Entering Data & Saving Work

This Guide provides general instructions on how to enter information on eTrac. Instances where a particular entry field differs from these general guidelines will be noted on the online help for that particular topic.

In many cases where you enter information onto an online form on a particular page, pressing the "Submit" or "Update" button will not actually save the information to the system yet. You will see a confirmation page displaying your changes where you can review your changes and you can either exit out or click on the "Submit/Update" button on the confirmation page to actually save the information.

If you are on a line item update page with buttons labeled "Save...", clicking on this Save button does not actually save the data to the database. It merely loads the data back onto the previous record page along with the other line items of the table summary. You have to click on the record page's "Submit" button to actually send the data back to the server to update the record.

Whenever you submit any kind of change, the system automatically generates and sends you a confirmation e-mail. You should save this email for your records. It also serves as an alert if an unauthorized person changes your information. You can change your contact e-mail address from the "Work Information Update" area.

Alpha Characters & Text

By default, the system processes alpha characters as case-sensitive (e.g., where the upper case "A" is a unique and separate character from the lower case "a") so you have to be careful how you enter text, such as when creating PINs and passwords.

However, certain data may require you to enter them in one particular case or the other, while some data will ignore case and automatically make all text entries either all upper or lower case. Check with the help instructions for what a particular field requires.

Names

As with any text you enter into the system, characters are case-sensitive. The system allows you to enter names in all upper or in all lower case. But if you enter a name in all lower case, the system will convert the first letter to upper case and the rest in lower case, so you should enter names with the proper case exactly as how you want the name to appear.

Generally, the system will ask for first, last, and middle names separately. But names are stored in the system in the following format:
    Last Name, First-Name Middle Initial/Name(s)

Note the comma placed after the last name. While the system will accept whatever you enter, it processes everything, including spaces, that precedes that first comma as the person's entire last name. The first complete name starting with the first letter after the first comma up to the next space is interpretted as the first name, even in cases where a person can have two first names separated by a space. Everything else following the space after the first complete name is rendered as middle names.

For example: MC TROJAN JR., TOMMY T.
The system will interpret "MC TROJAN JR." (spaces and period) as the entire last name.
Following the comma until the next space character is "Tommy" so that is considered the first name.
Anything else following after that first space is considered middle names or initials, in this case "T."

If you are having trouble matching a name in the system, check with your Home Department Coordinator about how your name appears in the system.

Long Numbers, Codes, IDs

You often see long numerical codes and IDs separated into smaller groups with dashes or spaces. This is to help the human eye read long numbers.

The system, however, reads and saves all such numbers in a single sequence of digits. In some cases as specified in the online help, a data field may accept such numbers with dashes or spaces. But generally, enter all numerical codes and IDs in a single string of numbers with no dashes or spaces.

For example, you often see Social Security numbers in the following format: 000-00-0000
Enter the number in the system with no dashes, spaces, or other separator. e.g., 000000000

Phone & Fax Numbers

Unless otherwise instructed, you may enter phone and fax numbers in any of the following formats:

Dates

The system interprets all dates numerically. In some cases, a field may require only a 4-digit year or only a numerical month representation and year.

Generally, unless otherwise specified, a full date entry must be made in the following format:

    mm/dd/yyyy     where:   mm = 2-digit month representation
  dd = 2-digit day of the month
  yyyy = 4-digit year

For example: Enter May 1, 2000 as 05/01/2000

Monetary Amounts

All monetary amounts are US values in whole and fraction dollar amounts separated by a period (e.g., 100.50).

The system will accept whole dollar amounts with the fraction amount (e.g., 100.00) or without the fraction (e.g., 100).

You may enter whole numbers of 4 or more digits either without a comma (e.g., 1000000), or with a comma preceding every third digit from the right (e.g., 1,000,000).

Do not enter any monetary symbols such as the dollar sign ("$") or cents sign ("¢").