April 2024 Monthly Release - 20.11.69 (April 5)

EFIN-115370

Advanced Workflow: Excludes terminated employees in Role Setup

In System Administration, Workflow, Workflow Setup, on the Workflow Roles page, terminated employees no longer appear in the employee lookup and cannot be assigned in a role by entering the employee number. This is achieved by performing a comprehensive check based on the Last Date to Pay or Termination Date to identify terminated employees accurately. This update focuses on improving the accuracy of role assignments by preventing the selection of terminated employees during role setup, which reduces the risk of incorrect assignments and workflow errors.

If a user enters the employee number of a terminated employee, a message appears, informing the user that the employee is terminated.

EFIN-115297

Update to Genero 3.21

PowerSchool has updated to a new minor release 3.21 of the Genero software, which is the programming language used by the core eFinancePlus (PowerSchool ERP) software. This includes an update of the compiler, runtime, report engine, application server process, web browser client and license manager.

If you are a hosted customer or an on-premise customer with Enterprise Management Services (EMS), or Update Subscription Service (USS), PowerSchool will install the new version of Genero as part of your 20.11.69.0 install.

If you are an on-premise customer who installs your own maintenance releases, you need to complete additional steps to install the new version of Genero before you install the April release. Instructions are included in the installation documentation. If you would like PowerSchool to assist with this installation, please contact the technical services group at tsghelpdesk@powerschool.com for pricing and availability.

The installer was modified to confirm that Genero 3.21 is installed before the install of the April release can be completed.

EFIN-115201

Removed status column in Approval List pages for all Advanced Workflows

On all Advanced Workflow approval tabs, the Status indicator column has been removed from the Approval List page. Because of the nature of the approval pages, the value was consistently Pending. This change does not impact functionality.

EFIN-115116

Advanced Workflow: Expense approval list page enhancements

The Expense approval list page has been enhanced:

• The header for the column indicating Budget Exceeded has been updated to Warnings and Errors to accurately reflect that two types of information may be provided.

• Click the icon in the Warnings and Errors column to display a log of entries pertaining to both exceeded budget or missing information, relevant to the expense row of the icon.

• An expense cannot be approved from the list page if:

  • In Fund Accounting, Reference Tables, Organization Chart, the account entered on the expense has a Check Budget Balance set as Fatal, and the amount of the expense exceeds the budget. This applies to the Project List if project accounting is entered on the expense.

  • The requester did not enter account information.

• Apart from these two conditions, single or bulk approvals can be processed from the list page.

• During a bulk approval, a dialog box appears, presenting expenses categorized accordingly, accompanied by indications of missing information or exceeding the budget, where relevant. Expenses that are selected and not listed in the dialog, or with Check Budget Balance set as Warning, will process as approved. Expenses with missing information or amounts that exceed Fatal checks will remain on the list page.

EFIN-111418

Dynamic Leave Request: Cancel is hidden for suspended leave requests

When using Dynamic Workflow for leave requests, previously when a workflow was suspended, the Cancel button remained available, potentially causing inconsistencies in data and misleading information for employees regarding their pending leave balance. To address this issue, the Cancel button is now hidden for leave requests with a status of Suspended.

With the Cancel button hidden for suspended leave requests, we prevent users from mistakenly attempting to cancel a suspended workflow. If a suspended instance is restarted, the cancel button will display.

EFIN-111173

Advanced Workflow: Leave request email to requester contains link to Employee Access Center (EAC) leave detail page

This update enhances the user experience for employees by seamlessly providing access to leave request details directly from email notifications. Previously, employees received plain-text email notifications generated by various actions on leave requests, such as approval, rejection, request for correction, or cancellation. Now, each email notification can feature a secure direct link that immediately directs the employee to view the leave request in EAC, ensuring efficient access to pertinent information. The direct link is securely tailored to the intended employee, maintaining confidentiality and data security.

The direct link seamlessly integrates with Single Sign-On (SSO) if used by an organization, facilitating a smooth login experience for employees. Depending on whether SSO is enabled, users are directed to either the leave request detail or list page, based on their current login status.

If SSO is not enabled, the link directs users to a login prompt, ensuring secure access to EAC.

The parameter for the direct link, once enabled, will be available in TIBCO email templates, so administrators can easily incorporate the direct link to EAC leave request details into the following email notification templates in TIBCO:

• Needs Correction to Requester

• Approved Email to Requester

• Reject Email to Requester

• Cancel Email to Requester

Existing customers using the Advanced Leave Request Workflow must enter a Support case to activate the parameter for the direct link.

