Revision/Update Information: December, 2008

Copyright ©1992, 1995 Ohio Department of Education

Permission to reproduce this document is hereby granted, provided that all such reproductions include all of this document (including this copyright notice), and are not distributed for profit or resale.

Contents

Index

Document Structure

This document consists of a User Guide and an Appendix for the Uniform Staff Payroll System (USPS). This manual is only intended for the explanation and use of the USPS software as produced by the Ohio Department of Education.

The User Guide is intended for those who are unfamiliar with the system and need a place to start. In general this guide presents an overview and the theory of the USPS system rather than specific details and sample runs of programs. It also contains some of the more advanced subjects which are more topically oriented.

Intended Audience

This manual is intended for both beginning and experienced users of the USPS system and for those who are responsible for generating payrolls.

Related Documents

USPS Reference Manual

The Uniform Staff Payroll System (USPS) is used for running payrolls in school districts. This system is designed to create the employee and deduction company checks by running a series of programs in a specific order.

In addition to generating payroll and deduction checks, reports and data files are also created to meet reporting requirements to various entities such as:

• Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS)
• School Employees Retirement System (SERS)
• State Teacher's Retirement System (STRS)
• Education Management Information System (EMIS)

This system also provides you with the ability to do any of the following:

• Track Benefit Information (Sick, Personal, Vacation)
• Support Direct Deposit
• Generate Printable W2 Form File
• Produce Salary Notices and/or Special Forms
• Generate Custom Reports
• Track Absence and Attendance Days
• Support the STRS Advance

Another feature of this payroll system is that it interfaces with the Uniform School Accounting System (USAS). During the payroll cycle a file is created which is used by a USAS user to post payroll expenditures to the appropriate USAS accounts. The payroll system provides a means to delay the posting of the payroll until the district has closed for month-end. In other words, if you have a payroll due on the third day of a month, you will need to process the payroll prior to that time. If you complete the payroll on the last day of the current month, you can indicate to the payroll system that you want to delay charging the USAS accounts until you have closed USAS for the current month. Once the month has been closed, you can run a program to post the salary expenditures at your convenience.

The system also interfaces with the Education Management Information System (EMIS). USPS supplies numerous pieces of information necessary to meet the reporting requirements for EMIS on your classified and certified employees.

1.1.2 The Planning Stage

Good planning is critical to reaching the goals of implementing USPS. Implementing the USPS software requires planning ahead for several months due to the amount of data that must be in place prior to running a payroll. Examples of the types of information that will need to be entered are the building and departments that exist in your district, the names and addresses of each deduction company, the employee's biographical and job information, deductions for each employee, and the account which should be charged for each employee.

The amount of time required to enter all this information varies from district to district. It will vary according to how many employees you pay each payroll and the number of personnel that are available for data entry of this information. It is strongly suggested that you start the planning stages and entering data at a minimum of three months prior to running your first payroll on the system.

Personnel will also need to be a consideration when implementing the USPS system. It will take anywhere from one to four days to process a payroll, depending on the size of your district and the number of employees paid each payroll. The one to four days is from the time you start the payroll to the time you have printed your employee and deduction checks. Perhaps personnel are already in place for payroll and no additional staff are required. However, if you previously purchased payroll services from a computer service, this issue may need to be addressed. Additional data entry staff may be needed only during the time period when the system is initially being implemented.

It is strongly recommended that you contact your ITC to make them aware of your intentions to start using USPS. The ITC will be able to assist you with training and inform you of local procedures which you will need to review. For instance, some ITC's require that you run parallel payrolls, creating checks from the old payroll system but running USPS programs down to a point where you can see if you obtain the same results. This can help identify any potential problems, prior to when you actually plan to create checks from this system.

Some ITC's require multiple parallel payrolls, perhaps one for the first pay of the month and one for the second pay of the month. This allows you to see if the appropriate deductions are withheld on the appropriate pays, and if the amounts are correct. There may also be additional procedures you may need to run during the payroll which the ITC personnel will need to explain to you.

You may also want to discuss the purchase of new check forms to be used with this system with your ITC, if they normally order checks for your district.

