Transaction Journals Manage Data Requirements
Transaction Journals Data Overview
Transaction journals record the chronological debiting and crediting of funds. The general ledger summarizes all transactions contained in the transaction journal by account and fiscal year. Each transaction must have an account, either through an account code foreign key or by having each segment/dimensions attribute available in the transaction journal.
Transactions for actuals, encumbrances, and budget amendments can generally be found in a ‘Journal’ or ‘Journal Lines’ table. Debit and credit may be separate columns. Transactions can have any number of custom attributes which are stored as text and supplied as additional columns in the transactions table.
Transaction Journals Data Elements
Element | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
Primary key | Unique identifier for each transaction record. Usually from the Journal Lines table as the atomic unit of a transaction. Can be a composite key of multiple columns. | 1 |
Updated At | Timestamp of the most recent modification to this record, including any joins to tables downstream. | 2001-02-03 04:05:06 |
Account Code | Full account string this transaction is applied to. | 100-20-345-6789 |
Segment Codes | Code for each account segment/dimension. (Typically 3-9 segments) | |
Transaction Date | Date the transaction is recorded and/or effective. | 2001-02-03 |
Description | Reason for the transaction. This should be a line item detail, such as a PO line or invoice line description. | “40 SAT Guides for High School” |
PO Number | The Purchase Order ID or Number the transaction references. | 85963472 |
Invoice Number | The Invoice ID or Number for payments made against POs. | 100123 |
Vendor | The Vendor supplying the purchased service or goods for the expense. | Paper Goods Company |
Amount | The Amount spent from the account. | 123.45 |
Status | The Type of Transaction. | Encumbrance or Actual/Spent or Budget |
Transaction Journals Custom Attributes
Transactions can also have custom attributes. Custom attributes can be supplied in a separate table with a reference to the transaction primary key or supplied in the same table as transactions, with each additional column named for the attribute type. All custom attributes are loaded as text.
Some common custom attributes include:
Check number
Requestor
Requisition ID
Journal source
Transaction Journals Data Validations
Unique by primary key
PO, Invoice, and Vendor are required, but nullable for transactions where they are not applicable.
Transaction date is not null.
Account code is not null.
Amount is not null.
Status matches Encumbered, Spent, or Budget.
Segments or accounting dimensions exist in the segment data.