New Release Guide: An in-depth review of features and. Enhancements from version 2.7 to 3.0 for. New Jersey Municipalities & Counties.

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1 New Release Guide: An in-depth review of features and Enhancements from version 2.7 to 3.0 for New Jersey Municipalities & Counties. Keep your eye on the! This denotes an IDEA that has been implemented based on your participation in the Community Forum. For more information and to sign up, go to and click on the megaphone.

2 Table of Contents 1 Finance Consolidated Subsidiary Ledger Reports Report Enhancements Purchase Order Enhancements Auto Assign a Vendor ID Printing Separate Checks Posting Cash Receipts to a General Ledger Account Budget Preparation Redesign Added Support for 2 nd Purchase Card Fixed Assets New Fields Report Enhancements Vehicle Information Capital v Non-Capital Assets Payroll/HR...19 Employee Maintenance Auto Assign a Employee ID Employee Templates th Week Deductions New Calculation Type for Payroll Deductions Electronic Personnel Actions Employer Liabilities Utility Billing...26 E-Bills New Fields Recent Activity Tab Bill Print from Account Maintenance Apply Penalty to Separate Charges PDF Delinquent Notices

3 5 Property Tax...32 Detail Button Bill Codes can be Discount Exempt PDF Delinquent Notices Miscellaneous AR & Business Licensing Support for Multiple Business License Forms Changes to Customer Maintenance Added Customer Security Option for 2 nd Penalty & Interest Calculation Apply Discounts Auto Assign a Customer ID Work Orders PDF Work Order Additional Recurring Options Construction Permits & Code Enforcement...41 Inspection Sheet Status Option Violation Inquiry Miscellaneous Payments...43 Posting to General Ledger & Expenditure Accounts System...44 MCSJ Service Console MCSJ Letter Changes to Purchase Order Security New Excel Options...47 List of reports that may be exported to excel

4 1- Finance Consolidated Subsidiary Ledger Reports The various Status Reports located off of the Revenue & Expenditure menus have been consolidated to a single Account Status report off of each menu (i.e Abbreviated Account Status, Capital/Trust Account Status, and Grant Account Status). A Status Type field has been added to the new report window to differentiate between the each option. 3

5 Report Enhancements Changes have been made to the look and feel of most finance reports. You will notice highlighting has been added to changes in the account number. GL Financials can now be run for a range of funds, and will sort simultaneously when printed for all funds. Also, when the report is generated to excel, separate tabs will be created for each fund within the workbook to allow for easier viewing. 4

6 Purchase Order Enhancements Charging a General Ledger Account: An option has been added to directly charge a General Ledger account on Purchase Order and Requisition Line Items. In order to charge a G/L account, the account must be linked to a valid Checking Account first. Go To: Finance > G/L > Account Maintenance Go To: Finance > A/P > Purchase Order > Purchase Order Maintenance 5

7 Split Charges: Users now have the ability to split a single Purchase Order Line Item between multiple accounts. The split may be processed as an amount or percent. Go To: Finance > A/P > Purchase Order > Purchase Order Maintenance Click the Line Item button Click the Add button 6

8 Enter the Quantity & Unit Price then Select the Split Charges check box. This option will enable the Split Charges tab. Click the New Account button to charge an additional account You may use the Edit Amt/Edit Prc button to toggle between the percentage and amount fields. Note: The F5 key will auto-fill the remaining unallocated amount or percentage. 7

9 Apply Discount Button: Purchase Order Maintenance now offers an option to easily apply a discount across all line items. The discount may be applied at any time prior to the purchase order being paid. Once applied, each line item will be recalculated to the Discount Price. The Original Price will still be displayed on the line item as well. 8

10 Auto Assign a Vendor ID MCSJ will offer to automatically assign a Vendor ID based on the name entered in the Add dialog box. The ID will be created by using the first 5 letters of the name followed by 3 numbers based on availability. The user will not need to lookup available ID s prior to adding a new vendor. Note: You may override the assigned ID if you would like. 9

