Subscribe to the SSDT Newsletter by clicking here.  Your email will be added to a distribution list.             

We hope to see you at OEDSA! 

SSDT will be presenting once again at the annual OEDSA (Ohio Education Data Systems Association) conference September 13th -15th at the Hilton Polaris in Columbus.  OEDSA has always provided a full fiscal-related track at their conference that greatly benefits school treasurers and their staff as well as ITC fiscal support staff.  SSDT appreciates the opportunity to present, giving us the chance to connect with our end-users.  The following SSDT sessions will be presented at this year's conference:

• Mastering Mid-year Contract Changes: Become a wizard at mastering the 'fine art' of mid-year contract changes in USPS.
• Scheduling Reports via Job Scheduler:  Feeling a little apprehensive when scheduling reports?  No worries, we're here to help you feel more at ease with the job scheduler.  Join us to discuss different options for scheduling reports in USAS and USPS such as how to automate reports to send via email to office or district staff, sending custom reports to the File Archive, and other functions of the job scheduler.  
• Deeper Dive Into Disbursements: Let’s dig deeper into all things USAS Disbursements! In this session we’ll take a detailed look into disbursement options in USAS. Topics will include impacts of disbursements on accounts, how to void and reissue a check, assigning and resequencing check numbers, and check reconciliation options.

For more details on SSDT sessions and other fiscal related sessions that will be offered at OEDSA, as well as how to register for the conference, please access their website and click on 'View Details' for the conference agenda and 'Register' to sign up for the conference.  We hope to see you there!

USPS recent enhancements.  You've asked.... we've listened!

Our payroll team developers has been busy!!  And I'm only talking about the improvements and new features they have completed since the beginning of FY2024!  Are you ready?  Here we go!

New Features 

• The 'Leave Activity Date' property was added to both Attendance/Absence Detail view and the Leave Activity Report. For an absence, this date is the date the absence was applied to the leave balance.  For Attendance records this date will be the date of the attendance. 
• The ability to generate an Earnings Register in CSV format is available.  The latest version of the report breaks the Earnings Register down by payroll accounts.
• Districts may now add a 'memo' message on checks and direct deposits during Payroll Processing>Process Payments, Payments>Check Register and Payments>Payroll.
• A new UI has been added for W2C processing under Reports>W2 Corrections>W2C Records.
  • NOTE: W2C processing is not complete. This is only the data entry user interface. More features to come before the end of the calendar year!
• A new Employee photo entity and repository was added that will be used at a later time.

Improvements

• Added non-contract compensations to the AOS Employee Report.
• Improved AOS Payment History Report to use current employee name and number.
• New Contract Import: When a label is not provided to search old compensations, New Contract will now default to exclude archived compensations when searching for active compensations.
  • Compensation Journals - no longer including negative amount earned for Dock pay types and non stretch pay employees. When docking an employee, no matter if the employee's Compensation>Stretch Pay checkbox is marked or not marked, the following will happen:
    • Amount Earned will remain the same.
    • Amount Paid should be increased by their Pay Per Period minus the Dock amount.
    • Amount Dock should be increased by the Dock amount.
    • Accrued Wages should be decreased by the Pay Per Period amount.
• Updated Employee Onboarding to allow edit components to work as expected when the 'Created Date Time' custom field type is used.
• W2 Processing will now prevent any negative value in Box 12.
• General Layout Improvements were made to several reports after districts reported font sizes expanding randomly.
• Added the full Account Code to the USAS submission messages.
  • USAS will also return the account code as part of any error message when the account is not found.
• Payables Detail Report now includes a Total Gross column.
• A negative sign was added to the usage length and negative accumulation transaction on the Leave Activity Report.
• We improved the way the apostrophe is handled in the employee name column on the CSV file when using Mass Load's employee importable type.
• W2 Overflow forms have been updated to not print unnecessary data on overflow forms on fields 1-6 and 7-12d.
  • Additional Locality wages and income tax will only be printed.
• Improved the performance of the batch job queries used in the Payroll Detail View. The result is a Payroll Detail View that has better response time when polling batch job data. The view should no longer lock for districts who process payroll with 50+ pay groups.
• SOAP Service Position queries - add 'ARCHIVED' to job title property for any archived positions returned.

