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Oracle Financials Inquiry Tools

Oracle Financials Inquiry Tools provide lookups to information stored in Oracle applications that is live or in the case of pending transactions refreshed hourly.

Select the links below or tabs above to jump to pages describing the reporting available for each inquiry tool.

Click this link... ...for reports about
Expenditure Type Query Details about expenditure types and object codes
Fund Title Query Details about funds (awards) and their projects and tasks
Requisition and Purchase Order Query Details about requisitions, purchase orders and invoices

Includes information about closing POs and seeing commitments
Financial Approval Authority Query Find the people who can approve transactions based on award or project/task as well as by authority privilege (grant)
Vacation Query For a particular approver, find who can act as their delegatee to approve transactions through either Vacation delegation or granted worklist access, includes historical delegations

Provides a list of transactions with delegated approvals
Supplier Query and Request Find suppliers by different characteristics  
Labor Distribution User Query Find the people who can enter a labor schedule or create a labor distribution adjustment transaction for a specific Stanford employee.
Pending Transactions Show information about all of your specific purchasing and business expense transactions pending for any reason (requiring processing, approval by you or others, pending payment, pending supplier setup etc).
Suspense Account Query

Find the suspense accounts (AP Default PTA, Org Suspense PTA, OSA Sweep PTA) for an org or all orgs within a budget unit. 

Organization Code Hierarchy Tool Displays the current and previous versions of the organization hierarchy at Stanford.

Access the Expenditure Type Query from the SU Inquiry Tools and Forms folder of Oracle Financials in order to look up expenditure type codes, including transaction usage and full description, in order to make the best choice to properly record expenses. For additional information refer to Topic Overview: Purpose and Use of Expenditure Type Codes.

Use the first entry field to search for Expenditure Type codes by entering any part of Expenditure Type Name or Number or any word(s) in the Description (e.g., 53101 or 531 or 3101 or Equipment or Equip). Sometimes entering a shorter string is better as "Equipment" returns fewer results than "Equip" due to some descriptions not containing the full word.

You can further refine your results by creating additional filters by clicking the Actions button, selecting Filter and then choosing specific columns to search. 

Expenditure Type Query search criteria

Results display in a table consisting of 14 columns, and include usage rules and full descriptions. Refer to the section below titled Understanding the Data for column definitions.

Screenshot of Expenditure Type Query output

Only 50 rows will display at a time but clicking the Actions button reveals a Download option which will include the full search result as well as a rows per page option to show up to 1,000 rows per page. 

Actions Pull Down Options
Field Name Description
Expenditure Type Code A five digit number, the Expenditure Type Code is a representation of Expenditure Type.
Expenditure Type Name Brief textual representation of the Expenditure Type, which is the identification of the kind and/or purpose of every expenditure recorded on the university's books.
Expenditure Category Code A five digit number, the Expenditure Category Code is a representation of Expenditure Category.
Expenditure Category Name Brief textual representation of the Expenditure Category which is a roll-up of Expenditure Types and provides identification of the kind and/or purpose of every transaction.
Salary Code

Classified as salary? Y/N

"Y" indicates this is a salary related code and is only visible in OBI Financial Reporting to those with authority for Salary Data. Adjustment to transactions charged to these codes must be made using System: Labor Distribution Adjustments.

Natural Account High level value of the natural accounting hierarchy (Asset, Liability, Revenue, Expenditure)
IJ Public Available for entry in iJournals with authority level iJournals Public
IJ Special Available for entry in iJournals with authority level iJournals Specialist
IJ Central Available for entry in iJournals with authority level iJournals Central
iPO Available for use in Internet Procurement module of Oracle
PCard Available for use in PCard module of Oracle
ET Start Date Date first available for entry in transactions
ET End Date Last date available for entry in transaction
Expenditure Type Description Explanation of typical usage, guidance on how to use and not use and pointers to other related expenditure types

 

When no results are displayed (i.e. before entering a query or after clicking the Reset button) an Additional Resources section appears showing a:

