Grants Federal Financial Reporting Tool

The UIS-designed tool for financial officers and grant accountants.

Federal grants can require financial reporting both during and at the closeout of an award. University Information Services worked with sponsored projects administrators from the four CU campuses to devise a tool that allows grant accountants and sponsored projects administrators to access the necessary financial information more readily, simplifying the Federal Financial Reporting (FFR) process while also highlighting any potential expenditure issues.

Explore the Grants FFR tool 

Highlights

• Find all the information you need for the Federal Financial Report in one place.
• Limit transactions being reported to any specified date range.
• Select which projects or awards associated with a contract number or Letter of Credit document ID to include in the report.
• Receive an automated email when the report is ready with a direct link to the report.
• Easily identify if the project’s expenses and revenue align with the general ledger by viewing the report’s VALID or EXCEPTION notifications on the Financial Validation page.
• View details posted in the general ledger with one click.

What is the Grants FFR Tool?

The Grants FFR Tool provides a summary of financials, system validation checks and detailed level transaction information in a single tool. 

Why would I use the Grants FFR Tool?

The tool will save you time when completing an FFR because you can easily verify and pull all the information needed for the report without needing to compile the report data from a variety of queries and different financial reports. The layout of the landing page is organized to follow the same format as the SF 425 Federal Financial reporting form, and you can even dive deeper into specific transaction details within the same tool.

This tool can also be useful when reviewing an award's financial information during the closeout process.

How can I access the Grants FFR Tool?

You can access the tool by opening the People Soft Finance system.

1. Log into the employee portal and select the Finance Tile.
2. The PeopleSoft Finance system will open. Then select the Grants WorkCenter tile.
3. Under Links on the far left, the Grants Financial Report (FFR) is the default top link.
4. If you need to generate a report, select Step 1: Generate the Financial Report.
5. If you need to view a report, select Step 2: Access the Financial Report.

Alternatively, you can also access both steps via the NavBar menu by going to Grants, scrolling down and selecting CU Customs, and then clicking either of the two steps.

What else do I need to know to use the Grants FFR Tool?

The first time you use the reporting tool, you’ll need to add a new run control value in the Add a new value field. Keep in mind that no spaces are allowed, but you can create your own Run Control ID. We recommend keeping the Run Control ID naming convention generic. One option is to use your business unit, followed by your initials and a number series, such as UCD-stk-1.

We recommend limiting your Run Control IDs to 10–15 at a time. You can reuse Run Control IDs but you cannot delete them at this time. Ultimately, it is up to each campus to establish its own recommendations on naming conventions and the number of run controls per user.

When you search your run control IDs, the results show the contract number and letter of credit document ID, so the Run Control ID does not need to be specific to the award or contract.