(triumphant orchestral music)
-: Good morning.
I'm Alex Abshire.
I work in ITRB,
which is the Inter-governmental Transactions
and Reconciliation Branch.
So, some of you guys might be familiar with that branch.
It kinda produces the scorecards,
but we also have the G-Invoicing Programming team
houses them within that branch, as well.
I also have George Pearce here.
He's with our agency implementation team
from FRB St. Louis.
I know Keith and Chris his on that
during the last presentation.
They're very valuable in trying to get AVC set up
and implemented into G-Invoicing.
So today, we're going to be talking
about the order functionality within G-Invoicing.
So, we're gonna be going through some slides
before the demo,
but then we're gonna be jumping into a live demo.
I apologize in advance for the small screen.
So, for the people in the back,
it's gonna be hard for you guys to see.
So, I'm gonna go ahead and plug.
We also have
one of our webinars, GT&C webinars.
FRB puts on all kinds of webinars
and in-person demos over in Crystal City.
So, we have those out for registration
on the fiscal service training page.
So, our agenda today,
what we're gonna cover.
We're gonna cover some learning objectives,
what all we're gonna cover.
We have introduction to G-Invoicing,
kind of a high-level overview,
kind of plays off what Keith and Chris did
in the last session.
We're gonna cover some system basics,
and then at that point,
we're gonna jump into a live demonstration of G-Invoicing,
and at the end, we're gonna save some time
for an open discussion or any questions you guys may have.
We're also gonna try to,
when we're in the demo,
take a couple breaks here and there
to see if you guys have any questions
while we're in the system,
before we get all the way through.
So, our learning objectives.
So, what are we gonna learn today.
You guys are gonna learn how to successfully create
and approve an order within G-Invoicing
for both the requesting and the servicing industry side,
you're gonna gain understanding
of the required G-Invoicing data elements,
which is the FIDS,
you're also gonna learn about the benefits
that G-Invoicing will provide you and your agency
in the inragovernmental buy/sell process.
So, what's in it for you guys?
So, one of the main topics is the approved quality
and reliability of buy/sell data.
I know Joel yesterday talked about honorable data
for the general funds.
So, if we wanna make it honorable,
we can do that, too.
So, last presentation
was the IPAC wars or reductions and adjustments.
So, we talked about that
currently within the buy/sell process.
We hear a lot of complaints from agencies
about they don't know what charges are for,
there's a lot of charge backs back and forth
between each other.
We really believe that communication throughout G-Invoicing
and the approval process at the GT&C in order
really benefit agencies
and really drastically reduce the adjustments
in buy/sell transactions.
So, the third bullet there,
support for reconciliation and elimination.
We believe G-Invoicing will be a great tool,
especially in ITRB, doing the scorecards.
For any intragovernmental eliminations that occur,
we believe that ITRB can use G-Invoicing
as a tool to reconcile any differences that may occur
and just use that
with their agencies
to figure out those differences.
The last bullet there is improve transparency.
So basically, right now within IPAC
you have each agency in their own silos
doing their own entries,
but then have IPAC in the middle for fund settlement,
but there's nothing really in between.
You can't really see into each other's systems.
We really think G-Invoicing
has the central data repository
that will be very beneficial
to be able to see into each other's processes
and see when you're booking certain transactions
and so forth.
So bottom there, who are our targeted stakeholders?
I know we have a mandate out there,
but our targeted stakeholders
are all federal program agencies,
and any federal financial ERP vendors
that are engaged in the execution of the life cycle
of buy/sell transactions.
So, our program status,
where are we currently at?
I know Keith and Chris hit a little bit on this,
but this kinda shows
where we've came from,
where we're going.
So, back in March of 2018,
we released DTNCs for agencies to use,
and that's kinda the handshake agreement
between trading partners there
before the ordering process.
But, back in March we deployed orders.
So, that's more your funding,
your details of the order, your TAS/BETC,
shaping information stuff like that.
So, that's what we're gonna be doing today.
Release 2.3's performance.
So, that's what we just released about three
or four weeks ago.
Basically, that's performance against your orders,
like the deliveries,
delivery of goods or services performed.
So, I just wanna plug in Wes Vincent
actually has a presentation at one p.m.
in the amphitheater.
He's gonna be covering everything about performance
and how performance is gonna generate
settlement within IPAC.
So, that's gonna be a really good session
for you guys to attend.
So down there, our last bullet is the incremental releases
through June of 2020.
It says not currently scheduled.
So recently, fiscal service moved
toward a agile methodology.
