• How to Submit Your Report
  • What email address do I use when sending my report electronically?
  • What files should I include with my submission?
  • Where are the report files and the identity.txt file located on my computer?
  • What file types should I send?
  • How do I find a directory (folder) on my computer?
  • What is in the "C:\prl2007" folder?
  • How do I find the "C:\prl2007" directory in the attachment window of my email program?
  • Can I send my report to NYSDEC from within the Option A, B, or C software?
  • What information do I need to include in the body of my email submission?
  
  
• Installation
  • What are the software and hardware requirements for installing the Option A, B, or C software?
  • I received an error message when I tried to install the software I downloaded from this web site. The message said something about a "32-bit error." What does this mean?
  • When I try to install the software, I get a message which says, "Another version of the product is already installed [...] To configure or remove the existing version of this product, use Add/Remove Programs on the Control Panel." What should I do?
  • I use Office97. Do I need to install a different version of the software?
  
  
• Using the Option A, B, or C Software
  • What is in the "C:\Program Files\NYSPRL" folder?
  • Where does the "2nd" email address go?
  • I get a dialogue when I open the Excel software option that asks whether I want to "Enable Macros." What should I do?
  • What are the macro security settings that I need to have in Excel to submit my report electronically?
  • I get an error message from Excel that says, "Macros are disabled because the security level is set to High." What do I need to do?
  • I opened the report in Excel, but I cannot fill in the spaces for name and certification number. What now?
  • I need to report for multiple applicators, but the Registration form in the software only has space for one applicator. What should I do?
  • I am having trouble pasting data into option B. What should I do?
  
  
• Report Processing and Validation by NYSDEC
  • What is the difference between the "1st" and "2nd" emails?
  • Where does the "2nd" email address go?
  • How long will it take to process my submission?
  • I received a note that my submission is being treated as an "e-convert." What does this mean and how long does it take to process these?
  • I received a message about not sending the "desktop shortcut" files. What does this mean?
  • Where is the "Reports Logged" database?
  • How can I check to see if my report has been received and processed?
  • I received a message from the Service Bureau that my report contained "incorrect date formats." What does this mean?
  • I submitted my report by email, but I have not received a reply. What should I do?
  
  
• General
  • Where on the website do I find the files to send to the Pesticide Service Bureau?
  • Can I type my pesticide report in on the Pesticide Service Bureau web site and send it that way?
  • Where is the "Reports Logged" database?
  • How can I check to see if my report has been received and processed?
  • Do I have to report the names of the apprentices who work for our company?
  • I kept my records on paper. Should I submit those?
  • How do I contact Technical Support?
  • My question is not in the above list. What do I do?

You should send an email to prlfiles@nysprl.com to submit your report electronically. You should not put your report in the body of the email; this will delay processing of the report. Instead, you should send the report as an attachment to the email; you will have to consult the help facility for your email service on how to do this, as the procedures can vary quite substantially.

Always include the identity.txt file and all the files containing the report forms that you created.

The actual report files live in a folder that is created by the program when you run it. This folder is named "prl" (lower case) followed by the reporting year. Thus, for 2007 you will have a folder called "C:\prl2007", where the "C:\" is your hard disk. Similarly, for 2008 you would have a folder named "C:\prl2008", and so forth. The data files you need to attach live in that folder. It is also possible that you changed the folder for the report files to one of your own choosing.

Especially important is the file called identity.txt, which always lives in the "C:\prl..." folder, no matter where you might have moved your report files. This file contains necessary identification information; we cannot process your submission without it.

Please do not send us the shortcuts (extension ".lnk") that are installed on your computer's desktop. These are empty files on your computer that we cannot access from the NY Pesticide Reporting Service Bureau. A shortcut can be identified by the small arrow that points up and to the right in the file icon. It can also be identified by checking the file properties. To do this use your mouse to right click on the file. Choose Properties. If a tab called "Shortcut" is visible in the Properties window, then the file is a shortcut.

If you are using the Spreadsheet eForm option (Option B), please do not send us any files from the "C:\Program Files\NYSPRL\OptionB" folder. These forms are empty. They are templates for starting a new report form.

For all options including Option B, send the identity.txt text file. For all options except Option B, send report files as text files. The text files created by our software use the ".txt" extension. Option B report files are Microsoft Excel files, which have a ".xls" extension.

If your computer is not set up to display file extensions, use your mouse to right click on the file. Choose Properties. The extension is listed on the "General" tab in the Files of Type field.

Click the "My Computer" icon on your computer's desktop or use the Windows Explorer.

This is the root program installation directory. Depending on what software option you are using it will contain an "OptionA," "OptionB," or "OptionC" subfolder. There is no reason for you to access any of the files in these folders. The report files you save are not kept here.

This is the default directory for storing the report files that you save. See the response to the "Where are the report files and the identity.txt file located on my computer?" FAQ.

There are many different email programs in use by the regulated pesticide community. Each of these programs uses different methods to attach files to an email message. In most cases, however, once the attachment window is open, the process of locating a directory within that window is quite similar.

