The Special Funds Management System allows us to easily input, store, track, and report information on reimbursable funds. The system is a complex relational Microsoft Access 2000 database with tables containing four types of information, and a network of queries, forms, macros, and reports which act as an interface for the information contained in the tables.

Funds:  Funds are used only for reporting financial information. The funds financial information should be updated before printing any financial reports. Funds contain Fund Name, Fund Code, Foundation Spendable income (or the amount designated for books), and Fund Summary Encumbrances. Funds are not accessible via the Main Interface, but when printing Fund Balance Reports via the Main Interface, the system will open the financial information and prompt you to revise it before giving you the reports.

Months/Funds: Month/Funds connect all of the information in the system. Month/Funds  group information on specific reimbursable funds, and act as an arbitrary way to batch items for which reimbursement will be requested. Every Month/Fund combination has a status assigned to it. Months/Funds can be input via the Main Interface, and Month/Fund statuses can be updated via the Main Interface. Erroneous Month/Fund combinations cannot be deleted, but their status may be set as “Mistake”. Month/Fund combinations and their statuses are stored in the Access table called “Months”. Months/Funds are _not_ linked to Funds, which are only used for reporting.

Invoices: Invoice information is the invoice number and vendor code along with the Month/Fund associated with it. Invoices can (and often are) entered more than once, when that invoice has items on it which will be reimbursed from different special funds. The invoice information is entered and edited via the Main Interface. Invoices do _not_ technically contain information on the specific items included on the invoice, but their specific items are linked to them.

Item: Item information includes the title and price of the specific items on the invoice that are being reimbursed. Item information is input and edited via the Main Interface.

Statuses: All Month/Funds go through a progression of statuses.

Normal status progression:

 “Current”—the default status for the current Month/Funds.

 “Ready for Reimbursement.”—the status assigned when everything is complete and ready for reimbursement and given to the Acquisitions Librarian.

“Awaiting Check from the Foundation.”—the status for Month/Funds that have been submitted to library administration as part of a reimbursement request.

“Reimbursed.”—the status for Month/Funds that have been reimbursed.

 Other statuses are used for infrequent occurrences:

 “Check being Held in Library Adminstration”—the status assigned when we have decided to hold a reimbursement check and deposit it at a later time.

“Reimbursement request being held in Library Adminstration”—the status assigned when Library Administration is holding the reimbursement request and will submit it to the foundation at a later time. This is usually done while waiting until enough funds are available to do the reimbursement.

“Mistake”—the status assigned to Month/Funds that have been input erroneously. It causes those Month/Funds to no longer be factored into reports.

“Deposit”—the status assigned to Month/Funds that have been entered to record new funds.