WIDE AREA WORKFLOW - Special Topic BL-11

Overview

Wide Area Workflow (WAWF) is a secure web-based system set up by the Department of Defense (DoD) for electronic invoicing, receipt, and acceptance. You can electronically submit invoices and government inspection and acceptance documents. Using web-based applications, government contractors and authorized DoD personnel can generate, capture, and process receipt and payment-related documentation. Authorized DoD users are notified of pending actions by email and are presented with a collection of documents required to process the contracting or financial action. The system uses Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) to electronically bind the digital signature to provide non-refutable proof that the user has electronically signed the document. More importantly, WAWF helps to mitigate interest penalty payments caused by lost or misplaced documents. The WAWF website is https:\\wawf.eb.mil.

You can submit invoices to the WAWF using one of three different methods:

  1. You can enter your invoices into the WAWF system, one at a time, by accessing the WAWF website and completing each interface screen.  This method is currently available to any contractor that has been set up and approved for the WAWF.

  2. You can create a batch file, which can contain multiple invoices that can be uploaded into the system. One type of batch file is Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), which requires you to acquire translation software to match the batch file to a transaction set.  Because of the cost and complexity of EDI, many companies do not use the EDI method unless they are already set up for it. Additionally, the WAWF has noted that the overwhelming majority of the batch files they receive are not EDI. For this reason, Costpoint does not currently include the ability to generate EDI batch files for the WAWF.

  3. Another batch file method is File Transfer Protocol (FTP), which involves creating a flat file that you can transfer via FTP to the WAWF.  Because of its relative simplicity, this is the method Costpoint uses to create WAWF files.

Costpoint's role is to create the batch files that can be uploaded to the WAWF. There is a deployment process, outlined in government websites, which is required of contractors who plan to use the WAWF.  It is the responsibility of users to understand this process, as well as the WAWF system in general.

WAWF functionality should be viewed as a living enhancement that will be continually modified. The WAWF Interface Control Documents are changed about every six months and are available from the Department of Defense Wide Area Workflow website.

Billing data is retrieved from three different general sources: Standard Bills, Progress Payment Bills, and Project Product Bills. You can select the source on an individual project basis. Regardless of the source of the files, however, you can retrieve only data that is currently available in the billing tables. If the data is not available, you can enter the information in the Maintain Project WAWF Information screen so that it appears in the file.

Here is how you will typically use the Costpoint's WAWF feature:

1.  Billing Settings screen (Projects » Billing » Controls)

We have added a new WAWF Options group box to the Billing Settings screen. Use it to specify a default output path for the Create WAWF Billing Files screen (Projects » Billing » Print Billings). This will provide guidance to your users and assist them in ensuring that their output files are directed to the proper location.

If you do not change the default path in the Create WAWF Billing Files screen each time you generate a file, the previous billing file will be overwritten. We recommend that the file path have a name that helps identify each file submitted.  

Select the Enable Project Product Bills for WAWF check box to enable the WAWF Info, ACRNs, and MILSTRIPs subtasks in the Edit Project Product Bills screen (Projects » Billing » Edit Billings). In addition, the Line Item Type will become visible in the table window of the main screen.

2.  Maintain WAWF Billing Settings screen (Projects » Billing » Controls)

In this screen, set up all the valid CAGE codes for your company.  A company can have more than one CAGE code.  You must also enter the Department of Defense Activity Address Codes (DoDAAC) specified in your contract. These become the defaults assigned to the CAGE Code, but you can change them in the Maintain Project WAWF Information screen when you assign the CAGE Code to a project. You can enter extensions, but they are not required.

3.  Maintain Project WAWF Information screen (Projects » Project Setup » Project Master)

Set up this screen at the billing level of the project for which you would like to create a WAWF FTP file.  You also need to assign a CAGE Code to this project. You can assign only one CAGE code to an invoice-level project. The DoDAACs you assigned to the CAGE code in the Maintain WAWF Billing Settings screen will default in to the DODAACs group box at the bottom of the screen, but you can change them. You also have the following three options:

Next, you need to specify a CLIN mapping method:  

CLIN Mapping Method

Use the fields in this group box to select the CLIN mapping method for this record.

Project Number

Project Function

Line Item (CLIN)

C001

Top Level Rollup

 

C001.01

Revenue and Billing Level

 

C001.01.01

Task 1 Engineering Labor

0001AA

C001.01.02

Task 2 Support Labor

0002AB

C001.01.03

Task 3 Other Direct Costs

0001AA

 

You have line items associated with the project tasks, so there is no need to map accounts or PLCs. You can map the transaction level project as shown above.  

If the line items cannot easily be associated with project numbers, you can map accounts or Project Labor Categories (PLCs) to each line using the Accounts or CLIN Mapping subtasks.  

You also need to specify what type of invoice you want to generate.  The valid invoice types are Cost Voucher, Commercial Invoice, 2N1, Combo, and Progress Payment.  The system generates a different FTP file for each invoice type. Each must be submitted separately.  

