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Overview

*DEFINE is The University of Texas DEpartmental Financial INformation NEtwork, accessed through the university mainframe computer. In *DEFINE, users can:

• Create electronic documents. These include, payment vouchers, requests for transfer of funds, cash deposits, and IDTs

• View accounting transactions on accounts

• View account balances

• View authorized signers for an account

For which years is information available in *DEFINE?

HR records

Accounting/vouchering/financial

September 1, 1974-present

Document IDs in *DEFINE

Source: 2023 Financial Document ID.docx

Component codes

The University of Texas System is comprised of various component institutions. The University of Texas at Austin is only one of many components located throughout the state of Texas. In *DEFINE, each component has been assigned a component code. This code separates accounting transactions so that each component can utilize *DEFINE while keeping their accounting records separate and unique.

The component code is displayed in *DEFINE in the lower left corner of any *DEFINE screen, as seen in the screenshot below.

*Tip: If *DEFINE records are not displaying as expected, check that "0" for UT Austin is selected in the component code field and update the field if needed:

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List of University of Texas System component codes

• 0: UT Austin

• 1: UT Arlington

• 2: UT El Paso

• 3: UT San Antonio

• 4: UT Pan American

• 5: UT Dallas

• 6: UT Tyler

• 7: UT of the Permian Basin

• 8: UT Brownsville

• 9: UT System

• A: UT M. D. Anderson Cancer Center

• B: UT Medical Branch at Galveston

• C: UT Health Science Center at Houston

• D: UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas

• E: UT Health Science Center at San Antonio

• F: UT Health Center at Tyler

• G: Harris County Psychiatric Center

Example: Component codes in AL1

In the example below, a faculty member was employed by UTSA (component code 3) in summer 2007, and by UT Austin (component code 0) in summer 2008.

Command: AL1 EID: pv9876
=======================================================
Name: Venkman, Peter

_ 003 EXPIRED 3 14-1599-2003 CURRICULUM & INSTR 06/01/07 08/31/07 
0020 PROFESSOR

_ 004 EXPIRED 0 14-2699-2003 CURRICULUM & INSTR 06/01/08 08/31/08
0020 PROFESSOR

Training

Intro to *DEFINE

• Introduction to *DEFINE (pdf)

• Introduction to *DEFINE - Part I (video, 57 minutes)

• Introduction to *DEFINE - Part II (video, 46 minutes)

• Introduction to *DEFINE - Part III (video, 56 minutes)

Additional resources

• AFM: *DEFINE Trainings - includes training materials for viewing specific screens (GB1, GTM, etc.) and processing specific document types (VE5, VT6, etc.)

• AFM: *DEFINE Help Resources - where to find guidance about *DEFINE within *DEFINE

• Command HHM in *DEFINE offers the following help documents and tutorials:

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Desks and Views

In *DEFINE, a "Desk" is a group of UT employees who share a common administrative function within a particular department, such as creating travel authorization requests or payment vouchers. Desks used in account-based routing have access to units and/or accounts in order to process documents. 

A "View" is a unique group of units and/or accounts within an electronic office. Authorization views allow electronic office managers and delegates to control what accounts can be used by different groups of users and for different purposes.

See your *DEFINE desk assignments

To view all the desks to which you or another employee are assigned, choose one of the following options:

Option 1:  In *DEFINE:

1. Go to the YS1 screen in *DEFINE.

2. Type the mainframe logon ID in the Personal Authorization screen for field.

3. Press ENTER.

Option 2: In UT Direct (HRMS):

1. Go to HRMS: Employee Authorizations.

2. Enter Employee EID in the appropriate field.

3. Under "Mainframe Logon Authorizations and Roles," click on "*DEFINE".

Change your *DEFINE desk/view

*DEFINE provides two methods by which to change the current linked desk/view.

Method 1:

1. In the Command field, type YS1 and press Enter.

2. In the Select a Desk and View by Number field, type the number next to the desk/view from the list displayed on the screen.

3. In the Select an Action field, type S and press Enter.

Method 2:

1. From any command in *DEFINE, press the PF1 key.

2. In the first space of the Desk or Administrative View field, type a question mark (?) and Press Enter.

3. In the Select a new Desk/View field, type the number of the desk/view to use and press Enter.

Set your default desk/view

If you want to be assigned to the same desk and view each time you log in to *DEFINE, you can change your start-up profile using the YP1 command.

Set up desk/view combinations for certain screens

The *DEFINE YP2 command allows users to specify up to 12 different default desk/view combinations for specific commands or menu screens in *DEFINE. To profile commands:

1. Go to the YP2 screen in *DEFINE.

2. In the Cmd/Menu field, type the command to be profiled.

3. In the Desk field, type the default desk to be used for that command. 

4. In the View field, type the default view to be used for that command. 

5. Press ENTER.

Set up a default desk/view for FRMS

Use the *DEFINE YP2 command to profile a desk/view so that it always appears as the first desk/view when selecting a creator desk for an FRMS document.

Note: If the user's current or profiled desk/view is not authorized for the command, or if the user is not authorized for the desk/view that is profiled, it will not appear in the creator desk list.

See who is assigned to a specific desk

Use Command HD5 in *DEFINE. Go to:

1. Enter a DESK to start scrolling from (Example: COE)

2. Select a DESK to expand: enter the number (NBR) next to your selection on the list (Example: COE DN OFC)

3. Results will show the names of all people assigned to that DESK

User tips and tricks

Open two different tabs

To switch to a different Command screen without closing the current one, do the following:

1. On any Command screen, in any interactive field, type = and then hit Enter. (In this example, the first open screen is GB2.)

2. This will take you back to the COM-PASS screen (see screenshot below). in the "Enter Input" field, type the letter of the second screen type you'd like to open. Example: "D" for *DEFINE.

3. A new YB2 screen will open up. You may change this in the Command line. Example: CA3.
   
   

4. Type == ("equals" sign twice) and then hit Enter to return to the first screen (example: GB2). Type == and then hit Enter to return to the second screen (example: CA3). By typing == and Enter, you will toggle back and forth between the two screens.