Annual School Report (ASR) Software
File your Annual School Report in an afternoon, not three weeks
The ASR is due every September, and the state revises the required file format almost every year. RDA Systems’ ASR module maps your account codes to the state’s classifications once — then builds the upload file for you, year after year.
Why the ASR eats two or three weeks
For most business offices, the Annual School Report means running a stack of reports, hand-assembling them into one very large spreadsheet, and reconciling that spreadsheet against a state-mandated file layout — expenditures, revenues, cash, balance sheet figures and FTE counts, all in the exact positions the state expects.
Three things make that harder than it sounds:
- The format moves. The state issues a revised file specification most years. Keeping a manual process in step with it is work you do before you enter a single number of your own.
- Your codes don’t match theirs. Your chart of accounts wasn’t built around the state’s ASR classifications, so someone has to translate every account by hand — and then do it again next year.
- One wrong row breaks the file. In a spreadsheet this size, a deleted line or a shifted column is easy to create and slow to find.
Map it once. Reuse it every year.
The ASR module sits between your financial data and the state’s file layout. You tell it, one time, how each of your account codes should be reported — which ASR line, which classification, which fund. From then on the software does the translation and writes the submission file for you.
Year one — set up, with a hand from us
- We send you a spreadsheet template built around your chart of accounts.
- We walk you through it one-on-one — how to filter, how to total, how to classify each code. Most offices finish year one in roughly half the time their manual process used to take.
- We load the completed template into the ASR module for you.
Year two and after — run it, review it, send it
Your classifications are already in the system. You add any new account codes opened since last year, confirm the existing mappings still look right, and generate the file. That is the whole job.
The parts you should not have to do by hand
State format changes, tracked for you.
RDA contacts the state ahead of each release, so when the specification changes the software already reflects it. That risk moves off your desk and onto ours.
Account rollups in a click.
Several of your accounts that the state wants reported as one line are combined automatically — no re-sorting a worksheet to make it happen.
Allocations by percentage.
Paying one electric bill that covers fifteen schools? Set each school’s percentage once and let the system split it every year after.
A real submission file.
The module produces the actual text file the state accepts — not a worksheet you still have to convert.
One method across the whole report.
Expenditures, revenues and the balance sheet are all set up the same way, so there is one process to learn.
Nightly backups and disaster recovery.
Your ASR data is protected on the same schedule as the rest of your RDA system; if data were lost, it can be restored from the prior night’s backup.
What it is worth in hours
120 hrs
Typical manual ASR — about two to three weeks of work
3–5 hrs
What the ASR takes from year two onward
~98%
Less time spent once setup is complete
Year one is not where the payoff is — setup is real work, though our walkthrough usually cuts it to about half of what a manual filing took. The return shows up in year two and every year after, when the classifications are already in place and the ASR becomes a short review instead of a project.
When the person who knows the ASR retires
In a lot of business offices, one person knows how the ASR gets done, and that knowledge lives in their spreadsheets and in their head. When they retire, it walks out with them.
The ASR module puts that logic in the system instead. The classifications are recorded, the process is the same handful of steps every year, and our team walks the next person through it directly — so they understand the report as well as their predecessor did. The handoff stops being a scramble.
You are not figuring this out alone
- One-on-one setup. Our support team works through the first filing with you — a flat fee that includes a set number of one-on-one hours.
- Documentation and a knowledge base. Written steps for the work you repeat each year, so a new staff member has something to follow.
- Tickets and email. Reach the same team that knows school finance, not a general help desk.
See it running against your own account codes
A short demo is the fastest way to tell whether this fits your office. We will show you the classification screen, the rollups, and the file the state receives.
RDA Systems — cloud ERP for small schools, towns and counties. Toll-free 800-338-4984 | Local 770-479-7933
Built for Virginia school divisions
The ASR module is built for Virginia school divisions filing the annual report with the state — and you do not have to be an RDA ERP customer to use it. It is available as a standalone module that works alongside the financial system you already have.
Questions we get asked
When is the Annual School Report due?
Around September 15 each year. If you are setting up for the first time, start well ahead of that — talk to us about timing for your division.
What happens when the state changes the file format?
We handle it. RDA contacts the state ahead of each release and updates the software to match the new specification. You do not rework your setup.
Do we have to run RDA’s ERP to use this?
No. The ASR module can be purchased on its own and used alongside your current financial system.
How long does the first year take?
Comparable to a manual filing, and typically about half. The work in year one is classifying your account codes, and we do that with you rather than handing you a manual.
What if we open new accounts?
Add them on the classification screen. Everything you mapped previously carries forward untouched.
Is our ASR data backed up?
Yes — nightly, with disaster recovery. If data were erased, it can be restored from the previous night’s backup.
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