So, before or a lot of our financial government-wide systems
we had a waterfall method
where you only get one release or so per year.
So, Agile is more you can change
and move with that,
and you have for each program increment
you can add new functionality.
So, with the Agile methodology,
we're pushing out more functionality quicker to you guys
for any issues you guys are occur with G-Invoicing
or any other system.
We can get that quicker out to you guys in production.
So, as Chris mentioned
in the last session,
our release 3.0, which is coming
in we're thinking fall, some time frame,
we're hoping by December,
that's gonna be our GT&C re-write.
So, right now you're gonna see within our order
live demo is we have a newer
user interface within G-Invoicing.
So, within release 3.0,
we're gonna be updating the GT&C document
within the system
to match that order user interface.
The other thing that's coming with the release,
release 3.0 is a settlement,
so that's huge for us to have cradle to the grave
from GT&C all the way through settlement
all the way through the system,
being able to have performance within G-Invoicing
and settlement IPAC with remittance information
within the system.
So, that's gonna be a huge release for us this fall
to have that all out there for you guys,
about a year and a half above the mandate.
So, the federal intragovernmental data standards.
So, that is something that we collaborate
with the intragovernmental transactions working group
where the access to CBG on.
So, we developed that over several years.
So, we developed the GT&C order and performance.
Those are all posted out there on our fiscal service
G-Invoicing website for agency consumption.
So, we have that document.
There's three documents, Excel files for that.
I wanna also point out, which isn't listed here,
we have the SMAVR documents,
and also the G-Invoicing user guide.
So, the SMAVR documents
will basically show you guys
through the different document statuses
within G-Invoicing whether there's data elements
that are required, whether they're optional,
whether they're conditional,
how you guys can use those FIDS
within G-Invoicing and when they're required
within that system.
The user guides, we have both the intragovernmental
disburser user guide
and a disburser admin user guide.
So, those are really good user guides
when trying to learn the system,
trying to figure out different functionality
within the system,
and those three documents together
really help you guys implement G-Invoicing.
So, the last bullet there
is the system interface specifications.
So, not only does G-Invoicing have user interface,
we also have
the capability to interface within your financial systems.
So, a lot of you think this is a big win for them,
being able to push or pull data
into and out of G-Invoicing.
So, with those dates there you can see
for each document type of when we published those.
We just recently published
the performance system interface specifications
back in April.
So, those are all out there for agency consumption,
as well as ERP vendor consumption.
So, here on slide seven,
this is our buy/sell information flow.
I know this has been floating around for years,
that we put this together,
but basically, it's just a high level depiction
of what all documents and what all happens
within G-Invoicing.
So, on there on the left side
you can see there's the requesting agency,
on the right side's the servicing agency
with G-Invoicing in the middle.
So, it starts with a GT&C up top,
either party can create
and approve the GT&C,
but at the order level,
the requesting agency right now
has to create the order,
and then the seller enters in their information
and approves of it, as well.
After that, Wes is gonna talk about,
is the performance,
which is performing all those orders,
and then from there it moves on down to IPAC for settlement,
and after that, agencies can record the settlement
within their systems.
So, the order stage.
We wanna kinda lay out what the order stage actually was.
So, the order is the funding section of the IAA
that identifies the specific requesting agency requirements
for the expected delivery of goods and/or services
by the servicing agency,
and the corresponding accounting treatment.
So, when we talk about accounting treatment,
I know we've hit on it a little bit today
is the G-Invoicing program guides.
So, we developed that to eight agencies
and basically tying back the steps
within G-Invoicing with the appropriate accounting treatment
for your agency's entries.
So, that's out there.
There's a presentation later today in this room,
I think three o'clock
with Brian Caston and Chris Beck,
talking about the program guide
and how those debits and credits correspond
with those transactions in G-Invoicing.
The next bullet I hit on a little bit,
only the requesting agency currently may initiate and order
from an approved GT&C in G-Invoicing.
So, we've had some request from agencies
for seller-generated orders.
We have a work around for that currently,
but we're looking more into that,
but the workaround would work for that right now
would be the buyer granting the seller access
to create and order on their behalf,
but that's a system requirement
as we're building it out.
Also at the order, both partners will enter in
their respective TAS/BETC symbols,
any additional accounting information,
like your AFF values
within your core financial system,
or any shipping or delivery details
that you believe are important.
So now, I'm gonna kick it over to George
to cover some G-Invoicing system basics
before we jump into the demo.
-: Thank you.