Inventory FAQs 

SSDT continues to add frequently asked questions to our Inventory FAQ page in the wiki.  FAQs are categorized by the type of transaction to make it easy for you to search for your question in need.  Please refer to the documentation for more FAQs but here are some of the more popular questions: 

• How would I add a new item that was acquired by the district in a prior fiscal year?
  • You have a couple of options: 
    • If the period can be re-opened and you would prefer to re-open the period, once it's open, you would add the item using Transactions>Items
    • If the period is archived or you would prefer not to re-open the period, the item would be added in an open period, as usual through the Transactions>Items grid, using the 'create' option. A date in the open period must be entered in the acquisition window but after you click 'continue to item', you can enter the true acquisition date in the items window. If depreciation is to be calculated, you will want to enter the true acquisition date as the beginning depreciation date.  If the item is capitalized, after the item has been added, access Transactions>Acquisitions, query the newly created acquisition against this item and check the error correction box in order to include the item's amount to the adjustments column instead of the acquisition column on the GAAP schedule of change reports.
• If I entered an asset in an open year by mistake, can I delete it or must I create a disposition transaction?
  • Yes, if the item was mistakenly added in a period that is open, you can simply delete it in Transactions>Items.  This will also automatically delete the associated acquisition transaction. 
• I need to update a field on several of my existing items.  Is there a way to mass-update? 
  • Yes, using the recommended spreadsheet format outlined in the SYSTEM>Import chapter, you can use Item Import type to update information on an existing field. 
    • NOTE: GAAP fields such as fund, function and asset class can be updated as long as the 'create transfers' box is checked.  This will update the fund, function or asset class on the item record and also create associated transfer transactions. 
    • NOTE: If you want to update the original cost, you must use the (acquisition import type), making sure the update records box IS NOT checked.  This will create additional acquisitions against the item and also update the associated item's original cost.
    • NOTE: If you want to update the status of the item to disposed of, you must use the disposition import type to create mass dispositions.  This will also update the associated item's status to 'disposed of'.
• How do I add an additional acquisition to an existing item? Did I mention the acquisition should have been added in a prior year?
  • If an acquisition needs to be added to an existing item, click on 'create' on the Transactions>Acquisitions grid to add the acquisition. The date must be in an open period. If the item is currently capitalized, check the error correction box in order to include the acquisition amount in the adjustments column instead of the acquisition column on the GAAP schedule of change reports.
  • Why would I need to check the error adjustment?
    • If the acquisition is for a capitalized assets and was supposed to be created in a prior year (and the prior year is archived or you prefer not to re-open it), you can add the acquisition in the current year and by checking the error adjustment, the acquisition amount of the asset will included in the adjustment column on the GAAP Schedule of Change reports.
• I disposed of an item that we thought was lost.  Can I delete the disposition in order to re-activate the item?
  • If the disposition date is in an open period, you can delete the disposition.  This will update the item record back to an 'active' status.
  • If the disposition date is in an archived period or you prefer not to re-open the period, you must re-create the item.
• In Pending Items, do I need to 'Pull from USAS' periodically?
  • Yes, this will need to be performed periodically to pull in newly invoiced items into the pending file.  Because Inventory keeps USAS updated on the inventory status of the pending item, 'Pull from USAS" will not re-pull items that have a 'sent' or 'posted' inventory status.  It will not re-pull items that have a 'rejected' status either unless you check the 'include rejected' box.
• What happens in the system if I re-open a closed period?
  • The system will allow you to post transactions (items, acquisition, dispositions, and transfer transactions) using dates within the open period.  Please note, when re-closing the period, a new zipped report bundle for that year will be created.  Depending if transactions were entered during the re-opened year, the newly generated report bundle reports will no longer match the prior report bundle due to the new transactions posted in the re-opened year.  LTD figures will be recalculated and the new year beginning balances adjusted based on any changes made in the re-opened period that could affect those figures.