May 2024 Monthly Release - 23.10.7 (May 3)

EFIN-115325

Integration with Smart Find Express (SFE): Budget Unit and Account or Account Number from SFE records saved in Attendance records

In Human Resources, Employee, Attendance, we have implemented an enhancement to our PowerSchool ERP and SFE integration. When SFE records are entered in Attendance and contain Budget Unit and Account information, the information is now saved in the Attendance record. If the district uses Full Account Format, the system stores the Account Number. Previously, this information was not transferred from SFE to PowerSchool ERP.

EFIN-115271

Job Posting renamed to Position Request

Job Posting has been renamed to Position Request across the software. This is the process that initiates a Position Request and, after approval, it is sent to Applicant Tracking (ATS). The name was changed so that it is consistent throughout PowerSchool ERP and eFinancePlus. The renaming impacted menus, page titles, workflow approval page and security resources.

EFIN-115177

Advanced Workflow Employee Termination Approval page updated and e-Forms and Tools added Termination Task menu

The Advanced Workflow Employee Termination Approval Details page has been redesigned to be consistent with other Advanced Workflow approval pages. Approval actions are now located in the page header with the familiar 3 dots menu.

Also, a menu has been introduced in e-Forms and Tools, e-Forms, called Employee Termination Tasks. Previously, the option was only accessible via dashboard alert tiles. Users will require the appropriate security resource for the menu option to display.

EFIN-115174

Advanced Workflow Leave Request approval page updated

The Advanced Workflow Leave Request Approval Details page has been updated to be more consistent with other Advanced Workflows. Approval actions are now located in the page header with the familiar 3 dots menu, and leave details are now arranged in a grid view.

EFIN-104352

Advanced Workflow Expense Enhancements

In Advanced Workflows, the Create Expense Request page has been modified. Users can select Options, Edit Expense to display a drawer option to enter account information if they know it, and add attachments and comments. The account information fields have been moved to the drawer display, rather than on the expense line item, because they are not required when creating the expense.

Also, for approvers, the Approval Details page has been improved with a drawer display consistent with the create expense page. Approvers can select the expense date to open the drawer to display and edit account-related details and display attachments and comments. 

EFIN-116830

Import Tool: Process trims leading and trailing spaces for import file column headers to prevent failed import

In System Administration, Imports & Exports, in the Import Tool, imports were failing if the CSV import file had column headers with leading or trailing spaces. This issue is now fixed by trimming column headers to eliminate leading and trailing spaces during the import process.

EFIN-116781

Advanced Leave and Dynamic Leave Workflow URLs in email notifications route to correct destination

An issue was discovered where the URLs in email notifications generated by Dynamic or Advanced Workflows for leave requests were not routing to the correct destination for the user. This has been resolved.

EFIN-116539

New Employee Access Center (EAC): Update Tax Information displays as expected based on profile settings

In new EAC, if Administration, Profiles, Tax Setup had the following:

• 2508: Show Printed or EAC W2 choice = Y

• 2509: Allow Update of Printed or EAC W2s = N

Then an issue occurred if the user clicked the Update Tax Information button, displayed on the Tax Information page based on other profile identifiers where both Show and Allow Updates identifiers = Y. If the user clicked Update Tax Information, in the General Information section, an Effective Date field appeared in addition to the read-only Printed W2 field. The Effective Date field could be edited, but had no impact in PowerSchool ERP because the print option was not allowed to be changed.

This has been resolved. If employees are not allowed to update the Print W2 option, the Effective Date cannot be edited either. If all Tax Setup Allow Update options = N, then the Update Tax Information button will not appear.

EFIN-116493

Users with query-only resources no longer get fatal error when trying to display purchase order details

In Purchasing, Purchase Orders, a fatal program error occurred when a user with only query resources tried to open Purchase Order Information from the Purchase order list. The fatal error that displayed when opening Purchase Orders was because of a flaw in the programming for fetching the Purchase Order details. This has been resolved.

EFIN-116442

New Employee Access Center (EAC): Pay stub Employer Contribution Year To Date column now displays correct cents after decimal

Previously, on pay stubs displayed in new EAC, the Employer Contribution YTD column was rounding to the dollar amount and not displaying the accurate cent information. This has been resolved, and the pay stub now displays the accurate amount including cents following the decimal.

