Finance Plain & Simple - The Power of Attributes

Banner Finance Plain & Simple- The Power of Attributes

created  in Banner Finance

 

Attributes create hooks or links to your data and as such create an extension to your chart of accounts. They are associated with FOAPAL elements and enable you to group and subtotal financial information for reporting purposes without having to build new or alter existing FOAPAL hierarchies.

 

Attributes can also be used to associate values with FOAPAL elements that don’t have fields elsewhere in Banner.  For example, Banner allows only one financial manager per Fund or Orgn code, however, you can create attributes to add authorized signers for each Fund and Orgn which can then be viewed in Banner on the FTIFATA form by staff in Purchasing or AP.

 

How are attributes created?

 

There are three basic steps that must be done in this order…

  1. Create an attribute Type on FTMATTT
  2. Create an attribute Set on FTMATTS (optional but sets provide additional levels of grouping and subtotaling on reports, see * below)
  3. Create attribute Values on FTMATTV

Attributes are assigned to FOAPAL elements on FTMFATA and subsequently viewed on FTIFATA.

So here’s an example… suppose I want to add myself as an authorized signer to a Fund.  First I create an attribute type “AUTH1” on FTMATTT and name it “Authorized Signer 1”. Next, I create an attribute set with the same code and description on FTMATTS (required only if you use sets). Finally, I create a code and description on FTMATTV.  For code, I’ll use my user ID “rs08” and for description, my name “Bob Siegfried”. Now I use FTMFATA to assign the attribute and value to the desired Fund or Orgn code(s) which can then be viewed on FTIFATA.

As a second example, let’s suppose you have three campuses and Facilities wants a report of costs by campus and these costs are recorded in separate Fund and or Orgn codes but your chart hierarchy does not include codes for your three campuses.  At Lehigh, we have one academic campus but three physical locations, Packer, Mountaintop and Goodman.  So for reporting purposes, I created an attribute type “CAMPUS” on FTMATTT, a corresponding set code on FTMATTS (because we use sets), and three attribute values and descriptions on FTMATTV (01 for Packer campus, 02 for Mountaintop campus and 03 for Goodman campus).  Finally, I assigned these attributes to the various Fund and Orgn codes that accumulate costs for these individual campuses.

 

So how did I use these new attributes to create my report for Facilities?  Attributes are stored in various tables but the one I like best is FTVSATV.  This table stores all attributes that have been created and assigned to FOAPAL elements, including codes and descriptions. Using your reporting tool of choice, you simply link this table with the operating ledger table or view and select only those Fund and Orgn codes that have the attribute Type CAMPUS assigned in the FTVSATV table.  Then group and summarize their activity by the attribute Value for each campus 01, 02 and 03, also stored in the FTVSATV table for each Fund and Orgn code.

* A word about Sets… if you decide to use Sets, you indicate this on FTMCOAS.  Attribute Sets, like in the example below, simply allow you to create more complex sorting and grouping on reports.  Sets are linked to one or more attribute Types.  At Lehigh, if the Set will have only one Type, we use the same code for both.

 

If you’d like more information please see Banner Finance User Guide 8.9 page 2.44.

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