Verification Summary Report Updates Wendy Barkley Assistant - - PDF document

Wendy Barkley Assistant Director OSPI Child Nutrition Services

Verification Summary Report Updates

Thursday, November 14, 2019

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• USDA Requirement
• Due by February 1st each year
• Reports the results of the verification process
• Federal benchmark for SNAP Matches = 95%

VSR Background

The Verification Summary Report is a report that is submitted annually to Child Nutrition Services by February 1st of each year. The report is also called the food and nutrition services or FNS report 742. It is required by USDA. Note that the February 1st submission date is set in regulation by USDA. Child Nutrition Services rolls up all of the data and is required to submit the report to USDA by March 15th. The report summarizes each local education agencies results of the verification process. Data points include enrollment, number of directly certified students, number of free and reduced price applications, verification sample size, type of verification conducted and

• utcome of the applications verified and much more. USDA uses the data to guide

eligibility determinations, regulations, access to programs and more. The summary report also measures Washington state’s direct certification rate and progress towards meeting the 95% benchmark. The report as well as the accuracy of the data is important. It is one of the biggest reporting requirements that Child Nutrition Services conducts.

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VSR Background

• Previously collected by Excel spreadsheet.
• NEW THIS SCHOOL YEAR! Collecting in WINS
• Available around November 18th

To give you a little background on the report. In school years 14‐15 through 18‐19, the Verification Summary Report was collected by Excel spreadsheet. Beginning school year 19‐20, the report is available electronically in WINS. The report will be open to sponsors around November 18th. We are excited about the electronic report and hope that it makes it easier for our

• sponsors. It will be nice for CNS program staff too.

Just a word of caution though. As we work to develop WINS, there will possibly be problems too. We will appreciate your patience as we work through any issues that arise. If you experience issues with the report, please contact me directly.

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Objectives

• Preview VSR in WINS
• Provide a basic understanding of the data reported.
• Overview of edit checks

The objectives of today’s webinar are to preview the VSR in WINS. We will walk through screen shots to show you how information is entered. I’d like to ensure users have a basic understanding of the data reported. We will also give a overview of some of the edit checks that are built into the Verification Summary Report.

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Special Instructions

• If you operate Provision 2 or Community Eligibility Provision for

all schools in the district OR are an RCCI, please use these resources to submit the VSR.

• You can sign off from the webinar

Before we go further, I would like to make a special note for any sponsors on the webinar today that operate Provision 2 or Community Eligibility Provision for all schools in the

• district. And for RCCIs that do not conduct verification. For those sponsors, the summary

report is abbreviated. It is very short confirming number of schools, enrollment and confirmation that the verification process was not required. As such, these sponsors can sign off from the webinar and use the reference sheet as instructions for submitting the summary report.

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Getting Started

Helpful Tool - Use the Excel template to gather information.

https://www.k12.wa.us/policy‐funding/child‐ nutrition/school‐meals/national‐school‐lunch‐ program/free‐and‐reduced‐price‐information‐ verification

For all sponsors that conduct the Verification process and will need to submit the results of verification, I would like to encourage you to use our Excel version of the verification summary report from past years. The template on your screen may look familiar to you. The web address for the template is on the screen as well. This template is found on the OSPI Child Nutrition Services webpage. Access the page titled Free and Reduced Price Information and Verification. Completing the template allows you to have all of information you need for the Verification Summary Report in WINS at your fingertips. We require you to report this same information in WINS.

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Getting Started – Accessing your Report

To access the verification summary report from the sponsor home page, click on go to sponsor profile which is located in the top right hand corner of the screen.

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Getting Started – Accessing your Report

Once on the sponsor profile page, click on applications.

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Getting Started – Accessing your Report

After clicking on applications, the verification tab should appear on the second row of tabs right next to the sponsor application tab. Please note that the verification tab will not be available until the sponsor has submitted the October claim for reimbursement. This is because the summary report uses data submitted on the October claim for many of the edit checks in the report.

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Getting Started – Accessing your Report

This year the system will default to no records found. But go over to the right hand side of the screen and select add. This button will “add” a report for the current school year.

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Navigating the VSR

I’ve got several slides on navigating the Verification Summary Report. Once you have added the report, you can work in the report and save any work that you have completed and exit without finishing the report. The report remains in created status. Use the edit icon to go back into the report to finish up or edit any work that you previously completed. There will be a submit to OSPI button when you have finished the report. The report functions similar to the sponsor applications. When submitted, sponsors no longer have access to the report. If you need to make changes, you will need to ask your program specialist to return the report to you.

