BFT FAQs
Frequently Asked Questions for BFT users
Data can only be entered to cells at "child" (ie lowest level) cost centre level
AND:
I&E data entry requires a child Source of Funds level and (recommended) a child-level Natural Account
Payroll data entry requires a child-level Employee cost code combination
Enterable cells appear either as white, pale grey, or yellow
Non-enterable cells will appear in a mid to dark grey
Enter your data then press the F9 key to commit/save your changes.
Data entered in most cells is green at first then black once saved, though entries in Total columns go black straight away (because they force the system to calculate and save)
It is also possible to save data via the menus (Actions menu/Save data changes)
Throughout BFT, zero suppression on rows is turned on by default, to avoid showing (potentially) large numbers of blank rows in each screen.
In BFT cubes, zeroes can unsuppressed using the ribbon icon.
Zero suppression is permanently turned on in BFT websheets.
Payroll is updated after each month's Payroll run, with Actual pay.
I&E trial balances for Actual £ and FTE are loaded to BFT each month end, daily during Working Days 1-7 plus a further update for Working Day 10 of Quarter Ends (Oct, Jan, April, July).
At Year end further adjustments will also be loaded as required to balance BFT to the final Oracle Financials values.
BFT includes: PY Totals column in I&E + Actual 18/19 Payroll
Select: Actions Menu/Reset View (available in BFT Cubes only).
Before the Autumn 2019 upgrade of BFT, data entry required "ownership" of the cost centre concerned. This is not required after the upgrade
The Landing Page includes buttons to access all BFT functions, plus a dropdown cost centre selector in the heading.
Please note the Landing Page banner is Blue for the Production (Live) system and Green for the Training system
You've perhaps changed the cost centre in the new page?
Please note that resetting the view in the Actions Menu, sets the cost centre on the page to the highest level available
The Summary of Employees (SoE) displays Employee data for the selected cost centre. The SoE:
- Does not display blank rows
- May be filtered to show data by
- Name
- Grade/stage
- Staff classification code
- Costing dept
- Account code (Cost Centre, Natural Account, Source of Funds)
Complete the Add New Employee form, which is available from the Landing Page, or from the link in the heading of the Summary of Employees
Use the Add New Employee form, choosing "Provision" in Person/Provision column. (For savings, enter the £ amount as a negative figure)
In the Payroll Planning cube, select data using the Subset Editor in any of the following dimensions: Employee (Name/Number), Pay Element or Cost Centre.
Immediately,as soon as the user-triggered process (to add an Employee, or Cost Code Combo) has completed.
Check with your divisional finance team… for example, see MSD recommendation below:
1. Analyse journal gap & process budget virements (optional…avoid virements!)
2. Review FTE’s using Summary of Employees (or oFTE Analysis screen) and correct where necessary
3. Review material variances to identify staff members to investigate in more detail (Excel output)
4. Consider grade changes
5. Add new starters and new provisions
6. Consider cost coding
7. Manual edits in Employee Record Card (or iPayroll Main Planning View)
8. Export output, format using macro and sense check the plan
5 Natural Accounts are used for FTEs:
- CA002 FTE Academic - University Funded
- CA003 FTE Non Academic - University Funded
- CA004 FTE Academic - Externally Funded
- CA005 FTE Non Academic - Externally Funded
- CA006 FTE Apprentices
FTE values are allocated to these codes according to the following rules:
"Academic" staff are those with Staff Classification Codes starting with "A*"
"Non-Academic" staff are those with all other Staff Classification Codes
AND
"Externally Funded" staff are those costed to Research grants, or Source of Funds codes with A, B or C prefixes
All other staff are "University Funded"
Please note: ***The "Headcount cap" is currently applied to University-Funded Non-Academic FTEs***
Actuals
Oracle Actual FTE values are updated each month end by the Financial Reporting team, using the monthly Core/HR Payroll data. The Oracle Actuals are uploaded to BFT with the I&E Trial balance update.
Budget/Forecast
BFT applies the same logic to budget/forecast FTEs
Is there an FTE against the new addition? (Easier to see "no data" entries in Payroll Planning BUT need to unsuppress zeros). NB zeroes are always suppressed in the Summary of Employees
I&E update has not been run. Otherwise, check the pages being compared have the same settings (Cost centre, Ledger etc)
1. A payroll journal may have been entered on BFT for the person earlier in the day. In this case the journal posting process applies “Read only” security to the codes used in the journal. A late (overnight) process corrects the security, but in the time between the two processes, the journal cost lines cannot be edited. The lines will be editable the next day, after the overnight process has run.
2. Your cost codes carry the "minority" FTE (ie less than 50%). In this case, the Grade/stage and Pension can only be edited via the "majority" FTE cost centre. However, you should still be able to edit the FTE and "Other" payroll detail for your cost codes.
