Cost Centers
There are two classes of cost centers: sponsored projects and non-sponsored projects. If the project ID is NA, then the cost center is considered a Non-sponsored project cost center. If the project ID is anything other than NA, then the cost center is considered a sponsored project cost center.
Setting up Cost Centers
Cost Center setups are an integral part of the department. A proper cost center setup allows easy access to information necessary to ensure proper use of the funds by financial transaction processors, reconcilers, managers, and PI's.
Setting up Non-sponsored Projects
Email to Inform Managers of their New Cost Center
Setting up Temporary Signature Authority on Cost Centers
From time to time, during trips or otherwise, a cost center manager may designate a temporary signature authority on their cost centers. The request should be made in writing or via email specifying the time period and the person who is delegated the approval. The Budgets Group should, at that time, make a note on the affected cost centers in FMP Award Entry in the Account Comments field, "Temporarily, between ________ and __________, transactions may be approved by ___________." The cost center manager may specify that only a certain type of transactions be approved, and this should be noted in the Account Comments field as well. A pdf print of the request should be kept in R:\Cost Centers\0-Delegations of Authority.
Inactivating Cost Centers
Cost Center inactivations are required to ensure that no unexpected charges post to a cost center after the department discontinues use of the cost center. Unexpected charges may go several months unnoticed if the cost center is still active and is out of use by the department. The closeout process must be completed for all sponsored project cost centers first before the inactivation process can begin. The inactivation process is the same for all cost centers, with minor some variations (see the procedure link below).
Closing out Sponsored Project Cost Centers
Query to find cost centers able to be Inactivated
Run in PeopleSoft Finance the query UHS_ACCOUNT_BAL. Enter the Business Unit, Fiscal Year, Period, Dept ID, and NA as the project. Put % in all the other fields. When the spreadsheet comes up, sort numerically by the Program Code and auto filter the data to only pull up those with a balance of 0. Then check the other indicators as listed on the Cost Center Action Form.