Quick orientation, so we start on the same page

• How long has your district used its current finance system? Options: Less than 1 year, 1–3 years, 4–7 years, 8+ years
• How many full time staff are in your finance team, and how many of those support month end close? Options: 1–3, 4–7, 8–15, 16+
• Tell me about the most time consuming monthly report your team produces, and who assembles it
• Walk me through a recent month end close, including the steps that require manual spreadsheets or email approvals
• Which state reporting packages must you deliver each year, and which of those currently need manual formatting? Options: Annual financial report, State grant submission, Federal Title reporting, Other state-specific templates, All are automated

Where reporting and audit pressure shows up

• Which reporting failure would change your board's confidence overnight if it happened again next quarter? Options: Budget to actual rollup errors, Fund balance misstatements, State report submission errors, Payroll reconciliation failures, Other
• When a state or federal audit requests supporting detail, how long does it typically take your team to produce reconciled evidence? Options: Less than 24 hours, 1–3 days, 1–2 weeks, More than 2 weeks
• Estimate the annual staff hours currently spent preparing for audits and manual report assembly Options: Under 100 hours, 100–300 hours, 300–700 hours, 700+ hours
• Name the top three reports that drive board, superintendent, or grant decisions Options: Monthly budget summary, Fund-level cash flow, Grant compliance detail, Trial balance by fund, Other
• If a recurring reporting gap persisted after go-live, what single consequence would make you pause the implementation?

Budgeting and grant rules that must actually tie together

• If you had one budget workflow improvement that would free your team from spreadsheet edits, what would it be?
• Describe how budget amendments move from department request to board approval, and where delays appear
• List the grant funds that follow nonstandard fiscal years or carryover rules that complicate consolidation
• Who tracks compliance requirements for each grant, and who owns corrective actions when an expense is questioned Options: Grants manager, Business services director, External consultant, Shared responsibility, Other
• What deadline or compliance failure would force you to delay a go-live date? Options: Pending audit resolution, Open state reporting window, Unspent grant closeout, Board approval not obtained, Other

The people who will feel the impact

• Who finds out first when a reconciliation fails the night before board reports are due? Options: Finance manager, CFO/business manager, Superintendent, Board clerk, Other
• List the roles that must sign budget amendments, vendor contracts, and year end adjustments
• How many distinct stakeholders need read only access to fund level dashboards versus full edit rights? Options: 1–5, 6–15, 16–30, 30+
• When a month end error is discovered, who drives the investigation and what authority can they exercise
• Identify the single signatory whose lack of availability would stop approval on the critical path Options: CFO/business manager, Superintendent, Board chair, HR director, Other

What could derail the timeline

• Name the single constraint that could stop implementation before it starts, for example lack of legacy data access, funding shortfall, or delayed board approval
• Estimate how many calendar weeks your district needs for legal review and procurement before contracts can be signed Options: Less than 2 weeks, 2–4 weeks, 5–8 weeks, More than 8 weeks
• Do you have a fixed fiscal window for cutover, for example summer break or semester end, that cannot be shifted Options: Yes, summer break, Yes, end of fiscal year, Yes, semester break, No fixed window
• How frequently do payroll and benefits cycles constrain deployment weekends or cutover days Options: Every payroll cycle, Monthly, Quarterly, Rarely
• Describe the decision you would make about scope or schedule if staffing shortages occur mid migration

Other options you are actively weighing

• Please enumerate the alternative approaches you are considering, such as another vendor, staying with the incumbent, or building internally
• What would have to be true about your current approach for you to decide to stay with it rather than change to a new system
• Has anyone on your team proposed solving this with internal development or a consultant led build, and if so who would lead that effort Options: Yes, IT, Yes, Finance, Yes, External consultant, No internal proposal
• Indicate the decision metrics you are using to compare options, for example total cost of ownership, time to value, reference districts, implementation risk Options: Total cost of ownership, Time to value, State references, Implementation risk, Support model
• Would a guaranteed match on your reporting templates and a faster timeline from an incumbent keep you from switching Options: Yes, Maybe, No

Integration, data readiness, and technical gates

• Identify any integration or data gap that would prevent go live on your target date
• Provide the third party systems that must integrate with the new ERP, for example payroll vendor, single sign on, student information system, bank ACH, and state reporting feeds
• For each integration, name the owning team, whether APIs exist, and the technical contact who can grant access
• Roughly what percentage of legacy GL, AP, and payroll data is clean and can be migrated without remediation Options: Under 25%, 25–50%, 51–75%, 76–100%
• Do you have a dedicated project sponsor and a named data owner who can approve extracts and field mappings Options: Yes, both named, Sponsor named only, Data owner named only, No
• Are there any compliance approvals or state filings that could block access to reporting templates or data extracts if not completed early Options: Yes, audits pending, Yes, state filing windows, Yes, vendor contracts, No blocking approvals

