How do I create and upload my SBA data exports to EDMIS?

EDMIS is the Entrepreneurial Development Management Information System, which is administered by SBA. EDMIS came online in October 2005 and it is based exclusively upon fiscal years. Thus, a reporting period for EDMIS is October 1 through September 30, regardless of whether your SBDC or WBC has a contract with SBA on a calendar year basis.

Quarterly, SBA-funded centers are required to export data to the EDMIS system for reporting purposes. At the end of each quarter, you have 30 calendar days, plus five business days, to successfully submit your data.

Your quarterly EDMIS exports are always comprised of two XML files. One file contains client data with counseling session and/or investment data attached and one file contains training data. WebCATS exports only the data that EDMIS identifies as mandatory. Although WebCATS stores significantly more data than just what is exported (such as client name, phone number, email address, etc), this optional data is omitted from the export in order to keep your EDMIS export operations as simple (and private) as possible. Furthermore, in order for a session to be exported it must be marked as “reportable” in the session. Non-reportable sessions are never exported.

This FAQ is divided into two main topics:

Note: This FAQ is written for system administrators because they are the only type of WebCATS users that are allowed to perform EDMIS exports in WinCATS.

EDMIS Configurations

EDMIS Validations

WebCATS has several built-in validations in place for SBA-funded counseling sessions and conferences. These validations help ensure that the data in your database meets all the requirements set forth by SBA and the EDMIS system. By default, these validations are in place for SBA-funded counseling sessions and conferences only, but you can apply these same validation checks to counseling sessions and conferences under all funding sources by enabling the “Apply EDMIS validation checks to all funding sources?” option located on the General tab of WinCATS' global configurations, as shown next.

Locking Data

On this same configurations tab, you also have the ability to lock data in the WebCATS database that is older than a designated date. Why is this important? This is important because, although SBA allows edits to records previously submitted within the current fiscal year, once the fiscal year has closed, no records from the prior year may be edited.

To ensure that your WebCATS database is fully synchronized with the EDMIS database, OutreachSystems strongly recommends that you lock data each year right before uploading your fourth-quarter export files to EDMIS. This prevents users from adding or editing records that you are in the process of exporting. System administrators can override this lock so if you require the ability to change records based on WebCATS or EDMIS error log data, you'll still be able to do so.

To lock the WebCATS database after every fiscal year, set the date prior to which users should not be able to edit records, as shown next.

PIMS Code

Every center in your database that contributes records to the EDMIS export must have a PIMS code present in its center record. EDMIS will reject any exported records that reference a center whose center record does not contain a PIMS code. To obtain a PIMS code, please contact SBA directly for this information. OutreachSystems does not have access to the PIMS codes.

Creating the EDMIS Export Files

The process of creating files for export to EDMIS is a long one. For this reason, we have divided this section into several broad steps, with each broad step containing its own set of steps:

Step 1: Performing Duplicate Client Analysis on the WebCATS Database

Duplicate client records negatively affect the integrity of your database. For SBA-funded centers reporting to EDMIS, duplicate client records are particularly troublesome because not only will you be overstating your client count and understating your extended engagement client count, but remedying duplicates is extremely complicated once session activity has been submitted to EDMIS for a duplicate client record.

For these reasons, the first step of the EDMIS export process is to run WebCATS' built-in duplicate analysis reports on the WebCATS database. If any duplicates are identified, they must be cleaned up before proceeding with step 2 and it's extremely important that you carefully follow the clean-up procedure documented in the FAQ titled How can I find and clean up duplicate client records in my WebCATS database, and prevent future occurrences? as there are many considerations to take into account when attempting to consolidate duplicate client records.

Step 2: Creating the First Set of Export Files & Error Logs

  1. From WinCATS, select Tools|SBA EDMIS Exports. This opens the EDMIS Exports form.
  2. To create new export file(s) (and subsequently a new EDMIS export record), select Edit|New Record. This opens the criteria screen for your export, as shown in the next graphic.


