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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCF Remote Software Manual 1.22.2019 Campaign Finance Remote Filing Software for County Candidates Published by the State Board of Elections Page | 2 Table of Contents Introduction 2018 County Elections Before you Begin – Tips to Assist Setting up a County Candidate Committee Set up Elections Entering Basic Transactions Create a Report Save the Official Report Backup Your Database Starting in the Middle of an Election Cycle Page | 3 Introduction Effective 01/01/2017, all committees that raise or spend over $10,000.00 in an election cycle will be mandatory electronic filers. It is important to note that the change to the law did not exempt any type or level of committee, and so this applies to all committees at all filing levels. The Campaign Finance Remote Software (CFRS) is available to download from the State Board of Elections website. http://www.ncsbe.gov/Campaign-Finance/reporting-software This guide will assist County Candidates with their electronic filing requirements. It will walk you through setting up committee information and elections, and getting started with entering transactions. It will also provide information for creating, saving and filing a report. Before you start, please make sure you have access to information related to the committee bank account, officers and which elections the candidate will be participating in. The State Board of Elections will be able to assist you with CFRS related questions. Page | 4 County Elections http://www.ncsbe.gov/Campaign-Finance/reporting-schedules The above link will take you to the County Election Reporting Schedule on the State Board of Elections & Ethics Enforcement website. Page | 5 Before you Begin – Tips to Assist Please read the following information before setting up your software. DO update your software to the latest version before submitting a report. DO backup your software regularly. If your computer crashes, and you have no backup, all data will be lost. Information for backing up the database is included later in this guide. DO remember to email a completed report to the State Board of Elections. Reports are not transmitted automatically; you must attach a report to an email and send to the appropriate address. DO remember to mail or hand deliver a signed cover page and summary page for each electronic report you file, including amendments. Report cover and summary pages should be postmarked or hand-delivered by the report due date. Your signed cover page and summary page MUST be sent to the appropriate Board of Elections. State and Federal Committees will file their signed cover page and summary page to the State Board of Elections and County and Municipal Committees will file with their County Board of Elections. DON’T enter duplicate names in the database. When entering transactions, you should use the Find Contributor or Find Payee buttons FIRST. Only if you do not locate a name in your database should you use Add Contributor or Add Payee. If you find that you have already entered duplicate names in the database, there are instructions in the software help files to correct this. Go to Help - CF Remote Help, select Other from the content list and then select Removing Duplicate Names from CF Remote Software. DON’T select Print Report in the Method drop-down box on the Save Official Report screen. If you intend to file electronically via e-mail, you must choose the Save File to Disk option. If you wish to print your report to review it prior to submitting it, you should go to Reporting - Report Information, highlight the report you wish to print, select View Report, and print using the printer icon in the top left hand corner. Page | 6 Setting up a County Candidate Committee Once the software is downloaded, you will need to set up your committee. For this example, we will be setting up a County Commissioner race. All screenshots will be shown for this office. When information is asked for that is different for your office, the different options will be detailed. Open CFRS. It will look like this: Select Org Setup – Committee Info – New. The following screen will be displayed: Page | 7 Note that the button is grayed out. You will need to add ALL required information to all tabs before the OK button becomes active. DO NOT hit cancel, or you will lose all information you have entered. Type tab: Committee Type - Use the drop down list and select CANDIDATE NOTE: When you select candidate, additional fields will be shown. You will also have an extra Candidate tab. This will happen throughout use of the software. The fields shown on any given screen may change, dependent on the selections you make. Committee Org Level – Use the drop down list and select the organization level of County. This shows at which level your committee is registered, i.e. where you file your reports. County – select the County that the candidate is running in. Election Cycle Length – use the drop down list to select the term of the office that the candidate is running for. Last General Election Year – enter the year of the last general election for the office. NOTE: We are setting up a County Commissioner committee. If the term of office is 4 years, the last general election for the office would have been 2014. Regardless of what the candidate ran for previously, you will set this up as the last general election for the office. Date Organized – add the date that the committee was organized Your screen should now look