We are proud to announce the release of Version 8 of Surfside Lighthouse. Lighthouse continues to set the standard for affordable, easy-to-use student information systems. Version 8 includes many features requested by users over the past year.

Some of the features of Version 8 include:

• Billing System - Many of our private school and career academy customers have requested a billing function. We are pleased to introduce that feature with Version 8.
• Dedicated Mailing Label Function - Version 8 boasts a “dedicated mailing label” function which provides the ability to generate only one label per family address, generate labels for both parents and students and to start printing at any specific label on the page to skip over already-used labels on the first sheet.
• Copy E-mail Addresses to Clipboard - Does your school do e-mail broadcasts to the entire student body or select groups such as a sports team or the band? Are you concerned about keeping your most current e-mail list somewhere “in the cloud”? Version 8 addresses these needs with the new “copy e-mail address to the clipboard” function.
• Transportation Profile Enhancements - The Transportation tab of the Student List was expanded to allow for multiple routes and dismissal routines, such as accommodations for different scenarios depending upon the day of the week.
• Tracking of Family Records - When you add a new student, Lighthouse can now check for existing student records from the same family and copy pertinent information to the new student’s record.
• New Toolbar Options on Student List Screen - The Student List Screen received additional toolbar options to filter students based upon a query or the results of a report as well as to print the student list in a grid format.
• Schedule enhancements - The student locator report was re-designed to print in an easy-to-read format suitable for binding, and most schedule screens and reports now include additional statistics such as Percent schedules and free seats.
• And many more...

Version 10 of School Ledger and School Accounts Payable is now available!

Some of the features of Version 10 include:

• More Room to Work – Many data entry screens have been re-designed to maximize data entry space for important elements such as accounts, memos and descriptions.
• New and Improved Account Screen – The account screen now features a “tabbed” layout, field for faculty advisor for that account (to enable searches on advisor) and “at your fingertips” tabs for checkbook transactions, general ledger entries, encumbrances…etc.
• Transaction Categories – Each transaction may now be “classified” by a user-defined category. This can be useful if you want to pull reports on all “supply” related transactions or perhaps all “transportation” expenses for multiple classes, clubs and athletic teams. Basic report functions will be provided at release time and additional reports will likely be added during the life of Version 10 as users tell us the additional report functionality they need.
• Quick Restore – A “restore” function allows a guided recovery of a backup made with either the automatic and manual backup function of SLRS. The user selects the file to be restored from a list of scheduled or automatic backup files – or one may select a file that was saved to removable media such as a flash drive or CD-ROM. The restored file may be set to over-write an existing original or may be renamed during the restore process so as to protect the original data file.
• Quick File Re-Name – Many users have requested a function that lets them re-name their data file without using Windows’ renaming functionality. Version 10 allows you to re-name your data file from within School Ledger.
• “Sticky” Screen Size Scaling – All register and list screens now open to a pre-defined screen size. Steps have been taken to ensure that screens do not shrink or re-size themselves when certain other program functions are invoked.
• Additional F5/F6 “Increment” Functionality – We have reviewed several of our data entry screens and have added the general ledger’s “F5/F6” function to increment certain numbers and dates. This is very useful in a situation such as when you’re creating a large batch of manual checks.
• Vendor Invoice and Customer Number Option – Version 10 adds an option to include on the printed check a vendor invoice number and your school’s customer number/account number with that vendor. The invoice number prints in the “Memo” area of the check, which becomes two lines. The customer number prints near the top of the check. These are preference settings that can be turned on or off. The printing preference may be changed on a vendor-by-vendor basis.
• New Vendor Management System – In recent years, users have made much more effective use of the vendor database. We decided it was time to make that system more user-friendly and transparent, so we re-designed the whole vendor system. The vendor list now shows important supplemental data, such as encumbrance totals. Each vendor screen clearly displays past, current and overall payment totals, encumbrances and adjusted totals. We also added new tabs to display a detailed list of the current year’s payments and encumbrances as well as prior years’ payment history. A field for customer number/vendor account number was added to support printing of that number on checks to the vendor.
• Merge Vendor Accounts – We have all had situations where the same vendor ends up in the database more than once because someone (we’re not pointing any fingers!) made an error on the vendor’s name and created a new vendor record… or three or four. V10 allows you to merge two or more vendor accounts to cover situations like this. All payments made to each vendor are moved to the new vendor record, allowing for accurate payment tracking and 1099 data.
• Find Vendor Function – A new “Find Vendor” function was added to both the Purchase Order and New Check screens. This allows you to search for a vendor by entering a portion of the vendor name, company, address or phone number.
• Support for Alternative Purchase Order Numbering – Some customers use SLRS to track purchase orders and budgets at the district level. Because districts issue purchase orders for multiple schools, your building’s purchase order numbers might not be consecutive. V10 addresses this situation with a preference setting that allows manual changes to the purchase order number at entry time. This is a terrific time-saver for those who use SLRS to track district encumbrances. The feature is user selectable.
• And more...