EFIN-109819

Integrations: SmartFindExpress (SFE) Day conversion for Vacancy sent to PowerSchool ERP

In System Administration, Administration, Integration, on the Absences and Substitute Payment Rules page, new fields have been added to enhance the integration between SFE and PowerSchool ERP by automating the conversion process for vacancies to prevent manual errors in payroll calculations. Previously, vacancy data created from SFE was only in hours, leading to manual conversion errors to days. The new options include a Custom Time for Vacancy radio button, and a Total Number of Hours Per Day field for users to enter conversion factors.

EFIN-108048

 Advanced Workflow: Leave request attachments now available in Employee Information

For districts using advanced workflow for leave requests, employees can add an attachment to a leave request, for example, a jury duty summons. Previously, the attachments did not flow to Human Resources, Employee, Employee Information, Payroll, Leave Requests. We have addressed this gap with an enhancement to ensure that attachments are available to payroll users on the Leave Requests list and detail pages for advanced workflow leave requests. This eliminates the need for employees to provide the documents in another way, for example by email.

In the Workflow Configuration Profile, Advanced Workflows must be enabled, and on the Global Settings page the Employee Leave Request Type must be set to Advanced Leave Request.

EFIN-91587
EFIN-114542
EFIN-112950
EFIN-109058
EFIN-108895
EFIN-83044

Upgrade to .NET Core 8 for New Employee Access Center, Vendor Access Center, Compliance, Import and Export Tools

The applications New Employee Access Center, Vendor Access Center, Compliance and Import and Export tools have been operating either on an unsupported version of .NET Core or a version that is nearing its end of life. To address this, we are releasing an update to upgrade these applications to .NET Core 8.

Benefits:

• Continued Support: Upgrading to .NET Core 8 ensures continued support from Microsoft, including the provision of security patches, bug fixes, and technical assistance. This ensures a secure and reliable runtime environment for the applications.

• No Impact on Functionality: The upgrade will not impact the functionality of the software or its users. All features and capabilities will remain intact.

No action required:

• No action is required from users or administrators. The upgrade will be seamlessly implemented without any disruption to ongoing operations.

• If you have any questions or concerns regarding this upgrade, please contact Support.

EFIN-116113

Workflow Configuration Profile applies changes

In System Administration, Profiles, on the Workflow Configuration Profile, certain conditions in edits caused an error message to appear when the user clicked Apply: Object reference not set to an instance of an object. The updates were not saved. This has been resolved.

EFIN-115790

Access to Active Directory (AD) user groups restricted when using single sign-on (SSO)

When a user logs into  PowerSchool ERP (eFinancePlus) using single sign-on (SSO) with OpenID Connect (OIDC), the software will no longer check the Active Directory user group.

EFIN-115258

Vendor Punchout (VPO) redirects malformed URL to login page

Previously, a malformed URL could result in a blank page being displayed when trying to log in to VPO. This has been resolved by redirecting the user to a login page to enter credentials.

EFIN-115107

Employee Access Center (EAC) Bank Account Information Fields Apply Admin Modify Settings

In both versions of EAC, an issue occurred that made bank account information fields editable, even when the Administration, Extended Deduction Information setting that allows employees to modify all year was turned off for direct deposit deduction codes. The fields could be edited, but there was no Save button. This has been fixed. The fields cannot be edited unless allowed by the setting, and a Save button appears.

EFIN-115048

Employee Timesheets (ETS) login with default page set as Employee Timesheet

In ETS, an issue was discovered with Below the Line pay code checking upon login, which caused an error when users logged in and the default start page was Employee Timesheet. This has been resolved.

Also, in the Employee Timesheet Pay Period Setup option, the pay period validation which checks for overlapping pay periods when adding a new pay period has also been corrected.

EFIN-114993

Integration: PowerSchool SIS, Letters in First Name and Last Name are properly capitalized during sync 

When PowerSchool ERP sends employee information to PowerSchool SIS, previously when converting from PowerSchool ERP which uses all capitals, only the first letter in the employee first and last names were capitalized. If the name contained an apostrophe, the subsequent letter was lower case, while it would normally be written as a capital letter. This has been resolved, and the first letter in a name that follows an apostrophe will be capitalized.

