Changes to NCAS item file (6/28/99)

Effective July 5, 1999, the NCAS will have new generic items in the item file. These new generic items correspond with the National Institute for Government Purchasing (NIGP) commodity codes. All of the new items will begin with a prefix of ‘GN’. These new items will be used in lieu of the generic items that begin with ‘G’. This change will facilitate better commodity reporting, and will bring North Carolina in line with the widely used NIGP standards.

All current generic items will be disabled, however, requisitions and purchase orders that reference the current numbers will be valid for their lifecycle. You will be unable to create new requisitions or purchase orders with the old numbers.

When using the Item Short Name search, you will still search the same way. On the ISN screen, you will still begin your item description with ‘GN’. The system will search for the item(s) that meet your criteria, and you will select the needed item from the listed possibilities just as you have in the past. The only difference will be the number itself. The number will begin with ‘GN’, and will be followed by at least 5 digits of the NIGP commodity code.

Concurrently, the NCAS Fixed Asset system will be updated to reflect the new commodity codes. The OSC has created a cross-walk that will be used to update the FA records. In addition, the AP to FA interface will use the updated information when adding assets to the system.

This fall, the NCAS permanent items will be updated with the new NIGP commodity codes. This change is not being made until the fall in order to allow agencies to perform accurate reporting in October for Recycled Goods by commodity for the ‘98/’99 fiscal year.

If you have any questions, please contact the OSC help desk at 919-875-4357, or Mark Dobbie at 919-981-5418.

Change to BRS to NCAS Interface Processing (6/22/99)
The BRS to NCAS interface is changing on Monday, June 28. Type 14 budget revisions to budget codes other than general fund or capital improvement codes will be processed in NCAS with new accounting rules to generate an offset to budgetary fund balance. The new rules are FR/FX. These rules are currently used by the BRS to NCAS Interface on type 12 revisions. This change does not affect the posting of type 14 general fund or capital improvement fund budget revisions. Refer to BRS to NCASInterface for a complete list of accounting rules used to post BRS revisions.