  • Link to this same report displaying all Active Expenditure Types
  • Link to this same report displaying all Active & Inactive Expenditure Types
  • Link to Expenditure Type Mapping Resource listing which Expenditure Types can be used in the Expense Request System depending on various parameters
  • Link to the Burden Expenditure Mapping Schedule listing the expenditure types subject to fringe and/or indirect cost rates
  • Link to Stanford direct and indirect Cost Rates

Access the Fund Title Query from the SU Inquiry Tools and Forms folder of Oracle Financials in order to look up attributes of funds, aka awards, and their PTAs and determine if it is appropriate to use the fund for a specific purpose.

  • What are the PTAs and their details associated with a specific award?
  • Which awards have a specific character string in their award number or fund title (name)?
  • What is the fund purpose of a particular award so I can determine appropriate uses of the funds?
  • Within the PTAs of an award, which are the PTAs matching a certain field value, e.g., Task Type = STUDENT_AID?

Find fund(s) based on a search of the fund title (Award name) or number. The search is not case sensitive, and does not need to contain the whole title, just a word or partial word.

Screenshot of the search dialog for the Fund Title Query Tool

See information about a fund, including the fund purpose and the Project-Tasks linked to the fund (Award) and a variety of attributes.

Initial screen shows only awards, with 8 columns of data, in batches of 50 rows.

  • Drilling on Award # produces a table with 35 columns of data about the PTAs of award and has its own filter to reduce results further.
  • Drilling on the words “Fund Purpose” returns the Fund Background and Purpose.

Screens of tabular data can be exported to Excel and include all rows, not just visible rows.

Screenshot of Results of Fund Title Query

 

Screenshot of Award Drill showing PTAs with added filters

 

Screenshot of Fund Purpose Drill

 

Access the Requisition and Purchase Order Query (a.k.a. Web Inquiry) from the SU Inquiry Tools and Forms folder of Oracle Financials in order to search for requisitions, purchase orders and invoices by a variety of search parameters, and take the following actions:


View information in the following sections:

  • Addresses (Supplier and Ship to)
  • Requestor Information
  • PO Line Details
  • PO Approval List
  • Requisition Details
  • Contracts Status
  • Invoice Payment Details
  • Status of Uploaded Invoices Associated with a PO
  • Change PTA History
  • Cancel PO History
  • What are the details of a specific Requisition or Purchase Order number?
  • What are the outstanding commitments?
  • What invoices have been uploaded against this Purchase Order number?
  • What POs and Requisitions have been created for criteria like PTA, date range, expenditure type and suggested supplier?

Refer to How To: View Requisitions, Purchase Orders or Invoices for more information. 

Tips for using the Advanced Search:

  • Enter multiple fields in order to narrow your search.
  • Using the Task field will require first entering a Project number in the Project field.
  • The Creation Date Range uses a combination of the "From" date and the "To" date. The default values define a range from 180 days ago to today, but can be changed to suit your search.
  • Dates must be accompanied by at least one other field.
Screenshot of the Search Dialog for the Requisitions and Purchase Order Query Tool

 

Screenshot of the List Returned by Search Dialog for the Requisitions and Purchase Order Query Tool

 

A returned search for a specific PO or Requisition number or drilling on the number in an advanced search list opens the details screen which has details as well as links for the five actions listed in the introduction above.

A button labled Upload an Invoice for Payment Processing appears just below the section titled Status of Uploaded Invoices Associate with this PO.

Commitments and invoice line matching are not revealed until the Show Commitments button near the bottom of the screen has been clicked.

Screenshot of Requisition and Purchase Order Query Report

After clicking the Show Commitments button the following additional detail is displayed:

 

Access the Financial Approval Authority Query from the SU Inquiry Tools and Forms folder of Oracle Financials in order to find authorized approvers for a Project and Task or an Award including type of approval authority, scope, limits and contact information.

