LEXIS-NEXIS
____________________________________________________
EDGAR DISSEMINATION SERVICE
SUBSCRIBER DOCUMENTATION
_________________________________________________________________
_
Release 4.1 April,
1995
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. INTRODUCTION
2. LEVEL 1 BROADCAST SERVICE
3. LEVEL 1 TAPE SERVICE
4. LEVEL 2 TAPE SERVICE
5. DISSEMINATION DATA STREAM
5.1 Record Layout
5.2 File Format
5.3 Data Format
5.4 Corrections to Data
5.5 Audit File
6. CONFIRMATION FILE TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
7. ERROR RECOVERY PROCEDURES
7-1 Error situations
7.2 Retransmission processing
APPENDIX A: Level 1 Format for Public Dissemination
APPENDIX B: Public Dissemination Fields Description
APPENDIX C: Document Type Definition
APPENDIX D: Public Document Fields Description
APPENDIX E: Submission Types
APPENDIX F: Document Types
APPENDIX G: State/Country Codes
APPENDIX H: Standard Industrial Clasification(SIC) Codes
APPENDIX I: Correction Examples
APPENDIX J: Level II Tape Subsets
APPENDIX K: Data Usage Matrix
APPENDIX L: Broadcast Subscriber Test Plan & Router Management
1. INTRODUCTION
EDGAR is the Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis and Retrieval
System established by the Securities and Exchange Commission
(SEC). EDGAR allows companies to make required filings to the
SEC via direct transmission, diskette, or magnetic tape.
The data to be exchanged between the EDGAR host and the
Dissemination Subsystem fall into the following categories:
Public documents from live filings accepted by the
SEC EDGAR system (including Post Acceptance
Corrections);
Audit Files;
Confirmation Files.
The EDGAR host will forward the public accepted filings
electronically over a dedicated communication link to the
Dissemination Subsystem operated and maintained by Lexis-Nexis
based on the output Document Type Definition (DTD). As defined
in the Protocol Specification, each file transmitted either
online or via tape, consists of a control block and a filing
block. The control block is a 256 byte fixed format uncompressed
section of binary & ascii text. The filing block is defined by
the DTD in this document and its contents are described in more
detail in the rest of this document.
At the end of each day, an Audit file will be transmitted by
EDGAR. The Audit File will contain information on all files
which had been transmitted from EDGAR to the Dissemination
Subsystem during the current business day. The Audit file is the
official record of what EDGAR has sent to the Dissemination
subsystem for that business day, and will be utilized by
Dissemination to reconcile against what has been received by the
Dissemination subsystem.
A Confirmation File is then transmitted to EDGAR from the
Dissemination Subsystem. The purpose of the Confirmation File is
to allow Dissemination to specify processing status for each of
the filings transmitted from EDGAR to the Dissemination Subsystem
as noted in the Audit File.
Any files listed in the Audit file which were not successfully
received by Dissemination are flagged as such in the Confirmation
file flag and will be retransmitted by EDGAR to Dissemination.
Lastly, an End of Business Day transaction will complete the
electronic processing for that day and the session will be
closed.
This document contains an SGML DTD which defines the public
dissemination stream in such a way that the data stream can be
unambiguously verified using an SGML parser. In addition, a tag
list, tag description, and data usage matrix (DUM), have been
provided to give easily readable descriptions of the data stream
and to provide additional information about conditional
relationships between tags which are not always apparent from the
DTD.
In accordance with the SEC EDGAR contract, Lexis-Nexis, as the
dissemination subcontractor, is offering several data services
through the EDGAR Dissemination Service.
Live filings on the operational EDGAR system began July 15, 1992.
