Chart of Accounts Redesign Project phase 2 update

The project to redesign Pacific's Chart of Accounts (COA) is making steady progress toward the July 2020 implementation date. The COA is the university's financial backbone: the mechanism for organizing and tracking accounts and reporting financial hierarchies.

Pacific is redesigning its COA to make financial data more readily accessible, consistent and manageable, and to better support decision-making across the university. The existing COA does not meet the current and evolving budgeting and financial management needs of the university. Better data results in better decision-making.

The July 1, 2020 rollout will provide a new chart that is:

• Simple, intuitive and easy to use
• Dynamic, flexible and scalable
• Accessible and accurate

How will the new COA help the university?

The new COA will benefit all members of the Pacific community, because it will allow for better financial oversight and decision-making across the university. It will specifically benefit:

Employees who are responsible for categorizing, tracking and reporting the university's financial transactions.

University leaders who use financial data to manage their budgets and to inform planning and decision-making for their units and the university.   

What's been done so far?

Since the last project update, the project team has:

• Loaded the new chart and the initial crosswalk (mapping of old accounts to new accounts) into the Banner Finance test version.
• Developed a crosswalk reference tool for users to translate back and forth between the old and new charts.
• Started Phase 1 User Acceptance Testing with designated business managers and finance staff to test current functionality and the crosswalk.
• Hired a trainer to help develop training classes and resources for the new chart.

What's next?

After Phase I User Acceptance Testing is completed in late February, we will begin expanded Phase 2 testing with a focus on payroll, complex integrations and new chart requirements.