TEA Winner: Collaborating to Solve Unique Payroll Challenges
Organization Profile
- Industry: School District
- Location: Arlington Heights, Illinois
- Number of Employees: 2,500
- Population: 11,900
- Tyler Client Since: 2021
- Tyler Products/Solutions: School ERP Pro, Content Manager, Student Transportation, My Ride K-12, Tyler Drive
- Website: d214.org
Challenges
Students, teachers, and staff at Township High School District 214 in Illinois are encouraged to be innovative and proactively seek out opportunities to learn. That’s why the leaders of their finance team weren’t afraid to make changes to stay ahead of evolving technology standards. “The software we used got the job done and everybody was comfortable with it. However, we found it didn’t match the efficiency of today’s systems,” said Payroll Supervisor Kim Kauth. “What really stood out about School ERP Pro was its reporting capabilities,” added Director of Business Services Mike Vargas. “With the significant changes to our pension systems over the past couple of years, that was very important to us. It improved a lot of our workflow in our business office.”
With their switch to new school business software, District 214 put an emphasis on learning and collaboration among their peers. “The resources School ERP Pro offers — all the webinars, Tyler Community, Tyler University, the Connect conference — all those things were important to us in our search for a new system,” Vargas explained. They make the most of these resources, but the district’s payroll staff felt they could do even more by working with their peers in the region to establish best practices and solutions for Illinois-specific challenges. “We found we have a lot of neighbors using School ERP Pro, but that network to reach out to another payroll person was not available,” Vargas explained. District 214 saw their moment to learn and improve their own processes, while also making a positive impact on other Illinois districts’ operations.
Solution
District 214 prioritizes opportunities to collaborate with and support their peers, including participating in industry organizations such as the Illinois Association of School Business Officials, which gave them ideas about what would work best in creating a new group. “It’s an organization that advocates for networking and the buddy system. That planted a seed in our brain — we felt it was important to take the initiative to create a payroll user group,” said Vargas. This group of School ERP Pro users provides a support system, a place to share expertise, and an opportunity to be among others who understand their unique challenges. “Any opportunities to create a network where you’re sharing experiences, really getting down into the weeds, and speaking that payroll verbiage with each other are really important. It provides a level of comfort and confidence knowing you have other people in the same boat as you.”
While Vargas and Kauth first intended for the user group to support districts within their township, news of its value to payroll staff spread quickly throughout the region. “We started with approximately three to five school districts, and it has grown to 30-plus school districts,” said Vargas. Since its inception, the user group has also received attention from nearby school business officials looking to provide professional development resources to their staff.
We’re getting different perspectives of how each school district … approaches the complexities of our state reporting and pension requirements. It’s allowed us to think about our payroll processes through a different lens.
Mike Vargas
Director of Business Services, Township High School District 214, Illinois
Results
With the switch to School ERP Pro, District 214 has automated and eliminated paper from several business office operations. “Our processes have improved for payroll, pulling figures, balancing, and making sure everything matches on the payroll side and the financial side. It’s a lot easier to troubleshoot and determine any discrepancies so we can come to a resolution much faster,” said Kauth. “All those things have had a significant impact on our business office workflows and made us more efficient across all departments in our office,” added Vargas.
District 214’s decision to take the lead and establish a payroll user group has also had unexpected benefits. “We’re getting different perspectives of how each school district, depending on their size, depending on the number of staff they have in their office, approaches the complexities of our state reporting and pension requirements. It’s allowed us to think about our payroll processes through a different lens,” Vargas explained. “Creating this network has allowed us to talk through the complex issues we’re experiencing. Partnering with School ERP Pro and having that network of other payroll users has proven extremely valuable for our school district and all the participating school districts.”