Kuali Foundation Kuali Financial Management System

Horizontal Flow

The horizontal flow refers to the horizontal flow of information (Lamb, 2009), that transmits information across the organization, or in the case of the Kuali Financial Management System, across different organizations. According to Lamb (2009), "Horizontal flow of information refers to the flow of information across various firms colleges and universities. Since, many colleges and universities would not like to disclose all the information that they hold, Kuali information systems make sure that whatever is freely available from a particular college or university is also made available to all the other members. At the same time, it ensures privacy and security of data by not broadcasting private or sensitive information." (Lamb, 2009)

According to Haag, Cummings, McCubbrey, Donovan, Ponsonneault (2006), the horizontal flow of information is a function of divisions, the internal units, and teams or groupings of individuals, which work in unison with the objective of accomplishing an organizational goal or objective. The implication is the information is transferred internally between decision-makers with equal responsibility and authority.

Horizontal flow therefore, involves the movement of information, and not data from one decision-maker to the next within a system where key organizational identifying information remains confidential. However, horizontal flow alone is insufficient to perform the full task inherent to the responsibility of the Kuali system. According to Lamb (2009), "However, since colleges, universities and member firms are direct users and contributors to the information system, data is gathered from these sources using the 'Horizontal' flow of information method." (Lamb, 2009)

Vertical Information Flow

Vertical...

According to Lamb, "Information is collected from the industry, informal sources, through the 'Vertical' flow of information. This is because of the fact that the industry is not a close associate of the Kuali Corporation." (Lamb, 2009)
Vertical flow involves the transmission of information to the third party from entities within the industry through the informal chain of communication. More specifically, vertical information flow defines the submission of information up the hierarchy from data gatherers and analysts, to forecasters and information drivers, up to line management, etc.

According to Haag, Cummings, McCubbrey, Donovan, Ponsonneault (2006), "The upward information flow can be outlined as information being transferred from the non-management level to operational management, from operational management to tactical management, and from tactical management to strategic management." (Haag, Cummings, McCubbrey, Donovan, Ponsonneault, 2006)

The information is summarized and filtered as it is distributed throughout the horizontal chain of command at the managerial level. Various levels of granularity (Haag, Cummings, McCubbrey, Donovan, Ponsonneault, 2006), or detail contained in the information are achieved, again, as the information is distributed.

Inward-Outward Flow

According to Lamb, "Inward component while the resulting information generated is the Outward component. After the information has been processed and is ready." (Lamb, 2009)

Downward Flow

The downward flow of financial information involves the flow into the Kuali system in a manner that organizes the responsibility of the chain of command for accountability of the organization. The system is designed to control the release and submittal…