May 2025

630.850.9039 Continued pg.2 What’s New It seems quite a few of our clients are bringing new team members on board. We are helping with the setup of these new employees, both for the office and the field. This includes setting up their email, access to SharePoint folders, Power BI reports for Project Managers, and a login to critical software such as Sage 100 Contractor. For several of our clients, we put together a technology-specific checklist for that company. It has the standard items, but also things that are unique to that business, specifically. This might include a special email signature, what type of computer and software will be needed based on the role, a company -issued cell phone with Mobile Device Management, and other items. By taking the time to create the checklist, it becomes a great tool for our clients to be sure they’ve considered and requested all that is needed, and for our techs so we can make sure everything is ready for their first day. Taking that another step farther, for clients who have Microsoft Premium level licenses, there’s an opportunity to configure Intune which standardizes the laptop/desktop configuration, saving time and ensuring all the steps have been completed. There’s a little investment in setting this up, but it more than pays for itself by reducing the time to roll out new equipment and/or to repurpose existing computers. In this Issue New and Exiting Teams…........1 Book Review.….……….……….2 End-of-Life Software.….….…...3 Shiny New Gadget ……...….....3 Positive Pay Options…..............4 Microsoft 365 Focus...………….5 How Did They Do It?………….6 Events Calendar ………...……..6 April and May have been full of industry and vendor conferences with lots to take back to our teams. Chris attended a conference in Berlin for one of our key vendors; an amazing city to explore and many key connections around this product. This month, we are presenting one of the breakout sessions at the CFMA Annual conference, so if you’re attending, come say ‘hi’! I’m presenting on Cyber Security to the FCIA in San Antonio. Our annual Paygroup Update webinar is May 1st, as is the National Day of Prayer. Wishing all the great women out there a Happy Mother’s Day. Your leadership is critical, in our homes and at work! - Catherine Wendt May 2025 Syscon U Las Vegas Review-journal/TNS via Getty Images New and Exiting Team Members: Check the List! -- 1 of 6 - Syscon U 630.850.9039 Book Nook This book, edited by Clayborne Carson, was excellent! Walking through the timeline of Dr. King’s life, education, decision to move into ministry, then his conviction in the spirit of Ghandi for non -violent protest was an excellent history lesson. But it was much more, an eyeopening view of the events that shaped his life and decisions, and the many men and women who joined him and came along side him during his life. I truly enjoyed the sections directly written by Dr. King, especially his analysis of various types of governance, other denominations, his own doubts and ultimate conclusions regarding his faith journey. This same structure shared the natural growth of the non-violent protests from the Montgomery Bus issue to his time in the Chicago ghettos. With the timeline summary at the beginning of each chapter, I was stunned how many important figures were assassinated during Dr. King’s lifetime. Definitely a history lesson, but so much more. The editor has done a very nice job incorporating the many documents from Dr. King’s life to form a narrative, as well as his actual writings and sermons. I recommend this book for each and every one of you! -CMW The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr. (continued from page 1) Many clients put a lot of time and thought into their onboarding process. At a minimum, it shows your new person that you are invested in their success, having everything ready for them to hit the ground running. At the next level, after you’ve found that perfect candidate, you’re anxious for them to dig in and contribute. Having these checklists ensures uniformity across the team, a chance to think through all the ‘typical’ items to help them start contributing right away. We’ve also had several clients with long time team members who are retiring. In some cases, an employee is moving on to a different state or a different opportunity; or maybe they’re just not a fit and you’re releasing them back to the workforce. This is also a good time to have a checklist, and we’d like to make some suggestions! When it’s a planned departure, letting us know ahead of time so we are ready to make changes when you need them is very important, especially as it relates to security, a safeguard for you and for them. Knowing whether this is an amicable separation or a potentially difficult departure would also be helpful. Other things to consider are whether they have a companyowned computer or a personal one; a company-owned or personal cell phone; which software programs need to have their user account deactivated; who will need access to their email account; any final time entries or receipts that may be needed. You may need more than one list for each event—onboarding and departures. Or perhaps the IT section is a portion of a more comprehensive list which might include issuing office keys, truck assignment, new hire forms, company credit cards, employee handbooks, scheduling training, or desk assignments. Departure lists would include collecting these items and perhaps an exit interview. As you continue to build the business, you may also need to considPage 2 “The hand that rocks the cradle is the hand that rules the world.” William Ross Wallace Happy Mother’s Day! May 2025 er if the growing size of your team pushes you to a new reporting threshold. Different states require electronic filing of various reports for employers over a certain number of employees. Affordable Care Act (ACA) reporting is also dependent on the size of the team. Participating in industry-specific groups or a peer group along with regular communication with your professional service partners are some great ways to stay on top of these new requirements. -CMW -- 2 of 6 - 630.850.9039 Syscon U Shiny New Gadget Of The Month: End-of-Life Software • Exchange 2013; Oct 2025 • Office 2019 Perpetual; Oct 2025 • Windows 10; Oct 2025 • Server 2016; January 2027 The biggest one on this list is Windows 10, coming up in October. We’ve written a few articles on this, so I’ll keep this part short. Anyone with Windows 10 needs to upgrade (if possible) or replace; you and the WHOLE WORLD are in this position. Let’s review your Windows 10 computers, see if they can be updated, and if not, get some equipment ordered. With everyone around the globe in the same position, prices will go up and supplies will diminish in the coming months. Time to act now and stay in front of this change. Now, the rest of what we’d like to share is to ask about your budget. Overall, contractors in general don’t seem to have overhead budgets. They are definitely in touch with their overhead as a percentage and know the target margins on their jobs, and this dictates what they can spend on overhead. That’s good as far as it goes. For those who have overhead budgets, and those that don’t, we’d like to know if you have budgets to replace your computer equipment. Laptops, desktops, monitors, firewalls, switches, tablets, and phones have life cycles. The software that runs on these devices also updates. Newer versions of the software may not run on old hardware. If you’re willing, we’d like to get on a call and talk through the age of these devices, their estimated life span, and help put together a budget for replacements. If you’re one of the amazing companies that have already done all this work, we would appreciate the opportunity to review this with you to make sure the budgeted amount will match your need when the time comes. Are you willing? -CMW Passwords One of the most popular (and unfortunately, successful) scams is to send an email that your account is expiring. To avoid disruptions, just enter your user name and password, or just click the link and enter your password so your account doesn’t expire—NEVER do this! We will NEVER ask for your password (and please don’t tell us!). This is something you should keep secure and never share—not even with your team members. A password manager is a great way to manage and secure these passwords. Several years ago, the standard was to change the password every 90 days and many banks enforce this older policy. The newer protocols have incorporated Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) which usually involves an authenticator app or a code to a separate email or send as a text. Strong passwords now means at least 16 characters with a mix of upper and lower case letters, numbers, and special characters. We recommend that you do not share or reuse passwords. We are very aware that this can be hard, so a password manager can be helpful. And, we recommend you enforce MFA for all users. This means all users MUST have MFA in place. As I write this, a friend’s logistics company had an incident and they had NOT enforced MFA; such a tragedy! –CMW Tech Talk Saros Z70 Vacuum May 2025 Artificial Intelligence (AI) isn’t just changing IT—it’s reshaping everyday life, too. Case in point: Roborock Saros Z70, a revolutionary home vacuum showcases how AI is touching every industry, even household cleaning. The Saros Z70 doesn’t just roam around; it thinks about how to clean. Equipped with a foldable robotic arm, dual onboard cameras, and realtime object recognition, it can navigate complex spaces, lift obstacles, and even mop floors with precision. Whether it’s weaving around charging cables or avoiding that coffee table leg, the Z70 adapts dynamically—no need for manual ‘rescue missions.’ Priced at $1,599.99, the videos look amazing. Maybe a group gift for dad? https:// -- 3 of 6 - Syscon U 630.850.9039 Positive Pay—Sage versus Syscon; What’s Different? In a very recent version of S100C, Sage has added a Positive Pay feature. This allows you to create a Positive Pay report from S100C that can be uploaded to your bank. It’s definitely less time and less error-prone than hand-typing the checks on the bank’s site. However, there are some limits to the built-in S100C version. Our Syscon Positive Pay report has been around for a long time, pre-dating this Sage release by over a decade! Although there is a nominal monthly fee to use this fully integrated report, it is more flexible and has more features. So, What’s different? Glad you asked. CFMA Conference If you’re headed to Florida for this great event, please join us on Wednesday morning for the POWER of Power BI. We’re going to share how these beautiful dashboards are transforming not just the office, but the Project Managers, as well! See you there! May 2025 Construction Corner Save the Date Thursday, May 1st 11:00 Central Time Paygroup Updates Webinar Feature Syscon Positive Pay S100C Built-in Maximum number of fields in file Unlimited Only 9 Includes GL Checks Yes No Includes Equip Checks Yes No Allows use of Bank Number in File Format Yes No Automatic printing of reconciliation report Yes No Can accommodate Tax ID required in certain formats Yes No Can accommodate Bank RID required in certain formats Yes No Can accommodate Bank ID required in certain formats Yes No Select checks to include by check number Yes No Select checks to include by payroll record number Yes No Set up for Multiple Cash Accounts Yes Yes Allows Payee Inclusion Yes Yes Option to include voided checks Yes Yes Fixed Format and comma delimited formats Yes Yes MO Accrued Sick—Starts May 1st! MO has some new rules that require employers to accrue sick time, per hour up to 30 hours, and show the