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Ode to Classic

Those words make me feel a little nostalgic.  Maybe it shows my age, but I think more so, it's a reflection of how long I used the Classic software and got accustomed to it.   And I am sure some of you can relate (to the usage, not the age reference). All Classic software applications retire December 31st!  While we are very proud of how far we have come in building a robust financial software application for the school districts in Ohio, we also knew it was necessary to modernize state software in order to meet the immediate and future needs of our user community. The redesigned software has much more flexibility and ease of use.  Function keys are a thing of the past, spreadsheets are available in many of the options and customization is king! Looking ahead, we are excited to provide you with even more enhancements and improvements in all of our applications. We want to take a moment to again thank you for your enormous effort and support during this process.  You should all take pride in your part to help complete 10 migration waves within a 5 year timespan! 

I can't bid Classic adieu without mentioning some of its idiosyncrasies and how they affectionately rubbed off on us all.  From its unique and quite impressive list of program acronyms (let's face it, it's much easier to say BRDDIS than Employer Distributions); to maneuvering within a program using the PF, Shift and/or Ctrl keys; and, of course, the smiles (or blank stares) I would receive when training a new user on EIEIO. "Enter EIEIO at the menu prompt, select OINQ, and after entering the transaction number, use the PF1 key to advance to the next one."  I hope that little trip down memory lane made you smile. 

It goes without saying, Classic served Ohio school districts well for 40 years.  That indeed is something to be proud of.  Thanks Classic for working so hard for the state of Ohio.  (I feel a round of 'Auld Lang Syne' coming on here.) Classic was the cornerstore in helping to build a strong foundation for State Software.  Here is to another 40 years! 

STRS Per Pay Submissions - Avoiding duplicate submissions

STRS has expressed concern in regards to districts inadvertently submitting more than one STRS Per Pay submission files for the same pay period.  In order to prevent this from happening, we wanted to review the two different ways you can send the STRS Per Pay submission file to STRS.   

In STRS Report Options, you have two options.  Please ensure you are only choosing one of the following options to avoid duplicate submissions. 

Option 1 - Creates the STRS Submission file and allows you to submit the file yourself

• Click 'Create Submission File.'  This saves the file with a default STRS.SEQ filename to your computer.
• Next, click 'Choose File' at 'Upload Submission File' and browse to find the STRS.SEQ file.
• The 'Submit Uploaded File to STRS' will no longer be greyed out.  Click ' Submit Uploaded File to STRS'.

Option 2 - Generate the STRS Submission File and submits the file to STRS all in one step.

• Click 'Generate Submission File and Submit To STRS.' This will immediately submit the file to STRS.  The button will then be automatically greyed out to prevent you from resending it.

Utilizing Mass Change to Update Payroll Items

Just a helpful tip for the upcoming calendar year.   Mass Change can be used to update rates for Employee and Employer Amounts for the upcoming year:

• Under Core>Payroll Item, select Annuity Item or Regular Item
• Make sure that Rate and or Employer Rate are chosen under the More button
• Important: Use the Filter row to filter the data (i.e. Code, Dates, etc.) to ensure the data appearing on the screen is the data needing to be changed 
• Click on the Mass Change button.
• In Maintenance Mode, click on the Import Definition button and import any or all of the following scripts (Note: these scripts must be downloaded before you can import them):
  1. Employee Rate
  2. Employer Rate
  3. Employee/Employer Rate
• Under Load Definition,  select the script you wish to use to make the rate change.
• Update the “New Value” to the new rate amount.
• Click the Execution Mode option.
• Repeat if necessary if setup as different Payroll Item codes.

Note: Always remember to filter the data before every Mass Change process

Click here for more helpful Mass Change definitions.