WASHINGTON — US Customs has created the "ACE Portal Reports Dictionary," to help users with the new cargo processing system.

The reference document is to be used in conjunction with the ACE management reports tool.

The dictionary enables users to quickly understand the parameters of a report, making it easier to identify the appropriate report for a specific need. The more comfortable users become with running ACE reports, the more likely they will be able to utilize additional data elements to customize reports, which support daily business operations and are used to monitor trade compliance, CBP says.

"Facilitating the generation of ACE management reports allows the trade community and CBP to base decisions on national trend analysis rather than individual transactions," said Lou Samenfink, executive director of the CBP Cargo Systems Program Office "Using the reports dictionary as a support tool will help ensure that ACE provides meaningful and useful reports." This is consistent with the CBP modernization vision of ensuring that the agency implements an account-based approach to information analysis via the ACE Secure Data Portal.

The dictionary has several user-friendly features to help quickly locate reports, including a catalog of reports as they are listed in the ACE portal. Users are also able to locate a particular report by clicking the report name listed in the table of contents, searching for a word or phrase via a built-in search feature and referencing the index for a specific data element.