May 19, 2020
Will all of the staff have the Acumatica mobile app to upload their receipts?
Yes, at this point, we are showing that transactions can be created and documents can be attached to an AP entry using a smartphone or tablet through the Acumatica mobile app. Over time, the goal is for CCE to take advantage of the evolving technology available especially for Program Staff who are, most of the time, working offsite.
Will you be able to change the amount of the reimbursement? For example, if sales tax was added in error?
Yes, the review phase of the payment process will remain. Say, when a Program Staff initiated a payment request transaction, you will still have to review by checking its validity, amount, account charging and sufficiency of supporting documents. At this stage, you can correct or edit any error you find before it goes to the next person for approval. The approver could either be the Program Leader or Executive Director depending on the payment workflow of your association
How much do we expect employees will use their phones to upload? It’s a broader conversation about use of personal cell phones but curious how common you expect to use this feature.
We are expecting that employees will be encouraged to submit receipts through the mobile app once they realize the ease of use and convenience this capability provides. It is incredibly helpful, saves on paper, saves time and data entry issues and organizes record keeping. We are hoping that over time employees will submit receipts in a timely manner and lessen the burden of chasing after copies of receipts. We do recognize that it is going to be process change by getting into the habit of capturing pictures of the receipts as an employee gets them.
Is HR working on any policies about using personal phones for work, should associations start budgeting in for smart phones for staff?
It is not required that employees have a smartphone to upload a receipt. They can still use their computer desk or laptop to submit. The Acumatica mobile app is just another tool that is optional. However, during this time of work from home directives, we are expecting a dialogue between HR and Finance on cellphone use in the future.
Will employees have access to upload their own receipts for reimbursements? How will they access AP and be sure to attach to the correct entry?
Yes, in the Time and Expense (T&E) module of Acumatica, there is a task that can upload captured phone image of a receipt and attach to an AP entry. We will show this in the future once we start with the rollout of T&E. Associations may have the option to use this feature. Some associations had expressed that they would like to move to this direction and some do not.
I am curious as to how the employee will be sure to attach the receipt to the correct AP entry. Are the employees also putting in the transaction?
When an employee has an expense for payment, they will have to create an entry and upload a scanned or snapped picture of the receipt. They still have to provide a complete description of the business purpose aside from entering the vendor, invoice number and amount. When they hit Pre-Release, this initial entry will flow to a Finance staff who will perform the usual checks for AP payments: account, sub-account, amount, vendor code, validity etc. If this entry is incomplete, the Finance staff can send a note back to the initiator/employee through email that certain requirements are needed to complete. If the Finance staff is satisfied that the requirements are met, she or he can hit Release for the entry to flow to the next review or approval level.
What does it look like to receive something from an employee?
We have not tested this yet as this is under the T&E module. We will include this is one of the future Show and Tells. When we get to that point, process manuals will also be available.
How would this work with numerous receipts for one month expense statement?
There is no limit in the files that you can upload on a transaction.
Do we still need to obtain the original receipt to assure there is no duplications of receipt reimbursements? Some funders may still require that original receipt during an on-site audit.
We still have to work on those different scenarios. One intent is that we provide a dashboard for auditors where they can drilldown and have a read only access through all the transactions and all the supporting documents.
Will there be training for staff? If so, how will that be rolled out and by who?
There will be training for staff. Counties will be working with their SBN Finance Leads to do their trainings.
Is there a way to determine how to properly allocate the receipt in the mobile app? Reimbursement vs Credit Cards vs AP for a vendor?
We have not tried this scenario yet, but we are taking note for testing.
Will these “photos” of receipts satisfy OTDA for SNAP Ed? We know how picky they can be.
If you are currently providing electronic version or scanned copies as supporting documents to OTDA, submission through the mobile app should still satisfy this requirement.
OTDA requires the original receipt for audit, if they come here.
Each grant and/or contract has specific requirements. If your grant calls for the original receipt to be kept for audit purpose, you still will have to comply.
Will they have access to only their vendor? Are we sending them a request for receipts?
Yes, a user will only have access to the vendors of their own county. If you are handling books for multiple associations, you will have to enter to a county database to get to their vendors.
Is the software able to question a transaction that looks like a duplicate submission?
We do know that the system can prevent users from entering the same document twice. Acumatica can prompt an error message informing the user if an invoice number with the same vendor code had already been recorded in the system. We will confirm this.
