Municipal Software BUCS 17 Release Updates

BUCS 17 was released to all current customers in September. The  new release is chock full of fantastic new features and enhancements. You can find all the details in the 17 Release Letter (also posted under the video) as well as the release video.

The BUCS 17.0 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 17.0.

1. Fund Control.  The delete has been changed so that it now validates that there are no accounts in the system for the Fund.  If there are, then the delete will not be allowed.  This change was made to stop the inadvertent deletion of a fund.  All accounts must be deleted before the fund can be removed.  There is also the ability to now search for a Fund via the Fund’s Description.

2. Fund Based Investments.  Investments has been renamed Fund Based Investments. Fund Based Investments continues to work as Investments always has.  It is basically a notational area to store investments that is not tied to any G/L accounts and does not affect any G/L balances.  The Investments Report has also been renamed Fund Based Investments Report.  The Investments icon on the General Ledger Task Pane has been renamed Fund Based Investments and the Fund Based Investments menu item is now located on the Investments menu of the General Ledger menu.

3. Account Based Investments Maintenance.  There is a new Account Based Investments Maintenance program that can be used to setup investments that are linked to an asset G/L account.  The asset G/L account that the Account Based Investment is linked to is defined in the Investment Account field.  The Investment Account cannot be posted to through any BUCS posting program other than the new Account Based Investments Posting program.  Account Based Investments Maintenance can be accessed from the Account Based Investments menu of the Investments menu of the General Ledger menu.  There is also an icon on the General Ledger Task Pane for Account Based Investments Maintenance.

4. Account Based Investment Types.  There is a new Account Based Investment Types program that defines the possible types for Account Based Investments.  Account Based Investment Types can be accessed from the Account Based Investments menu of the Investments menu of the General Ledger menu. Account Based Investment Types can also be accessed from Account Based Investments Maintenance when adding an Account Based Investment so a type can be added as needed.

5. Account Based Investments Posting.  There is a new Account Based Investments Posting program that is used to post transactions for Account Based Investments.  An Account Based Investment can have four different types of posting transactions created:  an initial value posting, a change in value posting, an interest posting, and a fees posting.  Posting an initial value transaction or change in value transaction works similar to Cash Receipts where the user keys in an account for one side of the entry and the offset entry is automatically created to the Account Based Investments’ Investment Account.  Posting an interest transaction will automatically post to the Investment Account and Interest Account that is setup on the Account Based Investment.  Posting a fee transaction will automatically post to the Investment Account and Fee Account that is setup on the Account Based Investment. A transaction log of the entered postings will print when exiting Account Based Investments Posting if the “Use Account Based Investment Posting Transaction Log” option is turned on from the G/L tab in System Controls.  Account Based Investments Posting can be accessed from the Account Based Investments menu of the Investments menu of the General Ledger menu.  There is also an icon on the General Ledger Task Pane for Account Based Investments Posting.

6. Account Based Investments Reconciliation.  There is a new Account Based Investments Reconciliation program that is used to reconcile the balance on an Account Based Investment and the balance on the Investment Account of the Account Based Investment to the ending balance on an investment’s statement of activity.  A reconciliation can only be updated when the statement ending balance matches both the Investment Account’s net investment account balance and the Account Based Investment’s net investment balance. Account Based Investments Reconciliation can be accessed from the Account Based Investments menu of the Investments menu of the General Ledger menu.  There is also an icon on the General Ledger Task Pane for Account Based Investments Reconciliation.

7. Account Based Investments Journal.  There is a new Account Based Investments Journal that can be used to print a report of the transactions posted to Account Based Investments.  Option preferences for the Account Based Investments Journal can be setup by individual users in Preferences.  The Account Based Investments Journal can also be sent to Excel for users with the Data Dictionary module.  The Account Based Investments Journal can be accessed from the Account Based Investments menu of the Investments menu of the General Ledger menu and from the Print option in Account Based Investments Maintenance.

