The Chart of Accounts (CoA), which gives the university the capability to track all incoming and outgoing transactions, has been undergoing a sweeping redesign process over the past few months. The end goal for this project is to ensure that the CoA provides an effective and efficient structure for recording and reporting the university's financial information. Desired outcomes include:

• Financial information is collected at the right level of detail and is more consistent.
• The information can be leveraged for optimized decision-making across institutional levels.
• The system is flexible and agile to allow for future university growth.  

This week, Ron Ellison, associate vice president for Business and Finance, announced that phase I of the project is complete. This phase involved conducting interviews with key stakeholders whose jobs revolve around accounting and reporting functions. During this time, we worked with our vendor, Huron, to:  

1. Complete Discovery and Assessment Sessions with critical stakeholders.
2. Identify current inconsistencies and gaps during the Discovery and Assessment Sessions.
3. Establish requirements and recommendations for CoA data elements.
4. Develop and review transaction scenarios with key stakeholders and answered questions.
5. Begin the development of CoA segment values and reporting hierarchies.

With the deliverables of phase I, the next phase will continue the work of ongoing development of the requirements for this project.  

Phase II will involve working with our vendor, Strata, and critical stakeholders to integrate existing codes into the redesigned CoA, test the redesign, implement the new CoA into the Banner Financial System and related integrated modules and applications, and provide training and direction to users.   

Associate Vice President Ellison extends thanks to all who have participated in this important process so far. This system touches nearly every area of the university. Your contributions with this endeavor will help to ensure the overall success of the CoA redesign.  

To follow the progress of this project or to pose a question, please visit the Chart of Accounts Community Site on SharePoint (Pacific login required).