December 2023 Monthly Release - 20.11.65 (December 8)

EFIN-110080

Added Format Name to Miscellaneous Billing Statement Printing

On the Billing & Receipts, Miscellaneous Billing, Customers, Customer Information page, after a user performs a search, if they select Print Statement, the Print Statement page displays a required Format Name field if there are active Forms Manager forms for Format Type: Miscellaneous Billing Statements. The drop-down list will display active Miscellaneous Billing Statement Formats forms assigned to the user in Forms Manager Defaults, or if Forms Manager Defaults are not used for any users for the specified type, then the drop-down will display all active forms.

EFIN-110031

Added Format Name to Miscellaneous Billing Invoice Printing

On the Billing & Receipts, Miscellaneous Billing, Invoices, Online Invoices page, after a user performs a search, if they select Print Current Invoice or Print All Invoices, the Print Options page displays a required Format Name field if there are active Forms Manager forms for Format Type: Miscellaneous Billing Invoices. The drop-down list will display active Miscellaneous Billing Invoice Formats forms assigned to the user in Forms Manager Defaults, or if Forms Manager Defaults are not used for any users for the specified type, then the drop-down will display all active forms.

EFIN-108891

Modifications to Approval Status Messages for Purchase Requisition and Purchase Order Advanced Workflows

When using Advanced Workflows for Purchase Requisition and Purchase Order approvals, messages will provide information about when approval history details will be available.

From the Purchasing, Entry & Processing menu:

• Requisitions: Search and select a requisition, open the detail page and select the Line Item tab, from the action bar select Approval Status. If the request is in progress and has not reached TIBCO, a message appears: Approval history will be available once the purchase requisition is routed for approval.

• Purchase Orders: Search and select a purchase order, open the detail page and select the Line Item tab, from the action bar select Approval Status. If the request is in progress and has not reached TIBCO, a message appears: Approval history will be available once the purchase order is routed for approval.

• Asynchronous Profile Notification for both Requisitions and Purchase Orders: Specifically for users with an asynchronous profile, the system will display the message: Approval history is not available yet. Check again in a few minutes.

** This alert applies when the request has not yet reached TIBCO, offering timely information for users with asynchronous profiles.

EFIN-99386

Dynamically Assign Report Field Labels for Gender Identity Codes

The Human Resources, Reference Tables, Personnel, Gender Identity reference table has been modified to assign report labels dynamically, based on the database state or site code. These fields will not display if there are no records stored in the reference table.

EFIN-99531

Close Icon Added to Workflow Configuration Profile Page

An X (Close) icon has been added to the Workflow Configuration Profile page. Previously, the only way to close the page was to use the browser window or tab Exit.

EFIN-87618

Billing & Receipts User Preference for Power User Keyboard Mapping

In Billing & Receipts, on the System Administration, Tools, User Preferences page, if the user selects the Keyboard Mapping option of P - Power User (Enter = TAB, ESC = OK), then on pages within the module that have tables with multiple rows, pressing the Enter key on the keyboard will move across the columns first before moving to the next row. This applies to the Enter key on both the keyboard and number pad. This makes the behavior consistent with User Preferences in other PowerSchool ERP modules. Previously, pressing Enter moved the cursor to the next row instead of across the column.

EFIN-111383

Expense Draft No Longer Adds Lines When Submitted

Previously, when an employee saved an expense as a draft and later submitted it, additional lines were inserted with some default values. This caused errors during the approval process for the remaining blank fields on the added lines. This issue has been resolved, and there are no longer extra lines added to the expense.

EFIN-111020

Misspelled Word Corrected in Change Account Payables Warning Message

A warning message that appeared under certain conditions on the Change Accounts Payable page had a misspelled word. The error has been corrected.

EFIN-110817

Alignment of Leave Sequences in Employee Access Center (EAC) and Employee Information

Previously, the order of leave banks that displayed in Human Resources, Employee Information, on the Leave Bank tab and the order that displayed in EAC were not aligned. This has been corrected so that the leave banks appear in the same order in both places.

This applies to both versions of EAC.

EFIN-110484

Timecard From TimeClockPlus (TCP) Integration Calculates Amount Based on Payrate and Hours for Substitutes

For districts that use the TCP API integration, the Amount on a timecard created from a TCP record is calculated in PowerSchool ERP based on the Hours multiplied by the Pay Rate and then rounded to two decimal places. The payload sent from TCP will no longer contain the Amount. With this change Substitutes timecards are now handled consistently with Employee timecards.

