Transaction Exchange Agreement Process

The Transaction Exchange Agreement Process (TEP) is the data transfer process used by state systems to exchange child support enforcement information with other states via the CSENet 2000 Application Suite. The suite uses common transaction formats for generating and processing child support transactions. (For detailed information on these formats, see the CSENet 2000 Data Block Record Layout, refer to Appendix B of the CSENet 2000 Interface Guidance Document (IGD)).

The CSENet suite exchanges transaction files with specified locations on the state system. These locations, usually data set names, are identified by states and maintained in the State Profile (refer to Appendix I of the CSENet 2000 Interface Guidance Document (IGD) for additional information). Primary data sets include:

• Outgoing Transactions data set contains transactions to be forwarded to other state systems;
• Incoming Transactions data set contains transactions from other state systems; and
• Other data sets contains Interstate Roster and Referral Guide (IRG) data or reports generated by CSENet.

The figure below displays an overview of the TEP cycle for a transaction file.

A detailed step by step description of the TEP cycle for a transaction file is presented below.

Step 1. Sending state loads its Outgoing Transaction data set with transactions addressed to other members of the CSENet user community.

Step 2. During a pre-scheduled Send-to-State interface initiated by the OCSE server the state's outgoing transactions are retrieved.

Step 3. Immediately after the OCSE server receives transactions, the entire transaction file is validated against the Data Block Record Layout criteria.

• If a validation condition is violated, an error code and message, along with the transaction's serial number, are written to the Error Report for each defective transaction.
• After verifying all transactions received from the state, a Validation Report is written to the Send-to-State report directory. If an Error Report exists, it is also written to this directory.
• Valid transactions are written to a file to be uploaded to the destination state(s) and are saved by the CSENet database.

Step 4. During a pre-scheduled Send-to-State interface session, the Validation and Error Reports are uploaded to the data sets defined for each of these reports. The Interface Report and log files are also uploaded during this step. Additionally, any IRG or Newsflash files the state requested are uploaded.

Step 5. States access their data set locations to determine available reports and other data files.

Step 6. Transactions that passed validation along with any other transactions awaiting delivery are uploaded to the destination state system(s) during the pre-scheduled Send-to-State interface to the destination state(s).