CountyLink is the Minnesota Department of Human Services’ (DHS) Web site for county and tribal agencies.

1. CountyLink is the Minnesota Department of Human Services’ (DHS) Web site for county and tribal agencies. CountyLink serves as the department’s primary tool to communicate information to counties and tribes. In turn, CountyLink is a ready resource for workers to access reference material, send questions to DHS staff, and more. CountyLink’s pilot effort grew out of counties’ and tribes’ need for more and better information on child welfare targeted case management (CW-TCM) billing. DHS worked with the County Best Fiscal Practices Committee, a standing committee of the Minnesota Association of County Social Services Administrators, to develop a pilot site with information to help counties maximize revenue through improved billing for CW-TCM services. In 2003, a steering committee consisting of DHS and county representatives was convened to coordinate expansion of the site to include an array of resources. This process is ongoing. User feedback is an important factor in shaping the future development of CountyLink. Please feel free to send comments and ideas by e-mail to dhs.countylink@state.mn.us.

2. CountyLink - What’s changed? • We have added a CountyLink logo throughout the Web site. • We have changed the banner color to green so users know they are in CountyLink. • We have added bread crumb navigation to pages so users know where they are in CountyLink and can easily return to previous pages. • We have new themes that better reflect the work of our county and tribal partners. • We use two columns pages for technical ease as well as aesthetics. • We have added a more enhanced search page. • We have direct links to commonly used county resources in the green navigation bar, including links to eDocs and bulletins.

3. CountyLink Web site logo Located just above the top navigation bar you will find the CountyLink logo. The logo is a link to this PowerPoint presentation. No matter which page you are on in CountyLink, you can always get back to this presentation again by selecting this logo.

4. DHS Web site logo Located just above the top navigation bar you will find the DHS public Web site logo. The logo is a link to the home page of the DHS public Web site. No matter which page you are on, you can always get back to DHS’ home page by selecting this logo.

5. Minnesota North Star and current date Above the search window is a linkto Minnesota North Star, the stateof Minnesota's Web portal. This link can be found on every page. Above the link to North Star is the current date.

6. Skip to Main content | Subnavigation These links are bookmarks to the main content and the subnavigation on the page. These links are especially helpful to people using screen readers.

7. Located above in the gray boxes are CountyLink’s themes. Let’s move through these one at a time

8. County Reports/Results DHS gathers information and publishes numerous reports about the programs and services supervised by DHS and administered by county and tribal agencies. Many of these reports include program information specific to counties and tribes and can be used in the administration of these services. Some of these reports are listed alphabetically in this section of CountyLink. This area also includes a link to all DHS reports.

9. Program Resources DHS Program Resources is an alphabetical listing of various program information and supports that are tailored to county and tribal workers. A link to DHS Program Contacts is also available in this area.

10. Systems & IT Updates Here you will find information and additional resources regarding most of DHS’ major systems, such as HealthMatch, MAXIS, MEC², MMIS, PRISM, SMI and SSIS. Other IT-related information can also be found in this area.

11. Fiscal Reporting & Accounting Fiscal Reporting & Accounting provides fiscal information to assist counties with the financial management of human service programs. Here you will find SEAGR reporting, the annual Human Service Cost Report, Title IV-E ratios, MFIP, EGA and EMSA allocation summaries and a direct link to bulletins published by the Financial Operations Division.

12. Manuals The Manuals section of CountyLink includes links to both policy and system manuals maintained by DHS. Some of the manuals include specific system procedures and may require a logon ID and password to gain access.

13. Policy Inquiries In this area, you will find links to the Web-based systems that allow county and tribal workers to submit policy questions to DHS staff. The systems available in this area are: DSD H-C Policy – Disability program policy questions HealthQuest – MA, GAMC and MinnesotaCare policy questions PolicyQuest – Cash, Food Support and Child Care policy questions SIR – Child Support questions Only certain staff may have the ability to submit questions to DHS through one of these systems. If you have questions about this access, talk to your supervisor.

14. TrainLink This area links directly to the TrainLink learning center Web site. TrainLink includes information about courses offered at DHS, allows county and tribal staff to register for trainings and provides other miscellaneous training news and information. The specific learning centers available on TrainLink are: Adults and Children’s Mental Health, Chemical Health, Child Support, Children’s Services, DHS Trainers, Disability Services /HIV/AIDS, Health Care, Income Maintenance and Licensing.

15. Home page navigation The topics in the left column of the CountyLink Home Page provide users with general information about the Web site as well as quick access to information within DHS. Let’s move through these one at a time.

16. About CountyLinkThis area provides a brief summary of the purpose of the CountyLink Web site and some background on how it was developed.

17. DHS/County CommitteesThis area of the CountyLink Web site provides information about the various committees and workgroups that include both state and county/tribal representatives. Committee meeting agendas, minutes, charters, recommendations and other information about the work being done within these groups can be found in this area.

18. Inside DHSThis area provides links to various DHS contacts and miscellaneous information that may be helpful to county and tribal partners. This area currently includes the DHS Employee Phone Directory, DHS Program Contact Numbers, an explanation of DHS abbreviations and acronyms, a link to the Merit System and a copy of the current DHS Retention Schedule.

19. Site MapThis area provides an overview of what information is found on the CountyLink Web site and how it is organized.

20. Helpful links These links are accessible from every CountyLink page. CountyLink home page will bring you back to the home page of CountyLink.DHS home page is DHS home page, www.dhs.state.mn.us.Bulletins is where you will find all of DHS-issued bulletins.Forms (eDocs) is an online repository of DHS forms. A-Z topics is an alphabetized list of topics covered on the site and a quick way to find information.

21. Search and Advanced Search If you enter in a keyword or phrase then click on the magnifying glass, you will get a list of search results. Keywords are the words or phrases you type into the search engine to try to find a document. If you select advanced search you will be taken to another page in which you will be able to do a customized search for documents.

22. Full text searchThis isused for searching for a document when you have some of the text it contains.

23. Keyword searchThis allows you to search for a document by the keywords it may contain. Keywords are established by the author at the time the document is published.

24. Document title searchThis allows you to search for a document by its title.

25. CountyLink category searchThis drop down menu allows you to search for a document within a theme or themes, also called categories.

26. Subcategory searchThis drop down menu will change depending on which category you choose. It will further narrow your search results.

27. Content section The middle section of the CountyLink Web site is the main content section. This information will change with each theme or topic you have chosen.

28. Left navigation pane The left navigation pane for CountyLink’sWeb site includes the site's most commonly used links. This will also change depending on the theme you selected.

29. Subnavigation pane This is a page in the “DHS Program Resources" topic. Notice that a submenu for Child Protection Welfare Supervision opened up to show more subtopics for that area.

30. This is ‘breadcrumb navigation’ Its purpose is to give users a way to keep track of their location within programs or documents. The term is taken from the trail of breadcrumbs left by Hansel and Gretel in the popular fairy tale.

31. These segments stay the same on every page.

32. These segments will change depending upon what page you’re on.

33. Lower navigation area The lower navigation area is located at the bottom of each Web site page. You’ll find the date the page was last updated, and links to accessibility information, Web site policy and technical information, how to contact the DHS webmaster and a quick link to the top of the page. Updated: 01/18/08 1:39pm | Accessibility | Contact DHS | Top of Page

34. Feedback about CountyLink welcome Click on the “Report/Rate this page” link at the bottom of any CountyLink page to report issues with content, functionality or accessibility.