• The Long, Strange History of the SDDC Item Code Spreadsheet
• JPPMO-HHGS Visits Daycos
• Daycos Offers New Accubill Service
• Daycos Gets a Facelift

If you did not receive an email with this month’s newsletter, but would like to receive it directly each month, please feel free to subscribe here: Daycos Newsletter.

Related Posts

1. Daycos February 2012 Newsletter - February 16th, 2012
2. Daycos April 2012 Newsletter - April 20th, 2012
3. Daycos January 2012 Newsletter - January 19th, 2012

The current SDDC Item Code spreadsheet.

The document known as the “Domestic and International Code List” is a spreadsheet published by SDDC that contains many pieces of vital information for electronic invoice submission and processing. It is the official record for many important items, such as which PPSO needs to approve charges, official units of measure for each line item, which 400NG discount may be applied, and other essential information necessary to submit invoices via Electronic Data Interchange (EDI).

Despite containing so much vital information, the spreadsheet itself had a very humble beginning. It was started during the early days of Phase 1 of what was known as Families First (now DP3), when the industry was learning how to submit EDI invoices to PowerTrack, as the US Bank Payment system was called at the time, and having them approved in a brand new system called CWA. Naturally, Daycos was very involved in the testing and initial launch of the electronic billing process. John Day, founder of Daycos, realized there needed to be  a way to keep track of the information and requirements for the different item codes we were submitting. He decided to start an Excel spreadsheet and enter all the international and domestic item codes and their requirements.

As time went on, he updated this spreadsheet with information gathered from US Bank and SDDC representatives, as well as what was learned through trial and error of the invoicing process. Soon word got out that Daycos had a document that contained all sorts of data about each item code, and we were asked to share it with government and other industry representatives. As word spread, more and more people starting asking for a copy and soon it was being used by people involved in all aspects of the program. Daycos would be notified of any changes to the item code requirements, so that we could update the “item code spreadsheet”, as it came to be known.

Eventually, the spreadsheet became less and less of an internal spreadsheet used by Daycos to track information, and more and more of an official document that was used to support the electronic invoicing process. Eventually, we asked SDDC to take over ownership of the spreadsheet, and treat it as a supporting document of the tariffs, which is how it is used today.

While we are glad we no longer have to be responsible for the spreadsheet, over the years there have been times when we wished that we still had “ownership”, just so we could address a couple of issues we have with the way the current spreadsheet is handled.

First, it is document that needs regular updates, as the tariff changes. Over the years, the item code spreadsheet has not been updated, and the outdated information has caused us problems in certain circumstances. We have provided suggested updates to JPMO-HHGs and SDDC, but we are still waiting for those changes to be made. We suspect that part of the challenge in updating the item code spreadsheet is that it is a document that is part technical and part policy, and living in the world between SDDC and JPMO-HHGs.

The other problem we encounter with the item code spreadsheet is that is sometime used incorrectly by PPSOs to deny valid charges. Since it was started as an internal Daycos document, it never really had full explanations of the meanings of the columns, or any sort of guide or key explaining what each piece of data means. This has led to misinterpretations of the spreadsheet causing PPSOs to deny items based on what they think it says.

We have one case where a PPSO has denied approximately $10,000 in CONUS fuel surcharge items because they have misinterpreted the spreadsheet and think the charges should be sent to the origin OCONUS PPSO. It is ironic that a document started by Daycos to make it easier to do electronic billing would be used almost 10 years later to incorrectly deny approval of valid line items we have billed.

Regardless, we are hopeful that the item code spreadsheet is updated soon so that this issue can be resolved, and some guidance is given to PPSOs to help them understand the item code spreadsheet. Until then, we may keep regretting that we ever gave up control of that spreadsheet many years ago.

Related Posts

1. Incorrect Version of DPS Item Code Spreadsheet Posted on SDDC Website - March 31st, 2008
2. Updated Item Codes Spreadsheet - September 7th, 2006
3. Updated Item Codes Spreadsheet - September 12th, 2007

GBL Domestic HHG / International HHG & UB – 16%

GSA Domestic HHG – $1.55

GSA International HHG and BAG – $1.55

Related Posts

1. Fuel surcharge for period 01/15/08 to 02/14/08 - January 8th, 2008
2. Fuel Surcharge for Period 7/15/11 to 8/14/11 - July 6th, 2011
3. Fuel Surcharge for Period 10/15/09 to 11/14/09 - October 6th, 2009

The bases included in Phase II are:

• JPPSO-WA, DC
• JPPSO-Lewis/Fort Lewis, WA
• Fort Bragg, NC
• HQ US Army Garrison/Fort Hood, TX
• US Army Air Defense Artillery Center/Fort Bliss, TX
• Fort Campbell, KY
• Fort Riley, KS
• Fort Stewart, GA
• JPPSO-New Jersey/Fort Dix, NJ
• JPPSO-San Antonio, TX
• JPPSO-Pearl Harbor, HI
• FISC, Puget Sound, WA
• MCB, Camp Lejeune, NC
• MCB, Camp  Pendleton, CA

Any shipments that are moving through any of the bases mentioned will be invoiced electronically starting this month – which will include any invoices for Handle-In or Handle-Out charges. Quarterly Storage invoices for these bases will begin to be invoiced electronically in July.