Good morning, everyone.
So, keeping with the audience participation,
just by show of hands,
how many folks have seen a demo of G-Invoicing before?
About half.
Okay, how many folks have seen
the newer orders module
and the new UI we developed?
A lot less hands.
Okay.
Very good.
All right, so like Alex said,
I'm just gonna cover some system basics.
We have two environments that we work in,
the QA-C environment, test environment,
as with any system you have a place base,
somewhere you can go in, do your training,
do your testing,
and prepare things for production.
And then, many agencies already have a QA account
and a significant number also have a production account,
so that's where they're processing their real transactions,
actually inputting live GT&Cs,
as well as starting to do some significant testing
with orders, as well.
So, as far as gaining access to G-Invoicing,
if you don't have it already.
Again, most agencies already have an account set up,
so there are a couple of ways
you can gain access to that environment,
working through your agency point of contact,
working with your AIT,
which is someone in my role,
someone treasury, making sure you get access
coming to a training.
Again, QA-C primarily is gonna help agencies
with their training space.
We do a lot of setup activity
and preparation for things before going into production.
We're also gonna be working in the test environment today,
so we'll be in an account that we have set up,
and if you believe your agency does not have access
to G-Invoicing yet,
or you need assistance with that,
here are a couple of inboxes you can submit a request to
to help with that.
Those will be going to FRB, our treasury.
We have two primary modules in G-Invoicing,
the Intra-Gov Disburser module.
So, think end-user activity.
That's where you're processing general terms and conditions,
which is the 7600A,
orders, which is the 7600B,
performance, which you can see demoed
later this afternoon,
as well as receipt and acceptance.
So, we actually just had our performance release
in July, like Chris mentioned in the last presentation.
So, you can now see that in the test environment
and the production environment,
and then there's a disburser administration module
which is gonna be more back end,
there's gonna be a lot less administrators for your agency.
So, these are the folks that are gonna be responsible
for setting up your account, working with us
to do that detailed work,
and then adding users to the account,
providing them roles, access,
which is a lot of work that we put into
to build your hierarchy in the system.
Admins will also be helping with that.
So, a lot of the activity you would expect to see
in an admin module for those smaller set of users
from your agency.
So, this is gonna be really hard for the folks
in the back to see,
but this is just a list
of the roles that we have available in the system right now.
You can see there's administrator roles,
as well as some specific for GT&C in the orange,
and then orders in the purple,
and again, just with our last release
after we finalize these slides,
we have our performance roles, as well.
So, you'll see a couple more in there,
but just emphasizing that everything in G-Invoicing
is gonna be role-based.
Today in the environment,
we're gonna have super user access,
so we can bounce back and forth
and not have to log into different accounts.
Obviously in production,
your users are gonna have some specific set of roles
for the work they do
and not have all of these,
at least I would expect
that no one's gonna have everything.
G-Invoicing experience.
Does anyone currently have a G-Invoicing User Id,
actually have access to the system?
Anyone?
Some do.
So, not many.
I'm gonna jump ahead on this question a little bit,
but has anyone attended any of our G-Invoicing trainings,
actually been to our Crystal City office,
done the webinars, seen the videos online?
Okay, so a mix.
A mix.
There'll be a lot
of clean slates for us to show this system to.
Okay.
(mumbling)
Pre-requisites.
-: Okay, so before we hop in the demo,
we're just gonna cover a couple
order processing prerequisites.
So, prerequisites.
So, GT&C are completed with reference data,
so the reference data within the system.
We have a access model
where the reference data kinda builds out
your different business lines,
or however you wanna set up your hierarchy
within your system.
The reference data on the GT&C are appropriately assigned
to the user through the SDAGs.
So, the SDAGs are, like I said, the access model.
We're not gonna get too in the weeds with that today,
but basically it's just assigning appropriate access
to your users so they can see certain information
that is assigned or the data on the GT&C or order.
Next bullet down is G-Invoicing orders roles is assigned.
So, it's just making sure,
like for our example, like George said,
we're gonna be super users,
so we're gonna be having an order manager
and order approval roles.
So, those are gonna be--
and like he said, in production,
there's gonna be probably spread out
and it's gonna be different people for each of these roles,
but for our example, we always have all of them.
And then, the last bullet there,
SDAGs are paired with the orders roles
matching the upstream GT&C reference data.
So, that's just saying the order reference data
matches what's on the GT&C
that the order is associated with.
Okay, so George, you wanna?
So, while he's logging in,
does anyone have any questions for us
before we start the order and live demonstration?
