Merry Year End Closing!

How’d that lil’ Christmas ornament get nestled amongst my summer vacation gear?

Can you imagine what it’s like for a musician to make a Christmas album?  In order for it to be available to the masses in time for the Christmas season, they’ve got to be singing away in the recording studio in June or July.  It must be really surreal to be belting out the words to ‘Baby It’s Cold Outside’ when it’s actually 100 degrees out there!

Well, I know how they feel.  It’s only March right now, but I’m ensconced in the season of Year End Closing; I’m already thinking about rolling forward those reqs and invoices to 2014 and creating closing journal entries.  And even though 13.1 cut into programming time for this release, we are still getting out some helpful enhancements to you to make your year end a little brighter.

For example, CR 11519 ensures that manually added accounts in Closing JEs are assigned the appropriate Trans Type.  And you can see that Trans Type now, thanks to CR 11260, because it added Trans Type to the JE form.  Even better, you can see who added or changed those accounts (or amounts) because of CR 11339, which displays the Created/Edited By and Created/Edited Dates for the JE Items.  And yes, these changes affect all Journal Entry types!  Finally, when you go in to post those closing journal entries or create your starting balances, you won’t have to wait for the history records to load all those account roll forward messages anymore, because CR 11411 introduces a history snapshot that makes loading those records faster than Rudolph can fly!

You know what?  I have it better than those musicians trying to get in the Christmas spirit in July.  Because, ultimately, I get to think about summer vacation!

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Why Testing is So Important (A Real World Example)

We are a hairsbreadth away from being finished with v13.1 unit testing. Things get hot and heavy towards the end, here, so I’m pretty much living and breathing testing. So much so that I expect others in my life to be thinking the same way! This example proves what happens when they aren’t…

My home was built in 1956 and has only had a few upgrades. Previous owners have not been creative enough to install a water line for their fridge (which resides in my dining room because the kitchen is so tiny) so my dear Dad and boyfriend Brad conspired to do just that for me one day last week. I went to work with visions in my head of fresh filtered water and ice cascading into my glass.

I arrived home to a proud Brad, cup at the ready, to show off the work he and my father had completed earlier. With a flourish, he placed the receptacle under the spout and pushed the lever. Water shot from the top of the fridge! We looked at each other in shocked silence, and then I asked, “What the heck happened?!” Brad said he didn’t know, that the ice maker was working fine (pointing to ice in the ice maker) so the water should work too, right? My next question, appalled, was, “You mean you didn’t TEST it?!”

Well no, they hadn’t. Later Dad said he thought I just wanted the ice maker to work (why in tarnation would I only want half the appliance to work?) so he didn’t think to try the water dispenser. He made the 45 minute drive back to my house the next day and, thankfully, they resolved the issue in about 2 minutes.

These life lessons of mine come with me to Escape: I want the software to work for you all the time, every time, so when I test, I think of every possible way you might try to use it so you don’t have any unexpected surprises!

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Leave Transaction SubFinder Import

We are nearing the end of the 13.01 testing cycle, so I thought I would take a minute to share one of the new features with you!  In 12.02, we introduced the ability to specify a substitute when entering or importing leave transactions.  In 13.01, we have enhanced that one step further.  Customers that use SubFinder to track their leave transactions can now easily import those transactions into Escape Online from an export file produced by the SubFinder system.  We added a new import file type which supports the SubFinder II export file layout, as well as a new table where the SubFinder absence codes are mapped to the Escape Online leave types.  For more information, be sure to tune in to the 13.01 Release Review!!

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Defense Against Demons. What?

As I write this, Halloween is on my mind because it’s right around the corner.  The thought makes me realize how appropriate it is that I’m making my big move to testing at this, the scariest, time of year.  After doing the same job (but never the same job, really!) in Support for over ten years, the very idea of moving into a new position, doing something new and completely different, is downright terrifying.  To top it off, Halloween is my least favorite “holiday.” I’m not a big proponent of little hooligans running around at dusk, dressed as something not meant to be seen on the city streets, banging on my cute little bungalow door and DEMANDING that I give them a treat.