like this: Page | 8 NOTE: The button is still grayed out. You have not entered enough information yet to save the committee. Name tab: The screen will look like this: Select The following screen will be displayed: Page | 9 Enter information on each tab on this screen: Name tab – under Org Name add the name of your committee. This should match the name you put on the Statement of Organization Mailing Address tab – enter the mailing address of the committee Email Address – if you have set up a separate email address for the committee you can add it here Phone Numbers – If you have a separate phone number for the committee you can add it here Org Info – confirm that the Committee Level and County have been completed. Office – add the office that the candidate is running for District – add the district (if any) that the candidate is running for Select Your screen should look like this: At the Committee Information screen, note that the button is still grayed out. You have not entered enough information at this point to save the committee. Page | 10 Officer tab: Under the officer tab you will enter the treasurer, custodian of books and assistant treasurer if you have one. Select The following screen will be displayed: Page | 11 Select again. The following screen will be displayed: This is your basic entry screen. All individuals will be entered using this same screen. Add the First and Last name of the treasurer, the profession/job title and specific field/employer name. Add mailing address, email address and phone numbers on those three tabs. Select OK. You will now be back at the officer information screen, and the name/address field will be populated: Officer Type – Use the drop down list to select the officer type Begin Date – Enter the date that the officer was appointed Select OK At the Committee Information screen note that the button is still grayed out. You have not entered enough information at this point to save the committee. Page | 12 Accounts tab The accounts tab is where you will enter bank account information. Select the accounts tab and you will see the following: Select The Account Information screen will be shown: Select Page | 13 At the Name/Address screen, the type will default to Financial Institution: Under Org Name, enter the name of the bank. Go to the Mailing Address tab and enter the address of the bank. Select You are now back at the Account Information screen. The Name/Address field will be populated: Enter information for the rest of the fields on the screen. Account Code – This is a code that you assign to the bank account. This is the code that will be shown for each entry on your reports. You should not use the bank account number, as this is confidential. You should also not use a pin number associated with debit/credit cards. Account Type – Use the drop down list to select the Account Type Account Number – Enter the bank account number. This is confidential information and so will not be listed on any reports Purpose – Enter the purpose of the account Page | 14 Open Date – Enter the date the account was opened Once all information has been entered, select OK. You will see the following message: If you have already filed the CRO-3500 there is no requirement to file this again, unless changes are made to the bank account information. At the Committee Information screen note that the button is still grayed out. You have not entered enough information at this point to save the committee. Candidate tab Select the candidate tab, and the following screen will be displayed: At this screen you will enter all information for the candidate. Page | 15 Select and the Candidate Information screen will be displayed: If the candidate was previously entered under the officer tab, select and the Name List will be displayed: Enter the last name in the Name field and select display and you will see the candidate’s name on the list. Highlight the candidate’s name and select OK. Page | 16 If the candidate was not already entered as an officer select and the Name/Address Screen will be displayed: Enter the candidate’s first and last name, profession/job title, specific field/employers name, mailing address, email address and phone number. Select OK. This will take you back to the Candidate Information screen, and the Name/Address field will be populated: Add the Candidate ID – this is the ID that was assigned to the candidate when they filed for office. If you do not know this number enter six zero’s in the field. Office Sought – add the office that the candidate is running for. In our example this will be County Commissioner. Jurisdiction – Add the jurisdiction that the candidate is running for. Party Affiliation – Use the drop down list to select the Party Affiliation of the candidate (Note: I have used Non-Partisan simply to not pick one party over another. In reality this is a partisan race, so the party affiliation should be shown here) Page | 17 When all fields are complete your screen will look like this: Select OK. At the Committee Information screen check the box for Candidate’s Primary Committee: NOTE: The button is no longer grayed out. You have entered enough information to save the committee setup information. Select Page | 18 You will now be back at the front screen of the software, and the Org Name field will be populated with your committee name: This completes the Committee setup. Page | 19 Set up Elections In order for the software to calculate sum to date totals for each contributor and payee you must set up elections in the