Equifax ePORT

Batch File Processing Guide

Company Administrator Edition

Updated: February 2010

ePORT Batch File Processing – Company Administrator Edition – February 2010 2

Confidentiality Agreement

The material presented in this guide is confidential and proprietary to Equifax

Information Services LLC (“Equifax”). By accepting this guide, recipients agree not to

disclose any information contained herein to any third parties and/or to reproduce any

part of this guide without, in each instance, the prior written consent of Equifax by

writing to:

Equifax Information Services LLC

Marketing Communications, H-22

1550 Peachtree Street, N.W.

Atlanta, GA 30309

Equifax and Equifax ePORT are registered trademarks of Equifax Inc. Copyright 2010 Equifax Inc., Atlanta, Georgia. All rights reserved.

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Table of Contents

Before You Begin................................................................................................................ 4

Batch Processing on ePORT ............................................................................................... 5

File Management............................................................................................................. 7

Format Management (Input) ........................................................................................... 8

Submit a Batch Job........................................................................................................ 10

Error Processing ........................................................................................................ 11

Batch Output ................................................................................................................. 12

Batch Job Detail ........................................................................................................ 14

Cancel Batch Jobs ..................................................................................................... 15

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Before You Begin

Before users attempt to use the batch processing feature, users should have all of the

following information available:

• A file that contains delimited records of inquiry information.

• Knowledge about the format of the data contained in the file.

• Access to the eCredit Information service with appropriate report profiles setup.

Delimited Input

When using the batch capability on ePORT, data uploaded to ePORT must be in

delimited file format. Additionally, input fields must contain data in certain formats and

lengths. Each data element is considered an inquiry field.

The user is responsible for ensuring that the data is in a delimited format. Common ways

in which data can be stored in delimited format is by using a spreadsheet (Microsoft

Excel allows saving the file in a comma delimited format), by some type of application

program that saves data in a delimited format, or from a customer database which has

been saved in delimited format.

Example Comma Delimited File

Data

000-00-0000,Last Name,First Name,123,Main,Street,Alpharetta,GA,30005

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Batch Processing on ePORT

Company users have the ability to process large numbers of eCredit Information requests.

Click the Batch link to proceed to the Batch Processing flow.

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The Batch Home page is displayed once the Batch link is clicked on the CustomerPort

page.

Batch Processing is a four step process:

• File Management – Upload a delimited input file that contains inquiry information.

• Format Management (Input) – Identify the order and format of the input data fields.

• Submit a Batch Job – Name the batch job, identify the product (report profile) to be

processed and submit the batch job for processing.

• Batch Output – Review the report results.

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File Management

Click the File Management link to upload a file from your PC or network. The Batch

Input File Management screen displays once the File Management link has been clicked.

Viewing Data

The user has the ability to view existing files by clicking the View Data link. The screen

is preset to view a maximum of 25 records. Additionally, the user can delete unwanted or

previously processed files by clicking the Delete link. Other details included in this view

include the number of records within each input file, the size of the input file, the

company user who uploaded the file and the date/time stamp.

Uploading a File

• Refer to the ePORT Inquiry Format Rules link to make sure that you have

acceptable field formats in your input file.

• Click the Browse… button to find the file containing records to be imported into the

file management system.

• Click the UpLoad File button to upload your file into the file management system.

• Click the Batch Home button to return to the Batch home page.

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Format Management (Input)

The batch system has to be able to recognize the order of the data included in the file.

Click the Format Management (Input) link on the Batch Home page to define the input

format or change an existing input format. The Batch Input Format File Management

screen displays once the Format Management (Input) link has been clicked.

The user has the ability to edit existing input file formats by clicking the Edit link. In

addition, the user can delete unwanted or previously processed files by clicking the

Delete link. The user also has the ability to add new input file formats to the batch

system.

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Adding a new Input File Format

• Click the Add New button

• Enter an input Format File Name

• Select the Format type (DELIMITED is the only current option)

• Select the appropriate delimiter from the Delimiter is drop down menu

• Select the appropriate Available Fields in the logical order as they appear on each

row of the input file and click the Add>> button

• Click the Save button after completing the input file format

• Click the Batch Home button to return to the Batch home page.

