The following document will guide you through the End of Year procedure for MCS DataCenter.

Please read the following document in its entirety before attempting the End of Year procedure.

MCS Software highly recommends disabling ALL scheduled jobs in the Microsoft Task Scheduler, especially enrollment system updates, prior to running the End of Year process. Please confirm this is complete prior to proceeding further. You should consider re-enabling scheduled jobs when you initiate the Beginning of Year process. For more information, refer to the Beginning of Year documentation.

Frequently Asked Questions

You must be logged in as a user with sufficient privileges for creating a database on the SQL Server. The user admin has this level of permission by default (unless the user was modified by your SQL Server Administrator).

When should I run my End of Year process?
Running the DataCenter End of Year process is recommended once you are finished retrieving payments from your Online Payment System (such as MySchoolBucks) and are ready to begin performing End of Year procedures in supporting applications such as Newton Cafeteria Management. 

Do I need to be running a particular version to perform an End of Year?
Version 6.0.0 or higher is required to run the End of Year process. The current version number can be located by looking in the upper left of the application. 

Are there any changes I should know about in the latest version of DataCenter?
No. There are no changes in DataCenter; however, we have added a recommended Beginning of Year procedure to ensure proper communication between programs and DataCenter. This is strongly recommended to those who begin the implementation process of new software, such as Edison, prior to the current school year ending and have plans to begin fully utilizing the software at the beginning of the upcoming school year.

Are there other considerations for running an End of Year?
1) Once the End of Year process has been run, all other applications that communicate with DataCenter will continue to communicate with the previous year's database until each End of Year process is performed. If any upgrades or setting changes need to be pushed out to these applications, you will need to login to the prior year's DataCenter database to affect these changes.
2) If you do not want SIS special circumstance in Franklin to import back in from the SIS file you must make sure the scheduled tasks have been disabled in the Microsoft Task Scheduler. Failure to first disable jobs in the MS Task Scheduler could result in the circumstances becoming re-enabled when the Franklin Beginning of Year process is run.

What should I do if I am unsure how to proceed?
In the event you have any questions or are unsure how to proceed before or during this process, it is recommended that you contact Support for assistance.  

Login to DataCenter

Please note the following steps do not apply to everyone. The steps stating "Required" applies to all users.

Inactivate Schools, Grades, and/or Tracks (Optional - Newton and Franklin users)

Inactivating Schools, Grades, and/or Tracks will cause records to be inactivated and then permanently deleted during End of Year processes.

Open the Maintenance section

From the Admin tab, select the Maintenance option.

Disable/Inactivate Schools (if applicable)

  1. Locate and click on School Maintenance.

  2. For each school that is no longer active, click in the Inactive box. Then, click Ok.

Disable/Inactivate Grades (if applicable)

  1. Locate and click on Grade Maintenance.
  2. For each grade that is no longer active, click in the Inactive box. Then, click Ok.

Disable/Inactivate Tracks (if applicable)

  1. Locate and click on Tracks.

  2. For each track that is no longer active, click in the Inactive box. Then, click Ok.

Enable End of Year process (Required)

  1. From the Admin tab, select the District Setup.

  2. Your District should be highlighted with an arrow pointing at the name. If you do not see it upon the window opening, use the scroll bar to locate it.  If your District is not checked, click on it to select it.

  3. Click in the Enable End-of-Year Process box. Then, click Ok.
     

Run the End of Year Process (Required)

  1. Locate and click on the Admin tab, then select the End of Year Process option.

  2. A warning message will pop up stating the following message:

    The end of year process will create a new datacenter database after backing up the old database.

    All other MCS Software packages will then communicate to the OLD database until they perform an end of year process; at which time they will begin communicating with the NEW database.

    You must be certain that you want to start a new school year before proceeding. Press <OK> to proceed with the end of year process; or, <CANCEL> to quit this screen without taking any action.

    Read the warning and check the box declaring that you understand the procedure. Then, click Ok.

  3. You will see a series of processes run while End of Year attempts to complete.

  4. Once the End of Year process has completed, a window will appear notifying you if the process was successful. Click Ok to finish.

  5. Exit out of DataCenter.

Login to DataCenter

Create a New School Year (Required)

  1. From the Admin tab, locate Maintenance and select School-Year Maintenance.
  2. Insert a new record for the upcoming school year. Then, click Ok to save changes.
    1. Select the blank bottom row in the graph.
    2. In the column titled Description, enter information for the upcoming school year (e.g. 2016-2017 SY).
    3. Enter the actual Start Date and End Date for the upcoming year in the cells provided. You should enter the days and months as two digits and the year as four digits (e.g. 07/01/2016).
    4. In the SchoolYear column, use the drop-down menu to select the appropriate year. For the 2016-2017 school year, you would select SY2016_2017.
    5. In the Attached to DB column, use the drop-down menu and select MCS_DATACENTER.

You have successfully completed End of Year processes for DataCenter. You may now close the program.