Program ChartField

The Program ChartField is used to track organizational activities or an individual’s non-sponsored activities. The Program aggregates expenses and revenues around this common purpose.

Format: Program is a five-character alphanumeric value (XX###). The first two alpha characters represent the Program group.
Status: Program is always an optional field on transactions.
Security: Certain Programs can be used to establish user security.

Program Tree

Programs are organized into a “Program Tree,” which groups Programs into one of three major types.

General Program

These are used by departments to manage a particular activity, such as a senior thesis, events, workshops, or conferences.

Format: The two-character prefix is a loose guideline of the type of area we expect would most commonly use the Program . However, this prefix does not preclude any area from using any general Program. If it works for your tracking needs, use it!
Status: Numerous, generic General Programs are available for use. Please see guidelines on requesting a new General Program.
Security: General Programs cannot be used to establish security.

Person-Specific Program

These are named for, and used to track non-sponsored-research balances controlled by a specific individual, such as a faculty member.

Format: The two-character prefix denotes the type of individual for whom the Program is established. (e.g. faculty, postdoc, graduate student)
Status: Person-specific Programs are not established automatically when hiring new personnel. Not every individual hired will have balances to track. Department managers should request these for new faculty or staff only as needed.
Security: These are established with an individual manager and can be used to establish security (report viewer access).

Cross-Departmental Program

These are used to track non-Capital, non-sponsored-research projects or research initiatives where one department manages the project, but the fiscal activity and/or responsibility spans multiple organizations. SAGIT projects are an example.

Format: The two-character prefix is always XA.
Status: Request as needed.
Security: These are established with an individual manager and can be used to establish security (report viewer access).

Program Types, Groups, and Reference Guides

The Quick Reference Guide below illustrates the Program types and the groups residing under each type.

Program Quick Reference

General

Program	Description	Usage
AC### and AD###	Academic	Lectures, faculty searches and recruiting, departmental research, workshops, fellows
AM###, AN###, and AO###	Administrative	Community Day, summer and sports camps, shuttle lines
CR###	Capital-Related	Generally used by central offices (e.g. F&T, OIT) to track capital-related activities.
EX###	Exhibitions	Generally used by the Art Museum to track transactions related to various exhibits.
GR000 - GR899	Graduate Activities	Graduate support, graduate research, graduate orientation, dissertation support
GR9##	Graduate Student Fellowships (GSF)	Various types of graduate student fellowship awards / support, tracked with individual Programs.
GU###	General Use	Training and professional development, events, seminars, backfill staff, relocation
ST###	Student Group Activities	Various student activities, including those related to student organizations and student summer credit programs.
UG###	Undergraduate Activities	Senior thesis, freshman orientation, undergraduate research, Class Day events

Person-Specific (Secure)

Program	Description	Usage
FX###	Faculty	Used to manage individual faculty members' non-sponsored awards and commitments spendable balances.
GA###	Graduate Student	Used to manage individual graduate students' spendable balances.
IA###	Faculty	Used to manage individual faculty members' internally funded, research-related grant awards. For more information, please see the Internal Grant Awards website.
OA###	Other	Used to manage other individuals' spendable balances (e.g. directors and other staff).
VA###	Post-Docs and Visitors	Used to manage individual post-docs' and visitors' (including lecturers) spendable balances.

Cross-Departmental (Secure)

Program	Group Description	Usage
XA###	Cross Departmental	Non-Capital, non-sponsored research projects managed by one department where activity spans multiple departments, such as SAGIT projects managed by OIT.

Program Guidelines and Best Practices

Since the use of Program is optional, the guidelines and best practices below will help you determine if: (A) you should use a Program to track your activity; and (B): if you should request a new, uniquely named Program.

See if another ChartField is tracking your activity.

Ensure that the activity you want to track with a Program is not already being recorded by another ChartField (e.g. Department, Fund, or Account). It is important to avoid redundancies in the chart so, for example, there is no need to use a Program to track salaries or office supplies as there are Expense Accounts designated for this purpose.

Keep it simple.

Keeping things simple keeps your administrative work to a minimum. Programs should only be used to track activities that incur a significant amount of annual expense or income and/or where there are compliance or other reporting requirements in play. Our suggestion: An activity tracked with a Program should have a minimum of $2,500 in annual transactions.

Search General Programs.

If you’ve decided a Program is necessary, review the General Programs and pick the one best suited to your activity. A guide listing frequently used and common activity generic*Programs is available in our Training and Reference Materials. We also have a Program Reference report in the Information Warehouse that will give a complete list of all Programs. This report is located in the Chart of Accounts Folder. Please note there is no setup necessary when using an existing Program, even if you’ve never used it before. Simply start coding your transactions with the Program, and it will appear on your financial reports.

Request a new Program (when needed).

If you’ve decided a Program is necessary, but the generic Programs are not meeting your needs, consider requesting a new, uniquely named Program. New Programs will be created for large (over $2,500 annually) and unique activities that are recurring over multiple years, or where there is a compliance or other reporting requirement. For example, if your department is undertaking a multi-year initiative with significant expenses, and is required to report on the initiative on a regular basis, it may be best to request a new uniquely named Program.

If you need assistance choosing a generic Program, or have questions about requesting a new Program, please reach out to the Financial Service Center.

Code your transactions

When using a Program, every transaction related to that activity must be coded to that specific Program. Since the Program is optional on transactions, there are no systematic controls to “remind you” that it is needed. Every individual responsible for coding transactions needs to be aware of the Program being used for the activity, and must remember to use it. The Program is a valuable reporting mechanism, but requires consistent use. Only use a Program when necessary.

If a transaction is erroneously posted without a Program, a Cost Transfer/Correction Prime Journal can be completed to reclass the original entry with the Program. See the Cost Transfer/ Correction Journal website for more information.

Understand General *Generic Programs.

A number of generic Programs exist that any department can use for common types of activity. Ranges of generic Programs are also available (e.g. Conference-1, Conference-2, Conference-3). With our multidimensional COA, there is no risk that another department’s activity on the same Program will be commingled, or even viewable. When running a financial report, a department will only see the transactions they’ve posted to their own organization.

For example, the Science Department (21900: SCI-Science) can run a report on 21900, Program GU292: Conference-1. Even though other departments are using the same GU292 Program, Science Department will only see its own transactions (GU292-Conference-1).

Use of a generic Program may require your department to maintain a “cheat sheet” to track the specific activity (conference, event, seminar) you are associating with that Program.