United States Department of Agriculture
Research, Education and Economics

ARS * CSREES * ERS * NASS

Bulletin

All transactions entered in the feeder systems (PCMS, PRCH, TRVL, etc.) as well as those direct-entered into the ARS Foundation Financial Information System (FFIS) application will go through a series of edits at various levels of transition before they are successfully shown in FFIS. As a result, transactions that are generated may result in an error or a “reject” status within the feeder, in the feeder-to-FFIS interface, or directly in the FFIS application. All administrative offices have a role and responsibility for ensuring transactions entered in feeder systems or directly into the FFIS application, either by administrative office personnel or another office on their behalf, such as Reporting Section #4 (RS4), pass through edits at these various levels.

This bulletin provides guidance on roles and responsibilities for correcting errors in the feeder systems, the feeder systems to FFIS interface, and within the FFIS Document Suspense File (SUSF) for both feeder-system generated and direct-entered documents. The originating office is determined by the type of spending activity (agreements, training, construction, purchase orders, travel, etc.) and business processes within each SEC1 code (Enclosure 1). For instance, a direct- entered document such as an M1 may be entered by RS4 or the pilot sites: the Pacific West Area Office (PWA), the Southern Plains Area Office (SPA), the Facilities Division (FD), and Financial Management Division (FMD), depending upon the type of spending and business process. Alternatively, a purchase order may originate in the PRCH feeder system at the location, Area, Headquarters, or it could be direct-entered by National Finance Center (NFC). NOTE: For the purpose of this bulletin, the originating office is defined as the office that enters documents/transactions either in a feeder system or directly into the ARS FFIS application.

The originating office that enters transactions within a feeder system at the location, Area, National Agricultural Library (NAL), Administrative and Financial Management (AFM), RS4, and the National Finance Center (NFC) shares the responsibility for ensuring all edits within these feeders as well as FFIS have been satisfied. The following guidance is provided to ensure transactions pass successfully through all edits at the following levels:

1. Within the Feeder
   
   Primary Responsible Party: Originating Office
   
   As is current practice, the originating office continues to have the primary responsibility for ensuring transactions generated in a feeder system (PRCH, TRVL, PCMS) are accurately entered. The originating office is also responsible for verifying that batch files transmitted by PC-TRVL and PC-PRCH are received correctly by NFC. If transactions are posted to suspense accounts, NFC will research the error and make the necessary corrections. If they are unable to do so, they will contact the originating office or the designated point of contact to take the appropriate action.
           
   There are special circumstances when the originator may not be able to make the correction within the feeder system. For instance, if a PCMS transaction is locked due toinvalid accounting data, the Servicing Budget Fiscal Office (SBFO) will work with the originating office to correct the program code in FFIS and a backfeed will be generated during the nightly cycle to unlock the PCMS transaction (Enclosure 2).
   
   Documents generated by feeder systems will derive a SEC1 code based on the accounting associated with the transaction. For instance, if a transaction is entered into PRCH with a program code of 2011901915, FFIS will derive a SEC1 code of 19 for the North Atlantic Area (NAA).
                                                                   
   
2. Feeder System to FFIS Application Interface (OPAC, ABCO, PRCH, TRVL, PCMS)
   
   Primary Responsible Party: NFC        
   
   Due to technical problems, some transactions that pass from the feeder to FFIS may not be able to update the ARS application. They are considered “above the line” and will appear on various offline error reports generated during the nightly cycle for review by NFC personnel. NFC will take the appropriate action to ensure these transactions update the ARS application. For issues they are unable to resolve, they will work with the Functional Administrator, FMD to resolve the issue(s).
               
   
3. FFIS Application (SUSF Management)
   
   Primary Responsible Parties: BPMS, SBFO, Location, RS4, NFC, FD, FMD
   
   All transactions directly entered into the FFIS application or emanating from a feeder system will create a document that will end up on the SUSF table. This table stores and maintains all documents entered at all stages of their life cycle including:
   
       1) Held and pending documents for further data entry, processing, or approval;
       2) Accepted and deleted documents which remain on SUSF for a period of three to five days; and
       3) Rejected documents maintained for correction or approval.
   
   On a daily basis, the SBFO will monitor all documents shown in a “reject” status on SUSF. They will work with the locations and administrative offices in the procurement, travel, personnel, contracting, etc., to ensure all documents within their SEC1 code are processed in a timely manner. If they are unable to make corrections to rejected documents, they will contact the originating office for additional information or request that the transaction be corrected within the feeder system, as applicable. Please review rejected payment-related documents (PV and NO) first to avoid interest penalties which may be incurred.
   
   Since RS4 will provide direct-entry services on behalf of the agency, they will be responsible for correcting rejected documents they enter and the originator of the transaction may be contacted for additional information in order for the document to process successfully. They will also have an agency-wide role in monitoring all rejected documents to ensure these are processed in a timely manner. We are in the process of developing these policies and procedures and additional information will be forthcoming.
   
   A list of Transactions by Responsible Office (Enclosure 3) identifies those offices that     are responsible for specific document types. The document type is determined by the type of transaction generated within the feeder system or directly entered in the FFIS application. For instance, a V5 is generated by the PCMS-FFIS interface and a M1 or PV document is used for direct-entry. Keep in mind that each feeder system interacts with the FFIS application differently and the process for resolving errors and correcting rejected documents will vary.
   
   The SBFO's and RS4 may view rejected documents by SEC1 code, via the Document Processing Report (RGSGDP2) or directly on the SUSF table. Therefore, documents must be entered with a SEC1 code that reflects the applicable allocation so they will be reflected on the Area RGSGDP2 report and be recognized more readily on the SUSF table.
   