If so, just raise your hand
and Andy can bring you a mic.
All right, looks like we're good.
Cool.
All right, so this is just the welcome screen
within G-Invoicing.
So today, like I said,
we're gonna be focusing on orders,
so we're not gonna show you guys how to create the GT&C.
It looked like you guys had seen that before.
A lot of you guys have.
So today, we're gonna show you the orders.
To start the orders, you need to create an order
based on a already approved GT&C.
So within the system, we're gonna click
on request agency tab,
which I have access to.
There we go.
So from there, we're gonna click on our GT&C number
here on the left.
So basically, as you can see,
so this is, like I said, the GT&C re-writes
gonna be updated to match the order UI here soon
later this year.
So, this is gonna be updated here soon,
but we're gonna click this GT&C number.
At that point, at the top right of the screen,
you're gonna see a create order button.
So basically, within GT&Cs,
you have an option to choose agreement type,
so you can either have single orders or multiple orders.
So for this example, we have a multiple order GT&C,
so we can cut many orders off this one GT&C.
Click the create order button.
It's a little bit slow in here, I guess.
Here we go.
All right, so here
is the create order screen.
So, one thing I was gonna show you guys
in the user interface,
we talked about required data elements within G-Invoicing,
and one of the tricks that we learned
is if you go down and click the submit
for requesting and approval,
this will show you all of the required fields
within G-Invoicing.
So at that point, as you can see
at the partner information,
we know the peer to performance end date are required,
and also the assist in acquisition indicator,
and also on the left hand side of the screen,
you can see all of the different tabs
that have required elements that you need to fill out
before being able to submit for approval.
So, we're gonna fill out
the peer to performance.
We're gonna make it August first to August 31st,
just for a quick example.
We didn't really talk about it yet,
but today we're just gonna do a happy path example,
just a very standard buy/sell.
We're not gonna jump into advances
or Sys acquisition or anything like that,
but we do have that functionality within this system.
So down here, under requesting agency
we talked about reference data for the SDAGs
for your access model.
So, a the GT&C we had
a reference data for the business team
on the requesting side
and a cost center on the servicing side.
So, we're gonna go ahead and fill that out.
And down here, we have a comments field
and an order tracking number,
but business partner network
is actually a conditional field.
So, either the BPN is at the header level,
which you see here.
We also capture activity address code
at the schedule,
but either one or the other
has to be populated
for the conditional requirement to be met.
So, we're just gonna put in
a fake seller data right here
to meet that requirement.
So, we're gonna go down to over here
on the left hand side tab to authority.
So, the statutory authority fund type code
is a required field,
so we're gonna select an economy act here
for the requesting agency.
Over here on the left hand side tab,
I talked about it, is advances.
So, we have advance revenue recognition methodology,
and also a description,
but since we selected no for advances of the GT&C,
advances aren't allowed for the order.
So, if you wanna do advances,
you'd have to select yes at the GT&C,
and then you'd be able
to advance on this order.
So down here, to delivery,
FOB point is a required field.
So, we're just gonna select source for this.
This is a huge driver within G-Invoicing.
So, FOB point drives
which performance transaction generates settlement.
So, Wes is gonna get really into the details
of how that generates settlement,
how G-Invoicing initiates settlement with IPAC,
depending on FOB point.
Also, at the delivery tab
we have acceptance point,
place of acceptance, inspection point,
and place of inspection.
Those are all optional fields within the system,
if the agencies wanna use those.
So as you can see, at the billing tab
we see billing frequency and billing frequency explanation.
Since we can't enter those,
those are servicing agency fields
that George will be entering in.
Down there we also have the priority order indicator
and the capital plan and investment control.
Those are optional fields,
so we're not gonna fill these out for this demo.
Moving on down to point of contact.
So, this is information for your main point of contact
for this specific order.
So, we require those fields.
So, I'm gonna go ahead and type those in real quick.
So, those fields are required on both sides.
We think that'll benefit the agencies,
because a lot of times with the IPAC now,
people don't know who's the right person to contact,
so if someone has a question about performance
or anything that's settled within IPAC,
they can reach back to this specific point of contact
on the order.
So, here's the approval tab.
We'll get to that here in a second,
once we fill out the information
at the line and schedule level.
We also capture the preparer biases,
the data entry person who's entering in the order
within the user interface
that just captures that as another point of contact
for both trading partners.
So, once we get down to the line in the schedule,
this is the real meat of the order.
