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The only field that is non modifiable during STRS Advance, is the STRS Advance Flag on the Compensation.  All other fields are modifiable during Advance.  

After generating the STRS Advance Submission File, a file called STRSADYY06.txt (YY = Year) is created. The file is then submitted to STRS using the 'Submit Uploaded File to STRS' option.

If wanting to change Position numbers for employee's that are in advance, it is advised to NOT create new Payroll Items and assign them to the new Position.  This will effect the employee's advance.  

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• The Save and Recall option , allows the users to create and save certain reports  for different report runs for each report option.  The Default option is the original SSDT report and the Most Recent is the last report that was ran by the user.  If the report is no longer needed, click on Image Modifiedto delete the report.  The Default reports cannot be deleted. 
• Sort By- From the drop down option choose the way you want the report to be sorted
  • Employee Name (Default Option)
  • Employee SSN
• Report Format - CSV, PDF and Excel
• Starting Date for the Academic Year- Choose date from the Calendar, click  or enter in the starting date using format M/DD/YY
• Ending Date for the Academic Year-  Choose date from the Calendar, click  or enter in the starting date using format M/DD/YY
• Click the 

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• Employee must have a position with retirement system set to STRS
• Employee must have earnings in the fiscal year. Earnings are a sum of 3 things.
  • For an advancing compensation, the accrued wages will be added to earnings (accrued wages = contract obligation – amount paid – amount docked). 
  • Adjustment journals of type equaling Total Gross and Payroll Item Code equaling 591 and/or 691 for the employee with a Transaction Date within the fiscal year will be added to earnings. 
  • The Applicable Gross of historical STRS pay items paid to the employee on payrolls that are not imported from classic and have a Pay Date within the fiscal year will be added to earnings.
• Employee must have a contract (or legacy) compensation with a date range that the current date falls within the current date. AND the compensation pays paid is not equal to pays in contract or the compensation has been paid in the fiscal year OR Employee must have a non contract compensation with a date range that overlaps the fiscal year.
• Having a Compensation Stop Date will prevent a compensation from advancing, if that stop date falls within the academic date range. (Will show earnings on the FYTD report (compensation obligation - compensation amount paid - compensation amount docked)

(Note that in the above bullet, if the conditions before the bolded OR are met, or the condition after the bolder OR is met, then the employee will be on the report if the 2 preceding bullet points are met)

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• Employee must have a position with retirement system set to STRS and position must have a job status of Active or Inactive
• Employee must have a contract (or legacy) compensation with a date range that the current date falls within.
• The compensation work days must equal the contract work days on the compensation or the compensation work days must equal the contract work days as of June 30 (determined using work days from the calendars).
• Contract work days and days in contract must be greater than 0. 
• Pays paid on the compensation must be less than pays in contract.
• The compensation contract obligation – amount paid – amount docked must be greater than 0.
• To advance employee must have accrued wages--Compensation Amount Earned- Amount Paid-Amount Docked=Amount Accrued---Accrued amount must be greater than zero.
• Having a Compensation Stop Date will prevent a compensation from advancing, if that stop date falls within the academic date range. (Will show earnings on the FYTD report (compensation obligation - compensation amount paid - compensation amount docked)
• Archived Compensations will NOT be included on the STRS Advance Report
• If an employee is on the Non-Advanced Report and needs to advance, use the Compensation Adjustment, Days Worked for that compensation,  to adjust 'Days Worked as of 6/30' field.

 Sample Report

To create Non-Advanced Positions Report

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• Starting Date for the Academic Year- Choose date from the Calendar , click  or enter in the starting date using format M/DD/YY

• Ending Date for the Academic Year-  Choose date from the Calendar , click  or enter in the starting date using format M/DD/YY

• 
  

  Note
  If you remain on this screen, the Sort By and Academic dates options will remain populated from the previous run of the advance reports

  
  

• Click on 

• 

• Once the file has been created, a message will appear:
• 

Sample submission file

Upload Submission File to STRS

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STRS Merge File can be created any time after STRS Advance Submission file has been created.  

This process allows a merger between the STRS Advance file and a file provided by Renhill or other Third-party entity which contains contracted employee information for STRS reporting.

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Upload the Advance Submission File that was created by your district by clicking on Image Modified

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Upload the File to Merge sent to the district by Renhill or other third party entity, by clicking on 

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Generate STRS Merge Report for verification

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Example of STRS Merge Report

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 After the report has been reviewed and are ready to merge, click on .  This file can then be used to upload to STRS.

