Introduction to nVision Reporting

INTRODUCTION TO NVISION REPORTING

PS/nVision enables you to retrieve information from your PeopleSoft database into a Microsoft Excel
spreadsheetnot merely as raw data, but as information in a form that helps you see the big picture, explore
the details and make decisions. Also, you can use familiar Excel commands to format and analyze the data.
We recommend that the departmental expenditure transactions on the nVision report(s) be reviewed monthly to
help assure the validity of financial transactions by comparing original documents to the transactions listed on
the report(s).
ACCESSING PEOPLESOFT FINANCIALS
You must have a PeopleSoft (PS) Financials account to access nVision. In order to obtain a PS Financials
account, you must request one by completing a PeopleSoft Account Request Form, which can be accessed via
the internet at http://www.uno.edu/~ucc.
Double-click the Citrix Program Neighborhood
computer, please contact the UCC Help Desk).
A dialog box will appear. Double-click the PSFT-HE

icon on your desktop. (If Citrix is not on your

icon.

The box below may appear. Click OK.

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A dialog box will appear requesting that you log into the uno-domain network. Enter your LAN user name and
password in the appropriate boxes.

Enter your LAN username

Enter your LAN password
If domain is not entered, it
should always be uno-domain

Your LAN
username and
password are the
ID and password
used when you
first logon to
your computer.

Wait several seconds for the PeopleSoft Signon box to appear.

In the Application Server Name box, click the dropdown arrow and choose the appropriate database.
Database Descriptions:
FPRD_APP: Financials production
database; all financial data is
entered in this database
Click on the down
arrow and select
FPRD_APP.

University of New Orleans

HPRD_APP: Human Resource

database; all HR data is entered in
this database.

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Enter your PeopleSoft username and password for the Financials database. Click OK.

Enter your PeopleSoft Financials ID

Enter your PeopleSoft Financials Password

Click on the OK
button after entering
the information
above

Read the How

To Box below
on how to change
your password

HOW TO CHANGE YOUR PASSWORD

At this point, before clicking O.K., you may change your password. In order to change your
password:
1.
After you have entered your username and password, click the Set Password
button.
2.
PeopleSoft will start to load, and then the following screen will appear:

3.
4.

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Enter your New Password in both of these fields. Then, click the OK button or
press Enter. Passwords can be 8 characters or numbers.
PeopleSoft will now load as normal.

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Introduction to nVision Reporting

The following panel will appear:

YOU ARE NOW IN PEOPLESOFT FINANCIALS!!

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Introduction to nVision Reporting

INTRODUCTION TO NVISION REPORTING

ACCESSING nVISION
Go PeopleTools nVision

The PeopleSoft screen will minimize and Microsoft Excel will appear. Click on Enable Macros (both times).

The following window will appear:

YOU ARE NOW IN NVISION!! Please note the additional menu items of nVision and Drill.
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INTRODUCTION TO NVISION REPORTING

ACCESSING nVISION REPORTS
Access to the budget reports in nVision is given by the Office of Financial Services. Your request for access to
your nVision reports can be made by completing the nVision Request for Folder/File Access form, which can
be accessed via the following: http://www.uno.edu/%7Efinserv/peoplesoft/nvision_form.html.
Choosing a Report
There are separate folders for each fiscal year since PeopleSoft Financials was implemented at the University of
New Orleans. Data for years prior to this implementation are still in the legacy system.
Click View.
The folders can be opened by either double-clicking the folder, or clicking the folder once and then clicking
Open.
Open the Fy2002 folder.

Upon clicking on one of the fiscal year folders, there are separate folders for each college and major support
unit. At this point, you will know which fiscal year folder you are in by the Look in: box in the window.

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Open the college of business folder.

If you receive the message below, this indicates that you do not have access to the folder in which you are
attempting to open.

Click OK.
Open the folder for the financial services.

Open the folder for purchasing.

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This folder contains the file names of the nVision reports maintained in the folder Fy2002/financial
services/purchasing.
These are the elements (chartfield combination) for identifying and choosing the desired report:
The Department ID this appears as Dept followed by the department ID
The Fund this appears as FD followed by the fund code for this report
The Program this appears as PM followed by the program code for this report.

Chartfield Name
Department
Fund
Program

Definition
Tracks information according to the divisional
breakdown of the University.
The primary structural units of Education and
Government accounting
Established by the National Association of College
and University Business Officers; Classification of
the types of support given to the University.

