General Information

Access Information

Functional Information

Grants and Contract Reporting Information

AP Query

Payroll Query

What is GL-ez and what does it do?

GL-ez is a new general ledger on-line look-up tool.

GLez is intended to provide easy access to financial information by offering:

  • Front page dashboard presentation of your accounts, no need to enter FOAPAL information
  • Single source for all account information
  • Direct drilldown to Payroll detail (with appropriate access set-up)
  • Invoice and Payroll ad hoc queries on specific vendors or employees
  • Customized and intuitive formatting for different types of accounts
  • Streamlined downloading capabilities

What will GL-ez replace?

Gl-ez is intended to be the primary look-up tool for basic account/budget monitoring and planning activities across campus. Gl-ez will ultimately replace the following look-up tools:

ND Summary Reports (with the exception of Activity Report and Asset and Liability Reports)

  • Budget Queries
  • E-Print Payroll Distribution
  • E-Print BUCR report
  • E-Print transaction history report
  • View Document Query
  • Encumbrance query

Will the previously existing  look-up tools still be available?

Yes, the previously existing look-up tools will be available at least through June 30, 2008 at which time we will remove links to those reports.

How was GL-ez developed?

GL-ez was developed by a Core Project Management Team comprised of members of the OIT and the Controller’s Office. The functionality and features of GL-ez were developed with the input of Academic and Administrative Advisory Groups which consisted of campus representatives from these areas over several months.

How often will GLez be enhanced?

The Controller’s will compile feedback from end users and work towards enhancing GLez and related reports at least every 6 months. Data quality issues will be addressed immediately as they are noted.

What if I have questions or comments?

Users have the ability to send the Controller’s office an e-mail directly while in GL-ez to provide comments or ask questions.  This e-mail will be monitored on a daily basis.  For urgent questions or concerns, please call your contact in the Controller’s office or RSPA accountant directly.

Is GL-ez compatable with Macs?

Our testing has found that GL-ez works on PCs as well as MAC systems.

Access

Why can’t I see all my funds on the front page?

In order to display at portions of all fund types potentially available to the viewer, only the first 5 funds in each type are shown on the front page. Clicking “More” will show the entire listing of each fund type.

What do I do if I don’t see all my funds and orgs?

Only five funds are shown in each format on the dashboard.  You are able to see more funds by clicking the “more” button.  If you still do not see all of your funds and orgs, please contact Carol Grontkowski, Controller’s Office, to determine your user set-up.  She may request that a Request for Finance Data Access form be completed and/or updated.  This form can be found on the Controller’s web site.

What do I do if I see funds and orgs I shouldn’t?

Please contact Carol Grontkowski, Controller’s Office, to determine your appropriate user set-up.  She may request that a Request for Finance Data Access form be completed and/or updated.  This form can be found on the Controller’s web site.

How do I get access to detailed PR information?

Complete a Request for Finance Data Access form which is located on the Controller’s web site. This form will require authorization from your two immediate supervisors (or Business Manager if such authority has been delegated). If you are the financial manager of a grant or contract, you will automatically be able to access Payroll detail for those grants and contracts.

Functional

Why are there different formats?

Funds are divided into 6 categories:  Unrestricted Funds, Grants & Contracts, Endowed Chairs/Budgeted Centers & Institutes, Discretionary/Other Restricted Funds, Agency and Auxiliary. These funds have somewhat unique characteristics and are monitored differently. For instance, grants and contracts are often multi-year in nature and are generally managed on an inception to date basis, whereas unrestricted funds (i.e, operating budgets) are managed on a fiscal year basis.

What is an encumbrance?

An encumbrance is the commitment of resources to be expensed at a later date. Although these amounts have yet to be formally charged as expenses, they are firm commitments and are, accordingly, subtracted from the budget to arrive at the remaining or available balance.

Can I sort information?

For the initial release of GLez, financial information can be downloaded into an excel spreadsheet by clicking the dollar bill icon.  From there, the user can use the excel functions to sort on any column of information. Subsequent releases will offer such sorting functionality directly on screen.

How do I download information?

The information can be downloaded into an excel spreadsheet by clicking the dollar bill icon. 

Can I see imaged documents?

Not at this point in time.  A separate project is currently underway that will enable such functionality. We expect imaged documents to be available by the end of the fiscal year.

How can I see detail for particular funds/orgs/ accounts?

Click on any fund code that has a hyperlink for additional information.  Once the detail behind the fund is displayed, amounts are hyperlinked for further detail.

How often is the data updated?

GL-ez will be updated twice a day at approximately noon and 9 pm.

What if I see an error or have a question about my postings to my accounts?

Please call your contact in the Controller’s Office or RSPA accountant. 

How is the F&A encumbrance determined?

The F&A encumbrances is based on the budgeted amount of indirect cost.  The encumbrance is reduced by the actual amount of indirect cost charged against the expense as the grant or contract is spent. F&A is encumbered in order to allow researchers to easily see what truly is remaining in the grant budget.

Why is there an encumbrance amount next to Benefits and why does it only appear in the Grants and Contracts reports?

A process has been developed to show estimated encumbrances associated with benefits only for grants and contracts. Benefits are a significant component of the employee costs associated with a given award and need to be factored in when making decisions regarding resource allocations. By encumbering benefits, the total cost (both salary and benefits) of a given employee is shown as a commitment of grant funds. This is expected to aid researchers in avoiding over-spending situations that may arise from unexpected benefit charges.

How are the benefit encumbrances determined?

Benefit encumbrances for grants and contracts are based upon the actual benefit charges associated with a given employee from the most recent payroll.  

What if I have questions, comments or suggestions for improvement?

Questions, comments or suggestions can be sent directly to the Controller’s Office via the “Email your comments to.. E-mail” link at the bottom of the GLez front page. We expect to be able to respond to comments within 24 hours, if not sooner.

I have a large portfolio of accounts. What is the easiest way for me to search for a specific item?

The most effective way to search for an item on a given page is to use the “Find” feature under the “Edit” section of your browser tool bar. Please note: the “Search” feature at the top of each GLez screen is not a functional input field. We are looking at ways to eliminate this feature from the GLez pages.

Grants and Contract Reporting

In what order are grants and contracts listed?

Grants and contracts are listed in order of grant number (as opposed to fund number). This is done to ensure both the grants and any associated cost share accounts (which have a different fund # range) are shown sequentially.

Can I see Payroll detail for my grants and contracts?

If you are listed as the financial manager on a grant or contract, you will automatically receive detail Payroll access for those grants and contracts. This is to ensure researchers have the financial information in sufficient detail to manage their awards.

AP Query

What if don’t know the exact vendor name?

You may search on any three or more consecutive letters in the vendor name.  For example, “fis” will pull up Fisher Scientific and Bonefish Grill, among other entries.

How will I know the right vendor name to choose?

In general, the listing of vendors should be relatively short if you have sufficiently limited your query. You may need to click on the different vendor names until you find the one in which you’re interested.

Payroll Query

What do I need to input? 

You must know either the Net ID of the person or the fund/org combination that the payroll was charged.  Date Range and Employee Class are also necessary to facilitate the search. The wildcard (“%”) is shown as the default employee class—meaning you will get all employee classes associated with your input parameters.

What will I see if I don’t have PR access?

Caution

User does not have permission for this orgn.

If you believe that you should have access, please use the Request for Finance Data Access form found on the Controller’s web site.