1.1.2.1 Ideal Times to Start Using USPS

This system can be implemented at any time during the calendar year, preferably at the start of a quarter to ease end-of-quarter reporting requirements. However, there are two times of the year when it is implemented more easily than other times. The start of a calendar year is the most ideal time. This eliminates the need to enter all the year-to-date fields required in the system. Another good time is at the beginning of the contract year when the majority of contracts change for your employees. Starting at the time of the change over in contracts eliminates entering the contract-to-date fields for most employees and also information on the STRS deduction records for some of your certified employees. There are many more year-to-date fields which are necessary, which is why starting at the beginning of a calendar year is the most ideal time.

1.1.2.2 Verify Tax Information by Requiring New W-4's

Some districts have found it advantagous to require their employees to fill out new W-4 forms prior to entering their deduction records on the USPS system. The reasoning behind this is to find any discrepancies on social security numbers. Some districts have actually discovered they have been reporting incorrect social security numbers for their employees for several years. This is not a requirement, but it is a perfect opportunity to identify errors and make sure your records are up-to-date.

1.1.3 Overview of USPS

For those just beginning with the USPS software it is helpful to have an overview of the entire system. You need to be aware of the following aspects of this system: Start-up Programs, Interface with USAS, Interface with EMIS, Security, Payroll Processing, and USPS Reports.

1.1.3.1 Start-up Programs

Prior to actually entering data about your employees on the system, there is some information that the payroll system requires. There are four programs you must run. These programs provide the system with information regarding your district name, address, what you want to print on check stubs, how you track benefits, your buildings and departments, and any deduction company names and addresses which your employees plan to use. If you use direct deposit, the ITC will run another program to provide transit routing number and other information regarding your direct deposits.

1.1.3.2 Interface with USAS

As previously stated, USPS interfaces with the Uniform School Accounting System (USAS). The payroll cycle as run through USPS creates a file which is posted to the USAS accounts by USAS personnel. Board share amounts paid to the deduction companies such as retirement and medicare, are not handled through USPS. The district needs to cut a purchase order, invoice, and check through USAS to provide payments for these board share amounts. Programs are available in USAS to assist you with creating these transactions.

1.1.3.3 Interface with EMIS

The payroll system contains several pieces of data that are required for EMIS reporting. The system allows you to run a program at an EMIS reporting cycle and it will create a file which contains the necessary information. Your ITC will then take that file and forward it to ODE. This eliminates the need to use the EMIS data entry screens to enter information that is already provided in the payroll files.

1.1.3.4 Security

In order to utilize the payroll software, your ITC must provide you with the necessary privileges to run the programs. You may have certain employees in your district who need to utilize the contract information and other employees that are only involved with reporting EMIS data on staff members, and should not be allowed to see contract information. USPS provides security mechanisms to allow your ITC to grant what is called an "identifier" to each user. In this system, the user can be granted a "USPS" identifier and/or a "Personnel" identifier. The "USPS" identifier allows the person access to all fields in the system pertaining to the contract information. The "Personnel" identifier would be granted to the person who should only see the fields which need to be maintained for reporting information for EMIS, which would exclude information pertaining to the contracts and other specific payroll data. An employee can also be granted identifiers to access both types of data, which is typical for the Treasurer in the district.

1.1.3.5 Payroll Processing

The USPS system requires you to run payroll programs in a specific order. It internally tracks which programs you have run and the system will issue error messages, and actually lock you out of programs, if you attempt to run them out of sequence.

As mentioned previously, the size of the district and the personnel involved determine how long it will take to process each payroll. County offices and very small districts could process a payroll in one day. Larger districts may take anywhere from two to four days, this includes printing deduction checks.

Multiple people are allowed to enter payroll information simultaneously. This feature is necessary for larger school districts that require multiple people to enter hours and other payroll data for each payroll cycle.

Upon completion of running the payroll programs, you have files that you can print on your check forms for your employees pay checks and for deduction checks. If your district utilizes direct deposit, you will have an ACH file which you can take to your financial institution. You will also have a file you can print to provide your direct deposit employees, similar to check stubs. See Chapter 8, Direct Deposit for more information on direct deposit.

