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June 2023
How are we doing?
What is the status of full conversion to GEARS?
June 2023 has been a busy month as we move forward to full transition to GEARS. We want to reaffirm our commitment to you that our #1 priority is accurate payments. We have taken steps to assure that if unexpected problems occur in GEARS, we can step back and use the CARS system to make the July 2023 payments.
We are continuing to test GEARS and comparing the GEARS and CARS results. GEARS is processing expenses properly, calculating payments accurately and generating accurate and complete reports. We expect to process the July 2023 payments through GEARS.
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What happened with the GEARS Expenditure Reporting Form when we first launched?
First - our apologies that the correct version of that form was not deployed to the webpage. But next, a big “THANK YOU!” to everyone who emailed us, letting us know that the form did not work as expected. The correct version was successfully deployed at the end of the day on May 16, 2023. Agencies that downloaded the form earlier that day should discard the version they have and download the current GEARS Expenditure Report Form from the GEARS webpage.
We were encouraged by the quick and helpful responses to our mistake. As we move through full transition to GEARS if there are things that seem wrong or do not make sense, we hope you will continue to email us with your questions and concerns.
Where is the CARS webpage?
The CARS webpage is now called the GEARS webpage. Not to worry however, as the CARS links will be redirected to the GEARS web address.
We are adding information on GEARS to the webpage, as well as maintaining the CARS information. As we continue our transition to GEARS, and as we hear what information you find useful, we will update the GEARS webpage.
What other changes will we see in June?
REPORTS!
We developed and will soon post guidance on how to access the CARS and GEARS reports on the GEARS webpage.
Reports will continue to be available not less than five (5) days prior to the expected payment date. The GEARS-603 and -620 reports were designed to provide the same information as their CARS counterparts, but there are some enhancements. We have updated the guidance on how to read the -603 and -620 reports to include both CARS and GEARS, highlighting where the reports are the same and where they are different. This guidance will also be posted to the GEARS webpage.
Agency Names
GEARS does not limit an agency’s name to twenty-five characters, so we completed some maintenance on several agency names. We standardized County Agency Names to migrate information from CARS to GEARS. We modified the names for some agencies to align better with their legal name or to distinguish an organization’s component units. For a few agencies, we entered their longer name in GEARS.
GEARS allows updates to agency names in a fairly straight forward fashion. Once we are certain that the full transition to GEARS is complete and is working well, we will provide information in a newsletter and on the GEARS webpage on how to request updates to an agency’s name in GEARS.
Multiple Payments (Counties only)
This affects counties only. When GEARS generates payments, counties will see multiple ACH (Automated Clearing House) deposits each month. Except when an account receivable is recovered (see Accounts Receivable below), the total of the multiple deposits generated by GEARS will equal what would have been the single ACH deposit generated by CARS.
- CARS consolidates monthly payments at the Agency ID Number level. Counties with multiple component units, for example, an ADRC, a Public Health Agency and a Department of Social Services, receive a single consolidated CARS payment for all three component units and all contract years.
- GEARS consolidates payments at the Agency ID Number-Agency Type Code level. This means, that the GEARS payment for an ADRC will consolidate reimbursement for all active contract years but will not be consolidated with payments to the Public Health Agency and the Department of Social Services. The county, in this example, would receive three, rather than one, ACH payments.
This should help counties better reconcile reported expenses and payments. Besides being impacted by more timely collection of Accounts Receivable, the total payments to counties will be unchanged. Please share this information with your County Treasurer.
Payment dates (All agencies)
GEARS, unlike CARS, will issue all payments, those to municipalities and those to non-municipal agencies, on the same day. The first GEARS payment is planned for July 2023. Making this change in July improves our ability to ensure that the information from CARS has been fully and correctly migrated to GEARS.
We are on track to issue GEARS payments the first week in July.
GEARS payments will be made through the standard State of Wisconsin payment process. This enhancement strengthens security over the payments and related information. Beginning with the July 2023 payments, GEARS payments will look like all other payments your agency receives through the State of Wisconsin STAR system.
STAR reminder
Agencies are encouraged to notify their Treasurers that GEARS payments will be made through the STAR system.
Accounts Receivable
GEARS will recover accounts receivable more timely than CARS. This primarily affects counties.
- In CARS accounts receivable are recorded against the Agency-Agency Type Code combination that generated the account receivable and are not recovered until all contracts for said code combination are closed—often several months later. For example, a receivable generated by Agency 123456 type code 390 will not be recovered against other agency type codes associated with agency 123456 until all contract ending during 2023 have been closed.
- Receivables in GEARS are also recovered within an Agency ID Number-Agency Type Code combination. Because the contract year is not part of the GEARS Agency Type code, receivables are recovered against all contract years for that Agency-Agency Type code combination. For example, a receivable in GEARS generated by Agency 123456 type 90 contract year 2023 will be recovered against all payments generated by Agency 123456, type 90 in contract years 2023 and any/all other active contract years.
Additional information on how accounts receivable will be recorded and recovered in GEARS will be posted on the GEARS webpage.
Any other updates?
While we are focused on transitioning to GEARS, we are also looking forward to additional improvements to expense reporting and payment processing. This will be more than just future enhancements to GEARS—although we expect some of those as well. Steps we have taken and topics currently under discussion include:
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Continuing to refresh our webpages. We want to ensure we provide useful information and eliminate outdated information.
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Providing on-line “how-to” guidance. This includes looking at ways that we could provide short training sessions which agencies could use at their convenience to help train new financial staff as well as provide just-in-time refresher training for more experienced staff.
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Publishing periodic newsletters, possibly targeted by agency type, to keep agencies informed of changes in GEARS and to provide reminders on key dates and reporting instructions.
Thank you!
We appreciate your continued feedback on how the changes being made effect your agency. In the words of Ken Blanchard—"None of us is as smart as all of us.”
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