CalSTRS Address File Change

I have just been informed of another update for our customers concerning retirement.

As stated in the CalSTRS e-bulletin on April 24, CalSTRS is changing the format of the address file to improve the process. One of the changes to the address file will be to increase the record length for the street address. This will allow for longer street addresses to be accepted by STRS and reduce returned mail by the Post Office.

The new layout will be implemented in November 2012 and will require changes to the Escape Online software.

We will work with CalSTRS and our customers to make sure that the CalSTRS address files are in the appropriate format at the time of the change.

Watch our Regulatory Changes page and the CalSTRS web site for updates.

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It was great to see you at CASBO!

It was great to see everyone at CASBO again this year! Below is a picture of Team Escape: Terri Hammond, Jennifer Escamilla and myself.

It’s definitely a busy time for Escape with two new COEs going live in July, making it hard for any of us to get away from the office for even a few days; but the trip was definitely worth it.

We all kept busy demonstrating the software for prospective customers and catching up with some existing customers. Seeing familiar faces and meeting new people is always fun.

A shout out to all the existing customers that stopped by: Fairfield-Suisun Unified, Cupertino Unified, Walnut Valley Unified, Chico Unified and Antelope Valley Union High School district.  Also Ventura, Monterey, Placer, Alameda, Lake and Sonoma Counties!

Thanks for stopping by and we look forward to seeing everyone next year in Long Beach.

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Friday Feature – Warnings for Expired Accounts

The reason for entering an expiration date into an account is to keep users from using that account after that date. But how does the user know if the account is expired?

Luckily, Escape Online warns users. As a payment reaches each milestone, Escape Online warns the user if the status of the account has changed.

When a user creates a payment, submits a payment, or approves a payment, Escape Online takes action if one of the accounts is expired:

• Create Payment – Puts the payment on hold automatically, giving you the opportunity to resolve the issue.
• Submit/Approve Payment – Warns you, but allows you to continue processing as normal.

In all cases, a history record is written to the payment record listing the expired accounts.

This is just what users need: timely information that gives them the opportunity to make informed decisions!

NOTE:  This new functionality was part of the 12.01 release because it was one of the top 5 requests that Escape Online customers wanted!

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Reduction of CalPERS Discount Rate

To make sure I know what is going on, I signed up for the CalPERS News Feed. This gives me CalPERS information in a very timely manner, including alerts and newsletters.

I wanted to share with you the latest information about the reduction of the CalPERS discount rate. This is from their newsletter:

The Board approved a plan to phase in the impact of increased employer contributions as the result of a reduction of CalPERS discount rate to 7.5 percent over 2 years. The employer rate increases are about 1 to 2 percent for most miscellaneous retirement plans and 2 to 3 percent for most safety plans. The plan adopted by the Board this week will see about half of the projected rate increase in the first year and the rest of the increase in the second year.

For more information, go to the CalPERS article.

This change from CalPERS should not require any changes to Escape Online software, but customers will have to change their PERS contribution setup. I’ll keep you posted if I hear anymore updates.

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Employee Spotlight: Mike Long

Mike Long joined Escape in August of 1999 to assist in the technical administration of Escape’s computer network. Now he is our system administrator. Michael keeps all of our systems running and is a fantastic resource for our customers.

What is your favorite part of working for Escape? — I like the people and the atmosphere. Everyone that works at Escape is really great, and I like the family-friendly environment.

Can you give us a quick play-by-play of your average work day? — Emergencies run my day – dealing with them and preventing them. The first thing I do when I come into the office (or earlier) is check to make sure there are no emergencies. Then I do a preventative check-see to make sure there are not going to be any emergencies. Once I am satisfied that everything is running as it should be, I work on my current list of projects.

What have been some of the highlights of your career at Escape? — The highlight of working for Escape was when we moved from Escape Classic to Escape Online. The move to the new technology allowed me to play a greater role in the software. And the highlight never stops. Escape Online is constantly evolving into even newer technology and I really like that.

What are your favorite activities or things to do when not working? — I like spending time with my family, whatever that entails: playing sports or just hanging out. I also like watching football and Mixed Martial Arts fighting.

Where are you from originally? — I was born in Woodland, CA and grew up in Dixon and Sacramento. I have always been local.

If you weren’t a system administrator, what would you be? — I’d be an entrepreneur because I think I have a good knack for business.

What is your favorite food? — Lasagna. It has everything I love about food – carbs, tomato sauce, meat and cheese.

What is your ringtone? — I cannot tell you. I change my ringtone all of the time. I can never stand the same ring tone for long, but whatever it is, it has to be loud and obnoxious or I won’t hear it.

If you could meet one person, who and why? — Actually, I already met him. Twice. Clint Eastwood. My family has a house in Carmel, where Clint resides most of the time. My sister and I met him on the beach once. But even better, was the second time. He was closing the Hogs Breath Saloon, and my wife and I happened to be there with some friends. Clint stopped by our table and chatted. It was great. He is really a regular nice guy.

If you could have any superpower, what would it be? — I’d love to fly, because it would be so cool to get from place to place without having to get into a car.

