Spreadsheet

When submitting a reimbursement claim, you have the option to submit an XLS or XLSX file. However, you will no longer upload to BOX. Below are submission requirements, instructions, caveats, and guidance to resolve some issues you may encounter.

Submitting a Reimbursement Claim via Spreadsheet

You must first fill out the reimbursement claim spreadsheet with all of the required data and the supporting documentation. These files must be packaged into a ZIP file, which contains two files:

• A single Excel file that is formatted based on the spreadsheet and filing instructions found here: National Deaf-Blind Equipment Distribution Program (NDBEDP) – RolkaLoube

• The second file must be a single PDF that contains all supporting documentation

After these files are ready, call the ReimbursementClaimSpreadsheet endpoint, fill out the data, then submit the ZIP file.

A new reimbursement claim spreadsheet record is created and put in a holding state to await processing. Once processed, any individual from the submitting entity/state who is subscribed to notifications is emailed the results (see Notifications). If any parsing fails, then an email is sent with the results. See Resolving Issues (below) for more information.

Assuming the process worked correctly, the following happens:

• Consumers are created from the Customers tab of the spreadsheet. (This does not account for duplicates.)

• Equipment line items are created from the Dist and Demo Equipment tab of the spreadsheet.

• Other line items are created from the Request Details tab of the spreadsheet.

• All line items are linked to the reimbursement claim.

Next, you will submit the record. See Reimbursement Claim for more information.

Limitations

Submitting a reimbursement claim via spreadsheet presents several limitations that are described in this topic. Alternate methods for data entry are through the API or front-end system. See Reimbursement Claim to view the process to submit reimbursement claims via the API.

• Inability to relate data effectively

  • Spreadsheets do not enable all data to come through and be related.

• Potential for conflicts and duplicate data

  • Repeatedly using the spreadsheet will create conflicted records, depending on how data is populated.

  • If a spreadsheet is uploaded multiple times, it will duplicate all of the data.

• Limited error-checking capability and cumbersome troubleshooting and resolution

  • There is a good chance that a mistake could exist in the spreadsheet.

  • Assuming it is not a parsing issue, then users may have to go through the data and resolve it manually if it gets caught. This may involve making post requests to modify the data or going through the client or other process utilizing the API.

• Slower and less frequent processing and reporting of results

  • Because reviewing the spreadsheet is an intensive process, it is handled by a separate job. This results in it potentially taking a while to process the spreadsheet and return an error.

  • Because of the potential for errors, the job handles a limited number of spreadsheet requests per hour.

Resolving issues

If the parsing failed

If there is an error, then the ReimbursementClaimSpreadsheet result will fail and you will have to resubmit the ZIP files with the corrected data. Any issues will be presented in the email if someone is subscribed to the notifications. The result should have a description of each issue, and where it is located.

If data is incorrect post process

Sometimes data input by the end-user had faults, but the data was not technically illegal, and it goes through. In this situation, a user can go through either the front-end system or with their own system that interacts with the API to manually resolve each issue and inconsistency. The subitems relate to the ReimbursementClaimSpreadsheet Id, so it is relatively simple to identify the subitems that were added via the spreadsheet. However, additional calls will need to be made to identify them all since we are not currently providing endpoints to find all subitems/line items under a certain line item.

Contact the Reimbursement Manager if you are unable to resolve any issues.