# Presentation: 086537

## COD IPAC Services

- Presented by**Eddie Reso**

## IPAC Control and Certification Branch (ICB)  IPAC Processing

**IPAC Control and Certification Branch (ICB)  ****IPAC Processing**

- “Summary of IPAC Services Provided”

- Office of the Chief Financial Officer

## ICB Services Provided 

- Processes IPAC payments and collections for      USDA agencies.
- Act as a “middleman” between                                agencies and the IPAC system.

- ICB is organized according to the types of bills processed.

- Office of the Chief Financial Officer

## ICB Services Provided (cont.)

- Common IPAC Bill Types
- Charges for purchases of goods and services
- GSA Reimbursable work authorizations
- Security Clearance Charges, Investigations, and Training
- Worker’s compensation insurance
- Rent, Postage, and Telecommunication charges
- Revenue Collections
- Reimbursable Collections
- Collections from asset sales
- Credits for Limited Payability cancelled checks
- Investment Transactions
- Payment and Collection of Health Insurance Premiums
- Judgment Fund Payments and Collections
- However, inter-agency transactions may be created through IPAC for **ANY **reason.

- Office of the Chief Financial Officer

## IPAC Suspense

**IPAC Suspense**

**12F3885(xx)**
**Monitoring, Reconciling, Clearing, and Staying in the Green!**

- Office of the Chief Financial Officer

## IPAC Suspense Summary

- For all IPAC transactions, the cash side of the transaction is recorded quickly, usually within one day, and the distribution of the charges occurs when the accounting information becomes known.
- When accounting is unknown, IPAC transactions are considered “unprocessed”,  and recorded in T/S 12F3885(xx).  (IPAC Suspense)
- Suspense is reversed when IPAC transactions are applied to appropriate accounting.
- Major internal control processes are in place to track unprocessed bills, and age them by bill date.
- In the spirit of OMB scorekeeping, internal metrics of Red/Yellow/Green for unprocessed bills has been developed.  How are we doing?

- ?

- Office of the Chief Financial Officer

## IPAC Suspense – Current Score Card           Bill Count as of March 31, 2005

- Office of the Chief Financial Officer

## IPAC Suspense – USDA Improvement                     Monthly Score Tracking  03/31/04 to 03/31/05 (Bill Count)

- The above chart illustrates steady improvement in the score metrics for the past 12 months, with minimal yellow and green balances by March 31, 2005

- Office of the Chief Financial Officer

## IPAC Suspense – USDA Improvement                     Over 40% Increase in Volume of Bills – FY 03 to FY 04

- The above chart illustrates increase in volume of IPAC bills from FY 03 to FY 04, showing increases for both intra-USDA bills and bills with external agencies.  The total volume of bills increased 43%.

- Office of the Chief Financial Officer

## Keeping IPAC Suspense Balances Low             	                                “ICB Daily Work” 

- What causes delays in processing IPAC bills timely?
- High volume of bills and paper backup
- Accounting information (MO’s) not contained on IPAC bills
- Telephone calls
- Pleading and begging for MO’s
- Insufficiently funded MO’s
- Invalid vendor codes on MO’s
- Invalid MO dates
-       *(Date must be prior to IPAC bill date.)*
- Locating appropriate contacts
- Processing IPAC bills can be
-       labor intensive and costly.

- Office of the Chief Financial Officer

## IPAC Tiger Teams

- The USDA-COD has established a USDA IPAC Tiger Team, with members from every agency.   Individual Agency IPAC Tiger Teams have also been established.
- The team efforts improved efficiency and timeliness of processing.
- Continued participation is key to keeping suspense balances low.
- A Tiger Team Member Contact List has been provided in the handouts.

- Office of the Chief Financial Officer

## Where to Find IPAC Data

- The OTRS system (OPAC Tracking and Reconciliation System) provides information on processed and unprocessed IPAC bills.
- OTRS Reports of Unprocessed bills are available on the         NFC REPORTING CENTER
- Agency personnel should routinely request these reports and work with COD-ICB to clear unprocessed IPAC bills.
- The OTRS Unprocessed reports with current research notes added, may also be obtained via an e-mail or telephone request to ICB personnel.  E-mail delivery is usually same day.
- Reconciliation to General Ledger and aging reports are also available on the  NFC Reporting Center website.