Example of the STRSADMERGED file

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To Upload the Merged File for submission to STRS, click on  

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Once uploaded, click on to submit your districts STRS Advance file.

Pay Types that affect balancing

During advance cycle certain pay types can not be used on jobs with advance flag set - REG and IRR.  

Certain pay types will affect the Amount Paid Back field under SYSTEM/CONFIGURATION/STRS Advance Configuration

• DCK
• BCK
• TRM
• POF

If a Dock is known before STRS Advance is processed, the total amount needs to be entered in FUTURE as a DCK pay type.  Once STRS Advance has been processed, remove the Future entry before running the next payroll.  Then the dock can be reentered in any future payrolls during the advance.  The STRS Advance FYTD report does not apply dock from future pay to the earnings on the report.  It only reduces the advance amount.

STRS Advance Configuration and Organization 

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If Amount Paid Back is off, run theCheck STRS Advance Report and compare this to their STRS Advance report to find the difference.  

Amount Paid Back shows 0.00- The Amount Paid back is calculated based upon the current year.  If already in the next CY, it is a calculation of Advance Amounts paid in the new CY which is zero.  The amount paid back for 202X would have shown on the STRS advance configuration through December 202X (current year) since the district never came out of advance.

Example: If FY 2022, the amount paid back difference would still show through December 2022.  But now in 2023 Current year, the Amount paid back is cleared and no longer available. 

Payroll Report STRS Advance amount

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The employee's 691 FYTD Employer Amount and FYTD Rehired Retiree Employer Amount should match

Removing Last Fiscal Year Earnings and Contributions from STRS Advance

Employees paid in July for June days works

STRS requires earnings to be reported in the year they were earned, not paid.  For situations where employees earned the wages in one fiscal year and are paid in another, the corrections will need to be made both to STRS and on the system.  The district should contact STRS to work through their process of 'back posting' the earnings.  On our system, the district will want to post Core>Adjustments to 'back out' the total gross and amount withheld from this FYE, so it's not reported on next year's FYE information.

• Core>Adjustments-Payroll Item 450 using Type Total Gross for the Fiscal Year To Date.
• Core>Adjustments-Payroll Item 591 using Type Amount Withheld for the Fiscal Year To Date.
• Core>Adjustments-Payroll Item 691 using Type Board's Amount of payroll item for the Fiscal Year To Date.

Using Adjustments, click on Create to remove employee's earnings, this will adjust the Non-taxed Earnings on the STRS FYTD report:

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The system looks at the hire date on employee and the academic year start date entered by the user on the STRS advance view and use whichever is later.  We will use the termination date on the employee and the academic year stop date and use whichever is earlier.   This is used when calculating days employed. 

Service days will be determined by counting the days from the employee's job calendars plus attendance and absence days. These days must have a Pay Date stamped in order for them to be included in the count. (Dock Days use the Activity Date, no Pay Date stamped is required) The system then locates any CORE/Adjustment transactions 'STRS Retirement Days' for the fiscal year for STRS. Adjustment transactions entered are considered manual adjustments to what the system would calculate. Note that "manual adjustment" transactions are picked up based on the fiscal year instead of the date range that the employee was paid for. Any adjustment dated within the reporting period will be applied. The manual adjustment records are a bit different because they are not for specific days. The adjustments (if any) are added to or subtracted from the total unadjusted service days and that total is the total that will appear on the STRS Advance report. 

If an employee is on the Non-Advanced Report and needs to advance, use the Compensation Adjustment, Days Worked for that compensation,  to adjust 'Days Worked as of 6/30' field.

How the system calculates the 'STRS Advance Fiscal Year To Date' Report

The STRS Days is using the current FY Contract Start Date of employee till 06/30/2021 plus any days from prior FY starting from 07/01/2020.  We count STRS days from the Job Calendars, Attendances within the FY (Pay stamp date within FY) and STRS retirement days adjustment entries. 

