Federal Program Agencies: Equipment and Software Common Questions

• General/Policy
• Enrollment
• Equipment and Software

1. Where can Equipment Specifications for using the ASAP system be found?

Equipment Requirements for Federal Agencies can be found in the Federal Agency Enrollment Handbook.

2. What is the CQ 3270 software used for?

Federal Agencies will use CQ 3270 software to go on-line to perform ASAP functions.

3. Why are Federal Agencies required to use CQ software?

The CQ 3270 software provides end-to-end data encryption. This means that from the time data leaves your PC until it is received by the Federal Reserve Bank and the ASAP application, the data is encrypted. The nature of the transactions that Federal Agencies perform - specifically, entering and certifying authorizations - requires that Federal Agencies' connections to the on-line ASAP system be subject to this level of security.

4. Can CQ connections to the ASAP system function on a LAN (Local Access Network)?

No, the CQ software is not available in a LAN capable version.

5. Can a LAN printer be designated as the advising terminal with CQ?

Yes. Your systems person will be able to configure this for you.

6. Are special modems required for use with the CQ 3270 Software?

Yes. The CQ 3270 software requires a Hayes Autosync Asynchronous or compatible modem with a minimum speed of 28.8 bps.

7. Why is an Autosync modem required?

The CQ 3270 software requires an Autosync modem. This modem is able to "speak" both synchronous and asynchronous communications languages used in transmitting data from your PC to ASAP, and from ASAP back to your PC. Most modems are only capable of "speaking" asynchronous language. Therefore, it is necessary to have a special Autosync modem that is both sync and async compatible.