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eLoad Instructions and Frequently Asked Questions

Load Submission File Creation- What should I use to create the submission file? - Business rules to consider while creating the submission file - Submission file format/specifications

File Submission- When can I submit a file? - How do I submit a file? - What happens after I submit a file? - Can I delete a file I just submitted?

Submission Status- What does a status code mean? - Common reasons for data row errors or file rejection

Problem Reporting- How to report a problem

Load Submission File CreationBack to top

What should I use to create the submission file?

The NPC does not recommend or endorse any specific program or tool. This section is intended only to provide some helpful hints in using the commonly available Word Processors such as Notepad or Microsoft Word. You can use any word processor or text editor or any other tool of your choice. Just make sure the file you created conforms to the file format specifications and complies with the business rules specified in this document. Below are a few guidelines if you are using either Notepad or Microsoft Word.

NotepadIf you use Notepad, the disadvantage is that you will not be able to see the line numbers or column positions. It is hard to count the number of characters on a line or the position of the cursor. But the Notepad eliminates majority of the formatting characters and creates pure text files. You may want to look for an enhanced version of a Notepad which may show the line numbers and column positions. You may be able to find one on the web.

Microsoft WordIf you use Microsoft Word to create your file, you will be able to see the line numbers and column positions. If you see them grayed out at the bottom, just go to the menu at the top and select View Normal or Print Layout to turn them on. You must not use any kind of formatting while creating the file. If you are not sure if there are any format characters in your file, you can view them by toggling the Show/Hide¶ button ( ) on your standard tool bar at the top.

National Payphone Clearinghouse Room 121-1090, 221 East 4th St., Cincinnati, OH 45202Phone: 513-397-6260, Fax: 513-721-COIN(2646), E-mail: [email protected]

When you toggle to ‘Show’, you should not see anything other than a . (dot – represents a space – Space bar key) or ¶ (linefeed/carriage return – Enter key).If you see anything else, that means there are special characters. In addition, you should not have any blank lines in your file. After entering the last ANI, do not press the ‘Enter’ key. If you do that, it will create a blank line at the end of your file.

When you are ready to save the file, save it as a text document (not a Word document). You can do this by selecting the ‘Save as type’ as ‘Text Only’ as shown below.File Name Tip: Do not include any special characters in the file name such as &, ( ), |, < , >, *, ?, [ ], ~, -,@, !, “, ‘, and \.

Here is an example of looking at the data with format turned off and turned on (the entire width of the line is not shown in the figure below).

Format Turned-Off

202201 9999391001mmddyy5132311111 John Smith Phones 111 New Street391001mmddyy5132311112 John Smith Phones 111 New Street


Line number (Ln) and column positions (Col)

Show/Hide Format Characters Toggle button

Format Turned-On

If you look at the above data with the Show/Hide toggle button turned on, it would look like the example below (the entire width of the line is not shown in the figure below).

Other ToolsYou can use any other text editor or tool to create your file. There are many text editors (for example, VEDIT ) to create and edit text files. You may also find free text editors on the web. Some programs may be free and some may charge you a license fee.

Disclaimer: The NPC does not, in any way, endorse or recommend any of the aforementioned tools or programs. Any links to external websites and/or non- NPC information provided on these pages are provided as a courtesy. They should not be construed as an endorsement by the NPC of the content or views of the linked materials.

Business rules to consider while creating the submission fileBack to top

LEC Load (Paystation Data) Submission file

Your submission file should comply with the following business rules. Non-compliance will result in errors or rejection of your file.1. Submission file MUST be an ASCII text file (text format). The NPC cannot accept

any other formats such as Excel, Macintosh formats, Lotus 1-2-3, Lotus SmartSuite or Database files.

2. Submission file MUST be a fixed format file and fields are padded with spaces. No other format character (such as tab, indent etc.) is accepted for padding.

3. The submission file will have two different types of records, a header record and a detail record.- The first line should only include the header record identifier of “202201” and the

company’s LEC ID which must start at position 28.- All other lines in the file must begin with the record identifier “391001”. This

record identifier must be present on each ANI record you are reporting. - There must be correct Billing Name and Address information on each ANI record

you are reporting. Each piece of information must be in the correct position according to the file format specifications.

- Please report only those ANIs which were “in and working” on the last day of the quarter.

See the LEC load (paystation data) submission file format specifications section for the file layout.


Spaces are shown as dots with Format turned on

Line feed or paragraph format character

http://www.vedit.com/

MLEC Submission fileBack to top

Your submission file should comply with the following business rules. Non-compliance will result in errors or rejection of your file.1. Submission file MUST be an ASCII text file (text format). The NPC cannot accept


2. Submission file MUST be a fixed format file and fields are padded with spaces. No other format character (such as tab, indent etc.) is accepted for padding.