Other methods of viewing authority assignments include using the Authority Manager system; refer to How To: View Authority Assignments and OBI Authority Dashboard for more information.

  • For a particular award or project and task who can approve financial transactions?
  • What is the GL Journal dollar limit for each approver?
  • Which transaction types can the person approve?

Select a radio button for either A Project and Task or An Award; when you choose a project you must also select a task.

Transaction type choices depend on the radio button selected:

Award or Project and Task Transaction  Type choices
Award All
Budget Control
Gl Journal
Project and Task All
Expense Journal
Labor Distribution
Requisitions

The query returns results including the authority scope, limits and contact information for the approver(s). The results are sorted by Transaction Type and within type they are ordered by the "lowest level" of authority granted. When Oracle Financials selects an approver, it looks for the person with the lowest level of authority first, with a sufficient dollar amount in the Approver Limit column for the transaction in question. For example, if a transaction of $900 requires an approver, it would select an individual with a $1,000 Approver Limit before selecting an individual with a $5,000 Approver Limit. Similarly, it looks for the individual with the lowest level of Auth Scope for the transaction in question. Another way of thinking of this is the approver who is "closest" to the transaction. For Project-Task based authority, the order is Task, Project, Principal Owner, Task Org and Parent Org. The query brings the results back in this authority scope order.

Screenshot of the Search for the Financial Approvers by Award

 

Screenshot Search for the Financial Approvers by Project and Task

Use the table below to map the transaction types to authority privileges and to which systems those approvals apply.

Authority Privilege Approval of
Budget Control iBudgets
Expense Journal iJournals for PTAEO transfer of expenditure types
GL Journal iJournals for PFOO transfer of object codes
Labor Distribution Labor distribution adjustments
Requisitions

Expense Requests (which includes Expense Reports, Digital Payments, TCard, Advances, Non-PO Payments and Petty Cash)

PCard Approval

Requisitions (which includes iProcurement non-catalog requests, SmartMart Catalog Suppliers and Amazon Business)

 

Access the Vacation Query from the SU Inquiry Tools and Forms folder of Oracle Financials in order to see vacation delegations (workflow directed to a different person to approve transactions) and worklist access (someone given authority to open someone else's work list of transactions requiring approval and approve them). The tool also provides an audit history of delegations of the transactions handled on someone's behalf.

  • Who was given vacation delegation and for what date range?
  • Who was given worklist access and for what date range?
  • Which transactions were handled on behalf of the selected person?
  1. Enter a SUNet ID and select Search.

    To determine a person’s SUNet ID, view the details returned by the Stanford people search at Stanford Search or go directly to the Stanford Directory. Select log in to see non-public information.

  2. The query returns the person's Vacation Delegation history and their Worklist Access history (with active delegations sorted to the top).
  3. Select the link Show the transactions handled on behalf of (SUNet ID) to see the list of transactions (with most recent transactions sorted at the top) approved by a delegatee. Transaction information includes the transaction type (e.g., PCard, Expense Requests, etc.), Oracle transaction ID, approval action, SUNet ID of the person who took the action and date action taken. 
Screenshot of the Vacation Delegation by SUNet ID

 

 

 

 

Access the Supplier Query and Request from the SU Inquiry Tools and Forms folder of Oracle Financials in order to look up details about existing suppliers, request new supplier setup and view pending requests.

Options in the left page navigation are:

  • Search/Maintain Payees (includes link to request supplier information update and link to Supplier and Payee Registry)
  • Request New Payee/Supplier
  • View your Pending Request

Refer to:

Enter a name or payee/supplier number and select Search. Names can be partial and use wildcards. To search using wildcards (%), enter: %search term%.

Screenshot of the Supplier Query

 

 

Access the Oracle Financials Labor Distribution User Query in the SU Inquiry Tools and Forms folder to find people who can enter a labor schedule or create a labor distribution adjustment transaction for a specific Stanford employee.