• For Example, an employee's FY 20-21 contract starts 08/02/2020 - 07/31/2021.  The STRS Days is calculating from the Beginning of the contract, 08/02/2020 to 06/30/2021 total days of 224.  Then it will look for days prior from 07/01/2020 thru 08/01/2020, which is days from the employee's FY contract 19-20, to get Total STRS Days of 240.
• If needing to correct STRS Days, use Core>Adjustments>STRS retirement days

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Non-taxed Earnings = Earnings

$22,286,426.54

Non-taxed Advanced Amount is the contributions that will be paid over the summer months for employees who have a STRS annuity or Employer STRS PU (?)withheld.

$756,501.33

Taxed earnings is total earnings for the Fiscal Year (including advance)

Taxed Earnings is the total STRS applicable gross for the Fiscal Year. This does not include advance gross. It does include the amount remaining on contract (compensation obligation – paid – docked). Taxed Earnings is the total for employees who have an employee amount withheld on their STRS item (non annuity).

Taxed Advanced Amount is the contributions that will be paid over the summer months

Taxed Advanced Amount is the contributions that will be paid over the summer months for employees who have an employee amount withheld on their STRS item (non annuity).

Taxed + Non-taxed is the Non-taxed Total (Non-taxed Advanced Amount + Non-taxed Deposit/Pick up) from the report totals plus the Taxed Total (Taxed Advanced Amount + Taxed Deposit/Pick up) from the report totals.

Taxed+Non-taxed = Non-taxed Total = Non-Taxed Total

$3,119,861.34

Amount Advanced is the amount that will be paid toward the advance over the summer months. It is the total of Non-taxed Advanced Amount and Taxed Advanced Amount.

Non-taxed Advanced Amount = Amount Advanced = Non-Taxed Advanced Amount

$756,501.33

Regular Employee Count

Regular Employee Count is a count of employees on the report who are not rehired retirees. A mid year retiree will count as both a regular employee and a rehired retiree.

357

Regular Employee Contributions

Regular Employee Contribution is the total employee amount withheld on STRS items (non annuity). Does not include rehired retiree amounts. This amount also includes total taxed advanced amount.

Regular Pickup

Regular Pickup is the total employee amount withheld on STRS annuity items plus total amount withheld for Employer STRS items. Does not include rehired retiree amounts. This total also includes total non-taxed advanced amount.

Regular Pickup = Taxed+Non-taxed - Retiree Pickup 

$3,028,331.40 = $3,119,861.34 - $91,529.94 

Non-taxed Deposit/Pick up is the amount contributed until June 30

Non-taxed Deposit/Pick up is the total employee amount withheld on STRS annuity items plus total amount withheld for Employer STRS items.

Non-taxed Deposit/Pick up = Non-Taxed Deposit/Pick-up

$2,363,360.01

Non-taxed Total is the total of contributions until June 30 + advanced contributions for current Fiscal Year

Non-taxed Total is the total of Non-taxed Deposit/Pick up plus Non-taxed Advanced Amount.

$3,119,861.34

Taxed Deposit/Pick up is the amount contributed until June 30

Taxed Deposit/Pick up is the total employee amount withheld on STRS items (non annuity).

Taxed Total is the total of contributions until June 30 + advanced contributions for Current Fiscal Year

Taxed Total is the total of Taxed Deposit/Pick up plus Taxed Advanced Amount

Retiree Advanced Amount

Retiree Advanced Amount is the total advanced amount for employees who are rehired retirees.

$13,259.46

Rehired Retiree Count

Rehired Retiree Count is a count of employees on the report who are rehired retirees. A mid year retiree will count as both a regular employee and a rehired retiree.

29

Retiree Contributions

Retiree Contribution is the total employee amount withheld on STRS items (non annuity) for rehired retirees. This amount also includes taxed advanced amount for rehired retirees.

Retiree Pickup

Retiree Pickup is the total employee amount withheld on STRS annuity items plus total amount withheld for Employer STRS items for rehired retirees. This total also includes non-taxed advanced amount for rehired retirees.

$91,529.94

Advanced Positions Report

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Non-Advanced Payment Report

The Non Advance report figures 'Days worked as of June 30th' by adding in the contract days worked from the compensation first.  Then it finds the most recent payroll the employee was paid in and uses the payroll stop date plus 1 day (so the day after the payroll stop date) as the starting date to look up days on the calendar up to an end date of June 30th.  It looks for work, holiday, and calamity days on the calendar in this date range and then adds the total to the contract days worked from the compensation to get the days worked as of June 30th on the report.  If an employee is on the Non-Advanced Report and needs to advance, use the Compensation Adjustment, Days Worked for that compensation, to adjust 'Days Worked as of 6/30' field.

