Frequently Asked Questions

Can you confirm that when we give departments access to their  'G' budget that they will not have access to the staffing codes.  

As you know the budgets are devolved to Dept Heads but the staffing budget remains within the Faculty Office.

Based on the training received so far, we hope that your requirement can be met.  The team will going into this area in more depth in the future and will endeavour to ensure that the staffing budget remains within the Faculty Office.

At the moment the 'G' budget goes to the Faculty and is then some budgets are devolved to the departments e.g - Budgets for consumables, will this be shown as a 'separate' budget or whether it will be consumed within the overall 'G' budget ?

Our understanding is that it is possible for you to continue to monitor your consumables budget as a department, without it being consumed by the overall 'G' budget held centrally by the Faculty.

The Faculty will have input into how budgeting is structured and this may therefore impact on your requirement.

Can an invoice be inputted without an order having been raised?

Yes, this is possible, for example in the case of utilities.  However, this may not be advisable because the expenditure would need to be shown as commitment.  In this situation it is recommended that 'blanket' order be raised against which invoices can be registered on receipt.

What should I do in the time between actually receiving goods and receiving the invoice from the supplier?

Update Agresso to show the goods as receipted.

Can Agresso show receipt by value rather than by goods?

Yes, you can receipt by value for service.

Will I have the facility to amend an order?

Yes.  Tolerances will be set as agreed within Finance.  Providing the changes fall within these parameters the order can be amended.  As with the current system purchasing needs to be controlled activity and in some circumstances it may be necessary to raise an additional purchase order to cover the amendment.  Orders over £5,000 should still go to Purchasing to handle.

What about internal recharges?

The User Group will make decisions on this at later stage

Will I be able to analyse by supplier?

Yes.  Agresso is able to analyse by supplier and also by orders placed for that month.

How can department commit expenditure for student and staff expenses when the amount  is unknown?

This requirement will be investigated by the FABS team.

What about VAT exempt orders?

VAT exemption authorisation will still be required.  Notification of this to  Finance can be automated.  The FABS team is tasked to look into the  possibility of electronically authorising signatures for such orders

Can end users print orders?

Yes, subject to the appropriate local print facilities being available.

Will the new system mean the end of telephone ordering?

This will never be completely eradicated, however, it should reduce considerably.  In Agresso Fax and email of orders will be available.  The aim is to ensure that end users conform to purchasing regulations whilst still providing flexibility to the end users.  Newton Rigg, for example, will have the facility to email orders to Campus Services.

Will a parallel system be used?

Yes. From 1st February 2001 the new system will go live in Finance and it is expected that it will run parallel with the existing system for two months, providing the heads of department support it.  However, this will not stop Agresso being rolled out across the University in line with the implementation of NT (see Point 1 above

Who will receive training on Agresso?

Ideally all end users will receive introductory training on Agresso.  However, certain individuals may need to deliver 'Cascade' training to colleagues throughout their respective department.  The training methods will depend largely on the requirements of the users.

What about intercompany transactions?

Agresso offers two options:

1. Set up each company separately within Agresso.
2. Set up each company as a cost centre within the overall University company.
To avoid duplication in the set up process, the second option may be the preferred one.  The FABS team is investigating both options at the moment.

What about property tenders?

This requirement has been added as an area for the team to investigate and  report back on.

Can deposits and prepayments be shown on invoices raised in Agresso?

This requirement has been logged as an issue by Paul Barnes.

Has the Project Costing and Billing module been developed further to include estates?

The FABS team will investigate this requirement during future training in this  area.  The team will then be in a better position to advise on this matter.