Hi, We are new to FE and are getting ready to close our first Fiscal Year. We want to do a soft close at first and then when the auditors are done, a hard close. I am NOT a financial person. I'm the IT guru so go easy on me. I have not RTFM yet, on my to-do list and we do have some consulting time coming to us, we haven't set it up yet. I'd appreciate any pointers, things to ask myself BEFORE we start this process, tips, tricks, possible pitfalls, etc. We do use RE and do post from there into FE. We use the General Ledger module only and this is the only office that uses either Blackbaud product. The Financial Guru & I can do WHATEVER we want and kick anyone out at anytime. Or almost. ;-) I'm going to cross post on the Blackbus forum as well so for those of us who play in both sandboxes to make you read this twice. I just need all the help I can get and I'm not as familar with this product or the names of those who use it as I am with RE. TIA, laura Laura A. Caswell Information Technology Worcester State College Worcester, MA 01602 [Email Removed] (508) 929-8867

Hi Laura - I would suggest waiting to do a total soft close until after the auditors are done. They will most likely want a few things here and there that are not expected, and a soft close might make that a little more troublesome if they decide changes are needed. You can "close" periods in a fiscal year without doing a full soft close to ensure that postings do not occur in that particular period. To do this, go to the General Ledger module, click on "Configuration", and then "Fiscal Years", choose the fiscal year you want to manipulate, and then you can manually check the box under the "Closed" column for any month or period within that fiscal year. Doing this does not limit any detail or reporting capabilities for those periods, but allows you to reopen them for posting in the case that changes are needed.