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E-rate Manager for Applicants Features |
E-rate Manager: Don't Lose Your E-rate Funding
According to the SLD, E-rate applicants lost a total of nearly $25 million in 2004 funding because they forgot to file their Form 486 on time. This is funding that the school or library worked to receive, but lost because of a clerical oversight after a funding commitment was made.
Due to the importance and complexities of the E-rate program an E-rate compliance tool can be useful in managing your E-rate application.
Funds For Learning has created an award winning tool called E-rate Manager which is available to all school districts and libraries that take advantage of the discounts that E-rate has to offer. |  |
E-rate Manager For Applicants is a tool that is designed to:
- Track how much E-rate funding you have left to use.
- Simplify the payment paperwork.
- Help you keep on top of the fluctuating deadlines for the Form 486, invoices and BEARS-and for using your services or getting products installed.
- Track the site or sites where you specified your funding will be used.
- Help you respond to questions from program auditors
E-rate Manager Features - 486 creation wizard
- Form 472 (BEAR) creation wizard
- Form 500 creation wizard
- Form 471 Wizard
- SPIN Change Wizard
- Product Substitution Wizard
- Archive
- Asset Management
- Reporting Tools
- Billed Entity Search
- Service Provider Search
- Service Provider Disbursement Search
- FCC Decision Database
- Eligible Services Search
- FRN Alert Service
- Audit Database
- E-rate News
- E-rate Manager Newsletter
- Monthly E-rate Updates
Documentation Retention - The E-rate program's rules require that all E-rate-related documents be retained for five years. The Archive makes it easy to upload whatever documents you choose: details of competitive bids, Descriptions of Service (Item 21 attachments), Program Integrity Assurance responses, invoices, copies of checks, appeal letters-whatever you need to keep all of your E-rate records in one centralized place where you and your colleagues will be able to find them if an SLD auditor calls.
Asset Manager - E-rate rules now require schools and libraries that receive E-rate support for internal connections to maintain asset inventory records for a period of five years that can verify where E-rate-supported equipment is located. E-rate Manager SL+ includes a tool that makes it easy for you to create an Asset Inventory of both your E-rate-eligible equipment and any other technology equipment you wish to include, capturing key pieces of data about the equipment, where it is located, and when it was moved, if that occurs after the new three-year restricted period.
FRN Monitor Service - E-rate Manager will notify you via email whenever the SLD makes a change to the funding balance of your FRNs
FCC Appeal Database - Makes it easy to view past appeal decisions and precedents.
FCC and USAC Audit Database - View who has been audited and whether or not they have been in compliance, generally compliant or not-compliant with E-rate rules and regulations. Some of these school districts had to give their E-rate dollars back to the SLD.
"Not only is E-rate Manager an easy tool to use, but the Web site is also a great resource for E-rate information...E-rate Manager has kept me well informed about the latest issues and events."
-- James H. Levine, San Francisco Unified School District, California
Further testimonials can be viewed here .
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