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Navigating the VSR

The summary report is set up as a wizard similar to the sponsor and site applications. The

• nly difference is that you have to complete the wizards in order and cannot move to a

new wizard until the previous wizard is completed and error free. Navigation buttons include‐ Back Save Close and Next Use the next button to move to the next wizard. You can save and close your report and come back to it at any time. In the last wizard, you will have a button to submit report to OSPI.

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Navigating the VSR

You will find the names of each wizard on the tabs at the top of the page. The name of the wizard indicates the type of information to be submitted in the wizard. For example the tab called meal applications will be the section where you will enter numbers of meal applications and number of students for applications with a case number, free income, and reduced income. Note that you can only move between wizards after you have entered all required information and the section is error free. You will use the next and back buttons to go between each wizard. You cannot use the tabs to navigate. The tabs simply let you know which wizard you are working in and how close you are to completing the report.

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Navigating the VSR

Throughout the report you will notice Blue Dots with Question Marks – hover over the blue dots and you will receive helpful information about the data being requested. You will see rectangles outlined in red through out the report. These are areas where data input is required. These areas cannot be left blank. Note areas where there are no red boxes such as “Total number of students directly certified as free”. These sections are auto‐calculated and are mostly related to edit checks happening behind the scenes.

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Navigating the VSR - Warnings

There are multiple edit checks in the system. There are 114 total and there are two types. warnings and errors. The warnings are yellow. The warning is explained in detail in the

• box. Warnings to do not require a change or correction of information. But you are

required to double check your data and acknowledge the warning before you can proceed. This warning is about question 4‐1. We had 10 applications with case numbers on October

• 1st. On October 31st we had only one student eligible by case number. This is quite

possible as students are being found on the direct certification list between October 1 and

• 31. However, it is unusual and a double check and acknowledgement of the data is needed

before moving to the next screen. When warnings display, please note that each time you move backwards to another wizard and then use the next button, you will be asked to acknowledge the warning again. This is because WINS is consistently validating any new or changed data.

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Navigating the VSR - Errors

The second type of edit check is an error and errors are red. Details explaining the error are in the box at the top of screen. There is no option to move on to complete the report without correcting an error. Because the system describes the errors and gives tips for correcting, we have not created a resource for errors yet. If you need help correcting errors, contact myself or your program specialist. For this error, it appears there is a keying entry error. In box 4‐3, there are 25 applications approved as reduced price and there are 150 students amongst those 25 applications. This means that each of the 25 households has an average of 6 children. This is unexpectedly high. A correction is needed. With this error, the next button is disabled until box 4‐3 B is corrected and the page is error free. Recall there are 114 edit checks throughout the report. Read the red box to decipher the

• error. For many of the errors, the red box will identify which box is in error so that you can

make corrections. Reach out for help when you need it.

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Navigating the VSR

The total sites and students wizard populates from two areas of WINS. Box 1‐1 A Total number of sites populates from the WINS sponsor agreement – number of approved sites

• perating the National School Lunch Program. Box 1‐1B Total number of enrolled students

populates from the October claim. October Building Data to be exact. It is the roll up of the total enrollment from each site claim. This wizard requires you to confirm the data is correct before you can move on. Once the data is confirmed as correct, the next button, currently light blue will display as a clear

• blue. Click next to move on.

Ideally the data that was submitted on the October claim for reimbursement is correct. If it’s incorrect and you select no, a revision to the October claim is required to correct the

• data. Once a revision is made, the new October Data will be incorporated into the VSR. If

the claims official and the person who determines October Data is different than the person who submits the summary report, the two parties will need to communicate.

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Navigating the VSR - Entering Data

As data is entered, the red rectangle goes away so you know you have completed areas of required information. The total number of students directly certified as free has auto‐ calculated and the next button is clear blue and ready for advancement to the next screen. Note that unless all information is entered, you will not be able to move to the next wizard

• screen. Additionally, if there are errors, you must correct the errors before you can move

forward to complete the report.

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Navigating the VSR - Entering Data

On this screen you will enter data about the number of free and reduced price applications

• n file as of October 1st and the number of students eligible in each category as of the last
• perating day in October. Notice the next button does not display. This is because required

fields do not have data in them.

