would provide any
amendments to purchase orders, receiving reports, requisitions, and
invoices; querying on a receivable would provide any associated cash
receipts.
[48] These requirements apply to all payments processed through the
core system. Depending on an agency‘s system architecture, specific
activities performed relating to payments may be supported by other
systems that provide transaction data to the core financial system for
control and management purposes. For example, payroll systems usually
trigger the actual disbursement process to pay employees through direct
deposit or by check, and send only the expense and disbursement
information to the core financial system for recording by the general
ledger, funds control, and cost management processes. Likewise, large
loan and grant programs might be supported by systems that maintain
their own detailed information on payees and payments and send
transaction data to the core financial system.
[49] The term ’payee“ is used here to include any entity to which
disbursement may be made; for example, individuals and organizations
providing goods and services, employees, grant recipients, loan
recipients, and other government agencies. In an integrated system,
payee information needed to make payments should be coordinated with
information needed for other purposes and in other systems.
[50] The mandatory payee information is detailed in question 189.
[51] The mandatory data fields are detailed in question 189.
[52] The payment warehousing process recognizes and records payments
due to another entity in the near term. These payments may be due for
any of several reasons, for example, as a result of receiving goods and
services in accordance with contract terms, under a loan or grant
agreement, as an advance payment for goods or services to be provided
in the future, or as a progress payment under a construction contract.
[53] For example, purchase order number or reimbursable agreement
number and the ALC.
[54] For example, Online Payment and Collection System or Intra-
governmental Payment and Collection System.
[55] The payment execution process supports activities required to make
a payment that was warehoused or to record a payment made by another
system.
[56] An EFT could occur via Automated Clearing House or wire, for
example.
[57] Currently, TFM prescribed limitations are up to 14 lines of 55
characters each for check payment and up to 9,999 lines of 80
characters each for CTX payment.
[58] CTX (820 or Flat File), CCD, CCD+, PPD, and PPD+.
[59] The various media include telecommunications, tape, direct entry
to Electronic Certification System (ECS), and third-party upload
through ECS.
[60] For example, by agencies that have their own disbursing authority.
[61] For example, purchase order number, reimbursable agreement number,
and ALC.
[62] Reimbursable work can result in this type of transaction with
appropriate authority.
[63] For example, when making benefit payments to recipients.
[64] The payment confirmation and follow-up process confirms that
disbursements were made as anticipated and supports inquiries from
vendors regarding payments and reporting requirements relating to the
payment management function.
[65] Such as IRS Form 1099-INT, Form 1099-MISC, Form 1099-C, and Form
1099-G.
[66] For example, when payment to a sole proprietor for services
performed (not including cost of merchandise) exceeds a specified
dollar amount (e.g., $600), the system would produce a Form 1099-MISC.
[67] That is, the Government On-line Accounting Link System Regional
Finance Center Agency Link or its successor.
[68] Receivables are established to account for amounts due from others
as the result of performance of services by the agency, delivery of
goods sold, the passage of time (e.g., interest earned), loans made to
others that must be repaid, or other actions. Receivables are accounted
for as assets until funds are collected or are determined to be
uncollectible in whole or in part. Additionally, some receipts may be
collected without the prior establishment of a receivable, as in the
case of goods sold for cash. Depending on an agency‘s system
architecture, servicing and collection activities for some receivables
may be supported by other systems that provide data to the core
financial system. This would be particularly appropriate for
receivables resulting from large programs with complex supporting data
requirements, such as loan programs, grant programs, or fee-for-service
programs. Servicing and collection for receivables with simpler
requirements for supporting data, such as those resulting from
erroneous payments, may be supported directly by the core financial
system with no support by other systems.
[69] The word ’customer“ is used here to include any entity that owes a
debt to the agency, including contractors, employees, grantees, loan
recipients, and other government agencies. Agency payees, or vendors,
as defined in the payment management function section, may become
customers of the agency, in the event that duplicate or overpayments
occur. The customer information maintenance process involves the
maintenance of customer information (name, address, etc.),
identification of the type of customer from which collection is due,
and the recording of trading partner codes used in the elimination of
intragovernmental activity from financial statements. The process
ensures that customer TINs are captured in order to report overdue
receivables for potential offset and to provide for IRS Form 1099
reporting of debts written off.
[70] The receivable establishment process supports activities to record
receivables in the system as they are recognized and to produce bills
for amounts due to the agency.
[71] Bases used for billing may include (1) percentage of reimbursable
obligations, accrued expenditures, or costs, using data recorded by the
cost accumulation function; (2) fee schedules for goods or services
provided; and (3) payment schedules or other agreements with other
entities.
[72] The debt management process involves the maintenance of account
information on individual accounts receivable. The process supports
activities to age receivables, calculate interest and record penalties
and administrative charges on overdue debt, pursue collection of
amounts due, liquidate receivables, record adjustments to receivables,
maintain a proper allowance for uncollectible amounts, and record write-
offs.
[73] For example, $600 or more.
[74] The collections process supports activities to record the receipt
of funds either by currency (e.g., cash or EFT) or check and the
deposit of such funds in accordance with Treasury and agency
regulations. The process also provides for the receipt of payment
offset information from Treasury and its application to the appropriate
accounts receivable.
[75] For example, upon the refund of erroneous payments.
[76] For example, outstanding accounts receivable, credit memorandums,
and open advances.
[77] A Treasury system used to manage and monitor the collection of
government revenues and report the balances to federal agencies.
