FFTA
(Foundation Funds Tracking & Administration)
PAR Creation User Guide with Foundation Policies
https://ffta.uams.edu
Note on web browsers: Best if used with Internet Explorer web browser. Firefox and Safari may be used but do not use Google Chrome.
The link to the form for employees to sign up to receive reimbursements via EFT is here: https://ffta.uams.edu/help/DirectDepositForm.pdf or under Useful Links in the menu.
There are two options for logging in on the left hand menu bar. If you are already logged into a computer with your UAMS network ID and password, select “Login Direct”. If you are outside of your normal workstation, select “Login” and type in your UAMS network user ID and password. The FFTA user ID and password will always be the UAMS network user ID and password. When you have to change your password for the network, you will need to use the new password to log into the FFTA system.
1. From the View drop-down menu, select “Active Accounts”. If you haven’t already done so, save this as the default view.
Find the account you need to pay from and click the “View” option.
2. Verify that the balance is sufficient enough to process a payment request, and then select “Payment Request Form” and click “Go”.
3. The new PAR form is open and ready for data entry. Notice that your user information automatically defaults under Contact Person RE Expenditure and Contact Person Phone.
3A-Select “Search/Change Vendor” to select a company or a person from the vendor file. There is an appendix at the end of this manual on the FFTA Vendor Request Process, but here is an excerpt from that appendix that explains how to search for a vendor:
Vendor Search: To do a vendor search, type in some keywords in the vendor name field and hit the search button. Common keywords are a last name, or partial name using either lowercase or uppercase letters, or numbers for a fund or cost center, but do not use any punctuation such as apostrophes, symbols (dashes okay) or quotation marks. It will not bring up the vendor, and it will seem like the vendor does not exist. For example, if searching for Daddy’s Deli, just type in daddy, to search for a last name, type in the last name in lower case letters. For a UAMS account, if searching for a cost center, just type in the 7-digit cost center. Or you can type in UAMS and bring up every vendor with UAMS in the name.
Once the vendor is selected, the fields of Make Check Payable To, Vendor ID, Vendor Primary and Mail Check To will automatically populate. You cannot manually change the information in these fields.
3B-SAP ID field is to be entered for an employee who is getting a payment or reimbursement that is considered taxable and must go through payroll. The charge type must also be “Taxable” (discussed further in step 4).
3C-Enter the purpose of the expenditure. We require the business purpose to be listed on every PAR. Please provide more information than just stating “Department lunch”, “Recruitment”, “Book purchase” or “laptop”, etc. We need to know WHY something is being purchased just as much as WHAT is being purchased. We can see what is being purchased or reimbursed by looking at the receipts or invoice documentation attached. However, it is not readily evident at times by looking at the backup as to why something is being purchased or reimbursed.
3D-Enter the information for any taxable payments for individuals or companies that are not corporations, but not for UAMS employees. This is most commonly used for paying honorariums to speakers that come to our campus from other institutions. A W-9 for 1099 purposes may be required to be uploaded with the payment request documentation.
3E-Click the appropriate radio button if the payee is a University employee. Also leave the Non-Resident Alien radio button selection to “No”.
3F-Enter the check remittance text information. This has a maximum length of 40 characters and is similar to a memo line on a personal check. If we are reimbursing an employee or a cost center, enter “Reimbursement”. It is optional if you want to elaborate on what the reimbursement is for. There are certain requirements for invoices or statements. The information entered needs to be helpful to the vendor and must be something other than an invoice number. The invoice number is entered in the next section. If there is an account number or customer number, enter that, and if there is room, put in the name. In the absence of an identifying customer or account number, put in UAMS and a department or a contact person. If paying on a restaurant ticket, put in the order or ticket number and date if there is not a name listed.
4. Follow the instructions in 4A-4E to enter charges:
Clicking “Add Charge” will show these fields:
4A-Enter the amount of the invoice or reimbursement total. NOTE: Only use multiple lines if using different expense codes or if multiple invoices are paid on the same PAR. Do not use a separate line item for reimbursements if reimbursing more than one receipt if the expense code is the same. This does not take the place of a tally sheet or a spreadsheet listing each itemized amount. A maximum of 6 lines to a PAR can be entered.
4B-Enter the appropriate expense code from the drop-down box. Here are some of the most commonly used expense codes and examples of when and when not to use them:
50000- Use for support of a specific employee or resident. Examples include dues, subscriptions, poster presentations, registration fees if not in travel status. Do not use this code for departmental meetings or functions.
50500- Salaries other than for research
51000- Public/Staff Relations. This is one of the most commonly used codes. Use this for departmental meetings, parties, receptions, retreats, or other departmental functions, coffee/water services, etc. Use this code for visiting professor or for Resident functions as well.
51500- Other research expenses (not salaries/benefits)
52000- Student support. Residents are classified as employees instead of students.
52500- Research salaries
53000- Faculty/Staff scholarly travel
53500- Research travel
54000- Recruiting, either for potential employees or future students
55000- Sponsored Programs
56000- Equipment/Technology. This is only for large equipment and technology purchases for construction/renovation.
57000- Construction and Renovation. Includes all fees associated with constructing and renovating as well as landscaping.
58000- Fundraising. Used for fundraising events, donor stewardship or for fundraising consultants or campaign costs.
59000- Other. This is used for supplies, cell phones, maintenance, etc. that does not fall into any of the other categories.
40000- Gift Cash. Not for campus use. Institutional Advancement uses this code to refund donor gifts when necessary.
