E-rate In Pennsylvania: Helpful Documents

Data: Where to Find It

SLD’s Data Retrieval Tool

To Find Out…

Whether a 486 was submitted for each FRN
How much funding has been approved for payment per FRN
All FRNs, funding committed, and discount of each FRN
How much has been invoiced so far per FRN
Which vendors are unusually successful
Which 471s have not been approved/denied
Reasons for denials

1. Go to: www.sl.universalservice.org

2. Select "Data Requests" on left toolbar (under the Tools heading).

3. The next page has instructions... simply choose "Clicking here" in the third paragraph.

4. Choose the Year and State you want to view, and any further defining criteria such as Billed Entity Number, 471 Number, FRN Number, Wave Number or SPIN Number, then click on ">>Select Data Points" at the bottom of the page.

(hint: If you want to find out which applicants have Year 6 funds remaining, choose Year 2003. If you want to find out which applicants have 486's yet to be submitted for Year 7, choose Year 2004).

5. Select the datapoints you would like to include in your spreadsheet. (It’s easiest to simply check, “Select All” and then refine your date in your spreadsheet later.) Then click on “Build Date File!” at the bottom of the screen.

6. The database will be compiled, and when it is done, you will see a blue box that says "Download Data File."

7. RIGHT click on the box and select "Save Target As." You will be asked for a name and location of the file. A good methodology is to have a folder already created called SLD Data, then you can just save the file to that folder, and name it something unique with each download. Such as ‘2003 PA Sept 22’ as the file name, saved to the SLD Data folder. The file will be saved as a Text File.

8. Open Excel or other spreadsheet program, and then open the file that you just downloaded. (Remember, it was a text file, so don't look for it saved as a spreadsheet yet. It will be saved as .txt)

9. When it opens, it will show you a mini-tutorial on how you want the data to look on the screen. Simply select "Finish" and it will show it formatted to the columns you need. There is no need to complete the tutorial.

10. At this point, you will see all FRN data for applications submitted WITHIN THE WINDOW for that particular funding year. To only view particular applications, select the Data menu on your Toolbar, then select "Filter" then "AutoFilter." This will allow you to only view selected entries from your spreadsheet.

11. To view only particular information, click on the arrow beside the column of data you are interested in. Choose the information you want to see and the spreadsheet will automatically be narrowed to include only rows that contain that piece of data.

-- If you chose the 2003 data on the SLD website, you probably want to know whether a 486 has been submitted. To find this out, go to column P, Service Start Date 486. If this is blank, the 486 has not yet been submitted. If it has been submitted, it likely will say 07/01/2003, the earliest date to receive discounts for Year 7.

-- If you chose the 2003 data on the SLD website, you probably want to know whether an entity has any funding remaining to be collected or invoiced for Year 6. To find this out, go to column AW "Authorized Disbursement Amount". If a cell is blank, a BEAR or service provider’s SPIF has not been submitted for that particular funding request. If there IS an amount listed, be careful to check that all months have been invoiced if the FRN is for a recurring service. For example, if your local telephone commitment was $10,000, but column AW only lists $4,500, the entity likely submitted a BEAR for 6 months worth of funding and still needs to invoice the SLD for the remaining amount that you've spent. Please keep in mind that if they were committed $X, but only spent $Y, you can only collect $Y. $X would simply be your funding CAP.

12. Please note that this is not a static file... so re-download a new database from the SLD website after or before certain times, such as after a wave is distributed, or the submission deadlines for the 471, 486, and invoices.

What you WON’T find on the Data Retrieval Tool:

Dates that invoices are received or paid
Applications that were submitted but not certified
Applications that were started, but not finished
Item 21 attachments
Invoice due dates
Invoice extension dates
Contact information

To Find..: A completed copy of a Form 470

1. Go to: www.sl.universalservice.org

2. Select “Apply Online” on the left side of the page under the Tools heading.

3. Under the 470 column, select “Search Posted.”

4. Select the funding year for the 470 that you request to see.

5. Enter ONE piece of information (either the 470#, a state name, a zip code, etc.) and click ‘next.’

6. A list of entity names will appear that match the information provided in the previous screen. Click the radial button next to the 470 you would like to view, then click ‘Review Selected Application,” below.

To Find..: A completed copy of a Form 471 (without attachments)
To Find…: The status of a submitted 471

1. Go to: www.sl.universalservice.org

2. Select “Apply Online” on the left side of the page under the Tools heading.; 3. Under the 471 column, select “Application Status.”

4. Enter the Entity Number and the Funding Year for the applications for which you would like to view their status, and click on ‘Search.’

5. Scroll to the bottom of the screen to view the status of each 471 for that entity.
To Find…: A SPIN Number or SPIN Contact Information
To determine whether a service provider is an Eligible Telecom Provider

1. Go to: www.sl.universalservice.org

2. Select "SPIN Search" on left toolbar under the Tools heading.

3. Enter either the first few letters of the service provider’s name followed by ’%’, OR enter the SPIN number.

4. The resulting information will provide you with the company’s SPIN Number, E-rate contact person and their phone number.

5. To determine whether the service provider is considered an eligible telecom provider under program rules, look at the column entitled, “Eligible Telecomm Provider.” If there is a Y in the cell, an applicant can use this SPIN if they are applying for telecommunications services. If the cell is blank, the applicant may not purchase E-rate supported telecommunications services from this provider.

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