Acceptance criteria, signatures, and the decision trigger

• Assuming a pilot demonstrates the expected savings or time recapture, what could still prevent you from signing within that same month
• Provide the measurable success signals required to accept go live, for example reconciled trial balance, successful state submission, and board sign off
• Who are the individuals who must sign off for go live acceptance, board approval, and audit readiness Options: CFO/business manager, Superintendent, Board chair, External auditor, Other
• How quickly would you expect issues discovered in parallel run to be remediated, within 2 weeks, 4 weeks, or a quarter Options: Within 2 weeks, Within 4 weeks, Within one quarter, Longer
• Explain who would decide to pause the project, and the minimum evidence that would trigger that decision

• Solution Experience Session

• Confirm the current state and its cost
• You confirm the demonstrated workflows remove the manual reconciliation steps that cause extended audit preparation.
• Provide three representative items for a follow up hands on run, including one budget amendment, one grant drawdown with matching transactions, and one AP batch export.
• You agree the proposed mappings support your grant and multi fund requirements for the shown scenarios.
• Walkthrough: Budget amendment scenario
• Run a sample migration of the provided transactions and deliver reconciliation output and a gap list before the next session.
• Walkthrough: Grant and multi fiscal year scenario
• You identify any remaining scenarios or evidence needed before moving to commercial discussions.
• Confirm the decision makers and their availability for the next validation session.
• Audit readiness and reporting proof
• Validation checkpoint

• Solution Experience Session
• Solution Experience Deck
• Solution Brief

• meeting
• slides
• document

• Configure state-specific chart of accounts
• Migrate general ledger and historical transactions
• Implement multi-fund budget management
• Setup budget amendment and board-approval workflows
• Deploy purchasing and electronic purchase orders
• Automate accounts payable processing
• Integrate payroll and timekeeping interface
• Establish fixed asset tracking and depreciation
• Configure grant fund and compliance tracking
• Create board-ready financial report packages
• Enable budget-to-actual dashboards
• Configure vendor management and payment controls
• Setup audit documentation and evidence repository
• Support parallel operation with legacy system

Configure state-specific chart of accounts

• Do you currently use a state-mandated chart of accounts template for your district? Options: Yes, No
• How many active fund codes does your chart of accounts include for the current fiscal year? Options: Less than 10, 10-50, 51-200, More than 200
• Which statutory or state report sections must map directly to account segments (for example program codes, function codes, object codes)? Options: Program codes, Function codes, Object codes, Grant program codes, Other
• Who in your team owns updates to the chart structure and will approve account mapping changes?
• When do you require the state-specific account structure available in the test environment before go-live? Options: At least 60 days, 30-59 days, Less than 30 days
• Describe any custom account segments you currently use for board reporting or state submissions that must be preserved (for example fund-subsidiary, building codes, or project codes).

Migrate general ledger and historical transactions

• How many fiscal years of general ledger balances and transaction history do you need migrated into the new ledger? Options: Current fiscal year only, Current + 1 prior year, Current + 2-5 prior years, More than 5 years
• Which extract types are available from your legacy system for migration (trial balance, journal entries, vendor transactions, AP/AR subledger exports)? Options: Trial balance, Journal entries, AP transactions, AR transactions, Payroll posting file, Other
• Do you have a chart-of-accounts to legacy GL mapping file ready (account-to-account crosswalk) or will mapping be a deliverable for the engagement? Options: Mapping file provided, We need mapping assistance, Partial mapping provided
• Identify the target data quality thresholds for migration acceptance such as percent of transactions reconciled and allowed unmatched balances. Options: 95% reconciliation, 99% reconciliation, Other threshold
• Confirm the migration completeness acceptance threshold for GL and history (for example percent of GL balances and transactions reconciled to legacy reports). Options: 95% of transactions and balances, 99% of transactions and balances, Custom acceptance threshold
• Provide an example legacy journal type or recurring entry that must be preserved and how it should appear in the new system.

Implement multi-fund budget management

• How many distinct fund groups and subfunds must be supported in your budget model (operating fund, grant funds, capital projects, food service, etc)? Options: 1-5 fund groups, 6-15 fund groups, More than 15
• Which fiscal year conventions do you use per fund (calendar year, fiscal year, grant fiscal year offsets)? Options: Standard fiscal year for all funds, Mixed fiscal years by grant, Other
• Do you require separate budget controls and rollups at department, school, and district levels for the same fund code? Options: Yes, No
• Who is responsible for maintaining budget authored versions and approving final budget versions for board submission?
• Which budget import formats do you use for legacy budgets (spreadsheet, CSV template, legacy export) and should the import template be provided? Options: Spreadsheet, CSV template, Legacy export, We need a template
• Describe any statutory budgetary controls required by your state that the system must enforce (for example legal spending limits by fund or object).