4C-Charge type will most always be Regular unless a charge has to go through payroll. Change the charge type to Taxable only if a payment or reimbursement to an employee has to be sent through payroll (reference step 3B). The definition of Taxable for this purpose is taxable payments made by Payroll. This charge type prevents the data routing to the Foundation for approval. Here are some common items that must go through payroll, keep in mind this list does not include everything:
FGP Benefit for athletic club joining fee
Bonuses or awards to be paid with foundation funds
Reimbursements for tuition paid or for scholarships awarded
Airline club or Social club reimbursements
Personal expenses upon approval of Dean, Vice Chancellor, etc.
Spousal expenses for travel if spouse is not required to be present for official business
Meal reimbursements while moving
4D-Enter the invoice number if paying an invoice. If there is not an invoice number, please leave this field blank. Note that there are some statements that show the invoice number and invoice date. Please include this information if it is available. This is straightforward for most invoices being paid. Some are different, however. For example, on Creative Services invoices the job number is the invoice number.
4E-Enter the invoice date. The date will default to the current date. Change this date only to correspond to the invoice date on the invoice. Again, mostly it is straightforward unless an invoice date is not given. Continuing with the example above, the date completed is the invoice date on Creative Services invoices.
Click “Add” to make sure the charges appear. Repeat the steps above if there are additional lines to enter. The “Total Check Amount” field will automatically calculate, therefore do not enter any amounts in this field.
5. Upload all relevant documentation here:
The options in the Select Document Type dropdown box are as follows:
Check Copy, Invoice, Other, Receipt. Check copy refers to uploading the check after it is received in the department. Simply follow the instructions on the screen to upload the documentation.
Documentation Requirements:
-All documentation must be in .pdf format.
-Itemized receipts are a requirement. If an itemized receipt is unavailable, please document in the purpose of expenditure field that one was not available or it was lost.
-A list of attendees is required for all official business functions, or if this is not practical, an invitation list will suffice. If there was not one, please state the reason why in the purpose of expenditure field.
-A brochure is required for all travel as well as a statement that this travel was not processed through the UAMS Travel Office or that payment was denied by Travel.
-An itinerary is requested for recruitment and an agenda for department meetings.
-Any other pertinent information explaining the expense such as a memorandum from the department.
Documentation Tips:
-Label the documents appropriately in the file name to show which document has the attendees listed. The file name should state in it attendee list, receipts and attendees, etc. It is not a requirement that an attendee list be uploaded separately.
-Do not place tape over or highlight amounts on receipts as this makes them unreadable, if necessary, please circle relevant amounts. Do not write over the amounts.
-Do not upload receipts or other documentation that will appear sideways or upside down.
-Place documentation in a reasonable order, tally sheets or total spreadsheets first then followed by the receipts or invoices, then all other supporting documentation.
-Additional documentation can be added to a PAR at any time by selecting the “Upload” option on the account view screen. Using this option instead of “Add/Edit” will not force the PAR to go back through the approval process.
6. On the bottom of the PAR form, options for submitting vary depending on which role you are using in FFTA.
Cancel-Cancels PAR entry. It does not save the PAR.
Save-Saves the PAR so that it can be edited before submitting.
Submit-For those in the initiator role only, clicking Submit starts the approval process for the Department Admin to sign off.
Sign-off and Submit-For those with Department Admin roles who have signature authority, clicking this will forward to the Department Chair. If a Department Admin is also a Department Chair, there will be an option in green at the top of the PAR to either say yes to sign off as Department Chair or to cancel if someone else will sign off as Department Chair.
NOTE: If someone with signature authority is a payee on a PAR, another person with signature authority on the account has to sign off either as Department Admin or Department Chair; the payee’s signature cannot appear in both places.
7. During the approval process, questions are often asked. These questions go back to the Department Initiator, Admin and Chair. Often we need additional justification, documentation or a change to the information. Sometimes the justification is answered in the question log, but that information must to be in the uploaded documentation or on the face of the PAR in purpose of expenditure for the benefit of others in the approval process. We also ask that you do this and then answer the question by one of these options depending on the question asked - State that documentation was uploaded, explanation added, expense or invoice corrected, etc.
If a PAR is edited after initial sign-off, any changes made will have to be noted before you can submit or sign-off again. This helps identify why an approver may be seeing a PAR come back through again. The IAO Final and UA Office approver roles have the option to edit a PAR without it going back through the process.
8. When the PAR is approved by the UA office, the check is printed and mailed the next business day. When this happens, the check number and check date will appear on the PAR .pdf form in the lower right hand corner. The PAR status may show either Transmitted to Fayetteville or Ready to Fayetteville, as of right now we still have to manually clear these out.
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Appendix A
Expenditures from Foundation Funds
All Expenditures must adhere to the following guidelines set forth by the University of Arkansas Foundation:
· Payment authorization requests must have proper approval by someone who has signature authority.
· All travel must be approved by the appropriate University officials. If travel is being paid partially by the University and partly by the UA Foundation, a copy of the University’s Travel Expense Statement must accompany the request for reimbursement from the Foundation. Copies of receipts should be attached to the Travel Expense Statement indicating what portion is to be paid by the Foundation.
· Reimbursable items include air, rail and bus fares for which tickets are purchased provided the receipted stub indicates amount paid and destination. Lodging expenses while away from UAMS on official business are reimbursable with receipt. The cost of meals while away from UAMS on official business may be reimbursed with receipt. If a business visitor is to be a guest for a meal, the guest must be identified, purpose of meeting stated, and the receipt presented. Auto mileage for distances traveled on official business may be reimbursed. Rate for reimbursement is rate approved by the University of Arkansas. Highway, toll fees and parking fees may be reimbursed, with presentation of receipts when available.