Highlight the desired report [Dept(8400400000)-FD101XX-PM50000.xls] and click Open.

This is the format for the nVision reports for FY2001 and FY2002. The format was changed in FY2003.

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Now, open the same file in fiscal year 2003. Please note that the current spreadsheet must be closed because
two files with the same file name cannot be open at the same time. Click View. Open the following file:
Fy2003\financial services\purchasing\Dept(8400400000)-FD101XX-PM50000.xls.

Differences/Changes in format between fiscal years:

1.

Order of Account Categories:

2.
3.
4.
5.

Transfers
Debit/Credit Indication
Remaining/Overdrawn Indication
Calculation of Fund Balance To Date

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Old Format
1. Fund Balance
2. Revenue
3. Expenditure
No
No
No
No

New Format
1. Expenditures & Transfers
2. Revenues
3. Fund Balance
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes

University of New Orleans

Introduction to nVision Reporting

INTRODUCTION TO NVISION REPORTING

READING THE NVISION REPORT
The report format is an Excel spreadsheet
Report ID Information the upper left corner has the identifying information: Fund, Department,
Program, and Project (if it applies to the report).

Report Date Information the upper right corner has the date information: Report Date, Fiscal Year,
Run Date. The Run Date informs the user of the last date in which this report was updated. nVision is
updated nightly.

Report Groupings by Account (classifies the nature of the transaction)

EXPENDITURES & TRANSFERS section
Personnel Services all the expense accounts for salaries and wages
Employee Benefits
Expenditure
Non-Payroll Expenses are grouped by the pooled budget accounts, each with its
accounts begin
with a 6.
own subtotal. These pooled budget groups are:
Transfer
Travel
Capital Outlay
accounts begin
Operating Services
Major Repairs
with an 8.
Supplies
Debt Service
Professional Services
Indirect Cost Recovery
Other Charges
Transfers

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REVENUE section - revenue accounts begin with a 4

OPENING FUND BALANCE section carry forward balance from previous fiscal year;
begins with a 3
CALCULATION OF FUND BALANCE TO DATE section
=Opening Fund Balance + Revenue Expenditures

Report Totals at the end of the report are expenditure and transfer totals by:
Payroll & Benefits Total
Operating & Other Total
Total of All Expenditures & Transfers

Report Columns (DR Debit; CR Credit)

Preliminary Budget this is the budget amount for each pooled budget account as of the
date of the report; therefore, it is the initial budget plus/minus any budget adjustments
EXPENDITURES section of nVision
REVENUE section of nVision
DR - negative budget (should inquire)
DR positive budget
CR - positive budget
CR negative budget (should inquire)
Pre-Encumbrance initially this column will not have entries; when online requisitions are
offered, the amount associated with the requisitions will be here; the pre-encumbered amount
is the total of requisitions not yet processed into purchase orders
EXPENDITURES only section of nVision
DR positive encumbrance
CR negative encumbrance (should inquire)
Encumbrance this is the value of all outstanding purchase orders
EXPENDITURES only section of nVision
DR positive encumbrance
CR negative encumbrance (should inquire)
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Fund Balance, Revenue, Expenditure this column includes revenue, expenditure, and
fund balance amounts:
REVENUE section of nVision
o DR Debit negative revenue (should inquire)
o CR Credit positive/realized revenue
EXPENDITURES section of nVision - the total of all expenses actually paid or
recorded as a payable; this will also include any transfers or reclassifications of
expenses (i.e., interdepartmental transfers)
o DR Debit positive/actual expenditures
o CR Credit negative expenditures (should inquire)
The total of the carryforward fund balance
o DR Debit negative fund balance (should inquire)
o CR Credit positive fund balance
Budget Balance/Budget Deficit this column is calculated; it adds the columns across for
the captioned revenue, expense, total, or subtotal.

The last column in the spreadsheet does not have a column heading; it indicates whether there is a remaining
balance or overdrawn balance (deficit) by subtotal.

