Volume 29, No. 8 August 2017

What to Expect During the Accounting Software Upgrade

As most of you are aware, GMS is in the final stages of de-veloping an accounting software upgrade from the vb6 platform to .net. With this re-write, the features and proce-dures you are accustomed to will still be available. However the .net platform brings with it a great deal of flexibility and additional features that keep GMS one of the top Non Profit Accounting and Financial Reporting packages available. We will begin its distribution in September of 2017 and our plans are to have the software distributed to all clients over a nine month period. Should you wish to be included in one

of the earlier groups to receive the new product, please don’t hesitate to contact us. For our clients, this will be a two-step process: 1) installing the application; and 2) having GMS convert your database for compatibility to the new product. We will, of course, do everything we can to make the conversion process as quick and easy as possible. If there are no issues with your database, you should only be without GMS software for one day. Should we find problems within your database, we will either communicate to you about the areas you must address or we will correct the issues dur-ing the conversion, depending on the nature of the problem. We will be considerate about your agency's calendar as to when you are selected to have your database converted. For example, we will avoid the period around your agency’s fis-cal year end. If you have a specific time you would like to be upgraded, please feel free to let us know. Procedures to follow before the conversion takes place will be sent to all clients. Should you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact our service team at service@gmsactg.com.

In this Issue

What to Expect During the

Accounting Software Up-grade

Prepaid Maintenance Saves You Money

2017 Regional Training Events

GMS Service Chat Cele-brates Anniversary

GMS-RLSS How to Handle Deferred Loans

Upcoming Webinars

Do You Need to Stock Up on Office Forms?

Retirement Congratula-tions

Present versions of Software:

Accounting 1.2.308

RLSS 1.0.0.13

GMS, Inc. 10559 Metropolitan Avenue

Kensington, MD 20895

Phone: 800-933-3501

Fax: 301-933-3502

E-mail: service@gmsactg.com

Prepaid Maintenance Saves You Money!

Prepay a year’s worth of maintenance fees and save 7.5%. For further details or to request billing for a whole year, contact Sara Drury at sara@gmsactg.com.

We must receive payment by the last day of the month the bill is received in order for you to receive the discount. If not, the billing will be reverted to the original monthly billing

amount and the 7.5% discount will be forfeited.

Page 2 NEWS FROM GMS A PUBLICATION FOR GMS CLIENTS VOLUME 29 NO. 8

Registration Now Open!

You've been asking and we deliver! GMS is excited to announce the launch of our NEW regional training events! These full day trainings will give you a complete overview of the GMS Accounting System. You will see all aspects of the accounting system from setup files to processing steps and reporting options. All of the books of entry, accounts payable processing, payroll processing, general ledger activities, cost

allocation and report generation will be shown. With the release of the GMS software upgrade beginning this September, all regional trainings will be

conducted on the new software.

Who Should Attend?

Fiscal Staff

Executive Directors

Program Managers

Auditors

Board Members

Funding Monitors

Registration will remain open until sold out. Space is limited!

Page 3 NEWS FROM GMS A PUBLICATION FOR GMS CLIENTS VOLUME 29 NO. 8

It has been thirteen years since GMS put the Service Chat Room into place! Currently, we are an-swering 20 - 30 clients per day using this service. Our clients find that it is a great way to get answers to simple questions immediately with-out placing a service call and waiting for a call back. Some issues still require a service call so we can discuss and possibly research those

issues, but if you have an easy, quick question, the Service Chat Room is the way to go! To enter the Service Chat room, while in GMS click on Help, GMS Web Site, Client Portal, then under the section for Sup-port & Feedback, click on Chat with a Service and Support Specialist. (Or if you are not currently in the GMS system, you can go to our web site, www.gmsactg.com and select Client Portal from there.) Click on the GMS logo, Click to Chat Now! Type in a login name (using your agency number and first name, such as 0111_Sara), enter your email address, and click on Submit. You do not need a password. When you are finished with your chat session, you will click End Chat at the bottom right of the screen. If you wish to re-ceive an email with the entire chat conversation, click on Send Message and an email will be sent to the email address you entered when logging into chat.

Following is a list of important do’s and don'ts to assist in making the chat room as efficient as possible: Please Do:

1. Use your client number and name to log in (i.e. 0111_Sara)

2. Ask quick, easy questions. 3. Keep questions as short as possible. 4. Pay attention to the chat conversation. Log out

when the conversation is finished.

