Purpose

This article documents the process for identifying, analyzing, and correcting negative encumbrances that appear on the Negative Encumbrance Report in Reporting Services. The guidance is based on historical SHU meetings, tickets, and operational notes and reflects how these issues have been handled in practice.

Negative encumbrances should never occur under normal circumstances. When they appear, they indicate a data or integration problem that must be reviewed and, in most cases, corrected.

What a Negative Encumbrance Means

A negative encumbrance indicates that the system believes there is more money available than actually exists. This is not a valid financial condition and is why SHU maintains a report that focuses only on negative values.

Negative encumbrances typically arise from:

• Integration issues (eBuy / GLIM / GL interfaces)
• Encumbrance adjustments posted incorrectly
• Data inconsistencies between encumbrance tables
• Fiscal year setup or rollover problems

Reports Used

Negative Encumbrance Report

• Primary report used to identify problematic POs or BPOs
• Shows POs where the outstanding encumbrance balance is negative

Encumbrance Details Report

• Investigates why a PO or BPO shows a particular encumbrance balance
• Support Business Office review after:
  • PO closures
  • Invoice posting
  • Blanket PO activity
• Provide transparency without requiring Colleague screen access
• Reduce reliance on IT for read‑only encumbrance visibility

Quick Method for the Business Office to Resolve Encumbrance Issues

Step 1: Review the Negative Encumbrance Report

• Focus on the GLA column first.
• If a negative encumbrance appears in the GLA column, action is required.

Step 2: Correct the GLA Balance

If the negative encumbrance appears in the GLA column:

• Enter one of the following in Colleague:
  • A one‑sided GLEE encumbrance entry, or
  • A GLIM interface entry
• Use Source Code = EP
• Post the transaction to bring the GLA encumbrance balance to zero

✅ After posting:

• The GLA column should be zero
• The ENC column should also be zero

Step 3: Verify ENC Balance

• Re‑run the Negative Encumbrance Report
• Confirm:
  • GLA = 0
  • ENC = 0

Step 4: Escalate if ENC Is Not Zero

If:

• GLA = 0 but
• ENC ≠ 0

➡️ The Business Office must submit a ticket requesting an IT fix.

This indicates a backend ENC table issue that cannot be resolved with GLEE or GLIM.

Standard Resolution Methods

The correction method depends on how many items are affected and what caused the imbalance.

Option 1: One‑Sided GLEE Entry (Small Volume)

Use this method when:

• Only a small number of negative encumbrances exist
• The issue is isolated to specific POs

Approach:

• Create a one‑sided GLEE encumbrance adjustment
• Use the adjustment to zero out the negative balance
• Post the entry and re‑run the Negative Encumbrance Report to confirm resolution

This is the most common fix for individual issues.

Option 2: GLIM File + PGLT (Large Volume)

Use this method when:

• There are many negative encumbrances to correct
• Manual GLEE entries would be inefficient

Approach:

• Create a GLIM interface file with the required corrections
• Ensure the file is properly formatted
• Allow the scheduled GLIM process to load the file
• Run or wait for PGLT to post the transactions

Option 3: Backend ENC Cleanup (IT Required)

Use this method when:

• Encumbrance balances do not update consistently across ENC tables
• Fiscal‑year encumbrance tables appear to be missing or incomplete

Notes:

• These situations require IT involvement
• Backend ENC tables may need correction or re‑packaging
• This is not an IRADS reporting issue

Summary Decision Guide