8. Account Based Investments Log Reprint.  There is a new Account Based Investments Log Reprint program that will allow users to reprint the transaction logs created from Account Based Investments Posting.  The logs will be available to reprint even if the option to print the Account Based Investments Transaction Log is not turned on in System Controls.  The Account Based Investments Log Reprint can be accessed from the Utilities menu of the File menu.

9. Chart of Accounts.  There have been a couple of changes to Chart of Accounts, they are as follows:

• The Current tab of the Assets screen in Chart of Accounts has been changed to include fields for the Investment ID and Description for the Account Based Investment that is linked to the asset account by the Account Based Investment’s Investment Account.  If the asset account is not linked to an Account Based Investment, the new Account Based Investment fields will be disabled.  These new fields cannot be edited in the asset account.  The routine to test if an account can become inactive or be deleted has also been changed to make sure the account is not being used as an investment account, interest account, or fee account in Account Based Investments.
• When a Combining Account Number is entered, the program will now verify if the combining account number type is the same type as the chart of accounts type.  If the types do not match, a message box will be displayed informing the user of the issue and asking if they want to continue.

10.  Asset Listing.  If an asset account is linked to an Account Based Investment, the Investment ID will show on the comment line for the asset on the Asset Listing.

11.  Asset Transaction Listing.  If an asset account is linked to an Account Based Investment, the Investment ID will show on the comment line for the asset on the Asset Transaction Listing.  This is the change log that can be turned on in System Controls.

12.  Checking Accounts.  There have been a couple of changes to Checking Accounts, they are as follows:

• On the Checking Account setup screen, there is now a Default Reconciliation Note field.  Any information that is entered in this field will automatically be loaded into the Reconciliation Note when performing a Bank Reconciliation.  There is also the ability to print this information on the Checking Accounts Report.
• When accessing a checking account, there is now a grid that lists all the past reconciliations for that checking account.  When an item in the grid is double clicked, a screen will show the detail of the reconciliation.

13.  Posting Analysis Print.  An Investment ID range has been added to the Posting Analysis Print.  The Investment ID range is for Account Based Investment postings.  An “Additional Detail Line 3” option has also been added.  The Account Based Investment ID and its description will print on this new detail line.  A preference has also been added for the new “Additional Detail Line 3” option.

14.  Combining Reports.  When performing the “Assign” function, if the account type of the Combining Number does not match the account type of the Account Number, a warning icon will be displayed in the Account Number column of the grid to indicate the potential issue. A label will also show on the screen to let the user know the Warning image indicates an Account Type Mismatch. This label will only show when a mismatch exists.

15.  Budget Amendments.  There are now totals at the bottom of the main screen for the Total Revenue Amendments, Total Expense Amendments and Total Expense Transfers.  The number of items in the grid has also increased to show more records.  It has increased from 17 records to 23 records.

16.  Budget Analysis.  A new “Print Account Type Totals” option has been added.  When this new checkbox is checked, totals will print at the end of the Revenue and Expense areas of the report.

17.  Revise Transferred Plan.  The screen has been changed so that there is now a Total Net Change field at the bottom of the screen.  The number of items in the grid has also increased to show more records.  It has increased form 17 records to 23 records.

18.  Note Types.  There is now the ability to do an ID Change on note types. When an ID Change occurs, the program will sync the changes with all the notes in the system.

19.  Journal Entry.  The Detail Description that can be assigned to the accounts has been increased to 44 characters from 30 characters.  Please note that the entire description may not print on the reports/transaction logs.

20.  Journal Entry History.  There is now the ability to show entries that are out of balance (Posting Balance) or out of balance between funds.  Starting with the 17.0 version of BUCS, when a journal entry is posted through the Posting Entry feature, if the entry Posting Balance is not 0, the history record will be marked as Out of Balance.  If the entry is out of balance by fund, the history record will be marked as Fund Out of Balance.  On the Journal Entry History Screen, there are new checkboxes, Out of Balance, In Balance, Fund Out of Balance and Fund In Balance.  These new checkboxes will then adjust contents of the history based on these checkboxes.  There are new Out of Balance and Fund Out of Balance columns at the end of each grid row. *Any postings in the system before the installation of 17.0 will all be marked as In Balance and Fund In Balance.

