implementation of credit card program
TRANSCRIPT
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Cash Collection
The District currently collects monies for many goods and services such as:
Breakfast and lunch for students
After care (SACC) for students
Adult and community school fees
Fingerprinting for new employees
Lease of school facilities
School Activities such as pictures, yearbooks, fieldtrips, prom tickets, grad night, etc.
Currently, these payments can only be made with cash or a check.
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Goals of a Credit Card Program
To ease the payment process for parents as well as school staff, the Audit Committeeand the School Board asked staff to explore the possibility of accepting payments via credit cards.
Goals of the program:
Lessen cash handling at schools.
Make the payment process easy for parents, students and employees.
Credit and Debit cards should be a payment option, but not required.
Online payment processing would be ideal so payments can be made 24/7 from any location with internet access.
Impact to school staff should be minimal.
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Process
Met with all stakeholders to determine needs.
Internal accounts, School Food Service, SACC, Adult and Community Ed, Risk Management, School Police, Human Resources, Facilities Management, Legal, Purchasing, just to name a few.
Contacted School Districts throughout the country to determine who was accepting credit cards and how they were doing it.
Conducted many conference calls with vendors regarding services available.
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Accounting Issues
The current school accounting software, Manatee, could not accommodate electronic payments. Details of each deposit would have to be manually entered by school staff or an interface would need to be developed.
Upon researching online payment services, staff discovered several products that provided online processing with an integrated accounting solution.
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Events Up to Date
Jan-2008
Mar-2008 May-2008
-Went to Broward County schools to view their online payment solution and internal accounting software.- Hosted a 3 day vendor presentation to various departments to assist in the final selection process.
Feb-2008
Apr-2008
-Met individually with various district departments on revenue collection items and possible web solution.- Viewed over 12 product solutions from various vendors in the industry.
-Audit Committee set initiative for online payment solution.-Project team kick-off meeting-Bank of America presentation to District staff.-Contacted neighboring school districts regarding feedback on credit card program.
-A vendor was agreed upon internally with District staff.-Initial quote was submitted to purchasing from vendor.-Initial review of policy and procedures with legal.
* Monthly Updates provided to Audit Committee
Jun-2008-Preliminary negotiations with the vendor and purchasing.- Further discussion with legal regarding policy, contract and resolution.-Pilot schools selected by I/A and SFS.
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What we anticipate the final product will deliver…
From Parents’ View:
Easy to use registration process
User friendly, intuitive screens
Make payment for multiple children at different schools
Bilingual – Spanish and English option
See payment history detail
Detailed transaction history, available by sort – e.g. department, date range, name etc.
View student’s balance on account
Access detailed food history purchased by student
Pay fees with credit/debit card through secure network
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What we anticipate the final product will deliver…
From School Bookkeepers’ View:
Replacement of Manatee (current student activity accounting software) with a web-based solution. The system will allow bookkeepers to access system from any computer with internet access.
Saves Time: Save hundreds of hours over a school year by reducing manual counting and calculations of cash and coin
Accuracy: Eliminates manual calculation, NSF tracker
Easy to Use: If you can type and tab, you can operate the program
From an Internal Auditor’s View:
Flexible Reporting: District-wide consolidated reports available
Saves Time: The transaction search feature allows the auditor to narrow their search to an individual item (i.e. field trips, yearbook sales, etc.)
This software was the preferred overall package.
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Comments from School Bookkeepers
“The internal system is fantastic! It seems everything was thought of here. Money calculator, receipts, deposits online….everything I find is easy to do.”
“Kev Software is a refreshing update to a Manatee dinosaur. Everything seems to be only a click away.”
“Wonderful replacement for Manatee!” Ease of use. Detailed, detailed, detailed…”
“This will allow schools to dedicate more time in other areas.”
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Cost of the Program
The cost of the accounting software, installation, training, etc. for 173 schools and district employees is $110,247 which will be paid from the operating budget.
The cost of the credit card processing will be paid to Bank of America based on the contract issued for the State of Florida for merchant services. Most of those fees will be passed on to Visa. The annual estimate is $1,529,000.
The cost of the online service and parent center will be paid to KEV Group. The fee is estimated to be $972,000 annually, but will be capped at $412,000 for the first year.
These costs can be passed to parents via a convenience fee or paid by the District.
At this time, we are recommending that the District pay the fees. That will encourage use of the system. The more parents that use the system, the less cash will need to be counted, less checks to be dealt with (reducing NSF fees), and the less time spent auditing those processes.
The costs could be offset by a small increase in fees across the District.
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Future Timeline of Events (Tentative)
Jul-2008 Sep-2008 Nov-2008-Begin District and SFS (8 schools) pilot for online payment.-Begin training “pilot” 8 school bookkeepers on school accounting software and online payment solution
-Roll out additional schools for SFS online payment solution (based on roll out from pilot)- Begin School Activities’ pilot for the online payment solution for 8 schools
Aug-2008 Oct-2008
-Begin District, I/A and SFS employees training on web solution.- Marketing tools distributed to pilot schools.-2nd reading of credit card policy by the School Board, submit for approval.
-Test environment of systems-Final Price Negotiations- Submit a resolution for pilot and contract for approval by School Board.-Make a presentation to SB.-1st reading of the CC policy by SB.-Internal Account bookkeepers’ meeting
-Roll out schools for SFS online payment solution (based on previous roll out)- Roll out schools for school activities’accounting software (based on roll out from pilot)
* Monthly Updates provided to Audit Committee
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Pilot Schools
Eight pilot schools were chosen by looking for the schools with the strongest bookkeepers and strongest cafeteria managers. There are four elementary schools, two middle schools, and two high schools.
The purpose of the pilot is to test the system, test the fee structure, test everything.
The rollout of the program will be adjusted as needed to ensure a positive experience for the schools and the parents.
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