Gaining an understanding of how budgets work in NOVA before you start planning will make the process go much smoother! We've provided some helpful pointers to keep you on the right path.
Periodic Fiscal Reports are required for all Community Colleges receiving Strong Workforce funding. To this end, it's helpful to understand how financials need to be reported in order to best prepare for a quick and easy reporting process.
Financials are reported by Plan AND Institution.
Financials are submitted as a summary of cumulative (without regard to fiscal years) expenditures by major object category.
Financials must ALSO be entered by cumulative (without regard to fiscal years) expenditures per Activity.
Expenditures by major object category and by Activity must be equal.
You can submit additional comments, but this is not a required field.
Work with your institution's budget office to create enough unique budget strings for each Plan--or even each Activity you've included in every Plan--for that Round of funding. Depending on your financial system's capabilities, this can make fiscal reporting a breeze! On the other hand, you must ensure that all spending is being charged to the correct budget string.
If you are unable to add additional budget strings through your budget office, you may need to track projects and activities in a "shadow system". This can be a spreadsheet or database that allows you to tag your budget and expendigtures by project and activity. Once transactions are tagged and the information is saved, a pivot table can be used to create tables for NOVA completion.
Below is an example of a spreadsheet that takes tagged data and creates a pivot table for fiscal reports in NOVA: gl.baccc.net
Every plan created in NOVA must have a budget attached to it. Within each plan, this information is entered in the 'Budget' tab. The 'Budget' section is organized in the following manner:
Fiscal Year - Note: Your budget can include up to 3 budget years. To adjust the number of budget years on your plan, go to the 'Details' tab and update "The number of fiscal years the plan will span" near the top of the page.
Institution. Each Institution you've added to your project will have its own budget section. Institutions are listed in alphabetical order.
Budget Item. Your total budget will need to be built one detail item at a time. Click the 'Add Budget Item' to start. Each Budget Item you add requires the following:
Expenditure Type (Major object category). Only one can be selected.
Activity. Multiple can be selected. This list is populated from the 'Workplan: Activities' tab.
Dollar amount.
One-time/Ongoing designation. One or the other will be selected.
Description. You will need to provide a brief description of the budget item being entered.
As you enter each Budget Item, the total budget attached to your Plan will be summarized at the top of the page.
In order to see your entire budget throughout all budget years, navigate to the 'Preview & Submit' tab. Scroll most of the way down the page until you reach the 'Budget' section (all sections will be listed tab order). All individual Budget Items will be grouped together in one place for review.