You are able to pay your deduction companies as often as desired. Deductions which are not paid after each payroll accumulate until you run the necessary programs to produce a deduction check. An example of this might be city taxes which are paid quarterly by many school districts.

The payroll system allows you to run "special" payrolls should you need to void a check and generate a new one or if you forgot to pay someone during your normal payroll. You are able to run as many "special" payrolls as necessary. These payrolls can be delayed until you have closed for the month in USAS, just like the normal payrolls.

You also have the ability to void checks, which will cause all the contract and deduction information to be reduced by the appropriate amounts. The system will also correct the deduction check amounts when a check is voided. If you have not created the deduction checks prior to voiding the payroll check, the appropriate amounts will be included on the deduction checks. If you have created the deduction checks, the adjustments will be reflected the next time you create the deduction checks associated with the voided check.

1.1.3.6 USPS Reports

There are numerous payroll reports available in USPS. Several reports are generated during the course of each payroll to show you information regarding each employee and how much will be charged to the various USAS accounts. There is also a program in this system which will extract data from your files and produce custom reports. There are also Datatrieve reports which are normally shorter reports than those available from the regular USPS software.

USPS also provides you with a report of any changes made to your payroll files, who made the change, and when. This report should be printed on a regular basis for auditing purposes. It can also be printed as often as desired to help identify if manual changes have been made to contract and deduction amounts and exactly when the changes took place.

The purpose of this chapter is to introduce you to the steps that need to be completed in order to start using the USPS. There are four basic programs which must be run and the names of those programs are:

• USPSDAT/USPCON (District Data Information)
• USPSDAT/PGRPED (Configuration and Pay Groups)
• USPSDAT/BLDMNT (Building Code Maintenance)
• USPSDAT/DEPMNT (Department Code Maintenance)
• USPSDAT/DEDNAM (Deduction Names)

These programs are generally only run once when you are initially starting to use this payroll system, and then will only be modified if you want to change your initial responses. You may also find it necessary to run these programs again if you need to add, change, or delete buildings, departments, pay groups, or deduction company information. These programs are not run during each payroll.

In order to start running these programs, the ITC must have created files for you. Contact your ITC when you are ready to proceed with running these start-up programs and ask them if the files are established so you can begin entering information. Once the files are in place, you can run the payroll programs by entering the following command:

$ RUN OECN$PAY:program_name

Some users may utilize the MENU system. If you use the MENU system, then you will type just the name of the program next to the MENU prompt as shown:

MENU>program_name

2.1.1 USPSDAT/USPCON - USPS Configuration Data

Screen 1

____________________________________________________________________________ |Identification Numbers: Period Closing Dates: ATDSCN Flags: | | ODJFS Number: 804111111 SERS : 06/96 Post to Payroll: N | | State EIN : 511111111 STRS : 06/96 Current/future : _ | | Federal EIN: 341111111 QRTRPT: 06/96 Pay Date Method: A | | IRN : 123456 ODJFS : 06/96 Deferred post : _ | | SERS Code : 011999 PURGED: 12/30/94 Period Closing Flags: | | STRS Code : 999999 Diskette or Mag Tape: _ | | STRS District : Sample City School District | | | |Benefit Processing: District Heading: | | SCC (0001-8999): N Name: | | SUBJ: N OPU: Y Sample City School District | | IL : N JOB: N Street: | | Create account : Y 555 Test St. | | Sick Leave Tax Exempt: N City: State: Zip: | | USPSCN/BENSCN Access : N Sample OH 43555- | | | | | | USPCON - USPS Configuration Data Screen 1 of 3 | | XX Help XX Next Screen | | XX Exit | | XX Modify | ____________________________________________________________________________

