Springbrook Enhancement Lists

.NET Framework 4.7.2

Springbrook’s 7.18.7 Cloud release includes an upgrade from .NET Framework 4.6 (released in 2015) to .NET Framework 4.7.2. This framework upgrade provides the opportunity to take advantage of a more modern set of tools when the Springbrook team is developing new application features.

 

Large Job Warning Message

The Large Job Warning Message has been removed. This message was directed towards on-premise users and does not apply to Springbrook Cloud.

 

Grid Export

Numerous data grids across the Springbrook Cloud application have been enhanced with a more powerful grid export option. Users can now right-click in one of these updated data grids and select “Export all records to .csv” in order to generate a .csv file that includes all records that match the specified filter criteria. This new data grid export option provides a powerful tool for users who generate their own customized reports from the enhanced Springbrook data grids.

A full list of the data grids that allow this enhanced export functionality can accessed at https://sprbrk.box.com/v/7187GridExport.

 

Springbrook Analytics

The Springbrook Analytics reporting tool has been introduced for Springbrook Cloud users. This reporting and analytics tool is powered by Tableau, the industry leader in third-party reporting solutions. This tool allows organizations to generate complex reports, complete with charts and graphs, that pull nearly real-time data from multiple user-selected database tables. Those reports can be shared across the organization while still maintaining data security through comprehensive data security settings.

 

GL Distribution

The GL Distribution batch step across the application has been updated to include control accounting data. Control accounting updates are covered in the GL Setup section below.

 

Multi-Muni Relational Databases

Updated the system to handle Multi-Muni agency accounting practices common to Northeastern clients. This system is based on parent/child related databases and is often implemented between a city agency and the school district agency in that city. Other enhancements related to this new feature are covered in the Accounts Payable and System Wide Access sections below.

 

Multi-factor Authentication

Springbrook has implemented multi-factor authentication (MFA) in order to provide an additional level of security when agency users access the application.

Improved Password Validation

Password complexity validation has been improved for all Springbrook Online Applications. This new validation will improve system security establishing more complex password requirements. Passwords will now need to contain at least eight characters and must include three of the following four characteristics:

• Lowercase letters
• Uppercase letters
• Numbers
• Special characters (!, @, #, $, %, etc.)

This change only applies to newly created or updated passwords and will not impact existing passwords.

1099s

The 1099s process has been enhanced to allow users to process multiple batches.

 

The Generate step of the AP 1099s process has been updated to include 1099 Disc calculations. For vendor records that include a value in the Default 1099 Disc Box field, the system will now automatically aggregate the Discount Amount and display it in the specified Default 1099 Disc Box while the aggregated Base Amount still displays in the specified Default 1099 Box.

 

The Edit step of the AP 1099s process has been updated for this release. The Check here if the transferor is a foreign person (nonresident alien, foreign partnership, foreign estate, or foreign trust) toggle has been added to allow organizations to report on the sale or exchange of real estate.

 

Computer Checks> Settings

The Settings step of the Computer Checks process has been enhanced to include the Invoices From field. This field allows users to specify which database the Computer Checks batch will be generated for. This enhancement is associated with the new Multi Muni related database functionality and will only be displayed for agencies using this functionality.

 

Computer Checks> Voucher Approval

The Computer Checks process has been updated for agencies using the NY Vouchers process. The Voucher Approval step has been moved forward to fall between the Proof List and the Number Checks steps in order to better match the NY Vouchers work flow.

 

Invoices> Import

The Import step of the AP Invoices process has been updated to accept user-configured import files. Import files specific to the AP Invoices process can be set up on the SS Import Configuration Maintenance window.

 

Configurable import functionality has been added to the AP Invoices process. The File Type drop-down field on the Import Invoices window will now display custom AP import configurations created by users in SS> Maintenance> Import Configuration. Please see the Import Configuration Maintenance item in the System Setup section below for specific information about the import definitions.

 

The Import step of the AP Invoices process has been enhanced to include PM Task Code and PM Type Code validation for agencies set up to use Multi-Muni Relational Databases. The system will validate that PM Task Codes and Type Codes on invoices being imported from the child database do in fact exist in the parent database.

 

The Import step of the AP Invoices process has been enhanced to allow users to include prefix or postfix values on string fields in the import file if the selected import configuration is set up to include those values.

 

Invoices> Invoices

The Invoices step of the Invoices batch process has been enhanced to include validation to prevent an invoice included in the batch from exceeding the total Max Amount value set on the associated vendor.

 

Vendor Maintenance

The Vendor Maintenance window has been enhanced to include the Max Amount field on the General tab. This field is used to specify a maximum amount for purchase orders created for a vendor.

 

The Vendor Maintenance window has been enhanced to include the Default 1099 Disc Box field on the Details tab. This field is used to assign a default 1099 box that will be used to track discount amounts.

 

The Vendor Maintenance window has been enhanced to include the P-Card vendor toggle on the AP History tab. This enhancement enables the display of P-Card paid invoices paid by the current vendor when filtering invoice history. This enhancement is related to the P-Card enhancements outlined in the Manual Checks item below.

 

Manual Checks

The Manual Checks process has been enhanced to include the ability to process P-Card (Purchasing Card) transactions. These enhancements include the new P-Card Vendor field on the Settings step, the inclusion of P-Card Vendor data in AP History records, and the ability to process 0 (zero) check numbers.

 

ACH Checks Report

The ACH Checks Report has been added to the available reports in the Accounts Payable module. This report is used to print all ACH checks in a committed or uncommitted Computer Checks batch. The checks are generated in long check stub format.

 

Voucher Register Report

The Voucher Register Report has been enhanced to include the Voucher Register By Fund option in the Report Type drop-down menu. This option is used to generate the report sorted by fund. The Include records with no voucher number toggle has also been added and is only enabled when this new report type is selected.

 

The Voucher Register Report has been enhanced to include the Fund field and the Page Break by Fund toggle. The Fund field is used to generate the report for a single fund and the Page Break by Fund toggle is used to print each fund on its own page(s) when reporting on multiple funds.

 

Iowa 1099 Export

Updated the 1099 process for Iowa clients in order to meet new state requirements. Iowa 1099s can now be field electronically as required for employers with more than 50 employees. This change also updates the Iowa-specific 1099 export file to include the required Iowa State Code 19.

 

Oklahoma 1099 Export

Updated the 1099 process for Oklahoma clients in order to meet new state requirements. The Oklahoma-specific 1099 Export file now includes the required OK Code 40.

 

AP Setup

The PM Task Cash Account in AP toggle has been added to the AP Setup window. This toggle enables the AP Cash Account field on the Task Code Maintenance window and allows users to specify which cash account to use in AP Computer Checks GL Distribution.

 

Void Checks> Select Checks

The Select Checks step of the Void Checks process has been enhanced to include the Checks From field. This field allows users to specify which database to pull checks from for the Void Checks batch. This enhancement is associated with the new Multi Muni related database functionality and will only be displayed for agencies using this functionality.

 

Void Invoices> Select Invoices

The Select Invoices step of the Void Invoices process has been enhanced to include the Invoices From field. This field allows users to specify which database to pull invoices from for the Void Invoices batch. This enhancement is associated with the new Multi Muni related database functionality and will only be displayed for agencies using this functionality.

 

Void Invoices> Commit

The Void Invoices process has been updated to ensure the system properly reverses any Wisconsin Highway-related work order transactions on the voided checks or invoices.

Collections

Updated the Turnover Export step of the Collections process to allow users to generate the standard export file or a user-configured export file.

 

Invoices

The Invoices step of the AR Invoices process has been enhanced to include:

• Additional print options. Users can now check the Detail print, Hide value in quantity for flat fees, Hide value in discount or credit when not applicable, Display account description below address, Display previous balance, and Display 'Due Upon Receipt' instead of due date toggles to customize the printed invoices.

• Additional WI Highway details. Additional WI Highway details, such as Administrative Fees and Small Tools Fees, will now be displayed below the work order line item for Wisconsin invoices set up to Print Work Order Details.

 

Account Maintenance

The History tab of the Account Maintenance window has been enhanced to improve system performance. The new History From field will limit the historic transactions that display by default to only those from the last year, preventing performance issues that can accompany the display of a large number of transactions.

 

Update Recurring Invoices

The Update Recurring Invoices tool has been added to AR> Utilities. This tool allows users to update existing recurring invoices after making changes to the amounts and/or descriptions attached to the relevant fee codes.

 

AR Trial Balance Report

The AR Trial Balance Report has been enhanced to include the Show Account Description toggle. This toggle allows users to include the account description in the report header.

Clear Transactions> Proof List

The Clear Transactions Proof List has been enhanced to improve clarity. The Bank Code, Bank Name, Account Code, Account Name, and Bank Code labels have all been added to the report header.

