Payrolls with July or later pay dates in the new fiscal year cannot be processed unless STRS Advance has been completed. An error will be given if trying to Initialize the first pay in July.  You WILL NOT be able to proceed with payroll until the STRS Advance has been completed.

***Error - STRS Advance must be processed before running a payroll with pay date in July.***

The system uses the current posting period to determine the fiscal year.  Be sure to process the STRS Advance reports and submission file BEFORE making July current. 

If wanting to change Position numbers for Positions that are in advance, it is advised to NOT create new Payroll Items and assign them to the new Position.  This change will effect the employee's advance.

The STRS Advance program provides you with  the ability to create reports and a submission file. This can be found by going to Reports>STRS Reporting>STRS Advance. The reports should be used for verification purposes, and can be created any many times as necessary, before the submission file is created.  The reports will include active and inactive employee's that qualify for STRS advance.  Employee's with a Position>Position Status of Deceased or Terminated will not be included.  Docks without an effective date can be added in Payroll Payments - Future and will be included in the report calculations.  After STRS advance processing is completed, the dock payment in Payroll Payments - Future should be deleted until the dock payment should take place.   

Three reports can be generated:

• Advance Fiscal To Year Date Report - A report that is a complete fiscal year-end report for all STRS employees, including all advanced employees.
• Advanced Positions Report - A report that lists all advanced compensations for the district.
• Non-Advanced Position Report - A report that lists all compensations that will not be advanced.   

Generating the STRS Advance Submission File will actually flag the appropriate compensations as advanced jobs. The compensation records will remain in "advance mode" until the last payment in contract has been paid. At that time, the compensation advance flag is turned off and the compensation is no longer considered in "advance mode". It also sets the STRS Advance Configuration field under SYSTEM/CONFIGURATION option.  

The only field that is non modifiable during STRS Advance, is the STRS Advance Flag on the Compensation.  All other fields are modifiable during Advance.  

After generating the STRS Advance Submission File, a file called STRSADYY06.txt (YY = Year) is created. The file is then submitted to STRS using the 'Submit Uploaded File to STRS' option.

To create the Advance Fiscal Year to Date Report  

• The Save and Recall option , allows the users to create and save certain reports  for different report runs for each report option.  The Default option is the original SSDT report and the Most Recent is the last report that was ran by the user.  If the report is no longer needed, click on to delete the report.  The Default reports cannot be deleted. 
• Sort By- From the drop down option choose the way you want the report to be sorted
  • Employee Name (Default Option)
  • Employee SSN
• Report Format - CSV, PDF and Excel
• Starting Date for the Academic Year- Choose date from the Calendar, click  or enter in the starting date using format M/DD/YY
• Ending Date for the Academic Year-  Choose date from the Calendar, click  or enter in the starting date using format M/DD/YY
• Click the 

Criteria for STRS Advance - FYTD report

• Employee must have a position with retirement system set to STRS
• Employee must have earnings in the fiscal year. Earnings are a sum of 3 things.
  • For an advancing compensation, the accrued wages will be added to earnings (accrued wages = contract obligation – amount paid – amount docked). 
  • Adjustment journals of type equaling Total Gross and Payroll Item Code equaling 591 and/or 691 for the employee with a Transaction Date within the fiscal year will be added to earnings. 
  • The Applicable Gross of historical STRS pay items paid to the employee on payrolls that are not imported from classic and have a Pay Date within the fiscal year will be added to earnings.
• Employee must have a contract (or legacy) compensation with a date range that the current date falls within the current date. AND the compensation pays paid is not equal to pays in contract or the compensation has been paid in the fiscal year OR Employee must have a non contract compensation with a date range that overlaps the fiscal year.
• Having a Compensation Stop Date will prevent a compensation from advancing, if that stop date falls within the academic date range. (Will show earnings on the FYTD report (compensation obligation - compensation amount paid - compensation amount docked)

(Note that in the above bullet, if the conditions before the bolded OR are met, or the condition after the bolder OR is met, then the employee will be on the report if the 2 preceding bullet points are met)

Sample PDF Report

Sample of CSV

Sample of Excel

Balancing Advance Fiscal Year to Date Report

To balance the Advance Fiscal Year to Date Report for the Fiscal Year the Taxed + Non Taxed Deposit Pickup should equal what has been paid to STRS to date, plus the STRS Advance amount should equal the Taxed + Non Taxed Total.  Advance amounts from the previous FY are not tracked on the report and are tracked separately behind the scenes.