An employee's assignment Labor Schedule record is “owned” by an organization. A person must have the proper authority to access the employee’s assignment record in the Oracle Labor Schedule system. Labor Schedule authority is granted in Authority Manager at the Organization level (a child or parent org).

You can access the Labor Distribution User Query  directly from the Labor Schedules system by clicking the Labor Schedule Authority link in the Resources section.

Access Labor Distribution User Query directly from the Labor Schedules system

 

In the Labor Distribution User Query tool, select the Employee Labor Schedule Updater radio button. You may search for a specific employee by either name or employee number using the entry field lookup (automatically uses wildcard). The search results will display all Labor Schedule Updaters in the employee’s assignment Organization per Authority Manager. Contact one of these individuals to request a labor schedule update.

Find a Labor Schedule Updater

 

An employee's assignment Labor Schedule record is “owned” by an organization. A person must have the proper authority to access the employee’s assignment record in the Oracle Labor Schedule system. Labor Schedule authority is granted in Authority Manager at the Organization level (a child or parent org).

You can access the Labor Distribution User Query directly from the Labor Schedules system by clicking the Labor Schedule Authority link in the Resources section.

Access Labor Distribution User Query directly from the Labor Schedules system

 

In the Labor Distribution User Query tool, select the Employee Labor Distribution Adjuster radio button. You may search for a specific employee by either name or employee number using the entry field lookup (automatically uses wildcard). You must also specify the earnings date range and in the returned report note the valid start and end dates (a blank end date means through current date). The search results will display all Labor Distribution Adjusters in the employee’s assignment Organization per Authority Manager. Contact one of these individuals to request a labor distribution adjustment.

Find a Labor Distribution Adjuster

 

Pending Transactions, powered by Incorta, provides a consolidated, integrated tool where users can obtain information in one place about all of the pending purchasing and business expense transactions related to them and in certain situations, click to take action. It’s useful for Preparers, Verifiers and Approvers of transactions. The tool displays status in Oracle and is refreshed from Oracle Production (PROD) every 60 minutes.

It provides status on the users' pending transactions:

  • Expense Requests Transactions (ERS): Expense reports, visitor reimbursements, digital payments, advances, and non-PO payment requests
  • Credit Card Transactions: PCards and TCards
  • iProcurement Transactions: Requisitions & requisition change orders
  • Supplier and Payee Requests: Pending completion
  • Supplier Invoices: Pending payment, on hold...

For details on access, refer to System: Oracle Financials Inquiry Tools.

This tool, which is not part of OBI Reporting, is designed to show only pending transactions before approval is completed. Once approved, view the status of these transactions in the appropriate Oracle application.

Choosing Pending Transactions from the list of Oracle inquiry tools opens a view with information pulled automatically for your perspective and displayed in four sections:

  • Pending My Approval
  • Pending with Others
  • Uncleared PCards, TCards and Advances
  • Other Pending Transactions

Last refreshed time shows on top left. Pending Transactions is updated frequently from Oracle (usually <60 minutes).

Transactions can be displayed in more than one section.

Click on a transaction count number or pie wedge to open the navigation dialog for a section.

Screenshot of Pending Transactions (ALL)

 

In the displayed dialog, click the link under "Go to" to display transactions for that section. If you click a pie wedge, you can instead filter the display to the selected transaction type.

Screenshot of dialog returned by drill on transaction count

 

After reviewing transactions, go back to the Pending Transactions home by clicking the box to the left of the title and select Pending Transactions.

Screenshot of link to return to pending transactions home page

Other tool options include: Bookmarks, Search Field, Filters to refine your search, Hide filters and Clear all as shown in the following two screenshots.

Screenshot of incorta settings

 

Screenshot showing how to hide filters

 

There are also controls to:

  • Pop-out Table: Entire table visible on page for easier viewing of up to 5 lines at a time.
  • Export CSV or xlsx file for this table.
    Screenshot of INCORTA popout-download screen

Pending My Approval opens showing a list of all transactions which are in your Oracle workflow approval queue awaiting your action:

  • Expense Reports, Visitor Reimbursements and Advances
  • Non-PO Payment Requests
  • PCards
  • Requisitions 
  • Change Order Requisitions 
  • Supplier Invoices on Hold; over Dept Approval Hold or Subaward Hold

In this section, clicking on a transaction number opens a new tab in Oracle Workflow Notifications Approval where you can approve or reject. For further instructions, refer to System: Oracle Workflow Notification - How To.

