Understanding SFSAC workbook formatting flexibility and limitations

[Leighdiddy]

User Story:

As an auditor who is completing the SFSAC as part of my entities audit submission package to the FAC, I need the SFSAC to be as simple and clear as possible to fill out, so that I am confident that I'm submitting a complete and accurate SFSAC with my audit submission package.

As a federal audit resolution official who is assigned to review audit submissions, I need to be able to reference the different sections of the SFSAC against themselves and the audit report PDF, in order to complete my review of the audit submission and issue an MDL (management decision letter) in a timely and compliant manner.

Context:

In 2016 OMB introduced the SFSAC as a new requirement for single audit report submissions to fac.gov. The SFSAC is a webform that includes upload-able workbooks (xlsx files), it was designed to highlight data from the audit report PDF in an abbreviated and computer-readable format. The SFSAC surfaces audits with findings to their awarding agency for review, which saves time and resources by replacing the need to manually review every audit for findings.

The SFSAC is also referred to as the DCF, or Data Collection Form, see background here and here. The Census SFSAC could be completed via webform with optional workbook uploads. It included multiple fields that auto-populated from other parts of the form as the user progressed, lowering the chance of typos from duplicate manually entered information.

We were unable to rebuild/reuse the existing form file, and the decision was made to break the SFSAC into a webform with multiple required (vs optional) workbooks. Our workbook formatting introduced excess negative space, which increases the time it takes to navigate the file and complete a review. It adds a time and organizational burden for users who are submitting, because they now need to download and upload multiple workbooks. The FAC is working with federal stakeholders to understand how and where we can implement changes to improve data reliability while reducing instances of collecting duplicated information within the submission package. The current SF-SAC (OMB# 3090-0330 EXP: 09/30/2026) will be submitted for PRA revisions in FY2026.

Blank Census workbook
Completed Census workbook

Acceptance criteria

We have a clear map of all validations within the current SF-SAC

We understand the feasibility of changing the formatting within current individual SFSAC workbooks, including any potential risks to this approach, and have determined our next steps.

We understand the feasibility of combining the SF-SAC workbooks into one xlsx file, including any potential risks to this approach, and have documented and determined our next steps.

[Leighdiddy]

@rnovak338 another piece to consider here - In order for our validations to work we currently require users to upload blank workbooks for sections that don't apply. How could we eliminate this step?

[rnovak338]

@Leighdiddy leaving this as a spike for now. After speaking with @danswick yesterday, I'm shifting priority to assist with the single source of truth followed by resubmission before looking at this.