The 'Contract Obligation' pull from the employee's compensation.

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Part-Time Employees Calculation

STRS has made changes to how part-time employees service credit is calculated.  This is effective for the current STRSAD in July 2020.  There are NO changes for full-time employees.

STRSAD determines whether an employee is full-time or part-time by the drop down box on the 450 Payroll Item record.

To view the changes online, go to the STRS website:  https://www.strsoh.org/employer/_pdfs/guides/50-380.pdf  

• Here are the new calculations for Part-time employees:
  • If less than 90 days worked.  Calculate days/180 and calculate actual compensation/$12,000.  The Service Credit is the LESSER of the two calculations.
  • If greater than 89 and less than 120 days worked.  Calculate days/180 and calculate actual compensation/$12,000.   The Service Credit is the LESSER of the two calculations.
  • If greater than 119 days and salary is less than the state minimum of $35,000.  Calculate days/180 and calculate actual compensation/$12,000.  The service Credit is the LESSER of the two calculations.
  • If greater than 119 days and salary is greater than the state minimum of $35,000.  The Service Credit is 1.00 or 100%.
• Make sure the STRS Configuration is filled in for the 'State Minimum Salary' of $35,000
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• Address cannot be blank. Verify entire address in CORE/EMPLOYEE for previous SSN.
  This indicates either the first line of address, city, state, or zip code on the CORE/EMPLOYEE is blank. No part of the address can be reported to STRS as blank. View CORE/EMPLOYEE and verify the fields.
• Advance amount is negative for previous SSN, assuming zero.
  Indicates a possible error correction from a previous fiscal year.
  Check Compensation information and contact ITC if unable to resolve. It may also be necessary to contact STRS to resolve the problem.
• Amount remaining on contract is zero for previous SSN, job #.
  Indicates that pays are remaining with no contract amount to pay.
  Verify Compensation information and run an AUDRPT to determine if manual changes were made.
• Check for possible error in number of pays in contract for previous SSN.

This error indicates the district is running the advance reports very early.  This error is checking the pays left on a compensation that would advance.  If the pays left are greater than 14, the error is received. Since the district ran the reports in December or earlier, the pay left is greater than 14.  This error will clear up when the reports are ran closer to the fiscal year end.

• Contract amount paid exceeds the contract obligation for previous SSN, job #.
  Indicates the amount paid shown on Compensation exceeds the obligation.
  Verify Compensation information and run an AUDRPT to determine if manual changes were made.
• Contributions with zero service credit for previous SSN.
  Regular contributions with no service credit have been detected. STRS requests that these situations be researched and corrected before submitting the data.
  Check Payroll Items (450/591/691) start and stop dates, job calendar assignments, job calendar start dates, and Attendance records. Contact ITC if unable to resolve.
  Refer to the documentation called, "How STRSAD days are calculated" for assistance in resolving service credit problems. 2490778
• Days worked in contract will exceed work days in contract for previous SSN, job #.
  This message indicates that the remaining work days on the calendar through June 30th for the job will cause the days worked to exceed the work days in contract. This refers to jobs that still have work days remaining on the calendar.
  Check the contract start date and the beginning date of the first payroll of the contract to insure days worked in the contract were correctly counted. Check for incorrect period beginning and/or ending dates that may have been entered. Adjustments to days worked may be necessary in Compensation.
• Employee's first/last name cannot be blank. Verify in CORE/EMPLOYEE for previous SSN.
  This message indicates either the first or last name on the CORE/EMPLOYEE is blank. The name cannot be reported to STRS as blank. View CORE/EMPLOYEE and verify the fields.
• FTD total for board deduction is negative for previous SSN, assuming zero.
  A 691 Payroll Item record has a negative amount in the FTD deduction field. This indicates that an error correction from a previous fiscal year may have been processed.
  Research using AUDRPT (looking for manual updates) and contact STRS for possible correction procedures.
• FTD total for retirement deduction is negative for previous SSN, assuming zero.
  A 450 Payroll Item record has a negative amount in the FTD deduction field. This indicates that an error correction from a previous fiscal year may have been processed.
  Research using AUDRPT (looking for manual updates) and contact STRS for possible correction procedures.
• Job calendar is not assigned for compensation with code ######.  Please assign a job calendar to get corrected values on report.

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