Volume 6 Issue 6 - May 2023

Owned by Michelle Drewes
Last updated: Dec 21, 2023

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New Leave Activity Report - The Wait Is Over!

Do you ever have moments you wish you could see balances (including accruals and absence information) for specific employee(s) and for a specific date range all on one report? The wait is over!  The newly added Leave Activity Report will provide you with just that.

Example of the new Leave Activity Report:  

When running the Leave Activity Report, ask yourself a few questions:

  • Would I like to provide a specific name to this report?

The report name is Leave Activity Report by default.  This can be changed to something more specific, if desired.

  • How would I like the report sorted?

Employee Number or Employee Name.  Employer Number is the default.

  • Would I like the report to page break by employee?

If so, then mark the Begin Each Employee On New Page checkbox.  By default, the checkbox is not checked.

  • What date range do I wish to show the balance for?  

Enter those dates in the Begin Date and End Date fields. The Begin Date is used to determine the beginning balance 'as of this date' for the leave type specified.  The End Date is used to determine the ending balance 'as of this date' for the leave type specified.  

  • Do I wish to include all leave types in the report? 

Sick leave, personal leave, and vacation leave can all be included in the report.  By default, all three leave types are selected.  To select a different combination, use the left arrow (or highlight the option and use the left arrow) to move the undesired options to the Available column.

  • Are there specific employee(s) I want to run the report for? 

In the Select Employees section, begin typing an employee name or ID.  Then select the employee from the list and click Add.  Any number of employees can be selected.  By default, all employees will be selected.  

How the Leave Activity Report Works:

The report will list the leave balance as of the begin date entered, the leave balance as of the end date entered, and then all of the absences and accumulations that were entered and applied to the balance to show how the employee went from the begin balance to the end balance. So when the employee's balance was truly affected.

The applied date is used because that is the date the absence and/or accumulation truly affected the leave balance. If you are a district that does not use deferred absence posting, a day is entered and that day is immediately 'applied' to the leave balance.  For example, a personal day is entered today for an employee who will be out a day next week.  That employee's personal balance in the system reflects the usage today and the employee's balance in the system as of today is lower by one personal day. If the report is run with an End Date of today, the report will show the personal day being removed from the balance.  If you are a district that uses deferred absence posting, a day is entered and that day is not immediately applied to the leave balance. Instead, the day is applied to the balance when the payroll Begin Date and End Date are inclusive of the leave's Activity Date. So in this example, a personal day is entered today for an employee who will be out a day next week.  That employee's personal balance in the system will remain the same today and be affected at a later time. If the report is run with an End Date of today, the report will show the personal leave balance unchanged.


Five Year Forecast: Review and Extract

It's Spring Update time! The Five Year Forecast update window for submitting to ODE is closing at the end of this month. There are some helpful tools available in USAS to help with reviewing and extracting your forecast data. These can be used to help with the current submission or to keep tabs on your forecast figures throughout the year!

Accounts

First, let's look at how USAS keeps track of forecast accounts. If you review Core > Account grid, the Expenditure and Revenue account records include a field for the Forecast Line #. This field is automatically assigned to the account by USAS when it is created IF that code meets the proper parameters. These parameters are based on the Category/Line Number fields as defined in the ODE EMIS Manual. This field can be added to the Account grid or used on reports.

Spending Plan Reports

The Spending Plan reports compare the current fiscal year estimates with actual figures. Estimated figures can be entered under the Periodic > Spending Plan option in USAS.

  • Spending Plan Comparison - Compare Estimated figures to Actual figures. The report will print three lines per Five-Year Forecast line number: one for the estimated amount, one for the actual amount and the third line will print the difference between the estimated and actual amounts.
  • Spending Plan Monthly - Lists each monthly actual amount for each line number and will include a FYTD total. 
  • Spending Plan Summary - List the current period's actual amount for each line number and will include a FYTD total. 

Expenditure/Revenue Reports

In addition to the Spending Plan reports, the forecast information can also be reviewed on basic expenditure and revenue reports like the Revenue Summary and the Budget Summary. The Forecast Line# is available to add as control break on the template version of the report found on the Report Manager or the Home page. This can be used to add headers/subtotals by Line number! This can be a really helpful way to view all the specific account codes within a line number and the amounts they are adding to that total. Here’s an example using the Revenue Summary.

  • Choose to Generate the Report from the grid
  • On the Generate Report options, navigate to the Sort Options tab
  • Move the Forecast Line# to the top of the Selected Properties and check for Control Break
  • Uncheck any other control breaks
  • Generate the Report

Sort Options:

Report Example:

Additionally, the SSDT Financial Report by Forecast Line Number is available in the Report Manager. This report will show both the expenditure and the revenue line numbers on one report and doesn't require any custom sorting.

Transaction Based Reports

Similarly, the Forecast Line# can be used with transaction based reports like the the Financial Detail report. The benefit of these reports is that they will show you all the actual transaction activity contributing to each line item's total. This can be very helpful in trying to review the specific receipts or expenses that are being included in each line item.