11 Printing Separate Checks Users now have the ability to print multiple checks for a vendor. This enhancement allows the user to identify if they would like separate checks to be printed from Vendor Maintenance, or directly within the Check Batch. Check Batch: A Separate Check column now appears within the Check Batch Entry screen. Simply change the flag from N to Y to print a separate check. Vendors that have the Separate Checks option selected in Vendor Maintenance will default to Y automatically. A separate check will print for each Purchase Order that is flagged as Y, not each line item. Vendor Maintenance There is also a Separate Checks check box on the Page 2 tab. With this checked, the system will default a Y for each of the vendors PO s. Note- This may be manually changed in the Check Batch. 10

12 Posting Cash Receipts to a General Ledger Account General Ledger has been added to the Transaction Types in the Cash Receipts Batch. This allows the user to post a receipt directly to an Asset, Liability, or Fund Balance type GL Account. Go To: Billing/Collections > Payments > Payment Code Maintenance 11

13 Budget Preparation Redesign The Budget Preparation module has been enhanced to allow users to enter detail for their Requested, Admin Recommended, and Adopted Budgets. Examples are listing all employees for a salary & wage line, or listing specific equipment items planning to be purchased during the New Year. Note: Budget Prep has been moved to a brand new location directly off of the Finance menu. Go To: Finance > Budget Prep > Budget Preparation Budget & Revenue Preparation Batches You may add detail to your line items within the Revenue or Budget Preparation batches by highlighting the line, and clicking the Detail button on the toolbar. Simply click Add on the toolbar and enter as many detail lines as needed. Once you click OK, MCSJ will populate the totals of all detail lines to the expense account. All notes will be saved as well. 12

14 Budget Prep Worksheet Go To: Finance > Budget Prep > Budget Prep Worksheet Options to include Account Notes & Detail has been added to the Budget/Revenue Preparation worksheet to report on these items as well. 13

15 Budget/Revenue Prep Rollover Routine When using the Budget/Revenue Prep Rollover routine to carryover the final budget figures, you can now define the Posting Date, and have the system Create a GL Batch for posting your budget. Note- There is no need to import the file from Budget Prep into the Adopt/Amend Batch any longer. This routine will create a GL Batch for the user to Verify & Update. 14

16 Added Support for 2 nd Purchase Card An additional field has been added to Finance Parameter Maintenance to accommodate a second purchase card vendor. If a second Purchase Card Vendor is defined, the user has the ability choose Purchase Card or Purchase Card 2 as the PO Type in Purchase Order Maintenance. Finance Parameter Maintenance Go To: System Utilities > Finance Parameter Maintenance Purchase Order Maintenance 15

17 2- Fixed Assets New Fields NEW Fund Type: The Fund Type field has been added in order to separate Governmental and Proprietary (Enterprise Fund) assets. Transfer: This button will allow you to transfer between departments and fixed asset classes. This will be shown as a transfer in or out on the Fixed Asset Class Listing. An example of when this function should be used could be when an asset changes from Construction-In Progress to Building, Equipment, etc. 16

18 Addition: The addition feature will allow you to add value to a fixed asset. When this transaction is used, the Purchase Value will be increased and it will show as an addition on the Fixed Asset Class Listing. Depreciate Option/Start Date: This option gives users the flexibility to include or exclude the asset in the depreciation routine. If the depreciation start date is not defined and the option is checked, depreciation will be calculated based on the purchase date. This option has been added to accommodate entities using a modified straight-line method of depreciation, and also to distinguish the depreciation start date for assets transferred from Construction-In Progress. Report Enhancements Fixed Asset Class Listing: This report has been re-formatted to include totals by Department, Fund Type, and also the Transfer & Addition transaction types. Example: 17

