August 20, 2018
For users of the AMA, BPAS, CBS, and FNTS budget systems.
BPAS 2.0 is scheduled to open on Wednesday, August 22. Users
access BPAS by logging in through the State
Administrative Portal using their state ID (employee number) and
password. The link to the Budget Planning and Analysis System is displayed in
the portal menu for certified BPAS users. Select the Budget Planning & Analysis
Sys link to enter the system.
 To add a new BPAS user to the system, the agency budget
coordinator or CFO must complete the Budget
Systems User Authorization Form and email it to budget.finance.mmb@state.mn.us.
Links to the BPAS
v 2.0 User Guide and Budget
Glossary are found within the system's Help Module; these
resources are also available on the MMB BPAS
Website. The BPAS v 2.0 User Guide contains step-by-step
instructions with screen prints for navigating all the system modules and
screens. The Budget Glossary is a new resource containing definitions and
examples of the terminology associated with the biennial budget process. If you
have questions about the system, please email budget.finance.mmb@state.mn.us.
Thank You to the BPAS
User Group and agency volunteers for their work on BPAS v. 2. User Group
members helped review and develop design concepts for the system’s screens and
reports. More than 70 volunteers from a dozen agencies, as well as from the
House and Senate fiscal staff, participated in user acceptance testing sessions
and provided valuable feedback on the system’s functionality and performance. Members
of the BPAS User Group include chair Emily Engel (DNR), Bruce Lemke (Admin),
Amy Trumper (Commerce), Randy Smunk (DHS), Kristy Swanson (DoLI), Helen Roberts
(House fiscal staff), Marianne Conboy (MMB), Uma Venkat (MN.IT), Josh
Knatterud-Hubinger (MnDoT), Susan Jaeger (MPCA), Dan Mueller (Senate fiscal
staff), and Jackie Miller (MDE).
A special thanks to
the BPAS 2.0 Development Team pictured below:
 L-R, Front: Nathan Easler, Robyn Rupp, Lisa DeRemee, Nimco
Hussein; Back: Tracy King, M. Sahed, Matt Peterson, Pratik Patel, Omar Ali,
D’Jay Patel. Not pictured: Srinivasan Ganesan and Jeff Wasienski.
On August 16, MMB Payroll Services sent a payroll bulletin
to agency payroll, HR and accounting staff, which included information about compensation
cost projections updates, including the addition of budget fiscal year 2021 and
updates to insurance increases. The payroll bulletin is available on the MMB
website: https://mn.gov/mmb/assets/20180816_tcm1059-348802.pdf
Five workshops will be held in September and October for
agency users seeking one-on-one help with preparing their biennial budget
submissions. BPAS workshops do not include a formal training presentation;
however, Budget Operations staff will be available during these sessions to
assist agencies and to respond to system related questions.
Agency staff can drop in at any time during the following
workshop sessions:
- 1:00-3:00 PM - Wednesday, September 12
- 1:00-3:00 PM - Wednesday, September 19
- 1:00-3:00 PM - Wednesday, September 26
- 1:00-3:00 PM - Wednesday, October 3
- 1:00-3:00 PM - Wednesday, October 10
All workshops will be held in the Columbine Room, ground
floor of the Centennial Office Building, 658 Cedar St., St. Paul.
MMB Budget Operations conducted BPAS Training from July 31
through August 14. More than 125 budget system users from 51 state agencies
attended the 3.5 hour training. For any agency staff that may have missed these
training sessions, one additional
training session will be offered on Wednesday, August 22 from 1:00 pm to 4:30
pm.
Interested BPAS users must register for the class in ELM
through the following steps: log into
Self Service, select the ELM link, select link Find Learning, type BPAS in the
Title box, and select the Search button. If you are not able to find the BPAS
training course in ELM or do not have access to ELM, email budget.finance.mmb@state.mn.us
for assistance.
Question: Why don’t I see a link to the BPAS system
when I log into the State Administrative Portal?
Answer: If you are a certified BPAS user, you should
see a link to BPAS when you log in to the Administrative Portal. Please note
that Human Resource transactions, such as a job class change, can impact your
security rights and the links seen on the Administrative Portal. If there are
budget system links missing from your menu, email budget.finance.mmb@state.mn.us
and MMB Budget Operations staff will work with SEMA4 security to restore the appropriate
system links.
Question: I’m trying to add an account to the
Appropriation Entry/Edit screen from the Account – Add tab. Why am I getting an
error message stating “No Record Found”?
 Answer: The account may already be added to the specific
appropriation. Navigate back to the Appropriation Entry/Edit screen, expand the
account hierarchy, and search for the account of interest. The Find shortcut,
Ctrl + F, can be a useful tool for locating accounts on a screen.
Question: I am attempting to run a report. Why can’t I find a particular account or
appropriation on my report?
RELATED: Why am I getting a
system message stating No Results Found?
Answer: Some reports
will only display data relevant to that report topic and scenario. For example, the Account Net report only
displays appropriations that have a non-zero account net, and the Revenue by
Appropriation report only displays appropriations that have revenue. Be sure to double check the report subject
and report filters you selected to confirm there is data for the given
appropriation and scenario.
Question: I see appropriations that have no data. Why?
Answer: The system displays all active appropriations
for the selected agency. This includes historical appropriations loaded from
BPAS 1.0 as well as new appropriations added through the Appropriation
Maintenance Application (AMA). Appropriations not used in FY 2016 -18 or appropriations which had no FY
2019 budget data established in SWIFT prior to FY 2018 hard close (August
10) will have no data. All active appropriations are available for agencies to
use as they develop their biennial operating budgets.
The default Budget Period on SWIFT Appropriation Entry
screens has been updated to 2019. Users may still select appropriations from earlier
budget periods to Modify or Copy. AMA also allows users to create new
appropriation IDs in past budget periods.
As a reminder, you may need to create or modify an
appropriation in BPAS during the Biennial Budget process. A BPAS Only appropriation is created or
modified in AMA to support a Governor’s Initiative in the biennial budget proposal submitted to the legislature.
An appropriation that has not passed legislature cannot be created in
SWIFT. You may also want to change an existing
appropriation’s Budget Program, Budget Activity, or Appropriation Type in BPAS
but not in SWIFT. Detailed instructions
on how to create or modify an appropriation only in BPAS can be found on page 18 of
the AMA
User Guide.
Have a question about or a suggestion for improving the budget systems? Email it to Budget Operations at budget.finance.mmb@state.mn.us, Subject: Budget Systems Newsletter.
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