 

Utilities> Undo Cleared Checks

The Undo Cleared Check window has been updated to provide improved usability and to more closely align with other Springbrook utilities.

Permit Maintenance

Printed permits have been enhanced to include the Customer Number field. The Customer Number field will display under the Site Address field if the Print customer number on permit toggle is checked in BP Setup.

 

Utilities> Setup

The BP Setup window has been enhanced to include the Print customer number on permit toggle. This toggle allows users to include the customer number on printed permit.

Letters

The Business Tax Letters process has been enhanced to provide users with more control over how each batch is generated. The Generate step has now been broken out into three different generate options – Forms, Infractions, and Unreceived Filings.

• The Forms generate step can be used to generate a BT Letters batch based on a selected form. This is similar to the Generate step that existed in previous versions, but only those options specific to generating a Form type Letters batch will be displayed.
• The Infractions generate step can be used to generate a BT Letters batch based on a set of selected infractions. This allows users to generate a different form for each included infraction. This eliminates the need to run multiple Letters batches when attempting to generate multiple different form letter types.
• The Delinquent Filings step of the BT Letters process has been renamed Unreceived Filings to more accurately reflect the way clients use the process.

 

The Unreceived Filings generate step can be used to generate a BT Letters batch based on unreceived filings. Like the Forms generate step, this is similar to the Generate step that existed in previous versions, but only those options specific to generating an unreceived type Letters batch will be displayed.

The Unreceived Filings step has also been updated to include additional filtering options. The Create Date From and Create Date To fields have been added to filter the accounts included in the batch by the date that the business was created. The Business section has been added to select specific business records to include in the batch.

 

The data grid on the Edit step has been enhanced to include additional transaction details. The data grid will now also display the Period, Year, Period End Date, Due Date and Extension Date for the included transaction.

 

Letters> Kentucky Statements

The Kentucky Statements step has been added to the BT Letters process to meet the needs of large Kentucky clients. This step allows users to generate a very large number of word merge form letters through Microsoft Word. These statements include scan line capability and can encompass multiple periods.

 

Fee Maintenance

The Fee Maintenance window has been enhanced to provide improved accuracy when computing fee rates and interest percentages. This rate field can now accommodate up to six decimal places.

 

Forms Maintenance

Forms generated within the Business Tax module have been enhanced to include additional BT transaction details. This enhancement allows organizations to include tax schedule data specific to the organizations included in a Letters batch. This data includes the Tax Type, Year, Period, Period End Date, and Due Date for each included organization.

 

Added the following merge fields to Word Merge Forms to support the creation of OCR scan lines by inserting the fields and setting them to use the OCR-A font.

• Transactions__AlternateTaxTypeIdentifier - This maps to the Tax Type field Alternate Tax Identifier. A numerical value must be entered in the field for the scan line to work.
• Transactions__BusinessNumber - This prints the value on the Word MergeTransaction for business number. The way that WordMerge handles non-section fields prohibits the Word Merge Business_bus_no from printing in those sections.
• Transactions__OcrDueDate - This is an OCR friendly formatted version of the Due Date on the transaction. When printed it will print the short date string with the slashes trimmed out. 11/16/2016 12:00 AM would print as 11162016.
• Transactions__OcrExtensionDate - The Extension Date of the transaction, but with the OCR friendly formatting.
• Transactions__OcrPeriodEndDate - The Period End Date of the transaction but with OCR friendly formatting.

 

Infraction Type Maintenance

The Form field has been added to the Infraction Type Maintenance window. This field allows users to assign existing Business Tax forms to each infraction type. By assigning a form to each infraction type, users can generate different forms for each infraction type included in a BT Letters batch by using the Letters> Infractions step. This enhancement eliminates the need to run multiple Letters batches in order to generate multiple forms.

 

Tax Type Maintenance

Added Alternate Tax Identifier field to Tax Type.

 

Delinquent Filers Report

The Delinquent Filers report has been enhanced to include the Reconciliation Filings toggle. This toggle is used to generate the report in Reconciliation mode, allowing organizations to identify accounts with delinquent reconciliation returns.

 

Outstanding Balances Report

The Outstanding Balances report has been enhanced to include the Display field. This field allows users to display the default Tran Description in the report header or display Business Name in the report header.

 

Payments Listing Report

The Payments Listing report has been enhanced to include the Display field. This field allows users to display the default Tran Description in the report header or display Business Name in the report header.

 

Transaction History Report

The Transaction History report was enhanced to offer several more filtering options. Users were previously required to select one business for this report. The enhanced report now provides the ability to select one business, multiple businesses, or all business that are desired. Users can select more than one business at a time to be included on this report. These businesses may be added individually, one by one through look-ups, or users may select multiple businesses at one time by using the business lookup screen and the CTRL or SHIFT keys to select the desired group of businesses. Additional sorts have been added to provide more sort options by business as multiple businesses are now available on the report.

These items have been added as additional filter toggles:

• Tax Type - Select the Tax Types that should be included in the report. The Tax Types field is used to filter the transactions by tax type. Check the toggles next to the tax types you would like to include on the report. By default, all tax types are selected. Tax types are used to group taxes together into logical associations such as Payroll or Gross Receipts. Tax types are created and maintained on the Tax Type Maintenance window (BT > Maintenance > Tax Type).
• Status - Select the Business Tax Account Status that should be included in the report. The Status field is used to filter the transactions by status. Check the toggle next to the statuses you would like to include on the report. By default, all statuses are selected. Statuses are created and maintained on the Status Maintenance window (BT > Maintenance > Status).

These items have been added as additional filter fields:

• Date Type: Period / Year may now be selected in the Date Type drop-down to provide Period and Year filtering options. When Period / Year are selected, the From Date and To Date fields are disabled.
• Period From / Year From. Use the Period and Year From fields to filter the transactions to be included in the report by the transaction period and/or year beginning range associated with those transactions.
• Period To / Year To. Use the Period To and Year To fields to filter the transactions to be included in the report by the transaction period and/or year ending range associated with those transactions. This report was also enhanced for performance for more efficient processing.

This report is also accessed from Business Tax > Maintenance > Business > History Tab > Print Icon > Print History report.

 

Business Export and Business Import

A new premium feature has been added to allow agencies to share business data. This feature introduces the Business Export and Business Import options to the Utilities menu.

This process is intended as a one way sync. Only businesses with an exported tax type will get exported. If a business has no tax types or none that were selected for export, then that business will not be exported. When exporting the data the user will need to select what tax type they will be exporting and whether they want to export any override schedules with it. They will also be able to manually enter a mapped tax type code for any tax type they are exporting. If a mapped tax type is the same as another of the exported tax types and a business has both, when exported, that business will only have one instance of that tax type code. Exporting to mapped tax type codes should not allow exporting of override schedules.

When importing, if a tax type code exists that doesn't already exist in the receiving database, the import will stop. Tax types will be imported and added/removed to businesses by tax code. If there are override schedules then delete any existing ones for that tax type/business and add the imported ones. No other schedule or fee info will be imported, just make sure that the taxes that are on one business in the exporting system are on that business in the importing system. The existing contacts will be deleted and replaced with the ones from the import. Initial Export Filters will be "remembered" so for subsequent exports the previous settings may be used.

Cash Receipts > Cash Entry

The Cash Entry window has been enhanced to include LP Barcode functionality. When in Scan Mode, this enhancement allows users to create a receipt that includes the amount due values for all LP pet licenses associated with the customer via barcode scan.

 

Cash Receipts> Returns

Business Tax receipts can now be printed from Cash Receipts > Returns. Receipts can be printed upon saving the return, or at any point in the future. This functions very similarly to receipt printing in Cash Receipts > Receipts. This new feature will now require validation of workstation and operator to use the Cash Receipts > Return screen. The system will validate that the current user and workstation are registered as an operator and workstation. If users have been entering receipts through Cash Receipts > Receipts, then the users and workstations have already been set up. If you have users that use Cash Receipts > Returns, but do not use Cash Receipts > Receipts, you will need to set up their operator and workstation information. This is accomplished through Cash Receipts > Maintenance > Operator and Cash Receipts > Maintenance > Workstation.

The receipts that will print depend on how the Cash Receipts module is set up. Settings for this feature follow rules that are established in Cash Receipts > Maintenance > Operator, Payment Method, Type Code, and Slip. Once an operator is selected, toggles are available for each of the following options that will control the behavior of the receipt printing in the return entry window for the specified operator.

• Automatically Print Receipt on Save - If the Automatically Print Receipt on Save toggle is checked, the receipt printer will print all receipts and endorsements set up as 'Default' on the Slip Maintenance window and all slips attached to Payment Methods and Type Codes used on the receipt.
• Automatically Print Duplicate (Copy) Receipt
• Pause Printing Between Receipts

Security related to Operator and Station setups will now also apply to batches with Returns. If single operator mode is enabled (Cash Receipts > Utilities > Setup > Single Operator per Batch Option) and if a receipt is already entered in the current batch and the current user was not the one to create it, then a warning appears preventing the user from entering a new return.