Following are two examples:

Requisitions

  1. Click on a requisition number
    Screenshot of Pending My Approval choosing requisition
  2. System opens a new tab, Oracle Notification Details (Approval), where you can Approve or Reject.
    Screenshot of drill to requisition to approve or reject
  3. Once approved or rejected, Oracle Workflow: Notifications ( Worklist) page opens with any remaining Transactions /Requisitions needing approval.
    Screenshot of workflow notfications

Expense Request System (ERS) Transactions

  1. Click on an ERS Number like an advance or an expense report.
    Screenshot of Pending My Approval choosing advance
  2. System opens a new tab, Oracle Notification Details (Transaction Approval),  where you can Approve, Request More Info or Reject.
    Screenshot of drill to advance transaction to approve or reject

Once approved or rejected, Oracle Workflow Notifications (Worklist) page opens with any remaining Transactions/Requisitions needing approval as seen above.

Transactions will still show unapproved in INCORTA Pending Transactions until next update (<60 minutes). Transactions will show as approved in Oracle immediately.

Pending with Others opens showing transactions created by you awaiting approval by someone else:

  • Expense Reports, Visitor Reimbursements and Advances
  • Non-PO Payment Request
  • PCards
  • Requisitions

Clicking on a transaction displays summary information in Oracle applications as follows:

  • Selecting Expense Reports, Visitor ReimbursementsAdvances, and Non-PO Payment Request 
    Opens a new tab, View Summary, like Full View from ERS (can Print or Attach/View Receipts only). 
  • Selecting PCards
    Opens a new tab, View Summary (view only overview)  
  • Selecting Requisitions
    Opens a new tab, Requisition and PO Query showing this Requisition 

For example, you can click on an expense report transaction number to see the transaction Summary.  

Screenshot of transactions pending with others

 

The transaction summary displays and you can print the page or attach/view receipts.

Screenshot of Pending with Others drill to details

Uncleared PCards, TCards and Advances opens showing transactions created by you, or where you are the verifier, that have not been cleared yet.

Clicking on a transaction displays summary information in Oracle applications as follows:

  • Selecting PCards
    -Opens a new tab, View Summary (view only overview)  
  • Selecting TCards
    -Does not open another view 
  • Selecting Advances
    -Opens a new tab, View Summary, like Full View from ERS (can Print or Attach/View Receipts only). 

For example, click on a PCard transaction number to display details.

Screenshot of uncleared Pcards, Tcards and Advances

 

Transaction Review is display only, you must go to Oracle transaction system to revise.

Screenshot of PCard transaction review

Other Pending Transactions opens showing all pending transactions:

  • Expense Reports, Visitor Reimbursements and Advances 
  • Non-PO Payment Request 
  • PCards 
  • TCards 
  • Requisitions 
  • Unreleased Invoice Holds
  • Supplier/Payee Requests

Clicking on a transaction displays summary information in Oracle applications as follows:

  • Selecting Expense Reports, Visitor ReimbursementsAdvances or Non-PO Payment Requests 
    -Opens a new tab, View Summary, like Full View from ERS (can Print or Attach/View Receipts only). 
  • Selecting PCards
    -Opens a new tab, View Summary (view only overview)  
  • Selecting TCards
    -Does not open another view
  • Selecting Requisitions 
    -Opens a new tab, Requisition and PO Query showing this Requisition 
  • Selecting Unreleased Invoice Holds
    -Does not open another view
  • Selecting Supplier Request number 
    -Opens a new tab, Supplier Query and Request (where you must look up your pending requests) 
Screenshot of Other Pending Transactions

 

Use this report to search by budget unit or org code and view a list of org codes with the associated Accounts Payable (AP) Default PTAs, Organization Suspense Account (OSA) PTAs, and OSA Sweep PTAs. Budget officers also have access to a form to submit a request to change the PTAs. See Learn About: Suspense Account Query Tool.

