EDI Frequently Asked Questions

• How do I check whether my file has been sent successfully?
• How soon should I have confirmation of receipt?
• What should I do if no reply file is received?
• How many confirmation files will I receive?
• What will an acknowledgment file contain?
• What will an error file contain?
• What errors will be reported?

How do I check whether my file has been sent successfully?

There are three separate ways of checking the status of your file transfer. These are

• Log file on your local machine
• Audit trail from your EDI carrier
• Reply file from AQA

Log file - the whereabouts of and information contained in your local log file will vary according to carrier software you are using. It contains a record of the file transfers which your machine thinks have been performed, but cannot be relied upon as evidence that the transfer has been successful.

Audit trail from your carrier - again this will vary according to the carrier being used for the file transfer. Some carriers confirm the successful transfer of a file by sending a mail message or other system message; others allow an online search of the server logs. If in doubt, you should consult your EDI software service provider or check the product documentation.

Reply file from AQA - this will be a text file sent by AQA via the carrier used for the original submission with a file name of the form Xccccc70.Xnn where ccccc represents your centre number, 70 is the board code and nn is a version number. The file itself will be a plain text file, capable of being read in any standard editor or word processing software. The reply files are sent by file transfer using the same method that centres use to transfer files to the boards. Your carrier software can probably be configured to allow you the choice of location for receipt of these files. You should make sure you know where to locate these files on your system and that you have the means to read or print them.

How soon should I have confirmation of receipt?

Each incoming file received by AQA will generate a reply file, normally within one working day of being received by the Board. Under normal circumstances files are collected at least once a day, and more frequently at busy times, so reply files will usually be returned within two working days.

What should I do if no reply file is received?

(NB: AQA is sending out reply files for examination series beginning with Summer 2001 GCE and GCSE. Reply files for earlier series will not be sent.)

First check the carrier audit trail and local transfer logs. If the local log indicates that the file has been transferred successfully and the audit trail shows that the file has been collected by AQA then you should contact the Entries Section. If the audit trail shows that the file has not been collected by AQA or that there has been an error in transfer then you should contact the EDI carrier.

How many confirmation files will I receive?

Each file sent to AQA by EDI will be acknowledged by at least one and possibly two reply files. Two types of reply files will be generated, acknowledgment and error. An acknowledgment file will be created when a file is received and successfully processed by AQA. An error file will be generated when the file received by AQA cannot be successfully processed. A file which has failed processing may subsequently be fixed by AQA staff. If this is the case a second reply file will be generated, this time to acknowledge the successful processing of the original submission.

What will an acknowledgment file contain?

Confirmation that the file has been processed
Centre number
Series indicated in the file header
Year indicated in the file header
Date and time of receipt from carrier
Date and time of generation of reply file
File name
File type (Entries, Amendment etc.)
Count of detail records received

What will an error file contain?

Warning that the file has not been processed
File information as for acknowledgment files
Listing of error encountered in processing
An instruction either to remedy the error if possible and re-send the file, or contact AQA.

What errors will be reported?

The most common error which causes files to fail processing is an incorrect series code or series/year combination. It is important to use the series code as notified in the entry documentation and reflected in the basedata files. While errors of this kind can be corrected by editing the file, it is important to be aware that all further files produced for that series (amendments, forecast grades, coursework marks) will also fail processing unless the error is corrected at source by the centre.

Other errors which would be reported are such things as duplicate files (where an identical file has already been received and processed) or another entry file for a series where an entry file from that centre has already been processed (all further changes should come as amendments). A file which was not in the inter-board format (e.g. incorrect line length) would also generate an error report.