Course: Financial Reporting with IRT Lesson 5: IRT Transmission Next Financial Reporting with IRT IRT Transmission May 2005 We have learned a lot. Can you tell me what happens next? We have learned a lot. Can you tell me what happens next? Now we need to send our IRT 1412 data to the ASC.

Course: Financial Reporting with IRT Lesson 5: IRT Transmission PreviousNextBeginning of Lesson 2 of 17 Introduction After completing this lesson, you will be able to assess whether an IRT transmission of data is successful and what to do if the transmission fails. Lesson Topics:  Transmitting IRT 1412 data  RCU Transmission  Verifying a Successful Transmission  Correcting a Security Violation  Other Reasons for an Unsuccessful Transmission  Data Transmission Flow  Automatic Redials  Checkpoint  Summary  Resources Approximate time to complete: 15 minutes

Course: Financial Reporting with IRT Lesson 5: IRT Transmission PreviousNextBeginning of Lesson 3 of 17 Transmitting IRT 1412 Data After the Unit IRT 1412 on the Supervisor disk has been verified, the information needs to be sent to Accounting Services. The Retail Consolidation Unit (RCU) disk is used to transfer the financial data from the IRT 1412 to the Accounting Service Centers. This transfer is called the RCU transmission and is unique to IRT offices.

Course: Financial Reporting with IRT Lesson 5: IRT Transmission PreviousNextBeginning of Lesson 4 of 17 RCU Transmission To transmit the IRT 1412 data via the Retail Consolidation Unit (RCU) disk: 1. Insert the RCU Transmit Disk in the IRT. 2.Select #1, COPY DATA, from the Supervisor Disk. 3.Remove RCU Disk, insert the Supervisor Disk, and press ENTER. 4.Important: Verify that the date on the screen matches the date of your Consolidated Unit IRT If the date matches, press ENTER to continue. If the date is incorrect, press the CE key, enter the correct date, and press ENTER. 6.Follow the screen prompts.

Course: Financial Reporting with IRT Lesson 5: IRT Transmission PreviousNextBeginning of Lesson 5 of 17 RCU Transmission, continued 7.Once you receive the message that the “COPY IS COMPLETED,” insert the RCU Disk and press ENTER. 8.Select #2, WAIT FOR DATA TRANSFER. The system will ask, “IS THE PRINTER READY?” 9.Press ENTER. 10.System will test modem. If modem is OK, you will see WAITING FOR RCU CALL. You will see 00:00:00:00, which will scroll down your screen. 11. Leave your IRT system on all night for transmission.

Course: Financial Reporting with IRT Lesson 5: IRT Transmission PreviousNextBeginning of Lesson 6 of 17 Verifying a Successful Transmission The next day, your screen should read “TRANSMISSION SUCCESSFUL, PRESS RESET TO RETURN TO MAIN MENU.” Leave the disk in the IRT if it does not. Field Sales Branch could still be making automatic calls to pull in the transmission. 12.Press RESET to return to the transmit menu, turn off the IRT, and remove the RCU Disk. Your printer should have a printout of all the files that were transmitted along with a message at the bottom that reads “SECURITY CODE UPDATED.” 13.Tear off this printout and file it with your daily financial paperwork. TRANSMISSION SUCCESSFUL, PRESS RESET TO RETURN TO MAIN MENU.

Course: Financial Reporting with IRT Lesson 5: IRT Transmission PreviousNextBeginning of Lesson 7 of 17 Correcting a Security Violation The number one reason an RCU transmission fails is if there has been a security violation. If this happens, your morning printout will give you a security violation message. Remember! The security code on the RCU Disk is updated every time you transmit. If you use a different RCU Disk than the last time you transmitted successfully, you will receive a security violation error. There are several reasons an RCU transmission might fail…

Course: Financial Reporting with IRT Lesson 5: IRT Transmission PreviousNextBeginning of Lesson 8 of 17 Correcting a Security Violation, continued If you receive a security violation error, you can correct the error as follows. From the RCU DISK menu: 1. Reset back to the TRANSMIT MENU. 2. Select #5, RCU COMMUNICATIONS SET UP. These are the RCU DISK TRANSMIT and RCU COMM SET UP menus. You access these menus when you are correcting a security violation.

Course: Financial Reporting with IRT Lesson 5: IRT Transmission PreviousNextBeginning of Lesson 9 of 17 Correcting a Security Violation, Continued 3.Select #8, RCU ID. 4.Press the CE key to clear. 5.Enter ten 9s ( ). 6.Select #10, SAVE SETUP AND EXIT. 7.Select #2, WAIT FOR DATA TRANSFER. 8.Remember to press ENTER when prompted, "IS THE PRINTER READY?“

Course: Financial Reporting with IRT Lesson 5: IRT Transmission PreviousNextBeginning of Lesson 10 of 17 Reasons for Unsuccessful Transmission Here are some other reasons a transmission may be unsuccessful:  Improper setup – screen not scrolling  The incorrect time on the IRT clock  The RCU call window (on/off) is not properly set (23-hour call window suggested)  Defective modem  Phone line problem  Defective RCU Disk  Loss of power

Course: Financial Reporting with IRT Lesson 5: IRT Transmission PreviousNextBeginning of Lesson 11 of 17 Data Transmission Flow Remember the data transmission flow from the Introduction to Reporting Technologies? If your transmission is successful, IRT data is transmitted via the RCU disk to Corporate Data Acquisition Service (CDAS) and ultimately to the Accounting Service Center (ASC) for verification and comparison with data from the bank and credit/debit card clearing house.

