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It's the Final Countdown!

Happy New Year!  We are nearing the end of our migrations with the start of wave 9 this month! CY2021 included our largest number of migrating districts!  Approximately 320 districts migrated during waves 7 and 8!  With the remaining districts scheduled in wave 9 (ODE has reserved wave 10 for emergency migrations), the light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter! We appreciate both ITC and district staffs on-going efforts and dedication in making this happen!

Just a reminder, our classic software applications will be retired in December 2022. This means we will no longer support the classic software after calendar 2022 closing is complete nor will districts be able to process a payroll for calendar year 2023 in the classic software.  If you are still using our classic applications and are unclear of your migration plan, please contact your ITC immediately for further assistance. To state it clearly once more, you will not be able to process 2023 payrolls in the classic software, so it is imperative that you have migrated from classic before you need to run your first 2023 payroll.

As with every January newsletter, we like to review some of the features and improvements added to the software in the prior year.  Many of these were requested from user feedback with assistance from the State Software Steering Committee.  Listed below are just a handful of the new features/enhancements in USXS-R that took place in 2021:

• USAS-R: 
  • Ability to post Purchase Orders, AP Invoices and Vendors from an imported CSV file
  • Ability to email AR billings to customers
  • Repair option implemented in Purchase Orders
  • Performance Improvements made to various grids and reports
  • Created the Appropriation Resolution 'recap' report
  • Creation of an audit report bundle
  • Various canned reports added
  • Ability to modify or delete refunds that do not contain an associated check
  • Requisition Workflows implemented
  • Various improvements made to Account Filters
  • Proration Utility improvements

• USPS-R:
  • Performance Improvements made to various programs, grids, and reports
  • Various Mass Load options added
  • New Mass Change features added related to COVID fields
  • Allow users to modify pay amounts when creating attendance and posting to payroll.
  • Ability to post voided payroll checks to USAS
  • Implemented STRS Merge 
  • Legacy Data File Archive folder added
  • Save and Recall feature added to various reports
  • Convert personal leave to sick leave - Add employee and pay group selections
  • Employee Onboarding Workflows implemented
  • Various W2 improvements and new features

Inventory Update

The Inventory application made its debut in August 2021 with several districts so far having migrated their classic EIS data.   We've encountered unique situations with some of the district's Classic data requiring adjustments to be made to the software and import process.   We greatly appreciate the assistance and feedback from the ITCs that have been heavily involved during these first few months of migration.  Like USXS-R, Inventory is releasing a new version of the software every two weeks.

With Classic sunsetting at the end of CY2022, it's imperative districts who haven't migrated to Inventory begin the process of preparing their classic data for Inventory migration.  SSDT's Inventory Appendix documentation provides procedures for migrating and non-migrating districts.  The SSDT has also provided a detailed user manual.  We are in the process of documenting general procedures and answers to frequently asked questions to the user manual to assist the end-users during the learning process.  We know ITCs are currently very busy with CYE support for USXS-R so we are holding off any further train-the-trainer Inventory sessions with them until later this month.  

So how does my district migrate from Classic EIS?  You will start with contacting your ITC.  They may be in the process of scheduling their districts inventory migrations.  SSDT has provided an Inventory Installation and Migration Guide to assist the ITC (and district) with steps on how to migrate a district from Classic EIS.  

1. Pre Data Extract Procedures
2. Extract classic EIS data
3. Environment configuration
4. Setup the inventory database container
5. Import extracted data into Inventory
6. Connect the created network to the nginx proxy (if applicable)
7. Setup the inventory application container
8. Post Import Procedures

• • Pre Data Extract Procedures should be reviewed by both ITC fiscal support and district staff and address any necessary clean up in classic
  • Extracting classic EIS data is handled by ITC technical or fiscal support staff.  The extract log should be reviewed to ensure it completed successfully.  If the ITC has any questions, they may create a service desk ticket to SSDT
  • Steps 3 - 7 is handled by the ITC staff.  After the data has been imported, an inventoryImportResults.txt file will be generated.  Both technical and fiscal support staff must review this file for possible warning or error messages and to ensure all data imported successfully.  Common import errors and warnings are documented.  
  • Step 8 is handled by the ITC fiscal support staff.  SSDT strongly recommends ITCs run imports and complete the balancing reports in the Post Import Procedures in a test environment first to ensure it balances with the district's classic data.  Once balanced, the district may begin processing in the Inventory application.

And what if my district doesn’t plan on migrating or doesn't use EIS and wants to start new in Redesign?   SSDT and ITCs primary focus is migrating districts that are currently using Classic EIS due to the impending sunset of the Classic system.   If you would prefer to start new in Inventory, contact your ITC.  ITCs can refer to the Non-Migration Procedures documentation which includes the specific steps from the Inventory Installation and Migration Guide intended for districts starting new in Inventory.  Once your Inventory instance is up and running, you may begin processing.  NOTE: For those intending to mass-load existing fixed assets, SSDT is currently working on spreadsheet importing capabilities and should be available within the next month.