There were approximately 450 voluntary filers who had also
participated in the EDGAR Pilot Service. In February 1993 the
SEC adopted Interim EDGAR Rules and set the dates for additional
filer phase-in as follows:
Group/Approximate '33 Act '40 Act
Phase-In Date Companies Companies
Cumulative
CF-01/ April 1993 240 250 490
CF-02/ July 1993 +753 +450 1,693
CF-03/ Oct 1993 +749 2,442
CF-04/ Dec 1993 +1000
3,442
**Twelve Month Congressionally Mandated Test Period**
CF-05/ Jan 30, 1995 +1499 +800
5,741
CF-06/ Mar 06, 1995 +1497 +800
8,038
CF-07/ May 01, 1995 +1499 +800
10,337
CF-08/ Aug 07, 1995 +1496
11,833
CF-09/ Nov 06 1995 +1499 +800
14,132
CF-10/ May 06, 1996 +808 ____
14,940
Total 11,040 3,900
The EDGAR Dissemination Service hours of operation are 8:00 a.m
to 10 p.m. For questions or additional information, please call:
EDGAR Dissemination Customer Service 1-800-542-9246
2. LEVEL 1 BROADCAST SERVICE
The Level 1 Broadcast Service allows a subscriber to elect to
receive all public filings as a broadcast stream of data. The
Level 1 subscriber to this option is required to take delivery of
the data F.O.B. at the Lexis-Nexis Dissemination facility. The
subscriber choosing this option will be required to provide one
of the following; a series of 56KB lines, a fractional T1 line,
or a dedicated T1 line, as well as line termination equipment
such as a multiplexer that will terminate on dedicated
communications ports on the Dissemination Service platform. The
subscriber will also need to provide like DSU's at both ends of
the communication line and any routers needed. It is also
recommended that the subscriber provide a spare DSU at the GEIS
facility in the event the installed DSU fails. All equipment and
configurations must also be approved by the Lexis-Nexis
Dissemination Company.
After approval, the subscriber's broadcast receipt process will
undergo testing insure that all necessary criteria relating to
connectivity and broadcast receipt are met. The Dissemination
test process is designed to execute the Test Plan (detailed in
Appendix L) with the subscriber on a test dissemination system.
Once complete, the subscriber will be moved to the production
Dissemination server to receive "live" data in a "test mode"
while dissemination personnel monitor their operation. The
subscriber will remain in a "test mode" for one week. The
subscriber is then defined as in "production", or moved back to
the test dissemination environment for further testing and
evaluation. Test tapes, with examples of live data, are available
to assist the subscriber with their evaluation and testing
processes.
If the subscriber chooses a 56kb configuration, it is anticipated
that for the peak filing period during the year up to seven 56KB
lines will be required. It will be the responsibility of the
subscriber to install the additional lines necessary for peak
periods. The broadcast service currently uses either the X.25 or
the TCP/IP communications protocol for the broadcast data stream.
The X.25 protocol supports the 56kb configuration, and the TCP/IP
will support bandwidth up to a T1 circuit. Documentation for
either the X.25 or the TCP/IP protocols is available upon
request.
At some point, the Broadcast Service will be delivering
compressed data and the broadcast subscriber will receive source
code for decompressing the data. Also as part of the
subscription agreement the subscriber will receive up to 5 hours
of technical consultation to assist in establishing
communications links, how to receive the data, and in testing the
subscriber.
In order to accommodate subscribers who wish to receive these
filings in tape format as a backup, overnight delivery service
will be provided to these subscribers at a reduced- cost option.
In the event of an outage or broadcast problem, backup tapes for
the business day will be automatically shipped to the subscriber.
3. LEVEL 1 TAPE SERVICE
The Level 1 Tape option of the Dissemination Service allows a
subscriber to elect to receive all public filings on tape. Daily
tapes would include all filings received by the Dissemination
Service (or begin to be received by the Dissemination Service) by
5:30 p.m. ET each business day. The subscriber may choose to
receive filings processed on either 3480 or 8mm cartridges
At some point the Level 1 Tape Service will be delivering
compressed data and the subscriber will receive source code for
decompressing the data. Also, as part of the subscription
agreement the subscriber will receive up to 5 hours of technical
consultation to assist in processing the data.
The Level 1 tape service became available with the first live
filings on the operational system in July of 1992.
See Appendix E for a list of all submission types included in
EDGAR.
4. LEVEL 2 TAPE SERVICE
The Level 2 Tape Service allows a subscriber to elect to receive
one or more of eight SEC-specified subsets of public filings on
tape. Daily tapes would include all filings in each subset
received or being received by the Dissemination Service by 5:30
p.m. ET each business day. Tapes will be processed the same
business day and shipped to customers by overnight courier.
At some point the Level 2 Tape Service will be delivering
compressed data and the subscriber will receive source code for
decompressing the data. Also, as part of the subscription
agreement the subscriber will receive up to 5 hours of technical
consultation to assist in processing the data.
Subset 1: Periodic filings by companies on the New York
Stock Exchange: Forms 10-K, 10-Q, 8-K, 10 and all
Definitive Proxies.
