Latest News 2023

Additional training sessions - MACS Shared Services New Digital Onboarding Forms, Leaders Workshops & Assets

23 November 2023

Additional training sessions for the MACS Shared Services new digital onboarding forms are now available for administration staff in MACS Shared Services schools. 

There will be four sessions available (see table below).

 These sessions will cover:

Additional courses for school leaders as well as sessions covering assets for non-Shared Services schools are also available.

Staff can register for this activity in OPL via CEVN website. 

Change in outage period for ICON Applications

23 November 2023

The following message was emailed to principals and Administrators of ICON schools on Wednesday 22 November.

Please note that the TechnologyOne Application (eFIN & eHR) will now undergoing system maintenance from Fri 22/12/2023 @ 5:00pm to Friday 05/01/2024 @ 5:00pm.  During that time eHR & eFIN will not be available.

Transactions should not occur in all applications until the 09/01/2024 when we can ensure that data will be able to transfer between the applications.

Please contact the ICT Helpdesk on 9267 0422 or via email ictsupport@macs.vic.edu.au if you require further information.

Future Student Contact Details Export for Schools that use SIMON

15 November 2023

A new data export has been created in eSIS for schools using the SIMON application.  Please refer to QRG – 3rd Party Vendor Data Export from eSIS - Future Contacts.


Key points:

Please Note:  Do Not transfer your future students into current students for the academic file year of 2023 to try and complete this process.  Future students should only be transferred into current students for the academic file year 2024 semester 2.

Revised Template - 2024 Invoice of Fees Template

27 October 2023

An error was found in the 2024 Invoice of Fees Template.  A link to this template can be found in the  Fact Sheet – Invoicing of School Fees & Levies 2024

Please note:  The 2024 Invoice of Fees Template has been revised with the Fee Code Field’s drop-down now providing a choice of selection and the GL Code prepopulating.


The above-mentioned Fact Sheet and all EOY resources can be found on the End of Year page on this site.

EOY Student rollover and Fee Generation activities

27 October 2023

The following information was sent to ICON Primary schools principals and administrators on 16 October from the CECV Administrator.

 

This year ICON support staff will be overseeing end of year (EOY) and beginning of year activities for ICON Primary schools.

This includes, eSIS - EOY Student Rollover for MACS, Sandhurst and Sale ICON Primary schools, and Fee Generation - Invoicing of School Fees and Levies for 2024, for all MACS primary schools.

 

Resources:

EOY resources for ICON primary schools


EOY resources for all ICON schools

 

If you have any concerns or queries, please contact ICT Support via email at ictsupport@macs.vic.edu.au or call 03 9267 0422, option 2.

 

Regards,

 

CECV Administrator

Important Notice – Managing Student Records – Students leaving or left the school.

26 October 2023

The following information is a reminder regarding the correct process for managing student records when a student leaves or has advised the school of their leaving, to ensure accurate Census records and theoretical reports. 

Follow these steps:

1.   Navigate to Current Student’s School tab.

2.   In the “Status” area, complete the following fields:

Please be aware that, for Census purposes, it is essential to provide information in the “Leaving Dest: field”.

Once these details are entered, DO NOT transfer the student to PAST.  These students must remain within the current Student Module as inactive students.  This is crucial to ensure the accuracy of Census reports, and the correctness of the three theoretical reports.  The accuracy of both the numbers (student and families) and the dollar amounts (theoretical vs. actual charge) in these reports is paramount.

If you encounter any issues with these student records in your third-party application, please contact the respective third-party vendor and seek their assistance.  If they are unable to resolve the issue, the vendor should reach out to the ICON integration team, to work out a solution. 

It is not recommended practice to send the student to PAST in eSIS, due to the impact this then has on Census and theoretical reports.

New and enhanced reports – eFIN and eSIS.

3 October 2023

New reports and report enhancements are now available in eFIN and eSIS.  

These reports and report enhancements can provide valuable financial and debtor information, making it easier for staff to understand and analyse financial data within eFIN and eSIS systems.  Staff are encouraged to review the content within the reports and utilise them based on their specific financial and debtor management requirements.

Below is a summary of the reports and when they are most appropriate to use.

eFIN Reports:

1. ICON Balance Sheet – Detail Report with AFS

2. ICON Profit and Loss – Detail Report with AFS

eSIS Report:

3. Debtor Automatic Payments – DEBAPM (enhanced):

ICON New Principal/ Leader & Administrator Training and Refresher Workshops - Term 4.

