BUCS 22 Fund Accounting Software Release

BUCS 22, our fund accounting software, was released in August. You can find all the details in the release letter below or in the video.

The BUCS 22 Release is loaded with new features, improvements, and refinements.  These changes come from the Annual Survey and requests submitted throughout the year. Our goal when updating BUCS is to make the system faster, more efficient, and more pleasing to use.  Below are highlights of the major changes and new features found in BUCS 22.

1. Budget Planning Revenue and Expense Accounts.  There is a new Validate Plan Distributions option in Budget Planning Expense Accounts and Budget Planning Revenue Accounts.  When this option is selected, all applicable accounts that the user has permission to access that have a plan amount will be checked to see if the plan amount is fully distributed.  If there are any plan amounts that are not fully distributed, a screen will be shown listing the accounts that need to have their plan amounts distributed.  A report of those accounts can also be printed.

2. Budget Planning Transfer Plan to Ledger.  In Budget Planning Transfer Plan to Ledger, a process will now be run prior to the transfer beginning to validate that all plan amounts have been distributed for the accounts being updated.  If there are any plan amounts that are not fully distributed, a screen will be shown listing the accounts that need to have their plan amounts distributed.  A report of those accounts can also be printed. All plan amounts must be fully distributed for the accounts that fall within the designated ranges before the transfer can be processed.

3. Report Parameters.  There have been a couple of changes to Report Parameters, they are as follows:

· The treeview on the Report Options screen in Report Parameters has been changed to include more information for each parameter item.  A Title parameter type will now show the first title line in the treeview.  A Description parameter type will now show what is in the parameter’s Title, Group, or Total Description field in the treeview.  A Detail parameter type will now show the parameter’s account range if there is one, or what is in the parameter’s Title, Group, or Total Description field in the treeview.  A Sales parameter type will now show the parameter’s account range if there is one, or what is in the parameter’s Title, Group, or Total Description field in the treeview.  A Revenue parameter type will now show the parameter’s account range if there is one, or what is in the parameter’s Title, Group, or Total Description field in the treeview.  An Expense parameter type will now show the parameter’s account range if there is one, or what is in the parameter’s Title, Group, or Total Description field in the treeview.  An Asset parameter type will now show the parameter’s account range if there is one, or what is in the parameter’s Title, Group, or Total Description field in the treeview.  A Liability parameter type will now show the parameter’s account range if there is one, or what is in the parameter’s Title, Group, or Total Description field in the treeview.  An Encumbrance parameter type will now show the parameter’s account range if there is one, or what is in the parameter’s Title, Group, or Total Description field in the treeview.  A Column parameter type will now show the parameter’s Location, Item or Expression, and Heading Description in the treeview for non-GASB34 type reports and for GASB34 type reports, the Location and three Heading Descriptions will now show in the treeview.  This will help you to see the primary information associated with each parameter item in the treeview at a glance.  The Report Options screen has also been made larger to accommodate a larger treeview.

· The ability to create, insert, and delete Report Snips has been added to Report Parameters.  A Report Snip is a portion of a report that is selected to be saved so that it can be easily inserted into other reports.  A Create Snip option has been added to the Report Options window.  When the Create Snip option is selected, a Create Report Snip window will be displayed where the user will define the Snip Name and select the parameter lines from the current report that should be included in the Report Snip.  The parameter lines from the current report are displayed in a grid that shows the same information for each line that is displayed in the treeview on the Report Options screen.  The currently selected parameter line from the treeview will also be the initially highlighted parameter line in the grid since it will most likely be the first line you wish to include in the Report Snip.  A Report Snip can contain up to 50 lines from the report it is being created from.  When a Report Snip is created, it will be created for the same type of report as the report it is being created from (Revenue, Expense, Fund, Balance Sheet, Trial Balance, Profit/Loss, Standard, or GASB 34).  An Insert Snip option has also been added to the Report Options window. When the Insert Snip option is selected, an Insert Report Snip window will be displayed where the user will be able to select a Report Snip to insert into the current report.  The Insert Report Snip window will show a grid of the existing Report Snips that are the same type as the current report (Revenue, Expense, Fund, Balance Sheet, Trial Balance, Profit/Loss, Standard, or GASB 34). When a Report Snip is highlighted in the grid, a treeview will show a preview of the report lines contained in the Report Snip.  The user can search the grid of Report Snips by the Snip Name and can also filter which Report Snips are in the grid by a Date Created Range.  Once a Report Snip has been selected from the grid, the user can select to have the Report Snip inserted either Before or After the parameter line that they have selected in the treeview that is on the Report Options window.  Once the user presses the OK button, the Report Snip will be inserted into the current report at the location they selected, and the report will have its sequence numbers renumbered automatically in increments of 10 to ensure the Report Snip can be inserted.  When the user is returned to the Report Options window, the first of the inserted report lines will automatically be selected in the treeview in case the inserted lines need more editing within the current report.  A Report Snips option has also been added to the Report Parameters command window.  When the Report Snips option is selected, a Report Snips window will be displayed.  The Report Snips window allows the user to see all of the Report Snips that are currently in the system and also allows the user to delete any Report Snips that are no longer needed.  The Report Snips window will show a grid of the existing Report Snips and when a Report Snip is highlighted in the grid, a treeview will show a preview of the report lines contained in the Report Snip.  The user can search the grid of Report Snips by the Snip Name and can also filter which Report Snips are in the grid by a Date Created Range and by Report Snip Type (Revenue, Expense, Fund, Balance Sheet, Trial Balance, Profit/Loss, Standard, or GASB 34).

