S:\HCSS\Software folder\FPS.Net\Technical Support\FPS FMS link.doc

FPSadvance.Net© - SIMS FMS link

Step 1: Export the current CFR mapping from SIMS FMS Open SIMS FMS and go to Tools/ General Ledger Setup/ 8. CFR Mappings Click on the ‘Export’ button near the bottom right hand corner of the CFR Mapping form. The mapping will be automatically exported as a .txt file to C:\sims\Transfer\Out. Each time the CFR Mapping is exported, the exported file is given a unique number. Make a note of the number so when you import the mapping into FPSadvance.Net, you can be sure that you are selecting the correct file.

S:\HCSS\Software folder\FPS.Net\Technical Support\FPS FMS link.doc

Step 2: Export the current Chart of Accounts from SIMS FMS In SIMS FMS go to Reports/General Ledger Setup/Chart of Accounts Listing Click OK on the Report Criteria form to generate the report To export the report, click on the ‘Export to disk’ button in the top right hand corner of the screen, between the ‘Report Zoom’ button and the ‘Print’ button. Make sure that you select the ‘Full Report’ radio button, and save the report in CSV format. Select a location and a name for the exported report.

S:\HCSS\Software folder\FPS.Net\Technical Support\FPS FMS link.doc

Step 3: Import the CFR Mapping and Chart of Accounts into FPS Open FPSadvance.Net and go to File/Import/SIMS FMS Coding Use the Open buttons to navigate to the locations of the files you saved earlier. Once you are happy with the selected files, click OK to import the coding structure.

S:\HCSS\Software folder\FPS.Net\Technical Support\FPS FMS link.doc

Step 4: Enter budget into FPSadvance.Net Enter all budgets into the software as usual, ensuring that a ledger/fund/cost centre combination is entered against each line. It is also possible to enter single fund codes against income budgets. This will apply to schools which use Fund Allocations in SIMS FMS. Only valid ledger/fund/cost centre combinations can be chosen against budget lines, based on the Chart of Accounts imported from SIMS FMS. If a ledger/fund combination has been mapped against a specific CFR code in SIMS FMS, it will only be available against that particular CFR code in FPSadvance.Net. Where a ledger/fund combination has not been mapped against a specific CFR code in SIMS FMS, it will be available against all CFR codes in FPSadvance.Net until it is selected on a CFR page in which case it will become unavai lable against other CFR codes in FPSadvance.Net. Please note that code descriptions are shown rather than the codes themselves. Example of a fund allocation: Example of a ledger/cost centre income budget:

S:\HCSS\Software folder\FPS.Net\Technical Support\FPS FMS link.doc

Example of a ledger/cost centre expenditure budget: Example of a staffing budget. Note that each employee record must have a total of six codes tagged to it. This allows for the analysis of salary, NI and pension costs across different code combinations if required. If this level of analysis is not required, the same code combination can be used for salary, NI and pension.

S:\HCSS\Software folder\FPS.Net\Technical Support\FPS FMS link.doc

Step 5: Export budget from FPSadvance.Net If some time has elapsed since the Chart of Accounts and CFR mapping has been exported and you suspect that there may have been changes to either of these structures in SIMS FMS, then go back and repeat Steps 1 and 2, then go to File/Export to SIMS FMS. Otherwise go directly to File/Export to SIMS FMS. If you do wish to check the current data by importing the latest COA and CFR mapping, click Yes on the ‘Reimport latest SIMS FMS Data?’ form and repeat Step 3. If you are confident that no changes have been made, click No. Select which year(s) you wish to export, and enter narratives for the SIMS FMS audit trail. These are mandatory fields. The text entered will appear in the audit trail after the data has been imported into SIMS FMS. Select an export location and click OK. Details of the last successful export can also be checked here.

S:\HCSS\Software folder\FPS.Net\Technical Support\FPS FMS link.doc

Step 6: Import budget into SIMS FMS In SIMS FMS go to Focus/Budget Management /Import Budget File. Manual profiling in the SIMS FMS budgets is lost when budgets are imported. If you are happy with this, click Yes on the Confirm form. Navigate to the location of the saved FPSadvance.Net budget export file (named FPSExport.xml), and click ‘Open’.

S:\HCSS\Software folder\FPS.Net\Technical Support\FPS FMS link.doc

Notes Profiling of Budgets Imported budgets are automatically profiled in SIMS FMS according to the following rules:

1. Budgets against staffing ledger codes are automatically profiled according to the monthly profile calculation in FPSadvance.Net. This happens regardless of the profile model selected against these ledger codes in SIMS FMS. This allows much more accurate monitoring of staff budgets.

2. Budgets against non staffing ledger codes with the manual profile model selected are profiled as equal twelfths.

3. Budgets against non staffing ledger codes with any other profile model selected are profiled according to that profile model.

Budget Changes and Virements The FPSadvance.Net – SIMS FMS link is designed to be used as many times as necessary during the year. Once the link is enabled, it will not be possible to edit budgets within SIMS FMS (although manual changes to the profiling are permitted). Any changes to the budget should be made via FPSadvance.Net then exported to SIMS FMS (Steps 4 to 6). This allows the long term impact of budget changes to be assessed in the five year plan (FPSadvance.Net), before a decision is made to alter the in year budget in SIMS FMS. Each time the budget is imported into SIMS FMS, the previous budget is wiped and replaced by the revised budget. This means that ensuring that the current year’s budget matches the strategic direction of the school is a simple task.

Discrepancies between FPSadvance.Net and SIMS FMS There are four possible reasons why the budgets in the two systems do not match:

1. Scenario planning. FPSadvance.Net allows as many different scenario plans as the school wants to set up. The school is likely to have a master 5 year plan which does match their budget in SIMS FMS. Other scenarios may exist for planning purposes which do not match the budget in SIMS FMS.

2. Timing. The school may wish to make a change to their master 5 year plan, then wait for ratification from governors before exporting the budget into SIMS FMS.

3. User Error. To ensure that the budgets match; each time a budget is changed in FPSadvance.Net , it must be exported from FPSadvance.Net , then imported into SIMS FMS. If this last step is missed, the budgets will not match.

4. System Crash. If SIMS FMS is restored to a previous date, the budget may not match the data in FPSadvance.Net. The latest import into SIMS FMS will be stored in the audit trail. The last export from FPSadvance.Net can be viewed via the File/Export to FMS menu. If the file numbers do not match, a fresh export can be saved from FPSadvance.Net and reimported into SIMS FMS.