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June 2016 – Volume 20 Issue 2
The Receiving option in the Accounts Payable module allows for a seamless and efficient workflow for the processes of entering requisitions, creating purchase orders, and recording invoices. Each of those forms easily converts into the next, minimizing the amount of extra data entry required as each phase is completed. However, the time between the point when merchandise comes in and the invoice is delivered to the business office is typically the most delaying part of the whole process. Imagine if you didn’t have to wait… If you take advantage of the Receiving option, you won’t!
The Receiving option is available in both Accounts Payable and in Web Link (for those districts who have licensed that add-on module), and it allows users to input the exact counts of merchandise received for each purchase order, plus additional comments, directly into the software database. The Receiving option also allows for items to be flagged for tracking later in the Fixed Asset Inventory module, if applicable, or even mark a line item of the purchase order as cancelled.
Then, when a purchase order is invoiced, the receiving information will populate into the detail section of the invoice for each line item. This allows the person entering the invoice to quickly and easily see what quantities were actually received, to invoice the proper amount for payment, and review any comments made about the order.
While it should be noted that this is an optional function and is not required to enter an invoice from a purchase order, it can be a massive time saver, especially for districts that have orders shipped directly to multiple locations within the district. It means less time waiting on paper invoices or packing slips to be dropped off, faxed, or resent if they were to get misplaced, and allows invoices to be entered and paid in a timely fashion.
For more information about the Receiving option, refer to the Receiving topic in the Help File or watch the Receiving Tutorial.
Newsletter Survey
On the topic of receiving: Are purchase orders entered into the School Accounting System at your district? Who currently receives and verifies the merchandise shipped to your school district? Do you currently use or plan to use the Receiving option in either the School Accounting System and/or Web Link? If yes, who is/will be responsible for completing the Receiving option?
Click the Survey Question link to participate in the survey.
Please be sure to submit your response. We look forward to your participation in all our surveys.
Previous Survey Results
The Newsletter Survey question for the March 2016 issue related to Requisitions. The questions were… How do you currently process requisitions? When do you allow your staff to begin submitting requisitions for the next fiscal year? How many people are typically involved in the approval process for your requisitions?
Thank you to everyone who participated in our survey!
Support Corner - Amy Feit, Director of Customer Support
One Last Push for ACA!
The deadline for submitting your Affordable Care Act (ACA) forms for 2015 is quickly approaching! The electronic submissions are due by June 30, 2016. If you have not yet submitted, we encourage you to take a few minutes to do so as soon as possible by completing the Employer 1094-C tab appropriately (applicable for ACA C forms only) and then clicking the Submit Electronic File to IRS button located on the Employee 1095-Cs or Employee 1095-Bs tab. There are no advantages of waiting until the last day to complete this necessary option.
Additionally, if you are seeing an alert on your Payroll screen indicating that the “Submitted ACA Forms Need Corrections”, now is the time to finish up the corrections and resubmit. If you have any questions in regards to what the error message you are receiving means, please contact Customer Support.
Click here for details on how to submit the ACA 1094 and 1095 forms from within the School Accounting System
What’s your Backup Plan?
Computers crash. Servers are not backed up. Hard drives fail. These are all realities that some of our customers have experienced. There is nothing more disheartening than receiving a call in regards to a computer crashing, only to hear that the last backup done was two weeks or more ago, and to have to explain that everything that was done will need to be recreated.
The School Accounting System houses vital financial, employee, vendor and other historic information for your school district, so it is important that you have safeguards and redundancies in place to ensure that data will remain safe.
In addition to making backups on a regular basis, the backup files should periodically be taken to an offsite location so that in the event of a fire or natural disaster, there is a backup copy that is in a location other than at the district.
In order to help have regular backup files created, Software Unlimited, Inc. has provided an automated backup option to have the system automatically backup on a daily basis. See the Complete Daily Backup Tutorial for a video tutorial of how to set up the School Accounting System for automatic backups.