21.  Auto Reverse Journal Entries.  There have been a couple changes to the Auto Reverse Journal Entries.  They are as follows:

• There is now the ability to show entries that are out of balance (Posting Balance) or out of balance between funds.  The new checkboxes are, Out of Balance, In Balance, Fund Out of Balance and Fund In Balance.  These new checkboxes will then adjust contents of the history based on these checkboxes. There are new Out of Balance and Fund Out of Balance columns at the end of each grid row. *Any postings in the system before the installation of 17.0 will all be marked as In Balance and Fund In Balance.
• When a Journal Entry is reversed through the Auto Reverse program, the original journal entry history item will now be flagged as reversed by storing the date it was reversed.  An Auto Reversed Date column has been added to the end of the history grid. When accessing the detail of the Journal Entry, if it has been reversed, the Auto Reversed Date will show in the screen in red letters.  If a Journal Entry that has already been reversed and the user is attempting to reverse it again, the program will now display a warning message letting the user know that the entry has already been reversed giving the user the option to determine if they actually want to reverse the entry again.  Also, when viewing the Source Document of a Journal Entry that was reversed, throughout the system, the Auto Reversed Date will show on the screen.  Please note that this new Auto Reversal Date will only show on Journal Entries that are Reversed after the 17.0 version of BUCS is loaded.

22.  Vendor Maintenance.  There have been a few changes  to Vendors, they are as follows:

• For tax year 2020, the federal government has made a new form for submittal of Nonemployee Compensation.  This form is the 1099-NEC.  In order to accommodate this, a new 1099 Type field has been added to the 1099 area on the Vendor screen.  The available types are NEC and MISC.  When the NEC option is selected, the only option in the Box Number field is “1 Nonemployee Compensation”.  When the MISC option is selected, it lists all the other available box numbers. Please note that some of the boxes have been re-numbered. Box 10 is now Box 9 and Box 14 is now Box 10 and Box 7 has been removed.  During the 17.0 conversion, if the vendor is set to Box 7, the type will be set to NEC and the number is changed to Box 1.  The other number changes will also be changed automatically.
• The Bulk Delete Vendors in Vendor Maintenance has been changed so that the user can now specify the number of days of no activity for permanent vendors.  The default will be 730 days (2 years).  730 days will also be the minimum number of days of no activity that can be set for permanent vendors.  The number of days of no activity for permanent vendors can have a maximum of 9999 days.  The number of days of no activity for temporary vendors has also been changed to have a maximum of 9999 days.
• The Bulk Inactivation of Vendors in Vendor Maintenance has been changed so that the number of days of no activity for vendors now has a maximum of 9999 days.

23.  Vendor 1099 Print.  When the Print option is selected, the program will now prompt the user to determine which forms to print.  The options are 1099-NEC and 1099-MISC.  Depending on which option is selected, the appropriate form will be printed.  There is the ability to set a Preference for this option and the default will be set to the new 1099-NEC form.

24.  Vendor Labels.  A Manually Select Labels to Print option has been added.  When this option is selected, the user will be taken to a screen showing all labels that will be printed and the user has the ability to further select which labels should print.  This has been added to both the laser labels and dot-matrix labels. There is also the ability to set a preference for this new option.

25.  Invoice Processing.  There have been a few changes to Invoice Processing, they are as follows:

• When Viewing, Editing and Deleting an Invoice, there is now a View Postings button at the bottom of the screen.  When this button is pressed it will list all the posting that have currently been posted for this invoice.  Any future invoices will not be shown.  This works similar to the View Postings button in Paid Invoices.
• When Selectively Deleting Invoices, there are now fields at the bottom of the window that show the total number of records that have been selected along with the total amount of the invoices that have been selected.
• The Detail Description that can be assigned to the accounts has been increased to 44 characters from 30 characters.  Please note that the entire description may not print on reports/transaction logs.