Financial Detail Report

For large date ranges like a full fiscal year, make sure to use the canned Financial Detail Report that is found directly on the Reports menu. This will run much quicker than the template version of this report from the Report Manager grid/Home page! There are some exceptions where the template report may be needed, but in most cases the canned reports are the way to go for transaction based reports!

  • Click on Financial Detail from the Report Menu
  • Move the Forecast Line# to the top of the Selected Properties and check for Control Break
  • Uncheck any other control breaks
  • Enter a date range and any other filters desired 
  • Generate the Report

Report Example:

These transaction reports can also be very helpful when pulling data out into a spreadsheet for analysis outside of the software. The canned version of the Account Activity Report and Financial Detail Report have been updated recently to include all Sortable Property fields, including the Forecast Line# in the Excel-Data and CSV versions of the report. 

  • Click on Account Activity Report from the Report Menu
  • Choose either Budget or Revenue
  • Enter a date range and any other filters desired 
  • Select Format: Excel-Data or Comma Separated Values
  • Generate the Report

Account Activity Report

The Account Activity Report on the Reports menu is the canned version of the SSDT Budget Account Activity Report and SSDT Revenue Account Activity Report from the Reports Manager. This will run quicker than the template version! 

Five Year Forecast Extract

Last but not least, USAS provides a Five Year Forecast program for extracting the actual forecast data based on fiscal year of the current posting period. This page can be found on the Periodic menu > Five Year Forecast.  This page will display all accounts marked with a Forecast Line# organized into a grid along with the extract options.

There are two options available:

  • CSV - Just the raw data sheet for the forecast information
  • EXCEL - When the Excel spreadsheet opens, it is automatically uploaded it into the SSDT's Five Year Forecast spreadsheet. This output has multiple tabs, including the raw data, Forecast, Summary View, etc.

When the Excel sheet opens, you may need to click "Enable" before the information in the spreadsheet appears updated. 



Useful links:



We have a 2 for 1 special for you this month! One of our latest trainings with ITC staff included  New Contract preparations. Covered in this video is how to create new contracts using new contract maintenance, mass copy compensations, importing new contracts and non-contract compensations. 

In addition to that is a separate recording on Salary Notices. We take you through how to generate and email salary notices as well as how to customize a salary notice form in Word.



Did You Know?

Custom Forms in USPS Public Shared Reports Library 

The Public Shared Reports Library includes various customized report definitions that you can download and import into the Report Manager grid in either USAS or USPS.  The reason for this library is to encourage ITC fiscal support staff to share customized report definitions with other state software users that have been helpful for their own districts.  All shared report definitions are tested by the SSDT before they are added to the library.  You can easily access the library by clicking on the option under the Help menu in your instance. 

 

It will redirect you to the main reports library wiki page where you can click on a link to access either the USAS or USPS libraries.  Listed below is a partial image of the USPS shared reports library wiki page (please click on image below for enhanced view)

We recently added custom direct deposit and salary form templates under the 'Custom Form Templates' section of the library, providing various form layouts you can choose from.  One of these formats could also be a starting point, allowing you to even further customize it to fit your needs.  If you need further instructions on how to customize a salary notice form, please refer to this month's 'Video Spotlight' on salary notices.  It provides tips and tricks on how to customize the form as well as how to import the form and generate salary notices. (please click on image below for enhanced view)



Did You Know?

New Position Building/Department UI under Core>Codes

You can now create, update and delete Building and Department Codes in its own UI under Core. 

For more information, please click here.

The Codes are available to STANDARD_READONLY_USER, STANDARD_USER and GROUP_MANAGER.  Any other Roles will need to add USPS_STANDARD_CODE:

  • _VIEW
  • _UPDATE
  • _CREATE
  • _DELETE

If using Mass Load>Positions, the updated fields are:

  • buildingCode.code
  • departmentCode.code

The hotfix of 6.91.2, USPSR-6577, updated the Position Template records to add the building/department codes:

                                       



Did You Know?

Options Available for Closing Purchase Orders

As the end of the fiscal year approaches, you have the option to close purchase orders that will no longer be used so that account encumbrances are not carried forward to the next fiscal year. 

Depending on the Rules set at your district, there are different ways to close a purchase order. 

  • If you have an open purchase order that has never been invoiced, you can Amend the purchase order and click on the Cancel button on the PO line item(s) to close the purchase order.   
  • If the last partially paid invoice is in a closed or archived posting period and the rule is set to prevent opening a previously closed posting period, an AP Invoice can be created to cancel the remaining encumbrance amounts by selecting the remaining open PO item(s) and selecting the status ‘Cancel_Full’.  
  • If the last partially paid invoice is in an open posting period, or if the posting period can be reopened, you can change the status on the previously paid invoice to 'full' to cancel the remaining encumbrance(s). Sort the AP invoice grid by the purchase order & date, navigate to the last paid invoice, click to view the invoice. Click 'Full'.  A helpful tool tip is provided when hovering over the Action button stating the action that will be taken if you click on it.




Did You Know?

Mass Inactivating Accounts in USAS

Cleaning up accounts from prior fiscal years?  Closing a building code?  The best way to go about mass inactivating accounts that are no longer being used depends on the situation, user preference or grouping of accounts.  For more information on the options available, please refer to our May 2022 feature article on how to mass inactivate accounts.