EFIN-116377

Future Local Tax Codes import requires Tax Detail to import successfully

In Human Resources, Reference Tables, Future Changes, Local Tax Codes, the Load process requires the file to include Tax Detail for every record. If Tax Detail is missing, the records are skipped and not loaded.

The load process now reports skipped records, and the results window displays until the user closes it. Previously, the results window did not display accurate results and closed quickly. 

EFIN-116354

Import Tool: Security User import processes with domain and Windows login only in first row for user in the file

In the Import Tool, when inserting and updating a User Security file, the domain and Windows login information should only be required in the first row for a specific user. Previously, when those columns were blank on subsequent rows for the same user, the Summary displayed errors about missing domain and Windows login. This has been resolved.

EFIN-116337

Import Tool: Pay rate import includes Dock Rate if present in file and Override Type is O

In the Import Tool, pay rate imports did not include the dock rate, even if a dock rate value was provided in the file and the Override Type was O. This occurred because the dock rate value was ignored by the import program. This has been resolved.

EFIN-116270

Posted refund interfaced from Miscellaneous Billing now creates Batch Accounts Payable entry

In Billing and Receipts, Miscellaneous Billing, when a Refund is processed and posted, and Interface to Financials is run, it now creates a Batch Accounts Payable entry. Previously, the Batch Accounts Payable entry was not being created due to a program error.

EFIN-116204

Add or edit Payout updates Employee Activity History

In Human Resources, Employee, Employee Information, on an employee record when Actions, Payouts is selected and a payout is added, previously it was not being recorded in History, Activity History. This has been resolved and now Activity History is updated when a payout is added or edited.

EFIN-116138

Pay rate pages now validate charging accounts against Revenue and General ledgers

In Human Resources, pay rate pages now validate charging information against General and Revenue ledgers to verify that the record exists when the charging falls within those respective ranges, and display errors if there is no record found that matches the input.

This impacts:

• Employee Pay Rates (Add and Edit)

• Employee Information: Pay Rates (Add and Edit)

• Pending Employee Center: Pay Rates (Add and Edit)

EFIN-116133

Student Activities Post page displays transactions

In Student Activities, an issue was discovered on the Post page where transactions were not listed, even though they displayed on the List page, and therefore could not be posted. This has been resolved and transactions will display correctly on the Post page.

EFIN-116114

Import Tool: Pay rate import applies Use Default validation to insert primary pay rates

In the Import Tool, when inserting new pay rates, if the primary pay rate in the import file has Use Default = Y, an error occurs because there is no default to reference. Previously, this validation was not occurring until a subsequent row was processed.

EFIN-115883

Export Tool: Billing and Receipts column names reflect software field names and alphabetical order

In the Export Tool, on the Select Tables and Columns page, previously the column lists displayed in a mix of field label names and SQL names, and did not list in alphabetical order. The list now displays the field names related to the selected table and the list is ordered.

EFIN-115872

ESSA import populates Budget Preparation expenditure ledger titles

In e-Forms and Tools, ESSA, the ESSA Budget Preparation import now populates expenditure ledger titles from the organization and account titles when loading the ledger records. Previously, the load was failing because the load process did not accommodate the titles.

The ESSA conversion is not designed to be used by Texas districts, because ESSA uses the crosswalk table that TX uses for a different purpose.

The ESSA conversion tool does not support flexible account structure.

EFIN-115806

Export Tool: Column selection processes accurately

In the Export Tool, on the Select Tables and Columns page, if a user selected multiple tables and a table contained a long list of columns, when a user tried to select a checkbox for a specific column, the list jumped and a different column appeared to be selected and added to the selected columns section. This has been resolved.

EFIN-115749

Expense report approval when employee has a vendor record

In Advanced Workflows for Expense, an issue was discovered where an expense for an employee who had an existing vendor record was generating an error that the vendor record was not found. This was due to a program error and has been resolved.

EFIN-115716

Integration with Smartfind Express (SFE): Attendance post of vacancies reflects search criteria

In Human Resources, Employee, Attendance, on the Post Attendance page, all substitute records for vacancies from SFE were being posted irrespective of the selection criteria provided. The program was not fetching the records as per the search criteria provided. This has been resolved and vacancy records will post based on the search criteria.

