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FAMIS New User Guide

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This guide provides an introduction to the Financial Accounting Management Information System (FAMIS) and walks a new user through accessing screens and navigating within the FAMIS environment.

FAMIS is The Texas A&M University System’s financial accounting management system. This software system manages accounting information for members of the A&M System. Currently, FAMIS uses the OpenText HostExplorer 3270 terminal emulation application for access.

OpenText HostExplorer Installation

Although any 3270 emulator program can be used to access FAMIS, OpenText HostExplorer is available at no charge from TAMU-IT and is supported by FAMIS Services. For some A&M System members or agencies, installation and updating of OpenText HostExplorer must be done by their IT departments. Some members or agencies may allow users to install and update the application.

If your A&M System member or agency allows users to install OpenText HostExplorer themselves, please see Installing OpenText HostExplorer to Connect to FAMIS for instructions.

Connection Central and Creating a FAMIS Connection Profile

Connection Central is OpenText HostExplorer’s interface for the connection profile you will need to connect with FAMIS.

Screen shot of Connection Central connection profile icons

To create a FAMIS connection profile in Connection Central, please see Creating a FAMIS Connection Profile.

Logging on to FAMIS

Once a FAMIS connection profile has been created and configured, double-click on the connection profile icon to begin the logon process. You will logon to the Single Sign On (SSO) system and receive a one-time password (OTP) to gain access to FAMIS.

Please see Logging On to FAMIS for complete logon instructions.

Navigating FAMIS

The first FAMIS screen you will see is the FAMIS Bulletin Board. This screen displays important system information and contact information for FAMIS Services and Help.

Screen capture of the FAMIS Bulletin Board screen

Press Enter to continue to the next screen. If the bulletin board has more than one screen, press Enter again until the following screen appears.

Screen 001 (FRS Main Menu)

Screen capture of Screen 001 FRS main menu

The following screens assume you are in the FRS module of FAMIS. FAMIS is navigated using screens that are numbered and menus that begin with a letter. The screen number is always found at the top left. Pressing the Home key on your keyboard will always return your cursor to the screen field. 

The other modules in FAMIS are:

  • AFR – Annual Financial Reporting
  • FFX – Fixed Assets Module
  • GCP – General Construction Projects
  • SPR – Sponsored Research Module

FAMIS is organized by menus, but it is not required to go to a menu before advancing to a screen on that menu. As long as you know the screen number, you can go from screen to screen. Additionally, it is not necessary to enter any leading zeros to advance to a screen.

Maintain Current Session Campus and/or Fiscal Year

Your initial logon will place you in the current active fiscal year and the default campus code assigned to you. 

Screen 882 (Maintain Current Session Campus and/or Fiscal Year)

Screen shot of Screen 882 - maintain session current campus and/or fiscal year

Depending on your specific security settings, Screen 882 in FAMIS allows you to change the following values:

  • Active Campus – Only available to users that have access to multiple members.  Type in the new campus code and press Enter to change.
  • Active Fiscal Year – Most users have inquiry access to all fiscal years but many also have update access to any currently open fiscal years. Type in a valid fiscal year and press Enter to change.
  • Active Processing Month – Select users have been granted the ability to change to any active processing month.

If the fiscal year and/or campus code are changed, once the changes have been processed the message “F0031 Fiscal year and/or Campus code have been changed” will show at the top of the screen, and the new values are reflected in the upper right corner of the screen.

Screen 882 (Fiscal Year or Campus Code Changed)

Screen shot of Screen 882 Maintain Current Session fiscal year change

Account Search

  1. Type “29” in the Screen field and press Enter. This will bring up Screen 029 (Account Search). All of the fields at the top of this page are search fields.
  2. In the Dept/SDept Search field, type in your department code and press Enter. This will display all accounts assigned to that department.

Screen 029 (Account Search)

Screen capture of Screen 029 (Account Search) with department search field highlighted
  1. Select one of the accounts listed by typing an “X” in the Sel field to the left of the description and pressing Enter. This will advance you to Screen 006 (SL 6 Digit Account), which displays many of the attributes assigned to this account.

Screen 006 (SL 6 Digit Account)

Screen shot of Screen 006 (SL 6 Digit Account)

Some of the attributes that are displayed on this screen are:

  • Account Title: System Enterprise Applications
  • Responsible (Resp) Person: Mark A. Schulz
  • ABR Rule: 003
  • Map Code: 27100
  • Department code (Primary): INRE
  1. Press the PF5 key to advance you to the next screen of attributes, Screen 008 (SL Attributes 2).

