Run an E-Rate cycle

Create the cycle

In the E-Rate workspace, create a cycle for the funding year and keep its scope, status and windows on it. To load a schedule from a file, choose whether the file creates a new cycle or replaces the schedule of an existing one; a new-cycle import with a name already in use is refused rather than changing that cycle.

Plan each site

Within Sites, pick the cycle and the site. Plan lines have a category (Access points, Switches, UPS, Cabling, Other), a decision (Keep, Replace, Add, Remove) and a stage from Undecided through Planned, Ready and Installing to Accepted. A planned model and quantity is an intention; link the units that satisfy it, so a typed count is never mistaken for a device.

Attribute the equipment

In Funded Inventory, each funded unit records its funding source and year, and the school whose allocation paid for it, separately from where it stands now. A difference between the two is a signal to review, not proof of an improper move.

Move, replace and dispose through the record

Moves, replacements and disposals happen on the asset record so the chain stays intact. Disposing of an E-Rate funded unit asks for a reason and your confirmation that its E-Rate disposal rules are met. A funded unit is never deleted from a closet sheet; it keeps its record.

Export the evidence

1. Choose a funding year and export the E-Rate evidence workbook.
2. Review the summary, funded assets, equipment away from its funded site, units marked E-Rate without a year, replaced units and supporting document references.
3. Check the generation time, the pack digest and the audit-chain status. Keep the file with the records it supported.

The workbook covers the records your account may export; an empty result is not proof that nothing was funded.

Keep the records long enough

Records with funding, an E-Rate link or FRN, or disposal, replacement or RMA history are never removed for good. Each shows a keep-until date and its basis: for E-Rate equipment, 10 years after purchase (47 CFR 54.516); for grant-funded equipment, 3 years after disposal (2 CFR 200.334); the later date wins. A missing date is named, and the record is kept with no end date. Check current USAC guidance before destroying any evidence.

See also: E-Rate funding and retention · Audit history and evidence