This is where
you type out your prices and amounts
and your TAS/BETC,
and any additional data, like you AFF values
that are accounting values
that might be within your financials,
as I mentioned before.
So at the line, we're gonna edit that line,
and there's a description.
So, we're just gonna say financial services.
Hit Z instead of shift on that.
So down here, we have type of services requirements,
and they have three choices of not applicable,
severable, or non-severable.
So for this example,
we're just gonna choose non-severable.
We have an item code,
so a specific item code within our agency
if you wanna put that in,
but it's a required field.
Unit of measure.
We actually have a unit of measure list
out on the G-Invoicing website.
So, you can go out there and see
all the available different unit of measures out there
for choices out here.
So, I'll show you for example,
I'm gonna type in dollar
and it shows up of the different unit of measure choices.
And, it's just an auto-fill on that.
We also have product service identifier
and UID required indicator
at the line level, as well.
We're not gonna fill those in.
Yeah.
Andy, can you bring her a mic?
Woman: I can probably talk loud enough.
Alex: They have us streaming right now
and they wanna make sure the people that are streaming
can hear it, too.
He might've broke the mic.
You can say it and I'll repeat it.
Yeah.
Woman: How large is the description field?
(mumbling)
Alex: Yeah, I believe it's either 150
or 240 characters.
It's captured within the FIDS,
so we can talk about that after
and I'm gonna show you the correct length on that.
Yeah.
Right.
So, that description is per line,
so you have that at each line
to be able to fill that in.
So, you can have many lines and many schedules
for the order,
so you can have one line with many schedules underneath it,
or you can have 10 lines with one schedule
under each one of those, as well.
Okay.
Moving on down to the schedule.
The schedule is where the unit costs and quantity
are located, as well as the TAS/BETC information.
So for this, we're gonna say the unit cost is one
and make our quantity 10,000.
So, up there you're gonna see at the schedule level,
it calculated the amount for your automatically
within G-Invoicing.
And then, you also see the advanced pay indicator
for that schedule is no.
So, scroll on down.
So, we have this drop down box.
So, for our example,
I have access to a lot
of different treasury account symbols.
Within your access model,
if you're a certain user,
you only have access to a certain main
or certain aid
or anything else within your system,
you can do that,
and within our access model
you can break that down by aid and main
on that, as well.
So, I'm just gonna go ahead and select
a treasury account symbol,
which is a treasury account symbol right here.
So, right here at the funding information,
we also have BMN plus four,
object class code,
and additional accounting classification.
So, bona fide need
was a required field within the system.
So, I'm gonna type in needed on that.
So down here, I'm gonna show you guys
that standard line of accounting.
A lot of agencies think this is a key thing
for their system.
We've been talking to ERP vendors
about how that's gonna map from your systems
to these fields within G-Invoicing,
to add like if you had specific accounting information
within your system.
So, those are all captured within the schedule level.
Down here, we also capture shipping information,
which you can say where the goods are being shipped
or anything like that,
but those are all optional fields.
So, we captured all of the required data elements
within the order right now.
So at this point, I'm gonna submit it
for request and approval,
and just click the button at the bottom
and it just kinda pops up and asks you
are you sure you wanna submit?
'Cause in a real life scenario,
once you submit, it'll go to the approver's hands
and they're gonna have to either approve or reject the order
before the order manager can see that again.
So, you can see it flash up there.
It says success.
Order submitted for requesting agency approval.
So in a real life scenario at that point,
it would go to your approver's hands,
but since I'm a super user
and I have the approval roles,
I can go ahead and approve this document.
So, I'm gonna click on the approvals tab.
So, you just have a spot for the approval funding official,
as well as the program official.
So, as you can see right here,
you're gonna click this little check box
beside the requesting agency for that funding official.
That's gonna fill in based off your credentials
that you logged into the system with,
fill that in.
So, title is also a required field
at the approval step.
So, I'm gonna type in manager right there
for both of them.
So within the system,
we give agencies the ability,
a user can have both the front and end program official,
but most likely it's gonna be two different people,
but for this scenario, I have both.
So, most of the time it's gonna be one person log in
and approving this,
and a second person logging in and approving.
There's no sequential in that.
Either one can approve first,
but at the GT&C,
it's a little bit different.
You have initial and final.
So at the order,
either party can approve first
for the approval step.
So, I'm gonna go ahead and click requesting agency approve,
and it just kinda pops up right there,
and make sure you wanna approve the order.
So as you can see, the order status updated
to shared with servicing.
So at this point,
I'm gonna pass over to George.