- Office of the Chief Financial Officer

## Improvements to IPAC Payment Processing

**Improvements to IPAC Payment Processing**

**DDGEN Phase II & III Implementation**

- Office of the Chief Financial Officer

## DD Generator (DDGEN)

**DD Generator (DDGEN)**

- The DD Generator (DDGEN) is the new system being used which allows electronic files of IPAC bills downloaded from Treasury, to be uploaded to the USDA mainframe for automated processing.
- Suspense is recorded only if valid reference information is not present.
- Rejected records are stored on the IPAC Bill Reconciliation Table (IBRT) in FFIS.  (ICB personnel manually work rejects. )
- Phased Implementation
- Phase I   - GSA Fedstrip – March 2004
- Phase II  - MPOL and FTSP Bills – March 2005
- Phase III - “manual” bills – FY 2006

**X**

- Office of the Chief Financial Officer

## USDA Obligating DRN               “The key element for DDGEN”

- The USDA Obligating Document Reference (DRN) is the key matching element for DDGEN.
- The USDA DRN is the combination of three FFIS Obligating Document elements, with a separator, in a specific format.
-       1.  FFIS Transaction Code (i.e. MO)
-       2.  FFIS Document Number, followed by a # sign separator
-       3.  Three digit line number, with leading zeroes if necessary
- These elements joined with no spaces form the DRN.                             i.e. **MO43456#001**

- Office of the Chief Financial Officer

## DDGEN- The first Step          ”Proper Establishment of Obligations”

- USDA Customer Agency / Procurement                Personnel Must Do the following:
- Establish an MO in FFIS prior to ordering.
- Assure the Vendor Code is correct for the Vendor ALC.
- Assure the MO is sufficiently funded.
- Whenever possible, limit the MO to one line.
- Provide the Obligating Document Reference Number (DRN)                                     to the Vendor upon ordering.
- Request the Vendor return the DRN on the IPAC bill, in the _Purchase Order Number field_ of the IPAC record.
- Without a Valid MO established with these standards, the IPAC bill will not process automatically in DDGEN.

- Office of the Chief Financial Officer

## Flow of Accounting Information  “The process necessary for DDGEN  automation benefits”

**The Customer Agency . . .**
**The Vendor Agency . . .**
**The USDA-COD-ICB . . .**

** **
- Establish an obligation in FFIS
- Provide obligation reference data **in DRN format **to Vendor.
- Submit charge thru IPAC, with USDA	                              obligating DRN in the IPAC bill “Purchase Order No.” field.
** **
- Download IPAC bills from IPAC and upload to DDGEN.
- FFIS documents are created, with no manual efforts, applying charges to existing obligations.

- Office of the Chief Financial Officer

## USDA Billing Through IPAC

**USDA Billing Through IPAC**

**Process, Problems, and Improvements**

- Office of the Chief Financial Officer

## USDA Agencies - Billing Thru IPAC

- Three methods to initiate IPAC billings.
- IBIL (Internet Billing System) – _Recommend_ using IBIL
-        *IBIL  prompts users for their customer referencing information.*
- Direct Entry of BD documents (Billing Documents) in FFIS
- PCAS (Project Cost Accounting System)
- COD-ICB obtain files created through the above mechanisms and process through IPAC, and update  IPAC acceptance / confirmation information to FFIS.

- Office of the Chief Financial Officer

## Intra-USDA IPAC Bill Processing

_**Intra-USDA Billing Volume**_** -** Over 1⁄2 of the IPAC bills processed by ICB are intra-USDA bills.
_**The Problem**_
- Majority of bills DO NOT contain the customer agency MO.
- ICB must perform research, input chargebacks and/or mediate to obtain information.  This process is costly.
_**Agency Actions Necessary for Improvement**_
- Obtain the DRN (MO and line number) from customer.
- Follow procedures that will assure the DRN is on the IPAC bill.  (See OCFO Bulletins in handouts.)
- Submit bills before the 10th of each month. *This is necessary for elimination entries, and critical at year end.*

- Office of the Chief Financial Officer

## Intra-USDA Billing Improvements

- There are plans to modify _IBIL_ to validate the                              FFIS obligation reference data of                                                    the USDA agency being billed.
- This edit will allow processing of the payment for the USDA customer agency upon receipt.
- When DDGEN Phase III is implemented, the payment side of  intra-USDA bills created through the IBIL process, should process with little or no rejections.
- Elimination entries should be reduced.
- The Implementation date of this new edit is TBD.

- Office of the Chief Financial Officer

## Contacts

- Charles Kyser, ICB Branch Chief
-                   (504) 426-5082
-                    charles.kyser@usda.gov
- Eddie Reso, Supervisor
-                     IPAC Control Section  (ICS)
-                    (504) 426-5064
-                    eddie.reso@usda.gov
- Esther Wood, Supervisor
-                    IPAC Processing Section (IPS)
-                   (504) 426-5094
-                    esther.wood@usda.gov

- "ICB"

- N.O., LA

*"Rated #1 in Response Time!"*

***   ******Customer Service***

- Office of the Chief Financial Officer