software. Elections will be set up for a Primary Election and General Election for 2018. A Second Primary will only be set up if the candidate is on the ballot in the Second Primary. Select Reporting – Election Setup. The following screen will be displayed: Select and the following screen will be displayed: Election Year - The year should already be populated to the current election year Type - Use the drop down list to select State/County Election – Select 2018 Primary or 2018 General Page | 20 Comments – should be entered automatically based on previous selection Select OK, and you will be back at the Election List. You will see the Primary Election that you just created: Follow the same process to set up any other election. This completes the Election Setup. You can now begin to enter transactions into the database. Page | 21 Entering Basic Transactions All contributions and expenditures are entered using a similar procedure. Go to Detail Information - Receipts (or Expenditures). At the Receipts List select Add New. At the Receipt Information screen select Find Contributor (or Find Payee for expenditures). NOTE: You MUST first search for a name in your database. If you do not find the name in your database, then select Add Contributor (or Add Payee for expenditures). Page | 22 At the Name List screen search for the contributor (or payee) using the Name (or beginning part of a name) field. For individuals, just use the last name, and for organizations use the beginning part of the name. For instance, for ABC Printers just use ABC, as you may have previously entered them as ABC Printing. Select Display All entries will be listed that contain what you showed in the name field. Highlight the correct name and select OK At the Receipt Information screen add the Form of Payment, Amount, Date and Bank Account. For Expenditures you will also need to add the Purpose Type Code and Purpose. Select Add Close to save the transaction and close the screen. Select Add Refresh to save the transaction and enter a new one. Select Add Exist to add another transaction for the same entity. Page | 23 This process is used to add most receipts and disbursements. There are other types of transactions that you may need to enter, such as refunds or loans. A complete list of help topics can be found on the State Board of Elections website, on the Campaign Finance Reporting Software page. http://www.ncsbe.gov/Campaign-Finance/reporting-software Page | 24 Create a Report Once all contributions and expenses have been entered, and you are ready to create your report, follow the steps set out below. Select Reporting - Report Information. At the Reports screen select the button Create Disclosure Report The following screen will be displayed: Page | 25 Complete all yellow fields as follows: • Year: Enter the year of the report • Filing Schedule: this will default to County • County – this will default to the county you selected in your committee setup. • Previous Report Link: Use the drop down list and select the last report in the cycle. Remember, if you have amended the last report you must select the amendment. For the first report entered you will select [No Previous Report] • Report Type: Use the dropdown list to select the report type • Report Period Dates: Once you have selected the report type the dates will automatically populate • Fundraiser Activity: Enter the number of fundraisers held this reporting period Under the Account Summary List, highlight the bank account and select Edit Account Add the beginning bank balance in the Begin Balance field and select OK Select OK once again on the Report Information screen. Page | 26 You will now be back at the Reports screen, and you will see your report in the list: You can now use the View Report (not for submitting) button to see the report. You should check the report to make sure all balances and totals are correct. Next you should audit the report, which will highlight any missing information. Your final step will be to save and send the report which is covered next. Page | 27 Save the Official Report Go to Reporting - Save Official Report. The Save Official Report screen below will be shown. • Report – Select the name of the report you wish to save. • Method – Select Save File to Disk. • Date – Enter today’s date. On the Save Official Report screen, select OK once again. This will bring up an Export Report screen. • The exported file will be saved directly under your C: drive. If you wish to save the report to a different location, select the Browse button and navigate to the location of your choice. Make a note of your file name, as you will need to find this file again. • Select Export An Export Successful screen appears. This screen reminds you of the location and name of the report. Select OK. Page | 28 A Print screen will be shown. You MUST print at this screen. Select OK. • Only the cover and summary pages will be printed. These should be signed and mailed to your County Board of Elections. A CF_Remote Email Instructions screen will be shown next. This screen is a reminder that you MUST send the created report file by e-mail and you MUST send the signed cover page by mail or hand-delivery. NOTE: The Signed Cover Page MUST be sent to the appropriate Board of Elections, as detailed in the screen below. You have now successfully saved your report. Once the e-mailed report is received, Campaign Finance staff will process the report and send an e-mail reply advising that your report has been received. Page | 29 Backup Your Database Your