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Research: SIMSbudgets - Universal Budget Locator

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7.0 - Updated on 05-07-2024 by Kara Marshall (qum160)

6.0 - Updated on 01-30-2024 by Wendy Peck (wly2)

5.0 - Updated on 09-22-2023 by Kara Marshall (qum160)

4.0 - Updated on 03-16-2023 by Kara Marshall (qum160)

3.0 - Updated on 03-14-2023 by Kara Marshall (qum160)

2.0 - Updated on 03-09-2023 by Kara Marshall (qum160)

1.0 - Authored on 03-08-2023 by Kara Marshall (qum160)

Article Intended For

All University faculty, staff, researchers with permission to use and/or access Penn State Research Information Systems.

Introduction

On April 4, 2023, a new enhanced version of the SIMSbudgets - Budget Locator became available for use.  The Budget Locator displays and allows navigation between user budgets. The Budget Locator has been enhanced to improve the ability search and filter results. These enhancements are listed in sections below.

With the initial launch of the enhanced version, in order to give users an opportunity to familiarize themselves and provide feedback, users will be able to toggle between the old and revamped Budget Locator.  Details related to the toggle and feedback functionality can be found in the SIMSbudgets: Revamped Budget Locator - Initial Launch. 

The navigator displays both General Ledger and Object Code budgets, and is sometimes referred to as the Universal Budget Locator as it replaces the Object Code Budget Locator.  Clicking on an Object Code budget will take the user to the Object Code Budget Explorer.  Clicking on a General Ledger budget will take the user to the General Ledger Budget Explorer. 

Article Body

Icon Menu

IconIcon NameDescription

New GL Budget

Opens a new GL budget parameters page to start the creation of a new general ledger budget
New OC BudgetOpens a new OC budget parameters page to start the creation of a new object code budget
Previous BudgetGo to the last reviewed budget
College Control PanelAvailable to college AORs to manage faculty budget access
Cayuse 424Link to the Cayuse 424 system  
Help

The help key was moved to the upper right hand corner

Clicking this link will take you to the Knowledge Base (KB) article for the SIMSbudgets Support Home

 

Search Options

After search criteria is updated, a user can select "Search" or hit ENTER on their keyboard in order for locator to perform search and display results.  The search options available are listed in the table below. 

Option TypeDescription
Budget Type
  • Retrieves General Ledger (GL) or Object Code (OC) budgets depending on which are selected
  • At least one must be selected
  • Defaults to both selected
Access Limits
  • Created by Me: 
    • Displays all budgets created by you, sorted by last updated date  
    • This is the default selection
  • My Affiliated Unit(s):
    • Displays all budgets within your assigned college/department(s) that are not private or archived.
  • Unit:
    • Access Limit must be set to "My Affiliated Unit(s)" to use this option
    • This is available those users with access to multiple units
    • Select the unit you would like to search under by using the dropdown list
    • Admin users only can begin typing a specific department and a list of department/unit (s) that match will be available for selection 
    • This selection defaults to All My Units.

 

NOTE:  A basic user will not see "Access Limits" on the search panel.  This search option only displays for AORs. Default for a basic user is only "Created by Me", therefore it is not visible.

Budget Sharing
  • All:
    • Ignores budget sharing and pulls all budgets according to other criteria Specified in search panel
  • Shared With Others Only: 
    • Only retrieves that you have shared with others
    • Access Limit must be set to "Created by Me" to use this option
  • Shared with Me Only: 
    • Only retrieves budgets that were shared with you 
    • Access Limit must be set to "My Affiliated Unit(s)" to use this option
Budget State
  • All:  Retrieves all budgets regardless of budget state
  • Active Budgets Only: Only retrieves budgets that are active, including locked budgets
  • Locked Budgets Only: Only retrieves budgets that are locked
  • Deleted Budgets Only:  Only retrieves budgets that are marked for deletion
    • These budgets will be deleted 7 days after being marked for deletion
  • Archived Budgets Only: Only retrieves budgets that are archived
  • Private Budgets Only: Only retrieves budgets that are marked private
Search Text
  • Enter text such as a PI name, sponsor name, sponsor abbreviation, budget ID, budget key, F&A (MTDC or TDC) budget title, or unit to further refine your search 
  • When searching a name, results will return any budget where the name appears as the primary PI or is named personnel. 

 

Search by Date Created Range
  • By default, only records updated in the last 18 month are returned.  If you wish to search for older records, you can enter a specific date created and end date.
  • To clear a date range entered, use the "X"  button to clear the date

Note:  Results are limited to the most recent 18 months based on the last update date, unless the "Search By Date Created Range" field is used.

Reset 
  • Clicking this will reset the search panel options to the defaults that are set based on your access/permissions.

 

Search Results

A list of budgets that you can have access to are returned based on the search criteria listed under Search Options. A maximum of 500 search results can be returned.  They system will return a warning banner if your results exceed 500.

Sponsor Not Validated

When viewing the search results, when "not validated" appears next to a sponsor name in the table, this signifies that the sponsor still needs to be validated within the budget parameter screen for that specific budget.  Example:

Graphics and Budget Details:

The graphics/icons are shown in the search panel and search results for easy identification of budget state and/or the type of budget (OC vs GL):

  • Locked Budgets
  • Deleted Budgets
  • Archived Budgets 
  • Private Budgets 
  • General Ledger Budget (Prefixes the Budget ID);  Applicable to the Universal Locator only
  • Object Code Budget (Prefixes the Budget ID);  Applicable to the Universal Locator only

When hovering over a budget, a pop-up window displays with additional budget details and the budget state graphics.

  • Unit
  • Sub Unit
  • F&A
  • Start/End Date
  • Created By
  • Current state of the budget if it is Private, Locked, Deleted, or Archived

 

Filtering Search Results

Displayed budgets can be filtered by any of the columns that appear in the table, as well as by sponsor abbreviation and information that appears when you hover over a record. To filter for specific budget detail, use the text box to the top-right of the records.

 

  • Budget ID 
  • Budget Key 
  • Primary PI
  • Sponsor
  • Title
  • Sponsor Abbreviation
  • F&A Basis
  • Unit
  • Sub Unit
  • Last Updated Date
  • Create/End Date 
  • Created By

NOTE:  When filtering for any date, do not use preceding zeros for month or day. For example, enter 1/1/2023 (in place of 01/01/2023).  

Sorting Search Results

Search results can be sorted by any of the column labels in the search results table.  To sort, click on the column name.  Arrows to the right of the column name will display up when sorted in ascending order and a down arrow will display if column is sorted in descending order.  The default sort on initial search results is by budget create date in descending order (most recent date first).  

The columns in search results are:

  • State
  • Primary Investigator
  • Sponsor
  • Title
  • Budget ID
  • Last Update

NOTE:  Create date is not visible in the search results table.  

 

 

 

 

Links

Revised by Kara Marshall (qum160)
Last modified 05-07-2024 02:38:56 PM