Since the USPS SIF Agent uses the USPS RPC service, there are settings on the Alpha/VMS side that affect the USPS SIF Agent.  The following explains items that may be checked if issues are encountered with the data being collected by the USPS SIF Agent.

General

On the third screen of USPSDAT/USPCON is a field called "EMIS reporting ID".  This field indicates which employee ID value will be reported as the local employee ID (CI050 and CK050) for EMIS reporting purposes.  The value used must match the Employee ID being reported on the Staff Course record (CU050).  The options are Credential ID, SSN, and (USPS) Employee ID.  

If the district has entered a value in the "EMIS ID" field found in USPSCN/BIOSCN and DEMSCN, that value will override the setting of the "EMIS reporting ID" field in USPCON.  SSDT recommends that the EMIS ID field not be used as it has caused confusion and problems in the past.   

Staff/Course (L)

Beginning in FY15, EMIS has switched from "Reporting Periods" to "Data Sets".   Staff data is collected as part of the L data set.  There will be various reporting "windows" for collecting the Staff data.  Supplemental jobs will be reported continuously through the reporting windows.   

OECN$USPS_EMIS_FY Logical - Classic

The OECN$USPS_EMIS_FY logical is used by the USPS SIF agent and the USPS web application for attendance calculations.  This logical should be set to the appropriate fiscal year when the prior FY's Staff reporting has closed and the new/current FY's staff reporting is starting.  

Redesign Troubleshooting

If a SIF collection in redesign is generating errors in the zone.log, but is not giving details as to what element is causing the issue, it may be beneficial to run the EMIS Position report from the Reports / EMIS Reports menu item.  If no errors are found on the report then the data conversion on the USPS side of things completed correctly.  If there is an invalid value in one of the EMIS reporting fields, this report should indicate where the issue lies.

October (K) reporting

Supplemental jobs are not reported during the October reporting period.  To prevent supplemental positions from being included in the collection, on the third screen of USPSDAT/USPCON there is an EMIS reporting period flag.  This should be set to K. 

Yearend (N) reporting

Staff attendance data is reported at yearend.  In order for accurate attendance data to be collected, ITC's need to ensure that the OECN$USPS_EMIS_FY logical is set to the appropriate fiscal year.  The OECN$USPS_EMIS_FY logical affects the attendance calculations for the USPS SIF Agent and the USPS web application.

Districts will want to ensure that the EMIS reporting period flag on the third screen of USPSDAT/USPCON is set to N.  Setting this to N will allow supplemental positions to be collected.