3 October 2023

ICON Principal/ Leaders Workshops & New Admin Training and  ICON Refresher Workshops are now available for term 4.

ICON Refresher workshops are short-duration workshops between 1 to 2 hours depending on the topic. They are designed for school administration staff who are using ICON and need to further develop their skills. These workshops are designed for both MACS Shared Services Schools and Non-Shared Services schools unless stated otherwise.

ICON Principal/ Leader workshops and New Administration School Staff Training are designed for new principals/ leaders and administration staff who have not completed ICON application training.

Training covers:

- eSIS – Primary school – 2 days

- eSIS – Secondary school – 2 days

- eFIN/eHR – Shared Services schools (Primary/Secondary) – 1 day

- eHR – Non-Shared Services schools (Primary/Secondary) – 2 days

The full training and workshop overview is found here.

Register for this activity in OPL via CEVN website.

Google for Education Professional Learning Opportunity for School Leaders

28 September 2023

AUNZ Education Leadership Institute - Applications are open to join the Google for Education School Leadership Institute.

The Google for Education Leadership Institute has been designed and developed exclusively for school based leaders across Australia and New Zealand to help their students thrive in a transforming world.

As part of this application-only cohort of leaders, you will explore the future of education and reflect on what it means to design a flourishing, digitally enabled learning ecosystem.

The output of this institute is a well designed, critiqued, and innovative plan that you can put in play in your school to respond to a challenge or an opportunity.

The Term 4 cohort will meet online via Google Meet at these four sessions:

19th October - 4:00-5:30pm AEDT

2nd November - 4:00-5:30pm AEDT

16th November - 4:00-5:30pm AEDT

30th November - 4:00-5:30pm AEDT

Details about each session

If you’d like to Register, Click here

ICON eHR - Removal of hard coding on entitlements

15 August 2023

The following message was emailed to principals and school administrators of MACS ICON schools.

The Payroll Clearing Accounts Project, which was approved by the Inter-Diocesan Finance Committee in November 2021, has sought to identify efficiencies in the current ICON payroll processing, with the goal of reducing manual processes and eliminating potential payroll processing issues. 

Recent Deployment: As of the 28 of July 2023, the automation of the manual journals for Net Pay Clearing to the Bank has been successfully deployed. This implementation eliminates the need to complete a general journal during payroll processing. 

Upcoming activity: Now, there is an additional requirement to align the pay component codes to the shared ICON chart of pay codes. This alignment is essential to ensure accurate reporting of employee deductions. Consequently, employees with hard-coded pay codes will need to have their entitlements adjusted to the correct default pay codes. 

Action Required: No action is required by MACS Shared Services schools as this activity will be completed on behalf of schools by MACS Shared Services staff.

No action is required by Non-Shared Services Schools, as this activity will be undertaken by staff in the ICON Support team. 

Adjustments are scheduled to begin on the 15/08/2023 and once the removal of hard coding has been completed, we will send through a report of the data that was edited on your behalf. 

NOTE: For ICON Non-Shared Services schools who wish to complete this activity themselves they should confirm this by Friday 11 August, by replying to ICT Support. 

Additional information: The Payroll Clearing Account Project document, details the changes to be deployed. School staff should review this information carefully to familiarise themselves with the upcoming modifications. 

These changes will be implemented between 8am Sat 26/08/23 to 8pm Sun 27/08/23 and T1 will not be available while the changing of pay codes and GL accounts occurs

Please contact the ICT Helpdesk on 92670422 or via email ictsupport@macs.vic.edu.au, if you require further information.

Regards,

CECV Administrator

Mid-Year Confirmation of Staff Records

24 July 2023.

As part of the Mid-Year Confirmation of Staff Records (August Staffing Census), we kindly remind you that the deadline for submission 04 August 2023. 

To facilitate the process, we have organised refresher sessions that are currently open for registration on the OPL. 

Please take note of the following based on your school’s service type:  

Shared Service Schools:

Non-Shared Services Schools: 

All Schools: 

It is the responsibility of schools to ensure the proper maintenance of VIT records and any other Accreditations in eHR.

Please be aware that a majority of updates made in the eHR application will be interfaces overnight for your convenience. 


If you encounter any discrepancies or require further assistance please contact ictsupport@macs.vic.edu.au 


Debtor Statements with BPAY option - update.

