Release Notes 11.005.0

Policy Estimates: A new checkbox, Current Coverage Highlighted, has been added to the Print Forms popup when a Policy Estimate Scenarios form is printed from a Policy Estimate. When this checkbox is selected, the existing coverage will be highlighted on both the Totals and Units. The highlight will only appear when a given scenario has the same Plan, Coverage Level, and Unit Structure as the policy's coverage. This checkbox is selected by default, and it is not available for Prospect/No Grower Policy Estimates.

Rate Sheets: This ticket updated the Rate Sheet with several changes to Enterprise Units that have been introduced by RMA. The Rate Sheet previously accounted for Enterprise Units (EU) and Enterprise Units by Practice (EP). RMA has since provided additional types of Enterprise Units: by Irrigation Practice (EI replaces EP), Cropping Practice (EC), and Type (ET). These are now considered Options. The Rate Sheet will continue to display these under the Unit dropdown, but several changes were made to accommodate this.

Quick Estimates: An issue was found where Quick Estimates were not pulling in the MP type / practice combination for 2022. This issue has been resolved.

Perennial Combo Form: RMA has added an Organic Producer Certification Statement to Acreage Reporting forms in the 2022 Document and Supplemental Standards Handbook (DSSH). This statement has been added to the Perennial Combo Form. This update is for all Crop Years.

SPOIs: Tangerine Trees TDO SPOIs for TX were updated and made available from RMA on June 16. The Special Provisions for 2022 have been implemented in the System.

SPOIs: Orange Trees TDO SPOIs for TX were updated and made available from RMA on June 16. The Special Provisions for 2022 have been implemented in the System.

SPOIs: Grapefruit Trees TDO SPOIs for TX were updated and made available from RMA on June 16. The Special Provisions for 2022 have been implemented in the System.

SPOIs: Lemon Trees TDO SPOIs for TX were updated and made available from RMA on June 16. The Special Provisions for 2022 have been implemented in the System.

SPOIs: Lime Trees TDO SPOIs for TX were updated and made available from RMA on June 16. The Special Provisions for 2022 have been implemented in the System.

SPOIs: Mint APH SPOIs were updated and made available from RMA on June 16. The Special Provisions for 2022 have been implemented in the System.

Livestock: RMA has added Effective Date for Livestock Gross Margin (LGM) for the 2022 RY to help support the change to weekly sales. This ticket added an Effective Date to the Livestock Gross Margin (LGM) Dairy Cattle Schedule of Insurance (SOI). On the Livestock policy Print tab functionality was added for users to select which Effective Date to print on the LGM Dairy Cattle SOI. If no Effective Date is selected for the SOI, a popup will display to let the user know they must select a Effective Date. Other base form standard updates were made to the LGM Dairy Cattle SOI.

APH Database Form: With this ticket, the APH Database Form has been updated. The updates include changing the format to a 2-units-per-page format and adding a Record Type column along with other base form standards updates.

APH Database/AR: With this ticket, the APH Database / Acreage Reporting (AR) Form has been updated. The updates include changing the format to a 2-units-per-page format and adding a Record Type column along with other base form standards updates.

Additionally, RMA added an Organic Producer Certification Statement to Acreage Reporting forms in the 2022 Document and Supplemental Standards Handbook (DSSH). This statement has been added to the form.

SOI: An issue was found where a Telerik error was displaying on the Schedule of Insurance (SOI) and SOI / Production Report (when printing the Official SOI) when printing the forms in Batch Printing. For all Crop Years, the SOI and SOI Production Report have been updated so a Telerik error does not display when printing the forms in Batch Printing with the "Official SOI" print option selected.

API / PRF Combo Form: A request was received to update the math on the Application pages of the API and PRF Combo Form. When TFS #94566 in the 9.030 Release (Aug 2020) moved the County Base Value field to the Acreage Reporting page(s), it caused the math on page 1 to no longer work. This issue has been resolved.