EFIN-114876

Bank Reconciliation correctly reconciles cash receipts associated with multiple banks and deposits

Previously, in Fund Accounting, Receipts, Batch Receipts, when two or more cash receipts were entered with the same control number, description, deposit number (warrant number), and transaction date but with different cash accounts associated with different bank accounts, the bank reconciliation process did not handle the receipts correctly.

In Fund Accounting, Periodic Routines, Periodic Processing, Bank Reconciliation, the Load process correctly loaded and displayed the receipts for the selected bank account. However, when the receipts were cleared and reconciled, Bank Reconciliation marked additional transactions as reconciled with the cleared date if they matched the control number, description, deposit number, and transaction date, but had a different bank account than the one selected.

This issue has been addressed to ensure only the appropriate transaction records for the selected bank account are marked as reconciled with the cleared date. 

EFIN-114728

Job Requisition approvals process correctly

An issue was discovered when a district uses the legacy Job Requisition workflow and enables any other advanced workflow. Approval requests were not being routed to approvers due to a technical issue. This has been resolved.

On the Workflow Configuration Profile Advanced Workflows page, if one or more advanced workflows are enabled:

• If Job Requisitions is not selected then job requisition requests will continue to follow the legacy workflow process.

• If Job Requisitions is selected, then requests will follow the advanced workflow process through TIBCO.

EFIN-114566

Advanced Workflow for Expense: Bulk approval and data retrieval issues fixed

Two issues that were identified related to the Expense advanced workflow have been resolved:

• Previously, an issue was encountered when using the bulk approval option on the expense approval list page, which resulted in the failure to create batch accounts payable records. Records are now generated appropriately.

• An Error Retrieving Data message incorrectly appeared on the advanced workflow tracking page, even when no records were present. The error will no longer display in this scenario.

EFIN-114500

Message for received quantities exceeding maximum

Previously, several Fund Accounting and Purchasing pages displayed fatal errors if a user entered quantities received or paid for a line that caused the total to exceed the maximum of 999,999.00. An appropriate error message will be displayed.

• Batch Accounts Payable

• Batch Manual Checks

• Change Accounts Payable

• Manual Checks

• Post Accounts Payable

• Receive Ordered Materials (Purchasing)

EFIN-114351

Advanced Expense Workflow: Improved Reimbursable field handling and added approval page refresh message

Two issues were identified and resolved for Expense advanced workflows:

• When a user enters an expense, each time a line is added, the Reimbursable field is set to Yes, ensuring accurate tracking of reimbursable expenses. Previously, the Reimbursable field defaulted to No if an expense date was not entered first on an expense line.

• Messaging has been added in the case when an approver attempts to approve an expense report that has been modified in another instance or by another user. The message prompts the approver to refresh the page for the most current information prior to performing the approval, ensuring that the calculations are accurate. This scenario could occur if:

  • The detail page is opened in a different tab or browser window.

  • Another user opens and edits the expense while the approver has the list or detail page open, and the approver subsequently attempts to approve the expense from the stale list or detail page.

EFIN-114141

Dynamic Workflow: Improved Data Set field list on the Designer tab

In System Administration, Workflow, Workflow Designer, on the Designer tab, the Data Set field for search criteria or when adding an entry now displays only the Employee Leave Request item. Employee leave is the only type of Dynamic workflow. Previously, additional values appeared in the Data Set list that were not applicable.

EFIN-114059

Vendor Punchout (VPO) improved error handling when requisition creation fails

In VPO, occasionally the creation of a requisition would fail when PowerSchool ERP  (eFinancePlus) attempted to assign the requisition number. The software has been enhanced to alert the user when this occurs and a button has been added to allow the user to retry creating the requisition. Additional logging and error handling was added to troubleshoot when this issue occurs.  

EFIN-113972

Pay Run Setup Default End Date requirement

In Human Resources, Payroll, Pay Run Processing, Setup Pay Run, an issue was discovered that allowed a user to bypass the Default End Date field by inserting a Default Start Date and then pressing Enter, leaving the Default End Date field blank. This caused a fatal error on a subsequent page. This has been resolved, and the Default End Date is now always a required field.

EFIN-113604

Integration: Records, Effective Date Changes Edit Report included employees with blank old and new values for Preferred Name

When information was sent from Records to PowerSchool ERP but no changes were required in PowerSchool ERP, employees appeared in the Effective Date Changes Edit Report with blank old and new values, caused by the Preferred Name field. If the PowerSchool ERP employee record had a value in the Preferred Name field, it generated a blank record in Effective Date Changes because the field is not in Records.

