Kuali Foundation Kuali Financial Management System Horizontal

Kuali Foundation

Kuali Financial Management System

Horizontal Flow

The horizontal flow refers to the horizontal flow of information (Lamb, 2009), that transmits information across the organization, or in the case of the Kuali Financial Management System, across different organizations. According to Lamb (2009), "Horizontal flow of information refers to the flow of information across various firms colleges and universities. Since, many colleges and universities would not like to disclose all the information that they hold, Kuali information systems make sure that whatever is freely available from a particular college or university is also made available to all the other members. At the same time, it ensures privacy and security of data by not broadcasting private or sensitive information." (Lamb, 2009)

According to Haag, Cummings, McCubbrey, Donovan, Ponsonneault (2006), the horizontal flow of information is a function of divisions, the internal units, and teams or groupings of individuals, which work in unison with the objective of accomplishing an organizational goal or objective. The implication is the information is transferred internally between decision-makers with equal responsibility and authority.

Horizontal flow therefore, involves the movement of information, and not data from one decision-maker to the next within a system where key organizational identifying information remains confidential. However, horizontal flow alone is insufficient to perform the full task inherent to the responsibility of the Kuali system. According to Lamb (2009), "However, since colleges, universities and member firms are direct users and contributors to the information system, data is gathered from these sources using the 'Horizontal' flow of information method." (Lamb, 2009)

Vertical Information Flow

Vertical flow is a more formal (Lamb, 2009) form of flow rather the horizontal flow. According to Lamb, "Information is collected from the industry, informal sources, through the 'Vertical' flow of information. This is because of the fact that the industry is not a close associate of the Kuali Corporation." (Lamb, 2009)

Vertical flow involves the transmission of information to the third party from entities within the industry through the informal chain of communication. More specifically, vertical information flow defines the submission of information up the hierarchy from data gatherers and analysts, to forecasters and information drivers, up to line management, etc.

According to Haag, Cummings, McCubbrey, Donovan, Ponsonneault (2006), "The upward information flow can be outlined as information being transferred from the non-management level to operational management, from operational management to tactical management, and from tactical management to strategic management." (Haag, Cummings, McCubbrey, Donovan, Ponsonneault, 2006)

The information is summarized and filtered as it is distributed throughout the horizontal chain of command at the managerial level. Various levels of granularity (Haag, Cummings, McCubbrey, Donovan, Ponsonneault, 2006), or detail contained in the information are achieved, again, as the information is distributed.

Inward-Outward Flow

According to Lamb, "Inward component while the resulting information generated is the Outward component. After the information has been processed and is ready." (Lamb, 2009)

Downward Flow

The downward flow of financial information involves the flow into the Kuali system in a manner that organizes the responsibility of the chain of command for accountability of the organization. The system is designed to control the release and submittal of documents. The downward flow of information is the financial information that flows from the top managerial tier of the organization to the lower and bottom tiers of the organization to the rank & file employee.

The data involves financial data critical to the successful operation of the organization. The workflow collated by the system to organize the information in a manner that will expedite supervisor approval in the Vertical and Downward flow of information. The data is any form of document that needs approval. Although the system is optimized to handle the flow of financial deliverables, the workflow of any deliverable subject to approval is the performance objective.

Data Involved

The data used in Kuali Financial System (KFS) include financial data in accounting form, utilizing input box to obtain data via input from an outside source (3rd party). The data includes "assets, liabilities, fund balances, revenues, expenses, budgets and encumbrances." (Lamb, 2009) Additionally, the KFS will use the data to analyze the components into information for external financial reporting.

The General Ledger, Payroll System, and Labor Distribution Module all contain data that is used by the KFS. The Labor Distrubution Module contains data pertaining to salary expense transfer, broken down into unit hours per unit of labor.

Data Manipulation

Third party systems that interact with the KFS input data into the system that is then analyzed under the Accounts Payable Interface and automated Inter-Departmental Billing (Lamb, 2009). The PeopleSoft Payroll is the payroll management system that interoperates with the KFS to facilitate comprehensive human resources management.