ASCENDER - (CRT) First Payroll of the School Year (July Start LEAs)

Created: 10/16/2023
Reviewed: 06/27/2024
Revised: 06/27/2024

Before you begin:

1. Verify finance options.

   Verify finance options

   Finance > Tables > District Finance Options

   Verify that the School Year field contains the new school year.

   

2. Verify payroll frequency.

   Verify payroll frequency

   In Payroll, verify that you are in the next year frequency that is associated with your current year frequency. If not:

   

   • Click Change.
   • Select Next Year.
   • Click Apply.

3. Copy NYR tables to CYR.

   Copy NYR tables to CYR

   Log on to the next year payroll frequency.

   Payroll > Next Year > Copy NYR Tables to CYR

   Copy all of the necessary tables for employees with July contracts. If you copied any tables prior to this step, be sure to exclude those tables at this time to avoid overwriting any necessary data such as previously made manual changes.

   

   • Click Select All Tables to select all of the tables.

   OR

   • Select ❏ next to the table(s) you want to include.
   • Select ❏ again to unselect a table.

   
   

   ❏ Click for the School Calendar. The School Calendars list is displayed. Select all of the necessary calendars.

   ❏ Click OK. All of the selected calendar codes are displayed in the School Calendar field.

   ❏ Click Execute. Only the selected tables are processed. As the reports are generated, click Process for each table. Review the reports.

   

   A message is displayed with the table names and the number of rows that were copied. Click OK.

   

   Review the process report to verify that all applicable calendars were copied to the current year payroll frequency. It is recommended that you log on to Personnel > Tables > Workday Calendars to verify this information. If the calendars were not copied over correctly, you may have to individually copy the calendars.

   Note: When copying the school calendar table from next year to the current year, the calendar code, description, and days are copied. If a calendar code exists in the next year and current year, the next year data replaces the entire calendar contents for the current year for the specified calendar code.

4. Copy active staff to the CYR.

   Copy active staff to the CYR

   Log on to the next year payroll frequency.

   Payroll > Next Year > Copy NYR Staff to CYR

   Copy active employees with July contracts to the current year. You can select specific employees to copy using the following parameters: Contract Months, Contract Begin Date, Contract End Date, Payoff Date, Extract ID, or Employee Number.

   

   ❏ Under Options, select the appropriate option:

   Field	Description
   Include Employees with Termination Date	Select to copy employees with a termination date. Leave blank to exclude employees with termination dates from the current year records.
   Carry over employee deductions	Select to copy employee payroll deductions (e.g., insurance, dues) from the next year to the current year. Leave blank to exclude the employee payroll deductions from the current year records.
   Only process employee deductions	Select to copy only the selected employee deductions from the next year to the current year. If this field is selected, Carry over employee deductions is cleared (if selected).

   ❏ Select Preview Changes.

   ❏ Click Execute. Review the list and click Process.

5. Change to the current year frequency.

   Change to the current year frequency

   In Payroll, change to the current year frequency that is associated with your next year frequency (i.e., F = 6).

   

   • Click Change.
   • Select Current Year.
   • Select a pay frequency.
   • Click Apply.

   
   

   The following steps should be performed in the current year frequency unless otherwise noted.

6. Update District HR options.

   Update District HR options

   Payroll > Tables > District HR Options

   Update the Payroll Clearing Fund/Year field. It should be set to 163/X or 863/X.

   Reminder: The first pay date of the school year should be a September pay date, even for July start LEAs.

   

   CAUTION: No payrolls should be processed for new (upcoming) school year prior to the First Pay Date of the School Year.

