Prototype & Design Process

The design of the new Chart of Accounts (CoA) began with a preliminary prototype, allowing the CoA team to work through several iterations to develop a new Chart of Accounts that meets UC Davis needs.     

UC Davis CoA Design Considerations

• UC Office of the President (UCOP) Requirement: All UCs are required to align their Chart of Accounts with the UCOP Common Chart of Accounts by July 1, 2023 in order to meet systemwide reporting requirements. The defined segments of the UCOP CCoA, outlined below, served as a starting point for the UC Davis CoA prototype.  
   

  Account	Categorizes the nature of the transaction as a specific type of revenue, expense, asset, liability, or fund balance.
  Entity	Identifies the major operational unit within the University of California responsible for the transaction.
  Fund	Tracks spending restrictions and designations and categorizes net position for external reporting
  Department	Represents the academic or operating unit responsible for, or affected by, a given transaction
  Function	Designates the purpose of the transaction as it applies to both internal and federal/other external reporting requirements
  Program	Associates transactions with a formalized set of ongoing systemwide or cross-campus/ location activities
  Project	Tracks financial activity for a "body of work" that often has a start and end date and spans across fiscal years (e.g., sponsored research activity, capital project activity and projects internal to UC Davis)
  Flex 1	Classifies transactions by activity or initiative in a way that no other segment can provide
  Flex 2	Classifies transactions by activity or initiative in a way that no other segment can provide

• Stakeholder Feedback: Leveraging the CCoA, the Chart of Accounts design team engaged with stakeholders across the campus, schools of human health, the Foundation, and ANR to gain a better understanding of units’ financial management and reporting requirements. Engagements included:
  • 32 Discovery sessions with 185 participants, representing individual units as well as cross-functional groups
  • 18 Proof of Concept scenarios with 175 participants
  • A 35 member Advisory Group tasked with providing feedback, confirming requirements and validating Proof of Concept scenarios.
     

• Leading Practices Parameters: Chart of Accounts segments were benchmarked against leading practices from other higher education institutions, including UC Merced, UC San Diego, UC San Francisco and UCLA, as well as Vanderbilt and Baylor. 
   

  Parameter	Description
  Relevance	The CoA design should support statutory, regulatory, and managerial tracking and reporting requirements. Each segment of the CoA should be an important dimension for managing business now and in the future.
  Uniqueness	The CoA should have a separate segment for each reporting dimension. Segment values should be unique to a single segment.
  Single Use	Each segment in the CoA should have one distinct definition and purpose to avoid reporting issues and confusion.
  Normalized	CoA segments should not duplicate data from within the GL or subledgers.  Subledger information (i.e., supplier information, student information) should remain in the subledger and be reported with appropriate tools.
  Known Value	End users must be able to populate the segment at the time of data entry. A robust training program will be key to building user knowledge and ability.
  Flexibility & Scalability	Segment lengths must be able to accommodate future growth, with enough unique values to meet business needs.  The design should be flexible to accommodate reorganizations, acquisitions and other business changes.

UC Davis CoA Prototype Project Teams

Prototype Design Team

The Prototype Design Team led the CoA workstream in the segment design of the new Chart of Accounts. The team was charged with developing the CoA prototype to support the configuration in the new financial system. The prototype was developed by soliciting requirements from stakeholders through the Discovery Sessions, and validated through Proof of Concept sessions.  On July 1, 2021 the final CoA design and segment definitions were approved by Aggie Enterprise Governance.  Upon completing their work, Prototype Design Team members have been redeployed to support ongoing Chart of Accounts and Aggie Enterprise activities.

Advisory Group

The Advisory Group assembled from February thru September 2021 to provide feedback on key prototype design decisions related to the future state CoA and to ensure the future state CoA incorporates critical UC Davis specific requirements.  Upon final approval of the CoA design and segment definitions, Advisory Group members have been invited to continue as subject matter experts (SMEs) on the Aggie Enterprise Advisory Board and through the Aggie Enterprise Change Network.