Child Care Bureau: CCDF Reporting, Revised Technical Bulletin #9, Using the ACF-801 Data Assessment Reports

Child Care and Development Fund, Using the ACF-801 Data Assessment Reports

Technical Bulletin #9r, revised February 2007

Using the ACF-801 Data Assessment Reports (Download in Word and PDF.)

I. Introduction | Section II: Overview of the CCBIS Data Check Process | Section III: The Summary Report | Section IV: The Detail Report |
Section V: Summary and Conclusions

III. The Summary Report

The Summary Report² presents the results of the CCBIS Data Checks described in Section II. (For information about individual records, see the Detail Report, discussed in Section IV, below.) The results presented here can help you find and correct errors in your submission. These problems may be the result of data entry or data extraction errors.

	Part A: File Format Assessment - lists the number of family, child, and setting records which were not formatted correctly
	Part B: Submission Summary - lists the number of family, child, setting, and footnote records that passed the file format checks and were submitted for the data quality checks.
	Part C: Data Quality Assessment - lists the results of the checks on each data element for missing, out-of-range, and inconsistent data
	Part D: Cross File Checks – lists possible errors in the submission from a content and programmatic standpoint

Part A: File Format Assessment

The File Format Assessment in the Summary Report presents the results of the formatting check. An example of a File Format Assessment is displayed in Figure A, below. Here, each record is checked against the file format standards, as found in Technical Bulletin #4r.

File Format Assessment

2     Family records have the wrong format
0     Child records have the wrong format
2     Setting records have the wrong format
0     Families were submitted without any children
0     Children were submitted without any settings
0     Family records with blank case identifiers and SSNs

Figure A: File Format Assessment

Note that there are other file format errors which disable the CCBIS Data Checks. ACF-801 data will not be processed if the following occur:

The summary record is omitted
Monthly data within quarterly submissions are submitted out of chronological order (e.g., May, April, June)
Some combination of monthly files other than one single month, or three months in a defined quarter (e.g. January, February, and March) are submitted at one time.

See Table 1 below for a list of the messages that may appear in the File Format Assessment, what each message means, and possible ways to address issues brought up by each.

To correct individual records, consult the Detail Report, discussed in Section IV.

Error message	File Format Standard	Issues to Address
# Family records have the wrong format	Each family record should begin with an “F” delimiter, followed by 60 record positions with family data.	Check the record for the following: - The record length is either too short or too long due to missing data, incorrectly placed data or extra values. - The “F” delimiter may be missing. If all the records in the submission are incorrectly formatted, this may indicate a problem with mapping or extraction of the data.
# Child records have the wrong format	Each child record should begin with a “C” delimiter. The first child record should start at the 62nd position in the record, followed by 22 record positions with child data.	Check for an error with respect to record length or the delimiter (see above).
# Setting records have the wrong format	Each setting record should begin with an “S” delimiter, followed by 9 record positions with setting data.	Check for an error with respect to record length or the delimiter (see above).
# Families were submitted without any children	Each record (which represents a household receiving subsidized child care) must contain one family record and at least one child record.	Check the logic of your extraction routine to see why no children were associated with the family. The Detail Report will indicate which specific record(s) lack child data.
# Children were submitted without any settings	Each child record must have at least one setting record.	Check the logic of your extraction routine to see why there are no child care settings recorded for the child. The Detail Report will indicate which specific record(s) lack setting data.
# Family records with blank case identifiers and SSNs	Each family record must contain a SSN and/or a case identifier. When both are missing, it will not be possible to distinguish this record from the others, so no data quality check will be performed on this data.	Check your extraction routine to insure it is capturing SSNs and/or case identifiers for each family. Also, check that every family in your system has an SSN and/or case identifier. Records without identifiers will not appear in the Detail Report as there is no way to easily reference the record.

Table 1: File Format Assessment Messages

Part B: Submission Summary

The Submission Summary contains information from two different parts of the ACF-801 file. In Figure B, below, notice the first line is:

Families receiving subsidized child care (per summary record): 3036

As indicated, the total number of families served during the month is taken from the header record that precedes the State’s case-level submission. Other information in the Submission Summary includes counts of records accepted for processing by the Child Care Bureau Information System (CCBIS) after the file format checks are run. Any family, child, or setting record that fails the file format checks is not counted. Only correctly formatted records will be checked for data quality, the results of which appear in the next section, Data Quality Assessment.

NOTE: If a State submits a full population, and if all family records are properly formatted, the number of families reported in the header record should equal the count of families performed by the CCBIS. If a State submits sample data, the two numbers will differ, as in the example below.

Submission Summary Families receiving subsidized child care (per summary record): 3036
Families: Children: Settings: Footnotes:	204 350 398 2

Figure B: Submission Summary

See Table 2 below for a description of counts that appear in the Submission Summary, what each message means, and possible ways to address these issues.