He's gonna fill--
Oh, yeah.
Man: Quick question.
I had a question too.
Just a quick question.
Is there a workflow in here,
or does the creator have to tell the approver,
you gotta go out and look?
Alex: So, we have notifications within the system.
Users can subscribe to email notifications.
So basically, if you have an approval within the system,
as soon as they hit submit,
you'll get a notification saying, "hey.
"This order needs to be,
"or is ready to be approved by your review
"and approved by you."
So at that point, they'll know to log in
to the system and approve.
Man: Is there a convention
to the order number?
Like GT&C (mumbling)
Alex: Yeah, it's very similar to that,
except the first letter's O,
so it stands for order,
then you have 19, which is the year,
by default, by 08,
which is the month calendar year.
And then, you have dash 020, dash 020.
So, those are the two aids for the two trading partners,
and then after that, you have a sequential number
that's six characters.
So, it just counts up after that,
each one, and the dot zero is for modifications.
So once you modify the order,
it'll count it from dot one dot two to dot three
for each modification you have for that order.
Yeah.
Man: Can somebody (mumbling)
Alex: Yeah, you have an order manager role
within the system.
We can go back and show you those if you want.
There's several different roles that you can delve out
for users within the system.
Yep.
Woman: How can and agency identify
that the approval changed?
If I have an IT document,
can you still (mumbling)
and if it's not IT,
do you go through a different (mumbling)
Where do we identify that
so we can notify the right department?
Alex: So basically,
I think that'd be building out your access model
within the system
and who you wanna give access to within your system.
So basically, if you want your IT side
to be one of the approvals,
you can give the access to the funding official,
to your IT people,
and then if you want it to go to another side,
you can assign access to that side,
but I think the main thing is we only capture
two approvals, the funding and program official
within the system.
If you require additional approvals,
we have the ability for attachments.
We've been talking with GSA and some other people
about trying to upload--
Actually, one of our COs coming up
is gonna be print functionality.
So, if you have to require
additional approvals, you can print that off
and send it around,
and have digital signatures for that,
and basically reattach it in G-Invoicing
with those signatures.
Woman: It's not additional approvals?
It's (mumbling) approvals.
(mumbling)
So, if it's an IT agreement,
it needs to go to one side,
and it's the second agency,
so how do you identify that?
This is a IT resource,
needs to go to this person.
Alex: So, that would be through the access models.
That reference data that I mentioned
in the beginning.
So basically, if it was an IT agreement,
you'd have an IT reference data associated with that,
and at that point, you'd have a set of users
underneath that reference data, the SDAG,
that are assigned to that,
versus the other section you were saying.
Is there any other questions?
Man: I noticed you didn't have to enter
or select the BETC, that point of transactions.
So, I assume based on that TAS you're selecting,
that information is auto-populated?
Alex: So for buy/sell,
we kind of notated that really
only the two BETCs that were used
were disbursement for the requesting agency
and collection for the servicing agency.
I know Joel presented yesterday
about the additional general fund BETC.
So, we actually have that as a CR,
trying to get that out there in our program increment five.
So, we'll get that out there for the additional BETCs
that are required by the general fund
with the guidance that the general fund puts out.
Yep?
(man mumbling)
Man: So currently,
with the 7600B that I have is effective
when it's bilaterally executed,
meaning both parties sign it,
but I see you don't restrict
the start date in G-Invoicing.
Is that also true in the production?
Alex: Yeah, you can't technically
do any performance til the order's approved,
and we've kinda heard that from agencies
about the start date being different
than the approval date.
So, we still say
that the start date, whatever,
that was on the order.
So, say it's 10/01
for a lot of annual agreements.
That's when the actual start date would be,
even if the approval comes out at a later time.
Is there any other questions
before I pass it over to George
for the servicing agency side?
Okay.
Take it, George.
(quiet chattering)
George: Okay, so what we're essentially doing here
is switching hats.
We have a different instance opened up here
where I'm logged in as the servicing agency.
So, just a couple of notes.
We have some folks planted out there,
they're sending me text messages.
So, we have the slide deck
has screenshots of everything that we're showing here.
So, if you can't see it and you're in the back
or you wanna follow along and you have that printed out,
you can look there.
So, just one or two other notes,
sort of where we are in the process
as far as context goes.
The requesting agency has completed the order,
completed the draft,
gotten it approved.
I think this is typically the point at which
you would send an email with a PDF
to get the order approved by the servicing agency.