19 Vehicle Information New fields for tracking asset Hours and Mileage have been added to Fixed Asset Maintenance. A Work Order tab has also been added to review Open and Completed work orders for the Asset. Note: The Work Orders tab will only appear for Aggregate asset types. You may also view all work orders for the asset by clicking the Detail button. Capital v Non-Capital Assets A Capital check box has been added on the Additional tab to allow for reporting on assets that need to be capitalized v. assets that are tracked and not capitalized in the General Ledger. 18

20 3- Payroll Employee Maintenance There is a new option in Employee Maintenance to allow the user to easily navigate between different screens. The Go To button allows you to select from a drop down menu which area of Employee Maintenance you want to jump to. 19

21 Auto Assign a Employee ID MCSJ will offer to automatically assign an Employee ID based on the employee s last name. The ID will be created by using the first 5 letters of the name entered followed by 3 numbers based on availability. The user will not need to lookup available ID s prior to adding a new employee. Note: You may override the assigned ID if you would like. Employee Templates Users will have the option to use an existing employee record as a template when adding a new employee into MCSJ. When adding a new record, you may select an existing employee to use as the new hires template. If this is used, MCSJ will copy general information such as Department, Positions, Hours Id, and Pay Frequency. Sensitive and personal informaton will not be copied. 20

22 5 TH Week Deductions MCSJ has a separate option for deductions and earnings that should not be withheld or paid during free pay periods. Deduction/Earning Code Maintenance The Disable Ded/Earn check box was removed and has been replaced with a drop down box with options of Enabled, Disabled, and Disable only on 5 th week. 21

23 New Calculation Type for Payroll Deductions There is a new calculation type for deductions in the payroll module. Deductions can now be calculated based off of a percentage of an employee s disposable income. Disposable income is calculated after taxes and any mandatory deductions. New Fields in Deduction/Earning Code Maintenance: Mandatory Can distinguish between Mandatory and Voluntary Deductions Garnishment Type Either Ordinary or Child Support Apply Protected Amount Amount can be set in the Personnel Parameter and applied to specific deductions 22

24 Creating Standard Time Entries The Create Standard Time Entries routine has been reorganized. There is also a question that will appear in the top right hand corner, Wil this payroll s check date fall during the fifth week of the month? If this is checked, all deductions/earnings flagged as Disable only on 5 th week, will be excluded. 23

25 Electronic Personnel Actions Go To: Personnel > H/R > Personnel Actions > Personnel Action Maintenance Personnel Actions are a new process that may be used to update employee changes through an electronic approval process. Users may create new Personnel Actions through Personnel Action Maintenance, which displays current employee information on one side, and allows the user to change any necessary fields they would like on the other. Once an action is saved, assigned users are notified as it waits for their approval. After all required approvals have been received via the Personnel Action Approval routine, changes are updated automatically to Employee Maintenance by an HR user. 24

26 Employer Liabilities Employer Liabilities for taxes and deductions can be automatically updated to Finance. Each liability can be updated using a Single Account, Department, or by Fund. The expense accounts for Social Security and Medicare can be set up on Federal Tax Maintenance or on Department Maintenance. There is also an option to flag an earning code as an Employer Liability. This will allow users to automatically charge employer paid expenses to the finance module. 25

27 E-Bills 4- Utility Billing MCSJ users now have the ability to offer paperless billing to their customers. E-bills, Printed Bills, or both can now be generated during the normal bill printing process. If you are interested in taking advantage of this feature, please contact E&A in order to validate an for sending E-Bills. Note: E-Bills also include a link for customers to post their payments online. For more information on On- Line payment solutions, contact E&A about MCSJ WIPP. Getting Started: Go To: System Utilities > Utility Billing Parameter Maintenance Click on the E-Bills tab Select an E-Bill Format ID (only compatible with PDF bill format) Enter the FROM Address. This address must be verified with E&A before it can be used. Optional: BCC Address- If used, a copy of each will be sent to the defined address for every E- Bill delivered. Include Online Payment Link- This option will automatically include a payment link for MCSJ WIPP users, or allow the user to enter a third party online payment URL. 26

