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Universal Service Administrative CompanySchools and Library Division

Web Site Tour and Data RetrievalNovember 4, 2010

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http://www.universalservice.org/sl/

Overview of E-Rate process, training

materials, newsletters in this area.

Breaking news here.

Menu for program areas

here.

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To subscribe to weekly newsletters, click on

“Outreach and Training”, then click on

“Schools & Libraries News Briefs” then click

on “Subscribe”.

You can sort newsletter articles by “Topic” or just sort by the actual

“Newsletter Date”.

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Click on “Apply Online” to get to online forms

page.

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Form 470• To apply– Click on either form 470 interview or create form 470 link.

• To review a prior year’s application or another district’s application– Click on search posted.

• If you are ready to finish a form started earlier– Click on continue incomplete.

• If you completed a form earlier and now have your PIN number and would like to certify your form online or would like to print off a certification page to sign and mail in– Click on certify complete.

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To look at form 470’s that have been posted

– select “Search Posted” from apply

online page and then key in criteria. Once

your criteria has been entered, click on

“Next”.

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Click on a radio button for the form you would

like to review, then click on “Review

Selected Application”.

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You can then see the entire form 470 and see what types of services

were requested and who the contact person

is at the school district/library.

You can also find the date the form was certified and the

allowable contact date for your own application!

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Form 471• To apply

– Click on either form 471 interview or create form 471.• If you’re now ready to finish a form started earlier

– Click on continue incomplete.• If you have completed the form and now have your PIN number and

would like to certify the form online or would like to print off a certification page to sign and mail in– Click on certify complete.

• If you want to look at a prior application or an application from another school– Click on display.

• If you wan to check on the status of your application– Click on application status.

• Item 21 attachment– Option to file the attachment through the file online process.

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To check the status of your application, click on “Application

Status” from apply online page and then type your BEN into this

screen. You will get the following screen with your status

along with a definition of what that status means.

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If you would like to print out a prior

application or review an application by a

neighboring district, you can click on the

“Display” link from the apply online page.

Then enter form 471# and click on current, if

funding has been committed, or original

if it has not.

This gives you the opportunity to see the discount calculation, the service provider selected and other

data.

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Shows basic information on first

screen. You can select a specific block of

information or display entire application to

see all blocks.

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Form 486• To apply– Click on either form 486 interview or create form 486.

• If you’re now ready to finish a form started earlier– Click on continue incomplete.

• To review a prior year’s application or another district’s application– Click on display-will need 486 number and security code.

• If you completed the form and now have your PIN number and would like to certify online or would like to print off a certification page to sign and mail in– Click on certify complete.

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BEAR – Form 472• To file your BEAR form on-line – Click on BEAR online under the utilities bar– Then sign into the login page

•BEN = Billed Entity #•PIN = You may have a separate PIN # for BEAR forms•Then enter your E-Mail address and last name then click on login

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Form starts pre-populated with this information.

Enter the SPIN number and a district assigned form

number.

Each service provider will need their own BEAR form.

If you have multiple FRNs for one provider, you only need to complete one BEAR form!

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Form 471 # can be found

on your FCDL. To

make it a 10 digit number

start the number with four zeros.

FRN can be found on your FCDL. To make

it a 10 digit number start the number with three

zeros.

For reoccurring services enter the

first date of the term you are billing for in

column 12, for internal connections, enter delivery date

in #13.

Gross eligible services go in

this cell. Be sure to take out items ineligible items

and personal phone calls from cell phone bills.

This cell contains your gross eligible services times your discount percent OR your

funding commitment. WHICHEVER IS SMALLER.

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Read and affirm your compliance!!!

Add contact information in this area.

Add account numbers or other information that would identify YOUR bills to YOUR service provider – then click on certify and submit.

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Your search results show up here –

Click on “Invoice ID” to get a summary.

To track BEAR forms, enter your criteria then

click on “Search”.

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Top half of page includes SLD assigned Invoice ID, date created and date last updated.

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Shows your submission/certification date here.

Shows service provider’s certification date here.

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If the e-certification process does not work, you can click on “Printable Page” and print the form

out to fax to your service provider for signatures.

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This area of the web page includes:

•Link to review funding commitments.

•Link to submit a question.

•Link to review the latest news.

•Link to print out paper copies and instructions on all forms.

•Link to reference library.

•Link to data retrieval system.

•Link to file a whistleblower alert.

•Link to file a complaint.

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You can find information on

selected topics in the reference area. Click on the alphabet letter

on top and it brings you to a list of that letter’s

topics.

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In search tools, you can do things like

search for form deadlines, search for

service provider contact

information and use the

data retrieval tool.

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You can use the SPIN Contact Search to find

contact information for service providers , to

see if they are an eligible

telecommunications provider and to see if they are up to date on

their SPAC….

Just type in their name or a portion of their

name with a wild card or their SPIN number

and click on next.

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You can see their contact person and their telephone number.

If they are an eligible telecom provider they will have a Y in the second to the last column.

They are required to file a SPAC for annually. Did your service provider file one this year?

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You should review this

section of the web site

before you select your

service provider just to make sure they are not

suspended or disbarred from the program.

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Data Retrieval

Things you can get from the data retrieval tool:• Total requests by BEN, Service Provider, State.• Total commitments by same categories.• Total funding paid out.• Has form 486 been filed?• Has SLD paid out funds on a commitment?• What is the last day I can submit a BEAR form?

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Click on Search tools and when that screen

comes up, click on “Data Retrieval Tool”.

Then when you see this screen, click on “Data Retrieval Tool” again!

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This is the criteria

window.

You can select by

state, billed entity

number or service

provider.

Once you’ve entered

your criteria, click on “Select

Data Points” below.

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Once you’ve selected your datapoints, click on ‘Build Data File”.

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Click open here.

Click yes here.

Columns A and B show us the 471 application

number and funding

request number.

Columns C and D

represent the

applicant.

Columns E is the service

provider.

If there is a date in

column F, it means a form 486 has been

submitted and a

service start date is on

file.

Column G show the last day to

submit a BEAR

form or a service

provider invoice.

Column H shows us the

original amount

requested and Column I shows the

actual amount

committed.

Column J shows the invoice method. SPI stands for

service provider invoice. “Not Set” would mean that

a BEAR form or SPI have not yet been filed.

Column K is the amount paid out on that FRN. If

cell holds a $0.00 (and the FRN was funded) it means

invoice was denied and should be resubmitted with

corrections.

If the cell is blank a form has not been submitted for

this FRN.

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This is the report for the entire state of Minnesota for Fiscal Year 2010 (E-Rate funding year 2009) run on 11/02/2010. I sorted it by the first BEAR deadline of 10/28/2010 and pulled out those requests with deadlines after that date. You can see that we still have over $3 million dollars outstanding, which is

about 17% of the amount committed on these FRN’s.

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A Quick Plug for Form 500…..

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WHY Form 500?• What is it for?– To change your service start date.– To change your contract expiration date.– To reduce funding.– To cancel funding.

• It’s not required by any rules, but….– Unused funds get included in “roll over” funding earlier.

• Things to consider….– Complete the form ONLY if you know you will not be using

funds as you can NOT get them back once form is filed.– It’s the shortest form they have, only 3 pages!!!

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There is a LOT of data on the USAC/SLD web site. Please spend some time on the

site to learn more.

If you have questions on what data can be found, please feel free to e-mail Cindy at cindylee@arcc.org or Mary at mary@region1.k12.mn.us !!