Establishing Activity Codes

Activity codes assist departmental units by allowing them to gather financial data by activities (e.g., project, principal investigator, cost center, etc.).

Because commonly-used activity codes have the capability of collecting data across funds, organizations, and/or programs, causing a potential for duplication and corruption of data, unique activity codes must be established for each of the campus’ over 140 organizational units. To preserve that uniqueness, at least at the campus level, the first two characters of all departmental activity codes will consist of a Planning and Budget assigned and mandatory two-character Unit Alpha Code. The units themselves may assign up to a total of four of the remaining characters. These four characters may be structured or unstructured, depending on unit preference.

A Few Precautions
How to Establish Activity Codes
How to Query/Verify Activity Codes
Changing an Existing Activity Code
Making an Activity Code Inactive
Terminating an Activity Code

A Few Precautions

The full use of activity codes to collect or to separate financial information within your organizational unit may require additional effort on your part.

The collection of financial data by any activity code requires that all data-enterable information related to that “collection center” include the pertinent activity code.

Conversely, if relative information is entered without an activity code, that information will not be included on activity code reports. Therefore, consistent input is key to the effective collection of activity code data.

To establish or make changes to an Activity Code, you must request permission from the FIS Office.

How to Establish Activity Codes

1. In the Go To... field of the Banner Menu Form, type FTMACTV. Type <return>. The Activity Code Maintenance Form will open.
    
2. When the FTMACTV form appears, it is running in query-only mode. Type [control q] Cancel Query to exit query mode.
    
3. In the CHART OF ACCOUNTS field, enter the COA code (currently X). Required.
    
4. <TAB> to ACTIVE STATUS field (checkbox). Leave box checked.
    
5. <TAB> to ACTIVITY. Required. Type in your assigned two-character unit alpha code, followed by up to four alpha-numeric characters of your choice.
    
6. <TAB> to TITLE. Required. Enter the name of the activity.
    
7. <TAB> to EFFECTIVE field. Today’s date defaults. If you enter a future date, this activity code will not be able to be used until that future date.
    
8. <TAB> to TERM field. Optional. You may specify an end date for the activity code by entering a future date in this field. However, this field should only be used if you are certain that you do not want this activity code to be used beyond this date. Usually this field will be left blank.
    
9. If you are establishing a single activity code and wish to end the session, click the Save icon to commit your record. If you wish to establish another activity code, type <> Next Record or click in the Chart of Accounts field in the next record, then continue from Step 3 (above).

How to Query/Verify Activity Codes

1. In the Go To... field of the Banner Menu Form, type FTMACTV. Type <return>. The Activity Code Maintenance Form will open.
    
2. When the FTMACTV form appears, type [F7] Enter Query to go to query mode.
    
3. <TAB> twice to ACTIVITY. Type in your activity code. If you need to find the activity code, type [F9] List of Values.
    
4. Type [F8] Execute Query.

If the activity code exists, the remaining information on the screen will fill in, reflecting previously-entered data.

5. If you wish to end the session, click the exit icon in the toolbar or type [control-q]. If you wish to query another activity code, type [F7] Enter Query to return to query mode, then continue from Step 2 (above).

Changing an Existing Activity Code

Because FIS Banner tracks activity code history, activity codes entered in the system cannot be changed. If the code was entered incorrectly, you must copy the activity code record and then change it.

1. In the Go To... field of the Banner Menu Form, type FTMACTV. Type <return>. The Activity Code Maintenance Form will open.
    
2. Query for the activity code you need to change. (Query instructions are listed above.)
    
3. With your cursor anywhere in the record for the activity code you need to change, type [F6] Insert Record.
    
4. Type [F4] Duplicate Record. This creates an exact copy of the activity code in the record below the original activity code record.
    
5. Change the activity code record as appropriate, including the effective date.
    
6. Type [F10] Commit or click the Save icon to commit your new activity code record.

Important: When you Query [F7] or get a List of Values [F9] for activity codes, codes that have been changed will be listed multiple times. You can choose any one of the records listed with the same code and FIS Banner will default to the newest activity code record. That is, if you changed an incorrect description and then later choose the old record from the list, FIS Banner will default to the activity code with the correct description. FIS Banner adds an activity code to the list each time you make a change.

Making an Activity Code Inactive

Caution: Before inactivating an Activity Code, make sure it does not have any existing budget, financial or encumbrance balances. If you are unsure about you activity code's balance status, send an email to fis_probs@ucsc.edu.


If you want to use the activity code in question during the next fiscal year, you will only want to make it inactive for now. People will still see the activity code when they List [F9], but they will not be able to successfully use the code.

1. Query for the activity code you want to make inactive (query instructions are listed above.)
    
2. With your cursor anywhere in the record for the activity code you need to change, type [F6] Insert Record.
    
3. Type [F4] Duplicate Record. This creates an exact copy of the activity code in the record below the original activity code record.
    
4. Uncheck the ACTIVE STATUS checkbox.
    
5. Change the EFFECTIVE DATE to today if you want to inactivate it immediately, or to a future date if you want it to become inactive in the future.
    
6. Type [F10] Commit or click the Save icon to commit your new activity code record.

Terminating an Activity Code

Caution: Before terminating an Activity Code, make sure it does not have any existing budget, financial or encumbrance balances. If you are unsure about you activity code's balance status, send an email to fis_probs@ucsc.edu.


If you want to terminate an activity code from the system, you can supply a termination date in the TERM field. This will NOT delete the activity code from the List of Values [F9], but you will be unable to use the code.

1. Query for the activity code you want to make inactive. (Query instructions are listed above.)
    
2. With your cursor anywhere in the record for the activity code you need to change, type [F6] Insert Record.
    
3. Type [F4] Duplicate Record. This creates an exact copy of the activity code in the record below the original activity code record.
    
4. Enter a termination date in the TERM field.
    
5. Type [F10] Commit or click the Save icon to commit your new activity code record.