Division of Financial Services
Accounting
Key Points | Principles for Consistent Org Use | KFS Organization Types | Organization Hierarchy | Organization Attributes
The concept of “organization” in the KFS chart of accounts has a different meaning than in Cornell’s current financial system: the term will define units at any level within the institutional hierarchy. So in KFS, all departments, units, and colleges will be organizations, or “orgs” inside a hierarchy of seven org types: University, Campus, Executive, College/Division, Group, Department, and Section.
This structure gives the colleges and divisions flexibility to set up orgs in a way that best facilitates their unique information and reporting needs. The university defines the first four org types, and each college and division defines its own Group, Department, and Section orgs. Cornell will use the College/Division org type to report the entire university’s financial picture, meaning every Group, Department, or Section will report up through a College/Division.
The university has developed guidelines for consistent use of the organization types and structure in the KFS chart of accounts. Using these guidelines will help to enable a view of university activity that can be evaluated at a high level across colleges and units, a chief goal of the new system.
Download the Principles for Consistent Use (PDF, 127 KB)
| Org Type | Definition | Examples | |
|---|---|---|---|
| U | University | This org type represents the university in a consolidated view. There can only be one U-University org. | Cornell University |
| P | Campus | For an individual chart, P-Campus is the highest org type, and each chart will have only one P type org. | Ithaca campus, Weill Cornell Medical College campus |
| E | Executive | This optional org type is used to identify organizations that exist above the College/Division level. There can be multiple orgs assigned with the E type, but they would be used only to roll up multiple College/Division type orgs. | Academic, Administrative, Institutional Activities |
| C | College/Division | The C-College/Division org type is centrally defined and used to indicate major colleges or administrative units. | CALS, A&S, UHRS, DFS |
| G | Group | G-Group is a required org type used to provide aggregations of similar Activities within an organization to facilitate in-unit and cross-unit analysis and reporting. To facilitate university-wide aggregation and reporting, it is expected that C org types may establish one or more G org types. See the Principles for Consistent Org Use, above. | Academic, Academic Other, Student Services, Administrative, Enterprise |
| D | Department | The D-Department org type identifies the common building blocks of the university. An Org assigned with type D must meet a standard definition: It is generally focused on a particular academic field or administrative function and managed by a chairperson, administrative manager, director, or person in a similar position who has reasonable autonomy over the use of the unit’s resources.* A Department can report only to a Group. | Engineering – AEP, CBE, BME; A&S – English, Chemistry, and Chemical Biology |
| S | Section | S-Section is an optional org type that identifies organizations below the Department level. There can be multiple orgs with the S type, giving colleges and divisions flexibility in reporting. A Section can report only to another Section or a Department. | Medical College – Hematology under the Department of Medicine; Vet College – Feline Health Center under the Department of Population Medicine and Diagnostic Services |
*Note: this is a preliminary definition and subject to change.
When colleges and divisions create a new Group, Department, or Section org, they must first define its attributes. The following example shows the setup for the Ithaca campus org.
| Attribute | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Chart Code | One of five KFS charts | IT - Ithaca Campus |
| Organization Code | 0001 | |
| Organization Name | A descriptive name | Ithaca Campus |
| Organization Manager | User ID and name for the person responsible for the org; this might be the person responsible for the Operating Unit Internal Control Certification (OUICC) for all activity within the org | ewe2, Ezra W. Erwin |
| Responsibility Center Code | A definition for this code is being developed | n/a |
| Organization Physical Campus Code | Code for the physical campus | IT |
| Organization Type | Code for this organization type | P-Campus |
| Organization Default Account Number | A definition for this code is being developed | n/a |
| Organization Address | Postal information | 300 Day Hall, Ithaca, NY 14853, US |
| Organization Begin and End Dates | Dates the org is instated or ended | 07/01/2011, no end date |
| Reports to Chart Code Reports to Organization | The chart and org this org reports to | CU – CU Consolidated Financial Report UNIV |
| Active | Yes or No | Yes |
| Edit Plant Section | Definitions for this section are being developed | n/a |
| Edit HRMS Unit Section | This section may or may not be used | n/a |