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INTRODUCTION TO NVISION REPORTING

GETTING TO THE DETAILS (Drill Down)
Drill Down Function
The initial nVision report provides year to date information by chartfield combination. In order to retrieve the
details behind the amounts, there is a feature called Drill. This feature reads the detail transaction information
directly from the database. This feature works from any field in the report that is not an Excel formula.
Below are the drill options currently available in nVision:

The Drill options used most often are:

Budget
Encumbrances
Expenditure/Revenue
Expenditure Detail
Payroll Detail
To use drilldowns, please follow the steps below:
1.
Place the cursor in the cell of the nVision report in which analysis or details are required.
Drilldowns work when a number is shown in the cell. They do not work when there is a formula
in the cell, i.e., E11-C19.
2.
From the Microsoft Excel menu, choose Drill.
3.
Choose a drill down option from the drop down list. Be sure to choose an option consistent with
the type of the amount you have chosen. In the example below, the user is looking for the details
on an amount in the Preliminary Budget column; therefore, the user will choose Budget.
Drill Budget

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Drill results are brought to the screen on a separate spreadsheet.

In order to view the columns with data all at once, change the zoom. See the results below:

The first column (column A) of the spreadsheet results of the drill is the Journal (also known as the
Journal ID), which is a type of identifier of the transaction.
Column C is the Jrnl Date, which is the effective date of the transaction.
Column D is the Line Descr, which is a short description of the transaction.
Column E is the Amount of the transaction.
Columns G thru K include the chartfield combination for this transaction.
At this point, you can do one of the following:
1. Return to the report by using the Window menu item at the top of the screen.
2. Return to the initial View screen by clicking the
icon to the right of the spreadsheet.
3. Save the spreadsheet (see save instructions below), OR
4. Close the spreadsheet.
Multiple drill results windows can be open at the same time.
Return to the report using the Window menu item at the top of the screen.
Now, we will choose the Expenditure/Revenue drill option. Follow the numbered hands below.
Drill Expenditure/Revenue

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Drill results are brought to the screen in a separate spreadsheet.

When drilling on expenditures in the Personnel Services grouping, the Journal ID will, most often, be composed
of an HRPR followed by a series of number (for example, HRPR000079)
When drilling on all other expenditure groupings, when the Journal ID:
Begins with AP, it is, more than likely, an Accounts Payable journal
Begins with LEG, it is a transaction transferred from the legacy system
Begins with PO, it is an encumbrance
Begins with DEPT, it is a departmental deposit transaction done through Student Financials
Begins with SF, it is a Student Financials journal entry
Is a series of numbers, it is an online journal entry, such as an interdepartmental
Scroll to the bottom using the scroll bar to the right of the spreadsheet.
Notice those transactions whose Journal ID begins with AP also have a Ref/Voucher ID. These transactions
indicate that a vendor has been paid OR that a payable was setup and a vendor will be paid in the future.

In order to view more detail on these types of transactions (only), you can drill on Expenditure Detail.
Return to the report by using the Window menu. The cursor should still be on the amount in the cell on which
details are required.

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Drill Expenditure Detail

The results of the Expenditure Detail drill includes the Voucher, Invoice #, and Vendor Name of the
transactions in the Expenditure/Revenue drill in which the Journal begins with an AP.

PLEASE NOTE THAT THE EXPENDITURE DETAIL DRILL OPTION DOES NOT INCLUDE ALL
TRANSACTIONS. Only the Expenditure/Revenue drill option includes all transactions.
Generally, all information necessary to reconcile accounts or research errors is available through the various
drill down features.
In the Personnel Services category, the drill has an option to view the name of each employee and their salary
expended from this account per pay period. To retrieve this type of detail, place the cursor in the cell of the
salary amount you wish to analyze.
Now, lets choose the Payroll Detail drill option. Follow the numbered hands below.

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Drill Payroll Detail

Drill results are brought to the screen on a separate spreadsheet.

Column B of the spreadsheet results of the Payroll Detail drill is the Journal
Column C - Journal Date
Column D - Name of the Employee
Column E - Line Description
Columns F-K chartfield combination in which the transaction was charged in Financials
Column L Amount
Columns M-T chartfield combination in which the transaction was charged in Human Resources/Payroll

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INTRODUCTION TO NVISION REPORTING

SAVING REPORTS
The reports are delivered in Microsoft Excel spreadsheets, allowing the user to save all or selected reports to
their own computers hard drive. To do this:
1. From the menu at the top of the screen click File and then Save As
2. In the Save in box choose a location on your PC
3. You may keep the same file name or change it at your discretion
4. Click Save
Each drill down screen is a separate spreadsheet and can be saved by using the above instructions.
If you save a file on your local drive/PC and want to return to nVision, use the navigation below after clicking
File, Open in order to return to nVision:

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