To find the folder when attaching the files to the email message you will send to the Service Bureau, open up your email program's attachment window. Typically, the window will have a field at the top called "Look In", "Browse", or something similar. Click the down arrow at the left side of this field. A drop down list of folder names will appear. Point and click the mouse at the "Local Disk (C:)" folder. A new list of folders will be displayed in the large area below the "Look In:" field.

Use the scroll bar to scroll the list until "prl2007" appears. The scroll bar is a horizontal bar with outward facing arrows at either end. Click the arrows with the mouse to make the bar move and scroll the folder list. Alternatively, your email program's attachment window may have a vertical scroll bar. A vertical scroll bar is used in the same way as a horizontal scroll bar.

When you find the "prl2007" folder, click it with the mouse. Your report files and the identity.txt file will appear. Highlight each of these files by clicking them with the mouse. To select multiple files, hold down the CTRL key while clicking on each file. When finished, click the "Open" or "Attach" button at the bottom of the window. This will attach the files to your email message.

Yes. In Option B, click the "Send Report To NYSDEC Via Email" button at the top of one of the spreadsheets. In Option A, click the "Email Report/s" button on the registration form. In Option C, click the "Send Report To NYSDEC Via Email" button on the registration form.

In all cases a warning message is displayed. The message informs you that the email feature may not work in some network environments because of the environment's security features, or perhaps your computer is not on the Internet. If you have any trouble using this feature, you may simply attach the files to an email and send them to us or use one of the other submission methods.

Next you will be prompted by "Did you save your files in the PRLYYYY directory? : Yes or No." This is the default directory where the program stores your files unless you have changed it by choosing another location.

If you answer "No," then a list of directories in the standard Windows format will display. Simply navigate to the directory where your files are located, select the directory and click Done.

This will bring you to the NYSPRL email form. There are four steps to follow on the form:

1. You will see a list of files with check boxes next to them. Check the files you wish to include with the email. Please review the "PRL File Names" description in the text box at the right side of the window. Submission of invalid file names may cause delays in processing your report.
   
   
2. Enter your email address in the box indicated.
   
   
3. If you have any notes or messages you would like to include, enter them in the indicated box. We suggest that you include your business name and business or permit number if you have one or, if you are reporting for a single applicator, the applicator name and certification number. Also, please include a contact name and phone number.
   
   
4. Click on the Send button. A progress bar will display followed by a message indicating the results of sending the email (Success or Failure). If the transmission should fail for some reason, please file your report using your standard email program. If you have problems with this feature, click the "Trouble Sending Report" button for additional help.

Option A requires a computer with Windows 95 or higher, and needs 15–25 MB of free space on drive C (the hard drive). Option B requires a computer with Excel 97 or higher and Windows 95 or higher. Option C requires a computer with Windows 95 or higher, and needs ~5 MB of free space on drive C.

For electronic submissions, two reply emails are sent. The first is simply an acknowledgement that we received your submission. It is sent to the email address that submitted the report.

The second is sent after we have successfully processed it. This email message is sent to the email that was typed into the registration form that is included with the Option A, B, and 3C software. If no email address, a bogus address, or an incorrect address was entered there, you will not receive a second email. The second email message is usually sent about two to three weeks after we receive your report. This delay is due to the large number of reports that applicators submit within a short time frame.

This address is captured on the registration form that is included with the Option A, B, and C software. The second reply email is generated by a program that does not have access to the "Reply-To" field of the email that you submitted your report with. It is therefore crucial that you enter this address in the registration form of the software option you are using.

It depends on how you submitted the report, and whether there were problems in the data formats. There is also the question of how much of a processing backlog there is at the time. Our turnaround goal is 15 business days. If there are problems with the data formats, we may in some cases be able to do some cleanup, but this will cause delays in processing your submission. If the problems are so widespread that attempting to clean the report would cause delays for processing other submissions, we will have to request that you do the cleanup yourself and resubmit.

An e-convert is a report submission that does not use one of our standard software options. The standard software options are the three options available from the NYSPRL web site. In some cases we will work with businesses that store their data in formats that approximate our standard formats. This is done on a case-by-case basis each year. We reserve the right to reject any submission which uses a format that differs from our standard reporting options, if the format cannot be reliably converted.

Once we receive your e-convert submission, we need to do some processing on your data to get them into the format used by our validation programs. For this reason, processing e-converts takes longer than the standard reports. The less data cleanup we have to do on your submission, the faster we will be able to process it. If there is so much work needed that it would cause delays in processing other submissions, we will have to request that you clean the data yourself. In some cases it is simply impossible for us to cleanup your data because required data items are missing. In this event you will be asked to supply the missing data.

You should choose "Enable Macros." The software does not work correctly without macros enabled. For example, the registration form that is used to capture your identity information will not display. If this happens we may be unable to determine what business or applicator is filing the pesticide report we receive.

Information on what macro settings need to be enabled and how to set them can be found here. Many of the features of the program will not operate correctly without macros enabled.

See the response to the "What are the macro security settings that I need to have in Excel to submit my report electronically?" FAQ.