  3. In the Title field, enter a descriptive title that clearly states what data this export encompasses.
  4. For the Funding Sources field, click the dollar sign icon to select the funding source WinCATS will include in your export. This funding source will likely be "SBA."

    5. If you intend to export records from multiple funding sources, it's important to note that EDMIS will reject multiple initial counseling sessions or out-of-sequence initial/follow-up counseling sessions for a single client. Therefore, be prepared to encounter problems if you export records from multiple funding sources and you have multiple initial counseling sessions for a single client under different funding sources. For example, a dual-funded center that has one DLA-funded and one SBA-funded initial counseling session for a single client will encounter EDMIS rejections if the center selects both "SBA" and "DLA" for the export's funding source.

  5. For the Centers field, click the cityscape icon to select the centers WinCATS will include when compiling applicable records for export. This center selection will likely be "All."
  6. Select the quarter and year for which you are creating the export. The date range displays in read-only mode below. If, for some reason, you need to edit the date range, click the unlock icon.

    7. Keep in mind that you can only export records for the current fiscal year. You should not export records belonging to prior fiscal years. If you do broaden your export date range, don't be tempted to break the export into multiple batches. Because initial counseling sessions must precede follow-up sessions into the EDMIS system, it's simplest to submit data from the entire date range at once to avoid any rejections due to sequencing.

  7. Select the export files you would like to create. Depending on your needs, you can create both EDMIS export files at once or you can return to this screen to create the EDMIS export files individually. The 641 file will include data from client records, counseling session records, and investment records. The 888 file includes data from conference records.
  8. If you anticipate that the export file will exceed 8 megabytes in size (approximately 8,000 counseling sessions or 10,000 training records), select the Create Zip files? option to reduce the export file size. EDMIS won’t accept files that exceed 8MB.
  9. When all export criteria is set, click the Create Export button. WinCATS, by default, places all resulting files into the C:\Program Files\Softshare WinCATS 4.1 directory on your machine.

    10. Depending on the size of your database, the export file types selected, and the quality of your Internet connection, the create export process can take up to 90 minutes, so please be patient.

  10. Once WinCATS has completed the export process, three things happen:
    • XML or Zip file(s) are created for upload to EDMIS
    • An EDMIS Export Log is created by WinCATS that highlights the errors encountered in the database
    • The errors are posted to WinCATS and to the EDMISrx module in WebCATS

Step 3: Reviewing & Remedying the Errors that WinCATS Identifies

If the EDMIS Export Log identifies errors in your export files, you'll want to delete the upload files you just created and, instead, focus on remedying the errors. There's no point in uploading records to EDMIS that will be rejected. It's better to remedy the errors in WebCATS and then recreate the export files.

If no errors are identified by the EDMIS Export Log the first time you sit down to generate a quarterly export, give yourself a hearty congratulations on a job well done and skip to the Step 4 section.

You may be wondering how errors are possible when WebCATS automatically validates every new record added to the database to make sure it meets the latest EDMIS requirements. Unfortunately, as vigilant as WebCATS is, errors can still sneak in. For example, as per the latest EDMIS definitions, you cannot create a prep-only counseling session for a client if there are no prior sessions in the database for that client that includes contact time. WebCATS respects this, but what if the session with the contact time is deleted from the system after the prep-only session is created? WebCATS cannot validate this action and an EDMIS error is silently introduced.

How you decide to fix the identified errors may depend upon the number of errors and the procedures in place for your program. If there are only a couple, it may be easier for the lead center to go into the database and correct the errors. But if there are a significant number of errors of if your program expects individual centers to be responsible for their own errors, you can direct WebCATS users to the EDMISrx menu option in WebCATS and request that they identify and correct the errors displayed there for their center.

Below, the steps for identifying and correcting errors in WebCATS using EDMISrx are outlined:

  1. Expand the EDMISrx option from WebCATS' left-hand menu and open one of the available forms (these forms are based upon the four record types that contribute to the EDMIS export: client, counseling session, investment, and conference records).


