cmERDC Smart Finance

SMART Finance is a fully featured financial accounting system designed to meet the needs of Minnesota school districts. It includes modules for General Ledger, Budgeting, Requisitions and Purchasing, Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Fixed Assets (GASB 34 compliance), and Administration. It handles all fund accounting requirements and the unique Minnesota state reporting requirements for UFARS.

SMART Finance is an integrated solution that makes it easy for users within the district to have access to needed information on a daily basis. Data is moved electronically from one desk to another through the system reducing data entry time. For example, once an item is entered as a requisition, it can flow through approvals, purchasing, receiving and payment without being re-keyed. The Account Analysis window allows the user to view the current status of an account or series of accounts and then to drill down into the data to the original entries. Outside inquiries from vendors can easily be answered by viewing the purchase order or voucher being questioned.

SMART Finance allows multiple months and years to be open at any given point. Fiscal year end activities and the audit process does not impact users in the district that need to continue with daily activities. Budgets can be maintained on the system or data can be exported to Excel spreadsheets for manipulation and then imported back into SMART Finance when finalized. Budgets are easily monitored during the fiscal year since actual and pending expenditures (purchase orders) are always available. Users are alerted immediately when over-budget conditions occur. The district administration can decide how these situations are then handled. A requisition or purchase order can be put into unapproved status automatically for district administration review before allowing the requisition or purchase order to continue to be processed.

SMART Finance can operate in a near paperless environment reducing paper waste and the costs of printing. Special forms are virtually eliminated. SMART Finance can print the purchase order with the districts logo and the approvers signatures. Vendor checks can be printed on blank check stock or on preprinted check stock. A number of standard reports are available and can be easily modified to provide selected information as requested. Reports can be viewed on-line, printed, or emailed to other staff. Data from many screens and reports can be saved to Excel spreadsheets for other purposes.

SMART Finance gives the users within the district control of their respective areas and yet maintains security. The district administrator can decide who is allowed to perform various functions or who may view and access information. Electronic approvals and routing, customized by the administrator, provides added security without extra work. Many districts choose to allow the districts auditor to have access to view SMART Finance data directly thereby cutting down on the number of requests for information or reports during the audit. SMART Finance does maintain a complete audit trail.

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SMART Finance is owned and supported by Regions I, II, III, IV and V, serving over 250 Minnesota school districts for more than 25 years.