Over the past thousand years, there have been many great inventions. Ones that stand out as the top inventions of all time include: electric light, automobiles, telephone, radio and television, airplanes, and computers. There are hundreds of others that could also be included in this list as there are many inventions that have helped make our lives easier.
We may not all be like Thomas Edison or Benjamin Franklin, but there are times when we do come up with an idea that could help save time and make work more efficient for ourselves and others. If you ever have a good idea for an option or change you would like to see in the School Accounting System or one of the add-on modules, be sure to submit your program suggestion by clicking the Program Suggestions link found under the Information section on the main screens in the School Accounting System.
Over the years, we have implemented numerous suggestions we have received from our customers for enhancements to the software. Below are a few changes developed from customer suggestions that were included in a recent update:
Note: For more details on any of these enhancements or other changes included in recent updates, click here to review the release notes. The Release Notes can also be accessed and viewed from the update available announcement posted in the News Feed, or by simply clicking the Latest Release Notes link under the Information section on the main screens within the School Accounting System.
Now remember, the next time you have a great idea for a change to the software, submit it as a program suggestion and you might just see it as a future enhancement.
On the topic of program suggestions and enhancements: Were you previously aware there is a link in the software to submit program suggestions? If so, have you ever submitted a program suggestion in the past? Do you typically read the release notes to learn about the new enhancements and changes included in updates?
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.
The Newsletter Survey questions for the June 2021 issue related to account groups. The survey questions and responses are shown below.
Thanks to everyone who participated in our survey!
With more than 800 customers taking advantage of our School Accounting System-Online option, you rely on us and our data management partner to provide you with the highest level of security, availability, and privacy in our Tier 3 data center. For our School Accounting System-Online customers, your auditor may ask you to provide an SOC2 report from your software-as-a-service (SaaS) vendors. Software Unlimited, Inc.’s data management partner, Wizmo, Inc., currently employs Lumen/CenturyLink owned data centers, and an SOC2 compliance audit is conducted annually.
Click here to retrieve the current SOC2 report.
Retrieving this document highlights another great question; where do I keep it? For our K12Docs customers, the answer is simple. These types of documents and other vendor documents can be easily and electronically stored in the respective vendor’s virtual folder in K12Docs. During a financial audit, the auditor will typically want to see a variety of transactional detail and supporting documentation. For districts leveraging K12Docs, auditors have what they need with a few mouse clicks.
Electronic document management has many benefits that will make your life easier, keep documents safe and secure, and ultimately save your district money. We invite you to contact sales@su-inc.com to learn more about K12Docs and schedule a no-cost, online demonstration.
Payroll messages display after a payroll batch has been calculated. The messages are either:
The Payroll Messages topic in the Help File provides explanations of all the informational and critical error messages you could receive during a payroll calculation, along with possible resolutions for the errors.
After correcting any critical error messages, recalculate the payroll batch to verify the errors have been resolved. If the resolution given in the Help File does not correct the error message you received, contact Customer Support for further assistance.
If desired, generate the Payroll Messages Report or the Payroll Options Report (accessed from the Check Cycle menu, Pre-Check Reports option) for a payroll batch to print a list of the payroll messages as shown on the screen.
If a payroll has been updated and an employee’s deduction was calculated incorrectly, one simple way to correct the mistake on the next payroll is with a batch of Deduction/Tax Adjustments. The correcting adjustment for an employee’s deduction or tax would be entered into a Deduction/Tax Adjustment batch, and then the batch selected when calculating the next payroll.
The Deduction/Tax Adjustments option allows the district to make a one-time adjustment for an employee. The Deduction/Tax Adjustments option can be used to increase or decrease the amount calculated for a deduction or tax, issue a refund for an amount calculated for a deduction or tax, or replace and use a different amount than what is normally calculated for an employee’s deduction or tax. Click here to view samples of deductions/tax adjustments.
For detailed instructions on entering deduction/tax adjustments, refer to the Entering Deduction/Tax Adjustments topic in the Help File, or click here to request the recording of the most recent Deduction/Tax Adjustments webinar.
Report Customization Options
Reports are the portal we use to view the data that we spend hours each week entering into the School Accounting System. We understand the reporting needs of our customers can vary greatly, so we have provided several ways for you to go beyond the hundreds of canned reports you will find in the School Accounting System.
Here are some of the report customization tools available to you:
While our customer support representatives are more than happy to walk you through creating any custom report you would like, we have found that many users simply do not have the time to dedicate to this process. If this is the case for you, we invite you to take advantage of our custom report building service that is available to everyone for a nominal flat rate fee. Allow our experienced customer support representatives to build reports for you!
