File Comparison

Introduction

Generate version 5.3, released in early 2023, introduced a new utility to allow states to compare an EDFacts file produced by the state’s legacy process (“Legacy File”) to an EDFacts file produced by Generate (“Generate File”) to determine if the ETL used to populate Generate accurately migrated all data needed for the EDFacts report.

The Submission File Comparison Utility is not available in the Generate user interface – it can only be used withing SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS).

This document provides instructions for using the utility.

Submission File Comparison Utility Overview

The Generate Submission File Comparison Utility (“Comparison Utility”) provides tools to load legacy EDFacts files into SQL tables, then compares the Generate versions of those same files to the legacy file to identify differences.

The basic steps for comparing a legacy file to a Generate file are to:

1. Load the legacy file into a SQL table

2. Run a Generate migration for the same file

3. Depending on the file specification (noted in this document), you may need to create an actual Generate EDFacts file, preferably in Tab-delimited format, and load it into a SQL table.

4. Run the comparison utility

5. Review the results of the comparison

6. Resolve issues and repeat steps 2-5 as needed until satisfied with the comparison

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