   The RGSGDP2 report will be available to the SBFO's and RS4 via the Electronic Information Distribution System (EIDS). Instructions and access will be provided shortly. This report is produced by SEC1 Code and within each SEC1 Code, by Document Type and the error message(s) for each document. It will allow the Areas to identify the feeder system in which documents originated along with the document ID. For documents that are directly entered, the document ID can be used to identify the type of spending and location code, as applicable, to facilitate research. See the Spending Chapter of the Learner's Guide for guidance on document numbering.
   

To summarize, on a daily basis, the SBFO will:

• Print the RGSGDP2 report or view the SUSF table for rejected transactions within their SEC1 Code;
  
• Evaluate error messages associated with payment-related documents in a “reject” status (PV and NO) to avoid interest penalties which may be incurred;
  
• Work with the originating office to make the appropriate correction either in a feeder system or directly in the FFIS application, as appropriate, to allow the payment to attain an “accepted” status as soon as possible.
  
• Evaluate error messages associated with all other documents in a “reject” status (M1, RQ, V5, etc.);
  
• Work with the originating office to make corrections either in the feeder system or directly in the FFIS application, as appropriate, to allow the document(s) to attain an “accepted” status.
  

The originating office will:

• Work with the SBFO to make corrections to feeder system and/or direct-entered documents on a daily basis;
  
• Continue to ensure that documents entered in a feeder system are accurately entered and are correctly received by NFC;
  

NFC will:

• Evaluate transactions that are posted to suspense accounts and make the appropriate corrections;
  
• Contact the Functional Administrator for issues they are unable to resolve;
  
• Take corrective action on transactions which appear on various offline error reports;
  
• Ensure transactions update the ARS application.
  

For guidance on common errors messages that may be encountered refer to the SUSF chapter of the Learner's Guide. In the event the SBFO is unable to resolve the error, refer to guidance published in Bulletin 01-309, ARS Foundation Financial Information System (FFIS) Support Help Desk Procedures for assistance.

If you have any questions, please contact Jenny Dubbs on 301-504-4844.

/s/
S. M. Helmrich
Director
Financial Management Division

Enclosure 1

SEC1 Codes Used in the ARS FFIS Application

*Letter of Credit

Enclosure 2

PCMS/FFIS INTERFACE

Cardholders can only purchase on behalf of one agency using one purchase card or associated convenience checks. Any cardholder purchasing on behalf of multiple agencies, must have individual purchase cards and associated convenience checks for each agency serviced. This is required, because each agency has a separate FFIS application. If an FFIS document is created and the accounting has different agency codes, it will cause the document to reject in FFIS.

1. <0l type="1">Monday through Friday new transactions from the bank are loaded into PCMS between 11:30 am
       and 12:00 pm CST. Once a transactions is loaded, the cardholder has seven calendar days to
       reconcile it before it is sent to FFIS. It is very important that cardholders reconcile transactions
       weekly; it is recommended that one day be selected to routinely reconcile on a weekly basis.
       Reconciliation involves the following:

1. Accepting the profile accounting code and budget object code (2670) as is, or changing the code(s), and;
   

2. Inputting a Document Control Number for each transaction into the "Agency Reference Number" field of PCMS to enable the Servicing Budget and Fiscal Officer (SBFO) to validate PCMS transactions that appear on the Agency's FFIS Transaction Detail Listing. Use of the Agency Reference Number (ARN) was previously optional, but is now mandatory. In order to be consistent in assigning the Document Control Number, the cardholder will input their first initial, last name, followed by their sequentially assigned document control number; e.g., D Jones 0001. Only the first 20 characters of the ARN will be passed to FFIS.

2. After a new transaction has been in PCMS seven days, the interface runs that sends it to FFIS to be paid. The interface locks every transaction sent to FFIS to prevent further changes and possible out-of-balance situations. When a cardholder tries to change the accounting on a locked transaction, the following message appears: “Accounting changes cannot be made until this transaction completes the FFIS/PCMS reconciliation.”
   

3. When transactions have been accepted by FFIS, they are sent back to PCMS and PCMS unlocks the transactions. Thus, the cardholder could change the accounting on the transactions, if required. The account description field next to the accounting will say “Accepted by FFIS.” During a normal cycle where a file is passed to FFIS and FFIS returns a file to PCMS, the transactions would be locked until the next day. If a file is passed from PCMS to FFIS and FFIS does not process the file, the file will not be picked up until the following day. The transactions would remain locked until they are successfully processed and accepted by FFIS. Bottom line is it couldbe between 36 and 48 hours or more depending upon the completion of the FFIS processing before the transaction is unlocked and available for reconciliation or adjustment by the cardholder.
   

4. If the transaction rejects in FFIS, the transaction will remain locked until the SBFO clears the rejected status and FFIS subsequently sends the acknowledgment back to PCMS. Cardholders (non-SBFO staff) do not “fix” rejected transactions in PCMS. Cardholders may need to provide information about the transaction to the SBFO if required to make the correction. The name of the cardholder is part of the transaction file that passes to FFIS.
   

5. Cardholders can run the cardholder report in PCMS, which has been updated to include the accounting status that indicates whether the transactions are locked. The following alpha characters are used to indicate the accounting status: O = Obligated; P = Paid by FFIS;
       L = Locked; N = New (not obligated and not paid).
   
   

 

 

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                                                            Enclosure 3



Transactions by Responsible Office
Direct-Entered and Feeder System Generated