20 July 2023

This communication is in relation to an update to be made to debtor statements in ICON, specifically related to the BPAY option.

In line with industry standards and best practices, ICON debtor statement templates will be aligned with the new BPAY Brand and Identity guidelines provided by BPAY.  These changes are purely visual, focusing on the branding and appearance of the statements.

It is essential to note that these updates will not impact your experience or the payment process in any way.  The biller code and BPAY reference will remain the same, ensuring a seamless and familiar payment process for you.

The BPAY option continues to offer a convenient and efficient way to make payments, and we encourage you to use it for any outstanding balances.

If you have any questions or concerns about this, please do not hesitate to reach out to our support team via the ICT Helpdesk on 9267 0422 or via email ictsupport@macs.vic.edu.au.

ICON New Adminstrator Training and RefresherWorkshops - Term 3.

10 July 2023

ICON New Admin Training and  ICON Refresher Workshops are now available for term 3.

ICON Refresher workshops are short-duration workshops between 1 to 2 hours depending on the topic. They are designed for school administration staff who are using ICON and need to further develop their skills. These workshops are designed for both MACS Shared Services Schools and Non-Shared Services schools unless stated otherwise.

ICON New Administration School Staff Training is designed for new administration school staff who have not completed ICON application training.

Training covers:

- eSIS – Primary school – 2 days

- eSIS – Secondary school – 2 days

- eFIN/eHR – Shared Services schools (Primary/Secondary) – 1 day

- eHR – Non-Shared Services schools (Primary/Secondary) – 2 days

The full training and workshop overview is found here.

Register for this activity in OPL via CEVN website.

MACS ICON Schools – New Photo Permission Icon.

29 June 2023

The following information relates to changes made to eSIS for MACS schools. A photo permission ICON will be deployed to alert schools where permission has been expressly denied for a student or if the requested information is missing from the photo permission form.

Payroll Processing Reminders - (ICON schools not using MACS Shared Services)

23 June , 2023

The following information was sent to ICON schools not using MACS Shared Services.

With the end of June approaching, we would like to highlight keys areas that influence payroll processing. Please take note of the following:

Should you require assistance with processing or have any concerns or queries please contact us at ictsupport@macs.vic.edu.au .

eSIS - Mid Year Semester Rollover June 2023

23 June, 2023

The following information was sent to principals at ICON Primary Schools.

Dear Colleagues

MACS office will be carrying out Mid- Year Semester Rollover activity on behalf of schools during the first week of school holidays from 26 June 2023 to 30 June 2023. 

This means that your school will no longer need to complete the Mid-Year Student Rollover and ICON will ensure this is completed during the term holidays.

For schools who have already completed the process We thank you for completing the process. There is no need to notify ICON as we have visibility of which schools who have already completed the rollover.

For schools who have not yet completed the process There is no action required as ICON will carry out this process on behalf of your school. There is no need to notify ICON as we have visibility of which schools who have not completed the rollover.

If you have any concerns or queries, please contact ICT Support via email at ictsupport@macs.vic.edu.au or call 03 9267 0422, option 2.

Regards,

CECV Administrator

Destruction of Vaccination Information 

19 June, 2023

As advised in the circular to Principals of Catholic schools in Victoria dated 3 March 2023 - titled Destruction of vaccination information,  it is required that destruction of vaccination information must be completed by Friday, 11 August 2023.  

For ICON schools this means any information stored in the eHR application will be destroyed by our office.  However, if the information was additionally stored in the eSIS application by the school, then the school will need to delete this information from eSIS.  

Any information stored in eSIS related to the students may remain.  The deletion only applies to parents, volunteers, staff, contractors, and any other external personnel that had dealings with the school e.g., delivery drivers, photocopier repair staff, and so on.

Additionally, any physical documentation pertaining to the mentioned individuals should be destroyed.

Please contact the ICT Helpdesk on 9267 0422 or via email ictsupport@macs.vic.edu.au,  if you require further information.

Single Touch Payroll Finalisation 22-23

19 June, 2023

As the 30th of June approaches whereby the Single Touch Payroll Finalisation is required, it is crucial to ensure that all STP (Single Touch Payroll) information is accurate.

For MACS Primary/ Secondary, Shared Services schools, this process will be managed by the Shared Services Payroll team on behalf of the schools. There is no action to be taken by these schools. 

