The following finance and budget tools have been identified and refined by the Common Solutions project teams in collaboration with functional leaders, including the Office of the VC-Finance/CFO and University Developmant and Alumni Relations and are being made available to the campus community as possible shared solutions to local needs. More information about the project teams can be found here.
If you have questions about specific tools, please contact the individual/unit identified in the Contact section for each tool or email commonsolutions@berkeley.edu. If you have an idea for a needed solution or a tool to offer to the inventory, please share your ideas using this form.
Tool inventory:
Berkeley Campus Financial Systems & Resources
The Berkeley Campus Financial Systems & Resources list is a Google Sheet designed to aid in quickly locating and accessing the most used financial systems. The systems are owned by various campus units including the Controller's Office, Administration, Sponsored Projects Office (SPO), and others. As such, the resources are grouped into user-friendly categories of: Budget / Finance Management, Payroll, Purchasing, Research, Students, Travel & Entertainment, and General Resources. This tool will be useful for new financial staff in helping them become familiar with the resources available on campus.
| Tool Link | Owner | Application | Target Audience | Contact |
| Berkeley Campus Financial Systems & Resources |
Common Solutions Finance Tools Project Team |
Google Spreadsheet |
Financial Analysts/Managers, Department Managers, Divisional Finance Leaders, Administrative Officers |
Nikki Humphreys - nrh@berkeley.edu |
Cal Answers Financial Management Reporting
The Common Solutions Monthly Management Report Group was tasked with ensuring that the campus’ monthly financial reports met the needs of local financial analysts & managers. The group joined forces with the Cal Answers Team to develop the Cal Answers Financial Management Reporting dashboard. The dashboard will create the ability to report on financial data using Cal Answers to improve financial reporting capability and prepare for the retirement of BAIRS . The dashboard provides global access to compensation and non-compensation data at the transaction level for all authorized users. Global financial access is intended to enable users to easily review and understand the complete financial picture, as well as simplify the financial reconciliation process across campus.
The Cal Answers Financial Management Reporting Dashboard includes three reporting tabs: SRECNA, Summary by Chartfields, and Transactions.
- SRECNA displays the Statement of Revenue, Expense and Changes to Net Assets for the selected organization. It is modeled after the CR103 report in CalPlanning.
- Summary by Chartfields summarizes transactions for each unique chartstring combination. It is modeled after the 008 GL Sum by Chartfields Mod C&G report in BAIRS.
- Transactions provides the lowest level of transaction detail for reconciliation after the close of each month. It is modeled after the 008 GL Customer Rpt Fund 9col All Curr Funds ModC&G report in BAIRS.
| Tool Link | Owner | Application | Target Audience | Contact |
| Cal Answers Financials |
Office of the Vice Chancellor – Chief Financial Officer |
Cal Answers (Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition, OBIEE) |
Financial Analysts/ Managers, Department Managers, Divisional Finance Leaders, Administrative Officers |
Cal Answers Team - Calanswers-help@berkeley.edu |
Commitment Database
The Commitments Database is an online application designed to facilitate the planning, tracking and reporting of financial commitments across multiple years. The tool is easily accessible, intuitive, and secure (via Calnet ID with defined access privileges).
The Commitments Database tool allows for planning across multiple units and/or various funding sources and supports multi-year planning. Features include fields to store all chartstring information needed to produce financial journals; ability to queue batch data to CSV for journal upload; documentation upload and storage capabilities; and robust reporting features. Beginning balance, revenue and expense tables have now been added, which allows users to prepare comprehensive multi-year financial reports. Summary reports by account and CalPlanning fund bucket can also be produced from the tool to support data entry into CalPlanning. A user guide is available.
| Tool Link | Owner | Application | Target Audience | Contact |
| Commitments Database |
L&S Deans Office |
PHP, MySQL, Symfony framework |
Financial Analysts/Managers, Department Managers, Divisional Finance Leaders, Administrative Officers |
Wanda Nieters, - wnieters@berkeley.edu |
Endowment Payout Calculator
The Endowment Payout Calculator enables gift officers to create payout estimates for outright gifts, standard pledges and pledges with complex schedules. It prompts you to enter a few simple parameters: whether the donation is an outright gift or a pledge paid annually, which month and year the gift is received, and the gift amount. The calculator also enables you to enter a targeted payout figure and then calculate the size of a gift it would take to generate that amount annually. An additional option allows you to add current use gifts to supplement payout while a fund is being capitalized with pledge payments.
The calculator is in Excel and requires that you enable macros and content upon opening - it will prompt you to do this. All of your data entries will be in a simple form that you will be led through. A separate page is included to describe the parameters and details of the calculation.
This tool was developed by University Development and Alumni relations in partnership with the Common Solutions team who identified the need and provided input and feedback in the development process.
| Tool Link | Owner | Application | Target Audience | Contact |
| Endowment Payout Calculator | University Development and Alumni Relations | Excel | Major Gift Officers, Deans, Administrative Officers |
UDAR Fund Management Team - fundhelp@berkeley.edu |