Setup budget amendment and board-approval workflows

• Do you currently route budget amendments for formal board approval with a resolution number and date captured in the board packet? Options: Yes, No
• Which approval sequence must an amendment follow (preparation by business office, review by principals, executive approval, board approval)? Options: Business office > Superintendent > Board, Business office > Board only, Other sequence
• Are there required supporting documents for an amendment in the board packet such as fund impact statements or supplemental appropriation forms? Options: Yes, No
• Who will serve as the named approvers and authorized board signer for amendment acceptance?
• When an amendment is approved, which systems must receive the amendment posting (new ledger, budget control, state reporting extract)? Options: Ledger and budget control, Ledger only, Ledger, budget control, and state extract
• Describe the maximum allowable lag between board approval and system posting for an amendment in business days. Options: 0-3 days, 4-10 days, More than 10 days

Deploy purchasing and electronic purchase orders

• Which purchase order numbering convention must be preserved (site prefix, fiscal-year suffix, sequential series)? Options: Site prefix, Fiscal-year suffix, Sequential series, Other
• How many purchase order approval levels and dollar thresholds do you enforce across departments and schools? Options: 1-2 levels, 3-4 levels, 5+ levels
• Do you require electronic PO acknowledgements and receiving workflows tied to inventory or fixed asset capitalization? Options: Yes, both acknowledgements and receiving, Only acknowledgements, Only receiving, No
• Which vendor onboarding documents must be captured on purchase orders or vendor records (W-9, contract reference, insurance certificate)? Options: W-9, Contract reference, Insurance certificate, Other
• Who authorizes spend at school level versus central office for encumbrance control?
• Describe any mandated PO approval reporting you need for board packet or state audit review.

Automate accounts payable processing

• Do you currently receive vendor invoices electronically or by paper that require OCR and three-way match processing? Options: Mostly electronic, Mostly paper, Mixed
• Which payment methods do you use today that must be supported (ACH, check, P-card, wire)? Options: ACH, Check, P-card, Wire
• How many AP approvers and what delegation rules exist for invoice approval across cost centers? Options: 1-2 approvers, 3-5 approvers, More than 5
• Are 1099 vendor categories and reporting fields currently tracked in your vendor master and must be migrated? Options: Yes, No
• Which tolerance thresholds should the system apply for invoice matching and variance approvals (for example percent or dollar thresholds)? Options: Dollar threshold, Percent threshold, Both, No thresholds
• Describe your required AP aging and payment run cadence for vendor remittance and the expected automations. Options: Weekly, Biweekly, Monthly, Custom cadence

Integrate payroll and timekeeping interface

• Which payroll file types must be accepted from your payroll provider or timekeeping system (payroll register, payroll journal, employee costing file)? Options: Payroll register, Payroll journal, Employee costing file, Other
• How often must payroll postings flow into the ledger (per pay period, monthly, on-demand)? Options: Per pay period, Monthly, On-demand
• Who will own employee-to-cost-center mappings and hourly-to-object charge rules during the implementation?
• Are timekeeping punches and substitute pay allocations required to flow into grant fund costing for federal programs? Options: Yes, No
• Confirm the payroll interface acceptance criteria you require such as payroll register totals matching ledger postings and employee ID reconciliation. Options: Register totals must match, Employee ID reconciliation required, Both criteria required
• Provide an example payroll deduction or fringe benefit entry that must be split across funds or object codes.

Establish fixed asset tracking and depreciation

• How many fixed asset classes and useful life schedules do you require for capitalization and depreciation reporting? Options: 1-5 classes, 6-15 classes, More than 15 classes
• Which asset attributes must be captured for audit readiness (serial number, location, tag number, acquisition invoice)? Options: Serial number, Location, Tag number, Acquisition invoice, Other
• Do you require automated depreciation posting to the general ledger on a monthly or annual schedule? Options: Monthly, Annual, Manual only
• Who will provide the legacy fixed asset register for migration and who will validate capitalization thresholds?
• Which capitalization threshold do you apply for equipment versus building improvements in your policies? Options: Less than $5,000, $5,000-$25,000, More than $25,000
• Describe any state reporting fields for fixed assets that must be included in the asset record for annual submissions.