4. Journal Entry Transaction Report.  There is a new “Page Break Between Transactions” option that when checked will start each journal entry transaction on a new page.

5. Auto Reverse Journal Entries.  An option has been added to the G/L tab in System Controls that allows the user to control if the entries that are created during the auto reverse are debits/credits or debit reversals/credit reversals.

6. Batch Posting.  When printing the Batch Report in Batch Posting, an options window is now displayed that includes ranges for the month/year, posting date, program, initials, and account number.  There is also the ability to assign a report date or subtitle.

7. Encumbrance Maintenance/Archived Encumbrance Maintenance.  There is now the ability to set the sort order of the Sequences of Encumbrances to be in Ascending or Descending order.  There is a new button next to the Sequence field that when clicked will switch the grid from Ascending

to Descending

order.  There is also the ability to set a preference for this order.  Also, when printing the Encumbrance Report, there is now the ability to enter a Due Date Range.

8. Purchase Orders/Archived Purchase Orders.  There is now the ability to set the sort order of the Sequences of Purchase Orders to be in Ascending or Descending order. There is a new button next to the Sequence field that when clicked will switch the grid from Ascending

to Descending

order.  There is also the ability to set a preference for this order.  If the user had the “Default to the last P.O. Number when the sequence is set to P.O. Number” box checked in preferences, the default preference will be set to Descending.

9. Purchase Order Form E-Mail.  An option has been added to the Purchase Order E-Mail Information window in System Controls to set the email to “High Importance”.  Since the emails were already being sent with high importance, this option will be turned on during the conversion.  If the user does not want the purchase order emails to be sent with high importance, they just need to turn the option off and the emails will be sent with normal importance.

10. Vendor Labels.  When manually selecting labels to print, there is now a “Number of Labels Selected” at the bottom on the select screen.  This is a count of the total number of labels that will print.

11. Invoice Processing.  There are a couple of changes that have been made to Invoice Processing, they are as follows:

· A new “Prepaid/E-Pay Date” field has been added to Invoice Processing.  This new field is available when adding or editing an Invoice that is for a Prepaid Check or Electronic Payment.  This new date is what the system will use as the Check Date or Electronic Payment when the Invoice is Updated.  For Prepaid Checks, the program was using the Check Date that was entered during the Check Register as the Check Date for the invoice.  This allows for the Check Date to be entered at invoice entry time and it will use this date during the Check Register and Check Update, regardless of the date entered on the Check Register screen.  For Electronic Payments, the invoice program was changing the Due Date field to E-Pay Date and the system was using this date for both the Due Date of the Invoice and the Electronic Payment Date of the Invoice.  Now, the heading for Due Date field will no longer change and the new “Prepaid/E-Pay Date” field will become enabled.  The Electronic Payments program will now use this new date as the Electronic Payment date during the update process.  Any Electronic Payment invoices that are in the system during the install of BUCS 22 will have the date in the Due Date field copied into the new Prepaid/E-Pay Date field.  To accommodate this field on the Invoice Report, a new line will now print under the second line of the report.  This line will contain the Project Number, Department (if department module is available), Prepaid/E-Pay Date and the Remit-To number.

· There are new “Pay Method” filters on the Invoice Maintenance menu screen.  The new “Check”, “ACH” and “Electronic Payment” checkboxes can be used to limit which type of pay methods are shown in the grid.

· The Selectively Release Invoices screen has been modified to now highlight the row when a box is checked or unchecked.  Invoices that have a status of “Released” will highlight in a cyan color and all other rows will highlight in blue.

12. Registers. There is now the ability to send the Check Register, ACH Register and Electronic Payment Register to Excel.  When the new Excel option is selected, the Funds Availability Report will also be sent to Excel.  This new option is only available to users who have the Data Dictionary Module and have Excel installed on their computer.  There is also the ability to enter a Report Date or Subtitle on the Registers.

13. Funds Availability Report.  If the Funds Availability Test fails, the message box that was displayed informing the user that the test has failed has been changed to now show more information. The screen now shows the details of what is causing the error.  There is a grid that shows any expenditure errors at the top and at the bottom is any cash errors.  The information in the grids is the same error information that shows on the report. Also, the heading text on the Funds Availability Report has been modified for some of the information to make it clearer to understand.

14. Electronic Payments.  When processing Electronic Payments, there is now the option to enter an Electronic Payment Number range on the screen.  This new option allows the user to update specific Electronic Payments instead of all the payments.