To support the printing of receipts during Return entry the 'Print Receipt' and 'Print Receipt using selected slip' icons have been added to the Return toolbar. After the first return is saved, the Print Receipt icon can be selected to print the previous receipt. The 'Print Receipt' icon, when hovered over, will display the previous receipt number. The 'Print Receipt using the selected slip' option will provide the user a list of receipt slips to choose from, and also display the previous receipt number when hovered over. Once the slip is chosen, the previous receipt will print. If no payment is created from the return, the receipt icons will be disabled. If the Return is reopened, the same icons will then print the receipt slip for the current Return. "Print a slip for the current receipt" The Return toolbar bar now has an 'Options' field added with the 'Print on Save' option. This will default to the Operator's 'Automatically print receipt on save' settings (established in CR > Maintenance > Operator) . The user has the option to override the Operator settings for the length of their session using Return entry. For example, if most of the time no receipt is printed, then the user would not have the 'Automatically print receipt on save' settings turned on, but if a customer requests a receipt, the user could override the option by clicking on the Return toolbar, checking Print Receipt on Save, and saving the receipt. The return entry window would then print receipts until the user removed the check from the option, or until the user ends the receipt entry session.

 

Cash Receipts> UB Proof List

The UB Proof List has been enhanced to include the Sort By field. This field allows users to sort the report by Customer Number or Receipt Number.

 

Slip Maintenance

The All Accounts & Description field has been added to the available Slip Codes. This option allows for displaying an additional account description line on printed receipts in addition to the Account Number. The Receipt will have the Account Number listed, and the following line will include customer information. For most accounts, the description line will print the customer's name. For Business Tax accounts the Doing Business As line will print if this information is on the account (field found on Business Tax > Maintenance > Business General Tab > DBA field). If this information is not on the account, then the customer's name will print. For receipt lines that do not contain an account, no description will print.

Setup:

• Cash Receipts > Maintenance > Slip > Select the slip name in which you wish to add this information.
• The Receipt Column now displays a new code for [All Accounts & Description].
• Select the line in the Slip Text area to the right in which you would like to add this information, then double click the All Accounts & Description field to add this information to the printed receipt.

This code will display similar functionality to the [All Accounts] code, however it will provide an additional line giving a description for an account. If you add the [All Accounts & Description] line to the receipt, you may wish to remove the [All Accounts] code.

Direct Debit> Generate

The Generate step of the Direct Debit process has been enhanced to include the Include UB Accounts with a Credit Balance toggle. This toggle is used to ensure accounts with a credit balance are still charged the expected monthly budget billing amount and the related direct debit entry is generated.

 

Electronic AP> Export ASCII

The Use Tax ID field has been added to the File Settings section of the Export ASCII step. This field allows organizations to enter a company identification tax number if required to do so by their bank. Organizations that are not required to provide this information can ignore this enhancement.

Issue Maintenance

The Issue Maintenance window has been enhanced to include URL Type Code functionality. The will allow users to transmit issue data to a third party website such as Google Maps.

Utilities> Copy Revision

The Copy Revision tool has been enhanced to include the Override Attachments toggle. This toggle allows users to override any attachments on the target revisions with the attachments on the revisions being copied.

Asset Listing Report

The Asset Listing Report has been enhanced to include the Adjust for mass asset depreciation toggle in the report print options. This toggle is used to include disposed depreciation values for Adjusted Cost, Period Depreciation, and Total Depreciation in the generated report.

Display> Budget by Account

The Budget by Account Display window has been added for this release. This window is used to display budget details for accounts and account groups. Budget details include Total Budget, Remaining Budget, Committed PO Encumbrance, Uncommitted PO Encumbrance, Committed PO Requisition, Uncommitted AP Activity, Committed GL History, and Uncommitted GL History for each account included in the account group.

 

Journal Entries> Import

Updated the way the Import step of the Journal Entries processes negative-value journal entries. The system will now import the absolute value of the import amount and apply the opposite journal entry type to the amount. For example, a -$100 debit would be imported as a $100 credit.

 

Account Groups Maintenance

The Account Groups Maintenance window has been added to the GL Module. Account Groups are used to group accounts by active account sections, such as fund, department, division or account. Budget validations can then be calculated against the aggregate budget totals for all the accounts in a group. This gives the user an additional level of budget control by ensuring the total account group budget is not exceeded when individual account budgets are exceeded.

 

Budget Group Maintenance

Updated the Budget Group Maintenance window to allow Cloud users to add an unlimited number of GL accounts to a single budget group. The previous limit of 200 GL accounts no longer applies to Cloud users.

 

Chart of Accounts Maintenance

The Deferred Revenue field has been added to the General tab of the Chart of Accounts Maintenance window. This field is used to by organizations that use deferred accounting practices. Deferred accounting is enabled on the GL Setup window.

 

Reports> Trial Balance by Period

The Trial Balance by Period report has been enhanced to include the Use period budgeting toggle. When this toggle is checked, the system will use period budget values when calculating the YTD budget displayed on the report.

 

GL Setup

The Use Deferred Revenue toggle has been added to the General tab of the GL Setup window. This toggle is used to enable deferred revenue for those organizations that follow those accounting practices. This setting can only be enabled by a Springbrook employee.

 

The Use Control Accounting toggle has been added to the General tab of the GL Setup window. This toggle is used to enable control accounting for those organizations that follow those accounting practices. When checked, the related Revenue Control, Revenue Control Subsidiary, Expense Control, and Expense Control Subsidiary Accounts can be used to specify the control accounts the organization would like to use. This setting can only be enabled by a Springbrook employee.

 

Export Journal Entries

The Export Journal Entries tool has been enhanced to include a number of new export fields via the standard export format. These include:

• Amount - DR amount minus CR amount

• Debit/Credit Indicator - If the Amount is Debit then "D" else "C"

• Character 1-10 - The Account's Character 1-10 Miscellaneous field values

• Decimal 1-10 - The Account's Decimal 1 Miscellaneous field values

• Date 1 and 2 - The Account's Date 1 and Date 2 Miscellaneous field values

• Logical 1-5 - The Account's Logical 1-5 Miscellaneous field values

COLA

Added the Update Salary amount for Hourly employees toggle to the Select Grades step in order to allow agencies to calculate salary values for hourly employees when the COLA batch is committed.

 

Employee Type Codes Report

Added the Print Memos toggle to the Employee Type Codes report. This toggle is used to include the Memo data associated with an included HR Employee record in the generated report.

Inventory Transactions> Enter Transactions

The Enter Transactions step has been enhanced to ensure the category codes on the inventory transaction and the work order match if the Validate IC category on WO for inventory transactions toggle is checked on IC Setup.

 

Reports> Reorder Report

The Reorder Report has been enhanced to include the Print most recent invoice detail toggle. This toggle allows users to include vendor, purchase date, quantity, and amount details for the most recent invoice on the item.

 

Utilities> Setup

Updated the IC Setup window to include the Validate IC category on WO for inventory transactions toggle. This toggle is used to alert users when a work order selected in the Inventory Transactions process has a different category code than the inventory transaction itself.

Letters

The Letters step of the LP Letters process has been enhanced to include the Print all Licenses for the same Customer toggle. This toggle allows users to include all pet license information associated with a customer on a single letter.

 

License Maintenance

Printed licenses have been enhanced to include the Customer Number field. The Customer Number field will display under the Service Address field if the Print customer number on license toggle is checked in LP Setup.

 

Forms Maintenance

The following pet collection-related fields have been added to the available word merge fields in LP Forms Maintenance:

• Pet Collection Begin

• Pet Collection End

• Pet Name

• Pet Breed

• Pet Color

• Pet Tag

• Pet Sex

• Misc Char 1

• Misc Char 2

• Misc Char 3

• Misc Char 4

• Misc Char 5

• Expiration Date

 

Utilities> Setup

The LP Setup window has been enhanced to include the Print customer number on license toggle. This toggle allows users to include the customer number on printed license.

Affordable Care Act

The Affordable Care Act process is only available in Springbrook Cloud. Springbrook premise clients moving to Springbrook cloud will receive the benefit of being able to generate Affordable Care Act forms directly in their primary Springbrook Payroll application rather then using the Data Acquisition process available for premise clients.

 

Added additional coverage functionality to the Affordable Care Act process. The ACA batch process now supports coverage codes 1J through 1S in order to meet program requirements.

 

The Affordable Care Act process and the related Data Acquisition tool have updated to include the Employee's Age on January 1st data in order to support new federal requirements.

 

The Export step of the Affordable Care Act has been updated to include new Software ID, Vendor Information, and Manifest values.