EFIN-115621

Purchase order and requisition Alternate Order Address access now based on assigned resource

In Purchasing, on the Requisitions and Purchase Orders pages, it was discovered that there was no user security tied to the Alternate Order Address option. This has been fixed. Now a user must have, either in a role or a specific resource, resource 66 - May Update Vendor List, or a Super User resource for Fund Accounting, or a Supervisor or higher resource for Purchasing, to access the option. The reasoning is that adding an alternate vendor address on a requisition or purchase order also adds it to the vendor record. Without the stated resources, the Alternate Order Address button will be inactive on requisitions and purchase orders.

EFIN-115310

New Employee Access Center (EAC) What If Calculator specific error resolved

In new EAC, with specific conditions, an issue was discovered where the What If paycheck calculator would not load and displayed an error: Input string was not in correct format. The conditions have been addressed and the issue is resolved.

EFIN-115220

Fixed Assets: Validation for Units field on Asset Information and Acquisition Interface requires minimum of 1

In Fixed Assets, Asset Information and Acquisition Interface pages, when adding or updating fixed assets, on the Financial Information tab, previously the Units field was marked as required but allowed users to leave it blank and save the record with units as zero. This has been corrected. Records cannot be saved if the Units field is blank or a user enters a number less than 1 (for example, cannot enter 0.5).

EFIN-115155

New Employee Access Center (EAC) checkbox selection now more precise

In new EAC, on the Tax Information page in the Update Information section when employees are allowed to update information, an issue was identified where users could select or clear checkboxes without directly clicking on the checkbox or its associated label. A click in white space next to the item would change the toggle of the checkbox to selected or cleared. This could cause an employee to change a setting without intending to make the change.

This issue has been resolved to enhance the user experience and ensure consistent interface interactions. Now the checkbox toggle occurs only if a user clicks the checkbox or text label.

EFIN-115140

Vendor Access Center (VAC) Vendor Management page load time improved

In System Administration, Vendor Access Center, the Vendor Management page could experience long load times. The performance has been improved.

EFIN-115113

Export Tool validates resources assigned through roles

The Export Tool previously prevented a user from adding an export when the user was assigned a security role that included one or more export security resources, instead of having the resources assigned at the user level. This has been resolved.

EFIN-114857

Informational error messages in Activity Tracker changed to tooltips

In Human Resources, Activity Tracker, Track Activities, Activity page, the Activity Detail section has been modified. Previously, informational messages were displayed similar to errors on other pages. The informational messages about each field have been converted to tooltips to provide information about what can be entered and if a field is required. Error messages now appear only for validation issues or if required fields are left blank. In addition to the message change, the required field labels now appear in red text.

The Activity page can also be reached from an employee record from Personnel Information, Activity Tracker.

EFIN-114653

Ledger Title missing in Position Control and Batch Position Control page

When flexible account structure is turned off in the Fund Accounting profile and the user selects a revenue or balance sheet account for Position charging, previously the corresponding ledger title did not display on the page. On the Position Control and Batch Position Control pages, these titles will now display. Data validation was also improved on these pages when a position is assigned to a revenue or balance sheet account.

EFIN-114563

Cash Receipts Report to Excel now has correct column names

In Fund Accounting, Reports, the Cash Receipts report column header for Description was wrongly labeled as Payer Name when the report was output to Excel. This has been corrected.

EFIN-114464

Billing and Receipts attachments are saving correctly

In Billing and Receipts, Invoices, Online Invoices, attachments were not functioning as intended. When attempting to print invoices, no errors were reported yet the invoices failed to print at the designated printer, and attachments were not saving to the online invoices. This functionality, which was previously operational, has now been restored.

EFIN-114385

Payroll Register report calculates negative deductions correctly

In Human Resources, Reports, the Payroll Register report has been modified to correctly report negative deductions so the debits and credits match on the report. Previously, the amount appeared as a negative in the Credit column which altered the calculation.

