Charter Schools Adjusting to the New LINQ
By Anna Suits
LINQ, the accounting system used by all North Carolina charter schools, underwent a significant upgrade in August of 2018. While the transformation delivered a beautiful new layout, it also came with a lot of extra work.
Beyond improving the interface, the upgrade was supposed to make day to day life easier for the charter schools. As with all technology changes, however, there is a learning curve. The new system has required all vendors to be entered individually, all employee deductions to be entered individually, and hourly payroll staff’s time to be converted to days. These are just a few of the issues we have encountered in our time with the new version.
When encountering these issues, it is important to have help to navigate the changes. I know as a user, I have found LINQ support to be exceptional at answering my questions. They are always knowledgeable and willing to help. It may be a lengthy process in getting the issue resolved, but they are always there for help and guidance.
There have been some positives when working with LINQ and the new transformation. It is much easier to process payroll now that we have converted hourly employees to days and entered all deductions. Another positive within payroll is that new LINQ generates benefit invoices directly from the payroll processed, leaving you with only the extra step of printing the check.
As we continue to grow more comfortable with the software, we look forward to learning more beneficial areas of LINQ to help make our accounting more streamlined. If you are having issues with the new LINQ, know you are not alone, and make sure you reach out for help. Learning a new software is always a challenge, and it is important to keep the school running smoothly on the administrative side to ensure you can focus on developing the students, which is the real goal of all charter schools.
Anna Suits Accounting Associate