Volume 9 Issue 6 - June 2026
Subscribe to the SSDT Newsletter by clicking here. Your email will be added to a distribution list.
The Leave Lowdown
As we close in on the finals days of the fiscal year, many of you will be focusing on leave - accruing, resetting, converting, paying, and balancing. We understand these tasks can be daunting and we have introduced some software improvements to help.
All Leave Types:
When Max Leave Amount field is blank and the benefit accrual process is run, employee’s balances will be cleared (meaning their Balance value will be 0.000). Typically this isn’t ideal. Now, if the Max Leave Amount field is zero, an error message is produced. The employee’s Max Leave Amount value should then be reviewed and updated to the appropriate value.
Personal Leave:
We recently introduced a new option to allow days to be carried over from prior year with maximum when resetting personal leave. Perhaps you are a district that allows for traditional three personal leave to be given each year, but then also have the ability to carry over any unused days from year to year. For example, an employee started with three personal days and has used two days, leaving a balance at the end of the year of one day. When the personal leave days are reset, this employee would be given three personal days and their balance would become four days.
Also earlier this year, we added a new ‘Maximum balance to convert to pay’ field to the Convert Personal Leave To Pay and Convert Personal Leave to Sick Leave. This option is helpful if you are a district that allows up-to or maximum of days for converting personal leave to a payment or to sick leave. For example, you may only allow 2 days – even if the employee has 3 days.
Balancing Tools:
The employee’s Payment Details provides a way to view the employee’s leave used, accumulated, and the balance for that particular time period. From pay to pay, does the information posted in Attendance match up?
The Leave Activity Report provides a listing of accruals and absence categories by employee, by date applied date and then by activity date. It also includes the Beginning Balance, Length and Ending Balance of the activity by category. This report can be extremely helpful in leave balancing. Pay particular attention to the Date Applied value. This date reflects when the leave balance was touched whereas the Activity Date is the date the entry was entered in the system.
The Leave Balance Report provides a list of each employee’s current leave balances.
SubHub Ohio Pilot Set To Begin This Summer
We are pleased to announce the upcoming pilot of SubHub Ohio, a new substitute management application designed specifically for Ohio schools. Developed to integrate seamlessly with Employee Self Service (ESS) and USPS, SubHub Ohio (aka SubHub) streamlines the substitute placement process to help districts fill absences more efficiently.
The pilot period will include nine districts representing five Information Technology Centers (ITCs), with kickoff expected to begin later this month. Participating districts will soon receive information as we work to coordinate pilot implementation meetings.
Simplifying the Substitute Placement Process
SubHub automates the process of matching ESS employee leave requests with qualified substitutes through configurable notification chains. When an employee submits a leave request in ESS and indicates that a substitute is needed, SubHub automatically creates a substitute posting and begins notifying eligible substitutes based on district-defined notification rules. Accepted assignments are immediately reflected back into ESS, providing staff with real-time visibility into substitute coverage.
Key features of SubHub include:
Position code-based substitute eligibility
Full or partial acceptance of multi-day leave requests
Automatic calendar integration for accepted jobs
Email and SMS notifications
Manual assignment capabilities for urgent openings
Real-time synchronization with ESS leave requests
Substitute Experience
SubHub was designed with ease of use in mind, especially for substitutes.
Substitutes do not need a dedicated user account to receive or accept assignments. When a substitute assignment becomes available, qualified substitutes receive an email or text notification containing a secure link directly to the posting. From there, they can quickly review assignment details and accept available opportunities from either a desktop or mobile device. Substitutes will have access to self-service options that allow them to:
Accept all or selected days from multi-day assignments
Manage email and text notification preferences
Set preferred notification windows
Define blackout dates when unavailable
Cancel accepted assignments when necessary
Add accepted assignments to their personal calendars
Flexible Notification Management
Recognizing that every district manages substitute placement differently, SubHub includes powerful list and notification management tools. Districts can organize substitutes into lists based on position codes, buildings, and/or departments and create notification chains that determine who receives assignment opportunities and when.
For example, a district may choose to first offer an assignment to building-specific substitutes before expanding the opportunity to a broader substitute pool. More advanced configurations can use time-based notification windows that automatically widen the search if an assignment remains unfilled.
For districts seeking a simpler approach, we are also developing a streamlined configuration option that will allow all eligible substitutes to be notified simultaneously without requiring complex chain setup.
Integration with ESS and USPS
SubHub was designed from the ground up to work alongside existing SSDT applications. Because substitute requests originate from employee leave requests, Employee Self Service (ESS) is a required component for districts wishing to use SubHub. Integration with USPS is optional but if integrated, substitute records can be synchronized directly from USPS, automatically pulling position eligibility, contact information, and building assignments. The system also supports substitutes who are qualified for multiple position types, giving districts greater staffing flexibility.