26.  Encumbrance Maintenance.  The Detail Description that can be assigned to the accounts has been increased to 44 characters from 30 characters.  Please note that the entire description may not print on reports/transaction logs.

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

• When viewing the detail of Deposit Information, the grid listing the posting entries now includes the Control Number of the Journal Entries that make up the deposit amount.  The screen has also been made longer and wider to now show more information.
• There is now an option in System Controls, on the A/P tab, that controls if Cash Transfer transactions are automatically cleared. When the new “Automatically Clear Cash Transactions” is unchecked, Cash Transfers will not automatically be cleared in Bank Reconciliation.

28.  Check Register History.  A liquidation field has been added to Check Register History.  It will print either “Entire” or “Partial” if the transaction affects an Encumbrance.

29.  Bank Reconciliation.  When performing a Bank Reconciliation, if the BUCS Total Cash Balance from the previous Reconciliation has changed, a button will become visible at the bottom of the screen that can be pressed to see the difference.  The title of this button is “The Total Cash Balance from the Previous Reconciliation has Changed”.  When this button is pressed, a screen will be displayed that will show what the “Previous Reconciliation Total Cash Balance” was when the reconciliation was posted along with the “Calculated Previous Total Current Cash Balance”.  The calculated previous total current cash balance amount is what the total cash balance would be if the pervious reconciliation was run again.  Generally, this amount would only be different if a Prior Period Journal entry occurred that affected the cash balance, but other transactions could also affect this number.  In order to get this recalculated number, the system is basically having to calculate the BUCS Total Cash Balance twice, so it will cause the reconciliation screen to take a little bit longer to process before the screen becomes active.  This new feature will help assist the user when an out of balance situation exists. This information will also print on the Bank Reconciliation Report and show on the Bank Reconciliation Archive. *Please note that this feature will only work after the first reconciliation after the 17.0 version is installed.

30.  Cash Receipts.  There have been a few changes to Cash Receipts, they are as follows:

• An option has been added to “Require Reference on Cash Receipts”.  This option is in System Controls on the A/R tab.  When this box is checked, when a Cash Receipt is added, the program will verify that a Reference number has been added.  Along with this new option are options to “Automatically Generate Reference Number When Empty” and “Only Generate Reference Number on Update”. When the Automatically Generate Reference Number When Empty box is checked, if the Reference number is empty, the number will automatically generate when the user exits out of the reference field or when the OK button is pressed.  When the “Only Generate Reference Number on Update” box is checked, the Reference Number in Cash Receipts becomes disabled and the number will get generated at update.  This option is used to make sure that no reference numbers get skipped during the adding of a cash receipt.  The number will automatically get generated each time and if a cash receipt is cancelled, the number will not be generated.
• A new option to ‘Suppress “Not a Revenue Account” Warning’ has been added to the Cash Receipts area in System Controls on the A/R Tab. When this new checkbox is checked, the “Not a Revenue Account” warning message box will not be displayed if the receipt is for an Account with a type other than Revenue.
• The Detail Description that can be assigned to the accounts has been increased to 44 characters from 30 characters.  Please note that the entire description may not print on reports/transaction logs.

31.  Fee Receipts.  The Detail Description that can be assigned to the accounts has been increased to 44 characters from 30 characters.  Please note that the entire description may not print on reports/transaction logs.

32.  Fee Receipts Journal.  An initials range has been added to the Fee Receipts Journal.  The operator’s initials have also been added to the second print line of the report.

33.  Fee Receipts History.  On the main Fee Receipts History screen, the initials of the user who created the receipt have been added to grid of receipts.  There is also an Operator Initials Range option on the screen. When viewing the receipt detail, the initials also show on the receipt screen below the posting period.

