Stratus Financials Training & Resources

We have a Stratus Help Desk. Either call 410-704-2188 or email stratusfinancialsteam@towson.edu during normal business hours, the phone line and email are manned. The helpdesk is trained to either quickly address your question or if more involved, get you to the correct expert.

Log into the system through the “Stratus Financials” tile on MyTU. You’ll need to use your TU NetID and password to sign in through Single Sign-On (SSO) and authenticate through Duo.

Infotiles, also called tiles, act like dashboards alerting you to top priorities, such as items not submitted and rejected or pending approvals.

Your access/view in the system is tailored to your role, so now that Stratus is live, you might not see modules that you won’t need to use.

Web browser pop-up blockers can prevent Stratus pages from displaying. Here's how to display them if a Stratus page doesn’t appear:

1. Look for pop-up blocker icon in your browser window. It’s usually in the top right corner, identified with a red x.
2. Click on the icon and select the option to "always allow pop-ups from the Stratus URL.”
3. Click Done/Save.

You'll need to set your default email app to Outlook. Here’s how:

1. Using the Windows search feature, search for “Choose a default email app.”
2. Under Email, click on the email app displayed.
3. Select “Outlook” from the list of apps.

Mac users should follow the instructions for setting a default email app on a Mac.

Financial Stewards and Cost Center Managers should not be the same person. Two separate approvals are required for most financial workflows.

If something was rejected by an approver for an error or correction, it needs to be reentered into the approval workflow again. Using the Actions>View Approvals option from your notification can show you the full approval trail, if something was rejected, who has and hasn’t approved it yet, etc.

Oracle Cloud is not customizable like with PeopleSoft.  We can configure within the cloud, but options are limited and during the implementation the entire team configured Stratus as close to our previous business processes as possible.  Analyzing and adjusting your business processes is critical to moving forward. When presented with issues or opportunities we are reviewing our current configurations to see if we can change the configuration without causing additional issues.  Sometimes we are limited by the State of Maryland, auditors and compliance.

The source code is the same as the previous fund code in PeopleSoft. You can find them in the chart of accounts crosswalk document on the chart of the accounts webpage.

The alias is a “shorthand” way to streamline data entry of the chart of accounts (COA) and can be used  with financial documents such as invoices, expenses, purchase requisitions and journal entries. Alias is used like the previous speed type feature in PeopleSoft Financials system: enter either a five digit cost center or a seven digit research Grant ProjectID followed by a %, and the correct COA string will be brought onto the transaction. Learn more (PDF).

Accounting/financial transactions in Stratus are transferred to the general ledger (GL) through spreadsheet, manual, import and automatic journals. Users in Stratus with the TU Budget Analyst role will use the spreadsheet journals function to create journal entries. Manual, import and automatic journals will only be utilized by the core/central financial office staff when applicable.

If you need access to create journal entries, you will need to fill out the Stratus Financials Security Form - Campus Users and check the box for the TU Budget Analyst role.

Key features of the Stratus journal spreadsheet include a simple design with information consolidated onto one worksheet; and a journal name replacing the previous PeopleSoft journal number. Journal approvals are part of the spreadsheet journal process in Stratus. All journal creators will be required to approve their journals which facilitates the submission of attachments to the Stratus Team for review, ultimate approval and posting of campus journals. The Stratus Financials team is made up of individuals within the Financial Systems and Technology unit.

Yes. Previously known as Journal Sources in Peoplesoft, they are now called Categories in Stratus. For the vast majority of cases, the journal category INT (interdepartmental request) should be used. For any transfer of expenses between different departments or different account codes, INT must be used for the journal source.

For a listing of other journal categories (if needed), see our journal category listing (PDF).

AP Completed Invoice & Expense Report (PDF)

AP Pending Invoice Report (PDF)

DAT Revenue & Expenses Transaction Detail Report (PDF)

Transactional Dashboard (PDF)

AP Invoice Account Coding Report (PDF)

Budget Balance Parent & Child Account Data (PDF)

Budget Summary by Department Cost Center (PDF)

Budget Summary by Grant Cost Center (PDF)

Budget vs. Actuals NAT Roll-Up Reports (PDF)

Division with Cost Center Rollup Reports (PDF)

Project Actuals Summary Report (PDF)

Budget Adjustments Report (PDF)

Foundation Reimbursement Report for Operating Expenses (PDF)

Watch the foundation reimbursement for operating expenses video (VIDEO)

Foundation Reimbursement Report for Payroll Expenses (PDF)

Fund Balance Report by Source for Self-Support Cost Centers (PDF)

Budget Balance Parent Account Data (PDF)

DPL - Budget vs. Actuals Parent Budget Summary (PDF)

NPL - Budget vs. Actuals Divisional Parent Budget Summary (PDF)

Parent Budget Overspent Report (PDF)

DPR - Payroll Detail Report for Department Cost Center (PDF)

DPR - Payroll Detail Report for Project or Grant (PDF)

All Requisitions Listing (PDF)

Purchase Order Listing Report (PDF)

Requisition and Purchase Order Report (PDF)

Requisitions Not on a PO All Statuses Report (PDF)

Requisition Workflow Report (PDF)

Completed Travel Expense Reports by Cost Center (PDF)

Pending Travel Expense Reports by Cost Center (PDF)

How to Run the Chart of Accounts Reports (PDF)

How to Run the Student Financials by Cost Center Report (PDF)

Additional hierarchies have been developed which will provide improved reporting such as expanded grouping capabilities.

Yes. Don’t worry, you can run budget reports in Stratus.

The TU_BC_DAT_Invoice_Expense_list report provides a listing of invoices/expense reports that have been processed through the system and sent to Annapolis for payment.  You can run this report by cost center(s).  This report will contain the RStars check number and date when it is sent to us from the State.  We receive this data daily.  We realize a report of invoices that are pending would be helpful and it is on the list of reports that need to be developed so stay tuned.

There is a report called TU_BC_REQ_PO_Listing that can be run by Cost Center or for just a particular PO number which should provide the information you seek.

Run the TU_BC_REQ_PO_Listing report which will give you the remaining balance for each cost center.

You are not limited to run detailed reports for a particular month.  You can run through today’s date if you like and can export and view/filter the results.  From the budget summary reports you can drill down from any of the columns whether it be revised budget, current month or YTD or Life to date for grants to get the details behind those summary numbers.

We agree and we are working towards a better reporting experience but it will take time and resources. The DAT you are used to was developed and enhanced over multiple years. As mentioned, Stratus is a cloud based product and cannot be customized like PeopleSoft so we are limited to the tools and data structure they provide. The good news is there are newer capabilities that include dashboards and analytics that we are learning and will eventually be very beneficial.