Note: Definitions
Ledger: the highest level of the fund structure hierarchy. Ledgers represent campus and funding source (as defined by library business offices). They combine a large number of summary funds and allocated funds under a single umbrella. Ledgers have been created for each tub.
Summary Fund: the middle level(s) of the fund structure hierarchy. There are two levels of Summary funds: Parent (org) and Child (activity.subactivity). Summary funds exist purely for reporting purposes. They do not have money allocated to them and cannot be used to place orders or pay invoices.
Allocated fund: the lowest level of the fund structure hierarchy. Allocated funds have dollars allocated to them, can have orders placed against them, and can be used to pay invoices. Allocated funds may be dedicated to a specific subject area and purchase type, or to a specific endowment or foundation fund.
Finding Funds
All funds are associated with a Ledger. To find a ledger you can search 2 ways.
(Note that all searches filter for “Status: Active” and “Fiscal Period: [Current FY]” automatically when you start a search.)
- Go to Acquisitions > Acquisitions Infrastructure>Funds and Ledgers
OR - Using the search bar (make sure you have selected "Funds") and enter either the Name (such as Divinity) or the Code (ex DIV is 245).
This direct search will get you quickly to a known Ledger.
You may perform a general search without including any names or tub codes and results displayed will be all Active Funds in the current fiscal period. In the left hand bar you can narrow down to all Ledgers (aka Tubs). We will start with such an open search for the sake of demonstrating the fund structure.
Searching All funds willl display results for all active funds and ledgers and summary funds for the current fiscal year. You can use Facets in the left side bar to narrow down your search.
By clicking on Type>Ledgers on the left side Facets bar, the search results will narrow down to list all active ledgers in the fiscal period and you can scroll through the list of ledgers find the ledger you want to review.
Scroll to find the ledger you want to review; for our example we will review Divinity School. Click on the name or click on the View button to go to the Ledger Summary page:
Reviewing Ledger Details
On the Ledger Summary Details page, continue navigating through each of the Ledger’s tabs to view information.
Click on the Funds tab and the results will show all Summary Funds and Allocated Funds under that Ledger
If you narrow the search to Summary fund you will see that Divinity only has one Summary Fund, designated Parent Summary.
Reviewing Summary Funds
By clicking on the Summary name: Div^Library- Parent Summary, or the View button, you will be brought to the Summary Details page. You can navigate through the tab bar for the Summary. The FY and code information is in the top area and remains available as you navigate to other tabs, such as Funds or Notes.
Going onto the Funds Tab, you will see all Allocated Funds associated to that Summary Fund.
You can scroll through all the Allocated Funds until you find the fund you want to view. On this page you get the Fund balance but if you click on the fund name you can drill down even further. Let’s look at DIV Grossmann, Maria Book Fund (1987). Click on the fund name or View button.
You are now brought to the lowest level: the Allocated Fund details.
Reviewing Allocated Funds
Click on the fund name you want to review and you will be brought to the Allocated Fund Detail Summary
Click on the Transaction tab to view all transactions that have posted to that fund.
Click on View from the elipsis to see the specific transaction Details.
Alert
Alma shows the Dis-encumbrance and expenditure transactions with the same date stamp and time as the initial encumbrance, which can be very confusing. It does not actually happen at the same time; ExLibris just date stamps it this way.
There is an enhancement request out asking ExLibris to change this; it reads: “We would prefer that the timestamp for the disencumbrance and expenditure reflect the actual transaction date in Alma, rather than the current procedure of tying the disencumberance and expenditure to the encumbrance date plus one millisecond."
