Narrative:

I was working a combined position. Chicago center could not use the automated hand off on air carrier XXXX going to kcos; so they called to perform a manual hand off. I had the flight information in uret but no cid. I took radar on the aircraft. Chicago shipped me the aircraft right away. The aircraft was just outside my boundary maybe 10-15 miles. I tried to use the template feature in the uret to put in the flight plan but was unable to due to duplicate flight identification. So then I attempted to adjust the flight identification for the aircraft but was accidentally adding too many digits (8 instead of the maximum 7). I was trying to put in air carrier xxxxa. This didn't take after I tried it multiple times both in uret and in host while also talking to aircraft and managing land line calls. I felt I was spending too much 'heads down' time working on this issue and now the aircraft was about 30 miles into my airspace; so I asked the supervisor to come over and put in a flight plan for me. I had the information in uret and told him it would not take because of duplicate flight identification; and I couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong. The supervisor then inputted a flight plan for air carrier XXXA. After this; the supervisor stated that we would need to call over to ZAU and have them remove strips on the aircraft. But then he just decided to try to do this himself. Without double-checking that this was the only air carrier XXXX aircraft in the system; he inadvertently removed strips on a air carrier XXXX that was enroute in the sector to the north of mine. He then changed my flight plan to show the call sign of air carrier XXXX. There had been two air carrier XXXX's operating in ZMP one going to kcos and one going to kord. I realized what happened when sector 30 called me to ask what I had done to air carrier XXXX. I then told my supervisor what had happened to have him go over and help reenter the flight plan. I subsequently changed my flight's call sign back to air carrier XXXA and told the aircraft he would be that call sign until kcos. Recommendation; even though I had given the supervisor the information that the flight plan was not taking due to duplicate flight identification; I should have been more specific and searched in host to see what other air carrier xxxxs were in the system. It also would have been helpful to have more time to get the flight plan in before actually having the airplane in my sector as just a code and talking to the aircraft. I am not sure when ZAU recognized that they were going to have problems flashing the aircraft. Upon taking radar I could have told ZAU to ship the aircraft on the boundary in 30 miles to give me more time to get the flight plan in.

Related reports:

Google
 

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: ZMP Controller described a failed automated hand off event from ZAU that resulted in increased confusion with both Host and URET functionalities.

Narrative: I was working a combined position. Chicago Center could not use the automated hand off on Air Carrier XXXX going to KCOS; so they called to perform a manual hand off. I had the flight information in URET but no CID. I took RADAR on the aircraft. Chicago shipped me the aircraft right away. The aircraft was just outside my boundary maybe 10-15 miles. I tried to use the template feature in the URET to put in the flight plan but was unable to due to duplicate flight ID. So then I attempted to adjust the flight ID for the aircraft but was accidentally adding too many digits (8 instead of the maximum 7). I was trying to put in Air Carrier XXXXA. This didn't take after I tried it multiple times both in URET and in HOST while also talking to aircraft and managing land line calls. I felt I was spending too much 'heads down' time working on this issue and now the aircraft was about 30 miles into my airspace; so I asked the Supervisor to come over and put in a flight plan for me. I had the information in URET and told him it would not take because of duplicate flight ID; and I couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong. The Supervisor then inputted a flight plan for Air Carrier XXXA. After this; the Supervisor stated that we would need to call over to ZAU and have them remove strips on the aircraft. But then he just decided to try to do this himself. Without double-checking that this was the only Air Carrier XXXX aircraft in the system; he inadvertently removed strips on a Air Carrier XXXX that was enroute in the sector to the north of mine. He then changed my flight plan to show the call sign of Air Carrier XXXX. There had been two Air Carrier XXXX's operating in ZMP one going to KCOS and one going to KORD. I realized what happened when Sector 30 called me to ask what I had done to Air Carrier XXXX. I then told my Supervisor what had happened to have him go over and help reenter the flight plan. I subsequently changed my flight's call sign back to Air Carrier XXXA and told the aircraft he would be that call sign until KCOS. Recommendation; even though I had given the Supervisor the information that the flight plan was not taking due to duplicate flight ID; I should have been more specific and searched in HOST to see what other Air Carrier XXXXs were in the system. It also would have been helpful to have more time to get the flight plan in before actually having the airplane in my sector as just a code and talking to the aircraft. I am not sure when ZAU recognized that they were going to have problems flashing the aircraft. Upon taking RADAR I could have told ZAU to ship the aircraft on the boundary in 30 miles to give me more time to get the flight plan in.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.