Those figures come from the 450 (if Taxed) 591 (if Non Taxed)and 691 (Pickup) withholding amounts for the current fiscal year (no advance amounts) and any new earnings that were paid over the summer months while in advance.

To Create Advanced Positions Report

• Sort By- From the drop down option choose the way you want the report to be sorted
  • Employee Name (Default Option)
  • Employee SSN
• Report Format - CSV, PDF and Excel
• Starting Date for the Academic Year- Choose date from the Calendar , click  or enter in the starting date using format M/DD/YY

• Ending Date for the Academic Year-  Choose date from the Calendar , click  or enter in the starting date using format M/DD/YY

  • If you remain on this screen, the Sort By and Academic dates options will remain populated from the previous run of the Advanced Fiscal Year to Date Report.
• Click the

Criteria for STRS Advance Position Report

• Employee must have a Position with retirement system set to STRS and the Position must have a Job Status of Active or Inactive.

• Employee must have a Contract Compensation with a date range that the current date falls within.

• Compensation>Contract Days Worked must equal the Contract Work Days or the Compensation>Contract Work Days must equal the Contract Days Worked as of June 30 (determined by counting the remaining number of work days to be paid through June 30 from the Job Calendar).

• Compensation>Contract Work Days and Contract Days Worked must be greater than 0. 

• Compensation>Pays paid must be less than Compensation>Pays In Contract.

• Compensation>Contract Obligation – Amount Paid – Amount Docked must be greater than 0.

• Compensation>Accrued Wages must be greater than 0.

  • Accrued Wages = Compensation Amount Earned - Amount Paid - Amount Docked

 Sample Report

To create Non-Advanced Positions Report

• Sort By- From the drop down option choose the way you want the report to be sorted
  • Employee Name (Default Option)
  • Employee SSN
• Report Format - CSV, PDF and Excel
• Starting Date for the Academic Year- Choose date from the Calendar , click  or enter in the starting date using format M/DD/YY

• Ending Date for the Academic Year-  Choose date from the Calendar , click  or enter in the starting date using format M/DD/YY

  • If you remain on this screen, the Sort By and Academic dates options will remain populated from the previous run of Advanced Positions Report
• Click 

Criteria for STRS Non Advance Report

• Employee must have a position with retirement system set to STRS and position must have a job status of Active or Inactive. Must have a contract or legacy compensation for the position.
• Employee must have a contract (or legacy) compensation with a date range that the current date falls within
• The position associated with the compensation must have a status of active or inactive
• The compensation pays paid must be less than pays in contract and there must be contract work days on the compensation greater than 0.
• The compensation works days does not equal work days in contract or the compensation work days does not equal the contract work days as of June 30 (determined using work days from the calendars).

Sample Report

Creating the STRS Advance Submission File

• Sort By- From the drop down option choose the way you want the report to be sorted
  • Employee Name (Default Option)
  • Employee SSN
• Report Format - CSV, PDF and Excel

• Starting Date for the Academic Year- Choose date from the Calendar , click  or enter in the starting date using format M/DD/YY

• Ending Date for the Academic Year-  Choose date from the Calendar , click  or enter in the starting date using format M/DD/YY

• • If you remain on this screen, the Sort By and Academic dates options will remain populated from the previous run of the advance reports
• Click on 

• 

• Once the file has been created, a message will appear:
• 

Sample submission file

Upload Submission File to STRS

To select File for submission, click on .

Once the file has been selected, it will show as an Uploaded File 

To Submit the file, click on .

The 'Submit Uploaded File to STRS' uses the Core>Organization>STRS Code, so STRS knows who's file it is.

First payroll after STRS Advance - STRS Per Pay Report

After the first pay in Advance, the STRS Per Pay Report, will show if employees are in Advance:

STRS Merge Files

STRS Merge File can be created any time after STRS Advance Submission file has been created.  

