Stanford’s Authority Manager ensures the right people have access to the financial tools they need to do their jobs effectively. This system facilitates the granting of appropriate access based on individual roles and responsibilities to financial systems and reporting tools, including Oracle Financials, Oracle Business Intelligence (OBI) Financial Reporting, and Cardinal Planning & Budgeting.
Access levels vary to meet diverse needs across the university. Some systems are available to all Stanford employees with an active SUNet ID, while others require specific authorization from central units like the University Budget Office or Financial Management Services, or from designated school and department resources. This page explains how Stanford’s authority management system works, outlines the types of financial authority privileges available, and highlights the best practices for managing access.
Authority Manager uses privileges to define a specific task or set of tasks that can be granted to an individual.
There are three primary types of financial authority privileges granted to employees:
- Create financial transactions
- Financial transaction systems include Labor Distribution, iBudgets, iJournals, Expense Requests System, iProcurement, PTA Manager, Labor Schedules, Labor Distribution Adjustments, and more.
- To learn the purpose of each system, how privileges are granted, and specific requirements prior to receiving access, refer to Authority to Create Financial Transactions.
- Approve financial transactions
- Approval authority is based on the types of financial transactions a user will be required to review and approve (e.g., labor distribution adjustments, requisitions, and iJournals transactions).
- To learn about the different types of approval authority, how they are granted, and specific requirements prior to receiving access, refer to Financial Transaction Approval.
- Approval authority can be delegated or shared. Refer to Delegate or Share Oracle Approval Worklist for more information.
- View or access financial data
- Authority to view financial data provides access to tools such as OBI Reporting, FFIT, CPB, and others.
- For more information, refer to Authority to View or Access Financial Data.
Authorized individuals can grant authority to others, using Authority Manager’s granting tool. This includes identifying the privilege(s) that a grantee should receive, as well as the scope of their authority (for example, the organization for which they can create, approve, or view transactions, project-task combinations or awards, the dollar limits on approvals, etc). Grantors must hold an equal or greater level of authority than the privileges they grant and must have the Can Grant condition linked to their assignment. Grantors may allow grantees to further delegate that access.
If a requested grant would exceed a grantor’s authority or the grantor lacks the Can Grant condition, the grantor (or grantee) may request a copy, edit, or revocation through Authority Manager workflow; those requests route to someone with the appropriate authority to approve the change. Authority Manager also includes a grant-only feature that enables employees to grant access for task completion even if they lack individual access to the underlying objects.
Learn more about the Authority Manager system.
Authority Manager allows employees to view financial authority assignments for themselves or others, including active, pending, and recently revoked authority (data is displayed for 360 days after revocation).
Oracle Business Intelligence (OBI) Authority Reports
The Authority Manager system includes OBI Authority Dashboard reports. Use these reports to:
- View authority by person or by privilege
- View all people with authority over an organization
- View authority for all people within an organization
- View privileges granted by an individual
- Find a grantor by privilege
Oracle Financial Approval Authority Query
Use the Oracle Financial Approval Authority Query tool to find authorized approvers for a project, task or award, including type of approval authority, scope, limits, and contact information.
To access this inquiry tool and others, launch Oracle Financials and select the SU Inquiry Tools and Forms folder link in the Navigator section of the Home page.
SUNets and sponsorships
To grant authority, an individual must possess a valid Stanford University ID (SUNet ID), which uniquely identifies members of the Stanford community. All faculty, staff, and students are required to set up a SUNet ID upon joining Stanford. Temporary workers and contractors do not receive a SUNet ID automatically. If their work requires access to financial systems, managers or authorized individuals may sponsor them via Sponsorship Manager. After receiving a SUNet ID, they can be granted financial authority, provided they meet all training requirements for compliance with university policies. When a sponsorship ends, all financial authority is automatically revoked from the Authority Manager system.
Updating and maintaining
It is critical that staff responsible for granting authority to others update those authority privileges when an employee's responsibilities change. Common scenarios that require updating or revoking of financial authority include:
- Organization or department changes
- Change to employee responsibilities
- Position changes
- Leave of absence
Authority Manager automatically revokes an employee’s assigned financial authorities upon termination or when an employee transfers to a new budget unit (i.e., level 2 orgs in the organization code hierarchy). Other changes (e.g., organization or department changes, position changes, or a status of “on leave”) require manual revocation and regranting of authority, as necessary.
For more information, refer to the UIT Authority Manager website for instructions on how to grant, change, revoke, or restore financial authority to others.
Financial authority privileges are automatically revoked in three scenarios:
- Termination of Stanford employment
- Termination of Stanford sponsorship (e.g., temporary workers and contractors)
- Transfer of an employee to a new budget unit (i.e., level 2 orgs in the Stanford University organization code hierarchy)
Transfer revocation process
Automated transfer revocation only applies to financial system privileges in Authority Manager under Financial System or Enterprise Reporting.
Auto revocation for employee transfers is triggered when:
- A human resource entry in PeopleSoft with an Action code of XFR (Change Position Number) or DTA (Change Job Assignment).
- The budget unit on the employee's new row in PeopleSoft differs from the previous row.
Exclusions from auto revocation:
- Individuals with multiple active assignments.
- Privileges which have an existing end date in Authority Manager.
Timing of revocation
Revocation is based on the effective date of the change in PeopleSoft. Only privileges granted before the effective date will be revoked. For example, if an employee changes budget units effective July 1, only privileges granted on June 30 or earlier will be revoked.
Reinstating authority privileges
To restore privileges after a transfer, an authority grantor can:
- Restore recently revoked privileges in Authority Manager within 360 days of revocation
- Manually regrant the authority privilege