28 Enable E-Bills for a Customer: Go To: Billing/Collections > Utility Billing > Utility Accounts > Account Maintenance Customers may easily be set up to receive E-Bills by entering their , and checking off the E-Bill check box. This may be assigned to the Bill To, Owner, or both utility account addresses. Sending E-Bills: Go To: Billing/Collections > Utility Billing > Print Bills/Billing Reports > Print Utility Bills When printing utility bills, a Bill Type combo box is now enabled so the user may select Printed Bills or E-Bills. All bill printing options and procedures remain the same. Once the user clicks Next, E-bills will automatically be sent, and an E-Bill Listing will be printed to the screen. 27

29 New Fields Go To: Billing/Collections > Utility Billing > Utility Accounts > Account Maintenance Employer/Co-Applicant Fields: Employer and Co-applicant information may now be tracked on the Additional tab. A birth date field has been added on the additional tab. An inactive date has been added for each service type billed. 28

30 Recent Activity tab A tab has been added to Utility Account Maintenance to summarize all recent activity on an account. This provides an easy way to only have to look in one place to for important account information. This tab will display recent billing, usage, payment, and adjustment activity along with the cycle, status, and balance due on an account. 29

31 Bill Print from Account Maintenance A Print Bill button has been added to allow a user to easily reprint an individual utility bill. When clicked, you will be prompted with a bill print dialog box to verify the bill year/period, reading year/period, service types and billing/due dates. 30

32 Applying Penalty to Separate Charges A parameter has been added to give users the option to add penalty to individual separate charge balances. When checked, penalty will be broken out between the base balance and any separate charge balances, rather than the total penalty being applied to the base balance. PDF Delinquent Notice An option has been added to print PDF notices. These can be printed to blank or perforated paper. Default notice options can be set up on the Deq Notices tab in Utility Billing Parameter Maintenance. The recommended bar code and town seal coordinates (both optional) are shown below. Please contact E&A to install the form if you wish to utilize this option. 31

33 5- Property Tax Detail Button The Detail button on Tax Account Maintenance has a few new options. When selecting Transactions, there is now an Order By option. You may order the report by Date or by Transaction/Date. Also, when the report is printed, each Year and Quarter will be broken down by transaction type. 32

34 PDF Delinquent Notice An option has been added to print PDF notices. These can be printed to blank or perforated paper. Default notice options can be set up on the Deq Notices tab in Tax Collection Parameter Maintenance. The recommended bar code and town seal coordinates (both optional) are shown below. Please contact E&A to install the form if you wish to utilize this option. 33

35 6- Miscellaneous A/R Added Support for Multiple Business License Forms Customers using the Business Licensing module now have the ability to print more than one license format. The License Format tab has been added to License Type Maintenance to assign a PDF for each type of license. In addition, each license type may now also contain an electronic signature. Changes to Customer Maintenance NEW Letters: The Letter function has been added. Please refer to section 1 for more information. Notes: An unlimited number of notes may be added to a customer while in edit mode. User Msg Code: The user message allows you to assign a unique identifier to a customer such as, Cash Only, which will create the red flag in the top right of the customer screen. You may add User Message Codes under Billing/Collections > User Code Maintenance. Additional Note: When a User Message is assigned, the red flag will also appear in the Payment Window. 34

36 Added Customer Security A customer field has been added to User Maintenance to allow for separation of security between Customers and Invoices. Accounts Receivable (Invoices): 1- Look Up/View Only; 3- Add/Edit ability; 4- Delete Ability Customer: 1- Look Up/View Only; 2- Add/Edit ability; 3- Delete Ability 35

37 Option for 2nd Penalty & Interest Calculations Service Maintenance Users now have the ability to define two penalty/interest scenarios for a single Service ID. This was added to support charging penalty once a year, and interest throughout. The Interest Type options have not changed. A separate Penalty Service ID may be defined for each if there is a separate revenue account for interest v. penalty. Calculate AR Penalty If using Standard & One Time Penalty options, you should define which type to be used when processing the Calculate A/R Penalty routine. 36

