Overview: About the iJournals Module of Oracle Financials

On this page:

 

iJournals Defined

iJournals is a web-based interface to the Oracle Financials system that allows users to initiate transfers among PTAs or across Expenditure Types or Object Codes. Journal transfers are used to record transfers of money from one account (PTAEO or PFOO) to another, for example:

  • "Sale" of office supplies to another department (New Journal)
  • Correction of errors on Expenditure Detail Report (New or Salary Journal)
  • Charge for services provided to other departments (Allocation Journal)
  • Corrections to transactions that happened before 9/1/2003 (Historical Journal)
  • Funding of a Cost Sharing Award from a gift fund (Fund Transfer)
back to top

Roles & Responsibilities, and Getting Access to iJournals

There are three levels of access to the iJournals module, referred to as "Login Roles". Login roles determine the activities that a user is able to perform within iJournals. The three roles are iJournals Public, iJournals Specialist, and iJournals Central.

"iJournals Public" Responsibility

This level of access enables users to perform standard iJournals activities. Some Expenditure Types and Object Codes are not eligible for use in iJournals Public journals. Access is automatically granted to staff with a valid Employee ID and SUNet ID.

"iJournals Specialist" Responsibility

The Controller's Office grants iJournals Specialist access primarily to users in Service Centers and Auxiliaries or senior financial staff in operating units to enable them to perform specific tasks related to their areas. Activities include the ability to use restricted Expenditure Types and Object Codes; access to upload batch files; and for a subset of specialists, the ability to initiate Fund Transfers.

"iJournals Central" Responsibility

iJournals Central access is special access reserved for central office users in Fund Accounting, Capital Accounting, and the Office of Sponsored Research that allows access to additional Expenditure Types and Object Codes.

For help determining the appropriate iJournal responsibility, reference Resources & Job Aids: iJournal Responsibility Matrix. Learn more about getting access to iJournals.

back to top

Types of Transactions


New Journal

Used for most standard transfers of expenditure/expense, or transactions related to assets, liability, or revenue objects. Reference Quick Steps: Create or Upload an iJournals.

Salary Journal

Used for transferring charges or correcting transactions related to salary payments that occurred after 8/31/03 (when Oracle Financials was implemented) and before 4/1/05 (when salary journal transactions transferred to the Labor Distribution module of Oracle Financials). Use Historical Journals for transactions prior to 9/1/03. Reference Quick Steps: Create or Upload a Salary iJournals.

Historical Journal

Used for any type of expense transfer or adjustment for expenditures incurred prior to 9/1/03 (when Oracle Financials was implemented), including salary transactions. Reference Quick Steps: Create or Upload a Historical iJournals.

Allocation Journals

Used to allocated service center charges and other allocations of expenditures. Reference Quick Steps: Create or Upload an iJournals.

Fund Transfer Journals

Used by Central and designated iJournals Specialist users to transfer funds from one fund / award to another.

Upload Journals

Enables the user to upload journals from an Excel spreadsheet to the database using a preformatted template. Upload journals may be used with any of the journal types.

back to top

Transaction Approval Process

When a journal is created, iJournals automatically selects appropriate approvers based on the PTAEOs and PFOOs involved in the journal. The list of approvers appears on the "Routing List" screen during the journal creation process.

  • If the journal originator has sufficient authority to approve the transaction, no additional routing is required, and the journal is considered "complete" when submitted.
  • The originator cannot change or delete approvers' names that automatically appear on the routing list. To comply with department policy, approvers may be added.
  • Approvers do not have the option of modifying the journal. If an approver finds anything wrong with a journal, they must reject the journal in order to return it to the originator for modification and re-routing.

To learn more about the approval process, see Overview: Approving Financial Transactions in Oracle: About Workflow.


Journals Awaiting Approval at Month-End

Journal originators are responsible for monitoring the approval status of their journals. Journals must be completely approved, including end-routes, by the cut-off date each month to be included in the month's activities. See Overview: Month End Close, Month End Close Schedule.

At the end of each month, the Controller's Office Financial Information & Reporting Systems group will change the period of nay unapproved journals in the system to the following month (i.e., the period for any November journals not approved by the cut-off will automatically be changed to December). An unapproved journal will remain active in the system until it is fully approved.

back to top

Available Training

The following training is made available by the Controller's Office:

Drop-in practice labs are available every Friday (except holidays) from 9:00 AM until noon, in the IT Servcies Arguello Computer Labs @ 427 Arguello Way. Knowledgeable staff is on hand to answer questions about the Oracle Financial system modules. No registration is required.

Desktop Practice Environment

You can practice using iJournals from your desktop by using the practice database. This allows new users to hone their skills without creating or impacting "live" production data. The practice database is a copy of the production database (updated monthly). Email notifications are not sent to approvers, and transactions approved in the practice database will not be posted to the General Ledger.

You will need a SUNet ID and password to log in. Access the Oracle Financials Practice database.

back to top

Staying Informed

  • To receive email communications regarding changes and updates to iJournals, subscribe to iJournals-users@lists.
  • Check Archived Bulletins to view communications distributed on or after August 1, 2007. Bulletins are organized by activity and date. See Month-End / Year-End Close or Funds Management for iJournals communications.
back to top

iJournals Reporting Tools


Journal Inquiry

Users may use Journal Inquiry within iJournals to access and print individual journals. This is the only place users may view the Journal Justification; justification information is not included in any ReportMart3 reports. Protected journal entries (e.g., salary journals and human subjects) may only be viewed by the originator and Central Office users.

An alternative to Journal Inquiry is the FIN_JNL_230_Journal_Inquiry report in ReportMart3.

iJournals Reports

Reviewing the online Expenditure Detail Reports enables users to:

  • determine the need for creation of an iJournals transaction
  • see the results of iJournals transactions

The list of Expenditure Detail reports can be found in ReportMart3 by selecting the "Distributed, Expenditure Management" category.

back to top