A request was received to add a Select All checkbox above the Processing Status column on the Coverages tab of Livestock policies similar to the one available on the MPCI tab. When selected/deselected, all coverages below with checkboxes would be selected/deselected rather than the user having to go coverage by coverage to select. With this ticket, the Processing Status header in the grid on the Coverages tab for Livestock policies has been updated to include a checkbox that, when clicked, sets all checkboxes in the column according to the checked status of that new checkbox.

The Select All checkbox has been added for all 3 Livestock plan types in the Processing Status column header, and each coverage status in the grid now has its own individual checkbox. However, this functionality is slightly different than MPCI in the fact that the checkbox only displays on LGM and LRP if the coverage is not already set to an "Approved" status. If the Processing Status is already at "Approved", there will be no checkboxes available next to each individual coverage status. For DRP policies, the checkbox is available to be selected even if a coverage is already at "Approved" as it is for MPCI.

PRF Wizard: Users requested the ability to resize the PRF Wizard window; this has been implemented. A user can drag the bottom right corner to make the wizard larger or smaller.

PRF Wizard: Users requested the ability to sort the Farm, Tract, and Field columns in the PRF Wizard; this has been implemented. Now, clicking on a column label reveals a sorting arrow. Click the label again to reverse the sort direction.

Two bugs were fixed with this ticket:

1. The Sync from Mapping for PRF was not syncing from AR correctly--values were not being overwritten when back-end system is updated. This has been corrected.

2. Since insurable acres are insurable by GRID ID, meaning they should be summed for each unit group in the same coverage by grid ID. This was not being done but has been corrected.

RMA released a new CLU Layer for September 2021; this has been implemented in the System.

Trend Adjustment: Per the 2022 Trend Adjustment (TA) Handbook, the "PR" and "VF" yield types are now considered actual yield types and are eligible for trend adjustment beginning in 2022+ RYs. The System has been updated to now consider "PR" and "VF" yields descriptors, within a qualifying APH database, as actual yield types when determining if a database qualifies for Trend Adjustment.

PAW: Per the Crop Insurance Handbook for the 2022+ RYs, the PAW question wording for the question, "Has damage (e.g., disease, hail, freeze) occurred to Trees/Vines/Bushes/Bog that will reduce the insured crop's production from previous crop years?", needs to now include the word "insurable" within the question wording. The System has been updated to include "insurable" between "to" and "Trees/Vines/Bushes/Bog" in this PAW question.

APH: Per the 2022 CIH Handbook, the "VF" actual yield descriptor is now eligible for Yield Exclusion (YE) if the APH contains an eligible crop year for exclusion as identified in the actuarial documents beginning in 2022+ RYs. The System has been updated to now consider the "VF" yield descriptor within an APH where an eligible crop year is applicable for Yield Exclusion (YE).

PTY & APH: A display bug was identified during internal testing of the PTY recalc functionality. When changes are made to an underlying unit, the System displays a "PTY - Needs Recalc" message on both the PTY Summary Unit and the underlying unit where a change was made. This message was found to always display when the underlying APH was Native Sod or New Breaking. The "PTY - Needs Recalc" message has been updated to no longer display on Native Sod and New Breaking APHs.

Native Sod: When Native Sod procedures apply to acreage, the APH is limited to 65% of the T-Yield. In the initial year, the APH is completed using 65% of the T-Yield, in subsequent years any actual history plus applicable variable T-Yields are used to complete the APH, but the approved and rate yields are still limited to 65% of the T-Yield. An AIP raised a question about use of the PTY in these procedures. In the initial year of Native Sod, the CIH confirms that the PTY is not used unless Native Sod acreage makes up 5% or less of total acres in the unit. In this scenario, 65% of the PTY can be used. Furthermore, in subsequent years, the CIH confirms the APH is limited to 65% of the PTY.

Additional research confirmed two gaps in the System's current Native Sod APH logic:

To account for these gaps in the current logic, this ticket implements the following changes:

Perennials: A bug was reported following the 11.000 release that impacted agency users as they updated Perennial PAW data. The error was thrown at save of the PAW page and was preventing updates for the 2022 RY from being saved to the database. The error was re-created on fruit and tree policies. The issue has been resolved.

NOTE: This bug did not impact AIP users updating the same data fields.