database should be backed up periodically to prevent loss of data and to avoid a potential need to re-key all data. You should always backup your data before updating your software. • If you have a computer crash all your data will be lost • If you are updating the version of your software and there are problems, you may lose your data Protect your data! Follow this simple, quick process to ensure that your data remains secure. You will need a flash drive, external hard drive, or the ability to write to a CD. Ideally you should choose an external source that you can write to again and again, such as a flash drive. A CD can only be written to once, and so is not an ideal choice, but will work if you have no other external drive. You should store a copy of your database away from your computer. If you have your backup on the same computer as your database, and you have a computer crash, you will lose both database and copy. Close your software before beginning this process. Navigate to the following location: C:\Program Files (x86)\SBOE\Campaign Finance\CF Remote\dbs Your database is a file called cf_data.mdb. Right click on your database and select copy Navigate to your external drive, right click the external drive and select paste. Don’t change the name of this backup copy. Your backup is complete! If you need to restore your database due to a computer crash, or to changing computers, you will simply copy the backup file from your external drive, navigate to the location C:\Program Files (x86)\SBOE\Campaign Finance\CF Remote\dbs, and paste the database file (cf_data.mdb) to this location. Page | 30 Starting in the Middle of an Election Cycle Committees are required to file Campaign Finance disclosure reports once the committee has exceeded $10,000.00 in receipts or disbursements. A committee could potentially file the first couple of reports manually, exceed the maximum limits, and then have to file all remaining reports electronically. When a committee starts to use the software in the middle of an election cycle they do not have the benefit of having prior records and reports in the software. Reports must include election cycle totals for the full cycle, not just for the period that the committee is a mandatory electronic filer. Similarly, you must have access to any prior contributions received, as sum to date totals must accrue through an entire election (Primary or General). Ideally, if you believe that the committee will exceed $10,000.00 in receipt or disbursements, the easiest way to show a full accounting would be to use the software from the start of the election cycle. For county candidates running in 2018 for a four-year term office the election cycle started on 01/01/2015. The following process will assist with starting to use software part way through the election cycle. For our example, the term of office is four years, and the last election was in 2014. The election cycle will start on 01/01/15. This committee filed all reports for 2015, 2016 and 2017 manually, and is going to start using the software with the 2018 First Quarter Report. The first step would be to create the 2018 First Quarter Report and manually add the ending balance from the last report. Go to Reporting – Report Information. Select the button Create Disclosure Report. You will see the following screen: Page | 31 Enter a year of 2018. The Filing Schedule and County should be populated from the information entered in Org Setup. Under Previous Report Link select [No Previous Report]. This will allow the Edit Summary Values button to be selected. Select this button and you will see the following screen: Page | 32 You can now add an accumulation of the totals shown on reports up to this point, as well as a balance. Remember, you will enter totals based on your Election Cycle. For County candidates running in 2018 for a four-year term office the election cycle started on 01/01/2015. NOTE: You are only entering totals up to the day before the start date on the report you are creating. For example, I am completing a 2018 First Quarter Plus Report. My Election Cycle started on 01/01/15 so I am entering an accumulation of the totals from 01/01/15 through 12/31/17. When I add my 2018 transactions my election cycle to date totals will automatically be increased with the 2018 amounts. The previous period ending balance will be the end balance on the last report filed. The cash on hand at start of election cycle will be the beginning balance that was listed on the first report filed in 2015. Once your report has been created, and previous totals and balances entered, you are ready to start entering transactions. When you enter a contribution from an individual that has already given during the current election period you will need to add the previous amount they gave. For example, Jane Smith gave $1,000.00 on 06/30/15, and gave another $500.00 on 01/01/18. Create a name entry for Jane Smith (as detailed in the section Entering Basic Transactions). Select Add Contributor, and you will see the following screen: Enter the name, occupation information and mailing address for the individual. Now select the Notes tab, and the following screen will be shown: Page | 33 Enter the last effective date, which will be the last date that a contribution was received from this individual. Enter the Pre-Software Receipt Amount for the election period. Select OK. This will then add the amount you entered to any new amount, and the sum to date total will be correct. The same process should be used for expenses.