Definitions: 

An encumbrance is an estimate of the salary and Blended OPE expense that will occur in the future.  The encumbrance processes are run at the end of each week.  The goal is to keep the encumbrances as accurate as possible.  This also allows for more timely removal of encumbrances on closing grants.

Blended OPE (other payroll expense) is a fixed rate that is charged to departments based on an employees classification and type of earnings.  This rate covers the cost of benefits, retirement, leave, and taxes.  The chart can be found on the Budget and Resource Planning website.

Overview:

BANNER encumbers salary and Blended OPE for the remaining months in the fiscal year.

Salary is encumbered by multiplying monthly 'assigned salary' by the months remaining in the fiscal year.

The monthly Blended OPE portion is encumbered using the fixed percentage for the employees classification multiplied by their salary encumbrance

The salary and Blended OPE encumbrance is then distributed across indexes or FOAPA's, using the labor distribution percentages on the job.

Example:

Sam Smith is an AB (Admin 12 mo .5+ FTE) who currently makes $6250.00 per month.  In July, the encumbrance will post as follows:

$6250.00 * 12 months = $75,000 salary encumbrance

$75,000 * 72.3% (Blended OPE rate associated with AB) = $54,225.00 Blended OPE encumbrance

Payroll Encumbrance Process:

Payroll encumbrances are not liquidated by payroll expenses like other funds.

Salary and Blended OPE encumbrances are recalculated and posted each time the encumbrance processes are run.  The Banner baseline encumbrance process is run at the end of each week.

Encumbrances are only calculated for the current fiscal year.  Payroll encumbrances are cleared out as part of the year-end processing in June.  They are regenerated for the new fiscal year beginning in July.

How can one identify the detail behind the encumbrance amounts posted in FIS?

PWIFOAP shows payroll expense and encumbrance for all employees within the specified index or FOAPA.

What IS NOT encumbered?

Student, temporary, and hourly unclassified appointments (AL,AV,FE,FV) are not encumbered.

Since the encumbrances in BANNER recasts weekly, how can I obtain the most current information?

The PWRPRMR report will provide the most accurate encumbrance numbers since it calculates its own encumbrance at the time the report is run.  On this report, the current month's encumbrance does not clear until the 1st of the following month.