Wednesday, November 10, 2021
Status Update
Thanks very much to all the districts who have started submitting data in WISEdata Finance! Although we tested the system internally as well as with our pilot districts, some bugs and related issues have cropped up. The ones we are aware of and working on right now are:
- Beginning balances: We have not yet imported 2020-21 ending balances from the PI-1505 to use as 2021-22 beginning balances in WISEdata Finance. The budget data validations that use those balances have been turned off for now. Based on user feedback, we are evaluating when would be the most useful time to populate the data and turn the budget validations back on. (The budget “fund out of balance” validations for Funds 27, 93 and 99 are still active, as they simply compare whether budgeted total revenues equal total expenditures.)
- Fund mapping: Some districts using Skyward SMS are receiving a large number of “incorrect fund mapping” validations on their local accounts (e.g., "Does Fund 10 in the local account match Fund 10 in the DPI account?"). The underlying issue also seems to be preventing those accounts from appearing on the Account Reviews > Account Search screen, although they can be found on the Data Reviews > View All Data screen. We are working with Skyward to troubleshoot this issue.
- No amounts vs. zeroes in validations: Some validations appear to be triggering incorrectly when no data is reported. For example, the “Fund 99 budget out of balance” validation (#6890) appears when a district has an 99E account with $0 budgeted, but no 99R accounts submitted.
- Fund 10 cashflow borrowing accounts: Districts are not seeing 10 E 682/690 283000 in WISEdata Finance for 2021-22. We have identified the issue and will be updating that shortly. Once those accounts are available, districts using them will need to refresh their charts of accounts in their vendor software.
If you are seeing other apparent bugs in the system, please let us know at dpifin@dpi.wi.gov.
As a reminder, the December “snapshot” will simply be verification that your district is connected to WISEdata Finance and submitting budget data for 2021-22. We do not expect that the data will be perfect and entirely free of validations at that time. The date for doing so has not been finalized; once we do so it will be announced at least two weeks in advance.
Using Project/Program Tags
We’ve been getting a lot of questions about when Project/Program Tags should or should not be used. The original purpose behind these was to provide districts with flexibility if they use DPI-defined project codes for other purposes. There are only two cases where use of Project/Program Tags is required: non-DPI grants, and DPI-assigned project codes used for other local purposes.
Non-DPI Grants
DPI only assigns project codes for grants that we administer. Three specific Project/Program Tags are used to identify non-DPI grants:
- FedDirect: Federal grants received directly from a federal agency.
- FedOther: Federal grants administered by other State of Wisconsin agencies, counties, or municipalities.
- WisOther: State grants administered by other State of Wisconsin agencies, counties, or municipalities.
These are not limited for use with one project code—a district that receives 10 direct federal grants would use 10 separate project codes, all of which would be identified with the FedDirect tag.
Other Local Purposes
When a DPI-assigned project code is being used for another local purpose, we need to do two things. First, we need to tell WISEdata Finance and other DPI systems to ignore the DPI-assigned code using the LocalUse tag. Second, we need to identify the alternate code being used for the state or federal program that DPI assigned the project code for.
For example, consider a district that uses project 141 for its elementary PTO. DPI has assigned project 141 for Title I-A, but the district uses project 901 for Title I-A. In this case, all the district’s project 141 accounts should be tagged with LocalUse, and all the project 901 accounts should be tagged with FedT1A, the Title I-A tag.
It is not required to identify all local project codes with the LocalUse tag, only those where you are using a DPI-assigned project code for another purpose. That said, it will not break anything if you are using LocalUse more broadly—just be sure you aren’t inadvertently applying it to a DPI-assigned project code you’re using.
Webinars Scheduled
Dan Bush from the DPI School Financial Services Team will present a webinar on “Using WISEdata Finance,” which will include a narrated demonstration of the system, provide tips and tricks for users to understand and interact with it, and include time for Q&A. There are two sessions scheduled; both will cover the same content. Dates and times are:
- Tuesday, November 30 at 1:00 PM
- Thursday, December 2 at 10:00 AM
Both sessions will be recorded and made available afterwards.
If you would like to register, please do so by Monday, November 29 at 10:00 AM through the following link: Registration for “Using WISEdata Finance.”