Please Don’t: 1. Don’t place a service call and then come into chat.

If we can’t answer your question in chat we may ask you to place a call, but please don’t do both initially.

2. Don’t ask questions about involved issues. As an example, Year-end questions are really not a subject for the chat room.

3. Don’t be offended if you are asked to place a ser-vice call. When that happens it is because the service staff you are speaking with feels that you can better be assisted with a conversation to get more detail. Again, chat is for quick easy questions and you may not be able to always get every question answered in chat.

Come join us in chat! It is a great time saver, and is a big hit with those clients who use it regularly!

GMS-RLSS - How to Handle Deferred Loans

The first step in handling a deferred loan is to establish the

Loan Master as usual. If the loan is to accrue no interest during the deferred period, select Amortized as the interest calculation

method. By doing this, the first payment posted will allocate interest based on only one payment cycle, usually one month.

If interest is to accrue and be paid when payments begin, select Daily interest. If Daily interest is chosen, be prepared to see a

large portion of the first payment going to interest, as the pro-gram will collect interest from the activity date of the loan dis-

bursement until the activity date of the first payment.

NOTE: If closing documents indicate daily interest, but that in-

terest is not to accrue, select Amortized as the interest method until the first payment is posted. After that payment is posted,

edit the Loan Master to Daily interest. All future payments will then calculate interest from activity date to activity date.

Within the Loan Master there is a field titled “First Due Date”. Use this field to enter the date the first payment is actually due.

Also, be certain the “Next Pay Due” date for the Disbursement is

advanced to this date too. Delinquency reports and several pertinent supplements will take these dates into consideration

when determining if a loan payment is late. It will not be con-sidered late until the Next Payment Due date has passed.

There is a pre-established status code included in the program

for deferred loans. Although choosing the appropriate status code for each Loan Master is always your option, consider using

the deferred code. By doing this, those loans can be excluded from statistical reports if desired.

You also have the option of establishing an Optional Field to

hold the date interest and/or principal payments are to begin.

This can be utilized to create “tickler files” to assist staff in mon-itoring deferred loans. When the Optional Field is established, if

the data type selected is “date”, Quick Date Listings will produce a report based on a specified date range. For example, a report

may be pulled that shows all loans with payments to begin be-

tween 09/01/17 to 09/30/17. This feature can be very helpful to staff responsible for monitoring the loans and repayment

schedules.

GMS Service Chat Celebrates Anniversary!

Page 4 NEWS FROM GMS A PUBLICATION FOR GMS CLIENTS VOLUME 29 NO. 8

“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.” Mahatma Gandhi

Wednesday, August 16, 2017 @ 2:00pm Accounts Payable This webinar will cover all aspects of processing Accounts Payable in the GMS Accounting System. We will cover items such as the importance of having all areas of the Vendor master files completed and the accuracy of transaction date fields and how they can help in problem solving. In addition to the mechanics of processing accounts payable checks, other areas to be discussed will include which method of payment selection is best for you, the benefits of accrual accounting as it relates to your agency’s financial reports and how tightening your day to day AP procedures can help with cash flow.

>>LEARN MORE

Wednesday, October 4, 2017 Fixed Assets

This webinar will help you organize your fixed assets with our Fixed Asset Inventory Supplement. The mechanics of using this supplement will include items such as determining useful life, disposition requirements, depreciation entries and generating special reports to assist you with your regularly scheduled physical inventories. Accounting issues covered will include things such as how the origination of the funds used to purchase an asset may have an effect on how it is handled in the accounting system. This webinar is a must for agencies that struggle with the maintenance of their fixed asset reporting. >>LEARN MORE

Do You Need to Stock Up On Office Forms?

GMS is a partner with National Print + Promo (formerly National Document Solutions) to make GMS related forms available to our clients. Should you need checks, multi-purpose forms, RLSS payment coupons or payroll direct deposit stubs, National Print + Promo provides forms which are compatible with your GMS software. A product brochure, pricing in-formation and an email address for placing orders are available on the GMS website. More information about National Print + Promo is also available on their website at: http://www.gmsactgsupplies.com/store/home.asp.

Retirements

Fiscal Officer Bobbi Fritts and RLSS Program

Manager Donna Fathke are both retiring on August

1 from East Alabama Regional Planning & Develop-

ment Commission in Anniston, AL. It’s been a pleas-

ure working with both of you and we at GMS wish

you the best! Enjoy your retirement!