MACS Non-Shared Service Primary and Secondary schools, as well as other diocesan schools,  are to complete this process no later than the 14th of July 2023.

Before commencing STP Finalisation, please ensure you have completed and finalised the last payroll for the 22-23 financial year. 

To facilitate this process, please follow the steps outlined in the Guide – eHR – Single Touch Payroll – End of Year.

For any further assistance with processing the Single Touch Payroll End of Financial Year, please contact the ICT Helpdesk on 9267 0422 or via email ictsupport@macs.vic.edu.au .

August Census update

14 June, 2023

With the August Census fast approaching it is worth noting common issues that may occur in school data for census.

Common issues:

To correct these common errors please refer to the QRG:  eSIS – How to Resolve Validation Errors for February and August Census and SES Address Collection

eFIN Report - ICON AP Invoice Document.

14 June, 2023

The following report is available for schools to provide them with a comprehensive list of all invoices created and paid in the ICON eFIN application.

It can be found under AP > Account Payables report.

This report lists all document file names and dates, showing descriptions and narration.  It also lists the status, invoice date, and amount (including GST) along with the GL code and creditor name.

Interstate Transfer Notes

14 June 2023

This update is in relation to questions raised by ICON schools regarding Interstate Student Data Transfer Notes.

This process is legislated under the Australian Education Act. State, Catholic, and Independent sectors have agreed with the protocol and the requirement of the forms. Therefore, ICON is unable to customize a form for our schools.

The purpose of the transfer note and protocol is to support the exchange of student information between schools when children move state.  Please use the following link to access the transfer note and protocol.

Interstate Student Data Transfer Note and Protocol for Non-government Schools

IDAM Outage rescheduled to 9-11 June

7 June, 2023

Dear Principals and Administration Officers,

The downtime scheduled for 25-27 May for IDAM upgrade has been rescheduled to 9-11 June and communications have been sent out to schools (refer to the information below).

This relates to the downtime schedule for April and May sent on March 14, 2023. The work planned during the first two downtimes has been completed, however, we need to change the date of last planned downtime from 26-28 May to 9-11 June as below.

Outage period:

Fri 9 June 23, 07:30 PM to
Sun 11 Jun 23, 7:30 PM

Upgrade Activity: 

IdAM Prod upgrade

Systems Affected:

IdAM, (eSIS) Synergetic, TechnologyOne (eHR & eFIN), Interfaces

Comments:

Synergetic (eSIS) and TechnologyOne (eHR & eFIN) will not be available during the full outage period.

 

Please contact the ICT Helpdesk on 9267 0422 and select option 3 or via email ictsupport@macs.vic.edu.au  if you require further information.

Google Currents to Spaces in Google Chat

7 June, 2023

The latest update on the changes that will affect previous users of Google Currents. (Refer to switch from Google Currents to Spaces in Google Chat.) 

Main Points:

 

Further information:


New Admin Training and Refresher Courses - Term 2

24 April, 2023

ICON New Admin Training and  ICON Refresher Workshops are now available for term 2.

ICON Refresher workshops are short-duration workshops between 1 to 2 hours depending on the topic. They are designed for school administration staff who are using ICON and need to further develop their skills. These workshops are designed for both MACS Shared Services Schools and Non-Shared Services schools unless stated otherwise.

ICON New Administration School Staff Training is designed for new administration school staff who have not completed ICON application training.

Training covers:

- eSIS – Primary school – 2 days

- eSIS – Secondary school – 2 days

- eFIN/eHR – Shared Services schools (Primary/Secondary) – 1 day

- eHR – Non-Shared Services schools (Primary/Secondary) – 2 days

The full training and workshop overview is found here.

Register for this activity in OPL via CEVN website.

Update - Outage Notice for ICON environment upgrade in April and May 2023 

4 April, 2023


The following system outage message was emailed to Principals and Office administrators on Tuesday 14 March.

Please note that the ICON systems will be undergoing Infrastructure and Application upgrades to newer versions. As a result, there will be system outages as per the following schedule: 

Update - eSIS Changing Prior Postings - Cash Debtors and Cash Receipts 

22 March, 2023

The following message was emailed to principals and school administration staff at MACS ICON schools on Friday 17 March:

In reference to circular to Principals D23/13398 - Update to eSIS to Align to Financial Close Timetable

These changes to eSIS aim to ensure that our financial accounts are accurate, preventing adjustments to closed off postings and closed months.