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Reminder - Errors

Let’s review the error related to the meal application wizard. Read error. There are other edit checks on this page that relate to the total free and reduced price

• students. For example, an error will generate if the total of the two categories T‐1 and T‐2

exceeds the enrollment on the site and students tab. There are several edit checks built into the report that check against enrollment. Additionally, the total free and reduced price applications box – with 52‐ is used to edit check against the number of applications that were verified by the sponsor in the “process” tab. The edit checks may seem tricky or trivial but please note they are edit checks required by

• USDA. The edit checks help ensure the data submitted to USDA by Child Nutrition Services

is accurate. Child Nutrition Services requires this accuracy on the part of the sponsor. Please do ask us for help if you have trouble correcting errors.

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Navigating the VSR - Entering Data

The process tab is all about the Verification process. Was verification performed and completed? What type of verification process was used? The user will click on select and make their choices from the drop down box. Regarding box 5‐2, was verification performed and completed? Typically verification is performed and completed by November 15th. If an answer such as not completed or completed after November 15th, the report will require the user to submit a corrective action plan at the end of the report. Regarding type of Verification Process used, when 3% focus or 1 plus ½ percent focus is chosen, the user is required to enter the number of error prone applications. There is an edit check for the total number of applications selected. The edit check applies the option selected in box 5‐3, be it 3% or 1 plus ½ percent to the data provided in the meal application tab‐ total number of free and reduced price applications. If you receive an error that not enough applications were selected for verification and you’ve double check your data and it’s correct, check in with your program specialist and go ahead and select the additional applications to verify. Get started verifying so that you can complete your summary report before February 1st.

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That being said, if you didn’t verify enough applications‐ you cannot finish the report. Save and exit the system. Finish the report after you have finished verifying the remaining applications. If you conducted verification for cause on any applications before November 15th, click on select and then, yes. In box 5‐6, select whether or not you conducted direct verification. If you select yes, additional boxes will display for the number of applications and number of students directly verified. The edit check for the number of applications selected for verification takes place in the Application Verification section. This section auto calculates.

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Navigating the VSR - Entering Data

This screen shows the process tab completed‐ Point out that – The LEA completed verification on time. 3% focused was the type of verification process used. The total number or error prone applications must be reported and is 10. The LEA conducted direct verification. One of the two applications was directly verified. Error does not display. The local education agency verified 2 applications noted in box 5‐5. The system calculated sample was 2. All information was entered and there were no errors so the next button can be selected.

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Common Error – Too many applications verified

Before we move on, let’s review two very common errors. First, the system errors because too many applications were selected. Note the screen print in the bottom right hand corner from the Meal Application tab. There were 45 total free and reduced price meal applications. Now note the screen print

• n the left, box 5‐3 and that the LEA conducted 3% focused method. .03 times 45 = 1.35.

The correct number of applications to verify is 2. Since we can’t verify a partial application, we always round up. In box 5‐5, the LEA reported that they verified 5 applications. To resolve the error, the LEA should change the report to 2. Then move through the report. The system does not require a corrective action plan for this error. At the start of the application process, LEAs must carefully count applications and carefully calculate the number of applications to be verified. Please use our verification resources available on our website for the verification process so you are following procedures correctly.

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Common Error – Not enough applications verified

Another common error is Not enough applications are verified. In this scenario, there were 45 total free and reduced price meal applications and 3% focused method was chosen. The LEA verified only one application. Recall our calculation. .03 times 45 = 1.35. The LEA did not round up. The report is in error. To resolve the error, the LEA must reopen verification and select another application. Conduct the verification process. Save the report and exit the report until the results of verification are obtained. Then, edit the report and finish up.

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Entering Data - Results

Now we can move to the tab titled Results. WINS will show a space for entering the results

• f verification for only the number of applications that were verified. Refer to the screen

shot on the right side of the slide. Recall two applications were selected for verification. Hold on to that thought. Now, I want to refer to section titled direct verification results. The LEA conducted direct verification and that application was confirmed through direct

• verification. WINS only requires you to report the results of the applications that were

verified using the standard process. Reminder – Report the application ID. Do NOT report the student first or last name. Keep student information and the results of verification confidential.

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Entering Data - Results

Original Benefit Type Drop Down Box

• Free Categorically Eligible – Case Number
• Free Income
• Reduced Income

To report the results of the applications verified using the standard process/letter sent to households, enter the application ID, number of students on the application and then select from the drop down box the original benefit type. Your choices include – read text box.

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Entering Data - Results

Verification Review Results ‐Drop Down Box

• Responded, No Change
• Responded, Changed to Reduced Price
• Responded, Responded Changed to Paid
• No Response, Changed to Paid

Then, select Verification Review Results applicable to the household selected for

• verification. In this case the original benefit type was Free Categorically Eligible Application

with a case #. Verification Review Results choices include – READ SCREEN. You are finished data entry! Select the next button.

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