EFIN-114304

Unlink purchase order option added to PCard Reconciliation

In PCard Processing, PCard Reconciliation, on the Purchase Order Financial Information page, a new item has been added to the action bar: Unlink Purchase Order. If a purchase order number was entered incorrectly and the record is marked as reviewed, a user can now unlink the purchase order and enter financial information manually. Previously, if a purchase order was entered in the review process, there was no option to delete it entirely. It could only be updated to a different purchase order number.

EFIN-114149

Advanced Workflow requisitions route to approvers when Automatically Create POs from Fully Approved Requisitions is not active

Previously, when using Advanced Workflow for Requisitions, if the Fund Accounting profile flag: Automatically Create POs from Fully Approved Requisitions was not selected, requisitions were not being forwarded to approvers. This issue has been resolved.

After the final approval, users can now execute Mass Convert Requisitions to POs or manually enter a purchase order for the requisition.

EFIN-114087

Pre Encumbrance and Check Budget Balance validations occur when save-in-progress requisition is final saved later 

If a database Fund Accounting, Reference Tables, Organization Chart record has Check Budget Balance or Pre-encumber Requisitions set to Fatal, an issue was discovered where users could enter a requisition and save it in progress, then later process a final Save, and in between those actions, one or more transactions occurred that would cause the requisition to produce a negative balance. A fatal validation should prevent the requisition from saving. The issue was happening because of an error in the formula used for calculating budget balances, which has been corrected. Now in the conditions outlined, the validation accurately assesses the balance and generates an error and will not post the requisition if it will make the budget balance negative.

If Check Budget Balance or Pre-encumber Requisitions are set to Warning, a message appears but the requisition can be saved as expected.

EFIN-113613

User Management users can now access Cognos 11

An issue was discovered for Cloud (hosted) districts that do not use single sign-on (SSO) and create Active Directory users on the System Administration, User Administration, User Management page. These users were not able to log in to Cognos 11 from the PowerSchool ERP e-Forms and Tools, Cognos Reporting menu because the username was appended with the site code and stored in uppercase (all capital letters). Cognos logins must be lowercase.

This has been resolved and affected users can now launch Cognos from the menu. On the User Management page, the Username is now stored and displayed in lowercase.

EFIN-113451

Void: Multi Stub Check now saves check issue date instead of transaction date

In Fund Accounting, Entry and Processing, Vendor Checks, if the check is Void: Multi Stub Check, previously the system saved the transaction date from the profile instead of check issue date. This has been corrected to consistently save the check issue date for checks:

• Void: Multi Stub Check

• Void: Line up/Damaged Chk

• AP Check

This update also corrects the issue for Student Activities checks.

EFIN-112997

Warehouse Inventory: Fill Requests requestor information for back orders

In Warehouse Inventory, Warehouse Administration, Fill Requests, when a request is back ordered initially and filled later, the requestor information was not getting captured on the Fill Back Order (Transaction type: G) transaction. This was happening due to erroneous program logic and is fixed now to have Fill Back Order transaction copy the correct requestor from Backorder (Transaction type: B) transaction.

EFIN-112931

Vendor List no longer displays details from the previously queried vendor when querying multiple vendors 

In Fund Accounting, Reference Tables, Vendor List, when reviewing multiple employee vendor records one after another, if fields on the General, Address and 1099 Name and Address tabs were blank on a record, the system was pulling and displaying information from the previous record that was accessed if such information existed on the previous record. This has been resolved and the information from the previous vendor record will not be carried forward to the current  vendor record, even if no employee-related information exists for the current vendor.

EFIN-112921

Change Order process updates Last Price on Commodity Code when the price is changed

In Purchasing, Change Orders, previously if a change order reflected an updated price for a commodity, it did not impact the Last Price field in Commodity Codes. The Last Price in Commodity Codes was only updated when creating a new purchase order. Now, during a Change Order, the Price Adjustment value is added to the Last Price, reflecting the new price in that field. Consequently, the 1st and 2nd prices will also be updated along with their respective dates and vendors.

EFIN-112868

Employee Mobile App (EMA): Pay stub displays federal and state tax for non-exempt employee when calculated withholding is zero

In the Employee Mobile App, the pay stub has been modified to print federal and state tax information on the pay stub when the calculated withholding is zero, if the employee is non-exempt and deduction gross is greater than zero.