This process allows a merger between the STRS Advance file and a file provided by Renhill or other Third-party entity which contains contracted employee information for STRS reporting.

Before moving forward, districts will want to make sure the Third-Party file is in the correct format.  Click Here to see the STRS Annual Reporting Record Layout.

File example:

Testmergefile.txt

The STRS Advance file and the file provided by Renhill or other third party entity, can be merged using this process:

Upload the Advance Submission File that was created by your district by clicking on

Upload the File to Merge sent to the district by Renhill or other third party entity, by clicking on 

Generate STRS Merge Report for verification

To create a projection report of the two merge files, click on .  This report will show the districts STRS advance file and the file you selected to merge from the Third Party entity:

Example of STRS Merge Report

 After the report has been reviewed and are ready to merge, click on .  This file can then be used to upload to STRS.

Example of the STRSADMERGED file

To Upload the Merged File for submission to STRS, click on  

Once uploaded, click on to submit your districts STRS Advance file.

Items to consider for STRS Advance

Pay Types that affect balancing

During advance cycle certain pay types cannot be used on jobs with advance flag set - REG and IRR.  

Certain pay types will affect the Amount Paid Back field under SYSTEM/CONFIGURATION/STRS Advance Configuration

• DCK
• BCK
• TRM
• POF

Docks

If a Dock is known before STRS Advance is processed, the total amount needs to be entered in FUTURE as a DCK pay type.  Once STRS Advance has been processed, remove the Future entry before running the next payroll.  Then the dock can be reentered in any future payrolls during the advance.  The STRS Advance FYTD report does not apply dock from future pay to the earnings on the report.  It only reduces the advance amount.

Early Contract Payoffs

Consider early contract pay offs. If aware of these now, go to the Compensation record and update the 'Pays In Contract'. Keep in mind this may change the pay per period.

• Make this update AFTER the last pay of June has been processed. If you wish to continue to pay the regular pay per period on the first pay of July, then change the number of pays back to the original value AFTER you have created and submitted the STRS Advance Submission file.

STRS Advance Configuration and Organization 

Once the STRS Advance file has been generated, the total amount of Advance will show under System>Configuration>STRS Advance Configuration and Core>Organization:

System>Configuration>STRS Advance Configuration:

and Core>Organization:

The Advance Amount is the total STRS Advance amount and will not change through the summer pays.  The Amount Paid Back will increase every payroll.  The Submission Timestamp will populate after the is processed: (these fields are non-modifiable, except to admin users) **If district has ran STRS submission and needs to be brought out of advance for errors to be fixed, the original Submission Timestamp will show, it will NOT update with the new Submission Timestamp**

System>Configuration>STRS Advance Configuration:

Core>Organization:

**Note**After the last pay, if the amount paid back is equal or greater than the advance amount, then the district will come out of advance and the advance flag on the configuration will be un-checked. When the advance flag on the configuration is unchecked, then the amount paid back will always display zero. If the amount paid back is less than the advance amount after the last pay, then the advance flag on the configuration will not be un-checked and the amount paid back will continue to show on the configuration.  If wanting to see the total amount paid back, they can check the 'Advance Mode' box, refresh the screen or (close it and re-open) for the value to display and the Amount Paid Back will show.  But they will want to remember to un-check that before they move onto their next payroll.

If Amount Paid Back is off, run the Check STRS Advance Report and compare this to their STRS Advance report to find the difference.  

Amount Paid Back shows 0.00- The Amount Paid back is calculated based upon the current year.  If already in the next CY, it is a calculation of Advance Amounts paid in the new CY which is zero.  The amount paid back for 202X would have shown on the STRS advance configuration through December 202X (current year) since the district never came out of advance.

Example: If FY 2022, the amount paid back difference would still show through December 2022.  But now in 2023 Current year, the Amount paid back is cleared and no longer available. 