3. The submission file will have two different types of records, a header record and a detail record.- The first line should only include the header record identifier of “202201” and the

company’s LEC ID which must start at position 28.- All other lines in the file must begin with the record identifier “391001”. This

record identifier must be present on each ANI record you are reporting. - There must be correct Billing Name and Address information on each ANI record

you are reporting. Each piece of information must be in the correct position according to the file format specifications.

4. The data rows on an MLEC file should be ANIs that the LEC should not have reported.

5. The MLEC file format is the same format as the normal LEC reporting file format. For more information please refer to the LEC Load Submission File Format/ Specifications section.

6. The submission window for the MLEC file is same as the submission window for the LEC data file. For the data submission schedule, please refer to the ‘ FCC letter outlining requirements for quarterly LEC reporting of COCOT ANIs’ in the LEC Quarter Reporting Forms section accessible via the Local Exchange Carrier menu.

7. Now there will be Error Files generated for errors encountered during MLEC processing. Previously, no error files were generated. For more information on the error file please refer to the ERRORS part in the What does a Status Code mean? section.

See the LEC load (paystation data) submission file format specifications section for the file layout.

LEC Disconnect Submission fileBack to top

Your submission file must comply with the following business rules. Non-compliance will result in errors or rejection of your file.1. Submission file MUST be an ASCII text file (text format). The NPC cannot accept


2. Submission file MUST be a fixed format file. Every line must be only 22 characters in length.


http://www.npc.cc/docs/FCC_letter_outlining_requirements.doc


See the LEC disconnect submission file format specifications section for the file layout.

NOTE: On page 66, paragraph 113 of FCC Docket 96-388, the FCC states that “once a LEC makes positive identification of an installed payphone, the carrier-payor must accept claims for that payphone’s ANI until the LEC provides information, on a timely basis, that the payphone has been disconnected.”

Submission file format/specificationsBack to top

LEC Load (Paystation Data) Submission file format/specifications

Header record - This record identifies the record type and the LEC ID.

Header Record Format

Field Position Length (Max.) CommentsRecord Identifier 1-6 6 Must be 202201Filler 7-27 21 Must be white spaces only.LEC ID 28-31 4 LEC ID - Example: 9999

Detail record – This record identifies the ANI record and it’s billing name and address.

Detail Record Format

Field Position Length (Max.) Comments

Record Identifier 1-6 6 Must be 391001

Date 7-12 6

Optional field. You may enter the date the ANI became active or leave it blank (white spaces). If entered, must be in format ‘mmddyy’. Example: for March 5th 2005, enter 030505.

ANI 13-22 10

ANI. A numeric 10 digit number. Do not include any parentheses, dashes, or hyphens. Example: 9999999999 but NOT (999) 999-9999 or 999-999-9999

Filler 23-44 22 Must be white spaces only.Billing Name 45-69 25 Your billing name. Example: John Doe

Incorporated

Address 1 70-94 25

Address line 1 - Some use this for their DBA (Doing Business As) name or attention also. Example: 999 Any Street or JDoe Inc (See also example below)


Address 2 95-119 25Address line 2 – Example: Suite 999 or if you have used Address 1 for DBA, 999 Any Street Suite 999

Address 3 120-144 25 Address line 3 – You can use this field as well for the address, if it is too long.

City 145-159 15 City. Example: Any Town

State 160-161 2 Two character State code: Example: for Ohio, use OH

Zip Code 162-170 9Zip code. Must be a 5 or 9 digit zip code. It should not contain a dash or hyphen to separate the zip and zip extension.

LEC Disconnect Submission file format/specificationsBack to top

Field Position Length (Max.) Comments

LEC ID 1-4 4 LEC ID. Example: 2345

ANI 5-14 10

ANI. A numeric 10 digit number. Do not include any parentheses, dashes, or hyphens. Example: 9999999999 but NOT (999) 999-9999 or 999-999-9999

Disconnect date 15-22 8

Disconnect date. Must be in the format YYYYMMDD - Example: for June 25th 2005, enter 20050625

File SubmissionBack to top

File submissions will be accepted all quarter. However, only those files submitted during the posted loading schedule period will be processed in the current quarter. Any files submitted after the posted date will be processed in the next quarter.

When Can I Submit a File?Back to top

You can submit a file at any time during the quarter. However, only those files submitted during the allowed data submission schedule period for a given quarter will be processed in that quarter. Any files that were submitted after the posted loading schedule will remain in a ‘PENDING’ status and will be processed in the next quarter. File submission transactions that are to be processed in the current quarter must be initiated before the cut off date (Eastern Standard Time).


