Accounting Tips from Dave Lyons: Using Parameters in the Kuali Financial System

In the Kuali Financial System, you can enforce business rules by using customizable parameters. These parameters create restrictions and allow certain values and combinations in various documents and batch processes. Keep in mind that only highly knowledgeable staff members should change parameters.

The Financial System provides hundreds of parameters. For ease of reviewing and revising, they’re organized by category according to key features and modules. Parameters for the Accounts Receivable module, for example, are coded “KFS-AR,” while Contracts and Grants parameters are coded “KFS-CG.” Other parameter categories include Chart of Accounts, General Ledger, and Purchasing/Accounts Payable.

Let’s assume your institution has a policy that all employees only be paid compensation through the payroll system. To enforce this business rule, you would follow these steps:

1. In the Main Menu, go to the Administration tab. Parameters are located in the Configuration section of this tab, under the Functional heading.
2. Find the parameter category for financial processing, “KFS-FP,” which includes parameters for Disbursement Vouchers.
3. In this category, select the “CHECK_EMPLOYEE_PAID_OUTSIDE_PAYROLL_IND” parameter, which can have a value of “Y” or “N.”
4. Enter the “N” value.

With this value entered, any attempt to pay employee compensation on a disbursement voucher will be denied, and the initiator of the request will see a message explaining why the transaction could not be processed. Alternatively, if your institution’s business rules allowed employees to be paid on disbursement vouchers, then you would enter a “Y” value for the parameter.

Of course, this is just one example—you can use parameters to enforce business rules in a variety of other ways. These powerful tools add great flexibility to the KFS, so it can be configured to support the specific business practices at your institution.