Payroll Report STRS Advance amount

The Payroll Report, processed during the payroll, will show the STRS Advance amount for each payroll. This is located at the bottom of the report:

Corrections Needed if an Employee Was Not Marked as a Retired Rehired When They Should Have Been

The following adjustments are necessary if an employee was not marked as a rehired retiree when they returned to the district as a rehired retiree at the start of the fiscal year.  After the creating the corrections in the steps below, the employee should be listed on the STRS Advanced reports with one line and the Rehired Retiree column will be set to Y.  Use the FYTD Report Non rehired Retiree Earnings and Non-Taxed Deposit/Pick up for adjustments:

• On the 450 Payroll Item, mark the Rehired Retiree checkbox and enter the rehired date in the Rehired Date field.  
• The following adjustments will need to be created:
  • Core>Adjustments - Payroll Item 450 using the Type of Portion of FTD Gross that was earned as a rehired retiree, enter the Amount equaling the Earnings and check the Fiscal Year To Date checkbox.
  • Core>Adjustments - Payroll Item 450 using the Type of Portion of FTD Board Amount that was earned as a rehired retiree, enter the Amount equaling the Non-Taxed Deposit/Pick Up and check the Fiscal Year To Date checkbox.
  • Core>Adjustments - Payroll Item 591 using the Type of Portion of FTD Amount that was withheld as a rehired retiree, enter the Amount equaling the Non-Taxed Deposit/Pick Up and check the Fiscal Year To Date checkbox.
  • (If applicable) Core>Adjustments - Payroll Item 691 using the Type of Portion of Board Amount that was earned as a rehired retiree, enter the Amount equaling Non-Taxed Deposit/Pick Up and check the Fiscal Year To Date checkbox

The following adjustments are necessary if an employee was not marked as a rehired retiree when they returned to the district as a rehired retiree at some point during the fiscal year.  The employee will be listed on the STRS Advanced reports with two lines.  One line will list the information prior to retiring and the Rehired Retiree column will be set to N and the other line will list the information when the employee returned as a rehired retiree and the Rehired Retiree column will be set to Y.

• On the 450 Payroll Item, mark the Rehired Retiree checkbox and enter the rehired date in the Rehired Date field.  
• The following adjustments will need to be created:
  • Core>Adjustments - Payroll Item 450 using the Type of Portion of FTD Gross that was earned as a rehired retiree, enter the Amount equaling the Earnings and check the Fiscal Year To Date checkbox.
  • Core>Adjustments - Payroll Item 450 using the Type of Portion of FTD Board Amount that was earned as a rehired retiree, enter the Amount equaling the Non-Taxed Deposit/Pickup and check the Fiscal Year To Date checkbox.
  • Core>Adjustments - Payroll Item 591 using the Type of Portion of FTD Amount that was withheld as a rehired retiree, enter the Amount equaling the Non-Taxed Deposit/Pickup and check the Fiscal Year To Date checkbox.
  • (If applicable) Core>Adjustments - Payroll Item 691 using the Type of Portion of Board Amount that was earned as a rehired retiree, enter the Amount equaling the Non-taxed Deposit/Pick-Up and check the Fiscal Year To Date checkbox.

Removing Last Fiscal Year Earnings and Contributions from STRS Advance

Employees paid in July for June days works

STRS requires earnings to be reported in the year they were earned, not paid.  For situations where employees earned the wages in one fiscal year and are paid in another, the corrections will need to be made both to STRS and on the system.  The district should contact STRS to work through their process of 'back posting' the earnings.  On our system, the district will want to post Core>Adjustments to 'back out' the total gross and amount withheld from this FYE, so it's not reported on next year's FYE information.

• Core>Adjustments - Payroll Item 450 using the Type Total Gross and mark the Fiscal Year To Date checkbox.
• Core>Adjustments - Payroll Item 591 using the Type Amount Withheld and mark the Fiscal Year To Date checkbox.
• Core>Adjustments - Payroll Item 691 using the Type Board's Amount of payroll item and mark the Fiscal Year To Date checkbox.

Using Adjustments, click on Create to remove employee's earnings, this will adjust the Non-taxed Earnings on the STRS FYTD report:

450 Payroll Item:

To remove contributions, this will adjust the figures on the STRS FYTD report, Taxed + Non-taxed and Non-taxed Total:

591 Payroll Item:

And/or 691 Payroll Item: