Exception Handling

Transactions that fail budget checking are flagged by the system as exceptions. Exceptions fall into two categories: errors and warnings.

Errors are exceptions that have failed budget checking because they do not conform to the rules established for the control budget. Errors are not allowed to continue through the system. This type of control is strict. Errors stop at the budget-check stage and do not proceed until they are corrected. Most errors occur when a transaction has at least one line that exceeds at least one budget and is over tolerance. Depending on the configuration of the control budgets, the exact reason for a budget to have insufficient funds varies from budget to budget. The budget may be on hold, closed, or simply lacking a sufficient available budget amount.

Warnings are exceptions that do not conform to the rules of the control budget but that passed through the system anyway. They function as exceptions that are automatically overridden, as well as issues that do not conform to the use of the budget. For example, you might receive a warning if the budget and accounting dates differ. This type of control is loose. Warnings are allowed through the system because the transactions merely require some type of audit trail. You don't want to prevent them—you simply want to analyze them. If the control option for the control budget definition is Track without Budget, you receive only warning exceptions. If the control option for the control budget definition is Track with Budget, you receive only warning exceptions, unless there is no budget for a transaction. In that case, you receive an error exception.

You are notified of exceptions in two ways: online and through workflow notification.

With online notification, you receive a message regarding a transaction's status when the budget-checking process finishes. The message indicates the type of exception that the transaction created and enables you to directly access the appropriate transaction exception header page, where you can either view the warnings generated or view and override the errors.

With batch budget-checking, users are notified of exceptions through workflow, based on their individual security profiles in the system. The system generates an appropriate worklist for each user and may also generate an email message. Users have access to a list of budgets that caused exceptions or a list of transactions with exceptions. These two options are available through the PeopleSoft system navigation or through the worklist. This provides two ways to access exceptions and override them. As a user, you can choose a particular budget from a worklist and access the Budget Exception page to view a list of all transactions that have failed for a budget. Alternatively, you can select a particular transaction in a worklist and access the appropriate transaction exception header page to view a list of all budgets that have caused exceptions for the transaction. The worklist contains a complete list of exceptions, and it indicates the exact cause of the error or warning. These two pages enable you to inquire about exceptions and override them.

Correcting Errors

You can correct errors for transactions by:

• Changing the amount on the transaction lines to conform to budget limits and then budget-checking again.

• Changing the budget amounts to allow the transactions to pass budget checking.

• Overriding the budget for a particular transaction.

• Overriding the entire transaction for all affected budgets.

In each case, you must have appropriate security clearance.

In PeopleSoft Payables, you pay the voucher amount even if it is over budget. Because you can't adjust the voucher unless the voucher is itself in error, you usually make adjustments to the budget or perform an override.

Security for Budget Adjustments and Overrides

The security profile of a user determines which budgets that user can adjust and which budgets and transactions the user can override. You set up this authority when you set up the Commitment Control feature. Only superusers have budget and transaction override authority. A user ID and date-time stamp appear on the inquiry pages when a budget or transaction has been overridden.

Budget Overrides

Overriding a budget involves selecting a check box on the appropriate page. A superuser can access the Budget Exceptions page, the transaction header and line exceptions pages, or the exception details page for any transaction header to override a budget or transaction.