For the data submission schedule, please refer to the ‘ FCC letter outlining requirements for quarterly LEC reporting of COCOT ANIs’ in the LEC Quarter Reporting Forms section accessible via the Local Exchange Carrier menu.

How do I submit a file?Back to top

The following section explains how to submit a LEC load submission file.

1. Access the NPC website https://www.npc.cc.2. Select Quarterly Load Submission from the Local Exchange Carrier drop down menu.3. If you have not already logged in, you will be prompted to log in. Enter your User Name

and Password, and click on the Login button.4. After successful login, the ‘Load File Submission Status Report’ page is displayed. This

page displays the status of previously submitted files, if any, for the current processing quarter. At the bottom of the page you should see a ‘Submit A File’ button as shown below. Click on the ‘Submit A File’ button.

5. The ‘File Submission’ page is displayed.


Click here to go to the File Submission page.

https://www.npc.cc/



6. Select the type of file you would like to submit. If you are submitting a LEC Report or MLEC type file, choose the claim quarter of the file from the displayed claim quarters and click on the ‘Browse…’ button. If you are submitting a Disconnect type file, claim quarters won’t be displayed, just click on the ‘Browse…’ button. Please note that if you are attempting to submit a file after the current quarter load window has passed, the list of available quarters will reflect only those quarters that will be valid during the next load file processing cycle.

7. This will display the ‘Choose file’ dialog window similar to the figure below. Navigate to the desired directory and select the file you want to submit and click on the ‘Open’ button.


8. This will complete the ‘File’ field with the location of the file as shown. Click on the ‘Upload’ button.

9. If you have completed the required fields (claim quarter, if LEC or MLEC file type, and the file location) and the file selected is a valid file, then the file is successfully submitted. The page is refreshed and a message ‘File uploaded successfully’ is displayed. If you haven’t completed the required fields, you are alerted with the appropriate message to complete the missing information. During the submission, the NPC checks for virus infections and rejects any virus infected files. In such cases, a message is displayed alerting you of the virus infections.


After the submission, use this link to see if the file is listed on the status page.

10. If the submission is successful, you should see the file listed on the File Submission Status Report page. You can access this page using the ‘Click here to check load submission status’ link at the top of the File Submission page. Generally, the last file submitted is listed at the bottom of the list as shown. Please note that once a file is submitted, you may only cancel the processing of the file when it is in a ‘PENDING’ status. Once the status indicates that it is processing, you cannot delete it or remove it from the list. To cancel a ‘PENDING’ file, please refer to the Can I delete a file I just submitted? section.


What happens after I submit a file?Back to top

Once the file is successfully submitted, it is queued in the NPC internal system for processing. For more information on the submission status please refer to the Submission Status section.

Can I delete a file I just submitted?Back to top

A file can only be deleted if it is still in the queue waiting to be picked up for processing by the NPC internal system. A file in this situation will have a status of ‘PENDING’ which will allow the file to be cancelled/deleted.

Below the list of files, you will find the following link which will take you to the ‘Pending Load Files’ page.

Under the first column titled ‘Cancel/Delete’, select the ‘Cancel’ link on the row of the pending load file you wish to cancel so it does not get loaded. A confirmation popup will display with the file name shown to verify your decision.


Click the ‘Cancel’ link to delete the pending load file.

Submission StatusBack to top

You can periodically check the status of the submission file(s) by accessing the File Submission Status Report page. This page lists all the submission files and their status for a given quarter in a chronological order. This page lists the following details about the submission file: file name, file type, submission time, status, ANIs loaded, error file (if any), data rows rejected, and the time the status was last updated.

What does a status code mean?Back to top

Once a submission file is processed the NPC sends an e-mail notification to the primary contact of the LEC who submitted the file, that the file has been processed. The notification does not include the status of the processed file. It is the responsibility of the primary contact person to check the status of the processed file by accessing the NPC website.

Every status code represents a stage in the load process while the submission file is being processed. The following table lists the different status codes and their descriptions.

Status Code Code DescriptionINCOMPLETE The original file size does not match the uploaded file size.

INFECTED The file is infected with a virus.PENDING The Load file submitted is ready to be processed.REJECTED The Load file submitted was rejected during processing.

CANCELLED The Load file in a PENDING condition was cancelled by the user. The user did not want the file to be loaded.

ERRORS The Load file submitted was loaded and some of the data rows have ERRORS.

LOADED The Load file submitted was loaded successfully. None of the data rows have errors.

