Tuesday, November 26, 2002

eCheck The State is currently looking at the possibility of accepting echecks as a payment vehicle within the context of its existing bank contract.  Agencies who wish to explore the echeck option should thoroughly understand the standard operating parameters which are explained in this document prepared by Authorize.net.  Related issues and an overview of the requirements as well as authentication issues specifically will be discussed in the December meeting of the State Product Management Council.  In the meantime, I will try to make sure I more fully understand NACHA guidelines. 5:08:05 PM

Census Bureau The Census Bureau, despite its problems with imputation, continues to enhance the utility of its website.  The Consolidated Federal Funds report provides a breakdown of all federal spending at the state and county level.  The FY2001 report is available currently.  I'm not sure what their schedule is for release of future reports. Their Tiger map utility has certainly improved from where it was a few years ago.  And Quickfacts provides a good overview down to the county level. 9:13:43 AM

Disasterhelp.gov - FEMA's new portal Al Sherwood referred me to yesterday's press release on disasterhelp.gov.  The site is online.  I registered with the site, but don't see what that buys me. OK, now I have played around with it a little more.  It is very similar to the employee portal that we have been developing as it allows you to develop customized looks as separate pages and include whatever content you would like.  I developed a Utah specific page with content mostly from FEMA Region VIII.  I'm not sure if you have the ability to create customized feeds which I'd like to do with my homeland security RSS feed. 8:46:44 AM

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