There are several CIRS files which contain payment data. Choosing the right file depends on your report needs and your proficiency writing ad hoc reports. In some cases, there is more than one 'right' way to get the data you need. For instance, if you need to identify payments issued to the 2004 summer session employees, there are 3 different solutions:
Solution #1:
Use the 03/04 Payment Data (PH) file to identify payments issued through 06/30/2004 and the 04/05 PH file to identify payments issued from 07/01/2004 forward. If you need the information in a single report, you could merge the data from these two files using the MATCH command.
Solution #2:
Select the SSN's of summer session employees from the 03/04 PH file and hold the SSN's to your permanent hold file named PERMSML. Next, create a Payment History Extract (PY) file for the current and (if desired) prior 36 business months using the SSN's in PERMSML.
Solution #3:
Use the Payment Data Summary (PHS) file. This file contains payment data for the current and 5 prior fiscal years and is only available under Batch Execution. Note: The PHS file does not contain deduction data.
For more information on the data contained in each of the payment files, refer to the CIRS Data Element Dictionary or call the Hotline.
Related Topic: Differences Between the PH, PY and PHS files.