So, like Chris mentioned in the previous presentation,
we're really hoping that using G-Invoicing
as a facilitation tool for that back and forth,
instead of having to email PDF around
is gonna be the way that folks
are really moving forward with us on this.
So, like I said,
Alex approved the order on the buyer side.
If I'm using the user interface,
I will have gotten a notification from G-Invoicing
that I can come in as a servicing agency,
and I can navigate to my orders tab,
and do the approval here in the system.
We do also have, as was noted earlier, as well,
interfaces built, so some of this activity
you can complete from your own financial system
and push us this data.
So, there was a question before about approvals.
If you're initiating your orders
in your financial management system
and then sending us that data,
you can take care of how ever many approvals you need
in your own system,
and then just send us the completed side of that order.
So, that's another option, as well,
if you choose to go that route.
Okay.
It's moving a little bit slow.
Okay, so the order that Alex completed,
the buyer side, is right here.
Number four eight nine.
So, I'm gonna open this up.
Again, I'm the servicing agency now.
I'm gonna come in.
I have some information I need to input for my agency
that you could see the fields were not editable
when he was in the document.
So again, if you click on submit for servicing approval,
yes, you wanna submit,
you're gonna get a bunch of error messages here
telling you and showing you where the required fields are
in this document.
Makes it a lot easier to navigate,
and like Alex also noted, if you've seen the GT&C
or saw a previous version of the order,
this wasn't there before.
So, this is something that we added
in one of our previous releases
to make this a little bit easier.
So, if I scroll down a little bit
we can see that the BPN is the first required field,
so this is gonna be a DUNS number
or an identification number
for your trading partner for yourself.
So, put in nine digit number there for the DUNS.
As soon as I click off that field,
you can see that the validations kick in
and the red marker goes away for that.
I can navigate right to the next one,
which is gonna be the authority section here.
Scrolling down, I can click on the drop down
to pick the statutory authority fund type
that I'm entering for my agency.
So, we'll select economy act,
and again, I click off
and that error messaging goes away.
Nothing for us on the delivery area,
but in billing we do get to select
our billing frequency.
So, we'll say monthly.
Okay.
So, there are various points of contact
you enter on the order.
You saw one for the requesting agency.
We put one here for the servicing agency.
Further down, you also have the option
to put some point of contacts in for shipping specifically.
So for this, I'm gonna enter my information.
That is not my real phone number,
so don't write that down.
(laughing)
So, scrolling down just a little further,
we still have you can see there are two red error messages
down below at the line and schedule level.
So, I'm gonna pop open the line information.
Capitalized asset indicator.
Yes or no.
I'll pick yes.
Oh, also one other note,
just talking about the FIDS
that was mentioned a number of times today.
Really, the base for all this document that was created.
So, on the fiscal service website,
you can see detailed information
for each of these fields, definitions,
how many characters you can put,
any sort of additional requirements
are gonna be on the fiscal service website.
So, there's a lot of information there.
Okay, so we still have one field
left to populate at the schedule level.
I'm gonna scroll down and we can see here
that's gonna be the TAS.
So, just like on the requesting agency side,
this particular user has been given some level of access
in the system,
and when we say access model,
we're really just talking your agency hierarchy.
It's something that we work with you
right at the beginning to set up.
It includes reference data to various areas
within your organization,
as well as access to TAS you're assigning
to specific users.
So, one of the issues right off the bat
if you're using the UI,
if a user should only have access
to two or three TAS values
and not 50,
it's gonna limit a lot of that correction
that has to be done later one,
where we here folks saying,
someone picked a wrong TAS,
someone picked an expired TAS.
We can limit that right up front.
So again, you see a long list here
because we have super user access.
So, there's a bunch of them in here,
but I imagine not everyone will have access to that many.
Man: Is there any kind of search feature there?
George: Yeah.
So, if you come up here to these fields,
you can start typing
and it'll limit what's gonna show up
in each of these fields here.
I'll just pick one there.
So scrolling down,
you can see that we've addressed
all of the error messaging that was popping up.
You can scroll through, review any of the information
that was put in by your trading partner,
but we should have everything good to go.
So, if I click on submit for servicing approval,
again, just sort of where we are in the process,
the servicing agency has received this order.
They've had someone do their data input
for their side of the order,
and now that person is submitting it
for servicing side approval.
So, whoever the approver is
for this particular document,
this area of the organization,
they will get an email notification letting them know
to come in,
they need to do their approval.
Again, I'm wearing both hats,
so I submitted it, and now I'm gonna approve it,
just for the purpose of the demo.
