Volume 4 Issue 2 - January 2021

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Wave 7 Status Update

Happy New Year and so long 2020!  The wave implementation is going strong with Wave 7 starting this month.  We are almost two-thirds of the way through our migration schedule (it feels so good to say that!) with the last wave (Wave 10) scheduled for July-December 2022.  We saw a huge increase in the number of districts migrating in Waves 5 and 6 and as you can see from the 'Redesign Status' table, there is no slowing down in Wave 7.   Just to recap... at the end of December 2019, we had 119 districts live on Redesign and a year later, the number increased to 340! 

SSDT would like to thank the ITCs for their on-going effort and dedication.  They have been champions throughout the migration process, supporting and training their districts to help make the transition as smooth as possible.  We would also like to thank the districts for their tremendous support and feedback on the software.  Your input drives the decision making of the State Software Steering Committee allowing SSDT to provide a year chock full of enhancements and improvements.  We take your feedback very seriously and have produced some amazing features and improvements this past year. Listed below are just a handful of the new features/enhancements that took place in 2020:

  • USAS-R: 
    • Various template report additions and enhancements
    • Improved performance on grids, programs and reports
    • Transfer/Advance improvements
    • Budgeting Scenario improvements
    • Created Fiscal Year End report bundle
    • Accounts Receivable module added
    • Ability to import receipts via CSV file
    • 1099 enhancements/district submission option added  
  • USPS-R:
    • ODJFS direct submission added
    • Tax Estimator module added
    • STRS Advance enhancements/reports added
    • SERS Surcharge Report Bundle added
    • Improved performance on several programs and reports
    • EMIS reporting enhancements added
    • Expenditure Account UI added
    • New canned and template reports added
    • Additional Mass Load features added
    • W2 enhancements/state submission options added
    • Save and Recall parameters added to several reports 

For Wave 7, approximately 182 districts are scheduled to migrate... our biggest wave yet!  That leaves only 3 waves left before Classic's sunset date of December 2022 If you are currently not on a wave or unsure if you are on a wave, please reach out to your ITC.  They have put forth a ton of effort in scheduling each wave to ensure their districts will be migrated over before the sunset date.  If the number of migrated districts isn't proof enough, State Software is getting the job done and looking forward to what 2021 will bring.  

Thank you everyone for your continuing effort and support! 




SSDT is on Facebook!

SSDT has re-launched their Facebook page and starting with CY2021, we will provide frequent posts on enhancements or improvements made on the most recent software releases.

USAS-R and USPS-R software releases are made available to the ITCs every two weeks.  Most ITCs are set up to automatically pull the release updates into your instances.  Details of each release (new features, bug fixes and enhancements) are provided in separate USPS-R and USAS-R release notes. Some of the changes are technical in nature; although extremely important to the software, they may not be transparent to the end-user.  The size of each release varies as there could be a large number of changes detailed in the release notes.  To communicate the more transparent changes, SSDT will showcase them via FB postings to highlight new features or enhancements that benefit you.

A link to our Facebook page will be included in the top right corner of every newsletter.  Please follow or 'like' us on Facebook and help spread the social media word! 



AR Customers now included on the USAS-R Receipt

We received several enhancement requests from Accounts Receivable users to include the AR customer on the associated USAS-R receipt.  The enhancement was made and included on the November 20th 8.8.0 release. 

When an AR Payment (with receipt) is created, the customer used on the associated billing is now displayed on the "Received From" section of the created USAS-R receipt. The customer is also included on the printed PDF and XML files.


 

Useful links:



Keeping Connected

SSDT is fortunate to have an opportunity to connect with ITC staff on a bi-weekly 'touch-base' meeting to discuss their wave migration status.  The meeting is led by Scott Walthour, Redesign Fiscal Project Manager, and is attended by ITC fiscal support staff and the SSDT.  The meeting is a collaborative environment providing a forum for sharing current wave status updates and migration tips and tricks among ITC staff.   They are encouraged to bring to the table any questions or issues they are having with their current wave implementation giving them a chance to touch-base with the SSDT and other ITCs on the progress of their Redesign efforts.  It's a great way to keep connected!


REDESIGN STATUS

340

Sites Live on Redesign

182

Total Wave 7 Sites

17

Participating ITCs

522

Total Districts Participating


Please view the Current List of Districts & Status to see a comprehensive list of school districts along with their ITC, implementation status and the wave they are scheduled to migrate from Classic to Redesign.

The following terminology is used to determine where in the implementation process the entity is currently at:

  • Implementing: The ITC is running test imports and balancing reports on the entity.  The district and ITC are working to schedule dates to begin dual processing and go live.

  • Paralleling: The entity is inputting all production transactions into both Classic and Redesign.

  • Live: The entity is using Redesign for production processing; no parallel processing is being performed;  Classic is available in 'read-only' mode.