Disbursement Process Overview

Accounts Payable Overview

Accounts Payable is the functional area that is responsible for the oversight of all payments issued
through MMARS. Payment Requests, Advances, Recurring and Ready payments all can occur as a
result of an Encumbrance. Payment Request documents established in the system initiate the
payment process, authorize the disbursements of funds through documents and typically reference
an Encumbrance.
Disbursement Process Overview
he disbursement process ta!es the payment data and transforms it into a disbursement instrument.
"isbursements liquidate the payable and generate payments to the vendor.
he Payment Request documents go into a disbursement queue, #here the overnight batch process
creates disbursement transactions and generates a #arrant file that is sent to the reasurer. he
reasurer generates payments and sends them to the vendor, then sends a file #ith the payment
information bac! to MMARS.
"isbursement documents include the Electronic $unds %E$& and Automated "isbursements %A"&
documents. he reasurer oversees disbursing all payments. 'oth the E$ and A" disbursement
documents are created in a nightly batch cycle of logical groups of payment documents to a single
vendor and transmitted to reasury in a disbursement file. he E$ documents generate E$s and
the A" documents create chec!s.
he E$ and A" documents combine as a payment file that is sent to reasury via interface, called
the disbursement file, #hich is sent on a daily basis. After the reasurer generates and sends
payments, they send bac! a file called the (arrant Return %(R& on the ne)t business day.
he Payment Request documents in MMARS allo# multiple *endors, +ommodities and,or Accounting
lines to be established #ithin a single document. he structure provides fle)ibility to-
Perform batching function
Support department budget coding
Allo# multi.partial payment scheduling
Disbursement Document Structure
Each night "isbursement documents, E$ and A", are generated based on the Scheduled Payment
"ate of each specific Accounting line. he Payment Request document may have several E$ and,or
A" documents chain bac! to them.
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Disbursement Process
/nce Payment Request documents are entered and submitted to $inal in MMARS, they go into a
disbursement queue, #here the overnight batch process creates disbursement transactions and
generates a #arrant file that is sent to the reasurer. he reasurer generates payments and sends
them to the vendor. /n a one.business day lag, the reasurer then returns the payment information
in the (arrant Return %(R& file bac! to MMARS, as illustrated belo#.
Schedule Payment Date
he Schedule Payment "ate is the date that the system #ill use to process a payment to the vendor
for goods or services rendered. he Scheduled Payment "ate is calculated based on several
payment date factors and is typically #ithin 23 days of receiving the invoice from the vendor. 4f the
Scheduled Payment "ate is entered, a contract due date for e)ample, then the Scheduled Payment
"ate must be equal or greater than the current day.
he Scheduled Payment "ate determines #hen the Payment Request document #ill enter into the
disbursement process. All Payment Request documents that are in the 5$inal6 phase and have a
Scheduled Payment "ate of today %current day& or earlier #ill enter into the disbursement process.
4f the Scheduled Payment "ate is left blan!, it #ill be calculated by the application. here are several
factors that are involved in the calculation of Scheduled Payment "ate-
he application #ill determine if the Scheduled Payment "ate is calculated based on the discount
terms defined. he number of discount days is added to the latter of the 5Service o "ate6 or
5*endor 4nvoice "ate6 %date received by the +ommon#ealth&. 4f this date is greater than or equal
to today7s date, it #ill be used as the Scheduled Payment "ate.
4f discount terms are not defined or are no longer eligible, the system #ill use the payment lag
associated #ith the ob8ect code used on the payment. he ob8ect lag is added to the latter of the
5Service o "ate6 or 6*endor 4nvoice "ate6 to determine the Scheduled Payment "ate.
Managing Disbursements
4n the "isbursement process, the "isbursement Request able %"4SR9& and "isbursement
Management table %"4S'M& are used to manage pending payments that are to be disbursed. :ou
can not only vie# pending payments, but also update payment information in the system. $or
e)ample, the +ommon#ealth allo#s a ;andling +ode to be entered on all Payment Request
documents, #hich determines ho# the payment #ill be handled. :ou can ma!e changes to the
;andling +ode, Scheduled Payment "ate, disbursement category and other functions on the
"isbursement Request able %"4SR9&. 4f you needed to pull the payment, you could change the
;andling +ode on the "4SR9 able. hese changes can be made since the payment has not yet
been disbursed. $or additional information about the "4SR9 and,or "4S'M, refer to the 5Accounts
Payable /vervie#6 module.
/nce the payments have been disbursed, you can find the related disbursement information on the
"isbursement 9uery %"4S'9& and "isbursement "etail 9uery %"4S'"9& tables. he "4S'9
displays summary information from the E$ and A" documents and the +hec! Reconciliation table
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for "isbursement documents. he "4S'"9 displays detailed information from the E$ and A"
documents and the +hec! Reconciliation table for "isbursement documents. Additionally, you can
find and lin! to the associated Payment Request documents from the "isbursement document on the
"4S'"9.
$or more detailed information complete the "isbursement e=earning modules.
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