That’s how I see those CRs that are lurking out there, waiting for me to take my life in my hands and test them.  Those little beasts and goblins are clustered together, cracking their knuckles and cackling wickedly, waiting for me to come along and haphazardly stumble on their ominously written specs, amorphous dev notes, and mayhem of attached emails.  It’s enough to make one run home to her cute little bungalow and hide under her bed!

But when the disguises come off, and the sugar-high comes down, what’s really underneath those scary demons, witches, and Justin Biebers isn’t so scary at all, now, is it?  The image is transformed from Dracula fangs to a smile like sunshine, from cataracted zombie pupils to twin sparkling pools of cheery mischief.   Moans, groans, snarls and sneers are replaced with the bubbly, happy sound of giggles and laughter.  That lumbering Frankenstein over there?  Why, that’s really a CR for the new Finance Report Warehouse.  And creepy Dr. Jekyl/Mr. Hyde?  He’s actually a request to add the ability to unprint 1099’s en masse.  They are misunderstood characters masquerading as monsters, who just need someone to be patient, read all about their insecurities, champion for them when they need help, and then send them on their way into the world when their time has come.  I can do that.  That’s much more rewarding than it is scary!

Except that kid.  The one dressed like a clown and holding a bunch of balloons?  {Shudder}  Yeah.  I’m not getting near that terrifying specter!  If you need me, I’ll be under my bed until Halloween is over.

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12.01 Pay Compares – A New World Record!

I just finished up the 12.01 pay compares and I think it was an Escape World Record -  3 weeks from start to finish!!  If you read my article about the pay compare process, you know that I compare pay for every customer that uses our HR/Payroll module.  Currently, that means that I compared pay between version 11.04 and 12.01 for 18 customers!!  I worked with Jennifer Escamilla and our payroll developer Chad Guest through 7 rounds of pay compute code changes before we got 12.01 just perfect.  A small change to the dates used for some assignment adjustments in CR#11497 seemed very simple, but it really caused the pay compute teeter-totter to shift!

The process is tedious and exhausting at times, but the outcome is well worth it.  We do our best to make sure that the payroll changes we make to fix one thing don’t end up having a negative effect on systems with different payroll setup.

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Linked reports

In previous releases if you needed to get more detail for an object, or troubleshoot a transaction, it was necessary to run and save multiple reports, this can be time-consuming.  Escapes’ answer is to link specific reports together.  The first linked reports are in version 12.01: Fiscal 01, Fiscal 02, Fiscal 03, Ledger 99 and ReqPay 01, with more to follow.  These linked reports represent a view of the data from the high - level object summary all the way to details for an individual journal entry, making them perfect candidates for linking.

For example, run Fiscal 01 for a specific period, and then click on the link - the blue underline – for an object. Then Fiscal 02 runs showing all of the accounts used for the selected object.

Click on an account and Fiscal 03 runs showing all of the transactions for the account.  You can then click on a transaction to run Ledger 99 for the journals.

Coupled with the new report viewer, linked reports allow more than 1 report to be open at the same time.  In the example above, there will be 4 open reports.  You may go back to any of them and select a different object, account or transaction link to open another report for comparison or research.

Fiscal 03 also has a report link to ReqPay 01 – Vendor Detail, in addition to Quick Links that will open the Vendor activity.  Quick Links are identified by the letter Q surrounded by a red box.

All of this linking happens much more quickly than manually determining the correct parameters, then running and saving the individual reports for comparison.

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ReqPay 18 – faster and smarter

   ReqPay 18 - Vendor Check Detail was enhanced for version 11.04 to flag for review differences in Vendor checks paid, and the amount reported for Vendor 1099′s.

