97-a-006 - STARS Descriptor Table Modifications (April 23, 1997)

BILL GRAVES
Governor

DAN STANLEY
Secretary of Administration

SHIRLEY A. MOSES
Director of Accounts and Reports
900 S.W. Jackson, Room 351S Landon State Office Building
DEPARTMENT OF ADMINISTRATION Topeka, KS 66612-1248
(913) 296-2311Division of Accounts and Reports FAX (913) 296-6841

INFORMATIONAL CIRCULAR NO: 97-A-006
DATE: April 23, 1997
SUBJECT: STARS Descriptor Table Modifications
EFFECTIVE DATE: May 5, 1997
A & R CONTACT: Jerry Serk (913) 296-2318
APPROVAL:
SUMMARY: STARS Descriptor Table Modifications

The Division of Accounts and Reports has extensively modified the process for entering appropriation and expenditure limitations and other accounting information contained in appropriation bills into STARS. The new process which allows on-line updates directly into STARS tables, has required that some descriptor tables be modified. These modifications may affect your agency and will become visible to STARS on-line users on or about May 5, 1997, as they are moved from the test region of STARS to STARS production.

The modifications are as follows:

STARS BUDGET UNIT TABLE

The Budget Unit Table (D20) will have a new “Appropriation/Expenditure Limitation” field which will enable the Accounting Services Section to record the new fiscal year appropriation/expenditure limitation for that particular budget unit. This field will be used to generate the appropriation tape which updates the STARS “Appropriation File” with the authorized appropriation/expenditure limitation for the new fiscal year. This tape is processed into STARS on the night of July 1 of each new fiscal year. It should be noted that after creation of the appropriation tape, this field will not be updated to reflect reappropriations or any supplemental appropriations throughout the year. In addition (due to the on-line capability these modifications provide for the coding and updating of new fiscal year appropriations) on or about May 5, 1997, a “snap-shot” will be taken of all existing FY 1997 budget units and identical new FY 1998 budget units will be created and added to the Budget

Informational Circular No. 97-A-006
April 23, 1997
Page 2

Unit Table. For approximately the next three weeks, the Accounting Services Section will be modifying FY 1997 and FY 1998 budget units, and in some instances, deleting the previously created FY 1998 budget units as required by appropriation bills passed by the 1997 Session of the Legislature.

STARS INDEX CODE TABLE

For most agencies, the STARS Index Code Table (D24) maintains a one-to-one relationship with the STARS Budget Unit Table and thus it was relatively easy to add the new fiscal year index codes each year. Those agencies with other than a one-to-one relationship have had to manually add prior fiscal year index codes to the new fiscal year. One of the new modifications being moved to STARS production is a process which is similar to the budget unit table in that a “snap-shot” will be made of all FY 1997 index codes and identical index codes will be established for FY 1998. During the coding process, the Accounting Services Section will delete any index code that is added during this snapshot process and is associated with a budget unit that has been discontinued for the new fiscal year.

On-line agencies that do not currently have access to the STARS Index Code Table, but would find such access to be advantageous, may request access by contacting Ken Hasenbank of the Operational Services Team at (913) 296-2132. Upon the written request from your agency the STARS Security Table will be changed to allow your agency update capability rather than inquiry only. Additional information concerning update capability for the Index Code Table may be found in Division of Accounts and Reports Informational Circular Number 1194 dated May 17, 1993. If you do not have
a copy of this circular, please contact the Accounting Services Section at (913) 296-3521 and request that a copy be sent to you.

The one-to-one relationship (Budget Unit=Index Code) at the central level is easier to maintain, has less chance for error and speeds up the annual appropriation coding process. Therefore, we are asking those agencies adding index codes that do not have a matching budget unit to use an alpha character in the index code number whenever possible rather than assigning an all numeric index code. This procedure allows the Accounting Services Section in future years to add additional budget units in sequence with existing budget units. For instance, if your agency currently uses Budget Unit 2000
and in FY 1999 an appropriation act requires that a new budget unit be established for “Official Hospitality”, a new budget unit would normally be established using 2004 with a corresponding index code of 2004. However, if your agency had already established index codes 2001 through 2009 for internal use and the next series of funds used budget units and index codes 2010 through 2090, the Accounting Services Section would have to find another number to use which in this case would be 2104 or in some agencies much farther away from the 2000 sequence of numbers. However, if the
alpha-numeric index code is unacceptable, then use a numbering system that will mean something to you or your staff using the all numeric index code.

Informational Circular No. 97-A-006
April 23, 1997
Page 3

STARS FOOTNOTE AND CITATION TABLES

If you have used the STARS Budget Unit Table you have probably noticed that the footnotes and citations on a prior fiscal year budget unit do not equal what is in the STARS Footnote or Citation Tables. This is because the Footnote and Citation Tables only contained current fiscal year data. One of the new modifications provides for multiple year footnote and citation data. Therefore, when you access the STARS Footnote and Citation Tables after the May 5 conversion, you will need to enter the two digit fiscal year you wish to see as part of the key elements. For instance, the first line of footnote 20 in Agency 173 for FY 1997 would be recalled by entering 971732001. Prior to this, you would have entered 1732001.

STARS AD HOC

In order to access footnotes and citations it will be necessary to enter the budget fiscal year you wish to access. Otherwise, by leaving the fiscal year blank, all fiscal year footnotes will be displayed.

If there are any questions pertaining to this matter, please contact Jerry Serk of the Accounting Services Section at (913) 296-2318.