This has been corrected and the employees will not be listed in the report.

Existing blank records are not corrected with this fix. Delete or post existing blank records to clear them from Effective Date Changes.

A previous release in October 2023 (20.11.65, 22.4.25, 23.10.0) corrected this issue for other fields. 

EFIN-112861

Miscellaneous Billing Forms Manager standard invoice format now prints the 25th line

In eForms & Tools, Forms Manager, the Miscellaneous Billing Invoice Standard Format form has been modified to correctly include the 25th line. Previously, the form did not print the 25th line. It skipped from the 24th to the 26th line.

Also, in Billing and Receipts, System Administration, Profiles, the Miscellaneous Billing Profile has been modified to limit the Maximum Lines On Printed Invoice to 25 per page. Up to 25 detail lines can fit on the invoice in the detail section, and a new page is added if this limit is reached. The tool tip on the field has been updated to reflect the limit.

EFIN-111968

General Ledger Transactions report includes voided check records created using liability accounts.

Previously, voided check transactions (transaction code 20) using liability accounts for charging were not included in General Ledger Transactions report. This has been resolved. All voided transactions including voided manual checks and batch manual checks using a liability account are included in the report.

EFIN-111860

Integration: Improved performance to load Integration Status Logs

In System Administration, Administration, Integration, the Integration Status Logs page has been updated to improve system performance when loading the status logs, significantly accelerating the process and enhancing the user experience. The update reduces wait time for integration status logs across the platform.

EFIN-111153

PCard Receipt Entry allows charging edits with no purchase order and multiple budget codes

In PCard Processing, PCard Receipt Entry, an issue was discovered when a user created a record with no associated purchase order number and multiple budget codes, and subsequently tried to edit charging information. In this scenario, a fatal error occurred. This has been resolved.

EFIN-110233

New Employee Access Center (EAC) Leave Calendar enhancement and color alignment

In new EAC, three issues have been addressed and resolved:

• Days preceding and following the current calendar period correctly appear as greyed out. Previously they did not.

• Leave colors now correspond to the sequence specified in Employee Information, Leave Bank. Previously, the colors were determined by the leave code of the respective leave type.

• Leave requests that apply to days before and after the current calendar are listed on the calendar page, which aligns with how they displayed in legacy EAC.

EFIN-109379

Integration: Applicant Tracking System (ATS) status log no longer generates invalid date format error for certification expiration

In System Administration, Administration, Integration, on the Integration Status Logs page, previously when ATS sent certification information to PowerSchool ERP, if the user entered the certification expiration date in the format MM/DD/YYYY, the status log generated an error indicating that a valid expiration date was required. This has been resolved and the standard date format will no longer generate an error in the status log.

EFIN-103171

Employee Access Center (EAC): Race is now a required field

In both versions of EAC, in Administration, Profile, Race/Ethnic Identity, identifier 2503: Require user to enter a race has been removed from the options and permanently set to Y in the background. In the PowerSchool ERP software, Race is a required field. Previously, when identifier 2503 was set to N and identifier 2500: Show Race/Ethnicity Data and 2501: Allow Updating of Race/Ethnicity Data were set to Y, an employee could delete all Race information, which caused an error when posting Effective Date Changes because Race is a required field.

With this update, Race is always a required field and must contain one or more values.

EFIN-96704

Employee Access Center (EAC): Salary & Benefits page includes deduction code if multiple benefits have the same title

In legacy EAC, when an employee has two or more benefits with the same benefit title, an error occurred when the Salary & Benefits page loaded. We modified the pie chart to append the deduction code to the title when a duplicate title is found, which allows the Salary & Benefits Page to load successfully for affected employees. 

EFIN-114645

EEO-5 Category titles updated to match government documentation

In Human Resources, EEO-5 Category titles have been modified to match the latest government documentation.

The following menu paths reflect the updates:

• Entry and Processing, Employee, Employee Information

• Reports, Personnel, EEO Data

• Reference Tables, Personnel, Assignment Codes

The titles that have been changed are:

• 10 - Librarians/Audiovisual Staff

• 15 - Administrative Support Workers

• 18 - Laborers and Helpers

For the PDF Hard Copy report of the EEO-5 Data both Summary and Detail, categories 10, 15, and 18 are now abbreviated titles to be consistent with the changes and the other abbreviations on this report.