15. Paid Invoices.  When viewing a Paid Invoice in Paid Invoice View, for users who have Fixed Assets, there is a new Fixed Assets button that when pressed gives the user the ability to add a Fixed Asset or access Fixed Assets Maintenance. When Adding a Fixed Asset, the applicable information from the Paid Invoice will be carried over to the Asset. This works the same way that the Fixed Assets button works in Invoice Processing.

16. Check Reconciliation.  There have been a couple of changes to Check Reconciliation, they are as follows:

· When marking a Check as Unclaimed, a window will now be displayed for the user to enter in an Unclaimed Comment. Previously, the only way to enter an unclaimed comment was to right click on the grid row and select the Unclaimed Comment menu item.

· When viewing the Deposit Information detail, the grid now contains the Detail Description.  This new column is at the end of the grid.

17. Fixed Assets.  An option has been added that when an Invoice is added, if the amount is over a defined amount, a message will display prompting the user to Add a Fixed Asset.  To enable this new feature, in System Controls on the Fixed Assets tab, there is a new “Show Reminder to Add Fixed Asset when Invoice Amount Exceeds” checkbox.  When the box is checked, the amount field will become enabled and the Amount Exceeds value can be entered.  During the Add and Loading of an Individual Invoice, the message box will ask the user to add the invoice.  If they press “Yes” the Add Fixed Asset screen will display with the information from the invoice carried forward.  If they press the “No” button, an asset will not be added and if they press the “Cancel” button it will return the user back to the invoice entry screen. During the Selectively load invoices, if any of the invoices exceed the amount in System Controls, a message box will display letting the user know they may need to Add Fixed Assets.

18. Fixed Assets Labels.  When manually selecting labels to print, there is now a “Number of Labels Selected” at the bottom on the select screen.  This is a count of the total number of labels that will print.

19. Fee Receipts Posting.  An option has been added to Retain Record ID when posting a fee receipt in Fee Receipts Posting.  When this option is selected, the Record ID field will retain its value so the same Record ID can be used for the next fee receipt that is to be posted.

20. Fee Receipts.  Changes have been made throughout the system to now have the Fee Receipt Transaction Name appear in the Vendor Name field on Reports and Screens.  The changes include the following locations:  Chart of Accounts Posting screens, Future Period Trial Balance report, Trial Balance report, Posting Analysis Edit Description screen, Posting Analysis Print report, Posting Analysis View screen, Posting Journal Purge/Archive report and the Projects screen.

21. Fee Receipt Client Labels.  When manually selecting labels to print, there is now a “Number of Labels Selected” at the bottom on the select screen.  This is a count of the total number of labels that will print.

22. A/R Customer Labels.  When manually selecting labels to print, there is now a “Number of Labels Selected” at the bottom on the select screen.  This is a count of the total number of labels that will print.

23. A/R Invoice E-Mail.  An option has been added to the A/R Invoice E-Mail Information window in System Controls to set the email to “High Importance”. Since the emails were already being sent with high importance, this option will be turned on during the conversion. If the user does not want the A/R invoice emails to be sent with high importance, they just need to turn the option off and the emails will be sent with normal importance.

24. Source Documents.  When viewing the Source Document for transactions, when the Print Source Document option is available, there is a new “Source Document to Excel” button.  This new button is only available to users who have the Data Dictionary Module and have Excel installed on their computer.  When the Source Document to Excel option is selected, the source document will be sent to Excel.

25. System.  A new option has been added to System Controls, on the Preferences tab, “When adding Line Items on Transactions in Edit Mode, when the OK button is pressed, continue in Add until complete is pressed”.  When this new option is checked, when editing an item, for example an Invoice, when the Add button is pressed the program will continue in add mode until the complete button is pressed.  This will work the same way the program works when adding a transaction (Invoice).  This new checkbox affects the following programs: Standard Journal Entry, Invoice Processing, Standard Invoice Processing, Purchase Orders, Encumbrances, Standard Encumbrances, Cash Receipts, Standard Cash Receipts, Fee Receipts and Standard Fee Receipts.

26. Out Of Balance Run Totals Archive.  There is a new Out Of Balance Run Totals Archive menu option on the Utilities submenu of the File menu.  When an out of balance condition occurs on the Run Totals, those Run Totals will now be archived in the Out Of Balance Run Totals Archive.  Those out of balance Run Totals can then be referenced and reprinted from the Out Of Balance Run Totals Archive at any time.  Only Run Totals that are out of balance after installing BUCS 22 will appear in the new Out Of Balance Run Totals Archive.

27. Open Checkbook.  After the Open Checkbook file is generated, a copy of the checkbook.csv file will be put into an Opencheckbook directory with a file name called “checkbookyyyymmdd##.csv”.  The yyyymmdd is the current date and the ## is a sequence number used for multiple instances of the same date.  (For example, checkbook2021122501.csv)

28. Log File Analysis.  The “Return to this Options Screen After the Report Finishes Printing” option has been added to the screen.  When this box is checked, the program will return to the options screen after the report finishes processing.

We at FREY Municipal Software would like to thank everyone who responded to the BUCS survey and the beta testing of the product.  The ideas and suggestions that we receive from our users is the driving force behind the changes that are implemented into BUCS.