Course: Financial Reporting with IRT Lesson 5: IRT Transmission PreviousNextBeginning of Lesson 12 of 17 Data Transmission Flow, continued Key Words:  ADM—Accounting Data Mart.  CDAS— Corporate Data Acquisition Service.  Chesapeake—Automated reconciliation package that matches "bank" and "book" transactions and provides exceptions for research.  eaGLe—Excellence in Accounting through General Ledger.  FNCM—Finance Number Control Master.  Retek—a commercial, off- the-shelf product used to process financial data transmitted by units.

Course: Financial Reporting with IRT Lesson 5: IRT Transmission PreviousNextBeginning of Lesson 13 of 17 Data Transmission Flow, continued The preceding diagram illustrates how data flows from the reporting technologies (POS, IRT, MOVES, PostalOne!, SPORT, APC), and external sources through the Corporate Data Acquisition Service (CDAS) to Retek (ReSA, Consolidated Unit 1412 data and RMS Stock Ledger, stamp stock data) and from Retek to various other applications for reconciliation or reporting purposes. All Consolidated Unit 1412 data is standardized and sent from CDAS to the Retek system at the St. Louis Accounting Service Center (ASC). ReSA audits or verifies all 1412 data using Postal Service business rules. Exceptions or errors are researched and, if necessary, adjustments are made for discrepancies. After a Consolidated Unit 1412 has passed the ReSA audit, data is posted to eaGLe (General Ledger) and sent to various other reconciliation and reporting tools. For example:  RMS Stock Ledger tracks stamp stock shipments as well as Post Office stamp stock balances.  Chesapeake reconciles bank deposits, debit and credit card transactions, and Sure Money (Dinero Sequro) transactions using 1412 “book” data from ReSA as well as “bank” data received from external sources.  The Money Order Branch reconciles AICs 100 and 102.  The Accounting Data Mart (ADM) is the financial reporting tool that allows daily revenue and expense information to be available for every unit. The diagram on the previous slide may have more information than you need, but let me explain…

Course: Financial Reporting with IRT Lesson 5: IRT Transmission PreviousNextBeginning of Lesson 14 of 17 Automatic Redials Field Sales Branch (FSB) initiates automatic RCU redials starting at 7:00 a.m. local time. Two calls will be made in normal security mode. If, after the second call, the transmission is not successful, please change your security code to all 9s. The third call will be made in the security override mode. If, after three tries, your transmission is still unsuccessful, a specialist from FSB will call your office to assist you in completing the transmission. The RCU Disk has the capability to hold up to 14 days of IRT 1412 data. However, it is imperative to transmit on a daily basis. If, for some unusual circumstance, transmission fails, make sure you transfer daily IRT 1412 data to the RCU disk.

Course: Financial Reporting with IRT Lesson 5: IRT Transmission PreviousNextBeginning of Lesson 15 of 17 Checkpoint 1. After setting up your RCU disk for transmission, you should leave your IRT on all night. True or false? (Refer to slide 5.) True. Now let’s see what you have learned so far about the IRT transmission. Click the question mark (?) button to check your answer. 2. There is no indication of a successful IRT data transmission. True or false? (Refer to slide 6.) False. Your screen should read: “Transmission successful…” 3. Field Sales Branch automatically calls you only once if your transmission fails. True or false? (Refer to slide 12.) False. FSB will call three times.

Course: Financial Reporting with IRT Lesson 5: IRT Transmission PreviousNextBeginning of Lesson 16 of 17 Summary Let’s review what you have learned about the IRT Transmission: Information is copied from the Supervisor disk onto the RCU disk. IRT financial data is transmitted to the Accounting Service Centers via the RCU disk. You verify a successful transmission of data by reading the IRT screen the next morning. It should read: TRANSMISSION SUCCESSFUL, PRESS RESET TO RETURN TO THE MAIN MENU. Most RCU transmissions fail because of a security violation. You can correct this by setting up the RCU disk in security override with all 9s entered. Data flows from the reporting technologies (POS, IRT, MOVES, PostalOne!, SPORT, APC), and external sources through the Corporate Data Acquisition Service (CDAS) to Retek (ReSA, Consolidated Unit 1412 data and RMS Stock Ledger, stamp stock data) and from Retek to various other applications for reconciliation or reporting purposes. The Field Sales Branch (FSB) will call the RCU two times in normal security mode and, if not successful, the third time in security override. If after three tries, the transmission is still unsuccessful, the FSB will call the office directly to assist.

Course: Financial Reporting with IRT Lesson 5: IRT Transmission PreviousBeginning of LessonNext Lesson 17 of 17 Resources Accounting Services website: Postmaster/Field Guide Accounting Help Desk: Close the Browser to end this lesson or click Next Lesson to go to the next lesson Here are some resources for more information.