With one week before the launch of Phase II, the first, most important step is to make sure your company is set-up with US Bank. This must be done before you can receive any payments for NTS shipments. As part of Daycos’ NTS billing service, we will work directly with US Bank to make sure your company is completely set-up in their system. That way you have one less step to worry about before Phase II is launched.

US Bank will be holding a NTS ‘Question and Answer’ conference call on Thursday, May 3rd at 11am CST to discuss the payment process and contracting process. To attend the conference call, please dial 877.747.4538 (access code: 6483079#).

There are a lot of changes coming, but Daycos is here to help. As you all know and have experienced firsthand, transition in this industry is never easy – especially with another dramatic change on the horizon. If you have any questions at all regarding the Phase II roll-out, please contact us at 800.366.1440 or via email at nts@daycos.com.

Related Posts

1. NTS Electronic Billing Started Slow, But Paying Fast - April 19th, 2012
2. Electronic Billing Implementation for NTS Delayed - August 9th, 2011
3. Updated Site List for Phase I of Families First - March 18th, 2005

• NTS Electronic Billing Started Slow, But Paying Fast
• Daycos’ Kids Volunteer Their Time
• Daycos Continues to Diversify Service Offerings
• SAM.Gov Launches as Government Umbrella Website

If you did not receive an email with this month’s newsletter, but would like to receive it directly each month, please feel free to subscribe here: Daycos Newsletter.

Related Posts

1. Daycos April 2010 Newsletter - April 21st, 2010
2. Daycos February 2012 Newsletter - February 16th, 2012
3. Daycos May 2012 Newsletter - May 18th, 2012

The Phase I launch included all NTS shipments in the JPPSO-COS region, as well Coast Guard locations. Daycos is handling invoicing duties on behalf of a number of NTS contractors who are active in Phase I, and have seen both good and bad news in this first week of working in the new system.

The best news is that we are seeing payment times that are fast by any standards, but startling fast compared to the current NTS payment processes. Once we have verified  and marked the invoices as complete in the US Bank system, nearly every invoice is being paid within 24 hours. We have even seen some move into “Payment Initiated” status within a couple of hours of submission. This is impressive considering that after we verify the invoice and mark as complete; the PPSO needs to do a final approval on the invoice before it is sent for payment.

While this is a very positive sign, it might be a little too early to declare success. First of all, all of the invoices that we have seen paid so far are JPPSO-COS invoices. JPPSO-COS has been the leader in the rolling out the NTS electronic billing process, so it is likely this rollout has high visibility in their offices, which would partially explain the extremely quick turnaround time on these invoices. It will be interesting to see how payment times react as the electronic billing expands beyond the JPPSO-COS offices.

More of a concern is the missing invoices. There are roughly 5% of the invoices we are expecting that have not yet shown up in the US Bank system. We have at least six customers for which we haven’t seen a single invoice yet. None of the Coast Guard locations’ invoices have shown up in the US Bank system as of today. Hopefully whatever bugs are causing these invoices to go missing will be quickly rectified, so those invoices can be paid as well.

All in all, after a slow start to the first week of NTS electronic billing, there are some promising signs. If the missing invoice issue can be fixed, and NTS contractors can continue to receive payments in days, this move to electronic billing will be a welcomed change.

If you would like more information about Daycos’ NTS Billing services, please call us at 800-366-1440 or email us at nts@daycos.com. If you would like to be added to our NTS information mailing list, please click here.

Related Posts

1. Slow DPS Data Updates = Slow Invoice Payments - September 30th, 2009
2. Military Services Find 23 Million Reasons to Move Non-Temp to Electronic Billing - May 18th, 2011
3. NTS Phase I Launch Off to a Slow Start - April 17th, 2012

We did have a few more populate on Friday and Saturday, but as of this morning, we are still waiting for many of the invoices to appear in the US Bank Payment System yet. We were expecting at least 4 more files (invoice batches) yesterday that would have contained the bulk of the missing invoices, but instead we only received 6 total invoices.