38 Apply Discount Invoice Maintenance has the option to apply a discount to a customer s invoice. When selected, you must select a Service ID, Discount Percent, or Discount Amount and Description. The discount will be applied to the total open amount, and a negative line item will be added. Note: Multiple Discount Line Items may be applied to a single invoice. 37

39 Auto Assign a Customer ID MCSJ will offer to automatically assign a Customer ID based on the name entered in the Add dialog box. The ID will be created by using the first 5 letters of the name followed by 3 numbers based on availability. The user will not need to lookup available ID s prior to adding a new customer. Note: You may override the assigned ID if you would like. 38

40 7- Work Order PDF Work Orders PDF work orders can now be printed through MCSJ. This will give users more flexibility with the layout and format of the forms. You may contact an E&A support specialist for review and installation. Utility Billing Parameter Maintenance Go To: System Utilities > Utility Billing Parameter Maintenance A separate PDF form may be used for the 3 work order types, Utility, Location, and Fixed Asset. The standard Blank option is still available as well. 39

41 Additional Recurring Options Work Order Maintenance Go To: Billing/Collections > Work Orders > Work Order Maintenance Recurring information has been moved to a separate tab. Additional options are now available for generating work orders based on an asset s Mileage or Hours. MCSJ will create a work order for an asset if once the Mileage or Hours value in Fixed Asset maintenance has reached the Next value on the recurring work order. The work order s are created when the user processes the Auto Create Recurring Work Orders routine. 40

42 8- Construction Permits & Code Enforcement Inspection Sheet Status Option Go To: Billing/Collections > Construction Permits/Code Enforcement > Inspection Sheets Added option to select the status of inspections the user would like to be included on the inspection sheet. 41

43 Violation Inquiry Go To: Billing/Collections > Construction Permits/Code Enforcement > Code Enforcement > Violation Inquiry The Violation Inquiry gives the user a new tool to quickly search violations based on standard conditions. You may search based on several options including Violation ID, Violation Status, Customer, or Parcel ID. 42

44 9- Miscellaneous Payments Posting to General Ledger & Expenditure Accounts Payment Codes: Miscellaneous type payment codes now have the ability to post to General Ledger & Expenditure type accounts. Go To: Billing/Collections > Payments > Payment Code Maintenance 43

45 10- System MCSJ Service Console Previously, MCSJ s application server has only had the option to be run as a process. This requires users to manually start and stop servers when and installing code updates or even when rebooting the physical server. MCSJ Service Console allows the application to run as a service. This will allow all servers to automatically start on windows start-up. Command prompt dialogs are no longer used with the console. Installing a code update is more automated, and managing multiple application servers is much easier and more organized. 44

46 MCSJ Letters MCSJ users now have the ability to automatically generate customized letters from various MCSJ modules. If you would like more information on how to create custom letters, please contact our Support Department. The process for generating a letter is the same in each MCSJ module. Here is a list of modules that have this enhancement: Vendor Maintenance Developer Maintenance Customer Maintenance Employee Maintenance Tax Account Maintenance Property Tax Account Maintenance Project Maintenance Utility Account Maintenance How to Use Letters Select the Letter button. Using the dialog box, and select the appropriate letter that you wish to generate. Click OK, and your customized letter will be generated 45

47 Purchase Order Security Go To: System Utilities > User Maintenance Purchase Order security has changed from a combo box with options of Budget, Project, or Both to check boxes for Budget, Revenue, G/L, and Project. Simply check the box for each account type the specified user should be able to charge on a Purchase Order or Requisition. 46

48 10- New Excel Options Reports that now have the ability to export directly to excel: Finance Budget Transaction Audit Trail Cash Receipts Report Revenue Transaction Audit Trail Fixed Asset Listing Condensed & Detailed Trial Balance Condensed Check Register Payroll & HR Time Worked Report Detail Pension Report Employee HR Detail Listing Employee Listing Attendance Transaction Report System User Listing 47