Every (2+1) dimensional quantum many-body system with an energy gap is believed to be described by a topological quantum field theory (TQFT) in the low energy limit. What this means concretely is that every many-body system of this kind is associated with a collection of universal topological data. Some of this data, however, is missing a precise definition that would allow for its computation from a microscopic Hamiltonian. In this talk, I will address this issue by giving a microscopic definition of the “F-symbol” --- one of the most poorly understood pieces of data that characterize TQFTs. I will also discuss applications of this definition to the computation of anomalies at the boundaries of (2+1) dimensional symmetry-protected topological phases.