Implementing ESSA Account Number Changes for Nebraska

Note:  Follow the instructions below to implement changes in order to comply with the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) requirements for Nebraska, effective for the 2018-2019 fiscal year for school districts and 2019-2020 fiscal year for ESUs; the ESSA Account Number Changes option can be completed by Nebraska school districts at any time as the changes will not affect the annual report for the 2017-2018 fiscal year.  The ESSA Account Number Changes option is only available to users who are set up as a supervisor.  All other users should be logged out of the School Accounting System when completing the ESSA Account Number Changes option.  The ESSA Account Number Changes option can only be completed (executed) one time, after which it will then become disabled.

Tip:  For Nebraska school districts, the ESSA Account Number Changes option does the following:  makes the Building reference piece a required piece for expenditure accounts; allows the account structure for the expenditure accounts to be changed if desired (able to change the order of the reference pieces and whether or not the optional reference pieces are used); and if the Level reference piece is currently being utilized with expenditure accounts, provides a way to define the building codes to use in the expenditure accounts as based on the existing level codes.  

  1. From the General Ledger screen, select the Maintenance menu and then Chart of Accounts.

Note:  If applicable, all the account numbers entered within the Crosswalk Account Numbers option must be posted in order to access the ESSA Account Number Changes option.

  1. At the Chart of Accounts screen, select the Options menu and then ESSA Account Number Changes.

Note:  The ESSA Account Number Changes option will be disabled after it has been completed (executed) once.

  1. When prompted to have all users logged out of the system, click OK if all other users are out and then proceed with Step 4; otherwise, click Cancel and confirm all users are out and then repeat Steps 1-3.

  2. The ESSA Account Number Changes screen will appear.

  3. Complete the following:

Note:  If a reference piece is marked as Required, the Hide field cannot be selected as the reference piece must be used in the account structure for the selected account type.

Note:  If a reference piece that is optional (no checkmark in the Required field) is moved to be before a reference piece that is required, that optional reference piece will become "required" within the Chart of Accounts, meaning that the reference piece will always have to be used for all account numbers of the specified type (and zero fill that reference piece if not tracking it for a particular account number).  If a reference piece that is optional (no checkmark in the Required field) is at the end of the account structure, it will remain "optional" within the Chart of Accounts, meaning that the reference piece does not always have to be used for all account numbers of the specified type.

Tip:  The Building reference piece that is changing to required with the ESSA Account Number Changes option appears after the last required piece for that account type by default but can be changed.

Note:  If needed, to remove a line of corresponding level and building codes from the list, click the Delete button located to the left of the desired record; when prompted to delete the line, click Yes.

Tip:  If expenditure account numbers were previously defined with a different building code than what is specified to be used for a corresponding level code in the list, the building codes in the account numbers will be changed (overwritten) to match what is designated in the list.

Note:  A level code can only be entered one time in the list, while a building code can be entered multiple times if several level codes correspond to the same building code (for example, both level 1 and level 2 correspond to building 001).  If one level code needs to correspond to multiple building codes, complete the list by specifying one of the building codes (the one that is applicable to the majority of the account numbers), and then perform crosswalks after executing the ESSA Account Number Changes option to add the remaining account numbers for the other building codes.

Crosswalk Options

  1. Click the Display button at the bottom of the screen to view how the actual account numbers (for expenditure accounts only) will change based on the specified settings.

Note:  The error icon will appear if the account number is marked as a duplicate because duplicate account numbers cannot be combined within this option as they may be different account types.  To fix the error for duplicate account numbers, complete one of the following:  1) specify a different account structure so that the result does not include any duplicate account numbers; 2) close out of the ESSA Account Number Changes option, combine the account numbers that would become duplicates (if have the same account type), and then complete the ESSA Account Number Changes option again; or 3) close out of the ESSA Account Number Changes option, crosswalk one of the account numbers that would become duplicates to make it be unique once the structure is changed, and then complete the ESSA Account Number Changes option again.

  1. Click the Execute button to post the ESSA account number changes to the Chart of Accounts.

  2. When prompted to change the account structure, click Yes.

  3. The Backup Database screen will appear; make a backup as normal.

Steps to Backup

Note:  A backup must be made or else the system will not continue with the process.

  1. Once the backup has been created, the system will continue posting the account number changes, and after the process has been completed, a message will appear; click OK.

  2. Since the expenditure account structure changed, verify the masks and make the necessary changes in the following files:  Deductions, Taxes, Account Groups (if applicable), and Approval Trees (if applicable).  Also, for flexible financial reports defined within the Flexible Financial Report Setup option, change the sorts to follow the new account structure, if desired, and if filter records formulas are defined within the flexible financial reports (or other custom reports created in Report Writer) to print only account numbers with certain piece numbers, verify and edit the filter records formulas at this time.

  3. If needed, complete crosswalks at this time.  For example, complete crosswalks to create any additional account numbers with different Building reference numbers.

Crosswalk Options

Note:  If crosswalks were completed, repeat Step 11 to verify and make any additional changes as needed.