EFIN-110433

Integration: Cancelling Leave Request Exceeding One Day When Integrated with Employee Timesheets (ETS)

Customers using integration with ETS experienced an issue where employees could not cancel leave requests longer than one day in length. The system will now check the from and to dates and handle them correctly in the calculation when processing a leave request cancellation.

EFIN-110397

Integration: Applicant Tracking (ATS) Cannot Delete Assigned Reference Table Value

When a request is received from ATS to delete a reference table code related to degrees or certificates, the request is now rejected if the code to be deleted is assigned to an employee. The Human Resources reference tables will not be updated.

EFIN-109911

Integration: Allow Unposted Absences for the Same Job Number from SmartFind Express (SFE)

We have enhanced the handling of absences sent from SFE. PowerSchool ERP now allows absences for the same job number for different dates. Previously, when absence records were sent from SFE to PowerSchool ERP with the same job number and different dates, the request would be stuck in a pending status and could not be posted. This change ensures better tracking and greater adaptability in managing personnel availability and job assignments.

EFIN-109900

Expense Request Form Unit Field Modified

On the Expense request form, in the Expense Details section, the Units field has been modified to recognize decimal entries and accept up to three digits following the decimal. Previously, the decimal was ignored and the system treated the entry as an integer, as if it had been entered without the decimal. The maximum value is 9,999.999.

The Cost per Unit has a maximum value of 999,999.999.

The Estimated Cost has a maximum value of 99,999,999.99.

The Actual Cost has a maximum value of 999,999,999.99.

EFIN-109884

Leave Request Details No Longer Controlled by Print Flag

Dynamic and Advanced Leave Requests will display details independent of the setting of the Print Flag on the Human Resources, Reference Tables, Payroll, Leave Codes table record. Previously, if the Print Flag option was not selected, the details of the leave request would not display.

This applies to both versions of Employee Access Center (EAC).

EFIN-109839

Effective Date Changes for Send E-Voucher and Release Information

In Human Resources, Employee Information, if a user edits the Send E-Voucher or Release Information settings, the system synchronizes the changes in Human Resources, Periodic Routines, Effective Date Changes if related records exist. After the user confirms these modifications on the Employee Information record, the system will update related records in Effective Date Changes. This will prevent errors in the Effective Date Changes report.

EFIN-109464

Expense Report Enforces Attachment Requirement

On the Fund Accounting, Reference Tables, Expense Categories page, if a record requires attachments, then when an employee enters an expense report using that expense category, a message appears if the employee attempts to submit the expense report without an attachment, and the report cannot be submitted until an attachment is added. Previously, if the expense report was saved as a draft, the employee could later submit it without the required attachment.

EFIN-109463

Integration: Sync to Records Sent in Sequence by Modification Timestamp

Updates to employee status from PowerSchool ERP to Records are now synchronized sequentially according to the modification timestamp. This ensures that the most recent and accurate status is consistently reflected across the systems. Previously, the sync was not sequenced and occasionally led to discrepancies, for example an employee status of active or terminated may be different in PowerSchool ERP and Records.

EFIN-109372

Display and Download .tiff Attachments in Advanced Workflow 

When using Expense Advanced Workflows, users were able to upload attachments with a .tiff extension when submitting expense requests, but users and approvers were unable to display or download the files. The issue has been resolved, and now .tiff attachments can be displayed and downloaded.

EFIN-109294

Integration: SmartFindExpress (SFE) Pending Leave Calculation

In System Administration, Integrations, Integration Setup, if SmartFindExpress Integration is selected, PowerSchool ERP (eFinancePlus) was incorrectly calculating the pending leave balance that was sent to SFE through the integration. The balance was including leave that was taken before the integration was turned on. The pending leave balance is now calculating correctly.

EFIN-108150

Employee Access Center (EAC) Bank Account Information Fields Follow 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, and the fields cannot be edited unless allowed by the setting, and a Save button appears.

EFIN-106603

Cannot Save Requisition Causing Negative Balance if Organization Chart Pre-Encumber or Check Budget Balance Set to Fatal

In Fund Accounting, Reference Tables, on an Organization Chart record, when either Pre-Encumber Requisitions or Check Budget Balance is set to Fatal, the system was allowing to save requisitions, even if the budget balances were negative for the distributions used on the requisition. This was specifically happening when requisitions were saved first using Save in Progress and doing the final Save later. The issue was happening because of an error in the formula used for calculating budget balances when a requisition was saved initially using Save in Progress and the final Save occurred later. This has been corrected to display an error message and not post the requisition if the budget balance turns negative when district has Pre-Encumber Requisitions or Check Budget Balances set to Fatal. When Pre-Encumber Requisitions and Check Budget Balances are set to Warning, a warning message is displayed while saving.