Can Project Leaders and Area Leaders approve expenses?
Yes, there will a workflow defined in the system on where an AP entry moves for approval for each association. The Project and Area Leaders will get email alerts of AP bills that they need to approve. They can do this remotely with the use of any devices. This is very ideal if you have an urgent payment, and the approver is working offsite and won’t be back at the office right away. If they need more documents, you can simply upload in the AP entry.
Will you be able to indicate which County Project and funding source?
Yes, it will be part of the upload. We will show you how this works in one of the Show and Tells to come.
Will the Executive Directors bills be able to go directly to the Board President for approval? Will Board President also be able to approve ED expenses via this software?
This is one of the workflows that we are working with Prelude, our IT Consultants, to add in the system. More on this, as at the moment, we are not sure about the approval or access status of the Board President.
Are their security concerns with the software being accessible from so many devices?
No, there will be a dual authentication in signing in the system. Acumatica is a Software as a Service (SaaS) and is hosted by Amazon Web Services (AWS) that has the most advanced cloud computing infrastructure. User credentials will be defined as well as the user access rights.
Is that process of the Executive Director to go in to approve mandatory or optional. ED’s get way too many emails now. It would be very easy to miss something that we need to pay quickly.
The EDs may still have the option to manually approve the entries. However, in Acumatica, the first page upon entering is a dashboard or a ‘favorites’ page. Upon rollout, this will display information standard to a user job description. However, you can personalize this page and manage what information you want to see right away or according to your daily work. You may opt to show the outstanding AP bills that needs your approval, letting the system monitor for you. This will be included in the training.
Like, can we “bundle“ stuff that all the approvals are done one day a week, for example.
Yes, you can schedule a once a week approvals depending on your association.
How will non-CCE folks, like BOD members have access to this for approvals and check reconciliations?
They will be given a User ID with limited rights and access. We can customize a dashboard with information relevant to BODs. Receive an email alert that the financial statements are available with the ability to drilldown if they want to see the details of an account.
For the audit of internal controls and pertaining to the AP approval process, would you be able to provide what the auditor would see.
Yes, we can provide the auditor with a view only access which they can check the transactions as well as the process workflows.
Does Acumatica do effort certification or do we have to import that from a spreadsheet?
Acumatica by itself does not do the effort certification, and they have something in the system that we know are not doing consistently. We are looking at the different ways the counties are doing it to come up with a more consistent method that can be used across the state.
Balanced is not posted and open is posted?
‘Balanced’ is before the invoice is posted. ‘Open’ is posted waiting to be paid. Acumatica has different terminologies, we will come up with the cheat sheet for the terms.
If you reject a transaction does it get deleted or can the staff person open it, edit it, and resubmit it?
If it is rejected, it means that the entry goes back to the initiator to comply with the requirements. You may send it back with a note on what needs to be submitted or included in the entry. The initiator can correct then resubmit.
Will we have Acumatica education for staff when the time comes?
Yes, there will be training even for the Educators when the time comes to implement the Project Accounting and T&E modules.
I have a question – with all of these uploads, is there a way when pulling a report for a grant that we can download the pdf backup as a batch?
There is an add-on application called DocuPhase that interacts with Acumatica. It can mine data and reports for a particular grant from the different modules (AP, AR, FA, PA) and integrate the information into one file folder. Since this is an add-on, this will be an additional cost.
Is there an inventory module?
We will have the Fixed Assets (FA) modules after the GL, AP, AR and Bank Services are in place.
Will the uploads be instead of AP Vouchers?
If you are prefer to do it electronically, you may use uploads.
Will add-ons be by county or does it have to be statewide?
The big associations may want to have the add-ons, and some of the smaller associations might not find it necessary. We will have to review the need of an add-on on a statewide basis.
There is a contract/grants module, correct?
Yes, called Project Accounting. It will be implemented together with the T&E after the rollout of the financials.
Fixed Assets only, or can general inventory be included for one source info?
We have not seen the Fixed Assets module yet. But, we do know, that it can track non-capitalizable assets under the threshold of $1,000.00, and can tag these items as non-depreciable. No more manual computation of depreciation!
Are you able to show the CRM module?
Not yet. We do hope to have a test sand box that which the CRM working group can have a hands on assessment of the module.
