fiscal


Carolyn Graf, Assistant to the Director
Deb Ford, Fiscal Services Coordinator
Traci Stuckey, Fiscal Services Coordinator
State Software Development Team

The Uniform School Accounting Software (USAS) package is a complete computer-based accounting system for the member school district that meets all State reporting requirements. This software completely automates the entire budgeting/accounting cycle for the member district. In addition, it automates many of the State reports required of the districts saving a great many local man-hours. It also has data transfer capabilities to the EMIS reporting system and to industry-standard spreadsheet software for additional analysis by local district personnel. Usage of the 20/20 spreadsheet software on NWOCA computer systems is included in this service.

The system provides for a wide range of reporting options which NWOCA has supplemented to serve the needs of member districts. With assistance from our member districts, additional enhancements are being made to this software to assist districts in the conversion to a modified accrual basis of financial reporting. The software used to provide the USAS service is supplied by the Ohio Department of Education. This is a required service that all member districts must utilize as its usage generates State funding support for NWOCA.

The Uniform Staff Payroll System (USPS) is a complete payroll system which includes reporting features for many benefits such as sick leave, vacation, and personal days. The system provides a wealth of reports and automates SERS and STRS reporting requirements as well as quarterly OBES and year- end W-2 processing. The payroll system is fully interfaced with the USAS accounting system to minimize user time involvement, and also has data transfer capabilities to the EMIS reporting system as well as industry-standard spreadsheet formats.

This service also provides the member district with a means of maintaining detailed personnel information on all classified and certificated employees. In addition this software allows the user to report the OCCD-6 and CS-1 data portions of the EMIS reporting requirements in an automated fashion saving a great deal of member district personnel time. This package also provides the capability to perform limited salary schedule simulation runs during negotiations. This service utilizes software provided by the Ohio Department of Education. This is a required service that all member districts must utilize as its usage generates State funding support for NWOCA.

This service allows the user to perform "what-if" type projections in analyzing or generating proposals for modifications to staff salary schedules. In addition to quickly allowing the user to generate a printed salary schedule the software will also provide cost projections based on current staff experience and numbers. Further, the system allows the user to project the cost of these simulated schedules based on anticipated staff experience and numbers several years into the future. This service is provided by software components of the Uniform Staff Payroll System (USPS) from the Ohio Department of Education as well as NWOCA-developed and supported software.

The Equipment Inventory System (SAAS/EIS) software package provides the user district with the ability to maintain a current inventory of capital equipment and fixed assets. The inventory system generated may be as detailed, or as simplistic, as desired by the user district, with a wide range of reporting capabilities supported. The system is integrated with the USAS accounting system to minimize the workload of maintaining a current inventory as new items are purchased. The software used to provide this service is supplied by the Ohio Department of Education.

The Vehicle Information System (SAAS/VIS) software package provides the user district with ameans of tracking bus fleet maintenance and cost data. The service allows the user district to maintain accurate records of all costs associated with the acquisition, operation, and maintenance of a bus fleet. In addition this software automates significant portions of the T-2 report. This service is provided by means of software supported by the Ohio Department of Education.

The OECN software package contains programs designed for Local Professional Development tracking and maintenance. The LPDC programs were created in response to the Teacher Education and Licensure Standards and enable you to maintain and track certificate and licensure requirements for all of your district personnel. Continuing Education Units earned, college courses taken, degrees, as well as credits toward local professional development can all be recorded through these programs.

This Special Education Child Information Management System (SECIMS) software package provides a means of tracking the progress and needs of special and handicapped children. The package provides a means of storing all information required by Federal and State laws and generates the reports required by the State as well as a number of reports used for effective management at the district, building, and classroom level. The software used to provide this service is supplied by the Ohio Department of Education.

This service provides the member district with a means of communicating with NWOCA, other member districts, Ohio Department of Education personnel, or Internet users worldwide, via a fast effective communications system at no additional cost. Information transfer is immediate and available to the receiver in both visual and physical (paper) format in a matter of seconds. Through the electronic conferencing software keyword and context searches of information may be made when using the conferences as an information reference source.

NWOCA attempts to maintain on-staff at least one individual that has a valid Ohio School District Treasurer's License. It is the concept that NWOCA will train this individual in all aspects of the school Treasurer's Office, and have this individual attend as many training seminars through the Auditor of State's Office, OASBO, OSMA, etc., as is possible. Then, when there are absences in a member district's Treasurer's Office due to vacations, extended illness, leave of absence, resignation, etc., this individual may be placed in that office to fulfill the duties of the absent district employee.

When this NWOCA employee is not fulfilling duties for member districts this individual acts as a user contact person at NWOCA for users of fiscal services that are having prob lems or need clarification on some aspect of our services. When permanent openings are available in member districts NWOCA encourages the Fiscal Services Liaison to apply for these positions. We believe that this provides a valuable service to member districts as they can obtain experienced personnel, and at the same time it minimizes the workload of the NWOCA staff as it is easier to train new fiscal services users in-house than at a remote member district.

This service provides the member district with information placed in graphic format for ease of interpretation. Graphs can be prepared in a variety of formats in both black-and-white and full color. Graphic output is customized to the needs and desires of each school district. Member districts are encouraged to contact NWOCA to discuss possible applications of this service.

This service allows the member district to obtain large reports to CD-Rom for long term storage in a very compact format. This can relieve the burdens of record retention requirements that frequently cause storage problems for governmental agencies.