We are proud to announce Version 7 of Surfside Lighthouse. Lighthouse continues to set the standard for affordable, easy-to-use student information systems. Version 7 includes many features requested by users over the past year.

Some of the features of Version 7 include:

• Dozens of new fields - The Contact and new Parents tabs on the Student List screen have seen the addition of dozen of new fields for tracking additional phone numbers, doctor information, parental custody and releases, and emergency medical contact information.
• Queries on the Reports menu - Queries can now be "pinned" to the reports menu so that those users not familiar with the use of the Query function can quickly and easily run reports.
• Queries can now contain parameters - You can now add a parameter to a filter condition so that each time the query is run it will prompt the user to enter a value for each parameter. You can, for example, enter a filter conditional as

  ">=[Enter the lowest year of graduation]"

  and the user will be prompted for that YOG each time the query is run.
• Easier PDF and e-mail - All Print Preview screens now contain PDF and E-mail buttons in the toolbar to quickly and easily save a report to PDF or e-mail the report to a recipient.
• New Attendance Reports - New Attendance Grid and Attendance Calendar reports let you see your daily attendance data in new and exciting ways.
• And many more...

Version 9 of School Ledger and School Accounts Payable is now available and ready to ship!

Some of the features of Version 9 include:

• Enhanced user interface - Many input screens across the program were upgraded to better accommodate the many additions we have made to these screens over the past few years.
• Receipt edit trail - As receipts are edited an audit trail created automatically, allowing you to see all of the edits that occurred.
• Payment Vouchers may be printed for any existing purchase order. A payment voucher is essentially a re-cap of the purchase order with a place to indicate that it’s okay to pay an order and also if there are any changes to the amount being paid.
• Print an Envelope for any vendor. This feature was requested by schools that no longer use window envelopes for mailing purchase orders.
• A Save Purchase Order as PDF button was added to the purchase order screen to facilitate easier emailing of purchase orders. In previous versions it was necessary to preview the purchase order through the purchase order register before one could create a PDF of the order.
• And many more...

We are pleased to introduce Version 8 of our popular School Ledger-Report System with Accounts Payable fund accounting software.

Over the past year we have collected dozens of suggestions from both new and veteran users of the SLRS family of products. Many of these are reflected in the Version 8 update. That’s why we’re sure you will be delighted with Version 8’s new features.

• Profit & Loss reporting
• Audit Tools
• Single keystroke to advance the date and transaction # on ledger posts
• Upgraded data backup utility
• Easier to read reports
• "Dual View" checkbook mode to easily view ledger entries for a checkbook transaction
• Bank reconciliation report can itemize outstanding checks and deposits
• View vendor history
• "Additional Documentation" checkbox on receipts
• Voided entries are flagged with a "V" on register reports
• A "coin" option has been added to receipts
• Outstanding Check report has additional filter capabilities
• A new Encumbrance Details report has been added
• And much, much more...

MyStudentData.com - our online student data access system - has been updated with new features and a new look. Teachers may now upload their Lighthouse teacher gradebook data for parents to view their child's assignment, quiz and test grades. We have also added new statistical and search functions for the school administrator.

Head over to www.mystudentdata.com and click the "Lookup Sample Student" button to see a sample student's data.

We are proud to announce Version 5 of Surfside Lighthouse. Lighthouse continues to set the standard for affordable, easy-to-use student information systems. Version 5 includes many features requested by users over the past year.

Early bird pricing requires that Surfside Lighthouse Version 5 be purchased and paid for no later than May 31, 2007. Version 5 will ship in early May.

We are pleased to announce that Lighthouse now supports the importing of state ID numbers that will be issued to schools on March 19th as part of the NJ Smart initiative.

These new ID numbers will be a permanent addition to each student's record and will follow the student across his or her entire school career.

We are pleased to introduce Version 7 of our popular School Ledger-Report System with Accounts Payable fund accounting software.

Over the past year we have collected dozens of suggestions from both new and veteran users of the SLRS family of products. Many of these are reflected in the Version 7 update. That’s why we’re sure you will be delighted with Version 7’s new features.

