Client Services
October 31, 2005
SMART Finance and UFARS/Accounting Services
These services are provided to all contracted districts and educational cooperatives. Besides assisting the districts with maintaining their school district records, SC staff provides advice and assistance with accounting and bookkeeping procedures and overall assistance with the SMART Finance software. They also serve as a regional liaison between local districts and the Minnesota Department of Education school finances staff. Accounting assistance services may be purchased as an alternative to hiring an accountant or contracting from an auditing firm to perform accounting functions.
The SC staff provides assistance to the districts that use the client server (SMART HR) HR/payroll system, which produces payroll, retirement, direct deposit, leave, quarterly and year-end tax reports. The program is also capable of storing and reporting a wide range of human resource information, as well as tracking employee flexible benefit information and leave information. An online employee self service website is included for employees to view pay detail, leave detail, tax, emergency contact and licensure information. Employees can also print their W-2's online.
STAR (Staff Automated Reporting)
STAR reporting consists of reporting licensed and non-licensed school staff data to the Minnesota Department of Education. The data reported on STAR will be used to determine licensure violations, to complete supply and demand studies, and to fulfill state and federal reporting requirements. STAR reporting is done one time per year.
MARSS(Minnesota Automated Reporting Student System)
MARSS reporting consists of automated reporting of student data to the Minnesota Department of Education. Data elements are maintained and reported by school districts for each student attending a public school in Minnesota. The primary focus of MARSS information is the accurate accounting of students resulting in payment of state and federal dollars.
RMIC does not support a student software but does provide informal support in the Attendance, STAR, and Carl Perkins areas for Student Services because of the correlation with MARSS for reporting to MDE.