 

Computer Checks Retirement 3

The Computer Checks payroll engine has been updated to allow users to set up pay codes and deductions that affect Retirement 3. Retirement 3 is enabled on the General tab of the Deduction/Benefit Maintenance window, the Deduction and Benefit tabs of the Employee Maintenance window, and the Grosses to Increase tab of the Pay Code Maintenance window.

As a related enhancement, the ability to handle Retirement 3-related Annual Max and Lifetime Max calculations has been added. These calculations are based on the Annual Start and Lifetime Start dates specified on the Employee and Deduction/Benefit Maintenance windows.

 

Computer Checks> Import Timesheets

Updated the Import Timesheets step of the Computer Checks process to display the batch name, if available, in the Timesheets Approval Batch column.

 

Computer Checks> Timecard Proof List

The Page break by department toggle has been added to the Timecard Proof List. This toggle enables users to generate the report with a page break between each included department.

 

Computer Checks> Calculate Payroll

The Calculate Payroll step has been enhanced to meet the needs of Massachusetts users. When Massachusetts is selected on the Organization tab of the SS Setup window, the system will handle deduction hierarchies in a different manner than standard. This enhancement allows the system to apply minimum salary thresholds to multiple checks when an employee has multiple checks in the same batch.

 

Computer Checks> Checks

The Checks step of the Computer Checks process has been updated to include the <accrual type> YTD Hours Used field when that field is included in the configurable check being generated.

 

Computer Checks> Commit

The Commit step of the Computer Checks process has been updated to include additional configuration validation. The Commit step will now alert users about their current ESS configuration when committing a batch that includes configurable check layouts. ESS configurations that do not include configurable layouts for ACH and printed checks will not generate the expected check reprint for ESS display.

 

Deduction/Benefit Maintenance

The Annual Start and Lifetime Start fields have been added to the Calculation, Deduction and Benefit tabs in order to record dates associated with Retirement 3 contributions. In a related change, the Retirement 3 Gross fields have been added to the Computer Checks> Check Proof List, Computer Checks> Check Register, and Reports> Pay Type Register reports. The Regional 3 Gross field was also added to the Reports> Pay Type Register report.

 

Employee Maintenance

The Retirement tab of the Employee Maintenance window has been enhanced to allow users to input additional state-specific information. These fields will only be displayed when certain states are selected in the Retirement State drop-down field. This data is related to state-specific reporting enhancements listed below.

 

Pay Code Maintenance

Updated the Pay Code Maintenance window to automatically set the status of newly-created pay codes to "Active".

 

The WC Multiplier field on the Pay Code Maintenance window has been updated to handle five decimal places. This update allows the system to more accurately calculate workers' compensation values when the pay code is used.

 

The Check Stub Display field has been added to the General tab of the Pay Code Maintenance window. This field allows users to suppress specific hours and rates on the selected pay code. When set to Suppress Hours/Rate, hours and rate values will not display on pay code lines on the configurable check stub. When upgrading to this release, the Check Stub Display field will be set to Display by default in order to prevent interruptions in your existing workflow.

The Check Stub Display field will only display if the Payroll system is set up to use configurable checks (PR> Utilities> Setup> Checks tab> Check Type field set to Configurable).

 

Rate Code Maintenance

Updated the Rate Code Maintenance window to automatically set the status of newly-created rate codes to "Active".

 

Shift Code Maintenance

Updated the Shift Code Maintenance window to automatically set the status of newly-created shift codes to "Active".

 

Work Period Maintenance

The Work Period Maintenance window has been updated to include the Pay Schedule option in the Type drop-down and the new Pay Schedule selection field below. These fields allow users to create work periods based on existing pay schedules, thereby bypassing the other details required when setting up a work period. This setting will be useful to organizations that base FLSA calculations on pay periods rather than fixed work periods.

 

Default Timecards Export

The Default Timecards Export tool has been added to the Payroll module. This tool allows users to export timecard and earnings data in either the provided standard format or via user-configurable export.

 

941 Report

The 941 Report has been added to report on the data required on the IRS Employer's Quarterly Federal Tax Return Form 941. This report provides information on income taxes, Social Security tax, or Medicare tax withheld from employee's paychecks.

 

Accrual Register Report

The Accrual Register report has been updated to display the Notes section at the end of the report rather than at the bottom of each page and to hide the Notes section if no included accrual records include any notes.

 

EEO-4 Report

The EEO-4 Report has been updated to meet new reporting requirements. The PDF version of the report will no longer display column header information and the Excel export version of the report will now include race category column details.

 

Demographic Export

The Demographic Export tool has been added to the PR> Reports menu. This export tool allows users to export employee demographic data.

 

General Wage Report

The General Wage report has been enhanced to improve system performance. By reducing the number of queries required by the report, using bulk operations in those queries, and optimizing memory joins, the report will now use fewer system resources and take less time to generate.

 

General Wage Export

The General Wage Export has been enhanced to allow the use of customized export configurations and to include deduction type selections. The two export window tabs have also been combined into a single window.

 

Payroll Register Report

The Payroll Register report has been updated to include the Detail with Code option in the Report Type drop-down menu. When this option is selected, the report will match the standard Detail version of the report and it will include pay, deduction and benefit code totals for the selected date/period range.

 

Utilities> PR Setup

The Checks tab of the PR Setup window has been enhanced to include:

• The YTD Hours Used field. This field is used to allow clients to select a specific Accrual Type that will display the YTD Hours Used value on the employee check stub.

• The Show Location in Return Address toggle. This toggle is used to include location data on the second line of the return address when generating z-fold configurable checks.

 

Utilities> Generate Timesheet Approval Batches

The Generate Timesheet Approval Batches tool has been added to the Utilities menu of the Payroll module. This tool allows agencies to automate the creation of timesheet approval batches when using distributed time entry.

 

Utilities> Timesheet Approval Group Settings

The Timesheet Approval Group Settings tool has been added to the Utilities menu of the Payroll module. This tool allows agencies to define timesheet approval batches they would like to create for each pay schedule. This tool works in tandem with the Generate Timesheet Approval Batches tool.

 

W-2s

The W-2s process has been updated to include overflow form functionality. This will allow users to print Box 12 data that exceeds the standard four Box 12 fields. This overflow data can be edited under the parent W-2 in the Edit step.

 

The Generate step of the W-2s process has been updated to include REGION super deduction functionality. Users can select REGION on the Generate step and enter the description for the deduction in the editable Code column. The system will then calculate local taxes in the same manner as the OTHER super deduction calculations are made. This super deduction will print Regional Wages in Box 19, Regional Income Taxes in Box 19, and Locality information in Box 20. This update will also take advantage of the new W-2 overflow page functionality if multiple taxes are included.

 

The Edit step of the W-2s process has been updated to meet new reporting requirements. The Advance EIC field has been replaced with the Verification code field. The value in this field will be displayed in Box 9 on the W-2 form and will be labeled Verification Code.

 

The W-2 Export format has been updated to:

• Allow organizations to use Code FF for Box 12. This code is used to report the total amount of permitted benefits under a qualified small employer health reimbursement arrangement (QSEHRA).
• Display blank spaces for Adv EIC values, per updated IRS specifications.
• Aggregate Box 12 values when both parent and rollover W-2s are present.

 

State Specific Processes

Alabama Enrollment

Added the Alabama Enrollment export to the State Reports palette to enable Alabama users to generate an export file containing all active employees.

 

Alabama Retirement

The Alabama Retirement process has been updated to:

• Include additional user inputs, to generate additional retirement data for the export file, and to meet new Alabama state requirements.
• Include the Contribution report type in order to meet state requirements. The Contribution report type includes RSA-1 Employee and Employer amounts.

 

The Generate step has been updated to include five new sections. The Regular Pay, Pensionable Lump Sum/Longevity, Overtime, Non-Pensionable Lump Sum/Longevity and Other Non-Pensionable Wages sections are used to assign pay codes to the specific types of pay. The user's selection in the Report Type drop-down will determine which of these sections are enabled. Once the Generate step has been configured and saved, that configuration will load by default the next time the Generate step is opened.

 

The Edit step has been updated to include the Payment Reason and Payment Amount fields.

 

Florida Unemployment Export

The Florida Unemployment Export has been updated to meet new state requirements. The export file now includes earned state wages.

 

Iowa Retirement

The Iowa Retirement process has been enhanced to include the ability to select deduction codes for both the employer and employee on the Generate step.

 

Iowa Unemployment Export

Added the Exclude employees with $0 quarterly gross wages toggle to the Iowa Unemployment Export. This toggle allows additional state-required configuration.

Updated the Iowa Unemployment Export file format to remove padding zeros before the UI Account Number and Reporting Unit fields, per new state requirements.

 

Updated field #1 to begin with sequence 1 and to remove extra spaces from names, per state requirements.