   Additional first pay date notes

   Fiscal Year versus School Year

   • If your fiscal year is July through June and all employees (including 10-month employees) are paid from August through July, those employees should all have TRS Year selected on the Payroll > Maintenance > Staff Job/Pay Data > Job Info tab.
     • If the First Pay Date of School Year field has an August date, a new school YTD is created and updated with all pay and accrual amounts. The TRS YTD is updated in the old school year. For example, if the first pay date of the school year is August 25, 2024, pay and accruals are updated in the 2025 school YTD and the 2024 TRS YTD is updated. Note: If the First Pay Date of School Year field is set to a date prior to September, be sure to verify that your TRS rates correspond to the appropriate TRS reporting month.
     • If the First Pay Date of School Year field is updated with a September date, the school YTD and TRS YTD are updated in the current school year and if accruing, a new school YTD is created and updated with those amounts. For example, if the first pay date of the school year is September 25, 2024, pay and TRS amounts are updated in the 2025 school YTD and the 2025 TRS YTD. If the employee accrues, a 2025 school YTD is also created.

   ❏ Click Save.

7. Enter school year pay dates.

   Enter school year pay dates

   Payroll > Tables > Pay Dates

   Enter pay dates for the new year and click Save.

   These dates must equal the pay dates in your accrual calendar(s) except for the accrual calculation run date (August 31).

   

8. Complete the accrual calendar.

   Complete the accrual calendar

   Log on to the current year pay frequency.

   Payroll > Tables > Accrual Calendars > Accrual Calendar

   If applicable or if your LEA processes monthly accruals, verify the accrual calendar for employees with July contracts. This may be necessary if you accrue any employees working longer than 10 months, for example, you have an 11-month employee.

   ❏ Enter the new pay dates and accrual days for all applicable accrual codes. The total number of days should equal the number of days employed for that group of employees.

   

   Continue adding pay dates and days worked for the remainder of the school year. The dates must equal the dates in your pay dates table. All pay dates should be entered even if zero days are accrued for that month. This information is LEA-specific.

9. Complete fund to grant information.

   Complete fund to grant information

   Log on to the current year payroll frequency.

   Personnel > Tables > Salaries > Fund to Grant

   IMPORTANT: All applicable federal grants must have a fund to grant code listed in the TRS Grant Cd field on this tab. If not, TRS federal grant care and TRS federal grant deposit amounts will not be calculated for that specific fund during payroll.

   Verify that the applicable federal grant funds (200-300) have a two-digit TRS grant code.

   Exception: If using the TRS Child Nutrition worksheet for TRS reporting, the child nutrition funds (240 and 242) should NOT have a grant code assigned.

   

   This generates salaries for the TRS 3 and TRS 489 reports.

   In order for a fund to be displayed on this page, the fund must exist in an account code on the Finance Chart of Accounts. The codes are LEA-specific.

10. Generate the Account Code Comparison report.

    Generate the Account Code Comparison report

    Payroll > Reports > Payroll Information Reports > HRS6000 - Account Code Comparison

    Complete the applicable report parameters and generate the report. Print and/or save this report and review it for accuracy. Review for employees with July contracts.

    

    

    • Review the report and correct all of the errors.
    • Verify that all employee master distribution records have matching accounts in Finance.

    
    If there are account codes on the report that do not exist in Finance, perform one of the following steps:

    • If there are accounts that have a 4 for July and August start employees, perform a mass update of HR distributions. You can either mass update records by fund/year using the Payroll > Utilities > Mass Change Payroll Account Codes > Mask Crosswalk page OR mass update all records by using the Payroll > Utilities > Mass Update > Employee tab. Employees who are paid out of federal funds may need their distributions reviewed and changed for a different fund year, if necessary. For example, federal funds may still be available for the previous year.
    • If there are other accounts that need to be added, add them on the Finance > Maintenance > Create Chart of Accounts page.

    
    After all of the account codes are added, generate the Payroll > Reports > Payroll Information Reports > HRS6000 - Account Code Comparison report again. If all account codes exist, a blank report should be generated.

    

11. Generate the Employee Payroll Listing report.

    Generate the Employee Payroll Listing report

    Payroll > Reports > Payroll Information Reports > HRS6150 - Employee Payroll Listing or a User Created Report

    The report provides a single-spaced list of employees that includes the tax information, contract information, pay rates, and primary job account code. Print the report by employee name for the entire district or group the report by campus. Include all employees, those with an active status or inactive status. When primary job (P) is not selected, all jobs are displayed with one account per job with a total for all jobs displayed. The criteria for which account is chosen to display for a job are as follows:

    • The account with the highest percent.
    • If there is more than one account with the highest percent for a job, the lowest account is displayed.