The School Accounting System has traditionally been an application installed on district equipment. However, with increasing hardware replacement and maintenance costs, coupled with a decrease in experienced technology staff, schools are looking for ways to securely offload their hardware responsibility. The new School Accounting System-Online option is a completely cloud-based solution that offers you online access to the School Accounting System and integrated add-on modules. The software is hosted on secured servers with multiple redundancies to ensure the safety of your data. We will take care of managing all software updates and backup storage for your School Accounting System database. You will sleep well knowing your district’s sensitive financial data is secure and will be unaffected in event of hardware failure or any other major incident at the district.
As always, if you have any questions please contact Customer Support at 800.756.0035 ext. 2 or email support@su-inc.com.
End of Fiscal Year Reminders
As summer commences and both students and staff are gone for summer break, it means the end of the fiscal year is rapidly approaching! Below you’ll find links to applicable checklists of tasks to complete and finish out the 2015-2016 fiscal year, as well as some due date reminders for annual reports.
Checklists
Are you beginning to work on completing the end of fiscal year processes at your school district? If so, be sure to follow the steps as outlined on the End of Fiscal Year Checklists:
Accounts Payable End of Fiscal Year Checklist
Payroll End of Fiscal Year Checklist
General Ledger End of Fiscal Year Checklist
Fixed Asset Inventory End of Fiscal Year Checklist
Keep in mind the Accounts Payable and Payroll End of Fiscal Year Checklists must be completed prior to completing the General Ledger End of Fiscal Year Checklist. Also, for those school districts with the Fixed Asset Inventory module, the Fixed Asset Inventory End of Fiscal Year Checklist should be completed prior to completing the General Ledger End of Fiscal Year Checklist.
Due Dates
Do not forget to submit your Annual Report before your state’s due date. The specific due dates for each state are listed below:
Iowa: September 15
Illinois: October 15 (due to regional offices) and November 15 (due to state board)
Kansas: August 25 (Kansas Budget Report)
Missouri: August 15
Nebraska: November 1
North Dakota: August 1 (Annual Report) and August 15 (Certificate of Levy/Special Ed Unit Budget)
South Dakota: August 30
Wyoming: August 12
Report Lists Video Tutorial
The Report List option is used to print multiple reports at one time from within the School Accounting System. With the Report List option, all the selected reports are sent to the printer or screen at one time (or exported to files) instead of each report being selected and printed individually. Click here to watch!
Convention Winners
Congratulations to the grand prize winners of an Amazon Kindle Fire®. The following people won by registering at our convention booth. Thanks to all who stopped by our booth to register and say “Hi”. We greatly appreciate your support and participation. Remember to look for the Software Unlimited, Inc. booth at the next convention and maybe you will be the next winner!
SDASBO Conference Winner
Karen Coyle-Co-Business Manager, Bennett CSD 03-1, Martin, SD
NASBO Conference Winner
Rita Wilke-Bookkeeper, Lakeview Community Schools, Columbus, NE
KASBO Conference Winner
Deneen Wolfe-Business Manager, Scott County USD 466, Scott City, KS
Trivia Challenge
It is time for another Software Unlimited, Inc. Trivia Challenge. In each newsletter, we will test your knowledge by asking a question on various topics ranging from options in the School Accounting System to information about the company of Software Unlimited, Inc. If you are up to the challenge, try to answer the question and you may be eligible to win a USB flash drive.
Q. Where in the software can you check to make sure your funds have been setup for the next fiscal year? Click to answer
A winner will be selected at random from the list of correct respondents. Don’t forget to read the Trivia Challenge article in the next newsletter to see the winner and correct answer. Good luck!
In last quarter’s newsletter, the Trivia Challenge asked, Is there a way to require bids for items that are over a certain dollar amount on a requisition? The answer is Yes, within the Requisition Options you can specify an amount in the Minimum Bid Amount field. Congratulations to Lisa Zenker from Gackle-Streeter Public School for being selected at random from the list of correct respondents and winning a USB flash drive.
Closures
Software Unlimited, Inc. will be closed on the following dates:
July 4 for Independence Day
September 5 for Labor Day
Staff Spotlight - Kim Smith
Kim has been with Software Unlimited, Inc. for 12 years. She began working in the Customer Support Department for 10 years before moving to the Quality Analyst position in the Development Department. Kim spends most of her free time attending sporting events with her boys, Keegan (10) and Easton (3), and Vinny (34). When she isn’t watching a sporting event, she enjoys traveling and reading.