This issue was resolved on printed checks in March release 23.10.5.

EFIN-112867

Employee Access Center (EAC): Pay stub displays federal and state tax for non-exempt employee when calculated withholding is zero

In both versions of EAC, the pay stub has been modified to print federal and state tax information on the pay stub when the calculated withholding is zero, if the employee is non-exempt and deduction gross is greater than zero.

This issue was resolved on printed checks in March release 23.10.5.

EFIN-112206

General Ledger Audit Trail displays columns accurately when run to Excel

In Fund Accounting, Reports, Audit Trails, the General Ledger Audit Trail did not display columns and information accurately in Excel when Display JE Header and Detail for JE was selected. Unexpected headers appeared with labels including NO LABEL, BUD1 and EXP_X, and other columns including VENDOR/PAYER, DEBIT, CREDIT displayed no information. The column alignment was incorrect. This has been resolved.

EFIN-111939

Duplicate invoice validation when entering Payables and Manual Checks

In System Administration, Profiles, Fund Accounting Profile, on the Accounts Payable tab, there is an option for Duplicate Invoice Checking that can be set to N - No Checking, W - Warning, or F - Fatal. Validation of duplicate invoice numbers has been corrected for payables and manual checks, including batch pages. If the profile option is set to F - Fatal, and an invoice number already exists for the vendor for whom the payable or manual check is entered, the system displays an error message and will not save the record. If the profile is set to W - Warning, the system displays a warning message but the item may be saved and processed. Previously the validation was not consistent across payable and manual check processes.

EFIN-111481

Export Tool: Column names are now in alphabetical order and use field names

In the Export Tool, on the Select Tables and Columns page and the Create Conditions page, the list of column names was previously a mix of software field names and SQL names, and they were not in alphabetical order. These issues have been resolved.

EFIN-111046

Advanced Workflow Position Request approval page now displays complete full account number

For districts that use Full Account Format and Advanced Workflow for Position Requests (formerly labeled Job Postings), the approval detail page was not displaying the full account number in the correct format. This has been resolved.

EFIN-110976

New Employee Access Center(EAC): Dialog box no longer freezes Edge browser

In new EAC, on the Tax Information page, users experienced an Edge browser freeze issue when attempting to discard changes. Specifically, when the dialog box appeared to warn of unsaved changes and users clicked Discard changes, the system froze. Users were forced to close the window using the browser X button. The issue persisted even when users had not made any edits.

The issue has been resolved.

EFIN-110923

Import Tool: Handling of validation warning messages

The Import Tool now allows records to be processed when warnings are generated. When validations result in warnings, the log will display a success message for record processing along with the warning message. Previously, the handling of warning messages was not consistent, sometimes preventing the process from completing.

EFIN-110536

Denied purchase order lines cannot be edited

In Purchasing, the system was allowing edits on lines of purchase orders which had been denied. This issue is corrected now. Users can no longer update denied purchase order lines. 

EFIN-110388

Import Tool: Weekly schedule run displays correct next run date and validates against selected weekday

In the Import Tool, if the user selected the Weekly schedule, then entered a start date that did not match the selected day of the week they chose, the next run date displayed would skip the first expected week. Validation has been added to ensure that the start date falls on the weekday selected for scheduling. The user will be prompted to enter a start date if the date does not fall on the day selected.

For example, if on May 3 2024 the user selects a weekly schedule and selects Friday as the run day, then enters a start date of May 6 (a Monday), the message will direct the user to enter the correct start date (May 10).

EFIN-108790

Miscellaneous Billing Invoice emails no longer sent to incorrect customers

In Billing and Receipts, Miscellaneous Billing, Online Invoices, when Print All Invoices is selected to print invoices for multiple customers, an issue was discovered when a customer record had previously had an email address that was later deleted. The invoice was being emailed to the preceding customer who had an invoice in the list and a valid email address. This has been corrected.

EFIN-105973

Update Ledgers: Rolls back work before displaying message for errors

In Fund Accounting, Periodic Routines, Year End, after starting new year procedures, if errors are encountered the system now rolls back changes before it displays an error message alerting the user that errors occurred. The rollback no longer depends on acknowledging the message.