 

Kentucky Unemployment

The Kentucky Unemployment process has been updated to meet new Kentucky state requirements. The export file will now include excess wages data.

 

Massachusetts Deduction Hierarchy

The PR> Computer Checks process has been updated to properly handle state-specific deduction hierarchy updates required by the State of Massachusetts.

 

Massachusetts ICMA

The Massachusetts ICMA export has been added to PR> State Reports. This export tool is used to generate the .csv file containing the ICMA data required by the state.

 

Massachusetts Teachers Retirement

The Massachusetts Teachers Retirement batch process has been added to the Payroll module. This process will pull the relevant data from the Retirement tab of the Employee Maintenance window. That data can then be edited and exported for submission per state requirements.

 

The Massachusetts Teacher’s Retirement process has been updated to include improve usability. The process Proof List will now display the Check Date column and total value in the Salary column will provide a total value for each included employee.

 

Massachusetts Unemployment Export

The Massachusetts Unemployment export has been added to PR> State Reports. This export tool is used to generate the .csv file containing the unemployment data required by the Massachusetts Division of Unemployment Assistance (DUA).

 

Missouri W2 Export

Updated the W2 process for Missouri clients in order meet new state requirements. The Missouri-specific W2 Export file now includes the required RV line.

 

NC Orbit Retirement

Added the LEAVEPAY Pay Type and addressed an issue that could prevent users from adding new records to the Edit step.

 

North Carolina W2 Export

Updated the W2 process for North Carolina clients in order meet new state requirements. The NC-specific W2 Export file now includes the required RS line.

 

New York Retirement

The NY Retirement process has been updated to:

• Allow clients to include overtime hours in the days worked values for part time employees. This eliminates the need for clients to manually adjust the file to properly account for part time employee overtime hours.
• Allow users utilize the PERS Reporting Group. This will allow NY clients to submit police and fire employee files separately other employees.
• Include any benefit amounts that are part of the Reporting Earnings list.
• Include the Adjustment batch toggle to the Export step. This toggle is used to replace the “R” with an “A” in the Regular/Adjustment position on Record Types 3 and 4 when the batch is generated with the Enhanced Reporting toggle checked.

 

New York Reported Earnings Codes

The PR> Utilities> NY Reported Earnings Codes tool has been enhanced to allow users to manually enter a three-character reported earnings code and the Benefit column has been added to allow benefits to be associated reported earnings codes.

 

Oklahoma W2 Export

Updated the W2 process for Oklahoma clients in order to meet new state requirements. The Oklahoma-specific W2 Export file now includes the required RS and RV lines.

 

South Dakota Unemployment Report

Updated the format of the South Dakota Unemployment Report export file to meet new state requirements.

 

Texas Unemployment

Developed a new standard Texas Unemployment process to meet the needs of Texas clients.

 

Washington Retirement

The Washington Retirement process has been updated to:

• Address transmittal reporting requirements for the Department of Retirement System (DRS) utilizing the Employer Reporting Application (ERA).
• Include the Legacy Format toggle on the Export step. This toggle allows users to export B, C, and S line data in the legacy format.

 

Wisconsin myETF

The Wisconsin myETF process has been added. This process is designed to meet new Wisconsin state requirements that every organization submit a retirement file for every Payroll cycle.

Task Code Maintenance

The Task Code Maintenance window has been enhanced to include the AP Cash Account field on the General tab. This field allows users to specify the cash account that will be affected by the AP Checks process.

 

Task by Project Report

The Show employee full name toggle has been added to the Task by Project Report. This toggle allows users to include both the first and last names in the Reference field for any records in the detailed version of the report that include PR information.

Change Orders> Statements

Enhanced the Statements step of the Change Orders process to include the Additional Signature Request Over fields. These fields are used to add additional signature lines to the statements for those agencies that require additional signatures on change orders that exceed an agency-specified value.

 

Enhanced the Statements step of the Change Orders process to include the Display Department toggle. This toggle allows users to display the department name at the top of the generated change order.

 

Purchase Orders

The Purchase Orders process has been enhanced to include validation to prevent a purchase order included in the batch from exceeding the total Max Amount value set on the associated vendor. This validation occurs on the Import and Purchase Orders steps.

 

Purchase Orders> Import

Added the Import step to the Purchase Orders process in order to allow users to import a large number of purchase orders for processing.

 

Purchase Orders> Statements

Enhanced the Statements step of the Purchase Orders process to include the Additional Signature Request Over fields. These fields are used to add additional signature lines to the statements for those agencies that require additional signatures on purchase orders that exceed an agency-specified value.

 

Enhanced the Statements step of the Purchase Orders process to include the Display Department toggle. This toggle allows users to display the department name at the top of the generated purchase order.

 

Reports> Purchase Order List

The Purchase Order List report has been enhanced to include Home Department filter option. This allows users to include home department data on the report.

 

Reports> Purchase Order Statements

The Print Purchase Order Statements report has been enhanced to include the Display department toggle. When checked, the department will display below the purchase order number in the top-right corner of the purchase order.

 

The Print Purchase Order Statements report has been enhanced to display additional signature lines if the Additional Signature Required Over fields were populated when the purchase order was created.

 

Reports> Year End Encumbrance

The Year End Encumbrance report has been added to the available PO reports. This report is used to report on encumbrance amounts for the prior year after rolling purchase orders to the new year.

 

Requisitions

The Requisitions process has been enhanced to include validation to prevent a requisition from exceeding the total Max Amount value set on the associated vendor.

 

PO Setup

The Purchase Orders tab of the Purchase Orders Setup window has been enhanced to include the Purchase Order Logo field. This field allows users to specify a logo that will be used only on purchase order statements. When a logo is specified in this field, it will printed on statements in place of the main logo specified on SS Setup.

 

The Validation tab of the Purchase Orders Setup window has been updated to include the Account Group field. Once an Account Group is set up in the General Ledger module, a PO validation rule can be applied to that group of GL accounts in order to control budget exceptions during the purchase orders process. When the validation rule is evaluated, the system will look at the aggregate budget for the specified account group rather than just the budget of the individual account.

Billing> Generate

Added the Generate interest for outstanding billed principal toggle to the Generate step. This toggle is used to override standard interest calculations by including unpaid, invoiced principal in the interest calculations.

 

Billing> Bills

Added the Print customer number on bill toggle to the Bills step. This toggle is used print the Customer Number below the Assessment Number in the remittance section of the generated billing statement.

Cloud Security Updates

Password and User security has been enhanced for Cloud users.

 

Password Security Updates

Agency administrators now have much more control over password security.

By checking the new Passwords Expire toggle on the System tab of the System Setup window, administrators can ensure that user passwords are updated in accordance with organizational standards. Checking this toggle activates the Password Duration field, which allows administrators to specify how often user passwords expire.

The related Password Expire Template field on the System tab of the System Setup window is used to specify an automated email notification that reminds users that their password will expire soon. The system will generate these emails 15 days from expiration, 10 days expiration, five days from expiration and each day thereafter until the password has expired or been changed. This email notification has been pre-populated with the relevant data, but can be edited to meet the needs of individual organizations. If a user allows their password to expire, they will be redirected to a reset password window when attempting to log in.

Administrators can also limit how frequently users reuse passwords. The Password History to Keep field is used to specify how many passwords the system remembers, requiring users to create the specified number of unique passwords before a previously-used password can be used again.

 

A new Password Lockout feature has been added. A user with three consecutive failed login attempts will be locked out of the application until an administrator release the lockout by resetting the user's password. Users that are locked out will be directed to contact the system administrator when they attempt to log in.

 

Deactivate Users

Agency administrators now have the ability to remove access for users that should no longer have access to the application by unchecking the new Active toggle on the SS> Security> User Maintenance window. All users will be Active by default, so this change will not impact current users.

 

User Status Report

The User Status Report provides a list of Springbrook users that can be filtered by user status, allowing administrators to quickly see which users are Active and which users have been Deactivated.

 

Bank Account Maintenance

The Account Type field has been added to the Bank Account Maintenance window. This field is used to specify the bank account as a standard Bank Account (this is the default option) or as a Credit Card bank account. When Credit Card is selected, the Cash Account field below will update to a Liability Account field. This enhancement allows users to set up and process P-Card transactions.

 

The Related Payroll and Related Revenue toggles have been added to the Bank Account Maintenance window. These toggles allow users set up bank accounts with a related payroll or related revenue relationship to a parent account. This enhancement is associated with the new Multi Muni related database functionality.

 

Export Collection Maintenance

The Export Collection tool is used to create a collection of export configurations in order to allow users to select a single collection during the Export step of a batch process to generate all the required export configurations.

 

Export Configuration Maintenance

The Export Configuration Maintenance window has been updated to include the PR > Default Timecards export definition option. This export configuration is used by the PR> Reports> Default Timecards Export tool.