Counts	Indication	Issues to Address
Families receiving subsidized child care (per summary record):	The number listed here is the same as that on the summary record. For example: “M199804 00030360000334#Jane Smith#(703) 555-1234 ext.666#(703) 555-876#jsmith@dhr.anystate.us.”	If this number does not equal the number of families receiving subsidized child care as reported in the case-level data during the reported month, correct the number and re-submit the data.
Families:	The number of properly formatted family records counted by the system, which are then submitted for the data quality checks (any invalid/improperly formatted family records are not included here).	Check to see if the number of family records indicated here is consistent with the number of families listed in the submission summary (unless your State submitted sample data, in which case there should be a minimum of 200 families).
Children:	The number of properly formatted child records that were counted by the system and submitted for data quality checks.	Grantees reporting full population can check the number of child records listed here against the figures for your State’s child care program. There should be at least one child record for each family.
Settings:	The number of properly formatted setting records that were submitted for a data quality check.	Check the number of setting records here against the figures for your State’s child care program. There should be at least one setting record for each child.
Footnotes:	The footnotes that were counted. These too must be correctly formatted, beginning with a number indicating the data element to which it refers. (See Technical Bulletin #4r.)	If this number does not equal the number of footnotes your State intended to submit, examine the footnotes to locate the problem, correct it, and re-submit.

Table 2: Description of Counts on the Submission Summary

Part C: Data Quality Assessment

The Data Quality Assessment contains the results of data quality checks for missing, out-of-range, or internally inconsistent values. A sample of a section of the Data Quality Assessment is displayed in Figure C, below.

Data Quality Assessment
Data Element	Missing Data	Out-of-Range	Internally Inconsistent	Total Errors	Subject Records	Success Rate
Family Data:
01: Rpt Period	0	3	0	0	13,034	99.98%
02: State ID	0	0	0	0	13,034	100.00%
03: SSN	0	0	0	0	13,034	100.00%
04: FIPS Code	0	0	0	0	13,034	100.00%
05: Single Parent	0	0	0	0	13,034	100.00%
06: Care Reason	0	0	0	0	13,034	100.00%
07: Co-pay	0	0	256	256	13,027	98.03%
08: Subsidy Begin	0	0	0	0	13,034	100.00%
09: Income	0	0	256	256	13,027	98.03%
10: Employment	0	0	0	0	13,027	100.00%
11: TANF	0	0	0	0	13,027	100.00%
12: TANF MOE	0	0	0	0	13,027	100.00%
13: Housing/Cash	908	0	0	0	13,027	93.03%
14: Food Stamps	0	0	0	0	13,027	100.00%
15: Other Assist	0	0	0	0	13,027	100.00%
16: Family Size	0	0	501	501	13,034	96.15%

Figure C: Data Quality Assessment

The columns listed in this section are as follows:

Data Element: The 28 data elements for the ACF-801 are listed in the first column. They are grouped into three sections beginning with the “Family Data” section (elements #1-16), “Child Data” (elements #17-25), and “Setting Data” (elements #26-28).

Missing Data: The number of records containing no values (blanks) for a data element.

Out-of-Range: The number of records where values for the data element were present but outside the allowable range of values according to the CCBIS data standards (see Technical Bulletin #3r-v2).

Internally Inconsistent: The number of records where values for a data element were entered and in the correct range of values, but which conflict with the values for another, related element (see Technical Bulletin #3r-v2).

Total Errors: The total number of missing, out-of-range, and internally inconsistent errors found for that element.

Subject Records: The number of records that were tested for data quality errors. The number of family, child, and setting records should be the same as those listed in the submission summary. (Note that the only exception is protective services cases, which do not undergo the missing, out-of-range, and internal inconsistency checks for those elements relating to co-payment (element #7) or income (elements #9-15).

Success Rate: The percentage of records that passed the missing, out-of-range, and consistency checks (“Subject Records” minus “Total Errors”, divided by “Subject Records”).

NOTE—To find out which individual case records contain errors, look at the Detail Report, discussed in Section IV of this Bulletin. Large numbers of missing, out-of-range, or inconsistency errors reported in this section may indicate a systematic problem with the preparation of the submission. For instance:

If more than 5% (success rate =<95%) of the records have a particular element missing, this might indicate that: (1) there is an error in the software program to pull the required information from another database and reformat it to meet the Federal standard, or (2) the database does not contain the data and/or that the data is not being collected. Check with your programmers to see what may be the exact cause.

If more than 5% (success rate =<95%) of the records have a particular data element out-of-range, this could indicate a possible problem with mapping or extraction of the data. For example, the extraction program may inadvertently transform the source’s database value of “F” (female) to “4” instead of the required Federal value of “2.” Check with your programmers to see what may be the exact cause.

If more than 5% (success rate =<95%) of the records have a particular data element noted as inconsistent, this could indicate a possible problem with data entry, or any of the above mentioned software program issues. For example, if an applicant is reported as a single parent, the family size must be =>2 (one parent with at least one child). A family size of one (1) would trigger an inconsistent error message. Check with your data entry staff and programmers to see what may be the exact cause.

Part D: Cross File Checks

The Cross File Checks (see Figure D, below) present the result of a programmatic analysis of all the data that passed the file format and data quality checks. While data for individual records may be correct, at times the data for a submission as a whole may not conform to general programmatic norms. When the values for a particular data element for the submission in the aggregate fail to meet a general programmatic expectation, this triggers a “red flag” and a notice is produced for that cross-file check. Check these notices to see if they apply to your program. Table 3 on the following page contains a list of all the notices that may appear (not all cross-file checks are conducted on sample submissions; these are indicated by an asterisk).