34.  Fee Receipt Client labels.  A Manually Select Labels to Print option has been added.  When this option is selected, the user will be taken to a screen showing all labels that will be printed and the user has the ability to further select which labels should print.  This has been added to both the laser labels and dot-matrix labels. There is also the ability to set a preference for this new option.

35.  A/R Customer Labels.  A Manually Select Labels to Print option has been added.  When this option is selected, the user will be taken to a screen showing all labels that will be printed and the user has the ability to further select which labels should print.  This has been added to both the laser labels and dot-matrix labels. There is also the ability to set a preference for this new option.

36.  A/R G/L Codes.  The delete function has been change to no longer allow a G/L Code to be deleted if it is currently assigned to an Item.

37.  A/R Items.  There have been a few changes to A/R Items, they are as follows:

• When searching for an A/R Item, the G/L Code and Description assigned to the item are now listed in the search grid.
• When editing an item, there are now next and previous buttons to take the user to the next or previous item.
• The delete function has been changed to no longer allow an Item to be deleted if it is assigned to an A/R Bill that has not been paid. This also applies to Standard, Recurring and Batch Invoices along with Credit Memos.  If an Item is still used in one of these locations, the program will display a screen listing any of the conflicts that exist.

38.  A/R Reversals.  Additional testing has been added to now verify that Items that were on bills that the original payment was for exist.  If an Item is missing, a message box will now display indicating that the item is missing and the reversal will not be able to be processed until the item is re-added.

39.  Fixed Asset Labels.  A Manually Select Labels to Print option has been added.  When this option is selected, the user will be taken to a screen showing all labels that will be printed and the user has the ability to further select which labels should print.

40.  Fixed Asset Posting Journal.  An option to use a Report Date or Subtitle on the report has been added.

41.  Advanced Allocations.  There is now the ability to have the Automatic Backup process before the Allocations are posted.  The setup for this backup is in System Controls on the Backup Locations area.

42.  Reports.  Many reports throughout the system have been changed to have a “Return to this Options Screen After the Report Finishes Processing” option. If these reports have preferences, there are also preferences for this new option.  The reports with this new option are the following:  A/R Aged Trial Balances, A/R Billing Journal, A/R Finance Charge Journal, A/R Receipts Journal, A/R Regular Trial Balance, A/R Unapplied Cash Report, A/R Write-Offs Journal, Bank Report, Cash Receipts Journal, Check Register History, Checking Account Summary, Daily Account Activity Report, Depreciation History Report, Depreciation Projection Report, Fee Receipts Journal, Fixed Asset Posting Journal,  Inventory Activity Report, Inventory Reorder Worksheet, Inventory Stock Status Report, Inventory Valuation Report, Journal Entry Transaction Report, Paid Invoice Report, Physical Inventory List and Uncommitted Exception Report.

43.  Indiana Gateway.  Options have been added to the Revenue Account Listing and Expense Account Listing programs, that are within Chart of Accounts, to “Include Accounts With Gateway Information” and “Include Accounts Without Gateway Information”.  These new options will check the Account if any of the Gateway information is entered; it will use these new options to determine if the account should be included or excluded from the report.  One use for these options would be to get a listing of accounts with Gateway information entered.

44.  Change Paths.  An Accounts Based Investments Posting option and an Account Based Investments Reconciliation option has been added to the Image Paths to Change group in Change Paths so that the paths for the images assigned to an account based investment posting or account based investment reconciliation can be changed.

45.  Prior Year.  Changes have been made to now give users the ability to add/edit users and groups in the prior year.  Previously, this feature was locked down to view only in the prior year.

46.  Bulk E-Mail.  The “Mail” feature located off of the “File” menu has been renamed “Bulk E-Mail”.

47.  CUBIC Refund Invoices.  There is now the ability to specify the Vendor Class when CUBIC Refund invoices are created. The Vendor Class is defined in System Controls at the bottom of the A/P Tab.

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.