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Tidemark Budgeting

Tidemark is a university budget management system that integrates salary and non-salary expense budgeting with all the various funding sources in a live, multi-user, database-driven system that automatically interfaces with other administrative systems within the Stanford environment.

Tidemark budgeting system allows access to accurate and timely information in support of budget planning and decision-making. All components of the budget are planned, budgeted and reviewed in a single environment, eliminating the need to aggregate disparate budget unit actuals and budget documents.

Additionally, Tidemark includes an Endowment Planning process specifically used to forecast Endowment Income for future years based on forecasted changes to endowment principal entered by users for new gifts, reinvestments, sale of shares, etc.

Process Driven Approach

Within Tidemark, structured processes guide users logically through budgeting tasks. High-level processes and steps within processes are presented in an easy to follow format like the example of the High-Level Booked Budget Process below.

High-Level Map for Booked Budget Process

Image of high-level map for booked budget process 

 

How Tidemark Supports Budget Units and the University

The Tidemark budget management tool supports budget units and the university Budget Office (UBO) through each of the four phases of Stanford's annual budget cycle:

  • Budget Proposal
  • Budget Plan
  • Booked Budget
  • Year-End Variance Analysis

Visit the Tidemark System Status page for recent updates, planned system downtime, to report an issue or to subscribe to receive future Tidemark update and enhancement emails. 

Tidemark authority is granted to Budget Officers, who then grant authority to individual users, based on their budgeting responsibilities. Tidemark authority roles are granted through Authority Manager and are divided into five levels of visibility, with Level 1 providing the broadest access and Level 5 providing the most restricted access. If a user is granted a role with Level 1 visibility for an organization, then they do not need additional authority roles granted at lower levels of visibility, which are more restrictive. Most users will have a role with Level 2 visibility for their organization.

The table below outlines Tidemark authority roles. When there are multiple roles at a level, the Budget Officer should grant the role that matches the person's job.

Tidemark Authority
Level of Visibility Authority Roles (Choose One) Tidemark Process Access
1

Typically for Dean's/VP Office Users:

  • Budget Officer
  • Budget Analyst
  • Formula School Budget Officer

0. Budget Plan + Dept Favorites + BU Adjustments

01. Expense & Revenue + BU Adjustments

02. Fund Management + Pooling + Dean's Office Allocations

03. Reports

ClinOps - SoM Roles Only

2

Typically for Department Level Users:

  • Unit Manager
  • Unit Financial Analyst with Salary View
  • School of Medicine Department Finance Analyst (DFA) 
  • School of Medicine Unit Analyst (SoM)

0. Budget Plan

01. Expense & Revenue

02. Fund Management

03. Reports

ClinOps - SoM Roles Only

3

Typically for Read-Only Users:

  • Budget Viewer

0. Budget Plan (Viewer)

01. Expense & Revenue (Viewer)

02. Fund Management (Viewer)

03. Reports

4

Typically for Limited Access Users without Salary View:

  • Unit Financial Analyst without Salary View
  • (can be limited down to an Award)
  • Unit Financial Analyst without Salary View
  • (can be limited down to a Project/Task)

0. Budget Plan

01. Expense & Revenue (minus Position Planning panels)

02. Fund Management

03. Reports (minus 601 and 603 reports)

5

Typically for Read-Only Users without Salary View:

  • Budget Viewer Non-Salary
0. Budget Plan (Viewer)

01. Expense & Revenue (Viewer, minus Position Planning panels)

02. Fund Management (Viewer)

03. Reports minus 601, 603

For more information on how to use Authority Manager, visit the University IT Authority Manager website.

Authority Nightly Feed

Changes to existing Tidemark authority roles, made in Authority Manager before 6:30 p.m., are updated in Tidemark overnight. New Tidemark authority roles, granted by organization, are processed weekly on Monday evening. To request urgent access, submit a Support Request.

Tidemark training sessions and open labs are offered throughout the year and align with the phases of the annual budget cycle. Training is open to Budget Officers and their designated analysts.

Featured Trainings

View the current Tidemark Training and open lab schedule in the UBO website. Contact your Budget Officer to confirm before enrolling.

In addition to training and how-to instructions, the following resources are available to assist Tidemark users:

There are many reports available to Budget Officers and Analysts to aid in the budget management process. Depending upon the budget management task, you may use one or a combination of the reports available in Tidemark and Oracle Business Intelligence (OBI).

Tidemark Report Finder

For an inventory of all reports included in the Tidemark Reporting Process, along with business questions, report descriptions, report attributes and screenshot examples, visit the Tidemark Report Finder. Selecting a report name in the Report Finder will open up the report directly in Tidemark. From the Tidemark Report Finder page you can also access a map of Tidemark reports, information about report numbering intelligence and more reporting process tips.

OBI Financial Reporting

OBI Financial Reporting supports additional analysis of actual expenditures and comparison to budget amounts using the following reporting dashboards:

  • Consolidated Expenditure Reporting (CER) provides information about expenditure details, trend, variance, balance and budget, iJournals and commitments.
  • Revenue and Fund Management (RFM) provides information about beginning fund balance, activity (e.g., receipts, transfers, expenses) and fund balance; as well as variance of budget vs. actual and iBudgets transaction details. 

The table below provides a comparison of data found on OBI and Tidemark reports. Differences in the two systems are captured on this document.

Business Need OBI Financial Reporting Tidemark
Daily update of data for financial analysis OBI data is updated daily with transactions posted on the prior business day. Actuals are updated in Tidemark on a monthly basis.
Analysis of 9/1 Budget + iBudgets Adjustments The Budget Amount in OBI includes the 9/1 Budget for the current fiscal year plus any iBudgets adjustments.

Tidemark does not capture iBudgets adjustments.

Tidemark is the only source for reporting on budgets that are under construction. The 9/1 budget from Tidemark is available in OBI once the Booked Budget Process has been completed.

Ability to drill down to transaction details OBI supports drills from actual expenditure amounts by PTAE to transaction details such as Earnings by Employee, Expense Requests, Procurement and iJournals. Tidemark includes actual amounts by PTA and Object Code or Expenditure Type as the lowest level of detail.

For information about getting access to OBI and available training and resources, refer to OBI Financial Reporting.

Last Updated: Jan 9, 2024

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