As part of our goals to provide excellent customer service and ensure a modern and functional system, the Department of FISCal (FI$Cal) provides departments using the system with dedicated resources to assist with month-end and year-end close activities.
Once onboarding for a department is complete, we remain engaged in the department’s activities throughout the year. This enables us to understand their pain points and successes, and provides valuable insight so we can provide the support they need as they transact in the system. Each department has its own unique set of circumstances that can affect its ability to meet month-end and year-end goals, including large, complex departments with multiple funds.
As part of this engagement, we are pleased to see that several larger departments, including the California Department of Education, Secretary of State, State Water Resources Control Board, and Department of Child Support Services all improved in closing their books from their initial onboarding, and in fact, closed their books early for Fiscal Year 2024-2025!
A department’s ability to reconcile and close accounting periods is a measure of how well its users are performing in the system. While we anticipate an approximately 3-year learning curve for all newly onboarded departments, we are pleased to provide support to all departments transacting in the system through various channels. These supportive services include:
FI$Cal Service Center – FI$Cal Service Center (FSC) staff work in collaboration with FI$Cal Partner staff to examine reports and queries and interpret errors to resolve incidents.
User Support Labs – End users are able to attend online sessions and receive help from FI$Cal subject matter experts in completing transactions that prevent them from closing periods.
Weekend Support – FSC staff work on Saturdays from July through mid-September to support departments working overtime during the fiscal year-end close period.
Month-End Close/Year-End Close Ticket Express Lane – The FSC prioritizes month-end and year-end close related tickets for resolution on transactions that are preventing departments from closing months.
Self-Reporting Tool – This tool displays the steps for closing months, provides links to job aids on how to close months, and makes available queries and reports required to close months. The self-reporting tool is a one-stop “how-to” online manual for month-end close.
Department 360 – Available when logged into the FI$Cal system, Department 360 allows end users and managers to easily monitor transactional progress, and find and correct errors that may be preventing close.
Month-End Close Automation Tool – Automates month-end close and streamlines the process so that the system will automatically close the period if no errors are found for the chosen submodules or asset management/general ledger.