Subset 2: Periodic filings by companies on the American
Stock Exchange: Forms 10-K, 10Q, 8-K, 10 and all
Definitive Proxies.
Subset 3: Periodic filings by companies traded on
NASDAQ: Forms 10-K, 10-Q, 8-K, 10 and all
Definitive Proxies.
Subset 4: Ownership Reports: Schedules 12-D, 14D, 14D-
9, 13-G, 13-E1, 13-E3, and 13-E4 plus Form 13-FE &
13-FE/A.
Subset 5: Annual and quarterly reports of all companies
pursuant to the Securities Exchange Act of 1934:
Forms 10-K and 10-Q.
Subset 6: Securities Act of 1933 Registration
Statements to include: S-1, S-2, S-3, S-4, S-6, S-
8, S-11, S-20, N-1, N-1A, N-2, N-3, N-4, N-5, N-
8A, N-14, F-1, F-2, F-3, F-4, F-6, and related
form types.
Subset 7: Annual and quarterly reports of all companies
pursuant to the Securities Exchange Act of 1934:
Forms 10-K and 10-Q plus Preliminary & Definitive
Proxies.
Subset 8: Periodic reports filed under the Investment
Company Act of 1940: Forms NSAR-A, NSAR-B and
NSAR-U.
For the first three (3) subsets, if the referenced filing has not
been flagged as belonging to an exchange, the filing is assumed
to belong to each of the three (3) subsets. See Appendix J for a
complete list of submission types in each subset.
5. DISSEMINATION DATA STREAM
5.1 Record Layout
Both Level I and Level II subscriptions are available in either
3480 or 8mm cartridge formats. For both tape services the
Submission information has been stored on cartridge tape with the
following specifications:
IBM Standard Label or ANSI Standard Label
ASCII or EBCDIC Character Sets
3480 cartridge or 8mm cartridge
Record length: 32,760
Tape Combinations
Label Type Character Set
3480 Cartridge IBM/ANSI ASCII/EBCDIC
8mm Cartridge IBM/ANSI ASCII/EBCDIC
8 mm cartridge tape subsystems are available in the 8500 format.
An 8500 tape drive will be required by the subscriber in order to
read the data. The 8500 handles 300 MB to 5.0 GB.
5.2 File Format
Level 1 and Level 2 tapes are in stream file, multi-volume
format.
Level 1 tapes contain 2 files, one containing the submission data
and the other containing an audit file with information about the
submissions on the tape.
Level 2 tapes contain at a minimum 2 files. One file contains
the submission information for the subset selected and the second
file contains the audit information. In the case where a
subscriber elects more than one subset, the tape will contain one
file of the submission information and one of the audit
information for each subset.
Within the file, each submission is immediately preceded by a
Control Block. The Control Block is a 256-byte block that
identifies the associated submission by providing key
information. At some point in the future when the data is
compressed, the Control Block will remain uncompressed thereby
saving the receiver from decompressing and parsing the submission
in order to obtain information about it. Fields in the control
block are blank padded and blank filled where appropriate. The
fields are described in the following table in their exact order.
FIELD SIZE (BYTES)
DESCRIPTION
Accession Number 20 EDGAR accession
number
Submission type 10 Form type
of submission
Filing Company Name 60 Conformed filing company name
Subject Company Name 60 Conformed subject company
name
Filing Date 8 Date the
filing was received by EDGAR
The
format is YYYYMMDD.
Acceptance Date 8 Date the filing
was accepted by
E
DGAR. Format is YYYYMMDD.
Acceptance Time 6 Time (ET) at
which the filing was accepted
by
EDGAR. Format is HHMMSS.
Build Time 6 Time (ET)
at which the filing was built
on
EDGAR. The format is
YYYYMMDD:HHMMSS.
Reserved 6
Priority 1
Submission priority set by
EDGAR. The
format is binary. Values are:
3 -
post-acceptance correction
4 -
low
8 -
medium
12 - high
16 -
high priority company
Public Flag 1 Flag is
always 1.
Transaction type 1 An indicator
describing the transaction
type.
Format is binary. Values are:
1 -
submission
2 -
retransmission
3 -
correction
4 -
deletion
5 -
filing transfer
6 -
document transfer
SRO distribution 4 A listing of
the SROs to
list which
the submission is sent. The
format is
a
binary bitmap (bits and types
ordered
right-
to-left) More than one bit
may be set.
