VA. ACL USER’S GROUPVA. ACL USER’S GROUPFunctionsIntermediate to Advanced

April 21, 2009

Kimberly M. Taylor, CPA, CISAChesterfield County, VA

Survey Results Survey Results

Survey Results Survey Results

AgendaAgenda

Function Syntax - Brief OverviewCleaning Up Fields Conversion FunctionsCombining FunctionsNumerous If Statements

Function SyntaxFunction SyntaxALLTRIM( string )

Works in expression

The word “string” tells you to put the name of an ASCII

field in its place

BETWEEN( value , min , max )

Works in filter or expression

The word “value” tells you to put a

Field name in its place – it can be a date or a number

The word “min” is your beginning value and must be

in the same format as your value field.

The word “max” is your ending value and must be

in the same format as your value field.

The words in ALL CAPS are your actual functions created by ACL. They are followed by an open and closing parenthesis.

Function SyntaxFunction SyntaxFIND( string <,field_to_search_in> ) – works in filter or expression

Find is your function.In this instance, “string” is the text you want to find<field to search in> is an optional paramater, because of the brackets.

FIND( “yellow” ) – in this instance it looks in all fields.I have personally found ACL does not consistently work wellWithout a field name here.

FIND( “yellow” , carcolor1)

Cleaning Up FieldsCleaning Up Fields

String functions (text)Conversion Functions

SPLIT( string , separator , SPLIT( string , separator , segment <,text_qualifier> )segment <,text_qualifier> )Works in expression to create a new

expression, does not work in filterSplits a field based on a particular

separatorSegment – which segment do you want?

1, 2, 3, etc.SPLIT (name, “, “, 1)

UPPER( string ) or UPPER( string ) or LOWER( string )LOWER( string )

Changes text to all caps or all lower caseText must be identical for relate tables or

join commands to work

INCLUDE( string , INCLUDE( string , characters_to_include )characters_to_include )Field called ID_NO – looks like

Taylor040909. The ID number is generated by computer as last name and date.

INCLUDE (ID_NO, “abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz”)

Result = Taylor

EXCLUDE( string , EXCLUDE( string , characters_to_include )characters_to_include )Field called ID_NO – looks like

Taylor040909. The ID number is generated by computer as last name and date.

EXCLUDE (ID_NO, “abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz”)

Result = 040909

CONVERSION FUNCTIONSCONVERSION FUNCTIONS

STRING( number , length <,format> )Converts a number to textWorks well when trying to use classify

command or some other command that needs text

VALUE( string , decimals )VALUE( string , decimals )

Converts text fields to numeric fieldsGood for use in trying to sort data or using

functions that require a numeric field (i.e. - summarize

Audit Step ExamplesAudit Step Examples

Numerous If StatementsCombining Functions

– When combining functions in same expression, ACL works from the middle expression to the outer expression

Calculations

Audit Step: Verify if mileage was billed correctlyAudit Step: Verify if mileage was billed correctly

Challenges:– Upgrade during the year for purchased software caused mileage

data to be in up to 3 different fields– More than one transport record for same call – could be

duplicate records, could be more than one person transported, could be one unit assisting and another unit transporting

– Internal file needs to be compared to external billing file – different field formats for ID number

– Combining data from 3 different internal tables to come up with one mileage record

– Internal data set had # of miles, external data set had $ amount billed

– Had to round mileage up to next whole mile for accurate billing calculations

AnalysisAnalysis

Determine transport mileage on internal data

Determine miles billed on external dataCompare 2 files to determine accuracy of

bills

DataData

Internal records = 74,564 records– Contains non-billable records

External records = 19,691 records– Contains mostly billed records only

Determining transport mileageDetermining transport mileage Computed Fields Multiple If Statements Combining Functions Converting Text to Number for calculation purposes

Edit, table layout

Determine Transport MileageDetermine Transport MileageStep 1: Field Name and Default ValueStep 1: Field Name and Default Value

Default value – field type must match remaining values established

“text” or “9999.99” = text field 9999.99 = numeric field # of decimal places equals decimal places in default

value. If you put 9999 in default value, you will have 0 decimal places in all fields.

If you are doing multiple if statements, put something unusual in default value so you can check to be sure your remaining if statements are calculating properly.

Determine Transport MileageDetermine Transport MileageStep 2: first If statementStep 2: first If statement

Lodmileage is a numeric field. If it is greater than 0, then use that field as the transport mileage.

