Delegation of Authority (DOA 360)

DOA 360 (Delegation of Authority 360) is the California State University's centralized fiscal authority system within the Common Financial System (CFS). It records and manages who has the authority to approve financial transactions for specific departments, funds, or projects. At CSUSB, DOA 360 serves as the official source for fiscal approval assignments and integrates with systems such as Concur and CSUBUY to automatically route transactions to authorized approvers. 

What does DOA 360 do?

DOA 360 enables the university to:

• Assign fiscal approval authority to employees. 
• Define approval authority by Department (DEPTID), Fund, or Project. 
• Assign authority for specific financial functions, such as: 
  • JGS – CSUBUY Goods & Services 
  • TR – Concur Travel Requests 
  • TE – Concur Travel Expenses 
• Maintain approval hierarchies and spending limits. See FAQ Approval Levels below.

Why does CSUSB use DOA 360?

CSU Executive Order 1000 delegates fiscal authority from the Campus President through the Chief Financial Officer to designated campus employees. DOA 360 documents those delegations electronically so financial systems know who is authorized to approve transactions. 

How does DOA 360 work with Concur?

When an employee submits a Travel Request or Travel Expense Report in Concur:

1. Concur identifies the Department or Project being charged. 
2. It looks up the DOA 360 assignment for that ChartField. 
3. It routes the document to the designated DOA approver(s). 
4. Only authorized approvers can approve the transaction. 

Without a DOA assignment, Concur cannot determine who should approve the travel document, which may prevent the request from moving forward.

How does DOA 360 work with CSUBUY?

For purchasing, DOA 360 provides the approver information for JGS (Jaggaer Goods & Services). When a requisition is submitted in CSUBUY, the system uses DOA assignments to identify the appropriate fiscal approver. 

In simple terms

Think of DOA 360 as the university's "approval directory." It tells Concur, CSUBUY, and other financial systems:

• Who can approve, 
• What they can approve, 
• For which department, fund, or project, and 
• At what approval level. 

This ensures financial transactions are reviewed by the appropriate fiscal authority and comply with CSU policy.

At CSUSB:

• CIA (Computerized Information Access) delegates submit DOA requests through Optimize.
• Campus DOA Administrators maintain the assignments in DOA 360. 
• Campus DOA Administrators maintain the system configuration, Function IDs, approval levels, and other global setup. 

For requests to add, update, or remove DOA assignments for the President, Provost, or a Vice President, please contact doa360admin@csusb.edu.

All other requests must be submitted through Optimize by the department or college’s CIA delegate.

1. Department CIA Delegate (Initiates the Request)

The department/college CIA Delegate submits the DOA request on behalf of the employee who needs fiscal authority.

A step-by-step guide on how to submit a DOA 360 request is available under Step-by-Step Guides above.

2. Department Approver (Approves the Request)

The designated fiscal authority (typically the employee's manager, dean, vice president, or other delegated authority) receives an email notification and reviews the request.

The approver:

• Reviews the requested authority. 
• Approves or denies the request through the Worklist. 
• Confirms that the requested fiscal authority is appropriate for the employee's role. 

This approval serves as the department's authorization for granting fiscal authority. 

3. DOA Administrator (Processes the Request)

After departmental approval, the DOA Administrator (Accounting Services) reviews and enters the approved delegation into DOA 360.

The DOA Administrator:

• Verifies the request. 
• Creates or updates the DOA assignment in DOA 360. 
• Runs the DOA 360 Exception Report to ensure there are no configuration or approval errors. 
• Confirms the assignment is ready for integration with Concur and/or CSUBUY. 

Summary

This separation of duties helps ensure that fiscal authority is requested by the department, approved by authorized management, and implemented by the campus DOA Administrator in accordance with CSU policy. 

NOTE: To avoid delays or confusion, communicate with the approver so they are aware these requests will be appearing on their worklists.

To prevent delays, notify the approver that the request will appear in their Worklist. Approvers will receive reminder emails for 10 business days. If the request is not approved or denied within that period, it will be removed from the Worklist and a new request must be submitted.

The department/college CIA delegate can submit the request in Optimize.

Contact your department or college’s CIA delegate. The CIA delegate will submit the DOA request through Optimize.

An Approver is an MPP/Department Chair who has been formally authorized/delegated fiscal authority to review and approve financial transactions on behalf of a department, fund, or project for Travel, Printing Services, Budget Management, and Property Management.
 

Their authority is documented in DOA 360 (Delegation of Authority 360) and must be approved through the campus delegation process before they can approve transactions in systems such as CSUBUY or Concur. 

A Preparer is typically an administrative support staff member who creates and submits financial transactions but does not have the authority to approve them.

The Preparer is responsible for entering accurate information and ensuring each transaction is complete before it is routed for approval.

Travel Request (TR) - Grants DOA to approve travel booking requests. https://www.csusb.edu/travel

Travel Expense (TE)  -  Grants DOA to approve travel expenses submitted through Concur. https://www.csusb.edu/travel

Purchase of Goods and Services (JGS) - Grants DOA to fiscal levels used for purchasing. https://www.csusb.edu/procurement/csubuy

Direct Pay (DP) - Grants DOA to approve departmental payments that do not require a purchase order when a Universal ProCard is not accepted. https://www.csusb.edu/accounts-payable/procedures/direct-pay

Used to grant an MPP/Department Chair authorization for Budget Management, Property Management, Printing Services, and Travel Approval. 

Please note: Only MPPs and department chairs may approve requests for Budget Management, Property Management, and Travel Approval

Used to grant a staff member authorization to submit a request for Budget Management.

Used to assign a staff member as a Department Property Custodian.

DOA 360 Approval Levels (Level 1–5) – the CSU-wide fiscal authority hierarchy.

Concur Approval Order (Primary, Secondary, Tertiary) – the routing order used within Concur.

These are the CSU systemwide fiscal approval levels used for purchasing. They are not the same approval structure used by Concur.

CSUBUY (JGS) Approval Levels

These approval limits are maintained in the DOA 360 Level and Amount page and are used by CSUBUY (Function ID JGS) to determine who has fiscal authority to approve purchases. All five levels must be configured for each Business Unit and Function ID. 

Concur (Travel Request – TR / Travel Expense – TE)

Concur does not use the Level 1–5 approval limits for routing travel documents. Instead, each department designates up to three approvers in an approval sequence:

For CSUSB, most departments designate only a Primary approver unless business continuity requires additional backups. 

              Summary

Important: Although DOA 360 stores both CSUBUY and Concur approvers, they are configured differently:

• CSUBUY uses five fiscal authority levels and spending limits. 
• Concur uses an approval order (Primary → Secondary → Tertiary) to route Travel Requests and Expense Reports. Many CSU campuses implement TR and TE with the same approvers and approval order.