NOTE: These standards are based on general programmatic characteristics for State child care programs. Not all may be applicable to your specific State.

Cross File Checks
Please note:
"Element 04: No data submitted for the following counties:
	County Name	FIPS Code
	BAYSIDE KINGGEORGE	24002 24051
Element 9: All records have the same value.
Element 26: Only 8% of all records have Option 4:"Licensed/regulated center-based care" checked.

Figure D: Cross File Checks

In the above full population example, the following programmatic checks were triggered:

For Element #4, FIPS Code, counties which did not submit case records are listed – this may indicate missing information.

For Element #9, Employment Income, all the records contained the same value for this element– it is unlikely that all families would have exactly the same income – this may indicate an extraction or other system error.

For Element #26, Type of Child Care, 8% of records indicated licensed/regulated center-based care as the type of child care provider. For most States, this percentage is higher, so you would want to confirm that this figure is true for your State.

Cross File Check Messages - Conducted on Full Record
Your State submitted no families with more than one child receiving services.
Your State submitted no families with more than two children receiving services.
Your State submitted no children receiving child care services in more than one setting for the month.
Your State submitted no children receiving services in more than two settings for the month.

Data Element	Cross File Check Messages - Conducted on Data Elements Asterisks (*) indicate checks not conducted on sample submissions
01: Report Period	- Month/Year of Report Period is not the same as that of the Summary record.
02: Unique Case ID	- No identifiers submitted. Please consider submitting optional case identifiers.
03: SSN	- No checks
04: FIPS Code	- No data submitted for the following counties: Name/FIPS Code* - x % of all records have the same FIPS code, County Name.*
05: Single Parent	- None of the records indicate Single Parent Status - Only x% of all records indicate Single Parent status
06: Reason for Care	- None of the records indicate Option 1: “Employment, including on-the-job training” as the reason for receiving subsidized child care. - None of the records indicate Option 2: “Training/Education” as the reason for receiving subsidized child care. - None of the records indicate Option 3: “Both Employment and Training/Education” as the reason for receiving subsidized child care. - x % of all records indicate Option 4: “Protective Services” as the reason for receiving subsidized child care. - x % of all records indicate Option 5: “Other” as the reason for receiving subsidized child care. - All records have the same value.
07: Family Co-pay	- All records have the same value.
08: Subsidy Began	- All records have the same value. - Element 01 and Element 08 have the same value in x% of the records.
09: Family Income	- All records have the same value.
10: Employment	- All records have the same value.
11: TANF	- All records have the same value. - None of the records indicate “TANF Income.” - Only x% of all records indicate "TANF Income.”
12: State Dollars counted towards TANF MOE	- No Checks
13: Housing	- All records have the same value. - None of the records indicate “Housing Voucher or Cash Assistance.” - Only x% of all records indicate "Housing Voucher or Cash Assistance.”
14: Food Stamps	- All records have the same value. - None of the records indicate “Assistance under the Food Stamp Act of 1977.” - Only x% of all records indicate “Assistance under the Food Stamp Act of 1977.”
15: Other Source	- All records have the same value. - None of the records indicate “Other Income Sources.” - x % of all records indicate "Other Income Sources.”
16: Family Size	- All records have the same value.
17: Child SSN	- No Checks.
18: Hispanic/Latino	- All records have the same value.* - None of the records indicate “Hispanic/Latino” ethnicity. - Only x% of all records indicate "Hispanic/Latino" ethnicity.
19: Am.Ind./AK Native	- All records have the same value.*
20: Asian	- All records have the same value.* - None of the records indicate “Asian” race. - Only x% of all records indicate "Asian" race.
21: Black/African-Am.	- All records have the same value.* -None of the records indicate “Black or African American” race. - Only x% of all records indicate “Black or African American" race.
22: Hawaiian/Pacific Isl.	- No checks.
23: White	- All records have the same value. - None of the records indicate “White” race.* - Only x% of all records indicate "White" race.
24: Gender	- None of the records indicate Option (2): “Female” as child gender. - x % of all records indicate Option 2: “Female" as child gender.
25: Birth Mo./Yr.	All records have the same value.
26: Type of Care	- All records have the same value. - Less than 10% of all records have Option 1: "Licensed/regulated in-home child care" checked. - Less than 10% of all records have Option 2: "Licensed/regulated family child care" checked. - Less than 10% of all records have Option 3: "Licensed/regulated group home child care" checked. - None of the records have Option 4: "Licensed/regulated center-based care" checked. - Only x% of all records have Option 4: "Licensed/regulated center-based care" checked.
27: Total Payment	All records have the same value.
28: Hours of Care	All records have the same value.

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² State contacts, and the CCB Central and Regional Office staff may receive Summary Reports in an e-mail message. To ensure that the printed message is easy to read, e-mail print default should be set to courier 10 point font with left and right margins of one inch or less.
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Section IV: The Detail Report >>