Field Name	Explanation	Values
ODJFS Number	Ohio Department of Job and Family Services Number.
State EIN	State Employer Identification Number.
Federal EIN	Federal Employer Identification Number.
District IRN	District Information Retrieval Number found in the Ohio Educational Directory.
SERS Code	State Employees Retirement System Code.
STRS Code	State Teachers Retirement System Code.
STRS District	State Teachers Retirement System district name.	Not modifiable.
SERS	Indicates the last time you ran the RETIRE program to clear the month-to-date service days and earnings for your employees.	Not modifiable.
STRS	Indicates the last time you ran the STRSAD program using Option 2 to set the district in the advance mode. Payrolls with July or later pay dates in the new fiscal year cannot be processed unless this field has been set.	Not modifiable.
QRTRPT	Indicates the last time you ran the QRTRPT program to clear the quarter-to-date totals for your contracts and deductions.	Not modifiable.
ODJFS	Closing date indicates the last time you ran the ODJFSRPT program which clears the ODJFS work weeks and the earnings for the quarter.	Not modifiable.
PURGED	Indicates the last time your ITC ran a program to clear obsolete payroll data.	Not modifiable.
Post to Payroll	Determines whether personnel users can post payroll information from ATDSCN.	Y-yes, personnel users can post payroll information from ATDSCN N-no, personnel users cannot post payroll information from ATDSCN.
Current/future	If yes is selected in the Post to Payroll field, indicate how information should be posted by the personnel user.	C-allow posting of ATDSCN information to current payroll F-allow posting of ATDSCN information to future payroll B-Allow posting of ATDSCN information to either current or future payroll.
Pay Date Method	Select the type of service day tracking method. Requires ITC intervention to modify.	O-original pay date tracking method (strict adherence to period beginning date) A-alternate pay date tracking method (less important period dates)
Deferred post	This flag will allow absences to be posted in ATDSCN without adjusting the employees leave balance at the time of posting. The leave balance will be adjusted when the payroll period begin and end dates are inclusive of the transaction date.	Y - Defer posting of ATDSCN entries N - Do not defer posting of ATDSCN entries
Benefit Processing	This section of the USPCON module allows you to determine how much detail you would like to keep for your benefit accounts. Currently, the account to which the employee's salary will be charged is used to create a benefit account. However, used in BRDDIS and LEVPRO, benefit accounts are not required to be maintained with as much detail as the budget accounts. The district has the ability to indicate what dimensions should be carried forward when posting a benefit. For instance, the operational unit (OPU) flag is set to "Y" in the previous screen of data. This means that when a benefit account is created on the system, this user would like the OPU that is to be charged for the employee's pay to be carried through on all their benefit accounts.
	The special cost center (SCC) flag is referring to all special cost centers under 9000. If a SCC on the employee's account is 9000 or greater, the SCC will automatically be carried through for all the benefits.
	This benefit charging section is extremely important. It actually determines the number of budget accounts that can be created during a payroll. The payroll system automatically creates budget accounts for your benefits which need to be charged. Appropriation accounts are never automatically created. The manner in which you need to set these flags should definitely be discussed thoroughly with the Treasurer. If all flags were set to "Y", numerous accounts could be added to your accounting system and perhaps they would be unnecessary and unwanted.
Create account	This flag is used by BRDDIS when creating the USAS .BATCH posting file. If the district answers "yes" to this prompt (or leaves it blank), BRDDIS will list any budget accounts that may be created in the BRDERR.TXT file as informational messages. If the district answers "no" to this flag, BRDDIS will list the budget accounts on the BRDERR.TXT as warnings. These accounts will still be included on the .BATCH file, but will be marked to not allow the accounts to be created. AUTOPOST/BRDDIS will allow these accounts to be brought into USASCN/REQSCN. At this point, district intervention will be needed to continue with the USAS posting process.	Y-yes N-no
Sick Leave Tax Exempt	If an employee is paid for sick leave, is it exempt from federal, state, and city taxes?	Y-yes N-no
USPSCN/BENSCN Access	Allow personnel user access to leave balances in USPSCN/BENSCN?	Y-yes N-no
District Heading	District's name as it should appear at the top of the payroll reports.
Street Number	District's street address.
City	City in which the district resides.
State	State in which the district resides.
Zip	District's zip code.