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Resubmitting Complete Data Files


After data files are submitted, ACF checks the data for accuracy and completeness. If any errors are found in the data files submitted, ACF will notify you via email, with an error report containing a summary view of the issues. The following provides guidance on how to resubmit data files after the errors have been corrected.


The new TANF Data Portal will not change reporting requirements related to which data needs to be reported. However, it will require a process adjustment to how some grantees currently submit revisions of their data—specifically that revisions to data already submitted to TDP for a given quarter will need to be submitted in full (i.e. complete data) rather than as partial data only containing cases that had been added or updated.


Transmitting complete data for Sections 1 and 2 (Active and Closed Cases, respectively) is as simple as making sure that each file submitted (or resubmitted at a later date) contains all of the cases you intend to submit for the quarter. Sections 3 and 4 (Aggregate and Stratum Data, respectively) contain population counts, so transmitting complete data for those sections means ensuring that all the counts are present for each month in the quarter.


Example: A State, Tribe and Territory (STT) submitted Active Case Data for Quarter 2 of FY 2022 to meet reporting deadlines but some cases in the month 3 data weren’t ready. In the past those outstanding cases could be submitted at a later date on their own and combined with the previously submitted data. Going forward, TDP will not merge data from multiple submissions together, rather it will only process the most recently submitted file. So if partial data were to be submitted, it would overwrite past data rather than adding to it.


Why we're making this change


Two core goals are behind this change:

  1. Each file having complete data rather than partial data will allow us to serve up richer analytics and reports in order to provide better guidance for correcting errors or data quality issues.
  2. Each file containing complete data will help avoid confusion regarding which file is the “source of truth” for the most up to date data.

What to change in the Header Record


To ensure that your data remains consistent between systems as we’re working to fully replace TDRS with TDP, we ask that you use the Delete value of the Update Indicator in all resubmissions. If you need to confirm that the Delete value has been set correctly, you can look for the “D” value at the end of the Header Record of the file you’re submitting (emphasized below).

“HEADER20221A01000TAN1 D”

How to get support or help exporting complete data from other systems


If you could use assistance making these changes to your data workflow—whether you use FTANF or any other data tool—we’d be more than happy to work with you directly.

Please reach out with any questions or concerns to tanfdata@acf.hhs.gov.