PTAEO and PFOO Defined

• A project is a cost-incurring activity with a sufficiently distinct purpose as to require its costs being tracked as a unit (e.g., a specific research project, expenses related to a gift fund, department salary and non-salary operating expenses, a conference). 
• A project may have one or more funding source(s), and usually an associated budget.
• All university expenditures are associated with a project.
• Projects are used to track sponsored projects, capital projects, and non-sponsored activities.
• Projects may:
  • cross organizational boundaries and funding sources (by having tasks in multiple orgs)
  • cross fiscal years
  • be for either one-time or on-going events
  • be simple with just one task or complex with many tasks and subtasks
• All projects are assigned a project owning organization, a project principal owner and a project manager.
• Additional resource:
  • Project Types & Definitions

Seven-character number assigned automatically by the system. No intrinsic logic in the numbers.

Example:

1234567

• A task is a subdivision of a project used to isolate discrete subactivities related to the project into components for ease of tracking key deliverables or activities.
  • Separate tasks with separate budgets can be defined for different organizations working on a single project.
  • Committed cost sharing is set up as a task on sponsored projects (with a separate funding source).
• Expenditures are posted at the task level, so all projects must have at least one task.
• All tasks are assigned to a task owning organization, a task principal owner, and a task manager (which may not be the same as the project assignments).
• Budgets are set at the task level.
• Additional resource:
  • Service Type Attribute Matrix

One to eight characters that may (or may not) contain decimals to indicate subtask hierarchy. Logic may be assigned by an individual school or department.

Examples:

1

2.3

106.23.2

• The award represents a unique source of funding to the university (e.g., sponsored award, gift, designated income, endowment, etc.).
• An award can fund one or more projects. 
• A project or task may be funded by one or many awards.
• Award in PTAEO is equivalent to the fund in the PFOO account structure.
• Each award is assigned an award owning organization, an award principal owner, and an award manager (which may not be the same as the project or task assignments).
• Certain awards require and have a customer (sponsor), billing status and burden schedule [fringe benefit, facilities and administration (indirect) cost, infrastructure, etc.].
• Additional resources:
  • Award Types Table
  • Award Purposes Table
  • Award Range Table
  • Fund Title Query

Five-character alphabetical code assigned in meaningful ranges that correspond to fund classes.

Examples:

PAAAA-VZZZZ range for sponsored research

GAAAA-JZZZZ range for expendable gifts

• In addition to project, task and award, an expenditure type is associated with each transaction.
• The expenditure type is used to track how the money was spent (i.e., salaries, materials, travel, etc.).
• Certain expenditure types are used to capture unallowable costs (when expenditure type title includes "UNALW"). Learn about Unallowable Costs on the DoResearch website.
• Additional Resources:
  • Expenditure Type Query
  • Expenditure Type Listing (Active Only)

Five-character numeric code, usually beginning with 5.

Example:

52410 (description Domestic Travel, Allowable)

• The organization segment represents a unit with an established position in the Stanford University org code hierarchy.
• The organization value in the PTAEO account structure will automatically default to "ZZZZ Stanford" for all expenditure transactions and it cannot be changed.
• For reporting purposes, the applicable owning organization or department will be identified based on the attributes defined at the project, task or award segment level. Refer to Topic Overview: Request New Account (PTA) for more information.
• All applications used at Stanford (i.e., Oracle Financials, PeopleSoft, and any new systems) share the same organization values.

Four-character alphabetical code

Example:

ZZZZ Stanford

• A project is a cost-incurring activity with a sufficiently distinct purpose as to require its costs being tracked as a unit (e.g., a specific research project, expenses related to a gift fund, department salary and non-salary operating expenses, a conference). 
• Projects in the PTAEO account structure map to projects in the PFOO account structure.
• A project may have one or more funding source(s), and usually an associated budget.
• Projects are used to track sponsored projects, capital projects and non-sponsored activities.
• Projects may:
  • cross organizational boundaries and funding sources (by having tasks in multiple orgs)
  • cross fiscal years
  • be for either one-time or on-going events
  • be simple with just one task or complex with many tasks and sub-tasks
• All projects are assigned a project owning organization, a project principal owner, and a project manager.
• Additional resource:
  • Project Types & Definitions

Seven-character number assigned automatically by the system. No intrinsic logic in the numbers.

Example:

1234567

• Fund is synonymous with Award in the PTAEO account structure and represents a unique source of funding to the university (e.g., sponsored award, gift, designated income, endowment, etc.).
• Additional resource:
  • Fund Title Query

Five-character alphabetical code assigned in meaningful ranges.

Examples:

PAAAA-VZZZZ range for Sponsored Research

GAAAA-JZZZZ range for Expendable Gifts

• Objects represented by Object Codes are used to track assets, liabilities, fund balances, revenue, and expenditure categories.
• Expenditure type values (the "E" in the Grants Accounting (GA) PTAEO account structure) roll up into expenditure categories that map to Objects in the GL PFOO account structure. Because of the rollup and mapping, there is a greater level of expenditure detail in GA than in GL.
• Additional Resources:
  • Object Code Listing (Active Only)
  • Revenue Object Codes (46XXX)

Five-character numeric code beginning with 1-5, depending on whether it is an: 1-Asset, 2-Liability, 3-Fund Balance, 4-Revenue, or 5-Expense.

Examples:

40001 Tuition Income

• The organization segment represents a unit with an established position in the Stanford University organization code hierarchy.
• The organization value in the PFOO structure is auto-populated from the award-owning organization attribute defined during the PTA Setup Process.
• All applications used at Stanford (i.e., Oracle Financials, PeopleSoft, and any new systems) share the same organization values.

Four-character alphabetical code; ranges are used to group organizations together.

Example:

PFNZ English Department