Bit
values are:
1 -
AMEX
2 -
BSE
3 -
CBOE
4 - CSE
5 -
MSE
6 -
NASD
7 -
NYSE
8 -
PHLX
9 -
PSE
10 -
SSE
Reserved 65
5.3 Data Format
The data from the EDGAR system which will be available from the
Dissemination Subsystem fall into the following categories:
Y public documents from filings accepted by the SEC
EDGAR system (including post-acceptance corrections and
post-acceptance deletions), and
Y Audit files.
The submission header for filings provides tagged data which
identifies both filer and filing information for the documents
included in the submission. There may be multiple documents
associated with the submission. Each document will have its own
document specific header with tagged data identifying document
information. The first tag of each submission will be
and the last tag of each submission will be
.
Individual documents within a submission will be designated with
a tag and the end of the document with .
The structure of a submission can be represented as:
submission
3
UAA
3 3 3 3 3
filer filer filer doc 1 doc 2 doc 3
3 3 3 3 3 3
UA UA UA text text text
filing filing filing filing filing filing
values values values values values values
Most of the tagged data appears at the top of the submission
prior to the text of the filing. The text of a document is
indicated by the tag and marks the beginning of the
official filing.
Appendix A is a complete list of submission header data elements
and document header data elements. Submission headers vary from
submission type to submission type and not all data elements will
be present in each submission. The list indicates which elements
are required, optional or repeatable under the tagging scheme.
Appendix B provides detailed information on the tagged data
including a description of the value, length of the field, data
characteristics, format and limits.
5.3.1 Financial Data
Tabular data are included in the text of many documents. Tables
wider than 80 characters will be tagged with the
tags. Tables less that 80 characters wide may be tagged at the
filer's discretion. Wide tables also have tagging requirements
for the stub , column and caption portions.
Individual pieces of data are tagged within the table with the
appropriate tag. A list of acceptable financial tags is available
in Appendix A.
Note that filers generally use a word processing package to
prepare their filings. Tables prepared utilizing control
characters in the word processing package may lose their
structure in the conversion to ASCII for transmission to the SEC.
5.3.2 Document Type Definition (DTD)
Appendix C is a copy of the Document Type Definition (DTD). The
DTD defines the rules that apply Standard Generalized Markup
Language (SGML) to the markup of a particular type of submission.
The DTD is available in electronic form upon request.
5.3.3 Submission and Form Types
Appendix E provides a list of the public forms which are valid
for the submission type value. Appendix F provides a list of the
public forms which are valid for the document type value.
Frequently a general form type will have a number of variations.
For example, these are 5 variations on the form 10-K.
10-K Basic 10-K
10-KT 10-K filed by a company in
transition due to a change in the end of the
fiscal year
NT 10-K 10-K filed late (not timely (NT))
NTN10-K Notice to file a late 10-K
10KSB 10-K filed by a small business
In addition most form types may be amended by the filer in which
case the revised submission is designated by a /A following the
submission type, i.e. 10-K/A, 10KSB/A.
5.3.4 CIK Numbers
The CIK or Central Index Key is a unique company identifier
assigned by the SEC. Occasionally it is necessary for the SEC to
send test filings through the Dissemination data stream. Those
filings are identified by 3 test CIKs of 0000350001 or 0000828912
or 0000849486. These filings should also include language
immediately following the tag which reads:
"SPECIMEN-NOT AN OFFICIAL FILING"
5.4 Corrections to Data
From time to time after the acceptance of a filing, corrections
to that filing must be made. If a filer chooses to change or
correct data within the text of a document, after it has been
accepted by EDGAR and subsequently disseminated, the filer must
submit an amendment to the filing which is processed and treated
as if it were a new filing. A separate accession number is
assigned to the submission and the value would reflect the
original form type followed by /A. For example, an amendment to
a 10-K would have 10-K/A in the field. Amendments to
filings will be disseminated in the same manner as any other
submission.
There are occasions when the SEC must correct or change a piece
of submission header data after the document has been
disseminated. Five types of post-acceptance corrections
submissions occur in the dissemination data stream. These are:
Y filing correction Y filing transfer Y same
accession #
Y filing deletion Y document transfer
In these cases the submission header and all associated document
headers will be redisseminated with corrected data. Additional
tags indicating will appear immediately following
the tag at the start of the submission header.
Following each tag is a tag which
provides the date and time of the dissemination of the post-
acceptance correction by EDGAR. There may also be additional
tags marking the correction. The text of the submission will not
be redisseminated.
