Budgetary Control enhancements to Oracle Projects R12

Budgetary Control enhancements to Oracle Projects R12

Requirement

Creating a reliable funds checking solution in Oracle Projects which mirrors the functionality currently available in Oracle Grants.

During 2010 The University of Oxford embarked on a journey to re-implement Oracle E-Business Suite, migrating from release 11i to R12. The University’s 11i configuration centred around Oracle Grants (GMS) to financially manage their research grants and capital projects. During a scoping study undertaken by Prōject at the end of 2010, Oracle Projects was configured to cater for The University’s requirements in a proof-of-concept R12 environment. Following the successful scoping study, The University decided to migrate to Oracle Projects as part of their R12 re-implementation; on the proviso that the seeded budgetary control functionality was enhanced significantly to meet their complex requirements.

Solution

  • Prōject have designed and built a series of enhancements to the seeded Oracle Projects budgetary control functionality. The result is a robust solution that meets all of The University’s complex budgetary control requirements, whilst still allowing them to leverage Project Management functionality such as financial planning.
  • Existing budgetary control functionality and setup is leveraged (funds checking at project, task, resource group and resource levels)
  • Procure to pay transactions are funds checked in real-time
  • Ability to enable budgetary controls and still use the financial plan budgeting model in Oracle Project Management
  • Total project costs are factored into the budgetary control balances and funds checking calculations (the standard offering only caters for Procure to Pay transactions)
  • Financial plans are also subject to budgetary control when they are baselined (for example, if the budget has been reduced below the current spend level)
  • Non-procure to pay transactions are not funds checked at point of entry (as the funds have already been committed e.g. Payroll), but are included in the budgetary control balances
  • Any non-procure to pay transactions that violate budgetary controls are identified programmatically and can optionally be automatically transferred to nominated “suspense” projects