What is an “open period”?  This phrase is used in several places in form instructions.  An “open period” means any financial period that is still set to open and accepting entries in IO.  The current calendar month is always an open period.  You can stop reading here unless you want more details.

For a short time at the beginning of each month, the prior month remains open while we are posting final entries and completing other necessary monthly close tasks (e.g. running depreciation.)  For example, the month of February was open in the general ledger until March 10.  From March 1 until March 10, both February and March were open periods.

Since the close is by module in IO, the open period is not quite the same for each piece of the system.  The modules close in this order: P2P, Projects, AR, Fixed Assets, GL.  So, the month of February was closed for additional entries as follows:

P2P – March 2

Projects – March 5

Banner AR (Cashier) – March 3

Fixed Assets – March 9

General Ledger – March 10

Projects module has the ability to post to an expenditure date that is different from the accounting date.  The accounting date for a PPM entry must always be in an open general ledger period, since this is the date that controls the subledger accounting summary that is sent to post in the general ledger.

We’re still encountering new and exciting error messages during close, so we’re not quite to the point of setting a firm monthly close schedule.