    Complete the applicable report parameters and generate the report. Print and/or save this report and review it for accuracy. Review for employees with July contracts. Verify that all current employees are listed.

    Verify that distribution information has been updated for July contracts before the employees start their pay in the new fiscal year.

    

12. Correct necessary payroll errors.

    Correct necessary payroll errors

    Payroll > Utilities > Pre-Edit Payroll Data

    If applicable, correct necessary payroll errors for employees with July contracts.

    

    ❏ Under Pay Status, select Active.

    ❏ In the Pay Type field, select E Exclude Substitute.

    ❏ In the Pay Date field, select the appropriate pay date. (LEA's July pay date.)

    ❏ Click Execute. Review the report.

    

    ❏ Click OK. Repeat the process until all of the necessary errors are corrected.

13. Address leave.

    Address leave

    Payroll > Utilities > Mass Update > Leave

    If applicable, follow your LEA's local policy guidelines to determine when to update leave balances for employees with July contracts.

    ❏ In the current year payroll frequency, generate the Payroll > Reports > Leave Information Reports > HRS7350 - Leave Status Report for active employees and exclude substitutes. Print and/or save this report and review it for accuracy.

    

    ❏ Use the Payroll > Utilities > Mass Update > Leave tab to update employee master leave record balances. This is a three-step process.

    Leave type codes are LEA-specific.

    1a. This step clears the Leave Used and Leave Earned fields and rolls the ending balances to the following year beginning balances:

    

    • Under Pay Status, select Active.
    • In the Pay Type field, select E Exclude Substitute.
    • Under Method, select Zero Leave Values for Employees.
    • Under Leave Earned and Leave Used, select all leave types to be set to zero for the new school year. Be sure to process both options at the same time to prevent inaccurate balances.
    • Do not select End Balance unless you want to set the balance to zero for that specific leave type. If this field is not selected, the 2023-2024 ending balances are rolled to the beginning balance fields for the 2024-2025 school year.
    • Click Execute.
    • Review and print the report.

    
    1b. You may have leave codes for which you want to zero the end-of-year balance. For example, Jury Duty, School Business, etc.

    

    • Under Pay Status, select Active.
    • In the Pay Type field, select E Exclude Substitute.
    • Under Method, select Zero Leave Values for Employees.
    • Select Leave Earned, Leave Used, and End Balance for all leave types you want to zero out completely and not carry forward ending balances.
    • Click Execute.
    • Review and print the report.
    • If the report is accurate, click Process to complete the changes.

    
    

    2. This step automatically adds leave types to active employees who do not have the leave type assigned on their leave balance record. This step must be completed before leave is mass incremented in step 3.
    
    
    

    • Under Pay Status, select Active.
    • In the Pay Type field, select E Exclude Substitute.
    • Under Method, select Add Leave Code to Employees.
    • In the New Code field, select the leave code.
    • Do not add balances.
    • Click Execute.
    • Review and print the report. The report only displays the employees who will have the leave code added.
    • Repeat this step for each leave type to be added before it is incremented in step 3.

    
    3. This step increments leave earned to employees:
    
    

    Note: If you have a maximum balance designated on the leave type table, this step will not allow the leave balance to exceed the maximum number set on the leave type table.

    • Under Pay Status, select Active.
    • In the Pay Type field, select E Exclude Substitute.
    • Under Method, select Increment Leave Earned to Employees.
    • Select Leave Earned for the applicable leave types (as defined in your local policy).
    • In the Increment field, enter the number of days to increment.
    • Click Execute.
    • Review and print the report. The report includes a list of those employees who have reached a maximum of any leave type.
      
    • If the report is accurate, click Continue.
    • The second report displays the newly incremented leave earned and the new ending balances. Click Process.