Determine Transport MileageDetermine Transport MileageStep 3: second if statementStep 3: second if statement

Xportsec = ascii field, field that recorded mileage in 1st version of software

Combined expression – ACL works from inside expression to outside expression

First, – INCLUDE - acl is including

numbers and .– VALUE – acl is converting it to

a number with 2 decimal places Second,,

– Do what is in parenthesis first – then determine if the field is

greater than 0 If all is true, then it inserts the

value

Determine Transport MileageDetermine Transport MileageStep 4 – third if statementStep 4 – third if statement

If all three fields that contain mileage are equal to 0

Input 0.00 into transport mileage

Determine Transport MileageDetermine Transport MileageStep 5: fourth if statementStep 5: fourth if statement

Assumption – lodmileage is the correct field

Use dstmileage if lodmileage is 0 and dst mileage greater than 0

If not, we wanted to use dstmileage

Determine Transport MileageDetermine Transport MileageStep 6: fifth if statementStep 6: fifth if statement

We had 1 record that did not fit into the rest of the categories, it was coming up as 9999.99

So we just added an if statement to put the actual value in based on data we could see

This represents the value of using a default value that ensures your formulas are working

Determine Transport MileageDetermine Transport MileageResult: new field with mileage valueResult: new field with mileage value

Calculate Miles Billed – external Calculate Miles Billed – external data sourcedata sourceAdd a new expression fieldExisting data has a separate field for

mileage dollars charged

Calculate Miles BilledCalculate Miles BilledStep 1: Field name and default Step 1: Field name and default valuevalue

Calculate Miles BilledCalculate Miles BilledStep 2: First if Statement Miles billed prior to 4/1/08Step 2: First if Statement Miles billed prior to 4/1/08

Different billing rates before and after 4/1/08.

Pulled in only internal calls

Calculate Miles BilledCalculate Miles BilledStep 3: Second If Statement – Miles billed after 4/1/08Step 3: Second If Statement – Miles billed after 4/1/08

Accounted for billing rate after 4/1/08

Calculate Miles BilledCalculate Miles BilledStep 4: Third If Statement – Records not associated with Step 4: Third If Statement – Records not associated with this providerthis provider

Other volunteer unit information is also in database. Wanted to weed those out as accurately billed, but not a billable record.

Calculate Miles BilledCalculate Miles BilledResults – new field with miles billedResults – new field with miles billed

Analyze Results – join internal and Analyze Results – join internal and external data sourceexternal data source Had 2 create fields in both tables to link

results External Data Source

Internal Data Source

Run join command and include all primary and secondary to create a new table

Analyze Results – was billing Analyze Results – was billing accurate?accurate?

Analyze Results – was billing Analyze Results – was billing accurate?accurate?Yes: (prov_name = "CHESTERFIELD

FIRE DEPARTMENT") AND BETWEEN( (Recalculate_Mileage - Transport_Mileage) , 0, 1)

NC = Not Chesterfield prov_name <> "CHESTERFIELD FIRE

DEPARTMENT"

Analyze Results – was billing Analyze Results – was billing accurate?accurate? NO: (prov_name = "CHESTERFIELD FIRE

DEPARTMENT") AND BETWEEN( (Recalculate_Mileage - Transport_Mileage) , -1, 0)

NO: (prov_name = "CHESTERFIELD FIRE DEPARTMENT") AND ((Recalculate_Mileage - Transport_Mileage) > 1)

NO: (prov_name = "CHESTERFIELD FIRE DEPARTMENT") AND ((Recalculate_Mileage - Transport_Mileage) < -1)

Analyze Results: Was billing Analyze Results: Was billing AccurateAccurateClassify Command

Next steps: sample the no records, recommend they be reviewed by Fire if sample turns out there was incorrect billing

ResultsResults

$7,667 not billed due to not rounding mileage up to next whole mile

Accurate Billing

CountPercent of

Count

no 3,427 24.76%

yes 10,416 75.24%

Totals 13,843 100%

Audit Step – review audit trails to determine Audit Step – review audit trails to determine if ID number was changed on a medical if ID number was changed on a medical record that has a billrecord that has a bill

Concerns– ID numbers for records can be changed– Once ID number is changed, there is no record

on the front end that the transport ever occurred – there is a bill with no medical record

Audit Step – review audit trails to determine Audit Step – review audit trails to determine if ID number was changed on a medical if ID number was changed on a medical record that has a billrecord that has a bill Challenges

– Over 3,000,000 audit trail records on a very short data set

– Department is unable to run reports on their audit trail data

– New text field and old text field is a combination of all fields changed in the record – wanted to focus on ID number only

– Figure out if ID number was actually changed– Link to billing data from external file to determine if

there is a bill on the old record

Audit Step – analyze ID numbersAudit Step – analyze ID numbers

Extracted all audit log records associated with table that contains ID numbers – Reduced from 3,000,000 records to 68,000 records

Isolated new and old ID numbers using split function

Added new expressions to determine if new ID number was different than OLD ID number

Joined records to billing data to determine if bills went out on OLD ID number

Analyze ID numbersAnalyze ID numbers

Split old and new fields

Create field that identifies old field that had an official transport number starting with FR0

Create field that identifies records where old and new number do not match

Analyze ID Numbers - ResultsAnalyze ID Numbers - Results

38 records where old ID number in medical record matched a bill in the external billing data

SummarySummary

Learned where to apply functions in filters, expression fields and ACL commands (i.e. – classify)

Function Syntax Computed Fields Combining Functions Multiple If Statements Cleaning Up Fields Conversion Functions