Perennials: An issue was reported for CA Citrus Tree functionality on the Add MPCI Quote page where a user was not able to select the required Type within the select list. The System has been updated to now allow the user to select a Type from the select list on the Add MPCI Quote page.

Transmissions: According to the P14 exhibit, when a Unit Structure Transaction Code applies to a base policy, that same value must also be sent on the P14 record for the related SCO/ECO/HIP/MP/STAX policy. This ticket addressed the SCO P14 Record Only. RMA has clarified that the Unit Structure Transaction Code must be the same between the base policy and any related SCO/ECO/HIP/MP/STAX P14 records. However, the enterprise unit option codes (EI, EC, ET, MC) will not be required or even allowed on the SCO/ECO/HIP/MP/STAX. For this ticket, the P14 transmission logic was updated for SCO to send the same Unit Structure Transaction Code on both the base and SCO P14 records.

NOTE: Only the unit structure transaction code should be applied. Any EI, EC, ET, MC option codes from the base coverage do not apply to the SCO coverage record.

Enterprise Units: Beginning in the 2022 Reinsurance Year (RY), the RMA has introduced a number of significant changes to Enterprise Unit structure. A brief high-level overview of these changes include: 1) changing Enterprise Units by Irrigation Practice “EP” acronym and unit structure code to “EI”, 2) implementing EC and EI as crop options instead of unit structure codes, and 3) introducing a new enterprise unit variation – Enterprise Units by Type (ET).

Enterprise Units by Type (ET) will be available on Wheat (0011), Dry Beans (0047) and Dry Peas (0067) commodities in counties where the Actuarials allow. Enterprise Units by Type will allow growers to elect Enterprise Units on 1 type or multiple different types before the applicable commodity’s Sales Closing Date (SCD). While Enterprise Units by Irrigation Practice (EI) (Irrigated & Non-Irrigated) and Enterprise Units by Cropping Practice (EC) (FAC & NFAC) are more narrowly focused with 3 different choices a piece (either Practice or Both elected) – Enterprise Units by Type counties will have several potential elections, especially for Dry Beans and Dry Peas. ET will be available for the State/County/Commodity/Plan Code/Type Code when permitted in the Actuarials.

This ticket updated the Manage Unit Structure popup (Additional Functions > Manage Unit Structure) that was implemented with TFS #98357 to provide a more user-friendly experience in understanding the System-determined unit structure and for applying manual unit structure overrides to detail lines. Only displaying on 2019 RY+ policies, the Manage Unit Structure popup is designed to be accessed by eligible AIP and Agency staff. The popup can process a number of critical unit structure processing scenarios concerning all unit structure variations – including Basic Units (BU), Optional Units (OU), and Enterprise Units ((EI), (EC), (MC)).

One of the main purposes of the Manage Unit Structure popup is to apply manual overrides or to mark the Unit Structure Verified checkbox when the underwriter has made a unit structure determination. The popup has a System Determined Unit Structure column that will display the unit structure determined by the System during validation when it runs through all of the RMA regulatory criteria. The popup can also designate Primary/Secondary counties for MCEU and apply the contiguous county coverage for the grower (although ET and MCEU are not compatible at this time).

Since the Manage Unit Structure popup is such a critical piece for unit structure determination within the System, it needed to be updated to comply with the new 2022 RY+ Enterprise Units by Type (ET). There were a number of changes implemented to the Manage Unit Structure popup in order to accommodate ET.

Perennials: MCT was made aware of a bug impacting all Perennial crops and all regions. The bug impacted the System's ability to pull the current RY's t-yield for use in calculating a YA yield and an accurate Approved APH yield. For renewal policies, year 10 (e.g., 2021 Crop Year) was not being considered for YA calculations. For new policies or new APH databases, no t-yields were being pulled for YA calculations. This bug has been resolved. For APHs that have already been processed by agents, the AIP may see specific errors being returned from RMA. APHs will require a manual recalculation after the release goes to production so the current code can be applied.

APH: An issue was reported where the System would not save the AY yield type (YA option elected to be removed on a year within the APH) when acres + a 0 actual yield was keyed. The APH logic has been updated to allow YA to be removed from a yield year using the "AY" yield type.