Previously, the rollback did not occur until the user clicked OK to dismiss the message. 

EFIN-101867

Integration with Applicant Tracking (ATS): PowerSchool ERP saves certification and degree information from ATS

When ATS sends Certification and Degree information to PowerSchool ERP, it was previously not being saved. This issue has been resolved and now the data is being saved.

EFIN-100706

Employee Mobile App (EMA): Menu titles display correctly along with icons

An issue was discovered in some recent versions of Apple (iOS) and Google (Android) where EMA did not display menu titles. It displayed an icon with three dots ( … ) instead.

This was caused by a welcome page problem, which prevented menu titles from appearing beside the icons. This has been resolved, and now menu titles will display.

EFIN-100159

Vendor Access Center (VAC) removed Closed from Payment History filter

We have removed the Closed filter option from the VAC Payment History page because it was not relevant.

EFIN-115115

W2C Electronic File: Removed the All option when selecting state records to include

In Human Resources, Periodic Routines, W2C Processing, on the Create W2C Electronic File page, when Include RS Records is selected and Additional Options section displays, in the Employee State Wages/Taxes Included field, the All option has been removed. This aligns the W2C process with the W2 process. The same state should be selected for both Employee State Wages/Taxes Included and Create State Format fields.

The process has also been modified to allow the RCS records to generate correctly for the supported states of Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Pennsylvania when running for a district in any other state.

EFIN-115400

Local and state tax table reports now have a credits column added to the Excel reports

In Human Resources, Reference Tables, Payroll and Future Changes, Local Tax Codes and State Tax Codes, printing a report to Excel now includes an additional column for Credits. It is the last column on the Excel report. Previously, this column only appeared on the PDF version of these reports.

EFIN-115114

All box 12 codes included in the W2C Electronic File now appear on the W2C Electronic File Detail Report

In Human Resources, Periodic Routines, Year End, W2C Processing, on the Create Electronic File page, the W2C Electronic File Detail report now includes original and corrected values for all Box 12 codes that are reported to the IRS on the W2C electronic file, in either the RCW or the RCO record for the individual employees. The amounts are also now included in the sum of the appropriate RCT and RCU total records for the report.

There are five box 12 codes that are not reported on the electronic file and do not appear on the detail report as of Tax Year 2023:

• J - Nontaxable Sick Pay

• K - Golden Parachute

• L - Employee Business Exp

• P - Moving Expenses

• CC - Hire Exempt Wages and Tips

EFIN-114939

1095 Maintenance total employee count based on entered monthly pay runs

In Human Resources, Periodic Routines, Affordable Care Act, 1095 Maintenance, Setup Employer (Edit), Calculate Total Employee Count, the calculation has been modified to only look at the pay runs entered in Pay Runs for Total Employee Count Calculation, and assume that the pay runs entered in each month correctly include the 12th of the month.

Previously, the system tried to add a calculation which resulted in inaccurate results. For example, if the pay run entered had the default or pay group start date of the last week in March, the default or pay group end date was the 1st week in May, and the pay run was entered in April in the Pay Runs For Total Employee Count Calculation section, then the calculation did not include employees in that pay run. However, April was the correct entry because the pay run included the 12th of April.

The process now assumes the pay run entered for the months in the Pay Runs For Total Employee Count Calculation section includes the 12th of the month and does not try to calculate it. It will compare the ACA year on the employer record with the check history transaction date year to avoid including older records of reused pay runs. The transaction date will be the pay group end date for employees who had their time cards loaded or the default end date for employees who had their time cards keyed in. For a pay run that crosses years, the program will use a look-back period of 2 months into the prior year to ensure all appropriate records are included.

EFIN-113548

Generate State Tax Tables now allows choice to round credits to nearest dollar

In Human Resources, Reference Tables, Payroll, State Tax Codes, on the Generate State Tax Table page, which is used to create additional tax tables from the annual tax table entered by a user, a new checkbox field, Dollar Round, has been added.

The field only displays if there are Credits entered on the annual tax table. It defaults as selected, which rounds the credits to the nearest dollar. Clearing the Dollar Round option generates credits to the nearest cent.

Previously, the system automatically rounded credits to the nearest dollar during the generate process.