EFIN-106560

Added Fields to Advanced Workflow Employee Termination Request Email Template

When using Advanced Workflow for Employee Termination Requests and creating the email template in TIBCO, the fields for Middle Name, Class, Base Location, and Department will pull the correct information and include it in the email. Previously, these fields created blanks in the email because they were not passed from the software to TIBCO.

EFIN-106215

New Employee Access Center (EAC): Start and End Dates Default to Today on Leave Requests

When using Dynamic or Advanced Leave Requests and new EAC, when creating a new leave request the start and end dates will now default to today's date. The dates can be overwritten. If the employee enters a different start date, the entered date will default into the end date.

If the employee enters the leave date without forward slashes, the formatting will be added when the employee tabs out of the date field. 

EFIN-105313

Default Deductions with Method M Default Amount/Rate to 0.00

When an employee record is created in PowerSchool ERP and assigned a job class with default deductions, if a default deduction has a method of M - % Plus Additional Amount, the Amount/Rate is now defaulted to 0.00. Previously, the Amount/Rate was blank and caused errors to occur when using the What If Paycheck Calculator in the Employee Access Center (EAC).

EFIN-104596

Employee Access Center (EAC) Forgot Password Email Link

If a user clicked the Forgot Password link on the EAC login page to reset their password, the link provided in the email generated by the process was resulting in an error. This issue has been resolved and users should be able to reset EAC passwords and successfully use the email link provided in various ways, including but not limited to:

• Clicking the link from a web browser email like Gmail or Outlook using Edge browser.

• Copying and pasting the link in a web browser.

• Right-clicking the link and selecting: Open link in new tab, or equivalent message depending on the browser.

This applies to both versions of EAC.

EFIN-102119

My Dashboard: Favorites Group Items No Longer Disappear When Show Menu Path Is Selected

On My Dashboard, when a user created a Favorites Group and added it to the page and selected the three-dot menu, then Show Menu Path for Favorites, after a moment, the Favorites Group panel would become blank. This seemed to occur if there was no link displayed for at least one menu item in the favorites group. The user could add new favorites to the group and set to show the menu path, but previously created favorites disappeared. This has been resolved, and selecting Show Menu Path for Favorites should no longer cause the favorite items to disappear.

EFIN-111447

1099-NEC Adjustment to Instruction Text

For printed copies of 1099-NEC, the Copy B instruction text on the front of the form was shifted to fit within the box.

EFIN-111337

Employee Access Center (EAC) Corrections for W2 and W2C Forms

The sort order of the Tax Forms page in new EAC has been corrected to Year, Tax Form, Control Number, and Sequence Number. In addition, both versions of EAC have been corrected to print the related State ID numbers on the W2 and W2C forms that appear in the Additional States tab on the Setup Employer Records page, based on the tax year and control number.

EFIN-111234

EEO 4 Report Updated to Use Correct Employee Race Data and Updated EEO4 Reported Categories

In Human Resources, Reports, Personnel, on the EEO Data page, the EEO 4 report has been corrected to support the Employee Information Race/Ethnicity array. This included adding the columns for reporting employees classified using Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander and Two or More Races.

EFIN-111042

1099-R Work File Maintenance Zip Code Extension

In Human Resources, Periodic Routines, Year End, 1099-R Processing, on the 1099-R Work File Maintenance page, an issue that prevented proper editing of the zip code extension has been corrected.

EFIN-111039

Corrected Record Count of 1099-R Records on Restart 1099R Printing

In Human Resources, Periodic Routines, Year End, 1099-R Processing, on the Print 1099-R, Restart 1099R Printing page, it will now display only the number of records printed after the last good employee number entered. Previously, it displayed the count of all records for the selected Federal Tax ID and year.

EFIN-110918

Update 1099-R Employer Record Fatal Error Fixed

In Human Resources, Periodic Routines, Year End, 1099-R Processing, on the Set Up Employer Records page, a mismatch of fields on the page was causing a fatal error. This has been resolved.