Screen 008 (SL Attributes 2)

Screen shot of Screen 008 (SL Attributes 2)

Some of the attributes that are displayed on this screen are:

  • Generate Expense Budget Flag
  • Payroll Accounting Analysis
  • Subcode Edits
  1. Press the PF5 key again to advance to the third screen of attributes, Screen 009 (SL Grant/Contract Attributes).

Screen 009 (SL Grant/Contract Attributes)

Screen shot of Screen 009 (SL Grant/Contract Attributes)

The attributes on this screen are related to grants and contracts. Not all accounts will have values on this screen, but some of the attributes that are displayed are:

  • Sponsored Project
  • Sponsor
  • Start Date and End Date
  • Account Search
  1. Press the PF5 key one final time to return to Screen 006.

Account Balance

  1. Type “34” in the Screen field and press Enter. This displays the available budget by budget pool.
  2. Type a valid account number in the Account field and press Enter.

Screen 034 (SL Summary By Budget Pool) Panel 1

Screen capture of Screen 034 (SL Summary By Budget Pool) Panel 1

Some account attributes displayed in the header area of this screen are:

  • Department
  • Current month
  • Flags: Delete, Freeze, Bottom line Budget Control, Category Control, Freeze Direct Expense and GEB
  • ABR rule
  • Map code

Additionally, the Fiscal Year and Thru Month fields can be changed on this screen without going to Screen 882.

Columns displayed are:

  • Budget – Total Budget posted to the account
  • Actual – Total revenues and expenses posted to the account
  • Encumbrances – Payroll, travel and purchasing encumbrances posted to the account
  • Available – Available budget (budget less actuals less encumbrances)

The values under the Obj column are the budget pools available to the account from the ABR rule and line item budgets. Budget dollars are recorded at these pool levels.

For this account, there is:

  • $36,988,370 in revenue left to be earned
  • $25,703,877 available to be spent (Pool 1005 plus Pool 1000)
  • $21,500,000 held in reserve for future spending (Pool 9465 plus Pool 9473 plus Pool 9477)
  • If the revenue was never earned, there is a budget available of $10,215,507 (total expenses less available revenue budget)

The initial display is in rounded dollars. Pressing the PF11 key will remove the description column and change the display to show two decimals.

Screen 034 (SL Summary By Budget Pool) Panel 2

Screen capture of Screen 034 (SL Summary By Budget Pool) Panel 2

Pressing the PF11 key one more time will change the display to include Current Month (CM Actual) activity as well as the Budget and Actual columns.

Screen 034 (SL Summary By Budget Pool) Panel 3

Screen capture of Screen 034 (SL Summary By Budget Pool) Panel 3

Menu Navigation

  1. Type “M20” in the Screen field and press Enter to display the Purchasing Module Menu.

Menu M20 (Purchasing Module Menu)

Screen shot of Menu Screen M20 (Purchasing Module Menu)
  1. Type “M24” in the Screen field and press Enter to display the Requisitions, Limited, Exempt Menu.

Menu M24 (Requisitions and Limited Purchace Entry Menu)

Screen shot of Menu M24 (Requisitions and Limited Purch Entry Menu)
  1. Now type “240” in the Screen field to display the Limited Purchase Header screen.

Screen 240 (Limited Purchase Header)

Screen shot of Screen 240 (Limited Purchase Header)

We arrived at Screen 240 by menu navigation, but you could have also just entered “240” in the Screen field and pressed Enter.

Fixed Asset Management (FFX)

Please contact your FAMIS Security Administrator for information regarding this module.

Logging off of FAMIS Production

When a FAMIS session is inactive (no keyboard or mouse input) for 30 minutes, the system will automatically logoff and close the session. No further action is needed if you wish to stay logged off of FAMIS.

To logoff of FAMIS manually, you can do one of the following actions:

  • Close the session screen by clicking on the window close button (the X in the top right corner of the window) and clicking OK in the resulting window. This will log you off of FAMIS and close the session window.Screen shot of FAMIS session window close button and HostExplorer session close window
  • Click on the Toggle connection button on the session toolbar. This will log you off of FAMIS but leaves the session window open.Screen shot of FAMIS session window toolbar with Toggle connection button highlighted
  • In the session window, go to the File menu and click on Close Session. Click on OK in the resulting window. This will log you off of FAMIS and close the session window.Screen capture of FAMIS session window with Close Session command and HostExplorer session close window