• Database Backup Utility
• New Email Database function
• Enhanced search functions
• Easier to use preference settings
• "Snapshot balance" feature
• Multiple bank accounts
• Easier and enhanced reconciliation screen
• Audit trail for edited checks
• Alternate check stub

We are pleased to announce that Surfside Lighthouse now supports the "New Jersey Smart" electronic reporting for schools in New Jersey. The NJSMART export is available free to users of Surfside Lighthouse Version 4.

Lighthouse is a comprehensive and tightly integrated student information system for your school.  From student demographics, to schedules, grades, attendance, discipline, transcripts, counselor contacts and more, Lighthouse provides all the features you need.

We are pleased to introduce our new teacher gradebook for Surfside Lighthouse. The gradebook is available right now.

Surfside Lighthouse gradebook is an full-featured teacher gradebook companion for Version 4 of Surfside Lighthouse. This easy-to-use gradebook system offers the ease of use that Surfside customers have come to expect at a most affordable Surfside price.

The Surfside Lighthouse gradebook is designed to mimic a standard pen-and-paper gradebook and track student grades across an entire school year. Using an industry standard look and feel, teachers can start using the program immediately and be proficient in a very short time. Powerful tools are available to track a student's performance and produce professional quality reports quickly and easily.

Version 4 of Surfside Lighthouse commenced shipping on May 5, 2006. We are very pleased to share with you the new features added to this latest upgrade of Lighthouse.

Version 4 offers a number of new features that were requested by users of Version 2 and Version 3. The features described in this article reflect the highlights of what we implemented in Version 4.

• Discipline Messaging System
• Improved Attendance System
• Upgraded Student Query Engine
• Enhancements to Student Schedule Management

Pricing and Availability

Version 4 of Surfside Lighthouse started shipping on May 5, 2006. Please call or email our sales department for your school's price on Version 4.

We are delighted to announce the availability of web-based training for our full line of school administrative software.

Through "Surfside Academy" and "Heritage Academy" we have offered personalized training for many years. These sessions required travel to our Cape Cod training facility. With school budgets tighter than ever, we decided to make the same training experience available over the Internet.

Two Kinds of Seminars

Traditional Seminars - Users of Surfside Lighthouse or School Ledger-Report System may sign up for school-specific training sessions where you get to set the agenda and will have exclusive access to our training staff during your seminar. These sessions may take place at the participants' offices or you may gather your staff in a central office conference room and share the training experience as a group. Either way, it's the next best thing to travelling to Cape Cod and working in person with our staff.

Topical Seminars - Through the school year we will email current users of Surfside Lighthouse and School Ledger with information about "mini-courses" we offer o­n specific topics. These seminars will last approximately thirty minutes and will cover a topic of interest to most users at a specific time of year. For example, in mid-March we might offer a program on "starting to schedule for next year" or in August we might run a seminar on "setting up attendance for the new year". Tuition for these mini-seminars is quite reasonable. Tution is free to IC Gold subscribers.

Contact sales@surfsidesoftware.com to be added to the email broadcast list for Surfside and Heritage topical web seminars or to arrange a half-day, school-specific class for your staff.

In 1996 we launched Surfside Academy, our popular advanced training experience offered to a select group of customers. This year we are pleased to introduce Heritage Academy for users of School Ledger-Report System with Accounts Payable.

Both "academies" offer sessions that are enjoyable and informative for both visiting school personnel and our own staff. Many new features added to the Surfside Lighthouse and School Ledger in recent years were suggested during various "Academy" sessions.

Surfside and Heritage Academy sessions are conducted at a conference center here o­n scenic Cape Cod. O­ne or two-day programs may be arranged - or half-day programs may be scheduled to permit you to enjoy Cape Cod.

We work with only one school district at a time. Therefore, you can work with us to set the specific agenda for your Surfside Academy or Heritage Academy session.

This program is not for first-time users. It is for experienced users of Surfside Lighthouse or School Ledger who wish to sharpen their skills and for those who are tasked with training others in the use of the software. Academy sessions may also be used as a "train the trainer" program for those familiar with the software and seeking to build their skills as a trainer.

Call 800-942-9008, ext. 110 or email today for information and pricing for Surfside Academy or Heritage Academy.

The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) initiative strives to ensure that all children receive a high quality education so that no child is left behind.

Achieving this goal requires the support of many parties, including state and local agencies, school districts, and yes, even your software vendors. We are proud to include in our Lighthouse school administrative software the fine degree of reporting necessary to help support this goal.

Here at Surfside we believe that every school deserves the best of administrative software - no matter what your size or budget. Schools with fewer than 300 students are eligible for very special "small school" pricing. Call 800-942-9008 ext. 110 or email sales@surfsidesoftware.com today for a price quote for your school