    
    

    • Click OK.

    
    For new employees, leave balances must be individually updated from their service record information on the Payroll > Maintenance > Staff Job/Pay Data > Leave Balance tab.

    ❏ Use the Payroll > Reports > Leave Information Reports > HRS7350 - Leave Status Report to verify the accuracy of the leave information. Print and/or save this report and review it for accuracy.

    

    If necessary, use the Payroll > Maintenance > Staff Job/Pay Data > Leave Balance tab to make changes to individual employees who are working less than the full school year or less than 100% percent of the day.

14. (If applicable) Verify the accrual expense table.

    (If applicable) Verify the accrual expense table

    Payroll > Tables > Accrual Expense

    Verify the accrual expense table and update the fund/fiscal year to reflect the fiscal year for the new school year (e.g., 199/X and 211/X) for employees with July contracts.

    Be sure to include all funds with payroll expenses. Also, add new fund codes if necessary.

    

15. Generate the Contract Balance Variance Report.

    Generate the Contract Balance Variance Report

    Payroll > Reports > Payroll Information Reports > HRS6050 - Contract Balance Variance Report

    Complete the applicable report parameters and generate the report. Print and/or save this report. This report should have been reviewed during the Finance EOY Process but be sure to verify the information is accurate at this time.

    IMPORTANT: Verify the accuracy of payroll over the course of the school year. Based on your LEA's pay frequency, investigate the maximum acceptable differences and correct them if needed.

    Use the following variance thresholds accordingly:

    Pay Frequency	# of Pymts	Maximum Acceptable Difference
    Monthly	12	.11
    Semi-monthly	24	.23
    Bi-weekly	26	.25

    

    

16. Generate the Employee Verification report.

    Generate the Employee Verification report

    Personnel > Reports > Personnel Reports > HRS1100 - Employee Verification Report OR Payroll > Reports > Personnel Reports > HRS1100 - Employee Verification Report

    Complete the applicable report parameters and generate the report. Print and/or save this report and review it for accuracy. Review for employees with July contracts.

    

    Verify that the employee information (e.g., years of experience) is correct to start the new school year. If individual corrections are needed, use the Personnel > Maintenance > Employment Info tab to update the employee's record.

    

17. (If necessary) Mass update employee experience.

    (If necessary) Mass update employee experience

    Personnel > Utilities > Mass Update > Employee

    If necessary, increment the years of total professional and non-professional experience, and the years of district professional and non-professional experience for employees with July contracts.

    Additionally, you can use this page to increment the prior years of teaching experience for those individuals in a teaching role. The Prior Teaching Experience is the total number of years that an individual has previously held a teaching position in one or more education institutions. This information collected during the PEIMS Core Collection: Class Roster.

    • This process must be completed prior to the PEIMS fall submission.
    • The Prof Experience Yrs and Non-Prof Experience Yrs should be incremented in separate instances.

    Total (Prof) Experience:

    

    Total (Non-Prof) Experience:

    

    Use the Personnel > Reports > Personnel Reports > HRS1100 - Employee Verification Report to verify the accuracy of the years of experience.

    ---

    Prior Teaching Experience:

    Use the Job Code field to select specific job codes where the prior teaching experience should be updated.

    The employees who match the selected parameters and the selected job codes will have their prior teaching experience updated. If an employee has multiple jobs included in the job code selection, their employment record is only updated once.

    

18. Generate the Employee Salary Information report.

    Generate the Employee Salary Information report

    Payroll > Reports > Payroll Information Reports > HRS1650 - Employee Salary Information

    Complete the applicable report parameters and generate the report. Print and/or save this report and review it for accuracy. Review for employees with July contracts.

    

    Print the report for employee verification. If needed, print an Addendum from the Payroll > Utilities > Payroll Simulation page.

    

19. Calculate a sample payroll.

    Calculate a sample payroll

    Payroll > Payroll Processing > Run Payroll

    Calculate a sample payroll to identify any errors that need to be corrected prior to processing the first payroll. Review for employees with July contracts.