My Journals

It is highly preferred and strongly recommended to use My Journals. My Journals is a modern user interface which can simplify the process of submitting journal vouchers through a self-service module.

My Journal submissions are limited to funds the user has access to in Banner. Any journal voucher that requires posting to a fund you do not have access to must be sent via the legacy paper form.

Legacy paper forms are still accepted through mail to the Controller's Office or can be scanned and emailed to journal@vt.edu. If the form is a traditional ink signature it must be mailed to the Controller's Office. Forms sent via email will need to have a certified digital signature.

In order to access My Journals, a user must already have been granted Banner Finance Access.

Please use the following link to request Banner Finance access:

https://sisapps.es.cloud.vt.edu/sis-banner/vtirm.irm_forms_main.entry

You will need to select “Add/Change Administrative System Access” under request forms and follow the prompts. Then select Banner Finance access request. The field for submitting journal vouchers will be under additional access. 

If the user already has Banner Finance access and needs to have MY Journals added, they can email genactg@vt.edu with the subject line "My Journals Access Request" and note that you are requesting access to My Journals in order to submit electronic journal vouchers on behalf of your department. Please include your PID in your request.

Voucher approval authority is associated with HokieMart final approver authority. If you are not yet a HokieMart final approver and need to be for purchase approval authority, please fill out the proper form(s) at the link below and either mail to the Controller's Office or send to genactg@vt.edu. Final approver authority should only be requested by the department if it's appropriate for the individual to have final signature authority. Approver permissions should not be requested solely for the purpose of approving journal vouchers.

https://www.procurement.vt.edu/hokiemart/forms.html

A user must already have Banner Finance access in order to approve journal vouchers submitted through My Journals.

Please use the following link to request Banner Finance access:
https://sisapps.es.cloud.vt.edu/sis-banner/vtirm.irm_forms_main.entry

If you are already a HokieMart final approver and already have Banner Finance Access, there should be no further action needed to be able to approve journal vouchers in Banner.

NOTE: It is our policy that we will not grant access to My Journals to submit entries if you are a final approver with authority to approve journal vouchers. If you feel you need an exception to this rule based on your individual or departmental circumstances please contact the Manager of General Accounting.

A) A cover sheet of the journal entry. This is downloaded directly from the detail screen in My Journals

B) Next attach all necessary documentation to support the amount, nature, and coding of the journal voucher; this would be the support a user would normally have included in the previous paper/email based process, remembering to have the cover sheet created in A above as the first page in your support;

Please attach ONE combined PDF file with the required support discussed in A and B above, with the cover sheet noted in A as the first page.

NOTE REGARDING OSP FUNDS AND COST OVERRUN ENTRY SUPPORT

Journal vouchers that involve cost transfers on sponsored program funds must include evidence that the PI reviewed or requested the transfer. Email documentation is sufficient for this purpose. This is to comply with University Policy 3255.

1)      An indicator signifying you have a message that will say you have documents awaiting approval.

To clear this message, click the “Delete” button in the upper right, then click “Save” in the lower left. You should receive a green indicator message in the upper right that the record was successfully deleted.

2)      Upon your initial login of your Banner session, you will receive another notification:

You can clear the FOIAINP notification using the “X” in the upper left.

In order to review and approve a journal voucher, login to Banner (Not Banner Self-Service).

Navigate to the FOAUAPP approval screen to begin your review.

On this screen you will be able to approve, disapprove, look at the voucher detail, and look at the approval queues. You may also select the “Retrieve” button to review the support documentation submitted with the voucher. 

If you are having technical problems accessing the FOAUAPP approval screen in Banner please contact genactg@vt.edu

Once a journal voucher has received all approvals at the department and/or from OSP, all entries will be routed to a final Controller’s Office review queue for final approval. Once approved by the Controller’s Office, the entry will post and the attached support will be automatically loaded to Banner document management and available for retrieval within Banner.

The use of certain account codes has always been prohibited when submitting a journal voucher and was enforced by manual review within the Controller’s Office. Using My Journals in conjunction with configurations in Banner, we are now able to systematically control the use of account codes on journal vouchers submitted by departments, making it easier for users and the Controller’s Office to avoid posting entries using improper account codes. The list below are the account codes that are disallowed for use within My Journals under the “MYJV” Journal Type.

• 6100 – Claim on Cash
• 7200 – Accounts Payable
• 3912 – Revenue Control Account
• 3916 – Expenditure Control Account
• 4100 – Fund Balance
• 11100 – 11199 – Payroll Fringe Expense Codes
• 111F1 – 111F8 – Negotiated Fringe Expense Codes*
• 11200 – 11399 – Payroll Salary Account Codes
• 11400 – 11499, 11600 – 11699 – Payroll Wage Account Codes
• 14210, 14216 – 14219, 14240 – 14248 – Fellowship and Tuition Remission Codes
• OH100 – OH399 – Overhead Charge Codes

Also as noted in the introduction to this manual, the funds available for use when submitting an entry in My Journals is limited to the funds the user has access to within Banner Finance.

A separate rule code and routing configuration has been set up for journal vouchers submitted by the Office of Sponsored programs.

Entries submitted directly by the Office of Sponsored programs should always use the "JVSP" Journal

Type (note that access to both MYJV and JVSP will not be granted). This accommodates certain allowances not available with “MYJV”, consistent with current allowances and authority under University, Controller’s Office, and Office of Sponsored Programs policies and procedures, namely:

• Bypasses departmental approval. Only approval by designated OSP approvers is necessary for the voucher to process;
• Allows posting to Negotiated Fringe Expense and Overhead Charge account codes;

In accordance with OSP policies, journal vouchers submitted by departments that are affecting an OSP fund that has total charges under $2,000 will not require specific review by OSP in order to proceed to the Controller’s Office for final review. A system process has been implemented in Banner whereby any voucher submitted by departments that is routed to the OSP queue that has a document total (sum of debits and credits) of $4,000 or less will receive an automatic OSP approval and proceed to the Controller’s Office review. This auto approval process will run every 5 minutes behind the scenes, and auto-approvals will be associated with a banner finance user ID, not any OSP employees.