SFS Glossary of Terms
Legacy System - The term legacy system is often used when discussing the SFS project. In general this term refers to an existing system. For the Financial system, this would be the system that generates the Account Control Ledgers and supports an on-line interface that displays data through 3270 transactions INQM and GENT.
Shared Financial System - The Shared Financial System, often referred to as 'SFS' for short, is the term UW-System has given to the PeopleSoft software used for processing transactions and the database the software feeds into. The SFS database in turn feeds the reporting database of the WISDM system. The University of Wisconsin - Madison currently interfaces its transactions from the 3270 legacy system into the SFS database, rather than entering the data directly through the PeopleSoft software.
Trees - 'Trees' is used to describe a specific kind of programming used in the SFS. Trees are used by the PeopleSoft accounting software to organize account numbers (class codes) into groups such as Salaries, Fringe Benefits, Services & Supplies and Capital. In WISDM, you can select the tree you want to use from a dropdown menu on summary screens. Accounting Services has written a tree called "MSN_GPR_DFLT" for use with GPR funds. This tree excludes fringe benefit and longevity transactions from the data returned. A second tree (MSN_FUNDORG_DFLT) has been set up in WISDM for non-GPR funds that are normally accounted for by organization code. This tree is identical to MSN_GPR_DFLT except that it contains fringe benefit and longevity transactions.
WISDM - WISDM stands for "Wisconsin Data Mart," and is a web-based reporting system created by UW-Madison Division of Information Technology (DoIT). It contains data from the Shared Financial System (SFS) and was designed to replace the monthly Accounting Control Ledger Statements and the 3270 transactions INQM & GENT. Another objective of WISDM is to move closer to paperless reporting and when this is not possible, to put the control of printing what is needed in the hands of divisions and departments.
Looking for more definitions? Try the glossary page of the UW-System SFS site!