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Submit a Batch Job

After uploading your input file and defining the input format, the user is now able to

submit a batch job. Click the Submit a Batch Job link from the Batch Home page to

view the Submit a Batch Job screen.

Batch Submission is a five step process.

1. Create a batch job name

Select and enter a name for the batch job that would help you quickly identify it

later

2. Select the name of the file you uploaded

Select the input file previously uploaded for processing. The drop down menu

will contain all files available for processing. Company Administrators can view

all files uploaded by any company user. However, end users can only view their

own uploaded files.

3. Select the input format file name

Select the input file format previously created for processing. This format should

represent the layout for the selected input file. The drop down menu will contain

all input file formats that are available for processing. Company Administrators

can view all files uploaded by any company user. However, end users can only

view their own uploaded files.

4. Select the report profile (product) name

Select the desired eCredit Product from the Report Profile (Product) drop down

menu.

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5. Submitting the Batch Job

After completing previous steps, check whether or not you wish to be notified by

email and click the Submit File button. If the email notification is checked, then

you will be prompted to verify and/or enter an email address in order to receive

notification that the batch job has been completed.

Error Processing

IMPORTANT: The batch system will pre-process the input file to verify that an equal

number of fields exist on the input file as are described by the input file format. If there

are an unequal number of fields on the input file and the input file format, then an error

condition will occur.

Errors are generally caused by the following situations:

• The data on the Input File does not have the same number of fields as the Input

Format File that was selected:

Solution: Either change your Format File or correct your data.

• The users selected a Report Profile with required data elements that do not exist in the

corresponding Input Format File:

Solution: Either correct the Input Format File or select an appropriate product that

the corresponding Input File Format can support.

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• The Input File may be using a different delimiter than what was selected in the Input

File Format:

Solution: Verify the delimiter in the input file.

Batch Output

After a file is processed, the user may be notified via email if the Notify me by e-mail

when the batch is complete checkbox is checked on the Submit a Batch Job home page.

Once the process is completed, select Batch Output from the Batch Home page. The

following screen shot will display once the Batch Output link is clicked.

This page allows the user to:

• View Batch Contents

• Cancel batch jobs that are waiting to be processed

• Delete previously submitted batch jobs

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View Contents

The batch job contents can be viewed by clicking the View Contents link.

This page allows the user to:

• Search for reports by Consumer Last Name, SSN and Reference Number by clicking

the Search button

• Save reports by selecting the desired save option from the Save Reports drop down

menu and clicking the Save button

• View Individual Reports by clicking the Report link

• View Original Requests by clicking the Inquiry link

• Print reports by clicking the Print Reports button

• Delete reports by clicking the Delete Reports button (Only company administrators

have the ability to delete reports)

• View Batch Job Detail by clicking the View Batch Job Detail link

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Batch Job Detail

The Batch Job Detail contains the following statistics:

• Batch job name

• Status of the batch job

• User ID that submitted the job

• Input file name

• Input file format name

• Request product (report profile)

• Number of records on the input file

• Number of records successfully processing

• Number of records with a processing error (if any)

• Number of records that could not be processed (if any)

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Cancel Batch Jobs

The user has the ability to cancel batch jobs that are waiting to be processed. All

cancelled records are deemed unprocessed records. These records can be viewed by

clicking the View Contents link for a file that has a Cancelled Batch Status. Once the

cancelled Batch Job Content window displays, click the Unprocessed / Processing

Errors link. Records in this view did not process due to problems with the data or the

job was manually cancelled while processing.

This page allows the user to:

• Resubmit a batch job for processing by naming the new batch file and clicking the

Submit button

• Access the Inquiry page where they can resubmit the request by clicking the Online

Inquiry link

• Edit records so that another batch may be resubmitted by clicking the Edit Record

link

• Delete records by clicking the Delete link