Access the Suspense Account Query from the SU Inquiry Tools and Forms folder of Oracle Financials. For additional information, refer to Topic Overview: Organization Suspense Accounts (OSA) and Topic Overview: Accounts Payable (AP) Default PTAs.

  • What are the AP Default PTAs, OSA PTAs, and OSA Sweep PTAs for my org?
  • What are the AP Default PTAs, OSA PTAs, and OSA Sweep PTAs for my budget unit?
     

Find org codes based on a search of the budget unit or org code. The search is not case sensitive and does not need to contain the whole title; just a word or partial word is needed, but a single value must be selected from the drop-down menu.

Budget Unit:Users can type an active Budget Unit Name and a predictive search displays matches in the drop-down menu. 

Org Code: Users can type any portion of an active Org Code or Display Name and a predictive search displays matches in the drop-down menu.

Screen sot of Suspense Account Query

Download: A download button allows users to download the results in CSV format.

The Organization Code Hierarchy Tool displays the current and previous versions of the organization code hierarchy at Stanford.

The Organization Code Hierarchy Tool is accessed from the SU Inquiry Tools and Forms folder of Oracle Financials. It can also be accessed directly at orgcode.stanford.edu.

The level of access described below is for the Stanford public viewer role, but budget Officer and previewer roles have access to additional features that are not discussed here. For more information about roles, abilities, authority, and how-to instructions, see Learn About: Organization Code Hierarchy Tool

Upon opening, the Hierarchy View tab displays the effective hierarchy of Stanford’s organizational structure in a collapsible tree view showing levels 1 and 2. A triangle in front of each parent organization allows expanding or collapsing visibility of children in levels below. Organizations at the lowest level with no children are designated with a leaf. 

Previously released hierarchy versions (designated as Final status; see Org Code Hierarchy Data Dictionary for definitions of all hierarchy statuses) and their release date can be viewed individually by making a selection using the Select Hierarchy pull-down menu. Select whether to include inactive organizations and then click Apply.

Expand All displays all levels of the hierarchy and Collapse All collapses to display only levels 1 and 2. To find a particular organization while expanded, use CTRL-F to search for the org code or org name.  

At the bottom of the screen is a link to Export to Excel, which downloads the hierarchy tree view to a CSV file onto your computer.  

Oracle Org Code Hierarchy Tool - Hierarchy View

 

Clicking on an individual organization code opens a pop-up window that displays the org code attributes for the selected hierarchy

Oracle Org Code Hierarchy Tool - Organization Code Details

Select View History within the Organization Code Details dialogue to display the audit history of changes made to the specific org code starting from July 2023 to the selected hierarchy release date. 

After selecting the File Exports tab and choosing a hierarchy, select the radio button for one of the following reports to be viewed or exported and click Apply:

  • Change Request Details - For the selected org code hierarchy, displays its approved change requests, request types and reasons, and updated org code attributes. The file will have one line per request, so an org code with multiple requests will have multiple lines. 
  • Org Code Hierarchy - For the selected hierarchy, the file contains all active and inactive org codes with their attribute values.
  • Summary of Changes - For the selected hierarchy, displays changes that capture the differences from the previous version. The changes are consolidated on one line per organization. The org code is not listed if no changes were made.

By clicking on a column header field,  you can filter or sort in ascending or descending order. 

Oracle Org Code Hierarchy Tool - File Exports

Exporting Files

Use the Actions button to select Download from the pulldown. Select either CSV or Excel for the file format.

For a list of the org code hierarchy data fields displayed in the reports and their definitions, refer to Org Code Hierarchy Data Dictionary.

Last Updated: Feb 23, 2024