Each time our report developer, Susan, has to make a change to a report she looks for ways to increase its performance, always trying to make the reports more efficient.  As a result, report completion times are decreasing; the difference from one release to another can be as much as 10 or 15 seconds.

For version 11.04, ReqPay 18 finishes in half the time as it did in 11.03.

A report that runs 100% faster than the last release is a big deal.  In an effort to verify the improvement wasn’t just the result of a hardware upgrade or some other change I’m not aware of, I compared the report completion times with 5 of our internal copies of customer systems.  The method I use is rather simple, but it works.  First, I run the report on a previous release to get an average completion time.  Then I install the report software for the current release and rerun the report to get an average for the new release.

The average times for all 5 systems show the same 100% improvement.

Customer 1
11.03  0:27
11.04  0:10

Customer 2
11.03  0:21
11.04  0:14

Customer 3
11.03  1:28
11.04  0:41

Customer 4
11.03  1:00
11.04  0:31

Customer 5
11.02  0:40
11.04  0:21

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Integration Testing

As we are finalizing release 11.04, Stephanie and I are completing unit testing of individual CRs and then when that is complete we will be moving onto integration testing.   Since we will be transitioning into integration testing within the next week, I thought it would be helpful if I provided a high level overview of the process.

Integration testing is when we test all the changes for a release comprehensively to ensure they all work together.  Each release has over 150 CRs so we need to make sure they all work together and don’t create any unforeseen issues.  We have test plans that outline testing scenarios for all the major processes within each module.  We execute those tests and look for any issues or variances from the previous release.  If problems are found we consult with the development and support teams to determine the proper fix.  We also run specific reports to ensure balances cross check across reports and that there are no errors.

I complete all the integration testing on the Finance side and Stephanie completes the integration testing on the HR/Payroll side.   Since 11.04 contains all of the 1099 and W2 changes for 2011 we have some additional tests we run specifically for those processes so integration testing will take slightly longer for this release.  However, we should be completed with all the testing the last week of November and the release should be available by Friday, December 2nd.

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Saving Trees

The ability to email employee ACH deposits was introduced in v10.05.  In early August I wrote an article to tell you all about this great new feature and at that time, Ventura County was piloting the project.  They started with a group of 40 employees receiving their ACH deposits via email and I am happy to report that they are now up to 350 employees!

We now have a total of 5 customers using Email ACH.  As of October 10^th, Escape Online 5 has emailed a total of 4424 ACH’s!!  September was our biggest month to date.  On the month end September payroll,  2559 ACH’s were emailed.

We are well on the road to saving a few trees, not to mention time and money for the customers using this feature.  If you are interested in using our Email ACH functionality, please contact your HR/Payroll Support Representative to schedule a conference call.  We will guide you through the setup steps and have you saving trees in no time!

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1099 time

Well, here we are again, time for 1099′s.  You say 1099′s aren’t due until the end of January?  That’s true, but Escape needs a bit of lead time to make the changes, test them and get the release into your hands.  Since there are no regulatory changes this year, we are focusing on 6 enhancements – and 1 defect fix.  Our process identifies all CR’s relating to 1099′s so they can be included in the correct release, this year it’s version 11.04.  Each CR is first tested individually to ensure the changes are made according to the customers’ request.

After the individual testing we do integration testing to see if the new changes play well with the exisiting software.  Integration testing is focused on the whole 1099 process.

• We import vendor 1099 files, fix missing tax id’s, verify any 1099 errors reported by the software are correct, and run all related reports and snapshots.
• Then 1099′s are printed and unprinted for individual orgs.
• Finally, we process all 1099′s for the county, including generating the 1099 file and rolling it back.
• All errors are fixed before the software ships.

Since 1099′s have to be accurate when mailed, we ensure if any problems are identified by the customer they are remedied immediately.

Finally, don’t forget the 1099 Webinar scheduled for December 8.  The Webinar will cover the whole process from setup to file generation, don’t miss it!

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