[78] The level of sophistication of the cost management function needed
by an agency depends on the requirements of the agency and the
operational nature of the programs involved. For example, if an
agency‘s primary mission is to produce a product or service for sale,
the costing function typically will be accomplished in the managerial
cost accounting system that is integrated with the core financial
system. Programs with less crucial cost information needs might perform
cost management functions by analytical or sampling methods. However,
in any core system, certain basic functions must be present. The cost
management function consists of (1) cost setup and accumulation, (2)
cost recognition, (3) cost distribution, and (4) working capital and
revolving fund.
[79] The cost setup and accumulation process identifies and tracks cost
data associated with the specific cost objects required by management.
This process provides for the establishment of identifiers for the
desired cost objects in the processes, systems, and applications that
make up the accounting system, and for the subsequent collection of
cost data. A cost object is any activity, output, outcome, or item
whose cost and revenue are to be measured, such as organizational
units, programs, projects, activities, targeted outputs, specific
contracts, specific customers, and work orders.
[80] Full cost includes support costs provided by other responsibility
segments, both internal and external; identifiable support costs
provided by other government agencies, such as pension and other
retirement benefits; unfunded costs, such as accrued annual leave, that
accrue in the current reporting period; depreciation expense; and
amortization costs.
[81] Recognition of the effects of transactions in financial systems is
fundamental to the accounting process. The recognition process
determines when the results of an event are to be included in financial
statements and ensures that the effects of similar events and
transactions are accounted for consistently within the federal
government.
[82] The managerial cost accounting concepts and standards contained in
SFFAS No. 4 are aimed at providing reliable and timely information on
the full cost of programs, their activities, and outputs. The
information is to be used by stakeholders, executives, and managers in
making decisions about allocating resources, authorizing and modifying
programs, and evaluating program performance. Program managers can also
use the cost information for making managerial decisions to improve
operating efficiency. Ultimately, the effectiveness of a cost
management program lies in the way managers use the cost information
asked for and reported to them.
[83] Such as income statements and status of funds reports.
[84] For example, bills generated for customers in the receivables
system should match customer status reports generated by the cost
management system for the same periods.
[85] Agencies may elect to use revolving funds, which include working
capital funds and franchise funds, for their organizations. These funds
require separate legislation and have charters that focus on specific
purposes. Such charters have the potential to make program management
much more flexible by lifting apportionment controls while adding
operational safeguards. If an agency uses a revolving fund, the core
financial system must be able to track service-level agreements, verify
funds availability, bill customers, and measure costs.
[86] For example, contracts, work orders, projects, or reimbursable
agreements.
[87] For example, the ability to link the costs of a set of related
projects for a particular customer on one report.
[88] Information maintained by the core financial system must be
provided in a variety of formats to users according to their needs.
Methods of providing information include online inquiries, extractable
data files, and hard copy reports. These requirements could be
satisfied by either application software that is part of the core
financial system, generalized reporting/inquiry software that works
with a variety of applications, or a combination of both. The reporting
function consists of the (1) general reporting process, (2) external
reporting process, (3) internal reporting process, and (4) ad hoc query
process.
[89] Complete, reliable, consistent, timely, and useful financial
management information on operations enables central management
agencies, individual operating agencies, divisions, bureaus, and other
subunits to (1) carry out their fiduciary responsibilities; (2) deter
fraud, waste, and abuse of resources; and (3) facilitate efficient and
effective delivery of programs by relating financial consequences to
program performance.
[90] For example, individual or hierarchical organization code or
project code.
[91] See the FACTS II Client Bulk Users Guide for examples.
[92] That is, separate amounts whenever there is more than one
attribute domain value within an SGL account.
[93] While requirements associated with standard internal and external
reporting are based on clearly defined financial management information
needs, ad hoc query requirements are general in nature. The ability of
an FMS package to provide for flexible data access is critical to
enabling effective agency, program, and financial management in the
face of change.
[94] Technical requirements help ensure that a core financial system
(1) is capable of meeting a wide variety of workload processing
demands; (2) provides transaction processing integrity and general
operating reliability; (3) uses standard procedures for installation,
configuration, and operations; and (4) does not conflict with other
administrative or program systems or other agency-established IT
standards.
[95] The vendor is also required to identify products needed to meet
any technical and functional requirement that must be acquired
separately by the agency.
[96] Technical user interface requirements specify how agency users and
operators interact with the core financial system.
[97] Referred to as section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act in the JFMIP
document.
[98] Financial transactions can be originated using external feeder
applications. Typically, these feeders are considered legacy systems
and are based on older computing technologies.
[99] For example, Intragovernmental Transaction Exchange and IPAC
systems.
[100] For example, the financial portion of mixed program systems,
electronic data interchange translators, and modules such as travel or
payroll.
[101] That is, provide two-way interface support.
[102] Workflow/messaging includes technical requirements that
collectively define how a core financial system automatically manages
document processing and notifies agency staff of pending work (e.g.,
review/approval of pending accounting documents).
[103] That is, notification of accounts payable office for invoices
warehoused over 30 days with no matching receiving reports.
[104] Document management includes technical requirements that define
how the core financial system is to store and retrieve electronically
formatted documents.
[105] For example, signed contracts, purchase orders, and vendor
invoices.
[106] Technical requirements relating to Internet access represent a
specialized infrastructure subset. These requirements generally define
user connectivity options.
[107] For example, Web-based collections via credit card.
[108] This technical category defines internal and external access
controls.
[109] For example, minimum length and use of alpha, numeric, and
special characters.
[110] For example, to modules, transactions, and approval authorities.
[111] For example, record, create, read, update, and delete.
[112] For example, payable technician.
[113] For example, backups, nightly interface processing, core general
ledger posting, table updates, standard reporting, and systems
assurance.
[114] For example, general ledger records, documents, transactions,
lines, and vendor records.
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