SERS Common Issues

Let’s face it, SERS has been an… INTERESTING program over the past few months. As stated earlier, we (Connect) do not have access to the eSERS website but based on the experiences of other users, we have noticed some common issues and found some resolutions. So just to follow up…

Some things to keep in mind

When setting up your pay schedule on eSERS, this is where you will enter and set your pay cycle and sequence number i.e if you’ve entered BWK 0001 as your biweekly pay schedule then that is the number you will always use when running SERSREG.  If you initialize different pay groups separately for your regular payroll, you must use different pay cycles; i.e BWK0001 and BWK0002 etc (classified and certified employees). When running SERSREG, you must use the same pay cycle and sequence number you have set up in your payroll schedule on SERS’s website If your district’s regular pay dates don’t match a true semi-monthly schedule, what others have done is use OTH. If you have set up OTH0001, then this is what you will use when you run SERSREG.

If you run special pays, you must have a pay cycle and sequence number set up for that as well. OTH is typically what is used here if employees are not set up on a default calendar If you are running a special pay using the same pay date as your regular pay and using the same initialization dates, you can use the same pay cycle and sequence number used for your regular pay as long as those employees are on a default calendar, otherwise this will add attendance days (i.e If your regular payroll pay date is 3/1/17 and you initialize for 2/15/17- 2/28/17 and you use SMO 0001 and then you initialize for a special payroll dated the same 3/1/17 and use the same dates for initializing 2/15/17 – 2/28/17, you do not have to enter another pay cycle and sequence number…it will all pull into one file when running SERSREG). When running a special pay you cannot have the same beginning and ending date (i.e Beginning date 4/1/2017 and Ending date 4/1/2017. You’ll need to change that ending date to 4/2/2017).

Test Question Uno! Scenario: Regular Pay date – 3/3/2017 Beginning Date – 2/6/2017 Ending Date – 2/20/2017 Special Beginning Date – 2/18/2017 Ending Date – 2/18/2017 Will there be a problem loading into eSERS and if so why?

Test Question Deux! Scenario: Regular BWK0001 Pay date – 3/3/2017 Beginning Date – 2/6/2017 Ending Date – 2/20/2017 Regular BWK0002 Pay date – 3/17/2017 Beginning Date – 2/27/2017 Ending Date – 3/13/2017 Will there be a problem loading into eSERS and if so why?

Test Question Three! Scenario: Regular BWK0001 Pay date – 4/14/2017 Beginning Date – 3/27/2017 Ending Date – 4/07/2017 Special OTH0001 Beginning Date – 4/08/2017 Ending Date – 4/09/2017 Will there be a problem loading into eSERS and if so why?

Additional Resource(s): SERS Tutorials http://ohsers

Payroll CD Allows users to view SERS reports that have been submitted i.e SERSREG, SERSDET, SERSDERR etc To utilize   Go to: http://ohconnect.org/fiscal/ => Under Software click on Payroll CD Locate and click on your district Log In (This is your reflections log in) To view current reports click on the corresponding quarter Click on the month Click on the report that you want to view Note: Only reports that have been submitted will be available Payroll CD is useful when attempting to determine errors, view information without having to use reflections, print etc. You may find different uses for Payroll CD as it is a convenient tool.

SERSMONTH SERS REQUIRES THIS BE RUN AT THE END OF EACH MONTH TO CLEAR ACCUMULATORS!!! Provides month to date and fiscal to date totals for old and new employees. This is another report that can be found in PayrollCD…so yes we know when it hasn’t been run To access/utilize Log into reflections At the main menu type RETIRE Option 3 Select “Y” to clear accumulators - Enter Closing Month and Year - Execute * Other options are based on preference