The SFS Program provides three tools – Reports, Inquiry Screens, and Query Manager – for users to obtain system information.
- Reports provide information in an optimized format to meet the business management and documentation needs of agency financial system users.
- Inquiry screens give agency financial system users the ability to filter data and to output the results in a format that best meets their individual needs.
- The Reporting Tools - Query provides agency financial system users with the flexibility to create and/or execute custom queries against a set of core financial data and to pull out desired information in a format that best meets their individual needs.
Real-time reporting provides direct access to the SFS. As transactions and/or status updates occur, they are immediately reflected within reports accessing the information.
Agencies should be aware executing reports may impact the overall data production capabilities of the SFS if there is heavy system processing occurring and/or a peak number of users accessing the SFS at any given time. When possible, agency financial system users should work with the Agency Report Administrator to determine if a report should be scheduled within a batch.
Near real-time reports generally provide financial information with a 15-minute delay although the accessibility of information will vary depending on network load. For example, if a voucher was paid within the SFS, the status would be correctly reflected within applicable reports after this delay.
Non-real-time reports depend on batch processing to populate information and may experience a greater delay between when a transaction occurred and when it would be reflected in a report. Since the information is static, the reports would be static until the next time the batch runs.
For additional instruction on this topic, visit the job aids published to SFS Coach. SFS Coach is accessible from the SFS home page after logging in with your SFS user ID and password.
Guide to Financial Operations
REV. 09/14/2015