  2. Expand the filter box for that particular form and select the appropriate fiscal quarter and year, and verify that the rest of the filter settings are accurate, as shown in the previous graphic.
  3. Click the Requery button to display the records that meet the filter criteria established in the previous step.
  4. To read detailed information regarding an error, hover your cursor over the brief error description in the Error(s) column until a yellow tool tip displays, as shown next.


  5. To correct an error within a record, click on the error description. WebCATS opens that record in edit mode, with the error(s) displayed at the top and your cursor in the field that has the error, as shown next.


  6. After correcting the error(s), save your edits, and move on to the next error. As errors are corrected, they will disappear from the summary display.
  7. Repeat steps 3a-3f for each form under the EDMISrx menu.

Step 4: Creating & Uploading an Error-Free Set of Export Files to EDMIS

Once all the errors identified by WebCATS have been corrected, you should create brand new export files, following the same steps you did when you created the first set of files (as outlined in the Step 2 section). Hopefully, all issues will have been resolved and the EDMIS Export Log provided by WinCATS will show no errors, but, if errors are still present the second time around, no problem. Simply notify your centers again to correct the remaining errors (or correct them yourself) and perform the export process again—or as many more times as necessary.

At last you will have error-free export files! These are the ones you should upload to EDMIS. Up to this point, EDMIS has no knowledge of anything you've done in WinCATS. You must upload your export files to EDMIS to bring the EDMIS system into the loop.

To upload your XML or Zip file to EDMIS, perform the following steps:

  1. Open a Microsoft Internet Explorer browser session and visit https://eweb.sba.gov/gls. Log in using your user ID and password, as provided by EDMIS.
  2. From the left-hand menu, select the type of file you'll be uploading from under the Upload menu selection, as shown next.


  3. When presented with the File to upload field, you can browse the directory system on your computer for the file. Assuming you didn't change their location during the creation process, the XML or Zip files will be located in the C:\Program Files\Softshare WinCATS 4.1 directory. Make sure you upload only your latest export file, not the practice runs that you created earlier!

After uploading your export files, it's a good idea to delete the prior EDMIS export records, EDMIS export files, and EDMIS Export Logs that were created during the troubleshooting process, if you haven't already. Since none of the files resulting from these prior exports will be uploaded to EDMIS, there's no reason to keep them around and it will be best to delete them to avoid confusion in the future. In fact, it's not until you upload data to EDMIS and begin updating your EDMIS export records with the acceptance or rejection statuses provided by EDMIS, as discussed in the next section, that any EDMIS-related export activity is bonded to the WebCATS database.

Step 5: Downloading EDMIS' Error File & Remedying the Errors that EDMIS Identifies

After uploading your export files to EDMIS, you'll need to wait up to one business day for EDMIS to process them. After processing is complete, you should receive an e-mail from EDMIS for each uploaded file that informs you of the status of that file. However, OutreachSystems recommends that you never rely solely on the e-mail responses as they are unreliable. If you do not have a reply e-mail waiting for you within the next day or two, you should go directly to the EDMIS Web site to find out the upload status.

If the upload status summary notes any failed records (whether you're viewing it via e-mail or the EDMIS Web site), it's imperative that you download the EDMIS Error Report to WinCATS so that the WebCATS system can track those records that have been accepted and rejected by EDMIS. When WebCATS knows that a record has been accepted by EDMIS, it's able to handle subsequent edits or deletions of that record according to EDMIS' requirements.

Another benefit to downloading the EDMIS Error Report into WinCATS is that you'll be able to use the EDMISrx module to correct the errors identified by EDMIS. Since the EDMIS Error Report is not reader-friendly, the ability to read about the errors in plain English is extremely helpful.

The process of downloading the EDMIS Error Report into WinCATS is outlined next:

  1. If you received the EDMIS Error Report via e-mail as an attachment, save it to your local computer (in a place where you can easily find it later) and skip to step 5d. If you are accessing the EDMIS Web site for status information, log in and select the type of file you're checking on from under the Upload Status left-hand menu selection, as shown next.


