PCT/MD May 2010 Page 1

PCT/MD May 2010

Page
1

ICASS
Hints
#
9
:

I
CASS Lite

Financial Management Services

(6225)

New “Accounts and Records” Workload Factor Group


May 10
,

2010



Summary:
Beginning in FY 2011 ICASS Lite posts will include workload

counts for a new
distribution factor group of Accounts
and

Records Services in cost center 6225 Financial
Management

Services. This distribution factor was mistakenly omitted when

the 6 FAH
-
5 H
-
340
was updated in 2008.

This “Hint
” describes how to obtain this workload count and where the
counts are entered i
n the ICASS software.


Index:

Page 1: New Factor Group Approval, Guidance and

Page 2: Obtaining workload counts in COAST

Page
3
: Entering workload counts in the ICASS Software

Page
4
:

Appendix
A State

039417 April 19, 2010: I
CASS Lite
F
inancial Man
agement Services

Cost
Center
–

New Factor Group


Approval and
6 FAH
-
5
Guidance

Update
:
Adding the Accounts and Records factor group to the
workload count for Financial Services at ICASS Lite posts was approved by the ICASS Working
Group. This policy
change will be implemented in the “
6 FAH
-
5 H
-
342.10 Financial Management
Services (6225), How to Count
”
, in the near future. This change only affects ICASS Lite posts since
ICASS Standard posts already include this workload count in the Accounts and Recor
ds (6221) cost
center.


Accounts and Records Factor Group:
T
he
cumulative
n
umber of
o
bligations
and c
hanges to
o
bligations
as recorded in the official COAST records
for Accounts and Records services
will
now
be
included as a

workload distribution factor

within the 6225 Cost

Center
–

Financial Management
Services

at ICASS Lite posts
.

This
mandatory
change will be effective for the FY2011 workload
count as of May 1
st
, 2010.

This new factor group will join the four existing factor groups of
Vouchering, Collections, Disbursements, and Accommodation Exchange.


How to Count:
The revised distribution factor

for
c
ost
c
enter 6225
is the number of strip codes
processed for both ca
shier and non
-
cashier transactions (includes journal vouchers,
disbursements, advances, return of advances, revenue, expenditure refunds, 477 transactions,
total number of obligations, including each change to an obligation,
cashier

transactions, cashier
c
ollections and cashier disbursements) plus accommodation exchange transactions as reported in
the accounting systems(s) of record. This is a cumulative count for the period May 1 through April
30.





PCT/MD May 2010

Page
2


Obtaining Workload Counts

from COAST
:
The Accounts and Records data is obtained from the 62
extract files imported into COAST.
To learn more about how to obtain workload counts from the
COAST system, go to the
“
COAST Computer Based Training
”,
and select

the 22 minute “
Lesson 14
–

ICASS Workl
oad
”

after c
licking on the
following link:



http://web.gfs.state.gov/Public/COAST/Documentation/COAST%202.1.0.0%20CBT/COAST%20CBT
%20L
esson%20Menu.htm






To obtain all workload counts, including the Accounts and Records,
Vouchering, Cashier
Collections and Disbursements

for the Financial Management
Cost Center 6225

for FY 2011, post
MUST
select
“ICASS”

under Report Type in the
COAST “
ICASS Workload Report
”
. Lite posts should
NOT

select “Lite” under Report Types since
the Accounts and Records workload are

not available
in this type of report.
The workload count for Accommodation Exchanges will be supplied by your
Class B cashier until

the new COAST Cashier system has been implemented.






PCT/MD May 2010

Page
3

Entering Workload Counts into
ICASS Lite software:


The
ICASS
Lite
software
has been

updated to
include a
row
in the “Factor Group” column named
“Accts & Records”
.
W
orkload counts obtained
from the COAST report for obligations and changes to obligations should be
entered in this row.






As a refresher, please review the following 6 FAH
-
5 and note that the Accounts and Records
service is related to only “
serviced

agencies
”.
See ICASS Hints #10 for more details.



6 FAH
-
5 H
-
342.10 Financial

Management Services (6225)

ICASS Lite combines the five financial management servic
es cost centers described under
ICASS Standard into one cost center.

6 FAH
-
5 H
-
342.10
-
4 How

to Count

a.

The distribution factor is the number of strip codes processed for both cashier and non
-
cashier transactions (includes journal vouchers, disbursements, advances, return of
advances, revenue, expenditure refunds, 477 transactions, cashier trans
actions, cashier
collections and cashier disbursements) plus accommodation exchange transactions as
reported in the accounting systems(s) of record.
This is a cumulative count for the period
May 1 through April 30.

b.

This cost center
is modifiable

in lim
ited circumstances with post budget committee
approval. Because of the wide range of services provided in this cost center and the
workload distribution factor, each post must consider the level of effort involved in each
service and determine what modifi
cation levels would be appropriate. For example, a
modification might be granted to an agency that maintains its own accounts and records
and prepares its own budget and plans. At some posts an agency may provide many of the
above services for its employ
ees but requires minimal post support to process allowance
payments, thus justifying a modification. At other posts an agency may certify its own
vouchers and simply use one of the above services to process the payment; this would
justify a modification.



Please contact the ICASS Service Center at
ICASSServiceCenter@State.gov

if you have any
questions regarding this topic.


ICASS Service Center home page:
www.icass.
gov



PCT/MD May 2010

Page
4

APPENDIX A:


UNCLASSIFIED

STATE

00039417

VZCZCXRO3501

RR RUEHIK

DE RUEHC #9417 1091654

ZNR UUUUU ZZH

R 191649Z APR 10

FM SECSTATE WASHDC

TO ALL DIPLOMATIC AND CONSULAR POSTS COLLECTIVE

RUEHPU/AMEMBASSY PORT AU PRINCE 1825

BT

UNCLAS STATE 039417


E.O. 12958: N/A

TAGS: KICA, AFIN, ABUD, AMGT

SUBJECT: ICASS LITE FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT SERVICES COST CENTER
-

NEW

FACTOR GROUP


FOR MGT OFFICER, FMO, ASP PROVIDERS, ICASS COUNCIL AND BUDGET

COMMITTEE CHAIRS


1. Beginning in FY 2011 ICASS Lite posts will in
clude workload

counts for a new distribution factor group of Accounts and

Records Services in cost center 6225 Financial Management

Services. This distribution factor was mistakenly omitted when

the 6 FAH
-
5 H
-
340 was updated in 2008.


2. This policy ch
ange was approved by the ICASS Working Group

Policy Committee. The ICASS Handbook, 6 FAH
-
5 H
-
342.10
-
4

Financial Management Services, will be updated to reflect this

change. This change does not affect ICASS Standard posts since

this factor group is alrea
dy counted.


3. Detailed instructions on how to obtain and record this new

factor group in the FY 2011 workload counts will be included in

an upcoming ICASS Hints to be posted on the ICASS Service Center

website
www.ic
ass.gov

by May 1, 2010.


4. MINIMIZE CONSIDERED

CLINTON

BT

#9417