DCL-00-04, Federal Case Registry (FCR) State Reconciliation File

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Administration for Children and Families
Office of Child Support Enforcement

DCL-00-04 JAN 13, 2000

TO: ALL STATE IV-D DIRECTORS

RE: Federal Case Registry (FCR) State Reconciliation File

Dear Colleague:

Enclosed please find instructions for obtaining and processing an FCR Reconciliation File.

The FCR system is now capable of producing a Reconciliation File of all the case and person data stored on the FCR for a State. This process was developed to assist States that have not routinely interfaced with the FCR since their initial load or who have experienced problems processing their FCR acknowledgement files in an effort to synchronize their State Case Registry to the FCR. The Reconciliation File is intended to provide States with the capability of confirming which cases are contained on the FCR and whether persons are verified or unverified. This process will also provide the Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) and States with a method to periodically confirm that the FCR and State system data are synchronized.

Before requesting a Reconciliation File from the Federal Parent Locater Service (FPLS), a State must have automated programs in place to maintain a normal and routine interface for:

submitting add, change, and delete transactions, and
receiving and processing acknowledgement responses.

Please refer to Attachment A for the instructions to request a Reconciliation File and Attachment B for the format of the file.

Creation of this file is a computer intensive process and should be requested only under extraordinary circumstances. Because requests for the Reconciliation File must be handled outside of the normal production cycle and are somewhat labor and CPU intensive, we will process a single request during a twelve month period. Please allow at least two weeks to process a request. Requests made more often than once during a twelve month period suggest the need for review of the interface with the FCR and will require approval by the Director of Program Operations, and may require additional processing time. Technical assistance for the Reconciliation process will be provided upon request.

If you have any questions about the enclosed material, please call Christine Jennings at (703) 345-8099 or your State Technical Support Liaison.

Thank you for your continued support and cooperation as we work to improve the lives of our nation’s children.

Sincerely,

David Gray Ross
Commissioner
Office of Child Support Enforcement

Attachments

cc:
Regional Program Managers
ACF Regional Administrators
FCR Contacts

Attachment A: Procedure for Requesting FCR Reconciliation File (20K M.S. Word Document)

Attachment B: FCR Reconciliation File Record Formats (49K M.S. Word Document)