In a few cases people that downloaded our software prior to November, 2006, encountered this error message when they ran the installation program. The message occurs when the cmd.exe program or a related file have been deleted from your computer. If you get this error message, try downloading a new copy of the software and installing it. If you still need help, please contact Technical Support. (See the contact information here.)

The spaces for name and certification number are filled by the program using the data you entered in the registration form that is displayed when you open up the spreadsheet. If a registration form did not display, it is because the wrong macro security settings are in effect in your copy of Excel. Information on what macro settings need to be enabled and how to set them can be found here. Many of the features of the program will not operate correctly without macros enabled.

Include the name and phone number of a contact person whom we can call if there are any problems with the submission.

If you are reporting for a registered pesticide business or a commercial sales business, include your business name and your business registration number or commercial permit number.

If you are reporting for a business that employs multiple applicators but that does not have a registered business number, include the business name.

If you are reporting for a single applicator, report his/her name and certification number.

At the Pesticide Service Bureau home page, click on the "Yes" image under the "Did you make applications or sales..." question. This will take you to the Electronic Reporting Options page. At the top of that page is a list of links to various places further down the page; click on "Download PRL Electronic Filing Options" to get to the download section. Choose from one of the three options. Please remember that these software options are not "the files to send to the Pesticide Service Bureau" but rather blank templates to put on your computer so you can enter your report data.

No, we do not provide online data entry for your pesticide report data. If you are a commercial applicator or technician who did not apply any pesticides during the report year or you are a commercial sales permittee who did not sell any pesticides, you may report to us online by clicking "No" at www.nysprl.com and then following the directions on the next page.

When you download the NY Pesticide Service Bureau software, it creates an icon on your desktop. This is a "shortcut" to the actual program, placed there for your convenience in accessing the program, just like many of your other desktop icons. It is important to remember that these icons are not the actual programs or data files. If you attach the shortcut to your submission, you are not attaching the data files we need—you are attaching a set of directions to your computer for how to find the data files or program. If you look at the list of files attached to your submission and you see any whose names end in ".lnk", then you have attached a shortcut. See the "Where are the report files and the identity.txt file located on my computer?" FAQ for where to find the files we actually need and additional information about shortcuts.

On the NY Pesticide Service Bureau home page is a link labeled, "Would you like to know if NYSDEC has received your calendar year 2007 Pesticide Annual Report?" If you click on that link it will take you to an external webpage that allows you to access a database to see whether your report has been received. Please note that this database will not become active until December 15, 2007.

You may check our "Reports Logged" database. This database contains all the certification numbers, business numbers, and commercial permit numbers contained in the reports that we have processed. Because of the volume of reports we receive, we cannot process your report as soon as we receive it. Standard reports that do not require any data cleanup may take up to 15 days to process.

See the "Where is the 'Reports Logged' database?" FAQ for how to access this database.

People often use different shorthand notations for dates. In order to process your submission in a timely fashion, we need to have all dates in a single format, rather than try to figure out what shorthand was meant. This date format is MM/DD/YYYY—in other words, 2 digits for month, followed by 2 digits for day-of-month, followed by 4 digits for year. Each part should be separated by the slash character "/".

No, you are only required to report the names and certification numbers of the commercial applicators and technicians. You do need to report any pesticide applications made by apprentices.

If you are making an electronic submission, then no, do not also submit your paper records. Sending both will only cause confusion and delay. Similarly, do not scan any records kept on paper into an image file and submit those—image files such as .GIFs or .PDFs cannot be processed at all and will just be returned to you.

If you have only kept your records on paper and are not comfortable with electronic submission, please send copies of the paper reports to the address at this link. (We strongly encourage you to submit electronically. You will get one immediate confirmation that your report was received, and electronic submission also saves the cost of postage.)

See the contact information here.

Please contact the NY Pesticide Service Bureau for assistance. You can find contact information here.

If you have previously installed the software, you must first uninstall the existing version. Go to the Start menu. Choose Settings->Control Panel, and click on Add/Remove Programs. In the "Add/Remove" dialogue, navigate to whichever of Option1, Option2, or Option3 you previously installed, and click on it. Then click the "Change/Remove" button and follow the prompts to uninstall it. Once the old version is removed, you can go back to the Service Bureau website and install the new version.

You may install the standard versions of Option A, B, or C. A separate installation file is no longer required for users of Microsoft Office97.

In option A and B use form 26AE, "List of Commercial Applicators and Technicians", to report multiple applicators. If you are using option C, see the file layout in the documentation for form 26AE.

You should receive the "1st" email within one hour of submitting your report to us. If you did not receive an email, you should contact us immediately. You're report may not have been received.

After we have successfully processed your report, you should receive a "2nd" email. This usually takes two to three weeks. See the response to the What is the difference between the "1st" and "2nd" emails? FAQ for more information about the "2nd" email.

If you cannot paste data into one of the option B forms, try "disabling" macros when you open up the form. Beware that none of the software features will work when you "disable" the macros. After you paste in the data, save the form and close the software. The next time you open the form be sure to "enable" macros.