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District
Highlight: Peru Central School District, NY
SubFinder + Your Payroll Software = Time Saver
Interview by:
Corinne Everett, Marketing Coordinator
Interview with: Sandy Gagnier, Payroll Officer &
SubFinder Operator
 Peru, New York is a scenic area
situated near the beautiful Adirondack Mountains and
Lake Champlain. For those history buffs out there,
Peru is infamous for the Battle of Valcour during
the Revolutionary War. This historic battle was
Benedict Arnold’s fight against the British, which
took place within Peru’s borders on October 11,
1776. Presently, Peru is a peaceful, relaxing area
known for their apple orchards, dairy farms, and
antique shops.
Peru Central School District’s mission
is not only to educate their children, but also to
educate the school district’s community as well. The
district is located in Clinton County and provides
education to approximately 2,300 students in four
separate school facilities, with 385 full-time
teachers, staff, and administrators.
I recently had the pleasure of
speaking with Sandy Gagnier, SubFinder Operator and
Payroll Officer for the Peru Central School District.
Considering her busy role in the district, Sandy and
I discussed how exporting information from SubFinder
to their payroll system not only saves her time, but
also eliminates having to manually enter payroll
information. As this may be a common practice among
many of you, we are hopeful that you will be able to
incorporate exporting data from SubFinder as part of
your usual routine.
How long have you been working with the SubFinder
system?
We have been utilizing SubFinder since the fall of
2004.
When did Peru begin exporting information from
SubFinder using Data Exchange Pro to your 3rd
party payroll software? What information from
SubFinder is exported to your payroll system?
Peru Central School District started using Finance
Manager in July, 2007. From July to September, we
became familiar with Data Exchange Pro, and decided
to set up the export/import process. Teacher
attendance and substitute teacher payroll
information is exported from SubFinder, and then
imported into Finance Manager.
Does your exporting process take place manually, or
do you have this process set up to be done
automatically?
I prefer to have our exporting process to take place
manually.
How often does the exporting process occur? Weekly?
Bi-weekly?
Our exporting and payroll process take place
bi-weekly.
Prior to the exporting routine, what was the
standard procedure for completing the payroll
process?
I would utilize the reports I would receive from our
sites, as well as SubFinder, and ensure all data was
accurate. I would then manually enter the
information into our attendance program, and finally
the payroll system for the substitutes.
By taking advantage of exporting payroll information
from SubFinder through Data Exchange Pro and
importing it into your payroll system, how much time
has this saved your payroll department?
The SubFinder export and Finance Manager’s importing
features save me roughly 3 hours when completing the
payroll process.
We would like to thank the Peru
Central School District, especially Sandy, for
taking the time to participate in the March District
Highlight! If your organization is interested in
exporting information from SubFinder to save time
completing the routine payroll process, contact your
account specialist at 800.782.3463 for more
information on how you can easily begin this
seamless process!
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Streamline Data Integration
Make the Payroll Process More
Efficient with DxPro
Recently, a survey was sent out to SubFinder
operators regarding importing and exporting
information from SubFinder using Data Exchange Pro (DxPro).
CRS would like to thank all of those who
participated in this survey. The information
provided is valuable in assisting us to better serve
our customers, and understand organizations’ needs.
Considering some of the responses we received from
the importing and exporting survey, we thought it
would be beneficial to review five key points about
importing and exporting information from SubFinder
using Data Exchange Pro.
What is Data Exchange Pro?
It came as a surprise to us that some of our survey
participants were not aware of what Data Exchange Pro
was. Data Exchange Pro, also commonly referred to as
DxPro, is a feature within SubFinder that can
be used to import new records, apply changes
and delete existing records, and export
absences and job information to your payroll system.
Data Exchange Pro is FREE
One more time: Data Exchange Pro is a FREE
feature that comes with SubFinder. DxPro is a
one-of-a-kind, FREE feature that goes
beyond the basics of other systems by completely
automating the data transfer process with advanced
automation and scheduling technology.
Compatibility with Your Payroll System
SubFinder’s DxPro feature provides exports designed
specifically for over 50 payroll applications.
Information within SubFinder can easily be
transferred to your payroll application when you
want, with the proper export. If you are unable to
find the correct format, simply contact your account
specialist for assistance.
No Training Needed
There is no additional training needed to utilize
DxPro. If you currently are not utilizing the DxPro
feature and have interest in beginning this
time-saving process, contact your account specialist
and they would be happy to walk you through the
DxPro set up, if assistance is needed. You may also
find information regarding DxPro in the SubFinder
User’s Guide as well. If you do not have the
SubFinder User’s Guide, you may locate this useful
tool in the CRS Customer Support Center.
DxPro is a Time Saver – Guaranteed
Exporting your employee time absent and substitute
time worked information from SubFinder to your
payroll application will save both human resource
and payroll hours of manual data entry. DxPro also
provides accurate data tracking in regard to your
employee absences, substitute time worked, budget
codes, and other important human resource and
payroll information.