Scroll down to approvals,
and we have two, one for the approving funding official,
and one for the program official.
So, if I click on that little box there,
put in the title,
and we should be able--
So, you can approval also.
So, when you click on reject,
any time you see reject in G-Invoicing,
you're gonna be required to put in some comments
as to why, so if you kick it back a level,
that person knows what they have to do.
So, we can return
to the other agency as well,
but in this case we're gonna go ahead
and approve that.
We get a little message letting us know
that the servicing agency approval was successful,
and I think that's--
So, we have the order.
Go and show it
in the order section here,
and it should be open.
(mumbling)
Yep, go ahead.
Woman: Can a servicing agency
initiate the order?
George: Currently, they cannot.
That is not something--
Only the requesting agency can initiate the order,
either through the UI
or by initiating that in their own system
and then pushing us that information
to then share with the servicing agency.
Any other questions?
No?
Okay.
(mumbling)
Alex: So, this attached here
is mine and George's contact information.
Before we end, did you guys have any other questions today?
Yep?
Woman: Just some follow up.
Will that be changing in the future?
Alex: For the servicing agency generated order?
We actually have a workaround for that right now,
I kinda spoke to before.
Okay.
Man: Can I ask?
Are you asking that?
So for folks that are live streaming,
the question is can the servicer upload the order, correct?
-: Yes. -: Okay.
Man: Start the order.
(audio cuts out)
Return question here.
Are you asking because you would like your servicer
to be able to do that for you
or are you a servicer and would like to be doing that
on behalf of your clients?
Woman: I'm a servicer.
Man: You're a servicer.
(mumbling)
Okay.
And, you would like to be in a place
where you could initiate the order,
rather than having them do it.
(mumbling)
You already have the necessary information.
Okay.
So, that lands you in a camp
that you share with some other folks
that I won't mention here.
Alex: So, side strong poll,
how does everyone feel about that,
about a servicing agency generating the order?
If you guys think that should be an option,
can you raise your hand?
(laughing)
Man: So, saw a lot of hands go up.
That's good.
Where's Bob?
Bob in the room?
I don't see Bob.
He would love to see a lot of hands go up.
Bob's from GSA, so GSA would love to see that,
but so I wanna add a caveat there,
and that doesn't mean you have to raise one hand
half way or not half way,
but more than likely what we'd wanna see there,
at least your trading partner
if you're the buyer and you want your seller
to initiate your order for you,
is they're gonna wanna see that on a consistent basis.
They don't wanna see it piece meal.
Probably the way they're gonna want it.
So, think about that in terms of your response there.
It does relinquish a little bit of control,
but it may ease the process.
So, thank you for your honest on that.
There's gonna be some more discussion coming around.
We got a question behind you.
-: And, I just wanna plug also
that the ITWG is where any topics like this
that come up,
Alex and Wes and a couple of folks from treasury
run that meeting,
and we discuss these topics
and they actually send out, not just by a show of hands,
they send out surveys to everyone that attends,
we take that data back,
and that's really what drives what we move forward with
in G-Invoicing.
So, if you're not involved with that group,
I think there was--
-: The IGT email there at that bottom,
if you just send an email to that
and request access,
we'll get you plugged into that distribution list.
Man: Got another question here.
Woman: This is an auditor question.
So, what is gonna be your document
that obligates for the requesting agency?
What documentation is an auditor going to use?
-: Which document they're gonna use within G-Invoicing?
So, when you create the order within G-Invoicing,
either the UI or system interface,
you can download that then to your system,
so whenever that downloads into your financial system,
that should be
what auditors use.
It should be the same.
They should use that G-Invoicing order number
for audit purposes, I believe.
-: Pass it to her.
Woman: I had a question regarding the authority.
Since only one authority can drive an agreement,
why is both the requester and the servicer
putting the authority in?
Is it just to validate their in agreement
to what authority is driving the agreement?
-: So, we don't actually have to make them match.
We kinda did some research on that.
When we were working through the ITAGB,
the feedback we got from agencies
was that they wanted to have both be able to fill that out.
So, that's why we put that out there
for agencies to input that.
We had that before
on the 7600B form, as well,
but that's the main reason we put that in there
is from agency feedback.
Is there any other questions?
I was gonna say, me and George's contact information
is on there,
also our group email box for G-Invoicing.
So, if you guys have any questions come up
or if you wanna get plugged in with us,
you need more, you can reach out to us,
but I really appreciate you guys' time today,
and thanks so much.
(audience applauding)