MINC

There are several things that must be done in order to begin transmitting to Rural Development through the MINC system.  

First, you must have Internet Access through Dial up, DSL Line, or Cable Modem.  Without that you will not be able to go on-line and submit your data.

Before you can begin the new MINC system, you must apply for a MINC Number from your district.  It takes about two-three weeks to receive your new passwords,  so apply early.  

Below is a checklist of items that must be completed. In the pages that follow, each item will have its own section in detail.

· Property Setup must be changed to use the MINC System.

· Certifications need to be updated with the required MINC information for each member of the household.  

Property Setup – Changing to MINC

In order to begin transmitting via MINC, you must tell the system that you need the new format of Industry Interface. To do that, follow the steps below.  

Step 1:  Click on the picture of the house from your menu bar that says Property.

Step 2:  Click the Rates and ID’s button on the side bar

Step 3:  If you are ready to begin using the internet for your transmissions, change the Transmit Method to Internet from the 800 Dial Up.  Then change the Format to MINC from Original.

If you have not received your passwords yet, but want to get a head start on updating your data for the MINC system – you can!  Just leave the Transmit method set to 800 Dial up, but change the Format to MINC.  Then when you go to input certs, recert, or modify, the new format of MINC will be showing up.  Don’t worry,  the new format is compatible with the dial up so it will transmit correctly.

Step 4:  Click Ok when you have completed this screen.

Updating Tenant Information by modifying the existing cert

Step 1:  Click the View Selected Cert button on the household screen to display the existing tenant certification for this tenant.

The Household Member section is the main difference you will notice.

Step 2:  Click on each tenant and click Edit, to bring up the screen tenant information.

Step 3:  Complete the new section for MINC( Race Codes through Status).  Then Click OK. Do this for each member of the household so that it won’t get rejected

Note:  You will need to delete the industry interface record so that the certs modified do not get transmitted. If it is time for the tenant’s recert, don’t worry about modifying the tenant, just recertify them.

Recertifications

Recertifications are a lot like modifications.  You must have the Tenant List displayed so that you can choose which tenant you want to recertify.

Step 1:  Find the tenant’s name on the tenant list and click the Recert 515 button at the bottom of the Tenant List.

Step 2:  Once you have clicked on the Recert 515 Button, the existing tenant cert will display with the date field changed to the first of the next month.  Change the Effective Date to the date on your recertification paperwork.

Step 3:  Update any information that has changed with the recertification. If you have not previously added the race and ethnic code for the tenant, click the edit button and complete the information needed.

Step 4:  Once you have completed the information, click OK to save and close the form.  

Co-tenant becomes Tenant

There is a new field to check with the MINC system when a tenant becomes a co-tenant.  You need to create a recert in the system.  You will delete the Tenant, and then change the co-tenant’s type to Tenant by clicking on their name and clicking Edit.  There is also a box at the bottom of the screen (in the gray area), that you must check in order for it to be sent to Rural Development as a co-tenant to tenant change.  View the screen below for more details.

Transmitting to Rural Development

Step 1:  After reviewing all tenant information and verifying accuracy, you are ready to transmit to Rural Development.  Go to the Section 515 menu -- Industry Interface -- Transmit Certs.

**Note** - When transmitting with Group Processing – your Property IDs must be unique if you are still using dial up. This means on the Property screen each of your properties must have a different three- digit property number. If you are transmitting over the Internet the ID number will not matter.

Step 2:  To transmit, first select the property to transmit. Next, click the Add button to take the property name to the right side of the screen.  

Step 3:  The month and year at the bottom of the screen will determine which transactions will be sent to Rural Development. If you are in August and you need to resend a transaction for June or July, simply change the month to the month you need to resend, then click Transmit.

You will receive the following message:

**Note** - The file named above and the location of the file is very important!  When you get to the RHS website for transmitting (https://usdaminc.sc.egov.usda.gov/), this is the file name that you will upload to them with your tenant data in it.

Step 4:  Connect to the Internet and go to the website as mentioned above (https://usdaminc.sc.egov.usda.gov/). Click on the MA Users button.

Step 5:  Input your MINC Login information and then click Login.  

Step 6:  You will see three buttons:

• One will be for transmitting or uploading the file to RHS – this is the one you will use 99% of the time.  
• Another is for manually submitting certs, where you have to key in all the data into the system.  
• The last is reports – this will be a verification of what was transmitted to RD.  After transmitting it will take approximately 15 minutes to get this report.  You should NOT have to print the report manually; this report should be e-mailed to you for verification within a certain time frame.  

**Note** - You do not have to check your mailbox anymore.  The report will be e-mailed to you instead.

Step 7:  After you have submitted your transactions manually you will receive a box asking if everything was okay – make sure you do not say Yes to that until after you have uploaded your data to the web, or your transactions may get marked with a transmitted status when they should not have or vice versa.