DxPro also can be utilized to import new employee or
substitute data information into SubFinder, as well
as to make changes to those existing records such as
budget codes, leave entitlement changes, new site
openings, and so much more.
For those customers who have not taken advantage of
this free feature within SubFinder, it
is time to take the next step in creating a seamless
human resource and payroll environment. If you need
more information, or are interested in help using
your Data Exchange Pro feature, contact your account
specialist at 800.782.3463.
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Stay In Control
A Review Lesson on SubFinder’s Control Panel
By:
Jim Gibson, Account Specialist
SubFinder’s Control Panel is the most important
aspect of your system to ensure it is operating
correctly. We like to call it “the heart” of
SubFinder. You will use the settings in the Control
Panel to customize SubFinder so that it works best
for your organization.
There are fifteen total functions found within the
SubFinder Control Panel. Below you will find some of
the most important settings to look at and
manipulate.
General System
The General System option contains controls for the
basic functions of SubFinder. One of the first
options you will find is the Supervisor ID and
Universal Password. Let’s pretend that your
organization shut down due to inclement weather.
Using the Supervisor ID and Universal Password, an
operator or administrator can call into the system
and stop SubFinder from calling out, or allowing
anybody to call in to report absences. When using
the Supervisor ID and Universal Password, four
options are available:
1)
Stop the system from calling out during the current
calling period.
2)
Resume calling out.
3)
Place the Job Processor in Standby mode.
4)
Bring the Job Processor out of Standby mode.
IMPORTANT:
If using the Universal Password for option one (1)
above, the operator or administrator must call
in again to restart the system for the next
calling period.
Dialing Properties
Dialing Properties allow you to instruct SubFinder
how to call each phone number; whether the number is
local, local long, or long distance. Each calling
area will be different, so you will need to check
with your phone company to determine which area
codes and exchanges are local, local long, or long
distance. If the dialing properties are not setup
correctly, you risk the chance of substitutes not
being called, or somebody who is not in the system
at all being called at 5 A.M.!
Call-In Options
Call-In Options allow you to determine if you will
allow your substitutes to call in and review jobs;
and if so, how far in advance each substitute can
review jobs.
The preference list setting will automatically apply
to all who are on any preference list in SubFinder.
Most sites allow substitutes on preference lists to
see jobs before anyone else. A common setting for
this is sixty days before the job starts.
The next two settings, At or above minimum skill
level and Below minimum skill level, tend to raise
more questions. If you have the minimum skill level
set to a B then your option for At or above
minimum skill level will allow anybody who has a
skill level of B or higher for that job position
to hear the job when calling in a predetermined
number days before the job starts, as designated by
your organization. Below minimum skill level will
allow any substitutes with a C or lower skill
level for that job position to review jobs a
predetermined number days before the job starts, as
designated by your organization. Finally, Without
desired job position is usually a small window of
time, and is meant to fill jobs at the last minute
when nobody else can fill the job.
Call-Out Options
Call-Out Options contain only a few settings, but
they are important settings. Here is where you will
instruct SubFinder whether it should call
substitutes to notify of cancellations, how many
days ahead to begin calling, and how long before the
job starts should SubFinder stop calling requested
substitutes.
Substitute Disqualification
The Substitute Disqualification settings allow you
to control how many times SubFinder will call a
substitute when the call is not answered. For
example, let’s pretend SubFinder’s Rejection is set
to three for the morning calling period, and
SubFinder has called a substitute three times. After
the third time, the substitute either rejected the
job or did not answer--that substitute will then be
disqualified. This does not mean the substitute
cannot call in and review jobs, or review jobs
online; this simply means that SubFinder will not
waste any more time trying to call that substitute
during the morning calling period, and will move on
to another available substitute. All
disqualifications will be reset for each calling
period.
SubFinder Passwords
SubFinder Passwords allow your organization to
require passwords to access Edit, Reports,
and the Internet portion of SubFinder. You will need
to go to the User List tab to select the username and
passwords to access these features. You can choose
which options you would like your administrators to
have control over here, as well.
If you have any questions regarding the Control
Panel, or any of the other features not mentioned in
this article, please contact your account specialist
at 800.782.3463. If you would like a review of your
Control Panel settings to ensure everything is setup
correctly, your account specialist would be happy to
look at those settings with you.
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Welcome
to the 4th edition of InTouch
Online for 2009. It is March, which
means we are making our way towards spring!
Whether it was snow, rain, wind, or fog;
winter 2009 has been a drag for most of us;
it is time for those temperatures to rise
and the sun to come out! March is a
fun-filled month with the merriment of St.
Patrick’s Day on the 17th and the
advent of spring on the 20th. Don’t
forget! March is the month when we
SPRING ahead; clocks will move forward on
Sunday, March 8th!