Configure grant fund and compliance tracking

• For which federal or state grants do you need program-level tracking and indirect cost allocation set up (Title I, IDEA, NSLP, other grants)? Options: Federal formula grants, State grants, Local grants, Other
• How do you currently track grant periods and allowable cost windows when costs cross fiscal years? Options: Grant fiscal year, Grant with carryover rules, Other
• Which compliance artifacts must be attached to grant expenditures for audit trail (time certifications, payroll allocation, supporting invoices)? Options: Time certifications, Payroll allocation evidence, Invoices, Other
• Who is responsible for monitoring grant budgets and generating restricted fund reports for program managers?
• Are there pre-approved indirect cost rates or restricted object codes that must be enforced automatically? Options: Yes, indirect rates enforced, Yes, restricted object codes enforced, No automatic enforcement
• Provide an example grant compliance test the system should support, for example payroll allocation to Title I with employee time certification.

Create board-ready financial report packages

• Which board reporting outputs must be produced each month (balance sheet by fund, statement of revenues and expenditures, budget-to-actual schedules)? Options: Balance sheet by fund, Statement of revenues and expenditures, Budget-to-actual schedules, Other
• How many report templates require pre-populated commentary fields and attachments for the board packet? Options: None, 1-3 templates, 4-10 templates, More than 10
• Who reviews and signs the board packet financial pages prior to posting and will they require reviewer stamps or electronic sign-off? Options: CFO review, Superintendent review, Board clerk sign-off, Electronic sign-off required
• When generating board-ready reports, which state reconciliation exhibits must be included for auditors (trial balance by fund, CAFR schedules, state template reconciliations)? Options: Trial balance by fund, State template reconciliations, Other
• Describe any formatting or export requirements for board packet reports such as PDF pagination, folder structure, or bookmarked sections.
• Are there recurring variance narratives you want templated and auto-populated from budget-to-actual variances? Options: Yes, No

• Master Services Agreement (MSA)
• Statement of Work (SOW)
• Order Form / Subscription Agreement
• Service Level Agreement (SLA)
• Data Processing Agreement (DPA)
• Public Sector Procurement & Security Addendum
• Data Ownership and Migration Addendum
• Go‑Live Acceptance Criteria & Test Plan
• Implementation Milestone Payment Schedule
• Change Order Agreement

• Go-live Health Check (weeks 1-4)
• First Measurement Review and Incumbent Wind-down (weeks 4-10)
• Quarterly Success Review (recurring)
• Annual Outcomes Review

• Document the ongoing success review cadence and the single shared channel for enhancement intake and issue tracking.
• Confirm whether quarter-to-date month-end close cycle time and manual reporting hours are on track with Solution Scope targets.
• Close or assign owners and dates for the top three persistent operational issues.
• Agree the prioritized enhancement list and at least one delivery window for changes that affect acceptance criteria or critical workflows.
• Publish the quarterly performance dashboard showing the key metrics named in this meeting.
• Update the enhancement request channel with prioritization and proposed delivery windows.
• Schedule targeted issue-resolution sprints for the top persistent blockers with defined completion dates.
• Year-to-date metrics and comparison to targets
• Formally confirm whether annual outcomes for the named metrics meet the targets recorded in Solution Scope and document evidence.
• Verify board-ready reporting accuracy and that audit evidence is complete for the past fiscal year.
• Agree a documented continuing improvement plan for any outstanding multi-quarter items.
• Publish the annual outcomes report with supporting evidence for the named metrics and reporting samples.
• Archive migration and cutover artifacts in the agreed repository and confirm archival completion.
• Re-confirm success criteria and targets
• Confirm migration reconciliation has no unresolved high-severity discrepancies affecting the general ledger.
• Establish a short list of critical blockers with agreed remediation actions and target dates.
• Verify initial user access and basic workflow execution for core roles is functioning.
• Produce and circulate the migration reconciliation report for the cutover day.
• Publish the hypercare ticket list with severity, owner, and resolution date for each high and medium ticket.
• Schedule the First Measurement Review during the weeks 4-10 window.
• Present first measurement data
• Determine whether month-end close cycle time and user adoption rate are progressing toward Solution Scope targets and document the gap analysis.
• Confirm the legacy system is either decommissioned or placed on an approved read-only/archival plan and document any remaining risks.
• Agree a prioritized remediation plan with timelines that moves the engagement to stable operations.
• Deliver a remediation plan with discrete tasks, acceptance criteria, and target dates to close metric gaps.
• Produce evidence that legacy data has been archived or migrated and that the incumbent contract/renewal has been addressed.
• Run a targeted training refresh for roles with low adoption and report back updated proficiency measures.
• Performance trend summary
• Deployment and migration validation
• Top persistent issues and blockers
• Audit and board reporting validation
• Root-cause diagnosis for gaps
• Persistent risk and operational gaps
• Incumbent system wind-down checkpoint
• Early adoption signals and usage patterns
• Enhancement request triage
• Open remediation register and timeline
• Integration and state reporting health
• Continuous improvement and success channel maintenance
• Open issues and blockers triage
• Agree immediate remediation actions