 

The Export Configuration Maintenance window has been updated to include the PR > General Wage export definition option. This export configuration is used by the PR> General Wage Export tool.

 

The Export Configuration Maintenance window has been enhanced to support multiple line formats. This change will allow clients to create positive pay export files that include different header and footer records in order to better meet bank requirements. The related changes to the maintenance window are outlined below.

 

The Groups tab of the Export Configuration Maintenance window will now be enabled when creating delimited export configurations. In previous versions the Group tab was only enabled for fixed width export configurations.

 

The Groups tab of the Export Configuration Maintenance window has been enhanced to allow users to specify a Line Number for a group. This will determine the group's line position within the header or footer and allow multiple header and footer lines on the same group.

 

Multi-character delimiter functionality has been added to the Export Configuration Maintenance window. In previous versions, users could use up to four different delimiter characters in an export configuration, but the system would only recognize the first character selected as the actual delimiter. Export configurations can now be set up to use all four of the characters as delimiters in the same export configuration. This new functionality only applies to standard export lines. Group lines will not be updated to allow the use of multiple delimiters until a future release.

 

The UB Accounts configurable export has been updated to include the following fields in the available properties:

• Account Balance
• Account Miscellaneous 1-9
• Connect Date
• Due Date (Last Bill)
• Final Date
• Last Billing Date
• Lot Miscellaneous 1-18
• Owner Name and Address
• Tax Lot

 

The UB Collections configurable export has been updated to include the following fields in the available properties:

• Account Number Formattable

• Customer Name

• Customer First Name

• Customer Last Name

• Customer SSN

• Customer Home Phone

• Customer Bus Phone

• Customer Cell Phone

• Service Address

• Customer Mailing Address

• Account Mailing Address

• Account Last Bill Date

• Account Final Date

• ConditionalAccountNo

• Customer Driver's License

• Customer Mailing Address 2 (customer city + customer state + customer zip formatted properly)

• Owner Properties that currently exist in Meter Data Export

• Service Address 2 (lot city + lot state + lot zip formatted properly)

• Service 1-20 Balance Fwd

 

The UB > Meter Readings configurable export has been updated to include the following fields in the available properties:

• Service Point ID

• Customer Number

• Customer Sequence

• Owner First Name

• Owner Last Name

• Owner Name

• Conditional Meter ID

• Conditional Meter Type

 

The UB > Meter Readings > Export Meter Data configurable export has been updated to include the following fields in the available properties:

• Account Balance

• Conditional Account Number

• Conditional Meter ID

• Conditional Meter Type

• Street Number

• Street Directional

• Street Name

• Lot Address 2

• Customer Fax

• Owner Fax

• Owner Email

• Device ID

 

The Export Configuration Maintenance window has been enhanced to include the Payee Address fields – Address 1, Address 2, City, State, ZIP – in the available properties on the Positive Pay export configuration.

 

The Export Configuration Maintenance window has been updated to include the UB> Billing> Export export definition option. This export configuration is used to create custom export configurations for the UB New Billing and UB Final Billing processes. A number of pre-configured UB> Billing> Export export definitions have also be created for inclusion in Export Collections. These include:

• UB > Billing > Export AMT

• UB > Billing > Export Bill Display

• UB > Billing > Export CNS

• UB > Billing > Export DTL

• UB > Billing > Export MAILER

• UB > Billing > Export MST

• UB > Billing > Export MTR

• UB > Billing > Export TIER

 

Import Configuration Maintenance

The AP Invoices import configuration has been added to the Import Configuration Maintenance window. This import configuration can be used to import the following data into the AP Invoices process:

• Vendor Number
• Vendor 1099
• Type Code
• Tax Amount
• Task Code 1-2
• Miscellaneous Character 1
• Invoice Number
• Invoice Description
• Invoice Date
• Handling Amount
• Discount Amount
• Base Amount
• Account Section 1-7
• 1099 Type
• 1099 Box

Please see the Invoices> Import item in the Accounts Payable section above for information on how to enable the AP Invoices import configuration.

 

The AP> Utilities> Vendor Import configuration has been enhanced to include the Default 1099 Disc Box and Max Amount options in the available Properties.

 

The CR> Cash Receipts> Import Returns import configuration has been enhanced to include the Fed Tax ID and the No. of Units properties and to remove the required tab from the Business Number property.

 

The Import Configuration window has been updated to include the CR> Cash Receipts> Import Tax Receipts import configuration option to the Definition drop-down list.

 

The Import Configuration window has been updated to include the IC> Inventory Transactions import configuration. This import configuration is used to import inventory transactions in the Import step of the Inventory Transactions process.

 

The Import Configuration window has been updated to include the PO> Purchase Order import configuration. This import configuration is used to import purchase orders in the PO> Purchase Orders> Import step.

 

The SS Lot import configuration has been updated to include the following additional data fields:

• Customer Number
• Subdivision
• Miscellaneous Fields 1-18
• Landscape Size
• Occupancy

 

The Import Configuration window has also been updated to allow customer number and customer sequence values to appear as a single, nine-digit string. This allows users to import that data without specifying a delimiter between the customer number and the customer sequence.

 

The Import Configuration Maintenance window has been enhanced to include the UB> Comments import configuration. This import configuration is used to import UB comments data via the UB> Utilities> Import Comments tool.

 

The Import Configuration Maintenance window has been enhanced to include the Dial Number, Sequence Number, and Remove Reason fields in the available properties for the UB> Meter Change Out Import configuration.

 

The Import Configuration Maintenance window has been enhanced to include the following available properties for the UB> Meter Readings import configuration:

• Lot-Service Point (import meters by lot number)

• Consumption 1-6 (import Time of Use consumption values)

 

The Import Configuration Maintenance window has been enhanced to include the UB> Winter Averaging import configuration. This import configuration is used to import winter averaging data in the Cirrus Winter Averaging process.

 

The Import Configuration Maintenance window has been enhanced to include the Prefix and Postfix fields in the Options section of the Properties tab. These fields are used to add a prefix or postfix value to an imported string property.

 

Report Layout Maintenance

The Report Layout Maintenance window has been enhanced to include the Configurable Check - 12 pt report type. This report allows users to print checks that meet additional bank requirements for payee validation.

 

The Labels tab of the Report Layout Maintenance window has been enhanced to include the Accrual YTD Hours Used label type. This label is used to include the <accrual type> YTD Hours Used field on the pay stub of a configurable check.

 

URL Setup Maintenance

The CM Issue option has been added to the Entity drop-down field in order to allow users to create a URL Setup that can be used with CM Issue data.

 

Security> Menu Security

The Install Cirrus Agent item has been added to the Security Settings options on the Maintain Menu Security window. This option allows agency administrators to set up menu security on the Install Cirrus Agent menu item available in Springbrook Cirrus.

 

Security> Transfer User Permissions

The Transfer User Permissions tool has been added in order to help agencies handle email address changes for employees. This tool allows the system administrator to transfer an existing user, along with that user’s security settings and preferences, into a new user with an updated email address.

 

Security> User

The User Maintenance window has been enhanced to include the Work Flow Admin toggle. Work flow admin users are able to approve or reject all work flows assigned to other Springbrook users. This was previously available by setting up a user with the username WFAdmin, but will now be enabled via this toggle in order to prepare for upcoming single-sign-on functionality.

 

The User Maintenance window has been enhanced to include the Tableau Settings section. This section is used to update user accounts with Tableau access as set up on the Tableau User Maintenance window (SS> Web Maintenance> Tableau User).

 

The User Maintenance window has been enhanced to include the Multi-factor Authentication section. This section is used to check, update, and reset a user's multi-factor authentication status.

 

The User Maintenance window has been enhanced to allow users at organizations using multi-factor authentication to deactivate users without requiring an email address for the user be deactivated.

 

The User Maintenance window has been enhanced to include the Active, Deactivated Date, Use Scheduling, and Work Flow Admin options to the available columns in the User Maintenance data grid.

 

Security> User Group

The Notify About Related DB Errors toggle has been added to the User Group Maintenance window. This toggle is used to specify a user group whose members will be notified in the event of an error during the import process of a related data transfer. This enhancement is associated with the new Multi Muni related database functionality.

 

Utilities> My Tasks

The My Tasks window has been enhanced in order to ensure service requests generated outside of Springbrook will be displayed on the My Tasks window for the user the service request is assigned to.

 

Utilities> Re-export Related Data

The Re-export Related Data tool has been added to the SS> Utilities palette. This tool allows users to re-export committed related data batches to the related database. This enhancement is associated with the new Multi Muni related database functionality.

 

Web Application Setup> CivicPay Batch Setup

The UB Payments menu item under Web Application Setup has been renamed CivicPay Batch Setup in order to reflect the move away from the old UB Payments name to the now widely-used CivicPay name.

