Crosswalk OptionsNote: 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.
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.
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.
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.
The ESSA Account Number Changes screen will appear.
Complete the following:
The applicable reference pieces for the expenditure accounts display in the Expenditure List (based on the updated Nebraska reference structure changes that will occur upon executing the ESSA Account Number Changes option, including the Building reference piece marked as Required). If desired, make changes to the order of the reference pieces or change whether or not the optional reference pieces are used.
To define a reference piece so that it is not part of the account structure, select the Hide field for the desired reference. A checkmark will appear in the box if the field is selected.
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.
To change the order of the reference pieces, click once on the reference piece to move and then click the Top, Up, Down, or Bottom button (located to the left of the list) until the reference is in the desired position. The reference piece of FUND must always be the first piece and cannot be moved.
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.
The Level to Building Reference Number Crosswalk List is enabled if the Level reference piece is being utilized within the expenditure account structure (the Level reference piece is not hidden, level codes are defined in the reference files, and level codes are used in expenditure accounts). If applicable, complete the Level to Building Reference Number Crosswalk List to define which building codes to use in expenditure account numbers as based on existing level codes; then when the option is executed, the system will update the applicable expenditure account numbers to use the designated building codes. For example, complete this list to update the expenditure account numbers defined with level code 1 to use building code 001, and expenditure account numbers defined with level code 2 to use building code 002, etc. Leave this list blank to have the building codes remain unchanged if already defined in the expenditure account numbers or become zero filled if building codes were not previously used in the expenditure account numbers. To add a line for corresponding level and building codes, complete the following:
In the blank line (indicated with an asterisk) at the bottom of the Level to Building Reference Number Crosswalk List, enter the level code used in the expenditure account numbers for which to update the building code in the Level Reference Number field, or click the down-arrow button to select the correct one.
In the Building Reference Number field, enter the desired building code to use in the expenditure account numbers containing the designated level code, or click the down-arrow button to select the correct one.
Repeat the steps until all the corresponding level and building codes have been added.
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.
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.
If the specified settings or changes cause an account number to be a duplicate with another account number, a checkmark will appear in the box under the Duplicate column for the applicable account numbers.
If the specified settings or changes will not allow an account number specified as the old number to become the new one because it will cause an error, the error icon will appear to the right of the New Chart of Account Number. All errors must be corrected before the ESSA Account Number Changes option can be completed (executed).
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.
Click the Execute button to post the ESSA account number changes to the Chart of Accounts.
When prompted to change the account structure, click Yes.
For organizations with the School Accounting System installed locally, the Backup Database screen will appear; make a backup as normal.
Note: A backup must be made or else the system will not continue with the process.
After the process has been completed, a message will appear; click OK.
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.
If needed, complete crosswalks at this time. For example, complete crosswalks to create any additional account numbers with different Building reference numbers.
Note: If crosswalks were completed, repeat Step 11 to verify and make any additional changes as needed.
