Simulating Encumbrance from a Custom Module

All,

     We have a custom module that needs to simulate encumbrance in a similar way to Purchasing. (although completely different functionally).

     When we do a transaction in the custom module, we want to put encumbrance on, so that we can see this in our General Ledger Reporting.

    Is there any (supportable) way to do this using API's, etc.

Thanks