EFIN-110474

Corrected Extra Characters Appearing in Boxes 4, 6, and 8 of 1099-INT

In Fund Accounting, Periodic Routines, 1099 Processing, when printing 1099-INT forms, extra characters were sometimes printing in boxes 4, 6, and 8. Also, sometimes extra blank lines appeared in the Recipient’s Name and Address. These issues have been resolved.

EFIN-109040

Create 1099 Work File Added Validations for Federal Tax ID, Social Security Number, and Zip Code

When the Fund Accounting, Periodic Routines, 1099 Processing, Create 1099 Work File is run, if a 1099 reportable vendor is missing Federal Tax ID and Social Security Number, an error message is generated to the log file.

When a vendor requests the creation of a 1099 and has a zip code that is 9 digits long and is separated by a hyphen, the zip code is generated and displayed in the 1099 record without the hyphen. Additionally, if the zip code is not in the proper format, which is either 5 or 9 digits, an error message is generated to the log file.

EFIN-108995

Minor Print Corrections For 1099-INT

Some minor corrections were made for the 1099-INT to correct an issue where the year printed twice for the first record, slightly offset, and to correct the revision note for the second record to match the IRS standard. The backs of the forms were verified as having no changes required for the tax year 2023.

EFIN-108984

ACA Install Tax Year Information

Affordable Care Act information used for processing the 2023 electronic file and providing the updated 2024 Affordability Factor and Poverty Level has been made available for 1095-B and 1095-C processing. The database update process will install this information for you.

EFIN-108982

Updated Backs of W2 and 1099-R Forms for Tax Year 2023

The backs of forms W2 and 1099-R have been updated for the 2023 tax year information.

EFIN-108977

Backs of Forms 1095 and 1094-B and 1094-C Updated for Tax Year 2023

The backs of the 1095 and 1094-B and C forms have been updated for the 2023 tax year.

EFIN-108965

Employee Mobile App: 2023 W2 Information Available

The Employee Mobile App has been updated to display the 2023 W2 information.

EFIN-108963

2023 1099 Form Adjustments

We have corrected a number of minor issues with the 1099 forms, with a particular focus on updating the lesser-used 1099-INT and 1099-G. Additionally, the Reverse Portrait checkbox on the print page will now be disabled for non-pressure seal forms, as it only changes the orientation for those forms.

EFIN-108936

2023 W2, W2C and 1099-R Form Adjustments

We have corrected some minor formatting issues on the W2, W2C, and 1099-R print forms for 2023.

EFIN-108935

2023 W2 and W2C Forms Now Available in Employee Access Center (EAC)

The W2 and W2C forms are updated for the tax year 2023 in EAC.

EFIN-108934

1099-MISC, 1099-NEC, 1099-INT and 1099-G Form Updates for Tax Year 2023

All 1099-MISC, 1099-NEC, 1099-INT, and 1099-G forms have been updated for the tax year 2023 formatting changes and current instructions on the backs of the forms.

EFIN-108564

Employee Access Center (EAC) Displays Printed 1095 on the Tax Information Page

New EAC now displays the Printed 1095 field on the Tax Information page. Previously, it displayed Printed 1095-C.

EFIN-108122

Removed Unprintable Characters from Affordable Acre Act (ACA) Electronic File

All unprintable (white space) characters have been removed from the ACA XML file. This includes Horizontal Tab, Line Feed, Vertical Tab, and Form Feed.

EFIN-100532

Removed Hyphen for EIN in Affordable Care Act (ACA) Electronic File

The hyphen in the Employer Identification Number (EIN) field for an Applicable Large Employer (ALE) group has been removed from the ACA electronic file. This was causing an error from the IRS.

EFIN-95761

1099 NEC Box 7 Amounts Are Reported Correctly When Vendor Record is Marked No 1099

In Fund Accounting, Vendor records with 1099 Information Form set to N - No 1099, but with transactions with a 1099 Indicator marked, were not getting any amounts in box 7 of the 1099 NEC. This has been corrected and an entry in the error log is now created in this scenario. The error warns the user that there are vendors that are identified as No 1099 but they have transactions with 1099 Indicators. It will still produce a 1099 in this scenario.

EFIN-92986

Updated W2 Processing Print Options 

On the Human Resources, Periodic Routines, Year End, W2 Processing, Print W2 Forms page, the Print Terminated Employees checkbox has been replaced with a drop-down menu labeled Employees to Print that includes options to select All Employees, Active Employees, and Terminated Employees in all four print options.

Also, the Utility Form label has been renamed to Universal Form.