There has also been one large problem that we’ve encountered while working the invoices we have received, and it affects every Quarterly Storage invoice. All of the Quarterly Storage invoices in US Bank’s Payment System are entered incorrectly. The billed unit price that was entered is the actual rate applicable for the entire quarterly storage amount, which is then multiplied by the applicable months of quarterly storage. This is causing every one of the Quarterly Storage invoices to have to be recalculated and manually updated before it can be submitted for payment. We are making these changes and submitting for payment quickly, so this problem should not hold up our customers’ payments, but it is causing quite a bit of extra work to keep the invoices moving.

Luckily, this problem hasn’t affected any of the Handle In or Handle Out invoices we have seen so far, as all of those we have checked up to this point seem to be calculating correctly.

We’ve been waiting patiently, but we’re hoping the rest of the invoices start coming through by the end of the day today. Until then, we will continue to work each invoice that comes our way and monitor its progress until we can see that they’ve all been paid in full.

If you have any questions at all regarding Phase I — or the new NTS invoicing process in general, please do not hesitate to let us know. You can contact us at 800.366.1440 or via email at nts@daycos.com.

Related Posts

1. Last Minute Change Made Before the Launch of Phase I - April 11th, 2012
2. NTS Electronic Billing Started Slow, But Paying Fast - April 19th, 2012
3. Slow DPS Data Updates = Slow Invoice Payments - September 30th, 2009

Initially everyone was told when Phase I rolls out, it would only be for Handle In and Handle Out invoices — that Quarterly Storage invoices would not be processed electronically until 2nd quarter (July 2012). However, we learned that DoD decided that when Phase I rolls out this week, it will now be for all invoices for NTS shipments for JPPSO-Colorado Springs and the Coast Guard locations (Kodiak, Alameda, Miami & Ketchikan) — including Quarter Storage invoices.

Please keep in mind that Phase I invoicing is only for the bases listed above — companies who have shipments moving through locations other than JPPSO-COS, Kodiak, Alameda, Miami or Ketchnikan — those invoices will still be processed manually by DFAS. It’s even possible that while these phases are rolling out, you may have some of your shipments invoiced electronically and some still processed manually.

We also want to remind our Daycos customers that we are in need of copies of your warehouse inventory and for you to verify your rates before the launch of Phase I on Thursday, April 12th. You can submit them to our office via email at support@daycos.com at your convenience.

As you all know and have experienced yourselves firsthand, transition in this industry is never easy — especially with another dramatic change on the horizon. If you have any questions at all regarding the upcoming roll-out, please contact us at 800.366.1440 or via email at nts@daycos.com.

Related Posts

1. NTS Phase I Launch Off to a Slow Start - April 17th, 2012
2. Families First Phase I Invoicing - March 9th, 2005
3. Phase I Metrics Illustrated - July 18th, 2006

GBL Domestic HHG / International HHG & UB – 17%

GSA Domestic HHG – $1.64

GSA International HHG and BAG – $1.64

Related Posts

1. Fuel surcharge for period 01/15/08 to 02/14/08 - January 8th, 2008
2. Fuel Surcharge for Period 7/15/11 to 8/14/11 - July 6th, 2011
3. Fuel Surcharge for Period 10/15/09 to 11/14/09 - October 6th, 2009

The industry has often asked SDDC to see information that is being shared with PPSOs, so that they would know the directions given. By making this training available on their website, SDDC is offering TSPs the ability to review the guidance being given to PPSOs on QA actions.  It can only help communication to have the PPSOs, TSPs, and SDDC all on the same page.

QA activities have generated a lot of discussion among TSPs due to the inconsistent and arbitrary nature in which QA actions are sometimes handled by different bases. It appears SDDC is attempting to bring some uniformity and consistency to the process by offering this training to PPSOs. TSPs may be able to use these training materials  in a discussion with a PPSO who may be incorrectly applying the QA rules.

The need for consistent, clear QA actions will become more important as regionalization occurs. A GBLOC level suspension that occurs when there are only 7 CONUS bases will have a much larger impact than most GBLOC level suspensions do today. Hopefully, between training such as this and more discussion between SDDC, the military services, and the industry, problems caused by inconsistent or incorrect QA actions can be prevented before they have any long-lasting negative impacts on individual TSPs.

 Do you think this training will help with inconsistent QA actions taken by bases? Was there anything in the webinar that surprised you? Use the comments below to share your opinion.

Related Posts

1. Incorrect Version of DPS Item Code Spreadsheet Posted on SDDC Website - March 31st, 2008
2. DPS Training Sessions - November 27th, 2007
3. SDDC Posts PPF Agenda, UpdatedTariffs, and TSP Update on Website - November 2nd, 2009