  2. Enter a date range that represents the date when you uploaded the export file and EDMIS provides you with a status table that contains information about your upload.
  3. If any records failed, you'll see an error file icon in the far right column, as shown in the previous graphic. Right-click this icon and, from the context menu that appears, select the "Save Target As" menu option. Save the file on your local computer in a place where you can easily find it later.
  4. From WinCATS, select Tools|SBA EDMIS Exports and open the EDMIS export record that generated the export file for which you received the EDMIS Error Report.
  5. Open the appropriate tab of the EDMIS export record (e.g. if the EDMIS Error Report is for 641 data, open the 641 tab) and, from this tab, click the Details button, as shown next.


  6. From the Details window, click the Import Error File button and browse for the EDMIS Error Report that you saved locally. When you locate it, click the Import button.
  7. WinCATS returns you to the Details window where, for the records that were rejected, the reason for rejection is displayed and, for the records that were accepted, a checkmark is placed in the Acceptance? column.
  8. Click the OK button to save this EDMIS export record with the acceptance/rejection statuses displayed here.

Accepted records are never submitted to EDMIS again, unless they are edited or deleted. Rejected records, of course, must be remedied. These records can be remedied using the EDMISrx module again, as outlined in the Step 3 section.

You may be thinking that you already went through a troubleshooting process and how can you still have rejected records? Keep in mind that the only errors you have corrected thus far have been those that WebCATS was able to detect. Unfortunately, WebCATS is not able to detect all errors. For example, WebCATS will warn you if a record doesn't contain a ZIP Code, but it cannot validate the ZIP Codes that are present. EDMIS, however, does validate ZIP Codes and if you upload a record with an invalid ZIP Code, the record will be rejected by EDMIS whereas WebCATS let it slip by.

Once you or your users correct the errors identified by the EDMIS system, you should create brand new export files and submit them to EDMIS, following the same steps you did when you created the first set of files. When gathering records for the export, WinCATS will only include those records that were previously rejected. Accepted records from the last go-around will not be re-exported (unless you edited them).

Essentially, you'll keep cycling through this process until the EDMIS system indicates that all your records were successfully uploaded. Don’t be discouraged if you need to do a couple of uploads in order to get to the point where all records are accepted by EDMIS. With each upload, you'll be submitting a smaller and smaller set of records.

Step 6: Accepting All Records

Once the EDMIS system indicates that all your records were successfully uploaded, it's almost time for celebration—but not quite yet. There is still one VERY important step you must take, which is to manually set the status of the last batch of submitted records to "Accepted."

Why manually? Because if your final upload status is that all records were successfully uploaded, there's no EDMIS Error Report to import into WinCATS to automatically do it for you. This is probably the easiest step of the entire process, but it is also the most overlooked step, with unpleasant consequences. If records that have been accepted by EDMIS aren't marked as accepted in WinCATS, WinCATS will continue to try and upload these records over and over again.

The steps for manually setting the status of the very last batch of uploaded records to accepted are outlined next:

  1. From WinCATS, select Tools|SBA EDMIS Exports and open the EDMIS export record that generated the export file for which all records were accepted by EDMIS.
  2. Open the appropriate tab of the EDMIS export record (e.g. if the EDMIS Error Report is for 641 data, open the 641 tab) and, from this tab, click the Details button.
  3. From the Details window, click the Accept All button.
  4. Click the OK button to save your status changes.

Congratulations! You have completed your EDMIS export process!

Note: Did you just complete a fourth-quarter export? If so, don't forget to lock data for the previous fiscal year, as described in Locking Data.

Note: Please don't hesitate to call us with any questions regarding the EDMIS export process. Also, we invite you to review the EDMISrx information located on our Web site to learn more about how you can use this module to automate the troubleshooting process on a monthly basis.
 

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