accrued balance on the pay stub. Great news! S100C can do this accrual well, with the limit, and the value of that field can be added to the pay stub/voucher for employees to see. This is all done in the 5-2-1 screen on the Compensation tab. In this case 30 hours divided by 2,080 hours in a year is 0.0144 accrued per hour worked. Set the Max and Annual Limit at 30 hours. As they use it, the number will be lowered. As they work an hour, it will go up. Add to the check stub/ voucher and you’re all set! - CMW -- 4 of 6 - Syscon U 630.850.9039 M365 Education Station Changes Coming to OneDrive May 2025 Through late January 2025, you had access to the OneDrive data for anyone who had an M365 license even though that user was deleted or deactivated. The license could have been reissued to someone new, but the OneDrive data from the original user was still there—for a very long time! The change is to the retention policy, access to the data, and the end of that access. If the license is removed or the user is deleted from Entra ID (formerly Azure AD), the new policy will be in place. How Long Will the Data be Available? • When the user’s license is deactivated/reassigned, the OneDrive data will follow the retention policy in place under the Admin configuration. • The retention policies are usually 30 days. • After the retention date expires, the data will be available in the recycle bin for another 93 days. • At the end of the 93 days, the data will be deleted by Microsoft. Some sources say ‘may or may not’ be deleted. What are the options available to keep the OneDrive data in Microsoft? • The first option is to re-license the account. This can take up to 24 hours after which the OneDrive data will be available. • There is also an option to move to the archive Microsoft services. There is a monthly fee of $0.05/GB/month. But there's more... • If you need to recover data from this archive, there is an additional $0.60/GB for 30 day access. If the data is large, this can really add up. There has to be another option! • Yes! If you are using a third party backup service, cloud-to-cloud backups of your M365 licenses, the original data is backed up already, so you wouldn’t need the Microsoft Archive services at all. • Another option is to move the OneDrive data to a SharePoint site, making it available for future access. Syscon Managed M365 Licenses If we manage your Microsoft 365 licenses, we already have backups in place for those accounts. Your OneDrive data has been backed up and can be made available as needed. Even if/when Microsoft deletes the data due to the age of the unlicensed account, we have it for you! This is very understandable. Imagine a company with high turnover. They could have 100 active users but have 500 unlicensed users. With the prior policy, that’s a lot of free data storage! It’s not unusual for OneDrive accounts to be quite large, so this can really add up. Microsoft has provided paid services if you need to hold on to this data. Great Managed Service providers like Syscon have cloud-to-cloud backups in place so you don’t have to pay for the additional archive services which have specific limits, as well. If we’re not managing your M365 licenses and you have a lot of data, give us a call and let’s talk! CMW -- 5 of 6 - Syscon U 630.850.9039 We love this stuff! We are committed to helping businesses use technology to run their organization successfully and profitably. This monthly publication provided courtesy of Catherine Wendt, President of Syscon Inc. Proud Members Proud Partners May 2025 Read more at www.syscon-inc.com/how-did-they-do-it Are you interested in having your story featured? Let’s talk! Upcoming Events Event: Updating Pay Groups in Sage 100 Contractor, webinar Date: Thursday, May 1st Time: 11 a.m. CST Register: www.syscon-inc.com/events How Did They Do It? Jolma Utilities Ryan Jolma was heading up one of the departments at Jolma Electric when he saw the potential for expansion of his department. He purchased that portion of the business and started Jolma Utilities in 2023. Ryan then added key players for good leadership while working with great, hard working field guys who are willing to learn new things. The focus is solar, medium voltage work, third-party testing services, and related utility construction. The company’s success is definitely their Core Values which are highlighted in every meeting. Safety first, of course, along with a ‘never quit’ attitude. They enjoy tackling ‘unsolvable’ problems, finding a way forward while making a difference; they love the challenge! The team has excellent workmanship with a focus on productivity, according to the Finance Director, Benjamin Prissel. Like others in construction, finding the right people for the right seats seems to be one of the hardest parts of running a business. Interviewing, getting to know the person, ensuring their passion for the work, all of this is a process! Benjamin comes to Jolma as a native Wisconsin with a CFP designation and a background with Northwestern Mutual. He started as the Controller under Ryan and serves now as the Finance Director. Benjamin’s favorite Syscon tool? The FIT System! They love the time and equipment tracking and it’s seamless integration with Sage 100 Contractor. His second favorite is the Power BI reporting, pulling data right from S100C into the dashboard. These are used in their leadership meetings.– CMW Fast Facts Location: Ashland, WI Specialty: Electrical Construction Founded: 2023 Affiliations: MEUW, WECA Benjamin Prissel Finance Director Event: CMFA’s Annual Conference & Exhibition, Break Out presentation by Cathy! Date: May 17—21 Location: Kissimmee, FL More Info: www.cfma.org/annual Take Note: Syscon will be closed Monday, May 26, 2025 for Memorial Day Event: Ditch Paper Timecards, webinar Date: Friday, May 16th Time: 1 p.m. CST Register: www.syscon-inc.com/events -- 6 of 6 -