After you determine what type of invoice you want to generate, you need to specify what source the Create WAWF Billing Files application should use to retrieve the data for this invoice project. The available file sources are Standard Bills, Progress Payment Bills, or Project Product Bills.  

Please be aware that the Create WAWF Billing Files process retrieves the data from the billing edit tables. Do not post your bills until you have generated your WAWF FTP files.  

Use the appropriate subtasks to enter additional information for each invoice type. This information is required for the generation of the FTP file but is not available in the billing edit tables.

If an attachment needs to be submitted with the file, enter the file path and file name. The file path will not be submitted in the file but will be stored here to help you locate the file that was submitted.

If you select a line in the first table window and shift the focus to the second table window, you can add lines for the Unique Identifier and UID Serial No. There can be a many-to-one relationship between the lines in the first table window and the lines in the second table window. If an item has UIDs, the number of UIDs entered must match the item quantity in the WAWF file.  

If advanced payments against this contract have been received or items have been delivered, invoiced, and accepted, select the Delivery on Invoice check box. If this check box is selected, you must have amounts in line 20a and 25 on the progress payment invoice from which a WAWF file will be generated.

The Date of Financial Info is required in the WAWF file. The request number must begin with "PPRB" if the FMS check box is selected. Otherwise the request number must begin with PPRA.  If the request number is eight characters long, the eighth character must be a letter to designate a LOT contract.  For this reason, the program cannot extrapolate a previous bill number.    

The ACRN/FMS (Accounting Character Reference Number/ Foreign Military Sales) codes are not tied to the new Costpoint ACRN functionality because the source records for WAWF come from the BILL_EDIT_DETL table, and ACRN is not contained in that table. You must manually enter the ACRN amounts.

4.  Edit Standard Bills screen (Projects » Billing » Edit Billings), Edit Progress Payment Billings screen (Projects » Billing » Edit Billings)

For a project to be included in an FTP file, there must be data in the billing edit tables and the bill must have a status of Selected.  Also, the Included in WAWF File check box must be cleared. This ensures that the project is not included in more than one FTP file. If you make any edits to over ceiling or retainage amounts and a record exists in the Maintain ACRN Bills screen or the Maintain Project WAWF Information screen, a message displays indicating the changes will not be included in the ACRN allocation or WAWF file. In this case, you must edit the ACRN allocation amount in the Maintain ACRN Bills screen (Projects » Billing » Billing Master) and the WAWF file.

5.  Create WAWF Billing Files screen (Projects » Billing » Print Billings)

Use this screen to generate an FTP file for one invoice type at a time. The application will reference the Maintain Project WAWF Information screen (Projects » Project Setup » Project Master) to determine which projects are assigned the invoice type selected. The program will also look at the File Source selection (Standard Bills, Progress Payment Bills, or Project Product Bills) in that screen to determine which billing edit tables to use to retrieve the invoice information.

If, after generating an FTP file, you find that it has a project you do not want to include, you should deselect the project bill and rerun the process.  You can select the Clear WAWF File Flags check box and rerun the Create WAWF Billing Files screen for the project selection. This will allow you to recreate the file to include all selected invoices, even if they were created in a prior process.  

Because the files submitted to the WAWF system effectively replace hard copies of the invoices, Create WAWF Billing Files follows the same logic as printing the bills. The same selection criteria found in the Post Standard Bills screen (Projects » Billing » Post Billings) can be found in the Create WAWF Billing Files screen.

In order to be included in a batch file, the bill must fall within the parameters on the processing screen for:

Refer to the following spreadsheets, available from Deltek's e-Support site, to see how the file is built and where the information is pulled from. This information is also available in the documentation for the Create WAWF Billing Files screen (see the "FTP File Layouts" section).

Setup Hints

Other Charges

If you are billing other charges, you need to enter an acceptable fee/charge in the Code column of the Maintain Other Charges screen (Projects » Billing » Controls). See the WAWF Interface Control Document (ICD) for details.  Once you have set up the other charge here, enter the other charge in the Totals subtask of Edit Standard Bills screen (Projects » Billing » Edit Billings) after you calculate the standard bill or in the Other Charges subtask of Edit Project Product Bills screen (Projects » Billing » Edit Billings). This code will generate in the WAWF file as a line item type 2, and the line item will be the code entered.  

 

Edit Project Product Bills screen (Projects » Billing » Edit Billings)

You have the option of using a manual-type bill (Project Product Bills) as the source for the WAWF files.  Using this type of bill provides more flexibility than Standard Bills because you can manually enter the information that appears in the files.

The following column is available only if the Enable Project Product Bills for WAWF check box is selected in the Billing Settings screen (Projects » Billing » Controls):  Line Item Type.

In addition to the five columns, three subtasks are enabled: WAWF Info, ACRNs, and MILSTRIPs: