Release Notes 7.045.0

A Special Provisions update was made available from RMA on 10/3/2018 with updates for Macadamia Trees (0024) with DOL Tree (40) plan as well as Caneberries (6000) with APH (90) plan. The file was downloaded and implemented in the System.

A notification was received that the uninsurable acres in the Crop and Premium Summary Section were doubling on the Schedule of Insurance (SOI). It was also found that this was happening on the SOI / Production Report. In addition to the correction made for this issue, a few base form updates were made to both SOIs.

NOTE: The version date is being updated to "11-2018" with TFS #81322 in this release.

A request was received to print the Acreage Type code on the Schedule of Insurance (SOI) if one has been selected. With this ticket, this change as well as the following others have been made:

SOI Updates:

SOI / Production Report Updates:

Previously, when the WFRP Combo Form was selected to print with renewal WFRP policies, the Farm Operation Report page was printing zeros or data in some fields when there was no sign date. With this ticket, this issue has been addressed, and the following additional changes were made to the WFRP Combo form as well as the stand-alone WFRP Farm Operation Report for all Crop Years:

WFRP Combo Form Updates:

WFRP Farm Op Report Updates:

NOTE: Only header data will print on the Market Animal and Nursery Inventory Report page. The page will print blank when the WFRP Combo is printed with a blank report style; otherwise, it will print pre-headed with the pre-headed and pre-filled report styles.

PRF: RMA has added an Organic Practice field to PRF. In the 7.035 release, an Organic Practice field was added to the API / PRF Combo Form with TFS #94082. The following changes have been made to the Schedule of Insurance (SOI) for PRF:

An issue was found where a label was incorrect on the Schedule of Insurance (SOI) for WFRP. "10%" was removed from the "Expanded Operation Average" label in the Revenue and Expenses section of the WFRP SOI, and the version date was updated to "11-2018".

NOTE: The version date on the main SOI is being updated to "11-2018" with TFS #81322 in this release.

An issue was found where the Policy Change Form format that was implemented in Nov 2015 with TFS #31910 in the 4.050 release to support Rainfall and Vegetation Index (RI / VI) Plans of Insurance was no longer displaying for PRF, API, and Annual Forage. A pre-headed format was printing with the non-PRF/API/Annual Forage format and no data in the Crop Info table when the Policy Change Form was printed for PRF, API, and Annual Forage coverages. The Policy Change Form has been updated to print the correct format in the Crop Table section for PRF, API, and Annual Forage coverages. All changes will be rolled out as base changes for all Crop Years.

During testing, an issue was found where NLF units were not being included on the Schedule of Insurance (SOI) and the SOI / Production Report when the "Include No Longer Farming (NLF) Premium Lines" print option was selected. The SOI and SOI / Production Report have been updated to include NLF units when the "Include No Longer Farming (NLF) Premium Lines" print option has been selected.

Previously, the Livestock Gross Margin (LGM) Schedule of Insurance (SOI) was printing the incorrect state when a grower had policies in two different states. The LGM SOI has been updated to print the correct state for the policy when a grower has multiple policies in different states.

The Online Help Site was updated with topics as well as with current release notes.

An ICE & ADM 2019 update was made available by the RMA and has been implemented in the System. The following tables have been updated for 2019:

An ICE 2015 update was made available by the RMA and has been implemented in the System. The following tables have been updated for 2015:

An ICE 2015 update was made available by the RMA and has been implemented in the System. The following tables have been updated for 2015:

An ICE 2016 update was made available by the RMA and has been implemented in the System. The following tables have been updated for 2016:

An ICE 2016 update was made available by the RMA and has been implemented in the System. The following tables have been updated for 2016:

An ICE 2017 update was made available by the RMA and has been implemented in the System. The following tables have been updated for 2017:

An ICE 2017 update was made available by the RMA and has been implemented in the System. The following tables have been updated for 2017:

An ICE 2018 update was made available by the RMA and has been implemented in the System. The following table has been updated for 2018:

An ICE 2018 update was made available by the RMA and has been implemented in the System. The following tables have been updated for 2018:

An ICE 2019 update was made available by the RMA and has been implemented in the System. The following tables have been updated for 2019:

A 2017 ADM update was made available by the RMA and has been implemented in the System. The following tables have been updated for 2017:

An ICE & ADM 2019 update was made available by the RMA and has been implemented in the System. The following tables have been updated for 2019:

An ICE 2015 update was made available by the RMA and has been implemented in the System. The following table has been updated for 2015:

An ICE 2016 update was made available by the RMA and has been implemented in the System. The following table has been updated for 2016:

An ICE 2017 update was made available by the RMA and has been implemented in the System. The following table has been updated for 2017:

An ICE 2018 update was made available by the RMA and has been implemented in the System. The following table has been updated for 2018:

DRP: During internal testing, an issue was found on DRP detail lines where the Class III Weighting Factor and the Class IV Weighting Factors were not always adding up to 1.00. The issue causing the 0.99 total has been corrected so the two values will now always total 1.00.

DRP: The System does not allow users to create duplicate DRP policies (same state and county), but it was allowing users to create a DRP policy in the same state under a different county. DRP policies can only have one policy per state per grower. The validation logic around duplicate policies has been updated for DRP coverages to look at the state and grower combination and not go down to county level.

NOTE: This change in validation logic is only applicable to the DRP plan. No changes have been made to LGM or LRP logic.

DRP: An issue was reported with the Butterfat to Protein Test Ratio logic previously in place on Dairy Revenue (DRP) detail lines when the Component Pricing Option was used. The System was rounding the ratio up or down based on the third digit after the decimal. However, per wording in the DRP Handbook, the System should have been taking it one step further and rounding to the five hundredth place. For example, if the Butterfat for a detail line was 4.7 and the Protein was 3.6, then the Butterfat to Protein Test Ratio for that detail line would be 4.7/3.6 or 1.30555. Standard rounding would round that value to 1.31; however, per the DRP Handbook, because .30555 needs to be rounded to the nearest five hundredth place, the value should be rounded down to 1.30. The Butterfat to Protein Test Ratio error logic has been updated to utilize the five hundredth place rounding rules.

Perennials: Beginning in the 2019 RY, RMA has converted Macadamia Trees from plan 50 to plan 40. With this ticket, the necessary rating changes have been updated to account for Macadamia Trees under plan 40.

Perennials: For the 2019+ RYs only, the following changes have been made by the RMA:

To allow for processing of Macadamia Tree policies in 2019 in the System that meet these new policy procedures, a number of System changes were made (see below). This ticket covered necessary changes made to the Coverage pages, Detail Lines page, and validation logic. Separate TFS tickets were set up for the necessary rating and PAW changes.

Perennials: A report was received that ARH Citrus (plan 47) was missing the required Pre Acceptance Worksheet (PAW) link on the detail line. After researching, it was found a bug was introduced in the 7.035 release when the Fast Edit PR grid was implemented for Perennial crops, and the absence of the PAW link was not identified during internal QA or UAT testing. The code has been corrected to restore the PAW link and all PAW functionality for ARH citrus.

Apiculture: A "Sorry..." error was being returned on Apiculture carryover policies when a user attempted to delete an interval that had rolled from 2018. The cause of this was determined to be the result of the user deleting the interval for the detail line the grid was opened from (i.e., when the System tried to save the remaining intervals at save, a conflict occurred because the System was trying to save and update the detail line the user made the changes on and it was the interval that was deleted).

Margin Protection: Some rating changes were implemented in Margin Protection for the 2019 RY. Using the new M13 exhibit, rating changes have been applied for the new RY. There were missing ADM prices that prevented this ticket from being tested. AIPs will be engaged in testing when the spring SCD deadline and acres begin being reported.

Perennials: A new Perennial suspension has been added for the 2019+ RYs. This suspension is linked to the PAW question around whether a prohibited substance was applied causing the practice to change from Organic to Transitional or Transition to Conventional. If the user indicates an answer of "YES" and an AR sign date is entered, the coverage will suspend. The suspension message reads: "PAW Question requires further review and a current PAIR may be needed [crop name and unit number displayed]."

NOTE: The System will NOT check to see if the detail line associated with the PAW began in an Organic or Transitional Organic practice; the suspension will be triggered solely on the answer provided by the user. Users SHOULD NOT designate an answer of "YES" for the prohibited substance question unless the detail line is indeed an organic-based practice.

Perennials: A new Perennial suspension has been added for the 2019+ RYs. This suspension is linked to the PAW question around whether direct marketing or vertically integrated producer procedures apply. If the user indicates an answer of "YES" and an AR sign date is entered, the coverage will suspend. The suspension message reads: "PAW Question requires further review and additional documentation may be needed [crop name and unit number displayed]."

Perennials: There were some suspensions in prior years that were tied to the answers designated by users on the PAW underwriting section. In the 2018 RY, the format of the questions and order of the questions was revised by RMA. This change wasn't carried through to the individual questions/suspensions resulting in some accuracy inconsistencies. For the 2019 RY, the suspensions have been refactored and based more closely on the question rather than the order the questions displayed in the UI.

This ticket covers the refactoring of the first 3 questions on the PAW. TFS #94374 and #94375 introduced new suspensions around the direct marketing/VIP status as well as the application of a prohibited substance questions.

The suspension message for any of the first 3 questions is: "PAW question requires further review and a current PAIR may be required [crop name and unit number displayed]".

All suspensions require that an AR sign date be entered. Based on the answer of the question (see below), the coverage will suspend at Mark Complete.

PRF: In the 7.040 release, functionality was implemented for PRF to allow different Coverage Levels and Price Election %s by Organic Practice. During internal testing of this functionality, a couple of detail line validations and mark complete suspensions were identified as needing to be updated to account for Irrigation/Organic Practice. With this ticket, the following validations and suspensions have been updated to include Irrigation/Organic Practice:

PRF: In the 7.040 release, functionality was implemented for PRF to allow different Price Elections and/or Productivity Factors by Organic Practice. Following release of this functionality, a bug was identified where the System was not retaining the unit numbers, acres, and % of value when the user changed the Organic Practice on a detail line. With this ticket, a fix has been implemented so that the System will now retain the unit number, acres, and % of value when the Organic Practice is changed on a detail line.

NOTE: During internal QA testing, some issues with the interval grid were identified. When changing the practice on the detail line, the grid either refreshes with the correct intervals selected or no interval column; or the grid refreshes with the original intervals selected plus the default six intervals. TFS #96307 has been set up to address this issue in a future release.

WFRP: Per the WFRP handbook, the base tax history period for WFRP policies with a Late Fiscal Year filer status is the current RY-7, current RY-6, current RY-5, current RY-4, and current RY-3. For example, on a 2019 policy the base period would be 2012 (2019-7), 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016. In 2018, RMA added an 11/20 SCD for Late Fiscal Year tax filers. Following the roll of policies to 2018, AIPs were required to cancel (or stop transmitting) the policies because the 2017 Late Fiscal Year filer year would extend, by definition, to the 2019 SCD of 11/20. So, the 2018 RY policy was considered inactive. Policies were rolled from 2017 to 2018 (letting 2018 be inactive) and then rolled to 2019.

During internal testing, an issue was identified with the base tax history period for Late Fiscal Year filers. Instead of using the current RY-7 through the current RY-3, the System was only displaying four years and excluding the current RY-3. A 2020 RY ticket has been set up to address the roll issue. However, since WFRP policies have already rolled, the save logic needed to be updated so the System correctly updates the base history period for Late Fiscal Year filers. The save logic on the Income & Expense Record for WFRP policies has been updated to update the base history period for Late Fiscal Year filers. AIPs will need to re-save any existing Late Fiscal Year filer policies in 2019 in order to update the base history period.

Perennials: The premium rate surcharge flag was being set on a handful of 2018 Perennial detail line records because they all had the following applied to their APHs:

These were all CA policies and, according to a bulletin from the Davis RO (Info Memo from 08-27-2017), YA can be used in conjunction with the Perennial special Case Code "D" even though the Special Case Code message says it's not applicable. When applicable, a 1.05 Premium Rate surcharge needs to be applied to the premium. Even though the System was applying the Premium Rate Surcharge Flag in the database, it was found that the rating engine was not actually applying the 1.05 surcharge to the premium which caused P11-7187 errors.

A change was made to the rating engine for the 2018+ RYs to always apply the 1.05 surcharge whenever the Premium Rate Surcharge Flag is "Y".

NOTE: For 2018, the Premium Rate Surcharge flag was applied to detail lines whose APH had a CUP applied if the Contract Change Date (CCD) for the Coverage was prior to 11-30. These lines already had the 1.05 surcharge applied to the premium and were already rating correctly so the change for this ticket did not affect this scenario. Anything with a CCD after 11-30 utilized the new Yield Cup (YC) Option procedures for 2018 which no longer includes the Premium Rate Surcharge Flag.

An issue was reported with the APH for Cherries where, once Total Production had been keyed, the Annual Yield didn't appear to be calculating and displaying for the APH. It was found that the Annual Yield was calculating correctly, but it was not displaying on the page; however, if the user saved and exited the APH and returned to APH later, the Annual Yield was displaying correctly. This display-only issue was corrected so that once Total Production is entered, the Annual Yield will update to the calculated value—the user will no longer have to save, exit, and return to the APH to see the value.

Fast Edit AR/PR: During internal testing of the Fast Edit pages, a small display issue was identified. The APH Drawer was designed to default the cursor to the most recent Crop Year; however, it was found that the System was defaulting to the earliest Crop Year instead. The APH Drawer in Fast Edit PR and Fast Edit AR has been updated to default the cursor to the most recent year in the APH grid.

Over a several week project, an internal technical review of the Mark Complete process was performed in an effort to identify opportunities for optimization in the end-to-end process both within the System and across the ServiceBus. With this ticket, inefficiencies identified during the technical review of the Mark Complete process have been evaluated and adjusted. In addition, a number of performance improvement enhancements to the process have been implemented. Internal testing results indicate a 40%+ efficiency gain on large policies.