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Antelope Valley, Meet Escape Online 5

As Tom posted last week, Antelope Valley UHSD is starting the process of converting from Escape Classic to Escape Online 5.  We’ve set September 5^th as their live date so that leaves less than 5 months for the AVUHSD staff to get acquainted with the new Escape.  The Antelope Valley team consists of Brenda Yardeen, CFO; Mary Beth Cowart, Business Manager; Ron Slack, Data Specialist; and Dan Stewart, Director Information Services.  They’re all excited about the change and ready for the challenge.

Ron Slack of AVUHSD installed the client on several workstations.  The Overview Training will be in 2 weeks, but the team has already been checking things out and have asked some great questions.  At this rate, I have a feeling that the Overview Training will end up being a refresher.

We’re off to a great start and I expect that AVUHSD will soon know and love Escape Online 5 even more than they know and love Escape Classic.

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Friday Feature – Report Links

Friday Feature readers know that not only am I extremely curious, I also like to be extremely efficient.  Sometimes these two personality traits conflict, like when I don’t have the time to satisfy my curiosity.

So you can imagine how happy I am with the new Report Links feature in Escape Online (v12.01). It allows me to get more information in the most efficient way possible.  Let me explain.

Report links are “records” in a report that you can click on to get a more detailed report about that record. For example, say you run the Account Object Summary (Fiscal01) and you are curious about a certain object code. You can click on that object code and Escape Online will automatically run the Fiscal02 which shows balances for accounts with that object code.

Ok, so how do you know which “records” link to another report?

Easy, see the underlines?  This screenshot shows all of the objects in the Fiscal01 are underlined. (The reason I mention it is a screenshot is because the underlines do not print. Yay!)

So now I click on the first report link (4100).

And I get the Fiscal02 report, matching my original report parameters AND the link I click on. In other words, my original report parameters for Fiscal01 filtered on fund 010 and resource 0000, AND I clicked on the link for object 4100, so the Fiscal02 report only shows those accounts with fund 010, resource 0000 and object 4100.

But that’s not all!

I still see underlines, so I click again.  (No other action is necessary, just the click.  My efficiency requirements are fulfilled!)

Amazing! I get the Fiscal03, matching my original report parameters (Fiscal01) AND my first click (Fiscal02) AND my second click (Fiscal03).

As you can see, I could click yet again on the vendor name or the journal entry number or a variety of other records that are included in the Fiscal03.

Report links are very informative and very efficient! I am sure that everyone is going to love the new report links as much as I do.

NOTE: If there are specific reports you would like to see have report links, contact Escape Customer Care.

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Antelope Valley coming to Escape Online 5

Another of our valued Escape Classic customers has decided to make the move to Online 5.  Antelope Valley Union High School District has been using our Classic finance module for years. Starting last month they began the transition to their new system. The first planning session was only a couple of weeks ago and we’ve already completed the first Classic conversion. We refer to this as the first ’interim conversion’ and it allows users to begin training with their own data. I will continue to convert the Classic data and refresh the Online 5 system about once a month until September when they are scheduled to go live.

I’d like to thank Dan Stewart at Antelope for his quick response and handling of the infrastructure setup at the district.  With the first conversion behind us the staff at Antelope can now begin working with our Escape project manager Gayle Lucas.  She will lead the business staff at Antelope Valley during their training on the new system, parallel process comparisons with Escape Classic and the final acceptance testing of the new software. I’ll be working closely with Gayle and will customize the conversion for the specific needs of this customer. Together with Gayle and the folks at Antelope Valley I look forward to a successful deployment!

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STRS Penalties & Interest Information Sessions

Last week Julie Leaman and I attended a STRS training at Alameda County Office of Education.  Thank you ACOE for allowing us to sit in on your training!  STRS covered the new penalties that will go into effect on July 1, 2012.  It was a very informative session where they discussed the new rules and covered examples.  They also covered the exemptions, like part-time employees and retro payrolls, which was a concern for many of our customers when we had a conference call in January of 2012.  If your districts and counties have not had the opportunity to attend one of these sessions I would highly recommend it.   STRS has information on their SEW (Secure Employer Web Site) homepage listing the dates for regional sessions.

So what is the next step for Escape?  After you have had a chance to attend one of the STRS sessions Escape would like to hear from you on specific examples of when you would need a supplemental file.  You can send in information to your HR/Pay customer care representative and/or directly to me at jennifer@escapetech.com.

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Friday Feature – Seniority Dates Extract

Last week, I talked about the new Seniority Rank field in the Employee record. In that post, I briefly mentioned the Seniority Dates Extract (Employee59) report.

This is an exciting new report that really deserves more than just a few words. So let’s take a closer look.

Like so many of Escape Online’s extract reports, the Seniority Dates Extract automatically launches an Excel spreadsheet with data that you can slice and dice any way you want.

Check it out.  There are so many ways to filter the extract that you can make the perfect set of data for your analysis.

Plus, did you notice that some of the fields have an “s” in parentheses? Oh yeah, that means that you can select multiple items from the lookup.

So, if you want only three bargaining units to show up in the data, you can select those three from the bargaining unit lookup and the report will filter out any employees that do not belong to one of those bargaining units!

The extract includes dozens upon dozens of columns, with everything from the seniority rank field you read about last week to credential information to custom information that only applies to your organization to job category/class.

Getting the data you want in the format you want is powerful, and this is one powerful extract.

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