May 14, 2018
For users of the AMA, BPAS, CBS, and FNTS budget systems.
The
Budget Planning and Analysis (BPAS) 2.0 project remains on schedule. Developers
have completed all system features required for agencies to prepare base
budgets and enter change requests. All
reports are finished, including the fiscal reports published in agency budget
documents. MMB will make a recommendation to the Statewide Systems Enterprise
Resource Planning (ERP) Steering Committee at its May 24 meeting whether to use BPAS 2.0 for production of the
2020-2021 biennial budget. For a preview
of BPAS 2.0's fiscal report menus, click
here.
Agency budget and finance staff who are responsible for
entering budget change requests in BPAS are invited to try out the system’s
Change module and Fiscal reports. Participants will enter change item narratives, relevant base
information and summary change amounts for their agencies, and also run fiscal reports. Three times are
scheduled:
- Wednesday,
June 6 – 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM
- Thursday,
June 7 – 8:00 AM to 12:00 Noon
- Thursday,
June 7 – 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM
The self-paced test sessions will require between 90 minutes
and two hours to complete. All sessions will be held in the Columbine Room, ground
floor of the Centennial Office Building. To reserve a seat, email budget.finance.mmb@state.mn.us
with the Subject Line: BPAS 2.0 Testing and the session you wish to attend.
Budget Operations will offer two AMA workshops: Wednesday, May 30, from 10:00 AM – Noon
and Thursday, May 31, from 1:00 PM to 3:00
PM. Agency budget staff can receive one-on-one assistance in setting up new
appropriations for 2019 or preparing other AMA transactions. Note: the
workshops will not provide instructor led system
user training.
To reserve a place, email budget.finance.mmb@state.mn.us,
include the Subject: AMA Workshops, and indicate which session you will attend.
Both workshops will be held in the Columbine Room, located on ground floor of
the Centennial Office Building. Please
bring, or have access to, the 2019 appropriation transactions you wish to work
on.
The Appropriation
Maintenance Application (AMA) Glossary has updated guidance on fund balance
classification codes. When an agency sets up a new appropriation for SWIFT in
AMA, the system requires the fund balance classification field to be completed
but does not restrict or validate this entry. If you have questions about which
code to select, please contact Kim
Kildal of Minnesota Management and Budget’s Financial Reporting Unit at
651-201-8150.
BPAS user certification for the 2020-2021 biennial budget
will begin the week of May 29th. This is the opportunity for Budget
Coordinators to add, delete, or change budget system access for their agency’s
users. Below is a list of the timeline
and actions needed to successfully set up BPAS users for your agency:
- Each agency’s Budget Coordinator will be emailed
a list of their currently active users and roles the week of May 29th.
- If there are new users to add, Budget
Coordinators must complete the new
user budget authorization form. This
form can be used for granting user access to SharePoint, Fiscal Note Tracking
System (FNTS), and Capital Budget System (CBS).
- Budget Coordinators have until Friday, June 8th to certify current users and add new users by completing
the user authorization form.
- Certified BPAS users will be invited to attend
the instructor-led BPAS training sessions in August.
Budget Coordinators should watch for an email from budget.finance.mmb@state.mn.us
the week of May 29th that
contains certification instructions, a list of current BPAS users, and the budget
authorization form.
MMB Budget Operations will be offering instructor-led BPAS
user training sessions starting Tuesday,
July 31st through Tuesday, August 14th in the
Columbine Room of the Centennial Office Building. Registration for the sessions will be
available in Enterprise Learning Management (ELM in Self Service). Certified BPAS users will receive an email in
mid-June; watch your email for an invitation and more details.
The 2020-21 biennial
budget process will be the same as it has been in the past several biennia with
MMB issuing instructions and agencies preparing budget information in three
stages:
- background/budget narrative materials
- base/enacted budget data, including forecast
adjustments
- requests for changes to be included in the
Governor’s budget
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BPAS
2.0’s Reports menu options include Fiscal reports. These formatted PDF documents
are real-time data reports included in the biennial base and governor’s budget
document publications. |
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There are three different Fiscal reports; each one can be
run at the agency, program, or activity level. |
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Users will recognize the Expenditure Overview and Financing
by Fund reports as current BPAS reports included in agency biennial budget
documents. The Change Summary is new. This report summarizes by fund:
- Total appropriations with itemized base adjustments for direct and open type appropriations,
-
Planned statutory spending for dedicated type
appropriations, and
- Forecast revenues for dedicated and non-dedicated revenue.
When run for the governor’s
budget, each agency’s report will also list governor-recommended change items.
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