The number of filers in a single submission can vary from one
upwards, depending on the type of submission. The number of
filing values per filer can vary from zero to two and be
different for each filer in a submission. The number of
documents can also vary.
Post-acceptance changes to a submission can affect both the
overall structure of a submission shown above and can also change
the values of fields in each part of the structure.
5.4.1 Filing Correction
The filing correction only affects the values of fields within
the submission structure and does not change the structure
itself. Values for the following tags may be changed in a filing
correction: , , , , , , , and .
The dissemination file for the correction of a filing contains
the submission header and all the document headers. There is no
document text in the file. The document headers and text for
this submission are unchanged by this type of transaction. The
number and types of registrants, identified by , , and tags is unchanged.
The number of file numbers, identified by tags,
is also unchanged. However, the information within these nests,
as well as the information for the whole submission may have
changed and replaces the information previously disseminated. The
tag values which can change are identified in the data usage
matrix.
The only tags in this type of post-acceptance correction not
found in a normal submission dissemination file are the
and tags at the start of the submission
header.
The tag values which are specified in the correction submission
replace the tag value for the corresponding tag in the original
submission. Thus the changes can be identified by comparison
with the existing data held for that submission or all the data
can be replaced by that in the correction submission header file.
Note that in any type of post-acceptance correction, including
the three defined in the following sections, a tag
is present and any tag value defined as changeable in the Data
Usage Matrix may have changed.
5.4.2 Filing Deletion
The dissemination file for the deletion of all or part of a
submission contains the submission header and all the document
headers. There is no document text in the file. The document
headers and text for this submission are unchanged unless the
whole submission is deleted, when all documents and their text
are also deleted. A filing deletion can represent the deletion
of an act/file number, the deletion of a registrant or the
deletion of a submission.
The basic tagging structure to identify deletion transactions
will have:
Y a tag immediately following the
tag;
Y a tag immediately following the
tag;
Y a tag following either the tag, or a , , , tag or a
tag.
If the tag follows the tag then the
whole submission is deleted. If the tag follows a
, , or then
that registrant is deleted. If the tag follows a
tag then that file number/act is deleted. In all
cases the rest of the submission header will be formatted as for
a normal dissemination submission file. Examples of the file
format and the changes in the structure of the submission for
each of the three types of deletions are shown in Appendix I.
5.4.3 Filing Transfer
The dissemination file for the transfer of a file-number/act from
one registrant to another contains the submission header and all
the document headers. There is no document text in the file.
The document headers and text for this submission are unchanged
unless the whole submission is deleted, when all documents and
their text are also deleted. A filing transfer can produce
several results from the perspective of dissemination of the
filing:
Y a filing values nest transferred from one
registrant to a newly created registrant and the
original registrant remains;
Y a filing values nest transferred from one
registrant to a newly created registrant and the
original registrant is deleted;
Y a filing values nest transferred from one
registrant to an existing registrant and the original
registrant still remains;
Y a filing values nest transferred from one
registrant to an existing registrant and the original
registrant is deleted.
The filing values nest is shown as deleted within the nest for
the old registrant and as an addition within the nest for the new
registrant. Thus the following tags are used:
Y , after the tag of
the filing values nest within the new registrant nest;
Y , after the tag
of the filing values nest within the old registrant
nest;
Y , after the /// tag of a
registrant newly created to contain a transferred
filing values nest;
Y , after the /// tag of a
registrant deleted because its last filing values nest
is transferred to another registrant;
Y , after the /// tag of a
registrant which now contains a different number of
filing values nests because one is transferred to or
from another registrant.
Note that the number of file number/acts after the filing
transfer transaction remains the same, but the number of
registrants can increase, decrease, or remain the same. The
portion of the submission header before the first registrant tag
is formatted as for a normal submission except for the addition
of the and tags. The order of the
various old and new registrant and filing value nests is not
defined, but each registrant nest will appear only once and all
filing value nests (deleted or added) will appear within that
nest.
Examples of the file format showing each of the tags used for
filing transfer transactions and the submission structure changes
represented by those tags are shown in Appendix I.
5.4.5 Document Transfer
The dissemination file for the transfer of a document from one
document type to another contains only the submission header and
document headers. There is no document text in the file. Each
document for which the document type has changed will occur in
the file as a document nest containing the old information and a
tag, and a document nest containing the new
information and a tag. In addition, such
submissions will have a tag immediately following
the tag and a tag immediately following
the tag. An example of the file format is shown in
Appendix I.