 

The CivicPay Batch Setup window has been updated to include the Payment Type field. This field is used to allow clients to set up CPO payments to flow into batches by payment type and have the receipts for different payment types be assigned to different pay methods.

 

The CivicPay Batch Setup window has been updated to include the Merchant Account Type field. This field will be used to set up municipal payments when the Springbrook Municipal Payment Collections Portal is available.

 

The CivicPay Batch Setup window has been updated to allow users to set either a Batch Number Prefix or a Batch Name Prefix. This enhancement is designed to improve the way the system handles payments and adjustments submitted through the CivicPay Online application. When Enhanced Batch Security is enabled (SS> Utilities> System Setup> System tab), the Batch Name Prefix field will be enabled. The specified Batch Name Prefix will then be displayed on any batches originating from CivicPay Online. For more information see Springbrook Utility Billing CivicPay Online Batch Numbering with Batch Name Prefix.

 

The CivicPay Online/Springbrook interface has also been updated to address an issue that could cause payment processing inconsistencies. This correction updates the way the system handles CivicPay Online in the CR Cash Receipts and UB Adjustments and Fees processes in order to ensure proper processing of payments received after a user completes the Proof List step. These batch processes will now reset back to the step before the Proof List in order confirm new payments are processed correctly.

 

Web Maintenance> Tableau Users and Tableau Groups

The Tableau Users and Tableau Groups windows have been added to the Web Maintenance palette in the SS module. The Tableau Users window is used to create user accounts for Tableau, the Springbrook Analytics reporting site. Tableau users can then be added to Tableau Groups in order to control data access permissions.

Module Wide> Statement Settings

The Statement Settings step of the Final Billing, New Billing, and Past Due processes has been enhanced to improve system performance. By reducing the number of queries required by the step, using bulk operations in those queries, and optimizing memory joins, the statement settings step will now use fewer system resources and take less time to process.

 

Module Wide> Commit

The manner in which the application processes the commit step across all UB processes has been improved. This change will improve efficiency and reduce the risk of concurrency errors.

 

CivicPay Online Integration

The integration between Utility Billing and CivicPay Online has been enhanced in order for the payment type used in CPO to be transmitted to Springbrook with the other payment details.

 

The Create Service Request API has been added in order to allow service requests generated in CivicPay Online to flow into Springbrook. This integration will be enabled in a future release.

 

Utility Billing Comments API

The Utility Billing Comments API is now available for Springbrook Cloud and is used to access, create, edit, and delete UB comments via API. The UB Service Request API must be implemented in order to use the UB Comments API.

 

Add/Subtract Meters

The Utility Billing system has been updated to offer enhanced Add/Subtract Meters functionality. Users can now use both the Add and the Subtract functionality on the same account. The billing process will now calculate the accumulated consumption of Add meters before deducting the consumption of Subtract meters.

See the enhancements below for information on how this enhancement impacts specific UB windows and processes. For more information see Springbrook Utility Billing Add / Subtract meters.

 

Adjustments and Fees

The Input step of the Adjustments and Fees process has been enhanced to display the billing adjustment amounts on the Edit screen and the optional Budget Actual Amount column on the Input and Display screens.

The Remove Budget Accounts step of the Adjustments and Fees process has been enhanced to include additional account selection and status filtering options.

The Adjustments and Fees Proof List has been updated to group the report contents by UB History Line Item.

The Adjustments and Fees Proof List has been enhanced to include the Report Sort drop-down field. This allows users to sort the report by Customer Number or Order of Input.

 

Account Maintenance

The Account Maintenance window has been updated to reflect new Add/Subtract Meters functionality. The Devices tab can now be set up to display the Exempt Meter setting for any attached devices. When the Add/Subtract column is displayed, it will specify whether the attached device is set up to combine consumption (Add) or deduct consumption (Subtract).

 

The “Enrolled in online-bills recurring payments” toggle on the Account sub-tab of the Account tab has been updated to read “Enrolled in CivicPay Auto Pay”. This new toggle label reflects the change in nomenclature to the now widely-used CivicPay application name.

 

The Extended Description field has been added to the Service Rates tab of the Account Maintenance window. This field is used to include additional service rate description information on generated bills. This additional description will display at the end of the printed service rate in the Current Billing section of the bill.

 

Device Maintenance

The Device Maintenance window has been updated to reflect new Add/Subtract meters functionality. The Subtract Meter column on the Attached Devices tab can now be used to specify how an attached meter handles consumption. Users can now specify Subtract (this is the default setting) if the attached meter should deduct consumption or Add if the attached meter should combine consumption.

 

Device Type Maintenance

The General tab of the Device Type Maintenance window has been enhanced to include the Round Reads on Import toggle and Round Precision field. The Round Reads on Import toggle is used to enable rounding in imported meter reads and the Round Precision field is used to configure how many decimal places the imported read will be rounded to.

 

Form Maintenance

The UB Forms Maintenance screen has been updated to include a number new merge fields used in the Past Due process. These fields include:

• Account Formatted (Cust No - Cust Seq, 000000-000)

• Full Service Address 1, Full Service Address 2, Full Service Address 3 (dynamically build the Service Address plus additional fields to create a full mailing address so, street no + " " + street directional + " " + street_name on the first line, trimming any additional spaces if either street number or street directional do not have values, next one lot.addr_2 if it has a value, next one lot.city + ", " + lot.state + " " + formatted lot.zip

• Past Due Due Date (from ub_statement_mst.due_date)

• Past Due Billing Date (from ub_statement_mst.billing_date)

• Past Due Total Amount (from ub_past_due.total_account_balance)

• Past Due Amount (from ub_past_due.past_due_amount)

• Past Due Additional Charge (from ub_past_due.additional_charge)

• Past Due Amount and Additional Charge (from ub_past_due.past_due_amount + ub_past_due.additional_charge)

• Meter Serial No (first active meter associated with the Lot, ub_device.serial_no)

• Meter Register ID (first active meter associated with the Lot, ub_device.register_id)

• Meter Route No (first active meter associated with the Lot, ub_meter_con.route_no)

• Meter Sequence No (first active meter associated with the lot, ub_meter_con.sequence_no

• Mailer Barcode (if ss_mailer.certified = true and ss_mailer.intelligent_mail_barcode has a value then ss_mailer.intelligetn_mail_barcode else "")

• Recipient (ss_mailer.recipient)

 

Service Rate Maintenance

The Service Rate Maintenance window has been updated to include the Percent Based On field and the related Percent Based Cons Levels tab. The Percent Based On field is used to set up the service rate to calculate consumption based on a percentage of the Winter Average value. When Winter Average is selected in this field (by default Not Used will be selected in order to prevent this new field from interfering with existing service rates), the Percent Based Cons Levels tab will be enabled. This tab is used to set up rate tiers based on a percentage of Winter Average consumption.

 

Meter Management

The Input step of the Meter Management process has been enhanced to pull in relevant accounts that are in Delete status. If the system cannot find an Active or Suspended status account for a meter connection, the system will search for a Delete status account. If a Delete status account is found, it will be added to the batch and the Read Comment will indicate that the account is in Delete status. Previously, the system would ignore those accounts.

 

A new configurable export file format has been added to the Meter Data Export step in order to export meter data for use in Itron MDI sofware.

 

The Schedule as daily recurring automated export button has been added to the Meter Data Export window in order to allow users to schedule an automated export of the meter data that generates every 24 hours to the agency SFTP exports folder.

 

The Datamatic 5 Import format has been added to the Layout drop-down menu on the Readings Import window

 

The Equinox 3 Export format has been added to the Layout drop-down menu on the Readings Export window.

 

The NSight 2 Export format has been added to the Layout drop-down menu on the Readings Export window.

 

The Neptune 3 Import format has been added to the Layout drop-down menu on the Readings Import window

 

The Beacon 3 (Badger) export configuration have been added to the Meter Management Export options.

 

The Datamatic 5 export configuration have been added to the Meter Management Export options.

 

The Readings Import process has been enhanced to round readings to the specified precision when those readings are generated by a device set up to Round Reads on Import.

 

New Billing

The Generate step of the New Billing process has been updated to properly calculate billing amounts based on percentages of Winter Average values if the service rate being billed specifies Winter Average in the Percent Based On field.

 

The Statements step of the New Billing process has been enhanced to:

• Display the Reference Number and/or an Account Past Due indicator if the statement is set up to display these options in UB Statement Setup. These updates do not apply to 4-to-a-page New Billing statements.

• Provide the ability to not display service periods on the standard and four-to-a-page billing statements if set up to do so on UB> Utilities> Statement Setup.

• Include tier data on the standard UB billing statement as specified in the Tier Display field on the Meter Display tab of the UB> Utilities> Statement Setup window.

• Display an extended service rate description in the Current Billing section of the generated bill. This additional description information is controlled by the Extended Description field on the Service Rates tab of the Account Maintenance window.