INCOMPLETEThis status code indicates that the size of the file uploaded does not match the size of the file the NPC received. This may happen due to network transmission errors. In this case you will have to re-submit the file.

INFECTEDNational Payphone Clearinghouse Room 121-1090, 221 East 4th St., Cincinnati, OH 45202

Phone: 513-397-6260, Fax: 513-721-COIN(2646), E-mail: [email protected]

This status code indicates that the submitted file is infected with a known virus. Your file will be deleted from the NPC system. You will have to re-submit a virus-free file.

PENDINGThis is the initial status when a file is successfully submitted to the website, i.e. file is complete and is free of any known viruses. This status indicates that the submission file is queued in the NPC internal system and is ready to be processed.

REJECTEDThis status code indicates that the entire file has been rejected during processing due to non-compliance with the load submission business rules or file format specifications. No data rows were loaded. For more information please refer to the section Common reasons for data row errors or file rejection. You will have to re-submit the file.

CANCELLEDThis status code indicates the user cancelled a PENDING file that was just submitted and waiting to be loaded. The file was deleted and never picked up by the system to be loaded.

ERRORSThis status indicates that the file has been loaded but errors were found during the loading process. The data rows with errors are written to an error file. This file can be downloaded from the File Submission Status Report page. The error file name itself is a link to the file and the file can be downloaded using the following guidelines.

Click on the file using the left mouse button and save the file when it opens in a text editor. OR

Click on the file using the right mouse button and select ‘Save target as’ from the popup menu.

After downloading the error file, you have the option to create a new file with the corrected data rows and resubmit before the submission cut-off date. NOTE: Do NOT forget to put in a header record as the first record on the corrected file.

How to read the error fileThe error file contains three columns i.e., line number, error code and data row.

Column CommentsLine Number

The line number of the data row in the submitted file that was found to be in error.

Error CodeThe error code assigned will help identify the issue found with the data row or file. An explanation of the error codes can be found in the 'Error Code' document available on the NPC website.

Data Row This will be the actual data row that was found to be in error.

Here is an example of an error file:

LINE ERROR DATA NUMBER CODE ROW


0000000001 ERR-102 70635997500000000002 ERR-102 70667897090000000003 ERR-102 70667897070000000004 ERR-102 70667897390000000005 ERR-102 70667897290000000006 ERR-102 70667897300000000007 ERR-102 70667897160000000008 ERR-102 7064562471

LOADEDThis status indicates that the file has been processed successfully without any errors.

Common reasons for data row errors or file rejectionBack to top

The common reasons that the NPC may reject your file or data rows are as follows:

The spacing (column position) is incorrect. There is no header record on the file or the header recorder identifier 202201 is

missing or there are multiple header records. The header record does not contain your company’s LEC ID, or the LEC ID is

incorrect. The file did not have “391001” on every ANI line. There were tabs, extra blank lines, titles or column headings in your file. The Billing Name and Address was not present on every ANI line being reported. The State Code was not the standard two digit postal abbreviation (i.e. Ohio must be

OH). The Zip Code was not in the correct position or not the correct number of digits.

You can use 5 digits or 9 digits. The file is infected with a known virus. The file name has special characters in it. (&, (), |, <, >, *,?, [ ], ~, -, @, !, “, ‘, and \)

Problem ReportingBack to top

If you are experiencing any technical difficulties while submitting or retrieving your files, you can report the problem using the ‘Report Problems’ page under the Local Exchange Carrier Menu.

How to report a problemBack to top

Use the following guidelines to report any problems while browsing the NPC website.


1. To access the ‘Report Problems’ page, select the menu item ‘Report Problems’ from the ‘Local Exchange Carrier’ Menu. You may have to login if you have not already done so.

2. The ‘Report Problems’ page is displayed as shown below.

3. All the fields marked with an asterisk (*) are required fields. You must complete all the required fields to report a problem.

4. Select the type of problem you are experiencing from the ‘Problem Type’ dropdown list. If your problem type is not one of the options listed, select the ‘other’ option. Enter any comments specific to your problem in the comments field. The NPC strongly recommends adding comments specific to the problem. Comments help the NPC quickly isolate the problem and also expedite the resolution process.

5. Complete the contact information fields i.e. first name, last name, e-mail address and daytime phone number. This information is needed in the event the NPC needs to contact you.

6. After completing all the required fields, click on the ‘Report Problems’ button to submit the information. A message is displayed acknowledging the submission of your problem.

Questions, Comments or ConcernsBack to top


If there are any questions, comments or concerns regarding the content of this document please contact the NPC for resolution and clarification.


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