5.5 Audit File
The purpose of the audit file is to provide the receiver of
disseminated public filings detailed information about the data
on the dissemination tapes or at the end of the Broadcast day.
The audit file will be the last file on the Level 1 tape or in
the case of multiple Level 2 subsets will follow each of the
appropriate subsets.
There are audit entries for submissions, filing, corrections,
filing deletions, filing transfers, and document transfers.
Level 1 and 2 tape contain all filings received or are in the
process of being received by the Dissemination Service at 5:30
each business day. An audit file will be built to reflect what
is on the tape. The audit file for the Broadcast Subscriber is
the audit file which was received from the SEC by dissemination.
Description of Tags used in the Audit File
DATA ELEMENT: AUDIT SUBMISSION
TAG:
DESCRIPTION: Denotes beginning of Audit Submission Entry.
This tag is used only in submission transactions.
LENGTH: Tag only.
END TAG:
DATA ELEMENT: AUDIT CORRECTION
TAG:
DESCRIPTION: Denotes beginning of Audit Post Acceptance
Correction filing correction entry.
LENGTH: Tag only.
END TAG:
DATA ELEMENT: AUDIT DELETION
TAG:
DESCRIPTION: Denotes the beginning of Audit Post Acceptance
Correction filing deletion entry.
LENGTH: Tag only.
END TAG:
DATA ELEMENT: AUDIT FILING TRANSFER
TAG:
DESCRIPTION: Denotes the beginning of Audit Post
Acceptance Correction filing transfer entry.
LENGTH: Tag only.
END TAG:
DATA ELEMENT: AUDIT DOCUMENT TRANSFER
TAG:
DESCRIPTION: Denotes the beginning of Audit Post
Acceptance Correction document transfer entry.
LENGTH: Tag only.
END TAG:
DATA ELEMENT: SEC ACCESSION NUMBER
TAG:
DESCRIPTION: Unique identifier for a submission. Required
LENGTH: 20
CHAR: Alpha-numeric
DATA ELEMENT: PUBLIC
TAG:
DESCRIPTION: Denotes public audit entry Submission or Post
Acceptance Correction entry. Optional, required
for public submissions and post-acceptance
corrections.
LENGTH: Tag only.
DATA ELEMENT: SEC CHARACTER COUNT
TAG:
DESCRIPTION: EDGAR Dissemination file character count.
Required
LENGTH: 8
CHAR: Numeric
DATA ELEMENT: SEC TIME STAMP
TAG:
DESCRIPTION: Timestamp when dissemination file was created
by EDGAR. This timestamp should match with the
timestamp included in the dissemination file.
Required for each of the four types of post-
acceptance correction audit entries.
LENGTH: 15
CHAR: Date/Time
FORMAT: YYYYMMDD:HHMMSS
Every audit file entry will consist of one and only one of , , , , OR together with the corresponding
end tag. Between these two tags will be an SEC Accession Number
and SEC Character Count tag and their tag values. For the four
post-acceptance correction tags there will also be an SEC time
stamp tag with its tag value. For all audit file entries
representing public submissions or post-acceptance corrections,
there will be a Public tag.
Examples of Audit Entries.
Audit Entry for
1111111111-92-002002
3993
19920110:090817
Audit Entry for
1111111111-92-002002
3993
19920110:090817
1111111111-92-002002
3993
19920110:090817
1111111111-92-002002
3993
19920110:090817
1111111111-92-002002
3993
19920110:090817
6. Confirmation File Technical Specifications
The purpose of the Confirmation File is to provide feedback to
EDGAR on the dissemination status of output filings. For each
filing received by the Dissemination Subsystem, a Confirmation
Entry is written to the Confirmation File. A confirmation entry
consists of a number of tags and data, describing the status of
the dissemination file.
Transactions
Submission
Post Acceptance Correction
-filing correction
-filing deletion
-filing transfer
-document transfer
Description of Tags used in the Confirmation File
DATA ELEMENT : Confirm
TAG :
DESCRIPTION : Denotes beginning of
Confirmation Entry
LENGTH : Tag Only
END TAG :
CHARACTERISTIC : NA
LIMITS : NA
FORMAT : NA
DATA ELEMENT : SEC Accession Number
TAG :
DESCRIPTION : Unique Identifer for a
submission.
