eTariff Validation Rule Electronic Test Site Guide 

 

v. March 26, 2010 

v. March 26, 2010 1 
Creating a Test Tariff Filing 

Testers may populate the test Tariff Filing data elements with any data, consistent with 

the field format and valid values permitted or required by the SOC Implementation Guide 

for Electronic Filing through the eTariff Validation Rule Electronic Test Site (ETS or 

Sandbox). Zip files that are submitted have no naming restrictions and must have a .zip 

as the extension. However, they must abide by eFiling’s requirement that the file name 

cannot be longer than 60 characters and cannot include certain characters. 

Submitting a Test Tariff Filing to ETS 

Zipped Test Tariff Filings should be uploaded to the Commission’s ETS FTP web site 

located at ftp://etariff-ftp.ferc.gov/. Log in with the User name and Password provided 

at http://www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/etariff.asp. The Company Identifiers and associated 

passwords1

 are not recognized by the ETS web site, and are not necessary to perform test 

XML filings. Test Tariff Filings should be uploaded in the ets_receive_files directory. 

There is no limit to the number of tests that may be submitted to the ETS. 

Receipt and Opening a Test Tariff Filing 

The ETS, upon receipt of the ZIPped Test Tariff Filings, will attempt to open the file and 

parse it. 

• If the .zip file cannot be opened, an email is sent to FERC’s ETS monitors noting 

the problem. Since the contents could not be examined, there will not be any way to 

notify the sending party. If a Test Tariff Filing does not result in a processing response 

within several hours, the tester should send an email etariff@ferc.gov stating the name of 

the file that was sent and the approximate time it was sent. 

• If the .zipped Test Tariff Filing could be opened but could not be parsed for 

whatever reason, ETS will attempt to find the Validation email (validation_email) by 

direct string processing of the Test Tariff Filing. If available, the Validation email 

address will receive an email stating the processing problems encountered. If the 

Validation email could not be obtained, the results will be similar to when a .zip file 

failed (see above). 

• If the Test Tariff Filing is parsed and no problems are found, then ETS will 

generate an email to the Validation email identified in the Tariff Filing that lists all the 

data found in the Test Tariff Filing. 

If the Test Tariff Filing is parsed but problems are found, then ETS will generate an 

email to the Validation email listed in the Test Tariff Filing that lists all the data found 

 

1

 Test Company Identifiers issued for the purpose of the Pre-Production test environment will not be issued after 

March 26, 2010, and all Test Company Identifiers will be deleted from the Commission’s data bases effective April 

1, 2010. 

v. March 26, 2010 2 
v. March 26, 2010 3 

in the Test Tariff Filing followed by a list of error codes and descriptions and warning 

codes and descriptions. 

Test Tariff Filing Data Checks 

ETS currently performs and will continue to perform the same validation checks that are 

applied before and after the April 01, 2010 implementation of the eTariff Production 

filing process. Two types of tests may be performed. 

First, Test Tariff Filings are tested to ensure Element data are valid and are consistent 

with the the XML Schema requirements. Testers should pay attention to the Element 

error and warning messages. Errors at this level indicate inconsistent data or malformed XML 

and must be addressed before additional processing can occur. 

Second, Test Tariff Filings will be tested for both the Element and Data values expected 

to be present in the Production environment. If the Test Tariff Filing contains the 

appropriate metadata for tariff filings in the Production Database, the validation checks 

and results will be the same as if the Test Tariff Filing had been filed through FERC 

Online. However, the Test Tariff Filing will not be saved by the Commission, nor will 

the filing modify the Commission’s data bases in any way. 

If a company has a valid Tariff Identifier established in the Production account, then the 

company can make all categories of Test Tariff Filings using their established Tariff 

Identifier that are appropriate based on the tariff status in the Production database. For 

example, if a company has a proposed tariff filing pending, it will be able to test all 

filings appropriate to a proposed tariff, such as a withdrawal or an amendment filing. But 

if it seeks to test a compliance filing with an Associated Filing Identifier, it will receive 

an error message, because compliance filings cannot be made until after Commission 

action. 

Availability of Test Values: If a company does not have a valid Company Identifier, 

Tariff Identifier and Filing Identifier in the Production database, it may use any other 

XML filing identifier set in the Production database. 

Validation Error Codes: The FERC web site will keep the list of error codes and 

descriptions in csv format and make them available for download. The error codes and 

descriptions are provided at http://www.ferc.gov/docsfiling/etariff/validation_error_code.csv. It is possible these will be expanded in the 

future.