• Allow users to include the Daily Average Usage value when displaying the consumption graph on the statement.

• Check the status of the Combined Statement toggle on UB accounts included in the batch. Accounts set up to use combined statements will receive a single summary statement for all related accounts displaying aggregated billing data.

 

The Export step of the New Billing process has been enhanced to include the Send Readings as Decimal toggle. This toggle allows users to export the readings values in decimal format when Springbrook is selected in the export Layout field.

 

Past Due

The Letters step has been added to the Past Due batch process. This step allows users to create customized, Microsoft Word-based form letters for accounts included in the Past Due batch.

 

The Statements step of the Past Due process has been enhanced to display the Reference Number if the statement is set up to display this option in UB Statement Setup. This update does not apply to 4-to-a-page Past Due statements.

 

The Aging step of the Past Due process has been enhanced to reflect the selected Aging Period set up on UB Setup.

 

Aging Report

Updated the Balance Limits field to include options associated with new Days in Period option in the Aging Periods field set up on UB Setup.

 

Transactions by Date Report

Added the Display payments as negative toggle to the UB Transactions by Date report. This toggle is used to display all payments as negative transactions in the report. Payments will also be subtracted from the report totals.

 

Account Export

The configurable UB Account Export has been enhanced to include additional fields listed below. The purpose of the enhancements is to allow clients more flexibility in the data they may need out of the Utility Billing system. This is a configurable layout so fields can be added or removed as well as reorganized to an agency's specifications. The configuration is maintained in SS > Maintenance > Export Configuration > UB Accounts definition.

For Utility Billing Account:

• Account Misc 1-9
• Account Balance
• Connect Date
• Final Date
• Due Date (last bill)
• Last Billing Date

For Lot:

• Lot Misc 1-18
• Lot Parcel
• Tax Lot

 

Service Requests

Service requests have been enhanced to include the New status. Service requests will be automatically assigned New status when they are generated by citizens through CivicPay Online. Agencies can also use the New status in their own service request workflows.

 

The Service Request Description field on the Service Requests> Input window has been enhanced to alert users when that description is publicly visible. When a citizen generates a service request through CivicPay Online, they will be able to track that service request as it is processed. When an agency users opens one of these service requests generated through CPO, the Service Request Description field label will be in bold and will include "PUBLIC RECORD" in order to alert the user that any edits made to that field will be visible to the public.

 

The Service Requests> Input window has been enhanced to include the External Source field. This field is used to filter service requests generated outside of Springbrook by their source. The data grid below has also been enhanced to include the External Source column.

 

The Service Requests report has been enhanced to include the new Service Request List report type. This report lists every included service request as a single line item. This report can be sorted by the new Service Address sort option and can be set up to include the Meter Identifier 1-3 fields, displaying a user-defined combination of meter ID data in the report.

 

The Assigned To field has been added to the Service Requests report. This field is used to filter the service requests included in the report by the Springbrook user the service request is assigned to.

 

The External Source field has been added to the Service Requests report. This field is used to filter the included service requests by where the service request originated.

 

The Commit step of the Service Requests process has been updated to check the meter device type before committing a service request that could result in deleting any new meter readings, such as a meter changeout service request. If the Retain New Reads on Import toggle is checked on the device type, the new meter readings are retained in the meter history.

 

UB Setup

The General tab of the UB Setup window has been enhanced to include Aging Periods field. This field is used to allow users to specify the default 30-60-90-120 aging period option or the new Days in Period aging period option.

 

The General tab of the UB Setup window has been enhanced to include the Service Request Default Status field. This field is used to allow users to specify the default status of newly-created service requests. This field will be initially set to Active.

 

The Billing tab of the UB Setup window has been updated to reflect new Add/Subtract Meters functionality. The Exempt Meters field has been renamed Exempt Meters Default. This field will now default to Subtract, as that is the standard setting, but will now allow users to set the field to Add.

 

Statement Setup

The Use meter cons multiplier and divisor on consumption toggle has been added to the General tab of the Statement Setup Maintenance window. When this toggle is checked, the system will use the consumption multiplier and consumption divisor values associated with the device type when calculating the consumption that will display on the statement.

 

Updated the Statement Setup Maintenance window to include the Meter Display tab. This tab has been added in order to provide users more control over how the meter, billing, and consumption data appear on the single page billing statement via the Meter Display Options drop-down field. The current default display option will be automatically selected upon release in order to prevent any unexpected changes to existing billing statements.

 

In a related change, the Meter Info, Meter Changeouts, and Estimated Read Flag toggles have also been moved to this tab from the Billing Options tab.

 

The Meter Display tab has been updated to include the Tier Display drop-down field. This field is used to specify how tier data will be displayed on the standard UB billing statement.

 

The Billing Options and Past Due Options tabs of the UB Statement Setup window have been updated to include the Reference Number toggle. This toggle is used to allow users to display the reference number on non-four-to-a-page Billing and Past Due statements.

 

The Billing Options tab of the UB Statement Setup window has been updated to include the Use Past Due Threshold and Past Due Threshold fields. These fields are used to set up and include a conditional “account past due” indicator in non-four-to-a-page Billing statements.

 

The Consumption Graphs tab of the UB Statement Setup window has been updated to include the Display daily avg as field to both graph configurations on the standard billing statement. This field is used to specify a unit type for the Daily Avg Usage value in the graph.

 

The OCR Scanline tab has been added to the Statement Setup Maintenance window. This tab is used to configure OCR scanline values to meet individual bank requirements on the UB Billing Statement and Past Due Statement 2 statements.

 

The Billing Options tab on the Statement Setup window has been enhanced to include the Hide Service Period toggle. This toggle allows users to not display service periods on the standard and four-to-a-page UB billing statements.

 

Import Comments

Added the Import Comments tool to UB> Utilities. This tool is used to process a mass import of comment data that is associated with existing UB Accounts. This comma delimited file will include the Account Number, Comment Status, and Comment Date for the imported comment.

 

SD1 Export

Added the SD1 Export tool in order to allow a multi-line, fixed-width data export for Kentucky Sewer District No. 1.

Activity> Activity

Updated the Activity Maintenance window to include the DR Account and CR Account columns if the Allow GL account override on Activity Adjustments toggle is checked on WO Setup. These columns can be edited if the LEMS code on the activity line item is set to Adjustment.

 

Activity> Proof List

Updated the Activity Proof List to display a second detail line for override debit and/or credit GL account information in the event that the Work Orders module is set up to allow override GL accounts and the displayed activity adjustment line item includes a GL account override. Also added the Line Item option to the Sort By drop-down menu in order to allow users to match the report to the Billings screen when sorted by Line Item, added the Activity Date column, and updated the Description column to display the WO Master Description.

 

Additional Billings> Proof List

Updated the Additional Billings Proof List to include report totals for the Small Tools Eligible, Admin Eligible, Small Tools Fees, and Admin Fees columns.

 

Billings> Billings

Updated the Billings step to remove the 200 record limit on the Select Work Order Activity screen in order to allow agencies to load more activity records.

 

Equipment Analysis

Updated the Generate step to include two new toggles. The Include active equipment with no transactions toggle is used to report on all active equipment regardless of transaction history. The Calculate insurance costs by WO Detail amount toggle is used to disable the editable Insurance Cost field and collect insurance amounts via the Equipment Analysis process for inclusion in the Sundry amount.

 

Updated the Proof List to include the Include Depreciation in Total Value toggle. This toggle allows users to add the Depreciation value to the standard Equipment Analysis calculation of Fuel + Lube + Labor + Materials + Overhead + Tires + Sundry.

 

GL Distribution

Updated the GL Distribution in the Work Orders module to pull the expected GL accounts when an account is overridden on an activity adjustment.

 

Utilities> Setup

Added the Allow GL account override on Activity Adjustments and the WO detail from AP is always Services for Overhead toggles to General tab on the WO Setup window. These toggles are used to provide additional configurability to the Work Orders process and will only be enabled when the Wisconsin highway toggle is checked.

 

WI Reports> State Requisition

The State Requisition report has been enhanced to include the Sort By field in order to allow Wisconsin clients to sort the report by Reference Number or Account Type. Also updated the Summary version of the report to display the data in the third column in a specific order and to remove an unnecessary date from the report header. Updated the Detail version of the report to include the Description value for Equipment and Material entries.

 

WI Reports> MPM Daily Detail

The MPM Daily Detail report has been added in order to allow users to generate detailed daily LEMS reports for WO Billing batches associated with a specified AR Account.

 

WI Reports> MPM Equipment Summary

The MPM Equipment Summary report has been added in order to allow users to report on equipment usage in WO Billing batches associated with a specified AR Account.

 

WI Reports> MPM Cost Summary

The MPM Cost Summary report has been added in order to allow users to report on LEMS costs by Project in WO Billing batches associated with a specified AR Account.