It has been identified that whilst these changes have been deployed successfully, one functionality that remained was the school’s ability to open ‘bounce backs’ from prior batch postings /periods which caused transactions to be held in suspense (i.e. not being able to be closed off) - This results in the eSIS application being updated but not eFin.

The technology team was made aware of this ability and has made a further change to disable viewing of past postings – cash receipts or debtor charges. We are aware of the issues this causes some schools and are working on resolving the configuration gap shortly.

In the meantime, the ICON School Support Team has been supporting schools with the correct process of recording bounce backs. Refer to QRG Debtors Returned Payment _ Reverse Bounced Payment Receipt  and QRG Correct an Incorrect Posted (Closed Off) Receipt . The ability to preview past postings requires an alternative solution with the current setup, please refer to this document.


MACS - Quarter 1 2023 Financial Reporting requirements

20 March, 2023

School admin and finance staff should refer to the Circulars sent out to principals of MACS primary schools and principals of MACS secondary schools on 17 March.

MACS Primary Schools - Quarter 1 financial reporting requirements are to be completed by Wednesday 5 April 2023.

Schools are asked to ensure the following are completed by Wednesday 5 April 2023:

Business managers will support principals in delivering quarter-end financial reporting requirements. Schools without a business manager should work with their external accountants.

MACS Secondary Schools - Quarter 1 financial reporting requirements are to be completed by Friday 28 April 2023.

ICON schools are asked to ensure the following are completed by Friday 28 April 2023:


eSIS Upgrade - Synergetic v70.20 Release Notes: Superseding Bulk Absence Events, Medical Maintenance in SynWeb, Communications Centre in Community Portal

30 January 2023

As per the email sent by the CECV Administrator to ICON schools dated 10/01/2023 the eSIS Upgrade has been successfully completed.

A copy of the Release Notes for Synergetic v70.20 can be found here.

The eSIS Upgrade - Release Notes include information about:

 

Please contact the ICT Helpdesk on 9267 0422 option 3 or via email ictsupport@macs.vic.edu.au if you require further information.

2023 MACS Shared Services Fortnightly Pay Run Schedule Calendars


23 January 2023


The following 2023 pay run schedules provide a holistic picture of all timesheet submission dates for this school year. These dates account for any applicable public holidays, school term breaks, and the end of school year date as set by the Department of Education and Training VIC (‘DET’). Note these dates may be subject to change, in response to relevant announcements/changes from DET and/or MACS Shared Services.

 

2023 Calendar – F1 MACS Shared Services Pay Run Schedule.pdf

2023 Calendar – F2 MACS Shared Services Pay Run Schedule.pdf

 

*Please note that the AFL Grand Final public holiday date is yet to be announced as it is subject to the AFL schedule.


New ICON Administrator and ICON Refresher Training - Term 1

16 January 2023

Training sessions are available during Term 1 for new administration staff and current office staff in ICON schools.

New Administration School Staff ICON training

This training is designed for new administration school staff who have not completed ICON training.

Training covers:

ICON Refresher Workshops for School Administration Staff

ICON Refresher Workshops are between 1 to 2 hours depending on the topic.

The workshops are designed for school administration staff who are using ICON and need to further develop their skills.  Workshops in Term 1 relate to beginning of the year activities required to be undertaken by administration staff.

Workshops are designed for both MACS Shared Services Schools and Non-Shared Services schools unless stated otherwise.

To view the workshops and dates refer to flyers below. Staff will register for courses via OPL.

Email - Generation of Fees (MACS Schools)

Tuesday 10 January 2023

An email was sent to principals and administration staff of MACS ICON primary schools regarding the Generation of Fees activity being undertaken by ICON staff. Below is the information provided in that email.


As part of the fee generation process, the fees are generated by one team in ICON and then reviewed by another team in ICON to ensure their accuracy based on the information currently in the system as provided to this Office.  Once the fees are confirmed as being correct an email will be forwarded to the school advising that the fees are ready to be reviewed and actioned by the school.

 

Please do not action the fees generated (opened entry in the debtor charges) until the email has been received by the school.  Once the email is received, the school can review the debtor charges entry and if any exceptions or corrections are required, the school will be able to action these as per the advice provided in the email.

 

Please note, that Online Workshop Sessions to assist schools with handling corrections or exceptions are currently published on OPL.  Please register for any of these sessions that suit you.

 

Thanking you for your cooperation with this matter.