Original publication date: March, 2006
Softshare has a recommendation for you: broaden the export date range to include the previous quarter. Why? Because EDMIS allows you to upload records for the quarter prior to the current quarter export. So if you found a stack of counseling sessions, conferences, and inquiries on your desk that never made it into the last EDMIS export, they can be entered into Softshare 'CATS (under session dates from the previous quarter) and uploaded along with this quarter's data. Assuming that the Prevent edit/add/deletion of old records? global configuration has been configured for your database to preserve all records dated earlier than January 1, 2006, as Softshare strongly recommended, only system administrators will be able to add records for the prior quarter.
Broadening the export date range will not negatively impact your export in any way. WinCATS recognizes records that have been previously accepted by EDMIS and will not resend those records, even if they fall within the export date range. But with that said, you should make sure that all records from your final EDMIS export record have had their statuses set to "accepted."
If you do broaden your export date range for the next EDMIS export, don't be tempted to break the export into two batches. Because initial counseling sessions must precede follow-up sessions into the EDMIS system, it's simplest to submit data from the entire date range at once to avoid any rejections due to sequencing.
A word of caution. EDMIS will only accept brand new data for a prior quarter. If you edit or delete data that is certified (as all data from the last export is), EDMIS will reject those changes and you will cause synchronization issues between Softshare 'CATS and the EDMIS database.
Another word of caution. EDMIS' ability to accept records for a prior quarter remains untested, as of today. In theory, it is supposed to work. However, if you know that your center will be uploading new records for the first quarter, consider starting early in case any technical issues are encountered.