LENGTH : 20
CHARACTERISTIC : Alpha-Numeric
LIMITS : NA
FORMAT : NA
DATA ELEMENT : SEC Build Timestamp
TAG :
DESCRIPTION : The time at which the original
dissemination or post-acceptance
correction file was built
Matches the from
the control block of the dissemination file and
from the audit file entry.
LENGTH : 15
CHARACTERISTIC : Date/Time
LIMITS : YYYYMMDD:HHMMSS
FORMAT : NA
DATA ELEMENT : File Status
TAG :
DESCRIPTION : Denotes Status of
dissemination file.
LENGTH : 2
CHARACTERISTIC : Alpha-Numeric
LIMITS : See SUBMISSION STATUS
DESCRIPTION
FORMAT : NA
SUBMISSION STATUS DESCRIPTION
The status consist of two characters. The first character
indicates the transaction type that is being confirmed. The
following transactions are allowed:
Character Transaction
S Submission
P Post-acceptance correction
correction
D Post-acceptance correction deletion
T Post-acceptance correction filing
transfer
X Post-acceptance correction document
transfer
The second character indicates the status of the transaction. The
following status codes are allowed:
Code Description Future Action
* Dissemination file received correctly. None
E Number of characters in the Dissemination Re-transmit
dissemination file.
file and the Audit entry for the dissemination
file do not match.
A Audit entry not received, but Dissemination Should not
occur- contact Lexis- file successfully received today
Nexis if it does.
F Audit entry received, but no corresponding Re-transmit
dissemination file
Dissemination file successfully received. If
successfully rec'd from S7
7 Error Recovery Procedures
Error situations for Dissemination files sent from EDGAR to
Dissemination fall into three categories:
Transient online communications errors;
Non-transient protocol errors
Audit file mismatch errors;
Data content error.
Each of these error types is handled in a defined way during the
operation of the EDGAR/Disemination link. This section describes
those defined procedures.
7.1 Error situations
Transient online communication errors will generally result in
the abort of a file transfer and the automatic resend of that
file. Such errors should be sufficiently rare that a transient
error resulting in a protocol violation will not occur. If this
should happen, however, the session will be aborted and
restarted automatically.
Non-transient protocol violations are due to
software/specification errors and require manual intervention.
Such errors should be extremely rare in a production environment
and could result in communications being unavailable until
software changes are made.
Audit file mismatch errors such as non-matching byte counts and
missing/lost files will result in an appropriate notation being
made in the confirmation file. This may cause a retransmission of
that file. If this is unsuccessful, manual intervention is
required to determine the cause of the failure. The dissemination
file may be provided on tape in most circumstances. In the case
that software changes cause a valid dissemination file to be
unavailable on tape, a decision will be agreed between EDGAR and
Dissemination on the means to provide that file once that fault
has been corrected.
Data content error is due to software or specification errors.
These will require manual intervention to determine the exact
cause and solution. Once the problem has been corrected a method
will be agreed between EDGAR and Dissemination on how to make the
correct dissemination files available to Dissemination. This will
be by tape or over the electronic link.
7.2 Retransmission processing
There are five types of dissemination files built by EDGAR during
normal processing:
Submission, containing an original filing, which consists of
a submission header, a document header of each public document,
and the text of each document;
Correction, when submission header information changes,
which contains only the new submission header and each of the
document headers;
Deletion, when all or part of a submission is deleted, which
contains the submission header and each of the document headers,
including the deleted portions, with the deleted portions marked
by delete tags;
Filing transfer, when a filing is moved from one CIK to
another, which contains submission header and each of the
document headers, with both the old filer tag nest and the new
filer tag nest, marked with the appropriate transfer tags;
Document transfer, whereby a document is moved from one form type
to another, contains the submission header and public document
header- including both the old and new document headers. It will
also be marked with the appropriate transfer tags.
Each of the last four types of files contains a tag
to identify that it is not an original submission, and may also
contain other tags indicating deletions or transfer within the
submission. They also contain a build timestamp identifying the
date/time when the file was constructed by the EDGAR disseminator
application.
Every dissemination file is transmitted with a control block,
which identifies the type of file (from the five listed above),
the accession number and the build timestamp ( also other
information). This information is used to uniquely identify the
file in the audit and confirmation files used for reconciliation
at the end of the business day.
When a confirmation file entry indicates that a file may not have
been correctly received, that file is retransmitted to
Dissemination. The retransmission is of the exact file which
failed and includes the original control block.