--- title: "About E-Rate" slug: "about-e-rate" updated: 2026-04-28T15:41:24Z published: 2026-05-26T15:57:41Z canonical: "help.idibilling.com/about-e-rate" --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help.idibilling.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # About E-Rate E-Rate is a federal program that provides funding to help schools, libraries, and consortia obtain affordable broadband. E-Rate is administered by the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) under the direction of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). USAC is responsible for processing applications, confirming eligibility, establishing funding/discount amounts, and reimbursing service providers for discounted products and services. The IDI platform has been enhanced to support configuration of approved E-Rate funding for products and services on an account, auto-generation of E-Rate credits on applicable invoices for those accounts, and the ability to create USAC reimbursement files. This helps service providers improve efficiency, accuracy, and visibility when servicing E-Rate eligible accounts. Briefly, USAC assigns a unique Funding Request Number (FRN) when an application request for E-Rate funding has been approved. In the IDI platform, E-Rate configuration and management is done in the Product Catalog web module. There, authorized users can configure FRNs, view E-Rate utilization, manually log utilization when needed, and create an FCC reimbursement form 474 for submission to USAC. > [!NOTE] > Note: > > Submitting this file is a manual process done outside the IDI platform. Support for E-Rate in the IDI platform provides the ability to: - Configure E-Rate funding in the Product Catalog web module. This includes the ability to associate products and services to a Funding Request Number (FRN). - Apply E-Rate funding during billing: - Automatically generate E-Rate credits based on FRN configuration. - Automatically track and log E-Rate utilization. - View E-Rate Utilization. - Generate the USAC reimbursement (474) file for finalized bill periods. - Use Customer Care to view E-Rate information on an account and on invoices. - Manually log utilization for an FRN if product/service associations were not configured prior to billing, or when any manual corrections are needed. - Configure workflow automation when E-Rate utilization is manually logged (via the *E-Rate Utilization Manually Created* trigger). - Account for E-Rate funding in Invoice XML and General Ledger reports. #### Quick Tours: - [How to Configure](https://idibilling.storylane.io/share/tytmdtrlyfcw) - [Managing Utilization](https://idibilling.storylane.io/share/i15yxckvrey9) - [Creating the 474 File](https://idibilling.storylane.io/share/u6qsh2poo9vu) #### How Billing Works The IDI billing solution logs E-Rate utilization for FRNs configured in the Product Catalog and applies E-Rate credits as a volume discount using the E-Rate discount product (See *E-Rate Discount Product* section below). Utilization refers to consuming the E-Rate discount on eligible monthly recurring charges (MRCs) or on an eligible NRC charge, such as an installation charge. Utilization logged for an FRN subtracts from the total allotted E-Rate funding amount until that amount is completely consumed. > [!NOTE] > **Note**: > > Typically, accounts that are eligible for E-Rate funding are tax exempt; however, if there are any taxes applied to charges with E-Rate funding, the E-Rate funding/discount amount is calculated after tax (so it discounts the charge + tax). By default, Billing uses the last day of the bill period as the date for **FRN selection** and the date for **logging E-Rate utilization**. Billing determines if an FRN can be used by evaluating the products and services *being billed* to the products and services *associated to FRNs* that are active on the last day of the bill period. If an FRN can be used, amount to use is calculated and applied to the invoice as a discount. > [!NOTE] > **Note:** > > Bill Cycle configuration lets you push this date forward by an offset number of days to allow for flexibility for FRN selection for in-advance charging. #### Example: FRN with a date range of 7/1/22 through 6/30/23 - For Bill Period 5/14/23 to 6/14/23: The FRN will be included/evaluated because 6/13/23 (last day of the bill period) falls within the FRN dates. Utilization will have a date of 6/13/23 - For Bill Period **6/14/23 to 7/14/23**, the FRN will not be included because 7/13/23 (last day of the bill period) is not within the FRN date range. > [!NOTE] > **Note:** > > This behavior applies regardless of the proration type of the individual product charges (in advance versus arrears). #### General Ledger Considerations for E-Rate E-Rate details are logged in a dedicated General Ledger table: *GLJournalEntryFeaturelessBillingProgram*. General Ledger reports have been updated to include information from this table.