Release v08.04

Dateline: Roseville - May 2008

This release included 62 changes!  Some were custom, but the majority (51) were for each and every one of you:

  • 11 changes to Finance
  • 33 changes to HR/Payroll
  • 7 changes to System and Infrastructure

Quick Links

Here are some quick links for the release that went out this week:

Summary of Major Enhancements

This is a concentrated release. We focused on:

  • New UI - You have seen it in screen captures. You have seen it in demos. Now it is on your desktop! The new color scheme for modules (Finance-Green, HR-Blue, Payroll-Magenta) is introduced with this release. Not only does it look nice, but it makes it so much easier to see exactly where you are, especially for those multi-tasking power users.

    LIST TOTALS!!! Now, many of the lists in Escape Online include totals. We are revisiting every list to include more with future releases. The totals reflect what is on the list. So if you stop your search, the total will reflect that. If you filter your list, the total will reflect that. And, they can be exported to Excel along with the rest of your list.



  • Performance - This release includes six changes that will improve performance, the new interface includes streamlined communications between the client and the server, improving the processing of the account snapshot, reducing the amount of time it takes to open a credential holder record, reworking locking errors and system setup.

    We take performance considerations seriously. We are revisiting code, creating benchmarks and putting our school business knowledge behind a concerted effort to speed it up!

  • Multi-year Budgeting - This enhancement is so incredible that we are introducing it in two parts. This first part allows you to create multi-year budget salaries/benefits projections with extensive detail (down to the row/column of a salary schedule). YOu can include either three or five year projections in any budget model. (In a future release, we will address the second part of this functionality: other expenditures and revenue.)

  • Amping Up HR - More than half of the changes were in the HR/Payroll module, including a warning that a pay hold may occur when you add an assignment or addon that doesn't match the credential audit rules defined (the pay matrix), more search fields, an easy-to-use task that rolls forward leave balances, lots of report enhancements and more!

  • Reports - This release included quite a few report fixes and a new option for the Quarterly Multiple Worksite Report (Pay08). Option B is to inform the State of the number of employees paid at each site during each month of the quarter, with a total of regular wages for the quarter.