It’s simple. Here’s how it works:
Report Writer customers: $150 flat rate for ANY custom report
Non-Report Writer customers: $400 flat rate for ANY custom report
Contact Customer Support by submitting a support request through the School Accounting System, calling 800.756.0035 ext. 2 or by emailing support@su-inc.com today to receive assistance in building a report or to request the creation of a custom report.
As a busy professional, your email account is bombarded with messages, and we all know how easily that information can get lost. To reduce your inbox clutter, we’ve created more convenient ways for you to stay connected with Software Unlimited, Inc.
The News Feed down the left side on the main screen of the School Accounting System offers a quick snapshot of the most recent and important messages from SUI, and it provides a convenient shortcut to detailed Knowledge Base articles on our website – from School Accounting System update notifications to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) and Training Tidbits on our website, it’s important for you to have the News Feed turned on!
Additionally, all important News Feed information is published to our popular social media pages. We invite you to follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, or Facebook to stay up to date on important announcements from Software Unlimited, Inc. Click the social media icons below and visit our social media pages on your smart phone or other mobile devices.
It’s not too early to start thinking about end of calendar year training, because the time for end of calendar year activities will be here before we know it.
With that in mind, we recently posted all the end of calendar year workshops and webinars on the Training Calendar on our website. During the end of calendar year trainings, we review the end of calendar year checklists for Payroll and Accounts Payable, including the steps to generate, print, email, and submit 1099-MISC and 1099-NEC forms in Accounts Payable, and W2, 1095, and 1094 forms in Payroll.
We strongly encourage new and experienced users alike to register for an end of calendar year workshop, or the applicable end of calendar year webinars, to review these processes completed just one time per year. Click here to view the Training Calendar and register for a training today.
The Cancel Outstanding Purchase Orders option is used to cancel the remaining balances for all the line items for selected outstanding purchase orders. Click here (or on the image below) to watch a 2-minute video demonstrating the Cancel Outstanding Purchase Orders option.
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. What option can be used to verify the social security numbers for employees entered in Payroll? 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, Am I able to view how manual journal entries will affect the account balances prior to posting? The answer is yes by clicking the View Posting Summary tab within a batch of manual journal entries. Congratulations to Amber Dye from Fremont County School District #24 for being selected at random from the list of correct respondents and winning a USB flash drive.
Software Unlimited, Inc. will be closed on:
November 25 and 26 for Thanksgiving
Congratulations to the grand prize winner of an Amazon Echo Show 5®. The following person 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!
Winner at the SDASBO Fall Conference in Chamberlain, SD
Natalie Stene from Alcester-Hudson School District #61-1
TJ has been with Software Unlimited, Inc. (SUI) on-and-off for much of his life. In the early days, he had an occasional hand in labeling update diskettes and CDs to be mailed out, and also in scrubbing bugs off company vehicles. Since joining SUI full-time in 2013, TJ has been contributing to SUI in the areas of research and development, web services, internal IT, finance, and long-term strategy.
TJ and his wife Melissa are still fairly competitive in kids-vs-parents soccer with their two sons: Seth (11) and Owen (8). He rarely strays too far from his cup of coffee, especially if it’s being enjoyed outside at high elevation at sunrise.
Each quarter we are excited to feature one of our customers who was selected randomly to be highlighted in our Customer Showcase. The customer being showcased this quarter is Brian Andersen who is the Business Manager at Tri-Valley School District in Colton, SD. We had these questions for him:
How long have you been using the School Accounting System?
• A total of 19 years between Marion, Hurley, and Tri-Valley School Districts
What module do you spend most of your time working in?
• General Ledger, as I have someone who does Accounts Payable and Payroll
What is your favorite feature in the School Accounting System?
• The state reporting and how easy the software makes it
What are 3 words you would use to describe the School Accounting System?
• Intuitive (regarding state reporting), user-friendly, and easy
What is your favorite part of working at Tri-Valley School District?
• I can hopefully make a difference in the background without having to be in the spotlight
What are your hobbies?
• Golfing at Brandon Municipal Golf Course and volunteering at church with addiction recovery
If you could meet or interview one person (dead or alive), who would it be, and why?
• The Apostle Paul to pick his brain because he had so much wisdom with what he wrote to the church. To be able to sit and learn from someone like that.
What is one piece of advice you would give someone who is new to using the School Accounting System?
• Train, train, train!
