ZME controller reported a crj-900 flight crew was issued an arrival and a transition; but descended ...

Narrative:

Aircraft X was on the bluzz arrival opd (optimized profile descent) into memphis. The transition was north; which would require aircraft X to cross the tcp (transfer of control point) between 14;000 and 16;000 feet. Earlier; aircraft X requested runway 27 and I acknowledged him by saying 'you need to make your request with memphis approach'. After that conversation; aircraft X started descending on the arrival; but at the bottom of the opd stratums. Right before aircraft X was over bluzz; he started to descend below 14;000 feet. I corrected aircraft X around 13;600 and told him I needed him to maintain 14;000. I believe there might be two issues in this situation. First; I don't know for sure; but there might be some confusion if tower is sending out ATIS information on runway 27 and the pilots might be setting up for 27 transition even though I am issuing just north transition. Second; I believe the pilot might have entered the information into the FMS and hitting enter; without getting approval from me. I would suggest a safety briefing sent out to pilots on making sure not to enter this information in the FMS until you have been cleared to fly that transition. I would also suggest looking at the ATIS on how we can avoid confusion for the pilots.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: ZME Controller reported a CRJ-900 flight crew was issued an arrival and a transition; but descended below the assigned altitude. Controller reported their is confusion from the ATIS informing the runway in use and possibly pilots setting up for it instead of just the transition.

Narrative: Aircraft X was on the BLUZZ arrival OPD (Optimized Profile Descent) into Memphis. The transition was north; which would require Aircraft X to cross the TCP (Transfer of Control Point) between 14;000 and 16;000 feet. Earlier; Aircraft X requested runway 27 and I acknowledged him by saying 'you need to make your request with Memphis Approach'. After that conversation; Aircraft X started descending on the arrival; but at the bottom of the OPD stratums. Right before Aircraft X was over BLUZZ; he started to descend below 14;000 feet. I corrected Aircraft X around 13;600 and told him I needed him to maintain 14;000. I believe there might be two issues in this situation. First; I don't know for sure; but there might be some confusion if Tower is sending out ATIS information on runway 27 and the pilots might be setting up for 27 transition even though I am issuing just north transition. Second; I believe the pilot might have entered the information into the FMS and hitting enter; without getting approval from me. I would suggest a safety briefing sent out to pilots on making sure not to enter this information in the FMS until you have been cleared to fly that transition. I would also suggest looking at the ATIS on how we can avoid confusion for the pilots.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site 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.

Attributes
ACN	1330608
Time
Date	201602
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	ZME.ARTCC
State Reference	TN
Environment
Light	Night
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Regional Jet 900 (CRJ900)
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Descent
Route In Use	STAR BLUZZ ONE
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Enroute
Qualification	Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Experience	Air Traffic Control Time Certified In Pos 1 (yrs) 10
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Deviation - Altitude Crossing Restriction Not Met Deviation - Procedural Clearance

ZME controller reported a crj-900 flight crew was issued an arrival and a transition; but descended below the assigned altitude. Controller reported their is confusion from the ATIS informing the runway in use and possibly pilots setting up for it instead of just the transition.