When a substitute accepts an assignment, the information is automatically returned to ESS and displayed within the leave request record. Likewise, if an employee cancels a leave request, SubHub automatically removes associated substitute assignments and notifies affected substitutes.
Built-in monitoring and error handling tools help ensure data remains synchronized between systems while providing substitute coordinators with visibility into any issues requiring attention.
Support Resources Available
To support districts during implementation and ongoing use of the application, the following documentation resources are currently available:
SubHub Ohio User Manual – Intended for school district staff responsible for configuring, managing, and administering the application. This guide provides detailed information on setup, substitute list management, notification chains, and overall system administration. It is not intended for substitutes.
SubHub Ohio: Substitute's Guide – Intended for substitutes and provides the information needed to for substitutes to access SubHub, view available assignments, manage notification preferences, accept or decline assignments, and manage accepted substitute jobs.
Please note that these support materials are currently considered draft documentation and are being actively updated throughout the pilot period as new features are added, enhancements are implemented, and feedback is received from pilot districts. Users should expect documentation updates as the application continues to evolve.
To see the software in action, be sure to review this month's Video Spotlight, which features a recent demonstration presented to ITC staff highlighting both the district management and substitute user experiences.
Looking Ahead
Development of SubHub continues beyond the initial pilot release. We are actively working with advisory committee members, ITCs, (and soon with our pilot districts) to identify opportunities for future enhancements.
Planned enhancements include:
Mass loading and manual entry of substitute records
Customizable email and SMS notification templates
Automated reminder notifications for accepted assignments
Unfilled substitute request reports with scheduled distribution
Enhanced mobile-first interfaces
Split assignment capabilities for partial-day coverage
Additional payroll integration options with USPS
A major area of future development will focus on supporting Educational Service Centers (ESCs). Planned enhancements will enable organizations such as ESCs to manage substitute placement across multiple districts from a single SubHub instance, eliminating the need to maintain separate applications for each district they serve.
Additional information on the SubHub Ohio pilot implementation and application enhancements will be shared in future SSDT newsletters.
Useful links:
This month’s spotlight features a preview of SubHub Ohio, our new substitute management application. During a recent demonstration for ITC staff, they received an early look at both the district’s substitute management experience and the substitute’s perspective, including how assignments are posted, accepted and managed. Check out the recording to learn more about the features on both sides of the application.
Recent USXS Performance Improvements
We continue to focus on improving application performance, and recent enhancements delivered in both USPS and USAS are helping to complete frequently used processes more efficiently.
Faster Payroll Deletions
The Payroll Delete/Modify process received significant performance improvements. Payroll deletions now run as a background job using batch querying, allowing the application to respond immediately after the process is initiated. Once the deletion is complete, users are automatically redirected back to the Payroll view. The results are impressive, with testing showing payroll deletion times decreasing from approximately 41 minutes to less than 2 minutes.
Faster Payroll Reports
Performance improvements were also made to the Payroll Report process, with testing showing an average improvement of approximately 83% when generating the Pay Report.
Our last release included performance enhancements for some commonly used payroll reports, including:
Payroll Account Distribution Detail Report
Budget Distribution Report
Pay Amount Summary Report
These improvements help reduce report generation times and provide a faster, more responsive experience for the user.
Faster USAS Transaction Processing
Several USAS enhancements were recently implemented to improve transaction processing. Ledger processing was streamlined by consolidating ledgers to remove redundancy and eliminate support for unused custom ledger fields, resulting in more efficient processing behind the scenes.
You may notice improved performance when creating and updating transactions, including:
Expenditure transactions: Average performance improvement of 25–38%
Receipt and Refund transactions: Average performance improvement of 15–20%
Interfund Cash Transactions (Transfers): Average performance improvement of 13%
Distributions: Average performance improvement of 25%
State Software remains committed to identifying opportunities to improve performance and enhance the user experience across all applications.
STRS Advance Reminder
As you begin preparing for year-end payroll processing and STRS reporting, now is a great time to revisit our May 2025 newsletter article, “Coming Soon to a District Near You”. This DYK article highlights an important review of the STRS Advance Configuration to ensure everything is properly cleared and ready before processing your first payroll in July!
As salary notices season approaches, revisit this DYK article from June 2024 to learn about the many customization and distribution options available for USPS salary notices.
Not sure whether to process an Expenditure/Revenue Account Change or a Cash Account Change? This resource explains the differences among the options and provides guidance on when each should be used. Click here for complete details and examples.
Timesheets - Direct to USPS
YES you can! Did you know you that the Timesheet Manager can now export and directly post timesheets from ESS to USPS? This is a recent enhancement to the ESS Timesheet application. The complete instructions are found at the following location: Timesheet Manager
Period H is Open
DEW recently announced that the FY26 Financial Collection (Period H) is open. Please refer to DEW’s June 4th EMIS release notes for further details.