Turbo Commander 690 Series
Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Situational Awareness
ATC Issue All Types
General None Reported / Taken
ATC Equipment / Nav Facility / Buildings; Procedure
Both ZMP and ZAU are operating on the ERAM flight processing computer. The flight plan ZMP cleared acft X was CAD..LOT. LOT is a Chicago satellite airport. Acft X was 20N of the ZMP/ZAU boundary when the flight was handed off to Chicago. Upon hand off acceptance at ZAU; ZAU ERAM sent back its own flight plan on the aircraft which ZMP then displayed at the ZMP Sector. The ZAU route included Pref Routing and passed it back to ZMP as though the Controller at ZAU issued it. The ZAU flight plan was CAD..OXI..LOT.ZMP flight plan: CAD..LOT ZAU flight plan: CAD..OXI..LOT. I was training the D Side Controller who was using the route display on the RADAR scope to judge whether to point the flight out. The route display did not match the flight track of acft X; so the R-Side questioned acft X about the route. Pilot said they were going direct LOT; (as cleared); but the ERAM showed them going direct OXI. The D-Side coordinated acft X direct LOT with ZAU to resolve any confusion. The incorrect Route and Route Display lead the ZMP Controller; who is actively controlling the flight; to think the flight was doing something entirely different and may contribute to an Operational Error or Deviation. Recommendation; upon investigation; ERAM AIMS issue a software engineering fix to address this and other similar situations. It has been marked 'Critical' by several facilities and is NOT scheduled to be released in the near future. The situation discribed above mostly occurs in the summer with the summer vacation traffic from Northern Michigan to the Chicago area between ZAU ERAM and ZMP ERAM. A more urgent and dangerous situation with this will occur when ZOB  starts running on their ERAM [Winter] system. ZMP sectors TVC and PLN LO meet ZOB FNT and LAN Lo sectors on a conical boundary. This same situation that is occurring with flights from Northern Michigan to Chicago will also occur with ZOB on the Northern Michigan to Detroit flights. With the shape of the ZMP/ZOB Boundary and sectors; the ZOB ERAM passing back a different flight plan to ZMP sectors will contribute to increased Operational Deviations and possible Operational Errors.
ZMP Controller voiced concern regarding the functionality of the ERAM equipment processing flight plan information.